[1st POV]
(1 week later)
It was noon.
I ran into quite a number of devils this morning for some weird reason. I couldn't even go meet Reze in the cafe. The patrol stretched till noon, and right now I was having ramen for lunch at a familiar street food stand.
I slurped up the noodles and enjoyed the taste for a moment. Like I always said, it was not about getting full for me, but all about the taste.
"Splendid as always, but I think you really outdid yourself today, Genzo," I said to the old man standing behind the stall.
He was a very, very old man who was thinner than the noodles he was working with. A set of white hair sat on top of his head like an overused paintbrush, and his face had wrinkles that spoke of years of experience. In the world of Chainsawman, an old man like that got instant respect from me.
He had a smug smile on his inward mouth that had lost most of its teeth.
"So is it still the usual twelve bowl more or...?" he asked.
"Make that double today," I said.
"Twenty one bowls coming right up!" he said, trying to act enthusiastic, but his frail body did not allow much excess movement. He also said twenty one when it should have been twenty four, but I did not correct him.
You might think it was cruel to overwork the poor man, but no. He was very proud of his work and actually enjoyed the massive order as a fun challenge. He scolded me harshly once when he realised I had held myself back with my order.
"Old man miscounts by three," one of the customers sitting beside me said. He was familiar, although I did not know his name. He was a regular here.
"He knows what he's doing. If he added one more bowl he'll collapse and die. He knows his limit," another customer said.
There were four customers in total, including me. The small street stall was always filled with customers every moment of the day. People with real taste know what's up.
"Hey young man, what's up with the massive order today anyway. You eating your sorrows away?" the customer beside me asked.
"Nah, just tired from today's work," I said.
"You work for the Public Safety Commission, right? You're a devil hunter," he said.
"Yup," I answered while eating the katsudon topping of the ramen. Katsudon was pork, and as the pig devil slash cannibal devil I absolutely enjoyed the flavours.
"So what happened today? Must be more exciting than my job back at the office," he asked.
"Had a few run-ins with a few too many devils. The last devil I fought nearly destroyed my taste buds, it was the Chilli Devil," I said.
"The Chilli Devil?" the others remarked. "Must be a bitch to fight."
"Is it strong because I know at least seven people responsible for making it so," the only woman among us said with a smile.
"It was not strong, just extremely annoying with its gas attacks," I said.
"Must be rough. I don't think I have the right to even complain about my paperwork," the guy beside me said.
"Trust me, you have every right to complain. I hate paperwork," I said. Especially in Japan that loved keeping every little record on paper, the work could be a nightmare.
If Paperwoek Devil appeared, I swear it would be the strongest devil yet.
"You know, I always wanted to be a Devil Hunter too but never got the balls to go through with it," the second guy said. He had dirty orange hair and an unkempt mustache.
"I'll say you have great survival instincts. Only insane people become Devil Hunters," I said while finishing my second bowl of ramen.
"You look pretty sane to me kid," he said.
"You have no idea," I smiled.
We shared a pleasant conversation while we ate our lunch. The other customers ordered more than a few bowls too, seemingly inspired by my massive order.
Through our small talk I learned some things about them. The guy sitting beside me was a regular customer. He was divorced, no longer having a wife to pack him lunch so that's why he was a regular. The tragic thing about it was that his ex-wife and children died from a devil attack after they moved away from his life.
The orange-haired guy was a delivery guy for a big company. He loved coming through this route and enjoyed many different street foods while on his job. He swore that old man Genzo's ramen was one of the best throughout Japan.
The woman was a manager at a bank. The typical middle-aged woman who was too focused on her career so she never married, while all her peers had children. She was at the point in her life where she regretted every decision she had made.
Sacrificing motherhood for a job that didn't give a shit about you was enough to make any girl depressed. She didn't have a family to call her own, and she felt immensely lonely, especially since her parents died.
"That's an easy fix, marry this guy then," I said while hugging the man next to me.
"What?!" the woman asked, flustered.
"I think I have enough woman issues to last me a lifetime," he said.
"Said every guy before they saw a pair of tits," I said.
"Everyone's not like you, dude."
"I know, but think about it, she's not like other women. She has no experience with men, and she knows the importance of family and having a husband, so she's going to treasure you," I said and we saw the woman nodding rapidly.
He stared at her for a while. She was not bad looking at all. I could tell she must've broken many men's hearts in her youth.
"Give it a try," I said. "Maybe it will finally give you purpose in life again."
"...why not," he said.
"Yes!!" I celebrated and quickly downed another bowl to celebrate. "I love playing cupid."
"What about me? I'm single," the orange guy asked and pointed at himself.
"You're an alcoholic and a gambler dude," I said.
"So?"
"You have to pick one. A wife or alcohol?"
"....I'll stay single then," he said and silently returned to his ramen.
"Thought so."
Right then I got a call. I quickly took out my phone and saw that it was Makima.
"Hello?"
"Come to my office as soon as you can Jin," she said and then hung up immediately.
"What the?" I stared at my phone. It sounded urgent.
I quickly pocketed my phone and got up to leave the stall.
"Wait a minute Jin, you still have two more bowls to go!?" Old Genzo said when he saw me getting up to leave.
"Sorry, something came up. It's an emergency," I said and quickly pulled out the money for all twenty one bowls of noodles.
"You want me to quickly make the ramen and pack them for you?" he asked.
"Just give them to the new couple. I'll pay for their first date," I said and piled the cash on the counter.
"Nice meeting you all and thanks for the food Genzo," I said and quickly rushed away.
..
..
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(Public Safety Commission Headquarters)
By the time I reached the headquarters, I saw Makima already standing in front of the building. That was something worth noting because I never saw her like that. I knew her as a patient person but right now she seemed impatient and almost desperate.
"Hey Miss Makima," I said while running up to her.
But she was in no mood for greetings.
"Get in the car quickly Jin," she said and grabbed me by the arm before pulling me toward the car parked at the side of the road.
"What's going on?" I asked and jumped into the backseat. Makima entered quickly and closed the door.
"I'll tell you on the way," she said. "Drive, Jinpei."
The engine roared and we took off immediately. I nearly fell back from the sudden acceleration.
"Okay... I'm getting a bad feeling about this," I said, blinking, absolutely confused.
"A dire situation came up," Makima began and exhaled a deep sigh. She turned to me, her eyes showing emotions I had not seen before. I couldn't tell if it was a lie or not.
"It was supposed to be a normal day on the highway but the Mortality Devil appeared on the Kan-Etsu Expressway, E-17, Yuzawa section. At the moment of its appearance, it killed sixty two people and injured many more. The casualty count is still increasing even now," she said.
My face became serious in an instant too.
"The Public Safety Commission responded quickly, blocking the highway and dispatching the special divisions in Niigata Prefecture. The Mortality Devil was not known to be exceptionally strong so the issue was thought to be taken care of," she said.
"Then what happened?"
"Eight Devil Hunter squads and two special divisions of Niigata were completely wiped out," she said.
"How the fuck did that happen?" I asked in surprise. Eight squads and two divisions was a lot of Devil Hunters. It could be called an army at that point but everyone was wiped out.
A simple devil couldn't do that so what the hell was going on?
"The Mortality Devil was not alone. The appearance of another devil changed everything," she said.
"The Accident Devil, considered a national level threat, appeared in Japan a few hours ago," she revealed.
I did not need to be a genius to figure out how powerful the Accident Devil would be. The name was enough to say everything.
"The Accident Devil has appeared throughout the globe and the whole world has a bloody history to remember it. There have been six appearances in the span of half a century, each time thousands of lives were lost," she said.
"The Nuremberg Derailment, Germany 1947. Two thousand plus deaths," she began listing them.
"The tragedy of Highway 666, United States 1956. Six thousand plus deaths."
"The Krasnoyarsk Bridge pile-up, Russia 1961. Three thousand plus deaths."
"The Red Bhopal Night, India 1973. Twelve thousand plus deaths."
"The Mont Blanc Tunnel fire, France 1988. Five thousand plus deaths."
"The Guangzhou Collision, China 1993. Sixteen thousand plus deaths."
My face fell with every death and every incident.
"And now, Kan-Etsu Expressway, Japan 1997. Over two hundred plus deaths and still counting," she said with the heaviest tone possible.
"Jin," she said after taking a breath, "I want you to do something for me."
"....." I stared into her hypnotic yellow eyes.
"Eat the Accident Devil."
..
..
[IMAGE]
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