[1st POV]
"Coming through the door like a normal person!" I announced my presence while opening the door to the headquarters.
"Huh?" I paused when I saw Makima already standing in the lobby. She was wearing her usual overcoat, where she tucked her hands away in the pockets.
Look at that, we matched. Because I wore an overcoat today as well. And believe it or not, this was still the same coat she had given me before I headed out to exterminate the Cannibal Devil.
"You're late," Makima said. There was no visible smile on her face, but from her posture and the tone of her voice, it seemed like she was smiling.
I turned towards the giant clock in the lobby and saw that I was nearly five minutes late. I took out my phone and saw that I was not late, the clock in the lobby was just early. Or maybe the clock on my phone was late.
Okay, now that I think about it, my phone was definitely late. I remember being late too often recently. And there was no way the clock in the lobby could be wrong since every worker here uses it as a reference to timestamp events and other important matters.
Strange, Makima gave me this phone, though.
"Sorry, must be the traffic," I said, putting the phone away.
"You don't have a vehicle," Makima said.
"Human traffic. I also had a leg cramp while coming here," I said with a wave.
Makima showed the tiniest smile of amusement.
"Anyway, why are you here? I thought I'd report in your office," I said.
"We're doing something different today," she said, walking towards me and then past me to head out of the headquarters.
"Follow me," she said.
"But I just got here," I whined, but she was already out the door.
I sighed and looked around the lobby. My eyes caught the familiar face of the people at the counter and I narrowed my eyes at a specific worker.
"What the?"
"Jin!" Makima's voice came from the outside. She was not yelling, but I heard her with enhanced ears.
"Coming!" I said quickly before turning back and pointing at the guy.
"Daiki!! Set a bounty for your barber. That haircut is atrocious!" I yelled at the man at the counter.
"What! You don't like the cut?"
"I never knew you had wiggly hairlines, but now I know!" I said. His hairline went so far back at both sides it made his face look heart shaped.
"Aw man!"
I went out of the door after I said my piece. Haircut was the only thing men had when women had makeup, so it needed to be done well. I couldn't ignore bad haircuts.
Speaking of which, maybe I should bring Denji to a barber one of these days.
Outside, Makima was already waiting for me. I thought we would get inside her car, but it turned out we were walking.
We walked together side by side along the pavement. The sound of traffic and pedestrians was dominant while we remained silent. I did not want to be the one to speak first and acknowledge the awkwardness, so Makima did.
After we were far enough from the headquarters.
"We ran into a bit of trouble Jin, regarding you specifically," she said.
"Was it the higher-ups again?" I asked, already annoyed.
But she shook her head. "That I can handle. But this is more personal to you."
I waited for her to continue and she did.
"Have you noticed the lack of devil appearance in the Minato ward? Maybe not because you've been having an off week," she said.
"I did," I said quickly. In just a few patrols, I noticed that there were virtually no devils in my patrolling areas. I found it weird, but not too weird because it had not been that long.
"Is there a reason for that?" I asked.
She nodded. "It's because of you, Jin. The devils can sense your presence and are actively avoiding any attack in places that had your presence."
My eyes widened. "That's....kinda cool."
She smiled and glanced at me. "It is. But it's also an obstacle because the appearance of devils as a whole has not decreased. They just avoid the Minato ward. And the other regions are experiencing an increase in devil attacks."
"Oh." I guess when she put it like that, it became troublesome. "So what are we going to do? Is there a way to fix it?"
Maybe I could learn a technique to hide my presence or something. Or was it my scent that was chasing them away? Is there a way to remove my scent?
How did the devils sense me anyway?
"It's instinctual more than anything, so there isn't a way to deal with it," she said, answering the question I had in my mind. "Devils have senses beyond human capabilities and are in tune with their nature. For example, a devil bearing the name knife would know its inferiority to the Sword Devil. It's an instinctual way of sizing each other up."
"And you..." she said, trailing off. I could guess the reason why they were afraid of me.
This related back to my recent findings. I was not just the Pig Devil anymore, the other devils inside of me were literally a part of me now. No wonder the devils avoided me. I'd avoid me too.
"Okay, so how are we going to deal with it?"
"With practical solutions," she said. "From here on, you will no longer patrol anymore. There is no need, as your presence alone already wards off other devils."
"Sweet," I celebrated, but then I realized I couldn't do nothing either. If I was not going to patrol anymore, then there must be something else.
"You are going to settle in your office like you were always supposed to," she said.
"No!! You want me to sit in an office all day doing paperwork? Seriously?"
We stopped at a crossroads, waiting with a few other people for the lights to turn red so we could cross.
"It won't be bad. At most you'll have to do work similar to mine," she said.
We crossed the road when the lights turned green on our side and red on the road.
"Don't tell me we're heading towards my new office right now," I said, shoulders hanging. Patrolling was boring, but at least I got to walk around the city, try street foods that fancied me, and go sightseeing.
"We are," she said, amused. "The building for the 4th Division was finished a few days ago. Some of the members already moved in as well. This could be a good time for introductions."
Well, I kinda looked forward to that.
Maybe working in an office wouldn't be all that bad. I'd never know because I'd never worked a proper job. I was a butcher and a student in my past life.
Butchering was a fun profession. Limitless meat, and you get to swing a big ass knife every day. Worked the arms and shoulders like crazy too, so I didn't even need a gym to get ripped or protein powder for supplements.
Maybe a lot of you should look into it instead of picking overrated professions like lawyer or civil service.
After a few more minutes of walking, we reached our destination.
"This is it?" I asked, looking at the building.
It stood five stories tall, but that was dwarf-sized compared to the other buildings in the area. One glance was enough to tell that it was newly built, pale concrete, sharp edges, and the corners were unchipped and pristine.
This was the textbook perfect government building. But the building was clearly more reinforced than others. It had narrow windows with steel reinforcements, and the walls were two times thicker than most buildings.
It looked like a building that had been approved quickly, funded adequately, and rushed into existence because it was needed.
A freshly mounted metal plaque sat beside the entrance.
Public Safety Commission
Special Devil Extermination Division 4
"This is it," she confirmed with a nod.
"Why is it so close to the headquarters?" I asked. The distance between them was only walking distance.
"Your presence was an obstacle when you patrolled, but it can also be used as an important tool. By stationing you near the headquarters, they avoid devil attacks," she said.
"Damn, I feel exploited," I said.
"That's what governments do, and they do it best," she smiled, and then we headed inside.
The first floor was the lobby, and it was occupied by the staff of the division. Not members, but staff like clerks, accountants, analysts, and doctors. There was a medical room on the first floor.
The few staff greeted us with bows and smiles as we made our way to the upper floors. And that was when I finally got to meet the few members in the building.
...
"Hirokazu Arai. I am a devil hunter who has been in the Public Safety Division for four years now," the man had spiky black hair and looked to be in his late twenties.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, captain," he said.
"The pleasure's all mine," I said. It was weird being a boss because he was bowing to me even though he was older.
"K-Kobeni Higashiyama," she said. "I-I'm kinda new here."
Surprisingly cute.
"Himeno Kobayashi, Senior Devil Hunter. But you already know that, captain," Himeno said, acting friendly because we've met on a few occasions before.
"Madoka, Senior Devil Hunter," said another guy with a horizontal scar under his eye and going through his nose. He had messy black hair and wore glasses.
"Takeda Endo," said the young guy with his hair dyed yellow. He kinda looked like Denji, but you know he was not naturally blonde because the stem of his hairs was black due to new growth.
These were the five human members of the division. They were already on the second floor, which was still more management than private offices, just to greet us. I guess Makima told them beforehand about our arrival.
"My name's Jin Nakahara, Captain of the Division. It's good to see you all and I look forward to working with you," I said with a slight bow.
Like I said, I might be a pig, but I had manners and shit. Aki pummeled them into me.
"The fiends and the special cases are not yet transferred to this location, but they should be here soon," Makima told me to the side.
She then brought me through the third floor and the fourth floor. She showed me around the building. It had a little bit of everything. There was a smoking room, a small gym, a meeting room, a kitchen, and there were bathrooms and toilets on every floor.
And finally, she showed me my office.
"You will be working from here," she said when we were inside the office. It was nice and spacious with lots of empty cupboards.
But the thing that caught my eyes the most were the stacks of paperwork already on the table.
I rubbed my eyes with a sigh.
"Those are just some paperwork that needed confirmation about the building and files of the staff," she said.
"Come, I'll help you with it," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the table.
She sat me down on the chair and leaned from my shoulder. I could smell her sweet scent from up close. No, forget about the smell, I could feel the heat radiating off her.
She was so warm. Why were women so warm?
"You just have to stamp your seal here, sign there, and..." she said, quickly showing me the ropes on how to handle all the paperwork.
If I really put my mind to it, I could feel the shape of her breast when they pressed against the back of my neck.
It was hard to teach me since I had no idea how any of these worked. But Makima was an angel of patience as she taught me for as long as I needed.
After she was done, she left because she had other matters to attend to.
So now here I am, alone in my office that was too quiet to my liking.
I took out my phone and played the only game available at the time.
Snake.
..
..
[Remember this waifu will ruin your laifu]
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