Chapter Text
Denji Hayakawa felt euphoric. Nothing could bring him down.
Chainsaw man cut down the Bicycle Devil, it was almost laughably weak compared to him. The fight had taken no less than 10 seconds. A simple dodge and a slice before the devil dropped dead. Plus, he even managed to save two cute chicks.
“It’s Chainsaw man!” One of the girls gushed as she shook her stunned friend from under the table of the cafe they were in. Hell yeah. At least one of them was a big fan. With a grin underneath his chainsaw head, Denji Hayakawa blew a kiss to the ladies; using the chain from the chainsaw protruding out of his right arm to hook onto a nearby building, making his exit, scanning the area for any other devils before landing in an alley.
Transforming back into his human form, Denji shook his head to get the last of the chainsaw goop from his hair. Gotta look presentable for the ladies. He rolled down his sleeves on his uniform, shaking a bit of goop off of his forearm before heading out of the alley he landed in. He loved the adrenaline rush fighting gave him, but loved even more the attention he got from it, especially from the ladies.
However he also had a schedule to keep, and that schedule included picking up his adoptive daughter, Nayuta Hayakawa, the Control Devil. Dropped on his lap by Kishibe, the reincarnated Control Devil quickly adjusted to living with Denji, despite her inhuman nature. She was family though, and he did love her. Not the same love he had felt for Makima, the previous Control Devil. This love was closer to the love he felt for Power. Familial love.
Denji was deep in thought as he walked, passing an ambulance screaming down the road, rushing to where he had just been with the bicycle devil. He sighed as he saw two private sector hunters sprinting after the ambulance, no doubt having not heard that he had taken the devil out already. He let them pass by, bored as he walked to Nayuta’s school. He watched as people talked amongst themselves and went about their business.
Denji walked past a building plastered with posters. Glancing, he saw it was that stupid church’s fliers. The one about him. ‘Join the Church of Chainsaw Man, create a world without evil!’
What a load of crap. They made merch, they made a literal church with my head on it, and I don’t get any profit from it. If they really worshiped me they would be giving me all their donations. If I had the money they were probably making, I’d want some expensive food, or maybe a cool car or something like that.
Denji approached Nayuta’s school as he thought about Miss Makima. What she had done and how he had handled it. Had he truly made the right choices? Aki was dead. Power was dead. Both of them dying is his own damn fault. Doesn’t matter what Kishibe or Kobeni had said.
I’ll always have to live with the fact that I killed Aki, Power, and Makima.
Denji entered the building and walked to the front office slowly. He saw a small group of kids that looked around Nayuta’s age walking together as a group laughing and smiling. Denji tried not to feel sad, but he was.
He was robbed of a normal life. He had never gone to school. All he had was Pochita and dreams when he was their age.
Sometimes he wondered how he was able to even survive off of bread, stolen deli meat, and dumpster diving as a kid. Especially when a portion of all his meals went to the Pochita. Denji touched his chest on reflex, feeling the familiar ripcord and the triangular end piece. The part that used to be Pochita’s tail.
He was kinda dead too. Denji’s heart had been replaced by Pochita’s heart, allowing him to transform into Chainsaw Man. He knew Pochita watched him from his heart, somehow. He also could talk to him and he was pretty sure Pochita could hear him. But most of the time Pochita appeared in his dreams. Some of his dreams showed memories of Pochita, either his years in hell, or being hugged by Denji, and some flashes of the fight that wounded him enough to retreat to earth in his weakened form, and meeting Denji.
Denji smiled and waved at the receptionist for the school, signing a sheet for after school pickup. Despite only starting to learn how to read and write properly last year, his signature was pretty good. Denji slowly meandered down the hall to Nayuta’s class, sometimes peeking in classrooms, seeing the empty classes, the occasional teacher working on their computers, and another group of kids smiling and talking about some video game that they all played.
He knew it was dumb to be jealous of them.
That didn’t stop him from being a little jealous though.
They are living my old dreams and they don’t even know it.
Denji brushed off the thought and realized he was scowling. Denjis shook his head a little before smiling and opening the door to Nayuta’s classroom. Seeing her smiling and sitting in a large group as the teacher read to the class was nice. She looks happy. Somedays I wonder if I’m… enough for her. I was told to raise her. Nayuta was the first one in the classroom to notice him as she ran to him.
Denji didn’t doubt she knew where he was the moment he had entered the building, probably even had birds or rats following him all day, keeping up with his movements. She definitely had birds or rats around the building. Her powers as the Control Devil allows her to control people or animals she deems ‘less than’ herself. Inferior in some way. Makima saw herself as above everyone, but Denji had a bond built on equality with Nayuta.
She’d been getting stronger lately too, probably some world leaders nervous about where and what the control devil could possibly be doing. That or she’s terrorizing her classmates. Probably something to worry about in the future.
“DENJI!” Nayuta practically yelled as she sprinted away from the group and jumped into his arms, disrupting the teacher from her sentence in the book she was reading. The entire class looked back as Denji waved at them sheepishly, a little embarrassed about her causing a scene. Without a word, Denji carried Nayuta over to where her cubby was and grabbed her back pack that he had fished out of a donation bin before she had started school. Public safety never gave him any allowance or money to raise Nayuta or even provide for himself.
“How was your day?” He asked softly as he slung her backpack over his shoulder, with the other arm still carrying Nayuta.
“Dunno. Kinda boring. I learned more spelling.” Nayuta said quickly, before launching into her proposal she did after every day he picked her up…“Can we get a treat? Please, I was good!” She whined a little.
Denji quietly closed the classroom door behind him and walked out with Nayuta still in his arm, giving a half hug. “Pleaseeee!” she continued whining.
“You know how tight money is… plus I’m saving for your college fund. After your next test we can get a treat if you do good on it.” Denji replied as he exited the building, starting the trek home.
Nayuta sighed and nuzzled into Denji’s shoulder a bit more. “Let’s make a contract then. You will get ice cream for me if I get eighty percent on it!”
“You think an eighty is worth ice cream? Let’s go with a ninety at least.” Denji replied back smiling. He knew Nayuta was capable of getting all of her words right, and wanted to push her into doing better. “And you have to show me your vocab words too for a topping. Deal?”
“Fine…” Nayuta said after a small moment to consider his offer. “How was your day Denji? Make any money?”
“After school, I made almost 10,000 yen from a fake charity and then fought some devil. Pretty slow day. To be honest, grateful that after school care is open this late.” Denji replied nonchalantly. He didn’t want her to be worrying about money. Even if it was just for ice cream, he didn’t want Nayuta to ever worry about money the same way he did as a kid. Denji did what he could for money. Scamming, stealing, doing some tasks for his neighbors, starting fake charities, and occasionally begging. Hurt his pride begging but he needed the money. Was easier to save money now that he didn’t have to give 95% of his money to the Yakuza.
Denji didn’t get time to continue that thought further as Nayuta bombarded him with questions “You turned into Chainsaw man? Was the devil cool? What was its name? Did anyone see you? Your clothes aren’t covered in blood at all! Did some hunter kill it?” She kept rapid firing questions before he could get an answer out.
“Chill! Jeez! Uhh yeah, I transformed, was some weak sauce devil so it wasn’t too hard. Had like handlebars as a head so probably the bike devil or somethin. Couple chicks saw me so that was cool” Denji paused to sigh and shift Nayuta’s weight before continuing, “Nobody but me killed it! I’m Chainsaw Man after all!”
“Hmph. Bike devil? Who on earth is afraid of bikes? What a boring concept.” She morosely replied. She always loved stories of him fighting devils. Even the gross ones that he shared made her happy.
Denji replied, “Probably kids learning to ride for the first time, uhhh kids that fell off their bikes and are scared to ride again, and maybe people that have had bikes thrown at them” Nayuta giggled as they rounded a corner and were in eyesight of their apartment building. Denji had been trying to hammer in the concept of empathy to the control devil, and had been having varying degrees of success. Devils have an extremely high pain tolerance, as well as having the ability to regenerate and heal when consuming blood.
“Humans are so foolish sometimes… who could ever be afraid of a skinned knee!” Nayuta kept laughing and giggling.
“Well unlike you Nayuta, humans don’t have the ability to regenerate, so skinned knees hurt a lot longer, as well as take a while to heal all the way.” He gently responded as he crossed the street. Nayuta scoffed before giving it some thought.
“I guess that makes-hang on… I smell something.” Nayuta perked up about halfway across the street before looking around alert and confused.
‘Shit’ Denji thought as his eyes darted around. She was like a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out devils. He didn’t like fighting Devils so close to home in case there was any damage to their apartment, but he’d have to make do this time. Why couldn’t Kishibe or the Public Safety hotline answer his calls about posting a guard here?
In the center of the street, about 30 yards away a vortex opened, spilling various colors out of it as a devil stepped out from it:
The devil stood about twelve feet tall, with about half a dozen arms on each side, all covered in what looked like fingers, tongues, and ears. Two extremely muscular legs that contained what looked like human fingernails as armor. It’s face, twisted into an almost human head, had 6 eyes, three mouths, and 4 noses. It had two tusks of yellowed teeth coming out of its main mouth.
Two of his neighbors saw the commotion and ran. Probably to get help, but Denji wouldn’t need it. I’m Chainsaw Man after all.
Before Denji could open his mouth Nayuta shot a chain from her finger towards the devil. The devil reacted insanely fast, raising one of its arms with and emitting a blue orb the chain slammed into. Nayuta nearly fell out of Denji’s arm as the chain went taut and Nayuta got yanked towards it.
“Break the chain!” Denji shouted as he yanked his cord, partially transformed, willing for no chainsaws to appear on his arms, but rather his legs as he dug into the concrete against the pull of the devil. His shoes and pant legs were shredded as the saws dug into the pavement.
Nayuta grunted from the strain “Can’t… it won’t let me… it’s making me continue to activate it…” What the hell kinda devil is this? Forcibly keeping powers active? How the hell am I supposed to fight it if this devil keeps pulling her in!
One of the Devil’s mouths opened, before speaking in a female voice Denji was haunted by. “When devils die they are reborn in hell. I won’t be me anymore though. Denji. Go find the Blood Devil. And find them, make friends with them somehow… and turn the blood devil back into Power again. Then I can be your buddy again, can’t I?” It paused.
Denji swore. It was using Power’s voice. This thing somehow overheard the conversation he and power had before her death.
It continued from the same mouth. “Denji. This is a contract. I’ll give you my blood. In exchange… come find me.” The main mouth laughed sadistically before speaking in a deep, booming voice. “Denji… 9 months ago you made a contract with the Blood Devil… none of these conditions for this contract being fulfilled on your end, and no progress has been attempted for 9 months. Due to this I must render the contract unfulfilled. Normally, when a human fails to complete a contract, they lose what they have gained… however, you are not human.”
Denji was losing ground as the devil spoke, only about 20 yards away from the devil now. If he let go of Nayuta, he could take out the devil, but he didn’t know what would happen to her. Probably yanked into that blue orb. Who knows what would happen if she makes contact with it.
Holding Nayuta tightly with his right arm, he willed his left arm to produce a chainsaw. 15 yards of distance from the devil. Denji swung the chainsaw against the chain Nayuta had produced as she howled in pain, the strain of him holding her in place and the pulling from the devil being too much. The impact of the chainsaw had sent sparks flying, but Denji hadn’t put any weight into the swing as he was too busy holding Nayuta, ensuring she wouldn't pulled.The chain simply regenerated the small amount of damage that had been done.
“Show me your dreams” the devils' other mouth croaked. Distorting Pochita’s voice, the devils mouths contorted into nasty grins, as it cackled and groaned as it made an effort to speak again from the main voice.
“I am… the Contract Devil. For most contracts made by humans and devils, I get a portion of the sacrifice…” it’s voice is a mixture of thousands of voices spoken through one mouth.
“Chainsaw Man… you have broken a contract… when you broke your first contract… the true form of the Chainsaw devil protected you from me… but now that this contract is void, and you have already reaped the benefits, by killing Makima… you must be punished… I shall send you to a place where you will never feel the joy of fighting devils. A place where you will be one face in the crowd, even with your powers. A parallel world… filled with heroes and villains. A place where the Chainsaw Man can never return to this place. Goodbye… Chainsaw Man.”
The ground where Denji once stood suddenly turned blue, and he and Nayuta fell through the ground into hell. Denji retracted the chainsaws on his legs and arm before hugging Nayuta tighter, determined to bear the brunt of the fall.
I’ve been lying to myself. I told myself that I was waiting for the right moment, waiting for a sign to go look for her. But the truth was simpler and uglier: I was happy. For the first time in my life, I was happy. I was Chainsaw Man, and I got to live a nice life with Nayuta. I traded my promise to the dead for a quiet life with the living.
Every time he’d tucked Nayuta in, every time he’d celebrated a good grade, he’d been pushing Power further into the back of his mind. He had chosen the Control Devil over the Blood Devil. He had been so busy being a "good" dad that he had become a shitty friend.
I’m sorry, Power… I was just... I finally liked how things were. I didn't want to mess it up.
The wind whipping the tears from his eyes before they could even fall.
He saw countless devils watch him fall, but when he was about to land, the pair kept falling through the ground. A sea of black engulfed him as his ears popped several times. Then, he caught a glimpse of hell, this time there were no devils. Just vaporous phantoms screaming. A second hell? Pochita’s memories never showed anything like this!
He continued to plummet as he saw a final blue light launch him into a bustling city, tossing him and Nayuta into a dumpster.