Chainsaw Man: Heart of Hell |Aki Hayakawa|

Chapter 18: Knocking At Death's Door

Something smelled strange in the air. The smell was all Love could think about. Perhaps it was the restaurant they were in. Despite she can spot the difference between the smell of broth brewing, and the smoking char of the meat. Oddly the smell was familiar but not enough for her to grasp the idea of what it was. 

It was the morning after they just had the gathering. She had slept later than usual yet she did not feel a single ounce of exhaustion in her body. Love took her chopsticks and grabbed a piece of potstickers as she munched on it with one big bite.

Then a rumble reverberated in the air. A consecutive sound of bangs that went off randomly. 

"Wazzat noise..?" Denji spoke with food in his mouth. 

"You don't know? What an idiot... 'Tis the sound of Taiko drums." Power asserted.

"A festival...?" Aki questioned.

Love hesitated a moment before eating her food again. It did sound like drums but not quite. A festival would make sense but it was clearly too early for fireworks. It took Love to raise her head forward to glance at the others. She sat at the back end of the table from her left side of the table sat Aki then Denji. On the other side, Power then Himeno. 

"I can't believe you can eat the ramen here... Doesn't it taste horrible?" With just a slight turn of her head Love eyed a middle-aged man with weird sideburns wearing a long black trench jacket. 

"Who's he..?"- Himeno asked. The man's unpredictable intrusion barged in the group's bubble. By then everyone had stopped eating.

"Tastes fine to me." Denji objected.

"Don't speak to me so familiarly!"Power scoffed.

"I see you can't judge the quality of flavors. You can't help it though. If you only eat the same flavors in your childhood, apparently your palate will be unrefined as an adult. Having an unrefined palate lowers happiness." The strange man continued.

Love could only eye the man and examine him. From the way he was talking to his body language. The group listened on as he started to talk about his granddad how he was involved in the Yakuza handling drugs and killing a handful of women and children.

Nothing came good from a man that talked about disturbing topics, especially when they were at a restaurant eating. Even though Aki had suggested to them to leave. Love felt the man had them ensnared in a tight spot. In such an occurring strange of events, nobody knew how to react, they sat throughout his talk. 

Yet, the whole thing was unnerving to Love. Love straightened up as her eyes searched and then flickered upon realization. She mentally slapped herself for being ignorant. She was aware of the strict gun laws in Japan and a history of disarmament. Japan is such a small country compared to the world brought together by violence and war. She thought that being back home she did not have to think about those stupid guns and the gun devil. but those sounds she knew sounded so familiar. Because those were the sound of guns being triggered. 

And this man from the start did not have good intentions towards them.

"The gun devil says it wants your heart."

The man proceeded to take out two guns from inside his coat.

As fast as her arms could take her she jumped from her seat and instinctively attempted to shield the others from being shot. However, it was too late. The first bullet had been fired through Denji's head. At the same time, the other gun was pointed at Love's head and was immediately fired. At the close distance, it would have been too fast for any human, but for Love she was able to dodge it. Though her right shoulder wasn't able to escape its range as it pierced through her skin.