CRUEL FATE | chainsaw man.

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍, forgive me.. for both of them

"looks painful." denji reached out for the plate of apple slices, but it was pulled out of reach by aki.

he continued to talk, "devils always want humans to die. it's the same for devilmen." his eyes wandered to erity for a moment, "the three of you were confirmed leaving the patrol area by surveillance cameras. on top of that, a large amount of your blood was found in the house we suspect the bat devil was hiding in. you were almost killed by the blood devilman, more so you than erity. i'm not sure why, but you still seem willing to support devils."

denji looked away from aki's direction, instead paying attention to the ceiling above. "who knows..." and once again he goes to reach for the plate of apple slices.

"if i investigated further and reported it, the blood devilman, and the both of you, who protected her, would be put down. but, this time there were no fatalities, so i'll let it go, under one condition." aki pushed the plate into denji's hand finally, not looking away from the blond laying down. "obediently do as i say."

soon enough the older man had left the two alone inside the hospital room, a comfortable silence filled the room as denji ate the apple slices left behind.

he noticed that the girl still sat in her chair and not moving an inch, neither did her eyes move that much besides the time he woke up. she was back to looking out the window and possibly in deep thought.

"hey, erity?" he called out to her without realization at first but saw how she turned towards him almost immediately. "want any?"

he gestured towards the plate, but she only shook her head no. giving him a small smile, "they're meant for you, don't worry about it."

she looked down at her lap and rubbed her hands together with an almost nervous look. "denji... um, i hope you can.. forgive me, for both of them..." her voice was soft during that moment and the expression of nervousness never left her face.

denji tilted his head, "who's them? but yeah, of course i forgive you."

"for aki and zan..."

"zan?" denji questioned the name. it was the first time he had heard of it and for some reason it didn't feel right.

erity finally looked up at the blond boy, and nodded. "like aki had mentioned earlier, i'm also contracted with a devil... but ours is a different... my contract with zan is different than the others." she took a deep breath and looked back at the window, finding comfort in the scenery. "but i don't want to bore you on the story, maybe another time i can tell you. definitely not during a time you should be using to properly recover."

erity awoke to the smell of food, as per usual. aki's cooking was always her favorite out of everything she had ever had, it was something that he did even if it was a simple meal.

it was something that she appreciated from him.

she walked out to see that denji had already been up and waiting at the table, holding himself up with arms.

erity waved at the boy once he set his eyes on her, "good morning denji, aki." she took a seat on the floor, her posture straight. "how'd you sleep?"

he shrugged at her and flopped his head lazily to the right, "fine just.. i'm not sure, what about you?"

"good enough, just a weird dream and that's about it!" she didn't bother to go into detail and was saved by a knock and the opening of the door.

the three who lived there were confused at the sound of the door opening since they were all inside and no one had a spare key.

"woow, this house is tiny!" a familiar, yet loud, voice boomed throughout the home, letting everyone know who it was before even turning the corner; power the blood devilman.

"power?" erity questioned in a loud enough volume to catch the girls attention. "how did you get in?"

the blood fiend shook her head and began to walk farther into the apartment, dragging her suitcases with her along the way. "don't worry about it human."

aki held the phone up to his ear, quickly. already getting ahold of makima while power ran around the house and chasing her cat. erity leaned against the counter, not far from aki, and watched as power ran around the small space without a care in the world.

the blue haired girl was slightly amused at the sight, though it wasn't all that amusing to aki. she hid her face from him as he spoke on the phone, an annoyed expression on his face.

'we're definitely going to give him gray hairs...' she chuckled quietly at her own thoughts of his hair turning gray, the visual clear inside her head.

"..ah... okay." and with that he hung up the phone, signaling the end of their conversation and his will to live.

aki hayakawa had to watch over three devilmen now. he thought two was enough, but now power was added into the mix.

living with power was definitely chaotic and hard to deal with; from the girl throwing her vegetables across the room and refusing to eat them, not cleaning up after herself, and even the cat was a lot, but the worst things were definitely related to the bathroom.

"i'm the kind of person who almost never takes baths!" she sternly stated, standing in front of the bathroom door with furrowed brows.

"get in!" aki yelled at her.

along with denji's agreement, "you stink!"

and finally erity's uncertain thoughts. "power... i can help you bathe if that helps?" she asked while looking away from the bathroom.

and not to forget her other declaration; "the toilet? i'm the kind of person who almost never flushes!"

aki's demands of her flushing it, denji's complaints of it smelling, and erity's disgusted face and mumbling about the horrid smell.

ꗃ ──────────── ❥
dec. 7th, 2022
dec. 8th, 2022 (published)

tbh chapters like this are
so much easier to write.. idk
plus listening to la petite fille de la mer
while writing helps and is so soothing.