The Special Division headquarters corridor was heavy from morning. A four-story government building in Chiyoda Ward's bureaucratic district. Looks normal from outside. But inside, everything's different. The walls. The hallway. The air itself. The first-floor lobby has a stone tablet. Names carved into it——names of Devil Hunters who died in service. Twenty to thirty new names added every year. That's how many people die in this place. Denji walked the corridor. He glanced at that tablet. (There are names not carved there yet.) The previous memory surfaced. Aki. Power. He still remembers both their names. Feels like he's seen them somewhere——if things actually went that way. He bit down hard. A man stood at the corridor's end. Tall. Around 182 centimeters. Black hair, slightly long. Bangs falling over his eyes. Sharp gray eyes. Small scar on his forehead. His posture had no wasted movement——not leaning against the wall, not sitting. Just standing. Suit worn with adult precision. Cold. That was the first impression. Stone-cold atmosphere. Hayakawa Aki. Senior Devil Hunter of the Public Safety Devilman Extermination Special Division. The moment Denji saw his face, his throat tightened slightly. (He's alive.) Just that made his chest twist in complicated ways. What happened to this Aki in the previous memory——he didn't want to think about it. But he knew. So whether seeing him alive here was happy or terrifying, he couldn't tell himself. He crushed the emotion down. Aki's eyes moved to Denji. A glance. One moment of looking, then he turned toward Makima. Makima stood slightly back in the corridor, wearing her usual gentle smile. "[cold]……Makima. Is this the new recruit?" Low voice. No emotion. "[gentle]Yes. This is Denji. I'd like you to be his instructor." "[cold]A brat like this in the Special Division?" He didn't look at Denji. Only at Makima. Like Denji was the same as the corridor wall. (Right. We're meeting for the first time now.) Denji thought that internally while bowing abruptly. "[serious]Thanks for having me." Aki saw it and sighed shortly. "[cold]Can't be helped." A habit, Denji thought. In the previous memory too, Aki said that often. ＊ Basement Level 1. Training grounds. Going underground beneath Special Division headquarters, the ceiling rose high. About 800 square meters. Floor scarred concrete. Training equipment lined the walls. Fluorescent lights cast white, sharp shadows. Denji stood in the middle. Aki stood opposite. About ten meters distance. Aki had removed his jacket. Just a white shirt. Faint scars visible on his exposed arms. Skin discolored in places. (Payment for the fox devil contract.) Devil Hunters borrow devil power through contracts. They pay with something——part of their body, lifespan, sensory organs. Aki gave the fox devil part of his skin. Each use, skin peels away bit by bit. "[serious]We're doing this combat-style." Aki said it. "[serious]If you dodge, it ends. If you don't, it continues. That's all." "[serious]Got it." Aki extended his right hand forward. Fingers moved slightly. ——It's coming. Denji knew. He'd seen this pattern countless times in the previous memory. Aki moves his hand. Fox devil summons. Massive jaws tear through space, appearing to bite. Fast. If he tried to dodge, jump right. His body almost moved on its own. (No.) Denji stopped that movement midway. He planted his feet. Deliberately stood still. The massive jaws bit down on Denji's left shoulder. A cracking sound echoed in his head. Impact came before pain. Denji rolled across the floor. Shoulder hit concrete. Flew straight into the wall. Back slammed against it. "ッ……" Sound escaped. Breath caught. Left shoulder burned hot. A searing pain spread. Iron taste in his mouth——he'd bitten his lip. "[cold]Get up." He got up. "[cold]Take stance." He took stance. Second strike came. Same way. This time his stomach. When he fell, vision flashed yellow for a moment. Painful. Really painful. But——Denji's body, fused with the Chainsaw Devil, recovers with blood. Wounds aren't deep. Can stand. He stood. Third strike. Right flank. Fell. Stood. Fourth strike. (Aki thinks Denji's a new recruit.) Denji thought while falling. (Thinks he's useless. That's fine. Better than Makima getting suspicious.) Makima was beyond the training ground's glass window now. Watching from outside. If Denji looked like he understood, kept taking hits, showed nothing——she wouldn't realize he had the previous memory. Fifth strike. Left leg. He collapsed flat. Knees shaking. Both shoulders heavy. Aki's feet appeared at the edge of vision. Coming closer. Stopped. "[cold]……If you can't stand, it ends here." Voice still low. Still emotionless. But Denji sensed something in Aki's voice. Not anger or contempt——something like confirmation. Like he was trying to see something. He gritted his teeth. Placed hands on floor. Pushed his body up. (Aki.) While standing, Denji thought. (Your whole family got killed by the Gun Devil 13 years ago.) The Gun Devil. Appeared suddenly 13 years ago. Killed 1.2 million people worldwide in five minutes. 550,000 in America. Over 57,000 in Japan. Aki's family was in those 57,000. Aki became a Devil Hunter for revenge. Hatred of the Gun Devil drives everything about this man. That hatred eventually destroys Aki himself. Denji knows this from the previous memory. So those cold eyes——cold now, certainly——felt terrifying somehow. Because he knew where this man's intensity was heading. "[cold]Still going?" "[serious]Yeah." Sixth strike came. ＊ When training ended, Denji was sprawled flat on the floor. Lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. White fluorescent light glared. Left shoulder hard to move. Flank ached with each breath. Blood taste still in his mouth. Aki had already put his jacket back on and left. Left only one final word. "[cold]Come at the same time tomorrow." That was all. Denji stared at the ceiling, spacing out. "[laughing]Ha-ha-ha! Dude, that's crazy!! Way too crazy!!" A familiar voice dropped from above. Power walked over from the training ground's edge. Red and gold two-tone bangs. Vertical-slit green eyes. Small horns on her forehead. As always, blood still on her hands, swinging them around, grinning. "[sarcastic]How many hits'd you take? Five? Six? First time I've ever seen someone get pounded that hard by Aki's fox devil." "[serious]Shut up." "[laughing]And you took every single one straight on. No way you couldn't dodge, right? Seriously? That's bad." Power crouched beside Denji. Teasing. Completely teasing. But——somehow, no sense of leaving. Like she was pretending to go but staying anyway. That's how Power was. Silence stretched. Power glanced around. No one else in the training ground. Aki had left. Beyond the glass window——no one. Power grabbed Denji's left arm without speaking. "……What——" "[cold]Shut it. Don't talk." Voice dropped low. Not teasing tone anymore. Power pressed her fingertip to Denji's left shoulder wound. Her finger cut slightly, blood seeping out. That blood seeped into the wound, soaking in. ——Hot. But the wound pain faded. Power's blood, being a blood fiend, has healing power. A fiend——a devil possessing a human corpse. Among them, Power controls blood. Not just hardening it into weapons. Like this, soaking into wounds, wounds close. Denji felt the shoulder wound gradually sealing. "……Hey, Power." "[sarcastic]What." "[serious]Thanks." Power pulled her hand away. Stood up. Didn't look at Denji. "[sarcastic]Whatever. Just felt like it." Said it, walked away quickly. Denji watched her back. (Yeah. You were always like this.) Same in the previous memory. Pretending to be selfish, but couldn't ignore someone really hurting. Did things for others while being embarrassed. That kind of person. Something trembled faintly in his chest. The feeling of wanting to protect. Denji pushed it deep down. Not feelings——had to think about the plan. Right now. ＊ In the corridor leaving the training ground, Makima was waiting. "[gentle]Good work, Denji. You got beaten worse than I expected." Gentle voice. Gentle smile. Denji grinned loosely. "[serious]Yeah, well. I'm new." Makima looked at Denji. ——That moment. Makima's eyes narrowed for just an instant. Smile unchanged. Voice unchanged. But only her eyes narrowed, measuring something——then returned to normal. "[gentle]Good. You did well." Just that, and Makima walked deeper into the corridor. Denji didn't move. (What did she see? What did those eyes confirm?) The smile hadn't changed. Words were normal. But that eye-narrowing——not the look she'd give a subordinate who felt nothing. Like she was confirming something. Did she understand? Or not? Couldn't even judge that. Denji stood alone in the corridor, staring where Makima disappeared. ＊ Night. Back at Corpo Minase Room 103. Six-mat room. Sat down on the floor. Pochita climbed onto his lap. Warm. Denji pulled a university notebook from his bag. New one. Bought it at a convenience store on the way home today. Gripped a pen. Opened the first page. Wrote. Everything that would happen next. ——Gun Devil meat collection mission. Hotel's Eternity Devil. The scene where Aki contracts with the Curse Devil. The Curse Devil eats lifespan with each use. Aki knows this. Uses it anyway. Won't hesitate to shave his own life for Gun Devil revenge. Wrote and wrote——stopped. Stared at one line written in the middle of the page. 'Bat Devil Incident' Hand stopped there. Power's cat, Nyako. Bat Devil kidnapped Nyako, threatened Power. Return the cat or provide a human. That's what Power was told. Power chose Denji. Offered Denji as sacrifice. Denji knows from the previous memory. Almost died. Really almost died. But——remembers Power just now. In the empty training ground, glanced around to confirm no one, then silently healed Denji's wounds. (She wasn't trying to sell him from the start. Got cornered and that's what happened.) Find Nyako first. Power won't need to make the deal. Won't need to negotiate with Bat Devil. Everything changes. Denji wrote in the notebook. 'Find Nyako' Then thought about the next problem. Aki's Curse Devil contract. How to stop this. When. How. Force it and Aki gets suspicious. But don't stop it and Aki's lifespan keeps eroding. (There's time. Not now.) But not now doesn't mean never. Eventually has to decide. Has to think about Makima too. That eye-narrowing. Maybe just today. But can't be careless. Denji closed the notebook. Pochita made a small sound. "[serious]I know." Muttered to no one in particular. Wants to change everything. Wants to protect everything. But move one thing and something else changes. Thought the previous memory was a map, but unmapped branch points keep appearing. Outside the window, streetlights swayed. Wind had come up. Denji stroked Pochita's back for a while. Pochita stayed still. (One at a time.) Find Nyako first. That's enough to think about tonight. Pochita shifted, turned around on Denji's lap. Closed its eyes again. Denji put the notebook back in his bag, leaned against the wall. The night was quiet.