The metallic tang of agony bloomed in Denji's mouth.
He stumbled back a few paces in sheer shock, staring in absolute disbelief at the girl standing before him.
Reze parted her lips, an unsettling spark of delight dancing in the depths of her eyes.
She had just bitten Denji's tongue clean out.
Realizing things had gone horribly wrong, Denji frantically reached a hand toward his chest to pull his starter cord, desperate to transform into Chainsaw Man.
But she was faster. In the blink of an eye, she sliced his arm completely off.
"You know, Denji, I actually came here for your heart," Reze said softly, her voice barely carrying over the howling wind ripping across the summit.
Slowly, she raised her hand and pulled the pin built into her neck.
As a fellow Weapon Human, they all relied on this exact mechanism to trigger their transformations.
A blinding, searing explosion of fire erupted from her throat, and her body instantly began to warp.
The innocent, adorable image she had projected vanished entirely. From the neck up, the beautiful girl's head morphed into the sleek, rigid silhouette of an aerial bomb.
Her aura turned colder and sharper than the midnight mountain breeze.
Reze was the Bomb Devil.
She lunged at Denji with terrifying speed. As consecutive explosions tore through the night sky, Denji's body was violently blasted through the air.
He crashed heavily onto the hard earth, writhing in pain. There was no one here to save him.
For someone targeted by major world powers to go rogue and act completely on his own was an act of extreme, fatal arrogance.
Reze advanced on him, stepping forward at a deliberate pace.
The blast had scorched Denji's chest open, leaving his starter cord exposed and isolated against his flesh.
"Now!" Kobeni gasped under her breath, flicking her finger.
A sudden pull of gravitational force snagged the cord, and the roar of a revving chainsaw tore through the silence out of nowhere.
"How is that possible!" The Bomb Demon scanned her surroundings. Someone was actively helping this guy, yet there wasn't a single Public Safety Devil Hunter in sight.
The Ghost Devil?
No. There wasn't a trace of its presence.
The grotesque, abstract form of Chainsaw Man rose slowly, defying all common logic. Opening his savage jaws, his voice rasped with the metallic grating of grinding gears.
"Reze... I really did think I was falling in love."
The instant the words left his mouth, he hurled himself forward.
The fireworks festival was still raging. Brilliant bursts of color continued to bloom overhead, illuminating the darkness of the mountaintop.
The two silhouettes tangled fiercely, accompanied by the deafening roar of chainsaws and the shattering cracks of detonating bombs.
"U-Um... Mr. Demon, are we really not going to intervene?" Kobeni was shaking with anxiety.
She was terrified that Denji might actually die, because if he did, she would never get to see the Darkness Devil. And if she failed to see the Darkness Devil, Mr. Demon might get angry with her.
"Why should we intervene? This is prime entertainment," Zoran's light laughter echoed in her ears.
The continuous chain of fiery explosions carved a path all the way down the mountain, casting a harsh glare over the pitch-black surface of the ocean below.
Denji was no match for Reze. He was relentlessly hounded down the summit, sprinting frantically toward the coastline.
He was a thoroughly tragic creature.
He had inadvertently allowed the Chainsaw Devil to become his heart, only to run straight into Makima, the Control Devil.
That woman was gentle, attentive, and seemingly capable of fulfilling his every desire.
But in reality, within that wicked woman's heart, there was never a single scrap of space reserved for the boy named Denji.
From the very beginning, the only entity she ever loved or cared about was the Chainsaw Devil.
Who was Denji?
She literally didn't know him.
The streaks of fire plunged straight into the dark sea.
Denji's chaotic, unpredictable train of thought ultimately saved his life.
Submerged in the ocean, the Bomb Devil was incapable of unleashing her full explosive power.
He dragged her down into the deep, and the freezing sea water naturally forced both of them to cool down. The Bomb Devil completely misfired.
After what felt like an eternity, Denji, who had reverted back to his human form, dragged an unconscious Reze back onto the sandy shore.
The ocean waves washed over them, leaving their hair soaking wet and matted against their foreheads.
Denji let out a long, ragged sigh. Thanks to his transformation into Chainsaw Man, his injuries had passively mended themselves.
The two lay flat on the beach, staring blankly up at the sky.
The fireworks festival had drawn to a close.
The moon hanging above them was abnormally massive, seemingly dominating the entire celestial vault.
Staring up at that giant silver orb, Denji shook his head in frustration.
"Even after all that... I still can't bring myself to kill you," he muttered to the girl beside him.
Reze was completely drenched. She curled her slender body inward, wrapping her arms tightly around her knees.
"Denji." Her voice trembled slightly, chilled by the freezing seawater. "I lied to you yesterday. Denji, I've never read a book either. I've never actually gone to school."
Denji blinked, stunned.
She was an assassin sent to eliminate him, so of course her cover story had to be meticulously constructed.
He instinctively asked, "What about today?"
Reze fell silent for a long time. Under the pale glow of the moon, she whispered, "Today... I'm not lying."
When two mice cross paths in the sewers, they share a brief glance and rub their paws together, and that, in its own way, is love. It is the most natural thing in the world.
For a killer to fall for her target seemed perfectly reasonable.
"I don't like the Chainsaw Devil, and I don't like the Bomb Devil either," she confessed, laying her heart bare. "Denji, if you had to choose between the country mouse and the town mouse, which side would you pick?"
"What do you mean?"
"The country mouse gets to live a safe and peaceful life, but it never gets to taste the delicious food of the city. The town mouse gets to eat wonderful meals, but it faces the constant risk of being killed by dangerous hunters."
Denji didn't understand why Reze was suddenly asking such a bizarre question, but he answered honestly anyway. "I think the town sounds better."
"Eh? Why? The country mouse has it better, right? Peace is everything," Reze countered.
"The country mouse must be incredibly lonely," Denji murmured softly. "At least the town mouse gets to eat well, and it has plenty of companions around."
"Is that so." Reze slowly pushed herself up. "I hate this assassination mission. I'm glad it failed. I hate bombs, and I hate chainsaws..."
"The country mouse doesn't actually have to be lonely, you know." It was as if she had just reached a definitive resolution. She enunciated every single syllable with fierce intent:
"Denji, run away with me."
"Run away?" Denji froze.
"We'll flee to the countryside. A place far away from devils. A place where only Denji and Reze exist."
Denji stared at the girl beside him, his eyes wavering.
He suddenly realized something.
From the very start, the only thing reflected in her pupils was his face. His, Denji's, face.
The thing she loathed was the devil inside him, but she didn't hate the human named Denji.
She really wasn't lying today.
Suddenly, a specific silhouette flashed through Denji's mind.
"Miss Makima..." he muttered under his breath.
But in the very next second, the words tumbled out of his mouth as a bright grin broke across his face. "Okay! Let's go to the countryside together, Reze!"
"Tomorrow!" Reze suddenly leaped into the air. "Wait for me at the café!"
She was ecstatic, her depleted strength instantly surging back into her veins as she began to sprint away.
Right before her figure vanished into the night, she spun around and waved joyfully toward the shore. "Denji, tomorrow! You absolutely have to wait for me tomorrow!"
"I will!"
Denji reached his hand out toward the moon above, suddenly feeling as though his dreams were well within his grasp.
As he thought, he really did love Reze.
Tomorrow sounded so close.
Denji stood up, gazing at the moon.
Right then, a deep, resonant voice drifted from his side.
"Tomorrow, Reze is going to die."
Denji whipped his head around, looking left and right. In the empty, barren landscape, the voice seemed to manifest completely out of thin air.
"Who's there?! Stop playing mind games!" he roared into the darkness.
A devil suddenly materialized directly in front of him. His silhouette appeared to descend straight from the thin moonlight, radiating a profound, perilous aura.
The moment this entity manifested, the entire coastline began to visibly warp and distort, as though cutting off any outside surveillance or eavesdropping.
Denji instinctively reached down to pull his starter cord.
But the roar of the chainsaw never came. His efforts were completely futile.
As he stood there frozen, the entity slowly extended a hand toward him. Denji could feel his heart hammering violently against his ribs.
The ancient presence spoke smoothly. "Denji, if you wish to run away with Reze, a price must be paid."
"A price? What price?" Denji swallowed hard.
"You must willingly surrender it: the Chainsaw Devil." The devil before him pointed directly at his chest.
"Pochita?" Denji felt the rhythmic thumping in his chest cavity.
The devil in front of him wanted to take Pochita away, the most precious thing he owned. But Pochita was already gone; could this demon actually possess a method to bring him back?
"Reze will be slaughtered by a devil you have absolutely no hope of resisting. I can personally place the two of you onto a train bound for the countryside. But the price... you already know it."
The entity raised his hand, and the massive, pristine silver moon instantly plunged into shadow.
Denji recognized this power. This was Kobeni's contracted devil, an entity powerful enough to completely tear the world apart. He had no reason to lie.
Reze? Or Pochita?
The freezing sea breeze slammed into his face, and Denji fell into an uncharacteristic silence.
If he chose to lose Reze, he could continue to stay in the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo. There were plenty of new companions here, and more importantly, Miss Makima was here.
He loved Miss Makima.
She was incredibly gentle, breathtakingly beautiful, and she was willing to feed him and keep him like a dog.
But if he gave up Pochita, Reze wouldn't have to die. They could go to the countryside. Maybe they would be happy, maybe they wouldn't.
A choice.
How was he supposed to choose? The answer should have been simple.
Zoran observed him in complete silence.
This was the exact moment he had been waiting for.
As the moonlight, he had silently observed and sustained the beautiful illusion of this boy's past two days. Now was the time to harvest.
What kind of choice would a mouse make once it had finally tasted the exquisite flavor of true happiness?
Denji focused on the rhythm of his heart. Suddenly, he felt as though he was hallucinating.
He heard Pochita's voice, speaking the exact same words from back in that abandoned factory when he was dying, the exact words spoken when Pochita became his heart.
"Hey, my dream has already come true. In exchange, Denji, what is your dream?"
"Pochita?" Denji pressed his palm hard against his chest. "Can you hear me? You can hear me, right?!"
Pochita's voice resonated clearly inside his mind. "Denji, I am willing to make your dream come true."
Denji clutched his chest, standing there dazed. When he finally spoke, his voice was dragged down incredibly low.
"Pochita... you already know what my dream is..."
He looked up at Zoran, murmuring to himself as the moonlight slowly coalesced in his eyes.
"The country mouse... doesn't sound half bad, actually."
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