Ardent Hope: Chainsaw Man x Male Reader Insert.

32. BANG.

Today was the day.

Even when the passing of the days and the comfort provided by Power had been slowly vanquishing the nightmares out of his mind, (Y/N) still felt uneasy. At this very same hour, yesterday he was entering the containment cell of the Future Devil, and what it had shown him perturbed whatever was left of his sanity.

As he washed the dishes, standing alone in the kitchen, he looked over the counter to see Power resting on the couch of the living room, Meowy sleeping on her arms. She looked so peaceful there, so beautiful he couldn't even imagine something that bad happening today. Perhaps it was wrong, perhaps it wouldn't happen like that, and maybe it was just a trick the Future Devil used to mock him. Yeah, that might be it.

"I'm gonna go buy ice cream, you two want anything?" Denji's voice pulled (Y/N) out of his mind. He stared dumbfounded for a couple of seconds as he tried to regain his composure, on which Denji simply shifted uncomfortably.

"A rice ball with meat!" Power yelled from the other side of the room. Still, Denji kept focused on (Y/N), who was still staring at him in such an unreadable expression it made him feel almost uncomfortable.

"You want something?" Denji asked him.

"No." (Y/N) responded curtly, focusing again on the dishes in the sink. Denji kept staring at him, almost hurt by the once again cold mannerisms (Y/N) was using whenever referring to him, and without another word, he left the apartment closing the door behind him.

But (Y/N) didn't even notice, and he kept focusing on the same train of thoughts he was going through before Denji had interrupted him. Even after (Y/N) tried to force these afterimages out of his mind with every last drop of willpower he had, he quickly found these attempts futile as the crawling memories of a looming future kept pestering right in front of every thought he had.

Not even the book Aki had bought him long ago was able to fend them off, and after trying to read a couple of pages he felt really frustrated when he realized he hadn't been able to understand anything he had read.

Maybe the warm water of the bathtub could help him.

As Denji left the apartment, he felt the cold breeze of the night wrap numb his senses in a way he couldn't even describe, but still, he didn't care about it that much. There were other things on his mind right now, perhaps the walk towards the store may help soothe these thoughts. The sun was already setting in the horizon, the warm colors of the evening reflecting on every surface he came across.

Lost on his thoughts, he kept wandering.

The usual passing light of the vehicles flashing his eyes and the monotone rhythm of his feet as he walked kept him somewhat conscious of what he was doing, but by the time he arrived the store, it was already dark. Denji didn't even realize he took several hours on his way, and even though he tried to recall his memories back about the trip here, he wasn't able to remember what made him take so long.

He felt really weird, but decided to ignore this feeling just as he had done with all the others, and even then, the shopping in the establishment passed through like a dim breeze. He remembered reaching for the rice ball Power asked for, and buying two ice creams. (Y/N) didn't ask for anything, but he would feel bad not bringing something for him too.

Walking out of the shop, he kept wandering for a long while.

This time however, it wasn't so long before he noticed a lonely bench at the sidewalk, right under a seemingly defective street lamp that emitted a constant buzzing noise. He didn't care, his feet felt tired, every single part of his body felt tired, so it wouldn't hurt to stop here for a couple of minutes before going back home, right?