Chapter Text
There were times when Asa wished that she would stop breathing. It would be easier than struggling to drag herself out of bed each morning knowing that things would be awful. She wouldn't have to wake up and fight. There would be no more Yoru and no more apocalypse. She would be allowed to exist without suffering or feeling pain.
It would just be here in the expanse of nothingness.
A part of her wondered if she stopped breathing would all of the pain and heartache go away to. Or would it just follow her into the afterlife. What kind of afterlife would be waiting for her? She's already died once technically. It hurt but she was more focused on the fact that she had spent so much of her life being miserable and jealous. She wanted more for herself. She wanted to be selfish and to have something to herself for once.
That was improbable for her now.
Asa knew that it was.
After all who would want to date someone that was already dead and possessed by a devil that wanted everyone who came in contact with her dead.
"Not all of my children were created equally," Yoru said.
Asa glanced over at Yoru. She was sitting on top of the toilet with a pout on her face as she stared at the wall. It was hard to decipher whatever her facial expression truly meant. She was naturally more expressive than Asa was and stated her feelings plainly for the world to see. It didn't take any outside forces to get Yoru to spill her thoughts and feelings.
But today felt different for some reason.
"Naturally some of them are more feared than others. Like bomb, tank, and gun. They cause devastating damage to their surroundings, so people fear them," Yoru explained. "It's why the previous Control Devil wanted to have them fighting against Chainsaw Man for her. But she made a huge mistake when she gave them such weak vessels."
"Weak vessels?" Asa asked, turning back the mirror.
It wasn't a big struggle to get the brush to go through her hair. There were only a handful of knots in her hair from how messily she slept throughout the night. It was like this every morning, so she was used to it. She already had two hair ties wrapped around her wrists ready to tie her hair back. Pigtails had been her go-to style since she began growing out her hair.
"One hell of a mother you are calling your children weak," Asa muttered. "Children are only as weak as their parents. If they're weak, that's your fault for making them that way."
"My children are my property, Asa. I didn't say my property is weak all the time, just that their vessels are weak," Yoru said. "I'd say Reze is one of the stronger ones because she's become accustomed to what it feels like to hold the Bomb Devil inside of her. Then, you take a look at that weird kid that's housing the Longsword Devil and you can immediately tell the difference between them."
Yoru wasn't wrong. They had already spent a bit of time around Miri, and he was nowhere near Reze's strength. He put in quite a bit of effort into convincing her not to date Denji. Miri despised the idea of her and Denji together. She couldn't understand why he was so invested in a relationship that wasn't even his own. It wasn't like her and Denji were even dating anymore. It was a one-time thing that didn't turn into anything of substance. Miri didn't seem convinced that her feelings didn't exist anymore. If he wasn't harassing her, he was stalking Denji.
She couldn't understand the desperation to keep them apart.
"Miri isn't that weak. He's just pathetic," Asa said, tying her hair into pigtails.
"That's the same thing," Yoru said.
Asa turned to look at Yoru. "Then by that metric we're weak. You call me pathetic all the time, so you're pathetic as well. Weak and pathetic."
"Don't make me hit you, Asa," Yoru threatened.
"There's no time for us to fight right now. We're going devil hunting with Reze."
"Remember, Asa," Yoru said, "not all of my children are going to be strong. The only reason that they have an advantage over me is because their names haven't been forgotten."
Asa opened the bathroom door and walked out. If the main qualification for strength is that their names haven't been forgotten, what exactly was Yoru's true strength? She had thought about the depths of Yoru's strength before. It all was horrifying to think about. The destruction that Yoru could cause just by being remembered. War wasn't pretty. It was a thing of the past though.
A past that her and Yoru would bring to the present.
Reze stood near the counter adding the finishing touches to their breakfast. It was the weekend, so they didn't have to attend school. Instead, they had all day to hunt down devils and hangout. If things didn't get too chaotic, they would probably have time to go to that cafe that Reze liked so much.
"You look like hell," Reze teased.
"Thanks, I just got back," Asa smiled.
They both laughed with each other. As long as the future of people remembering Yoru included Reze, Asa would be satisfied.
The walk through the city wasn't completely unpleasant.
On occasion, Asa had to stop and sign random Chainsaw Man merch for people that claimed they were her friends. It didn't bother her too much. They always gave her compliments about her appearance and the work that she was doing for them. It was strange. She didn't think this much attention would come to her just by just killing devils for the Chainsaw Man church.
All these people were fans of hers and Chainsaw Man.
Each time Asa stopped to give someone a bit of attention, Reze would step off to the side and keep look out. It wasn't clear what she was looking for in particular, but she acted like a bodyguard. She did encourage for Asa to stop as often as people walked up to her. It was less encouragement and more insisting that she stopped for a moment. She wanted Asa to enjoy the attention that she got from being known and to let everyone know her name.
Reze leaned back against the light pole. A small group of middle school girls stopped them asking for Asa's autograph on the newest poetry book that she had just let out. If it was up to Asa, she would've kept walking after giving them their autograph. But Asa wasn't alone.
"You're so strong," one of the girls said.
Another girl chimed in, "I hope I look like you when I'm older."
Asa couldn't stop smiling. "Thanks. And I'm not that much older than you."
That was just one of the many interactions that she had. Even Yoru seemed to be satisfied with everything. She liked the way that everyone was singing them praises and appreciating their powers. The more attention that they received the stronger that she could feel herself growing. Every fight they won brought back the name of war.
It sent a rush through Yoru's veins every time it was acknowledged.
"This feels like a bad idea," Asa said. "This would be trespassing."
Reze rolled her eyes. She was certain that there was a devil inside of there. The reports of the place being haunted only gave more merit to the fact that the place was most likely the hideout of a devil. The place was abandoned and there were reports of people going missing around here. It was an obvious choice for where a devil could be hidden. They would have to be a fool to assume that the disappearances were cause solely by humans.
"Sometimes you gotta do something bad to do something good," Reze said. Her arm wrapped around Asa's shoulder pulling her in closer. "I'm right here with you. Don't forget that, 'kay?"
Asa frowned with a blush on her cheeks, "How are we going to get inside?"
The apartment complex was fenced off to the public. There was no way to get in besides with a key. Barbed wire surrounded the top of the fence to prevent people from climbing over and trespassing. It was obvious that the owners didn't want to be held liable for anyone that got in and ended being injured due to their own negligence. It was part of the reason why they chose not to bring the cameraman with them this time
It was just too dangerous.
This was a step up from the weaker devils that Asa was used to fighting. All of the devils that they were hunting were meant as nothing more than just practice for Asa rather than Yoru and Reze. She needed to be prepared for what was going to come in the near future.
Reze pulled away from Asa. "I'll give you a lift. Just tell me when, okay?"
Reze walked over to the fence and turned her back to it. She laced her fingers together and bent her knees enough that they could take the pressure of throwing Asa over the fence. If they weren't trying to be silent, she would've blown the fence away. It would only take a second and they would avoid all of this nonsense, but they didn't want to disturb the devil. Not yet anyways.
She nodded. "I'm ready."
"Okay," Asa said.
It was clear that Asa was uncomfortable and nervous. She clenched her fists by her side and took a deep breath. She sprinted towards Reze and once she got close enough placed her foot onto Reze's hand. Reze used the momentum of Asa running towards her and threw her up as high as she could.
Looking over her shoulder, Reze saw Asa nearly land face first into the ground. She managed to break her fall just in time by turning her head to the side and landing on her shoulder forcing her body to roll instead of crash. It was most likely a move of Yoru's that kept the two of them from getting hurt. Reze was somewhat glad that Yoru was making herself useful for once.
Reze moved away from the fence. She took a running start before using all of the strength in her legs to give herself the strength she needed to make it over the fence. Her landing was 10 times more graceful than Asa's had been. Thankfully as a hybrid, she had the strength to jump over fences like this one without any assistance. It would've been a pain in the ass to cut off the barbed wires.
"Do you want to hold my hand as we walk through here?" Reze asked.
Asa turned her head away from Reze immediately. She held out her hand to Reze to take instead of giving a proper answer. Feeling Reze's fingers interlace with hers made her heart start beating uncontrollably inside of her chest. It was more of a rush than she had whenever she was fighting devils. It was only comparable to the rush that she'd get whenever she and Denji were in the aquarium, and the second time Chainsaw Man saved her life.
"Yoru, shut up," Asa mumbled.
Reze took the lead of guiding Asa into the building. "Stay close, okay?"