The Terrible And The Strong | Chainsaw Man x Male Reader

Chapter II

Denji was sitting cross-legged on the dirt floor of his old hut, the place he called home. The walls were thin and worn barely holding up against the elements with water seeping through cracks, and the smell of mold, dirt, and stale air was ever-present.

The sound of scratching came from somewhere in the walls—probably rats or some other nasty critters making themselves comfortable. Pochita was beside him happily chewing on a chunk of the expired bread smeared with the expired jam.

The taste wasn't great but it wasn't the worst thing Denji had ever eaten either. Still, every time he thought about that girl Tsumiki and the way she had smiled and said, "Be safe, Denji-kun!" his heart raced and the shitty sandwich tasted like a gourmet meal.

"Imagine having a girlfriend like that, Pochita," Denji said with his mouth full, grinning like an idiot. "Bet her chest feels soft... and the way she looked at me... she's totally into me! Otherwise, why would she have given me money?!"

Pochita bit down on the bread more slowly, giving Denji a sideways glance that practically screamed doubt. Maybe it was just pity, the kind gesture of someone too kind for their own good.

But Denji wasn't having it.

"Nah, she's into me, I'm telling ya!" Denji insisted, shoving another piece of the bread in his mouth. "I'm gonna find that school uniform tomorrow, see where she goes. Maybe I'll thank her properly, y'know? And hey, I might even impress her with my devil-hunting skills."

Pochita barked happily tail wagging though Denji could tell he was just humoring him.

Denji leaned back, hands behind his head with a smug grin on his face as he daydreamed about the possibilities. But just as he was about to imagine some more, the song playing on his beat-up old radio abruptly cut off replaced by the serious voice of a female reporter.

"...After years of being banned worldwide, violins have been allowed for public use again in stores and schools. The disappearance of the Dirge Devil which so far had been confirmed by Public Safety in Asia. After years of rumors and silence, the Prime Minister of Japan has officially declared the Dirge Devil eliminated, much to the joy of people across the globe."

Denji's attention perked up a bit, but only just. The Dirge Devil? He'd heard stories—who hadn't? But the details were lost on him, it was something adults came up with to scary kids. Still he kept listening, if only because there wasn't much else to do.

"It is worth noting," the reporter continued, "the Dirge Devil first appeared 30 years ago during what many now refer to as the Devil Crisis. It was a period when the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union were minutes away from launching their most powerful contracted devils against each other, in a standoff that could have plunged the entire world into chaos. Instead of missiles, it was devils like the Inferno Devil from the USSR and the Juggernaut Devil from the USA that were prepared to be 'launched' in the ultimate display of power."

The reporter's voice took on a graver tone. "But then, the Dirge Devil came along, rumored at first to be contracted by either China, Germany, or Japan, but soon it became clear that this devil was on no one's side. It made its presence known with a deafening scream of screeching violins, trumpets, and trombones, each note distorted and twisted, creating a sound so terrifying that it drove those who heard it mad. The sound was described as nails on a chalkboard amplified a thousand times, mixed with the deep blare of trumpets and the frantic jarring screech of a violin played by a madman."

Denji cringed at the thought of it. The reporter kept going, detailing the massacres that followed the Dirge Devil's arrival.

"Cities across the USSR and the USA were the first to fall—Moscow, New York, Leningrad, and Washington D.C., reduced to ruins in mere minutes. People if they could still be called that, were found with their skin peeled away, as if some giant hand had carefully removed it piece by piece. Blood ran in the streets, pooling around grisly displays where entire families had been stitched together in a hideous piece of flesh. The Dirge Devil didn't stop there. It moved across the Middle East, where it single-handedly carried out genocides in multiple regions, leaving behind mountains of corpses, stripped of their skin and their bones shattered as if for fun. Europe wasn't spared either; cities like Berlin, Paris, and Warsaw became graveyards overnight, with the dead piled high."