"What happened?"
"What's going on here? Don't tell me I'm the one dreaming now?"
The fantastical scene unfolding before his eyes caught even Arata by surprise.
It was as if someone had turned back the clock. All the destroyed buildings were gradually restoring themselves to their original state, piece by piece.
Just as the three of them were marveling at the bizarre sight, a man's voice suddenly called out from behind them.
"Arata!!!"
Natsume Noriyuki appeared with his cleanup squad members in tow.
"Natsume, what are you doing here?" Seeing Natsume Noriyuki appear, Arata stopped staring at the reconstructing buildings.
"We arrived right when you turned into a giant. But seeing how hyped up you were fighting, we decided not to intervene."
"Our Captain was too busy recording a video of you, so he didn't have time to intervene!" a smart-mouthed squad member blurted out the truth.
Natsume Noriyuki turned his head and glared at the overly talkative subordinate behind him.
The squad member, however, looked completely unfazed. Even though Noriyuki was the Captain, this smart-mouthed guy's aura seemed to completely overshadow his. It was to the point where even Captain Natsume didn't dare to say anything or do anything out of line to reprimand him.
"Arata-senpai, I'm a huge fan!" The smart-mouthed guy completely ignored Natsume Noriyuki, stepping right up to Arata with a face full of smiles.
"A die-hard fan, or a ceiling fan?" Arata quipped.
"Regardless, I really admire you, Arata-senpai! Please recruit me into Division 4! My abilities aren't bad at all."
"Sorry, Division 4 is currently at full capacity. Come back and apply when we open up a Division 4 B-Team."
"Then let me be your apprentice! I can do anything."
"My Master doesn't need any male apprentices," Denji flatly rejected him on Arata's behalf.
"You must be Denji!" the smart-mouthed guy recognized Denji at a glance. "From now on, we'll be fellow disciple-brothers."
"Hold on. I never agreed to take you in as an apprentice. I'm not going to just give you a free pass just because you're a fan," Arata said bluntly.
"That's enough, Sohei. I'm still standing right here, you know. Besides, if you really wanted to join Division 4, wouldn't it just take a single word from your father?" Natsume Noriyuki hurriedly interrupted Sohei.
"I don't want to rely on my father for everything. Plus, he has no intention of letting me join any division other than the cleanup division."
"Your subordinate is quite interesting," Arata noted.
"He's a newly arrived intern. He's also the son of the Deputy Prime Minister," Natsume Noriyuki explained, while shooting a look to two other subordinates. Sohei was quickly 'escorted' to the side.
"The Deputy Prime Minister's son came to be an intern?"
"Sohei is different from the rest. Others become Public Safety Devil Hunters because they need the money, but he's the first guy who actually paid money to get in. The only reason he joined our cleanup division is entirely due to orders from the higher-ups."
"The cleanup division is a place you really can't enter without some connections. Not only are the benefits and salary similar to a Public Safety Devil Hunter, but most importantly, it's safe. We usually only show up after the devil is already dead."
"Master Arata, please accept me! Even though I'm the Deputy Prime Minister's son, I'll absolutely listen to everything you say!" Sohei shouted from the back.
"Sorry, my apprentice slots are full. Come back and apply the next time I'm looking for one."
While they were talking, a middle-aged man with blonde hair and a full beard walked over.
His fierce-looking face instantly melted into an enthusiastic smile the moment he saw Arata.
"Natsume, this must be Arata, right?"
"Yes, he's the Arata I've mentioned to you before."
"And this uncle is...?" Arata asked.
"He is the Director of our cleanup division, Natsume Nijyo," Natsume Noriyuki explained.
"I am Natsume Noriyuki's father. Previously, when Noriyuki told me he made a friend named Arata, I told him not to just hang out with random people. It's a good thing he didn't listen to me, otherwise he would have missed out on such an incredibly powerful friend!" Natsume Nijyo laughed heartily.
By this time, the buildings behind Arata had already been fully restored to their original states.
"Master, all the destroyed buildings are completely fixed," Denji pointed out intentionally.
Arata glanced behind him and then asked, "Natsume, you must know what's going on here, right?"
Natsume Noriyuki and his squad didn't seem the least bit surprised by the scene of the buildings rewinding. Instead, they wore expressions that showed they were completely used to it.
Unless they were completely blind, they absolutely knew the inside story.
"It's a devil that cooperates with our cleanup division."
"Cooperating with a devil?"
"Yes, he is a bona fide devil. No contracts, and he's not a fiend either."
Natsume Noriyuki's eyes suddenly stared straight ahead.
Arata followed his gaze.
A devil roughly the size of an eight or nine-year-old child was riding a skateboard, gliding right toward the group.
He had a permanent, fixed smiley face plastered on his head. At first glance, one might even mistake him for a robot.
"Natsume Nijyo, I've got it all sorted out," the devil said, speaking with the voice of a little kid.
"Thanks for the hard work, Kuro-chan."
"This little thing is nothing, but don't forget my payment."
"I definitely won't forget. The items you requested have already been loaded onto your private jet. Sorry for troubling you to come all the way here to fix Osaka this time, Kuro-chan."
"No trouble at all. As long as there's a reward, I'm more than willing to flex my powers."
As Kuro-chan spoke, he intentionally shot a glance at Arata.
The two locked eyes.
"You must be Arata. You're the one who killed the Gluttony Devil, right?"
"That's right. And who are you?"
"He is—" Natsume began.
"You don't need to introduce me. I actually quite admire this human," the devil interrupted Natsume Noriyuki, taking over the introduction himself.
"Kuro-chan is the Destruction Devil. You can just call me Kuro-chan, since my whole body is completely black," Kuro-chan said self-deprecatingly.
"The Destruction Devil!" Arata was instantly intrigued. "You're clearly very powerful, so why are you cooperating with humans?"
"Kuro-chan provoked the Darkness Devil in Hell, got killed, and ended up here in the human world. Besides, the human world is way more fun than Hell! Kuro-chan absolutely loves this world filled with desires."
"In other words, Kuro-chan likes living the lifestyle of the rich and famous."
"A devil who actually enjoys the human lifestyle. That's a first for me," Arata laughed. While everyone else was walking on eggshells speaking to the Destruction Devil, Arata remained completely relaxed.
"Of course! Those brainless devils have no idea how great the human world is. All they know is eating people and destroying things. My destructive power is hundreds of times greater than theirs, but I want to help humans rebuild their homes. That's the only way I can keep enjoying this lifestyle."
"Kuro-chan's ideals are quite excellent. Furthermore, he frequently appears all over the world to help humans restore cities destroyed by devils. If it weren't for Kuro-chan, it would have been impossible for Osaka to recover," Natsume Noriyuki added.
"Are you trying to be a hero?" Denji asked.
"Kuro-chan isn't a hero. I give all the credit to the cleanup division. Nobody else knows that Kuro-chan is the one doing these good deeds."
Just then, a stretched luxury limousine pulled up behind the group.
A woman stepped out of the car. She was wearing black pantyhose, black-rimmed glasses, and an office lady (OL) uniform.
Seeing her appear, Kuro-chan immediately hopped on his skateboard and glided over to her.
"Yuu, where's the stuff I asked for?"
"Here you go. This is a yo-yo personally autographed by Japan's top yo-yo star."
"Awesome! Kuro-chan has always been a huge fan of his!"
Kuro-chan took the yo-yo and immediately slipped it onto his finger.
"Lightning Fast-Draw," "Twin Dragons of Heaven and Earth," "Silver Dragon from Beyond"—he flawlessly executed every complex yo-yo trick with expert proficiency.
In Arata's eyes, this Destruction Devil—whose power was so immense that even he might not necessarily be a match for it—was currently acting exactly like a little kid.
Completely unable to put down a simple toy from the human world.
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