[1st POV]
After lounging in the VIP room, I brought Denji back home.
Well, not my home exactly, but Aki's apartment, his new home.
After giving it some thought, I was content with being the cool older brother or cool uncle that appears now and then for Denji. I did not want to be his parent, basically. I had so many things I needed to do.
Like eating.
And eating.
And going on a date with Reze and eating.
I'm quite busy, you know.
But seriously, I thought it would be better if Aki and Denji developed their relationship as they did in canon. That way, I would also ensure that the story proceeded as closely to canon as possible and my future knowledge could be put to use.
It would be quite pointless if I intervened too much. I at least wanted to exploit my limited knowledge as much as I could.
After bringing him to Aki's apartment, he said he wanted to take a shit. I showed him the toilet and also told him to take a bath after he was done.
On the other hand, I was in the kitchen cooking. My hunger could never be satiated and I enjoyed cooking, so why not? I also made extra for Denji and Aki in case he returned today.
That was a good decision because not long after, Aki entered the apartment.
"What are you doing in my apartment?" he asked when he crossed the hallway.
"Oh, look, you're alive," I said. I was standing behind the kitchen counter, cutting up some vegetables. Steak should always go with greens and mashed potatoes.
"How did you get into my apartment? I locked it before I left," he said, still standing there and questioning.
"Bitch please, I can eat the literal personification of the concept of Accident. Trust me, I can get into any apartment," I said.
"Besides, my shlong can open any hole."
"This is perfect, just what I need after attending the funeral of a colleague," he said with a sigh.
He came to the kitchen and set down his sword and coat before opening the fridge and taking out a bottle of cold water.
"Who died? I'm surprised people find a way to die before you," I joked. He said colleague, so they probably weren't close.
"You don't know?" he drank the water first. "There was a funeral for Senior Kishibe of the First Special Division."
"If you don't tell me, assume I don't know," I said and continued to chop the vegetables until I paused and did a double take.
"Wait, did you just say the fucking strongest Devil Hunter in the world is dead?" I asked, surprised. Almost horrified, because I was pretty sure Kishibe was a major character who even trained Denji and Power.
Aki gave a nod, downing the water bottle like it was beer or something.
"When did this even happen?" I asked, my thoughts passing a million miles per hour.
"You truly are clueless," he sighed with a shake of his head.
"Just fucking answer, this is serious."
"Dumbass, he died in the Kan-Etsu Expressway incident. You were there," Aki said, crushing the empty plastic bottle and tossing it into the dustbin.
"And they held a funeral just now? He died like a week ago."
"His body was the only body that was not found. Many people assumed he would still be alive and pop up again soon, like he always did. But after a week of his disappearance, the government officially declared him dead," Aki said.
I threw my knife on the counter and leaned on it. I ran a hand through my pink hair, trying not to let emotion get the better of me.
He should be alive.
Kishibe should be alive.
And if he was not, then I hoped I killed him.
At least that would put me as the sole factor that could change the fate of these characters. If not, that meant the butterfly effect was real and the consequences were big enough to kill off major characters in the story.
I knew my existence was going to have a butterfly effect sooner or later, but I didn't think major characters would die so easily. So easily that I didn't even notice it until a week later.
That was a huge concern for me.
"You okay?" Aki asked, his voice concerned.
"No man. I just realized something," I said and turned to look at him.
"You can die anytime," I said with a dead serious face.
Aki rolled his eyes, thinking that it was a joke. It wasn't. The only reason it was a joke before was that I had a little bit of faith in the fate of his character not to die so easily.
But now this proved that in this world, major characters were just like any other NPC civilians. They could die easily, in a snap of a finger.
It was kind of freaky.
"At least you're cooking to make up for your antics. I am starving," Aki said, standing beside me and picking up the knife to finish my half-chopped vegetables.
But before he began chopping, he paused. Without the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board, you could hear the sound of someone showering coming from the bathroom.
"Jin..." Aki asked. "Who's in the bathroom?"
He looked me straight in the eye.
"Oh, it's just-" I was about to answer but then stopped myself. I looked back at his eyes and got an idea.
The sudden idea replaced my worries, so I decided to go with it.
"It's just Makima," I said and waved it off.
"What?" he asked, his whole face changing. Then his cheeks became a bit red when he listened more closely to the shower.
"No it's not," he denied.
"Who else would it be? You and Makima are the only people in my life," I shrugged, lying as easily as I breathed.
If it was for the sake of a good joke, I could lie as well as Makima or Reze.
Hearing that, Aki became even more flustered.
"W-What is she doing in my apartment?" he asked in a hushed tone.
"Don't ask me. She was already here when I came. Maybe she wanted to talk to you about something," I said.
"She could just call me to her office if she wanted to tell me something important," Aki said.
"Like I said, I don't know why she's here. And why are you blushing, man? Are you getting excited just thinking about her naked in the next room?" I teased.
"No, that's what YOU think," he said. "And how do you know she's naked in there?"
I looked around the apartment and my eyes locked on the table in the living room. I couldn't believe what I saw there.
"Look at that," I said.
Aki turned and saw the new Devil Hunter uniform. But what was more eye-catching was the towel on the table.
I brought that out for Denji, but he forgot to take it into the bath with him.
"She forgot her towel. That means she's going to come out naked," I said with a shit-eating grin. The jokes were literally writing themselves.
"What? Give it to her quick!"
"Nah, you do it, man."
"Go give it to her!!"
And while he was having a small panic attack and I was holding back a laugh, the shower stopped.
We did too.
"Oh no," Aki gulped.
We heard footsteps coming from the bathroom and then the door unlocked. I moved behind Aki and pushed him forward.
The door opened.
Aki wanted to close his eyes, but he also wanted to see. He was still a man in the end, so he watched with wide, unblinking eyes as the figure stepped out from the bathroom.
"Oops, I forgot my towel," Denji said, appearing naked outside with his dick swinging and balls jiggling.
I finally burst out laughing. I held my stomach with one hand and the counter with the other.
Aki slowly turned toward me, his face cold and deadpan, which was a stark contrast to his flustered and panicked expression a few seconds ago.
That made me laugh harder. I fell on the ground, rolling. You should have seen the myriad of emotions he went through before his eyes finally got violated.
"I hate you," he said.
..
..
////////////////////
[1st POV]
"Wait, where do you think you're going?" Aki said, stopping me at his door.
"Japan is too cold. I'm moving to Venus," I said while putting on my shoes. "What do you think? I'm going home."
"But what about him?" he asked.
I looked up after putting on my shoe. It had been hours since I introduced the two of them and helped in the initial stage of their budding friendship. Unlike kicking balls in canon, they started off smoothly.
Aki was in his blue pajamas, his hair untied. I could see Denji sitting on the floor in the living room, fiddling with the jar of peanut butter.
"Denji?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Oh, he's living with you now," I said like I was saying the sky is blue. Duh.
"What?! You're supposed to be the one taking care of him," he said.
"I am SUPPOSED to take care of him. But YOU will take care of him," I said, touching his chest with my index finger.
"You can't do that."
"Uhhh I can... and I am," I said. "Last time I checked, I was your captain."
"I thought the leader was supposed to take care of his subordinates and fulfill his duty?" he accused me.
"Wrong again. A leader is SUPPOSED to take care of his subordinates and fulfill his duty. But in reality, what a leader does is push all the difficult work onto his subordinates and take all the credit and rewards," I said.
Now Aki was looking at me with an are-you-kidding-me expression.
"Welcome to the corrupt work system," I said and patted his shoulder.
"And don't worry too much, Denji will behave," I said and looked over his shoulder before shouting.
"You're going to behave, right, Denji?!"
"Sure!!" he shouted back.
"And make sure you listen to Aki over here. Obey his orders, okay!" I said.
"Easy peasy!" he shouted back with a thumbs up.
"And don't clog the toilet again!" I added.
"He did what?!" Aki asked, shocked.
"He ate a lot today. Probably wouldn't happen again," I said and quickly got out of the apartment, shutting the door before Aki could catch me.
I made a beeline for my apartment and locked the door.
I released a deep sigh. The silence was nice after all that had happened today.
But silence also meant space for thoughts. Some unwanted.
...
...
I dispelled the silence by allowing the devils inside me to talk.
(LET ME OUT!!! LET ME OUT!!!!) the Accident Devil screamed, but the others had learned that such things were useless.
I felt every devil in my stomach for a moment before I spoke to them.
"Explain to me the current state you are in while inside my stomach," I asked.
(Ohhh, interesting. You want something from us. All humans want something from us) the Forest Devil said, immediately assuming things.
Well, it was the correct assumption.
The canon was starting, meaning things were about to get messy soon. And fortunately or unfortunately, I was reminded of the fickleness of human lives.
Even if they were once a major character in the anime I watched.
My main concern being Aki.
"Do you think you can form contracts while still inside my stomach?"
..
..
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Author : More stone please. We are in top three.
Let's do the same challenge. Currently at 623, so 500 more stones in a 24 hour window. That is 1123 stones before the next update.