Ardent Hope: Chainsaw Man x Male Reader Insert.

36. Heartbeat.

"We should rest for a couple of days, at least, until things start to cool down out there." Kishibe told them, as he sat on a couch right in front of the television. The small cubicle of an apartment felt almost claustrophobic, it had no other room apart from the one they were staying in. "Eat something, get some sleep... You'll very much need it if worst comes to worst tomorrow."

None of them actually responded to that. Both Power and (Y/N) were already sitting on the floor, their backs against the wall, she wouldn't leave his side no matter what. Kobeni on the other hand was huddled against the wall at the other side of the room, meanwhile Denji was searching for something to eat on the grocery bags Kishibe had brought earlier.

Kobeni was shivering. "I always get the short end of the stick." She said as Denji took a seat right next to her. "I'm scared of dying." She admitted, her every word quavering as she shivered in fear. Denji couldn't respond to that in the slightest, so he simply nodded in agreement. "Must be nice to be like you." Kobeni said, now staring at both (Y/N) and Denji. "You can come back to life if you want to."

(Y/N) simply stared at the other side, the dissonant noise of the television at the corner of the room was too loud for his liking, and it didn't allow him to think properly. He had touched Power's hand, and noticed they were awfully cold, he searched for her eyes shortly after. She was staring at him, an unreadable expression on her eyes, something that deeply troubled (Y/N).

"Y'know..." Denji started, something that caught their attention. "I look fine right now, but my heart... it feels like it's at the bottom of a toilet filled with crap." He let out a deep sigh before continuing. "Everything... all the good things, all the bad things and each feeling I've felt until now were all brought to me by somebody else." He said. "I'm dumb as a rock, so I wasn't exactly uncomfortable living as the fool, but next thing I know, my ignorance almost made all go down the crapper."

(Y/N) tried to step in. "Denji, I don't thin-"

But he was cut short, as Denji kept talking. "Thinking back on it, I never made any choices for myself, I just got used by somebody else, always did and felt what I was told instead of thinking for myself." He said. "The only real choices I've ever made were such simple things, like what would I like to eat for lunch... So even if I make it out alive, somehow, I'm still afraid I'll be living in obedience to somebody, just like a dog..."

"Isn't that just normal, though?" Kobeni asked now. Denji was surprised at her words, and simply stared back at her after a second, on which (Y/N) decided not to interfere. "There's no such thing as a life free of bad things... except in your dreams."

Denji remained silent for a couple of seconds after that. The dissonant noise of the television still echoed through the room, and the catch of certain words made (Y/N) realize the topic of conversation in the news channel. "But I..." Denji started again. "I wanted to be normal, and..."

"Denji, you really want to be normal?" (Y/N) asked from the other side of the room. Denji stared quickly at him, only for him to point at the television in the corner of the cubicle, and that was the moment a distant voice caught his attention too.

"Chainsaw Man." The voice coming from the television repeated. Denji looked back at it, trying to hide his surprise as he stood up from the floor. "There's not a soul who doesn't know his name, with a chainsaw on his head, he cuts down devils one after another." The new broadcaster said. "He never reveals his identity and never asks for anything in return! Are you with me viewers? This isn't the hero of a manga we're talking about!" He excitedly said. "I'm talking about the man who always gets back up, no matter how many times he goes down, no matter how immense the adversity is! He is Chainsaw Man!"

"That's... me." Denji walked up right in front of the television, staring at the amassing crowd of people that chanted his name.

"Chainsaw man!" A voice repeated from the television. "Chainsaw man, thank you!" The voice of a woman. Countless people chanted the name of the hero that had once saved them all from a devil's attack, some of them had even made flags, posters or signals. Some were even wearing shirts with the image of Denji's devils transformation drawn at the front.