I Am All At Sea of Blood: Before Chainsaw Man

Chapter 16 : Backtrack

Across the city, Izuki followed Arch as she retraced her steps to track the devil. Although he asked her to try and locate it with her heightened sense of touch, it was useless. For some reason, she could not feel anything, rendering them to have no choice but to rely on Arch's shaky memory navigating through the city's labyrinth. And the longer they walked, the more Izuki grew uneasy, realizing that he had not even questioned the most important thing at the moment.

"So what kind of devil was it anyways? Did you take a good look at it?" Izuki asked his Buddy.

"Quite the large one. Pretty long body, too. Has lots of arms for legs all around it." Arch answered, her attention remained to the road ahead of her.

Hearing her description, Izuki's heart skipped a beat. A chill ran down his spine as he recalled an old memory from his rookie days, forcing him to stop in his tracks. "So... like a centipede?"

".... Yeah? I think that's what you call it?"

"Wait a second, Arch," He reached his hand out to her. "Do you think we should call back up?"

"Hm? Why'd you think that way?"

"I've crossed paths with the centipede devil before. I could not take it down, and if it weren't for my seniors back then, I would have probably died..." Izuki took in a deep breath, feeling his heart start to beat faster from the memory. "What I'm trying to say is... are we really going to be okay tackling it by ourselves? You had quite the trouble taking care of that dog devil too..."

"Oh... Well, I think we don't think it might trouble us that much," she shrugged.

"Are you... sure?"

"Yeah. It was pretty injured, from what I saw. Missing limbs and some torn body... I just need to land a few more hits, and it will simply die."

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes..."

"Really REALLY sure?"

"Yes!" Arch raised her voice at him. "Why do you keep asking me that?!"

"I'm sorry," Izuki's head drooped down at the sound of her clear irritation."It's just that you were having so much trouble last time... I'm afraid you will be having a hard time again."

"That was simply because I did not expect it to have the piece of Gun Devil in it. This one, though, I'm SURE we can take it down."

Izuki reluctantly stayed silent, not wanting to agitate her even further. He was still filled with uncertainty, but at the same time, he knew she was the stronger one between the two of them. Her sense of judgment might not be the best, but if their prior accounters were to prove anything, was that she would be the one to be able to defeat or, at the very least, stall the devil if the worst were to happen. So he continued on, following her footsteps, each one growing faster and heavier than the previous.

Those steps tell him everything. Her steps, her manners, along with the state of her clothes, something must've happened to her, he thought. A sense of guilt started to loom over his anger, tightening his chest, and as the wind blew between them, he saw a glimpse of Arch's face. She did not show it, but from her eyes, hidden between the strands of her red hair, was anger, but even more, fear, an all too familiar look for him.

"Hey, Arch..." He softly called out to her.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Thank you... for putting up with me these past few days... and sorry for yelling and electrocuting you as well."

Confused, Arch turned towards him."Where is this coming from?"

"Well, I guess... I've just been thinking. When I first signed up for this job, I didn't know what I wanted in this world. I am not from this place. I was able to experience so many new foods, so many new people, and a culture that was so familiar and yet different from what I knew at the same time. It felt strange. I felt small... and weak. Even now, I am still getting used to it. I'm not sure if I will ever fully fit in, but I'm trying."