Deepest Desire 》Chainsaw Man

Six

Aki slowly opened his eyes. The morning light slowly came out from his bedroom window.

Time to get up, he thought groggily before he tried to move. Aki felt another body on top of him, gaining his full attention. Fully awakened, he glanced down to see Kanae on top of him. Her head was buried against his chest while her arms were wrapped around his waist. Aki touched her shoulder to gently push her off him but froze when she whimpered under him.

"Inari," she choked out. Her grip around Aki tightened as she snuggled closer to him. Aki noticed her tears streaming down her cheeks. "I - Inari." Kanae was shaking now. Sweat dripped down her face.

Aki quickly shook her shoulder. "Kanae," he called out. "Kanae!"

Kanae jolted awake. Her eyes were wide open as she pulled away from Aki. Kanae sat up and was panting. Aki could see the frightening look behind her eyes as she tried to calm herself down. Kanae sniffled before covering her face and continued crying.

Aki sat up before pacing a comforting hand on her back. "I'm sorry," Kanae croaked. She moved her hands to wipe the tears away while releasing shaky breath. "I - I didn't mean to wake you."

"I was already awake," Aki assured her. He wrapped his arms around Kanae to let the fiend know that it was ok for her to let it all out. Kanae gripped his shirt and cried into his chest while Aki rubbed the top of her head.

The only thing Aki knew about Inari was that he was Kanae's best friend. Kanae was pretty much an open book, except when it comes to Inari. She would change the subject whenever he would ask about him. Aki didn't like the sorrowful look on Kanae's face if someone else brought Inari up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked

Kanae shook her head. "Just a bad dream," she cried before pulling away. It was more than a bad dream, it was a vivid memory of Inari dying. Kanae held her hand over her heart as it felt like it was tightening inside. Kanae got up from bed. "I'll start on my lessons. You can go back to sleep if you want."

"Hey," Aki called out right as Kanae was about to open the door. "You don't have to keep this bottled up. If you want to talk about it...I'll be right here."

Feeling her heart swell, Kanae wanted to tell Aki everything. The day that Inari died. But she couldn't. She swore she never tell another soul, no matter how much she wanted to. She turned around and gave him a tired smile before walking over to the bed. Kanae leaned down and wrapped her arms around Aki. 

Aki thought she was going to break down and tell him, but he felt disappointed when she said, "Thanks for letting me sleep in here."

》》》》

Kanae was excited about the new mission. Her first mission with Power and Denji along with Aki and Himeno. There was a devil spotted inside Hotel Morin and Makima requested them, along with Kobeni and Hirokazu, to scope the place out. The target is believed to have consumed a piece of the Gun Devil.

"Maybe it's the Gun Devil for real?" Denji wondered as they stood outside the hotel.

Aki didn't glance back at him. He tried to contain his anger and not sucker punching the devil behind him for fondling Kanae, even though she was ok with it. Instead, he gripped the necklace that had a piece of the Gun Devil's flesh in his hand. "The more flesh, the stronger the attraction. The reaction's not big enough," he explained through clenched teeth, which didn't go unnoticed by Himeno.

"I...guess not."

Power raised her hand with a big enthusiastic smile and said, "How amusing...Give that thing to me! I'll sick doggie on them!"