𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 (𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑)

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑.

Denji's POV

I wake up to find myself on a comfortable bed, and turn to my side to see Aki peeling an apple, y/n at his side. Were those 2 always together?

"Your arm was found," Aki said. "It reattached to your body when you got a blood transfusion. Trippy. You really are like one of them."

"Hey! You were talking to a devil yourself!" I pointed out.

"Allow me to explain and please listen this time. I have a contract with a Fox Devil. In exchange for borrowing its power... I have to feed it part of my body. It's the deal. So I fed it some skin, see?" Aki held up a bandaged forearm, some blood seeping through the bandages.

"Uh... still kinda confused... but OK. What about y/n?" I asked.

"She has a contract with more than one devil. And that's allowed," Aki explained, y/n still standing by his side and listening, looking down with her hands in the pockets of her black coat.

"For real?!"

"I have a contract with 2 devils as of right now," y/n spoke. She actually said something! "Though I won't be naming them or revealing them to you... yet."

"Uh huh... And if Aki feeds his devil some skin, then doesn't that mean the more contracts you have, the more suffering you'll have to endure as exchange for its power?" I asked.

"If the devil likes you or favors you for some reason, then they won't ask for something that produces a lot of pain and hardship," Aki said.

"So y/n was let off easy?" Y/n may seem like a quiet senior, but she sounds really powerful already...

"In exchange for their powers... I gave most of my lifespan, my sense of taste, and some blood every now and then. That's all," y/n answered.

"She was let off pretty easy," Aki said. "But I don't even know what devils she has contracts with. Though I heard they were quite powerful."

I reached out for the plate of apples that Aki had finished peeling since I was hungry, but Aki just pushed it towards himself.

"Devils want humans to die. So fiends are no different."

"Power's good though," I said, lying through my teeth. Aki noticed and knew.

"Security camera footage shows you 2 leaving your patrol area. And there's a lot of blood found in the building we believe the Bat Devil was residing in. Care to explain?" I didn't answer, nervous. "Why are you sympathizing with a devil again?"

"H-Hmm... I don't know, not sure why..." I said, trying to avoid the topic.

Aki closed his eyes for a moment and opened them back up again. I tried reaching again for the plate of apples but Aki spoke.

"If I look into this further and tell the higher-ups about this... you and the fiend will be put down. But there were no casualties. So under one condition, I'm willing to ignore this incident."

Aki slid the plate of apples towards me and said, "If I tell you to do something, you do it. You have no morals, and having more experience than you, I like to think I stand for social justice. If you do as I say, you can be confident that the way you live now won't change. That sound good? Answer me."

"Yeah, sounds good," I replied, eating the apples and barely paying attention. "Don't worry. I'm not like you, and don't have serious goals like you said. But I'll be taking this job seriously. I'll be a reliable person to work with."

Y/n smiled a little and headed out the door. Aki did the same, leaving me alone in the room. But before he did...

"Work with speaking respectfully to others," he said.