[1st POV]
No.
The answer was no.
After a sleepless night of trying to do shit like vomiting out the devils inside my stomach and trying to let them take possession over my body, none showed favorable results.
My research was not without positive rewards though, as I had come to learn my abilities and myself on a deeper level.
Like, did you know the devils I ate literally became part of me? They were not just inside my stomach, and I could use their ability. I was literally them.
I was the Scalpel Devil, the Rabies Devil, the Teeth Devil, the Sex Devil, the Forest Devil, the Cannibal Devil, and the Accident Devil. They were all part of me, and I am them.
They weren't me though. They were not Jin Nakahara or the Pig Devil. That was the important part. The relationship between us didn't go both ways.
The fear that came to power these concepts was also mine. Their abilities were mine, their nature was mine. They became part of me and I sealed that part of me. That would be a better way to describe the situation.
Imagine I grew an extra arm, but I wrapped that away to still retain my human, original figure.
But that also brought up the final possibility.
Perhaps I could form a contract with a human.
Hybrids could not form a contract with humans, but perhaps I could. As I said, I wasn't just a hybrid Pig Devil anymore. I was something more than that. With all the Devil inside me, I was more devil than I was human.
By the time these thoughts entered my mind, it was already morning outside. I could hear Denji and Aki leaving early in the morning to patrol. I didn't follow them and simply rolled over, pulling the blanket over my head and trying to sleep.
But of course, the thought of someone waiting for my arrival in the cafe eventually pushed me off my bed. The lack of sleep didn't affect me physically, but it did mentally and psychologically.
But to hell with it, I went to the Crossroads Cafe like usual.
..
..
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[3rd POV]
Aki and Denji went together on a morning patrol. Unlike the canon, this was their first patrol together. The silence between them was awkward, if not uncomfortable.
The two had got to know each other through Jin, but it was hard to initiate interaction without the third person holding them together. Aki was not really the type to force social interaction, and Denji was just plain ignorant of all these things.
"Man, being a Devil Hunter is easy. I guess it's not dangerous like Jin said it was. We just walk around and get paid," Denji said with a yawn. He was walking backwards along the side of the street.
"The dangerous part of the job is when you have to fight a devil," Aki said.
"I do that all the time," Denji said.
"You fight really strong devils here," Aki said again.
"Fighting strong devils? Okay, when will that be?" Denji asked with a tilt of his head.
Aki said after a moment of silence, "When they appear."
"So we just wait for them to appear?" Denji asked.
Aki gave a nod.
It was not that Denji was unhappy with doing nothing. It was just that he had gotten so used to doing different jobs and killing different devils that the concept of working a normal job was still sinking in.
As if Devil Hunting could even be considered a normal job. But it was still a huge upgrade from his previous situation, where he was exploited endlessly by the Yakuza.
"Watch where you're going," Aki said, pulling Denji to the side so that he didn't hit another pedestrian. He forcefully twisted his body to make him walk normally, with his face in front.
"My bad," Denji said.
The two continued their patrol through the city. Aki was not as hostile as he was in the canon, but he was not too welcoming either. Denji had to find his place between them. And the boy had no clue how to do that. He probably didn't even know he had to do that.
"Hey Aki, what's with you and Jin?" Denji asked after another long stretch of silence.
"Well, we are friends," Aki said and then recalled the time when Jin said to him, "We are best friends."
"Best friends, huh," Denji said, hands behind his head. "He seems like a good person. He treated me to lots of food yesterday and even told me he would give me a home and tons of friends."
"He said that?" Aki said with a raised eyebrow. The Jin he knew was not too caring about others.
Jin was not evil, but he had a certain selfish nature to him. There were only a handful of people he cared about. But that was to be expected with a past like his. If Aki put himself in his shoes, he didn't think he could ever see any other human the same.
So Aki considered himself lucky to be one of the few people Jin cared about.
But this guy, Denji. From the little he had seen, Jin had shown an extraordinary amount of care towards him.
Aki wondered if there was a factor to it. Something that made him, Denji, Himeno, and even the girl in the cafe special in Jin's eyes.
Was it a coincidence?
"He did," Denji nodded.
Aki could see now why Jin forced Denji to live under him. He was giving the boy shelter and a new companion. Two birds with one stone. His reasoning was not based purely on laziness or something like that.
"He wants me to be friends with him?" Aki thought while looking at Denji, who was picking his nose in public.
He found that to be unlikely.
"I guess he is a good person, in a way. In all the ways he knew how," Aki said.
"He's strong too," Denji added.
Aki turned to him. "And how do you know that?"
Denji did not answer but simply pointed at his heart as if that meant something.
"When I tried to hit him, my heart nearly stopped beating," Denji said, recalling that moment. "And I think I heard Pochita screaming at me not to do it."
"Who's Pochita?" Aki asked the important question.
"Pochita is my best friend."
"And where is he?"
"He's inside of me," Denji said without any hint of explaining further. Like that was a common sense phrase, like saying tomorrow is the next day.
Aki could only sigh. People around him were so weird.
But fortunately, his phone rang. He had received a call from the Public Safety Commission. A devil had appeared inside their designated territory and had taken over a human's body to become a fiend.
The police had already contained the situation, but they needed a Devil Hunter to kill the fiend.
"We have work, let's go," Aki said, and they both ran towards the location.
When they reached the house that contained the fiend, the police were already on the scene. Aki and Denji went in together and they easily found the insect-type fiend inside.
The fiend looked quite normal except for the pincer he had for a mouth. Aki was about to kill the devil before he decided to let Denji handle it. He wanted to see what the new guy could do.
Denji shrugged and chopped the head off with the axe he carried. It was simple and efficient because the human inside was still resisting the devil, and it was not a complete possession yet.
Aki carefully observed everything. From the practiced ease with which Denji swung and his lack of hesitation or second thought. His practiced action was not a perfect technique or anything. It was simply fluid, like someone who had done this many times before.
"I thought you were going to use your powers," Aki commented, putting his hand down that was holding the sheath of his sword.
"My power is too messy," Denji said before shifting to the side and crouching near a pile of dirty magazines.
"I don't want to get these dirty," he said with a perverted smile while picking up the magazines with naked women covers.
Aki sighed, thinking that it seemed more like Denji had the Sex Devil and not Jin. But then again, everyone had their own weird quirks. A horny teenager was nothing new.
"You said you fought with devils before," Aki asked. "Can you explain a bit more?"
"Oh, my father owed the Yakuza a bunch of money, so I had to pay them back. The main way I did that was by killing devils for them," he said, putting the magazines under his armpits and even putting one between his teeth.
Yakuza. Perhaps that was why Jin cared about him more than others. They shared a similar past with the Yakuza, Aki thought to himself.
"You should probably check those first," Aki advised when he saw Denji collect everything.
"Hmm?" Denji gave a look but decided to do so. He took one of the magazines between his hands and began flipping through the pages.
But then there was a page that connected. Denji paused and separated that page. Turns out, there was a sticky white substance connecting the pages.
When the pages showed a zoom on the model's private parts and ass, it was not hard to tell what those substances were.
Denji froze.
The magazines dropped one by one from his armpits, and he also released the magazine he held between his teeth.
"I figured as much," Aki said from behind. The laugh he was holding back turned his lips into a wide smile.
Denji moved silently like a corpse. He picked up his axe and after a good aim, he began chopping the dead body.
...
After they were done with the job, they patrolled for another hour before they decided to report to the headquarters and head home.
On the way, Aki received a message from Jin that listed out groceries. That was normal. What was not normal, though, was the text below the list that asked Aki to come to his house.
When they reached their apartment, Denji headed inside to take a bath. He did not need to be told to clean up this time. On the other hand, Aki headed into Jin's apartment instead of his.
"You're early today. How was Denji?" Jin was sitting on the floor and looking at the entrance of his door.
Aki took off his shoes, but he had to stop midway when he saw Jin.
"What's with the makeup?" Aki couldn't help but ask.
Jin had makeup on his face. Not just a little either, but a shit ton of it. The makeup was well done though, and by the looks of it, it seemed like the makeup applied on girls. He had blush, eye shadows, his eyebrows were lined, and he had pink lipstick.
He didn't look bad. It was not ridiculous. It just made him look feminine and like an idol or something.
"Someone called me pretty. I denied it and said I was handsome. She denied my denial and then she decided to prove her point by dressing me up as a girl," Jin said with a straight face.
"...Turns out, I am pretty," he admitted.
"Wash it off, you look silly," Aki said.
"But the makeup is too good to just wash off."
"Whatever," Aki said and entered the house. He stood in front of Jin, waiting for him to get up. But seeing him unmoving, Aki simply sat down on the floor with him.
"So?" Aki began.
"So," Jin gave a nod. "With the recent developments in our lives, it has come to my attention one thing and one thing only."
"And that is the safety of your well being," Jin said. He was talking very formally, which made everything more ridiculous on the floor.
"Aki, you might just fucking die at any time," he said.
Aki released a breath. "This again? What's up with you these days?"
"Consider it an enlightenment. But that's besides the point. The point is that as your friend, I am deeply concerned for your safety. You couldn't imagine the fucking anxiety you live with every day while having a suicidal friend," he said.
Aki was about to speak, but Jin put a finger on his mouth.
"And no. I can heal even if my body was chopped up into a dozen pieces. You can die from diabetes. We are not the same," he said.
"So, to put my mind at ease and also to save your dumbass whenever needed, I have decided to form a contract with you," Jin said.
Aki's eyes widened. "You can do that?"
"I can do that," Jin said, nodding proudly with folded arms.
"How?"
"I don't know."
"...."
"...."
"So you can't," Aki deadpanned.
"I can, I just don't know how," Jin said with a shrug. "Do you know humans built the phone with which I sent you the text?"
"Of course," Aki answered.
"You are a human. Can you build a phone?"
"...I don't know how."
"Precisely," Jin smiled. "I know I can do it, just don't know how yet. But that's what you are going to help me figure out."
"Okay," Aki agreed after a thought.
If it was possible. And if it was truly possible.
Aki would appreciate being able to form a contract with Jin. Not only to get stronger, but also, like he said, to not die.
Because the truth is,
The suicidal Aki did not want to die.
..
..
After a long night of working things out, the two were able to form a contract.
What type of contract? What did Aki gain from this? Did he get stronger? Can he use the abilities of different devils now?
And what consequences did he have to pay? Because in the world of Chainsaw Man, making a deal with the devil always meant you give something.
There was no power without a price.
But those answers remain to be seen.
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[IMAGE]
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Double chapter.