"There's a ghost in the house!!"
Denji suddenly looked around in all directions. If anyone else said there was a ghost, he wouldn't believe it. But since it was Arata saying it, Denji believed it without a shadow of a doubt.
"Not a ghost, but the Ghost Devil," Arata explained specifically to Denji, not caring at all if the Ghost Devil hiding in the house heard him.
"The Ghost Devil! Master, do you know where he is?"
"No idea. But I do know that the Ghost Devil can turn into any object to hide inside someone's house. Then, when a person is home alone, it launches a mental attack. Once the target's internal fear reaches a certain threshold, the Ghost Devil can turn the controlled person into an object."
"He can turn into an object, and he can turn other people into objects too?!"
"Exactly. It's just like Prop Hunt. We are the seekers, and he is the hider. But in this game, we don't get any hints. Even if we smash all the furniture, we might not find him, because he can just run away while we're busy searching."
As Arata spoke, his eyes continuously scanned every single item in the house.
"Then what about Aki? Has he been turned into an object in the house too?"
"That's right. This is the Ghost Devil's usual trick: turning your companions into random household items. This way, we can't just smash things indiscriminately, because whatever we break could very well be Aki. Once the object Aki has turned into is destroyed, he dies."
"Until we find Aki, we have to be careful with everything. One wrong move, something shatters, and Aki is gone."
Hearing Arata's words, Denji's movements instantly shifted into slow motion. His body actively leaned away from anything that could easily be knocked over.
"Ahhh~" Just then, Power walked out of her room, stretching and yawning. Seeing people in the living room, she casually asked, "Is the Great Me's breakfast ready yet?"
"Power, don't move!!"
"What's wrong?"
"Is there anything extra in your room? Or anything that feels weird?" Denji immediately asked.
"Something extra?" Power tried hard to recall. "Oh right, I found my missing breast pad."
"Wait, how did you know there was something extra in the Great Me's room? Don't tell me you were the one who stole my missing breast pad, used it, and then tossed it back?!" Power interrogated him.
"I'm only interested in what's behind the breast pad! I don't want your stupid pads!" Denji immediately shot back. "But take it off and put it down carefully right now! That extra breast pad might be Aki!"
"What?! You filthy human! If you want to see the Great Me's breast pads, just say so! Don't make up such an outrageous excuse!"
"Denji isn't lying. That extra breast pad is highly suspicious," Arata confirmed.
"What do you mean?" Power looked utterly confused. How did her wearing a breast pad suddenly involve Aki Hayakawa?
Seeing that Power didn't get it, Denji quickly explained the situation to her. After hearing the explanation, Power broke out in a cold sweat.
"I slept with the door locked last night, but in the middle of the night, I felt a cold wind blowing on me. When I looked up, I saw Aki Hayakawa standing at the door of my room. He scared the crap out of me!"
"That Aki Hayakawa wasn't the real one, but the Ghost Devil. Furthermore, when the Ghost Devil transforms into a person, its feet can't touch the ground. If you ever see someone with their feet hovering off the floor, it's 100% a fake," Arata said.
"Damn it! I don't want to stuff Aki Hayakawa in my shirt!" Power immediately pulled the breast pad out and chucked it at the floor.
Denji dove and caught the falling breast pad right before it hit the ground. "Are you trying to drop Aki to his death?! If he dies, who's going to cook for us?!"
"After hearing you guys say that, I suddenly felt like the breast pad was groping me, so I took it off immediately!"
"What!! If the breast pad is doing something like that, then it definitely can't be Aki! I'm going to burn it right now!" Denji yelled.
"Denji, calm down. It might just be Power's imagination," Arata said.
Arata found a plastic bag, sealed the breast pad inside, and tossed it into the Mirror Dimension. If it made any movements, Arata would be able to sense it immediately.
BOOM!!!
Just then, the entire apartment building suddenly shuddered violently.
Screams, blaring car horns, and barking dogs erupted from the streets outside the apartment.
BOOM!!!
Another massive tremor hit.
The cup balanced precariously on top of the stack of cups suddenly tumbled onto the table. It rolled along the surface and tipped over the edge.
Right in the split second before the cup hit the ground and shattered, Arata kicked off his slipper, sliding it perfectly underneath the falling cup. Thanks to that, the cup was saved from breaking.
He then walked over, picked up the cup, and placed it inside the Mirror Dimension. There was definitely something fishy about this cup; he just didn't know if it was Aki Hayakawa or the Ghost Devil. However, Arata leaned more toward the former.
After all, a cup was a highly fragile glass item. The Ghost Devil wasn't stupid enough to turn into a cup. Once the object he transformed into broke, his true form would be exposed.
But if it was Aki Hayakawa who had been turned into a cup, things were different. His physical body would shatter along with the glass. Even if he broke, Aki wouldn't be able to revert back to his original body. He would simply die, remaining as scattered shards forever.
BOOM!!
"There it goes again! What on earth is it?"
Power and Denji simultaneously walked over to the balcony window and looked out. Due to the limited viewing angle, they couldn't see anything strange happening.
"Teemo, go take a look." Arata released a named fly to scout the area.
Soon, Teemo the fly returned. It landed next to Arata's ear and buzzed. While the others couldn't understand it, Arata nodded repeatedly. Having completed its mission, Teemo crawled into Arata's ear.
"Master, you speak Fly?"
"Never mind the fly. An oversized Cockroach Devil has appeared outside, and it's highly likely it has consumed a piece of the Gun Devil's flesh."
"It's just a cockroach! Let's go squish it!" Power said excitedly.
"Yeah!!" Denji cheered.
"Hold on, Denji stays at home. Little Power and I are enough," Arata said.
"Didn't Master say there's a ghost in the house? If you leave me here alone, aren't you afraid I'll get turned into a breast pad too?"
"If you turn into a breast pad, the Great Me will never wear them again!" Power retorted.
"Don't worry. The Ghost Devil won't show itself during the day; it only comes out at night."
"But I still want to go kill the devil."
"Come outside with me for a second." Seeing Arata acting so mysteriously, Denji quickly followed him out.
The group closed the door and stood in the hallway outside, whispering to each other. A moment later, Denji returned to the apartment alone, while the other two rushed off to kill the devil.
"Can't believe he actually made me stay back to watch the house." Denji grumbled unhappily as he walked back in and shut the door.
"Aki, where are you?" he called out as he walked into Power's room.
His goal was incredibly clear: he immediately started searching for Power's breast pads. He even mimicked Power by stuffing them into his own shirt. Sure enough, it had an impressive thickness-boosting effect.
"Who invented this garbage? This is pure, unadulterated fraud!" Denji yanked the breast pads out and tossed them back onto the bed.
SLAM!!
Just then, the door to Power's room suddenly slammed shut on its own.
Such a bizarre occurrence instantly made Denji think of the Ghost Devil. He frantically threw his weight against the door, only to find that it wouldn't open at all.
Creaaak!
At that moment, the door to the wardrobe slowly swung open on its own.
"Didn't Master say there were no ghosts during the day?!" Denji knew there was definitely something standing right behind him. But he didn't dare to turn his head. Because once he got scared, he too would be turned into an object.
Whoosh~
Denji felt someone blowing air onto the back of his neck.
"Get lost!" Denji directly kicked backward. With his eyes squeezed shut, he executed a 'Divine Dragon Tail Whip' kick toward his rear. But there was no sensation of his foot hitting anything.
Whoosh~
The sound of heavy breathing hit his face again. Denji kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
But the Ghost Devil wasn't stubborn; there was no need to just wait for Denji to open his eyes. Its fingers pinched Denji's eyelids and literally peeled them open.
Denji hadn't expected this god-tier maneuver in the slightest. The very instant his eyes were forced open, Denji transformed into a single breast pad and dropped to the floor.
"I didn't expect it to be this easy to get his heart."
"That idiot Peeping Tom Devil came in with me, but he was way too impatient. Couldn't even wait until there was only one person left in the house before making his move."
Just as the Ghost Devil was busy praising its own brilliance, a hand suddenly pierced straight through its back and exploded out of its chest. The Ghost Devil's face froze in shock. Looking down, it saw a razor-sharp clawed hand.
From start to finish, it hadn't seen anyone else around. Yet it had somehow been inexplicably killed.
"Bet you didn't see that coming. Denji was actually just bait. I've been invisible, following him the whole time, just waiting for you to take the hook," Arata laughed. With a swift pull, he ripped the Ghost Devil's heart straight out.
The exact moment the Ghost Devil died, a certain object inside the Mirror Dimension reverted back into Aki Hayakawa.
But there was another object that didn't revert, which left Arata slightly surprised.
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