One Above All

Chapter 17: Warnings and Insults.

Disclaimer: Obviously, Chainsaw Man is the property of Tatsuki Fujimoto, and this work is not intended for profit. It's not even canon to begin with, and it never will be.

Notes: Why are you still reading, dumbass? The story is below.

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Once again, he found himself alone in a hallway in this God-forsaken building, seemingly abandoned by any human or devil, only this time it was he who had driven away the only person willing to hang out with him.

He thought it was somewhat ironic; it was she who had approached him first, eager to chat, and now he had scared her off, making her want to probably never speak to him again. That would have been useful earlier on when he was more afraid of her.

Wow, the first time he became friends with a girl and he had already scared her away.

"Nice work Hiro..." he told himself very sarcastically, chastising himself for being so foolish.

He should have thought twice before asking Makima that question. She was willing to answer his questions, but now he had frightened her, and she had walked away from him, to where? Who knows.

If he had known beforehand that asking her if she was a devil would affect her so much, then he wouldn't have asked her in the first place, it wasn't even that necessary. He had been suspecting it for a long time, and Kishibe had more or less confirmed it. But he had to do it, trusting that she would be very open with him.

It might just be him, but Makima exuded confidence, the kind of confidence that everyone should have in themselves, fearless of anything, ready to face everything without fear of defeat or loss.

It wasn't entirely true in the end, even someone who seems as confident and happy as her has their fears and weaknesses. Yesterday, she had shown sadness, and today, fear, all of that hidden behind a smile that seemed partly genuine but could easily crumble.

"I guess we have something in common" Hiro thought. The difference was that he didn't smile as often, although lately, there had indeed been many reasons to smile.

"Should I go after her? Even though I don't even know where she went" She had been very quick to escape; he only turned around for a few seconds, and she had disappeared in the blink of an eye, or as if she had never been there in the first place.

As if she had been part of his imagination, like an illusion.

"..."

Hiro began to worry about the possibility that he might be developing schizophrenia. Maybe Makima never existed in the first place and was just a figment of his imagination?

Could the reality he was living in be just an illusion?

No, everything up to now had felt very real, so he shouldn't be taking these thoughts too far into conspiracy theory territory. Makima was simply very good at appearing and disappearing.

How did she manage to do that? He wanted to learn how to do it too but wondered if it had something to do with being a devil; if that was the case, he would be very limited in terms of stealth abilities.

Hiro tried to look through the glass at the training field for the first time since everyone had entered there. He had been so busy talking with Makima that he hadn't had the time or thought to see what the adults were doing.

From there, he could see Kishibe, Quanxi, and Doctor Nishimura waiting for him. With a sigh, and aware that Makima probably wouldn't return for a good while, he walked towards the entrance, wishing to put an end to all this.