Eyes on the Back
Akane woke up as she did every morning at 6:00 AM, and she wasted no time getting up and heading to the bathroom, because there was never any time to waste with her morning rituals. After she attended to her most basic bodily functions and washed her hands she made sure that everything was ready, that the pain killers and the bottled water was on the floor and in the corner behind the trashcan because she knew she would not have the strength to reach them easier when she needed them later. Before she sat down on the floor she looked at herself in the mirror and took note that her roots were showing a bit too much for her liking, so she had to remind herself to buy more blond hair dye at some point.
Stripping down to her underwear Akane laid down on the cool floor of her bathroom, a chill being sent through her body upon contact, put the hand towel in her mouth, bit down hard on it, and she waited to uphold the end of her devil contract.
That's when the agony started.
At 6:15 AM, like every morning, a sudden and intense pain shot through her body. It felt like every nerve in her body was on fire, screaming at her to stop it, but there was nothing that could be done. She convulsed and curled in on herself, trying to endure the best she could, but the agony was too much, and she cried out, her screams muffled by the hand towel, she had implemented in this ritual after the first couple of times when the neighbors thought she was being murdered and had called police. It was rather tricky to deal with the consequences of that, and a part of her still felt embarrassed that she excused her torturous screams as “monthly womanly troubles”.
Her agony and suffering continued for exactly fifteen minutes before the pain shut off suddenly, like a switch, and her entire sweat-coated body went limp. Between the cool floor and the air conditioning, it felt like relief, but her body was still numb and sore and she knew from past experiences that it would still be some time before she could even more. Maybe fifteen minutes, maybe an hour, she didn't know, but her body would need time to recover before she had any strength to move on her own power to leave the bathroom. It took only ten minutes before she could crawl over and grab the painkillers and shove them into her mouth and she struggled to suck down the water. It helped the pain, but it didn't make it go away.
When it finally passed she pulled herself up onto her toilet with shaky arms and vomited into it. That happens sometimes.
When her strength had returned to her, or at least the exhaustion faded, she was able to get herself into the shower, the cold water doing wonders for her mental health, and she was able to continue on with the rest of her morning tasks, such as eating, checking her answering machine, cleaning up and getting dressed for the day and watched TV for a time.
“It's me, meet me at the usual spot at noon. Got a new job for you,” said the familiar voice that had called when she was writhing in agony.
Grabbing the sword she kept in her room, Akane left her apartment.
000
Sawatari Akane was a private devil hunter. She liked the freedom the job provided, the hours of her own choosing, the good pay, and the general freedom it allowed her. When she started out she had been tempted to join Public Safety, it offered more money but she was quick to turn the idea down because she didn't want to be tied down by a government institute. Overall though, she liked her job, though she knew she had to be careful unless her “side gigs” were known to them.
When she met her contact at the noodle shop he filled her in on her target, the Racoon Devil, and where it would likely be later tonight, and and they went about their lunch. She rather liked him on a professional level, and their relationship was rather simple, he told her about a devil he needed dead and she would kill it for him, then he would take the body off of her in exchange for a fat wad of cash. They talked about nothing in particular, though he mentioned that his grandfather would be having a birthday soon, and while Akane didn't really care all that much she told him to wish him a happy birthday on her behalf.
When they parted ways Akane went her usual route around the city, looking for time and a devil to kill, occasionally stopping to window shop, such as eying a dress that caught her interest. She typically liked to dress more casually, but she thought that after tonight she should maybe splurge on herself and go visit a host club as a treat. She deserved one after all.
Her thoughts were interrupted when people started screaming however, and she saw a devil crawl out from around the corner, something disgusting that looked halfway between a centipede and a lizard. As it swung its head Akane drew her sword, walking past the people who were running from it, but someone had not been so lucky and tripped and fell, leaving the poor man vulnerable to being eaten. He then looked up to her, his face marred by terror and desperation, his hand reaching out to her as he begged to help.
Public Safety, despite their mission to kill devils also had a priority to rescue civilians, but she wasn't in Public Safety, and she knew that even if there was anything she could do to save the man it would only end up with her dead. So as the devil swung its maws, its mandibles tearing the hapless man in half, Akane took that moment of distraction and ran to the side, and by the time it had noticed her it was already too late and she shoved her sword right into its neck. When it had dropped dead, and she had made certain that it was in fact dead, she had pulled out her cell phone and called in Public Safety to call in the kill, and for the next half hour sat there waiting for someone to confirm the kill.
This was the part of her job that she didn't care too much for, and the rest of her day would be filled with bureaucracy nonsense, confirming she killed the devil, that she tried to minimize civilian casualties, confirming her own private license, and other such nonsense that would only serve to waste her time for the next few hours. It was a mundane process, and she wished they would just give her paycheck, but this was just procedure and it reminded her why she didn't want much to do with Public Safety to begin with.
In the end she's able to get her paycheck, and it's a hefty sum, enough that she doesn't have to go out and hunt for the next couple of days, but it's not enough for her liking.
Which is why she has her side gigs, which she goes to attend to after she leaves the Public Safety office.
000
It was around 11:00 PM when her contact and her had driven up to the industrial laundromat.
“It's in there, right?” she asked, looking out the window. The lights were off, it was clearly empty, and there was nothing to suggest this place was anything other than a place where hotels, prisons and other such things sent their bedsheets to get cleaned en masse.
Most people didn't know this was an important location in a drug trafficking ring.
“Yeah,” her contact said. “According to a guy we have to keep guard of the place to make sure no one gets a bit handsy with the merchandise in the backroom, it showed up earlier today and killed some of the workers. Damn thing caused us a day's worth of business.”
Akane looked back at him. “Must have been torture waiting so long to call someone in.”
He let out a low sigh. “Had to make sure everyone kept their damn mouth shut and make sure no one knew we had a devil. We got a lot of goods in there that need to be pushed, so we don't like taking risks.” He then looked at her, an impatient look in his eyes. “You going or what?”
“Just give me some info on this thing, I'm not going to get killed because you're eager for some crackhead to fork over their rent,” she said, her own annoyance clear as day. He was good when it came to business, but she's not so keen on him as a person.
He gave a grunt and sat back in his seat. “Raccoon Devil we think, big hairy bastard, so you better watch out, I don't need to have to clean your body up as well.”
“And the agreed amount?” She was not going to set foot into that place without knowing her money was secured.
He reached into his black coat and pulled out an envelope, and while he did not give it to her he opened it up to show her the stack of bills in it. When he was certain she had seen enough he placed it back in his pocket. “Now get going.”
Sword in hand, Akane left the car, slamming the door behind her.
When she opened the door she kept an eye out as she entered the main floor, looking for the creature from between the giant washing machines and dryers, and she could hear it. Something breathing in the room, something walking around on clawed feet, and in the dark she saw two glowing lights.
When she flicked the lights on, the Raccoon Devil was there, clear as day, she could see it skulking between the machines, and it could see her standing there by the door, and within a moment it was letting out a loud scream and charged at her.
Akane stood her ground, fearless as she raised her sword up, holding it tightly in both hands and pulled it back, keeping her eyes on the charging devil.
“Behind you,” she said, and she stabbed forward, but the blade itself vanished.
The Raccoon Devil then screamed in pain and tripped on its front legs, its body twitching and convulsing until it stopped.
Embedded in the back of its skull was the end of her sword, which vanished when she pulled her weapon back, the weapon reforming.
Akane was contracted with the Behind You Devil, a devil born from man's fear of the things that were behind you and had no proper way to prepare for unknown assaults. She gets the fear, she had suffered that fear before, and it's been a good contract to have. It lets her stick her sword right into the skull of whoever she was looking at, giving them no chance to defend themselves from her, it was a truly powerful ability, and all it cost on her end was to suffer a great deal of pain every morning because the Behind You Devil was a sad*st and enjoyed human suffering.
She made sure to give it one more stab to be sure, giving it another clean jab to its head, and with its confirmed death she made her way out.
“Done,” she said to her contract, who was leaning against the hood of his car, a lit cigarette in hand. Behind him were several other cars and a large van, the clean up crew and people who would disassemble the corpse.
“Any problems?” he asked, taking the cigarette from his mouth, already fishing the envelope from this coat.
“None whatsoever,” Akane said, reaching a hand out, gesturing for her payment. “It was a clean kill, minimal damage to the body, as usual.”
“Good work Sawatari,” he said, handing her money. “Once again you've done a good thing for Japan.”
He always said things like that, but she had a hard time figuring it out if he was being ironic or not. She heard about the kind of stuff his syndicate did, trafficking drugs, weapons and even people. How could anyone think the yakuza were actually good for Japan, she'll never know.
But whatever, it's not like it was her problem. So what if some idiot owed too much money to the wrong people, she had a good thing going and she wasn't going to rock the boat. She killed devils and the yakuza would take the bodies, chop them up and sell them on the black market, it was an easy process.
Today's pay easily dwarfed what she got paid for killing the devil earlier.
That's another reason she liked this over Public Safety, the pay was very much better, though considering it was illegal and she was at risk for spending possibly life in prison for devil trafficking and an unlicensed devil contract she felt that she was owed that kind of money.
000
Everyone remembered where they were when the Gun Devil attacked.
Akane had been at the mall with her family, they had gone there to go shopping for her cousin's birthday and she and her older sister had decided to make use of the bathroom while everyone was eating lunch at the food court.
They hadn't even made it to the bathroom when the mall was ripped in half.
000
At 5:45 in the morning, Akane's eyes snapped open as she felt something break. and she shot up in bed. She looked around her room in a panic before reaching under her pillow to take out the combat knife she kept under there. She waited in the silence as she waited for something, but nothing came.
“Behind You?” she asked the darkness around her, and when she received no answer she reached for her table lamp and turned it on. “Behind You, where are you? Answer me!” she called out, but there was still no answer. The Behind You Devil was not a very talkative devil, it mostly preferred to keep to itself, and there had only been a handful of times she had conversed with it since they had made their contract, but even with that lack of direct communication she could still feel its presence with her at all times.
But that presence was gone, which only meant one thing.
Someone had killed the Behind You Devil, and the sudden realization made her feel very vulnerable.
000
“My devil is dead, I need a new one,” Akane told her yakuza contact. When she had realized that she was now without a devil contract he had been the first one she had called, she had jumped straight out of bed and ran to her phone to call him. He hadn't been happy to have been called that early in the morning, even less so that she demanded they meet up as soon as possible without explaining why. She didn't like to talk about things like this over the phone. All she told him was that it was important and that they had to meet at their usual spot.
“That's why you woke me up this early?” he said, holding a cup of coffee. “I was busy.” Already this early in the morning and he seemed exhausted, or maybe it was more to do with her.
“I don't care about whatever whor* you hadn't kicked out of bed yet,” she hissed, tapping her fingers on the table. “My contracted devil is dead, I don't have one anymore! Don't you get that?”
“Means you can't do your little trick anymore,” he said with disinterest. “Why come to me about this?”
“You serious? I'm one of your best hunters and that contract is why, so if you want me to keep killing devils for you then you'll help me find a new devil contract.”
“You know that's not as easy as you make it say,” he said with a grimace.
As much as she hated to admit it he wasn't wrong. Devils were dangerous, they ate people as soon as they looked at them, and it was difficult to find one who was willing to deal with humans because you never knew what they would do until it was too late. It was either do or die with them. If there was one advantage that Public Safety had over the private division was that the devils they had were imprisoned under threat of death, and were more likely to make contracts, though the prices were still subjective to the devil making them. It made working for Public Safety tempting, but she didn't like the idea of a third party involved in her business, someone that would take away her contract for whatever reason.
“We both know you know people,” she said in a demanding tone. “Just find someone I can make a contract with.”
He groaned and leaned back in his seat. “Fine, I'll try and look into it, see if anyone has a devil in a private collection or if they're willing to share in the contract. I know my grandfather is looking into that kind of stuff, he's got his own devil hunter who uses a devil, so I'll start there.”
“Thank you,” Akane said, sighing in relief. “I need that contract to do this. I-”
Somewhere in the restaurant someone dropped a glass, shattering it, and Akane jumped in her seat and wildly looked around for the danger.
“Get a grip on yourself, woman!” her contact said. “Are you really that jumpy without a contract?”
Akane glared at him, and he felt he didn't have the patience or energy for this.
000
When Akane went on her usual patrol routes later, she found herself nervous, constantly looking over her shoulder for even the smallest hint that a devil might show up. She hated feeling like this, she was never like this when hunting devils, she was always secured and safe in her capabilities as a devil hunter to be afraid. She didn't even use her contract when hunting in public like this! She was good at killing devils! But the Behind You Devil gave her security, it let her know that if things got bad that she could use it to get her out of danger, and the power itself was subtle enough that even if she was caught using it when she was backed into a corner that she could plausibly deny why the devil dropped dead.
Someone sneezed behind her and she almost cut their head off as she jumped, and she was thankful that she had enough control herself to only partially draw the sword and snap it back before anyone noticed it.
She needed to get away, so she ducked into an alley with a variety of vending machines and got herself a soda to settle her nerves. Her hands were shaking as she popped open the tab and she had to hold the can with both hands to keep it steady enough to drink. When the can was finished she let out a frustrated cry and threw it into a trashcan before she angrily kicked the machine.
“Dammit!” she cried out. Akane hated how much of a nervous wreck she was, how vulnerable she was, this feeling of weakness that came with the feeling that danger could come from any direction. In addition to giving her an attack that allowed her to kill devils with ease it also provided her with a security in the ability to sense anyone behind her with ill intent, that way nothing could ever sneak up on her and take her by surprise again. With enough skill to protect herself from the front, and a contract that kept her safe from behind, Akane knew she had little to fear when it came to being a devil hunter, but now that safety net was gone she felt like any minute could mean her death from some random attack she had no way of knowing about.
She needed a new contract, and soon.
000
For three months it had just been her and her sister, going from different shelters after they had discovered that their home had been destroyed. There had been so much destruction from the Gun Devil that shelters for the victims were quickly overpopulated, so it wasn't uncommon for people to move between homeless shelters like the two of them had been.
The exact circ*mstances that led to her sister's death were not important, but they were not important compared to the fact that she had died. They had been out late at night, walking the street, and they had been talking about something that years later escaped her memory. All she knew was that for whatever reason she grew frustrated with her sister and walked ahead of her, not wanting to look at her face. Despite no longer facing one another her sister was still trying to talk to her, but Akane was doing her best to ignore her, until her sister stopped talking mid-sentence. It took her a few seconds to notice the silence, and when she did she turned around, finding herself too stunned by the sight before her to do anything but stare in horror.
Her sister's headless corpse stood there, while behind her a massive devil lingered, towering over her sister's body, her head placed between its teeth, like it was waiting for her to witness this. It then crushed the head in its mouth, blood and brain bursting out of the destroyed skull, and when her body fell forward and hit the ground, blood gushing out of the wound did Akane finally find herself screaming in terror and running away. The devil didn't give chase, but she heard a crunch as she fled, leaving her to assume it continued eating her sister's body.
A devil of that size should not have appeared out of nowhere and decapitated her sister that quickly, not without her noticing, but she didn't.
Life could take drastic turns for the worst before you even realized it, and Akane learned that lesson twice.
000
She's killing less devils without a contract. Every time she sees a devil, as she approaches it she can't help but worry about her back, of something coming up and killing her and her not ever having the chance to know she died. This apprehension has led to her opting out of killing most devils if she runs into them, sneaking away while they attack random people, and the few she does kill are nothing too impressive. This constant fear is ruling her life, she hates it, and the sooner she can get a devil contract to cover her the better.
A week later her contact calls her and says he found someone, but when he explained that in order to even meet the person who was contracted with the devil in question she needed to kill someone for the contract holder. She refused that on the spot, she's not killing people, no one cares about dead devils, but a dead person is something that goes noticed, and even if they are able to perfectly cover her tracks she will not risk the chance of this getting back to her. When she tries to get into contact with him the next week all she is meant with is him screaming in anger over his dead grandfather, saying he was murdered by some ungrateful kid, which told her she was on her own for the time being.
Help from the yakuza out off the table, so she had to look in other places, which posed more problems on their own. The yakuza wasn't the only set of criminals she had contact with, she had met others who did illegal devil hunting and dabbled in the black market, but she was more comfortable with the yakuza, it was more familiar to her, meaning it was more safe to deal with. Over the next couple of weeks she met up with other people who said they would meet up with people who could get her what she wanted, but it would take money, which was not an issue on her part, and time, which made her nervous but she was willing to wait.
000
One night she was on her way home from a deal that fell flat, the thug that had promised her a contract with the Forest Devil had suddenly upped the price by more than she had been prepared to pay, and he had outright lied about the devil, it was instead Poison Ivy Devil. She couldn't trust anything after that, so after making a scene, and after some violence that had sprung up for varying reasons, she had left the meeting, feeling more frustrated than she had all month.
That wasn't the only attempt to get a contract she had during this time, it had been maybe the fifth, but none of the potential contracts she had been presented with appealed to her, and while she knew she couldn't be picky she felt she needed to be secured. She didn't understand how the Salamander Devil making her fireproof would ease her troubles, or how the Balloon Devil allowing her to drastically alter her weight would help. None of these contracts were useful, none of them would keep her safe.
It was late, much later than she would have wanted to be out, and as she walked through the streets she kept her eyes out for trouble. Despite having a sword, she's still a small woman in an unfriendly city, so there's always a reason to keep an eye out for potential danger, and she could just feel there was some kind of danger around. What it was, she didn't know, but she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched, that someone or something was following her and had been for some time now. Who could it be? Was it Public Safety? Had they learned about her trying to acquire an illegal devil contract and were trying to arrest her? Had one of the devil traffickers decided to follow her for some reason, feeling as though she had disrespected their offers and they desired to take revenge on her? Maybe it was some kind of devil, stalking her and waiting for the moment when her back was turned and she had no way of defending herself?
Akane looked at her surroundings, seeing people and cars and lights all around her, and she couldn't see anything that jumped out at her. She saw some people arguing, a drunk stumbling around, a bird sitting on a traffic light, a woman talking on her phone, just things, nothing to be concerned about. But she was concerned and she had every right to be, because in this world, with the life she led, there was nothing to stop something going wrong at any moment.
Her pace quickened, she wanted to get home soon, to get away from whatever was following her. Nothing around her seemed out of the ordinary, but she knew that was a lie, one projected by her pursuer to lure her into a false sense of security, and so she started to run. She pushed past people, knocked some over and almost stumbled and fell herself, but she kept going, doubling her efforts when her apartment building was in sight. Her heart was beating like a jackhammer in her chest as she took the stairs up two steps at a time and she sprinted towards her door, the keys already in her hands. Barely able to control the shaking of her hands she struggled to find the right one and slot it into the keyhole, but then she heard something, she knew she heard something, so she looked around for it. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she knew it wasn't, but the shadows looked darker.
When she finally managed to open the door she pushed herself in and slammed it shut, locking each lock and deadbolt she had installed, took a step back, sword drawn and waited. Minutes passed and she could feel her heartbeat in her throat, threatening to violently burst from her chest, sweat forming on her brow why she tried to control her breathing. For a while there seemed to be nothing and no one there, but then she heard footsteps, and the sound of people talking, and she held her breath as a shadow appeared under the door, only for it to pass, the voices vanishing with it.
As time goes on, nothing happens. There is no heavy pounding at her door, it's not suddenly broken open, nothing slips under it, it's just a door, and with the fact realized she begins to calm down. With safety achieved, here in her own home where no one could hurt her, Akane relaxed, and sheathed her sword. This was good.
Her stomach growled and Akane remembered that she hadn't eaten dinner, and she remembered she had leftover chicken from that place that had just opened up. Deciding that would be her very late dinner, Akane turned around and
000
Akane heard that the head is still alive for mere seconds after decapitation. She couldn't help but wonder what those few seconds were like for her sister if that was true. Was she afraid? Scared? Did she think of the little sister she was leaving behind?
Did she even realize she was dead at that moment?
000
Her yakuza contact glared at her as she sat down across from him at their usual meeting spot.
“Did you order already?” she asked, glancing down at the menu, but she typically ordered the same thing anyway.
“And where the hell have you been?” he asked, arms on the table as he leaned forward.
“Solving my own problems since you were too busy with your own.”
“My grandfather was murdered,” he said.
“And?” For a moment it looked as though he was about to argue, but she was quick to put a stop to that. “Before you say anything, I have a proposition for you.”
“You ghost me for like two weeks, not a single word from you. Just where did you even vanish.”
Akane looked back up to him, opened her mouth and said
“It's on a need to know basis”
“It's on a need to know basis.”
He didn't seem happy with that answer.
“But I got a few devil contracts out of it, and I think you'll be very interested in what I have to offer.”
“...I'm listening.”
“First, I managed to contract the Snake Devil, so I'm covered when it comes to hunting now.”
“Does that have anything to do with your eyes?”
“My eyes?”
“They look weird, they're red now.”
Akane stared at him for a moment, almost puzzled, before she snapped back to attention. “It's just part of the deal, but I get a giant snake that will swallow anything I tell it too, and all it costs is a single nail per summon.”
“Sounds helpful.”
“It certainly is.” It's a powerful contract, it's cheap. She felt safe with it. “And as for the second contract, you and I are going to have to take a trip.”
000
She tells him the name and address of the storage facility they need to go to. They enter the front gate. They go through the front door. They get to the storage unit that is under her name. The key is in her pocket. She set this all up so
she had no idea where this was
she needed to be careful because what was inside could be kept secret.
Inside the storage unit there is a crate, a small freezer, and an envelope.
The first thing she does is open the top of the crate.
“What the sh*t!” her contract yelled, taking a step back as he saw what she had prepared. “Where did you get so many guns?”
The crate is filled with handguns, a lot of handguns, and she got them from...
From...
“I made a contract with the Gun Devil,” Akane said, walking to the small freezer and taking the envelope on top of it.
He stared at her in disbelief. “Are you serious?” he said, looking back down to the guns before turning back to her. “Where did you even-”
“It's on a need to know basis,” she said, because it was the only way she could respond to that. He didn't need to know. “Even for your people firearms are difficult to get in Japan, but with my contract, the Gun Devil gave me all those guns, ammo included, and I can get more as long as I keep my end of the bargain.”
He continued to stare at her, then looked back down to the open crate in awe, before he went back to her. “Why would you even need these guns? There's no way you would use them for hunting in the private sector, and you said you had a good contract with the Snake Devil.”
Akane stared at him, and something about his words were... odd... to her...
She needed these guns to... They were important because...
Wait, why di
theystaredeepintohersoul
“For protection,” Akane said matter-of-factly, reaching into the pocket of her hooded sweatshirt and took out her own pistol, because that was a thing she was carrying around this whole time apparently. She stared down at the gun for a moment before she looked back up to her contact. “I need help fulfilling my end of the contract, so if you help me I can make sure you and your people can get guns.”
He still looked apprehensive about this, most sane people would want to avoid doing anything with the Gun Devil, but there's a curiosity too. “What do you need done?”
“The Gun Devil is after a certain devil heart, and that devil heart is currently located in the chest of a human, one that I think you'll be very happy to help me kill.” Akane handed him the envelope, which he took and opened, and took the photo out.
“Him!” he gasped, clutching the picture in his hand. “This guy, he's-!”
“The one that killed your grandfather? That's right, and he's the one the Gun Devil wants dead.”
If there were any doubts or reservations about what she was selling him, those were instantly blown away as he tore his burning gaze at the photo to her. “When do we start?”
Akane then smiled, confident and assured. “First you'll need to make a contract of your own, because that devil heart this kid has is powerful, so you'll need something to fight back with.”
She opened the freezer and inside, revealing the persevered heart of the Katana Devil.
000
Akane slept peacefully during the planning phase of their attack. She walked around and did her business without a single fear in her heart because she knew that she was protected, because between the gun in her pocket and the Snake at her beck and call, how could anyone hurt her?
During her... during her... two weeks away?
Yes, her two weeks away, she had been busy. She had made contracts with devils, and she had made connections with people who would benefit from her plans of eliminating Public Safety Special Division 4. The yakuza staked out its known members, information she had gotten from her associates
who were they
what their patrol routes would be, where they would be most easily attacked, and most importantly when Makima would be the most vulnerable. She was the leader of this division, and while Denji was their primary target, Makima was the most dangerous one they had to deal with. The information she had on her was scarce, but she knew she was contracted with powerful devils, and if she wasn't the first one to be killed then this could all easily fall apart.
On the night before the attack, Akane laid in bed looking at a photo of Makima, this woman with red hair and golden, ringed eyes, and she can't help but stare at it. This woman, who is supposedly so dangerous to put their entire operation in danger if she's not dealt with in the swiftest way possible, made her afraid. Despite the protections offered to her by the Snake Devil and the gun she carried she still found herself afraid of what this woman could do to her if they failed to kill her.
But also...
She's beautiful, maybe the most beautiful woman in the world. If circ*mstances were different, Akane would have liked to meet her in person, and she wondered if Makima would ever love her.
There was a crow sitting on the railing of her balcony.
000
The operation failed.
They had managed to kill most of Division 4, but the biggest targets had survived. Somehow Makima survived, and somehow she killed everyone who had been involved in the attack, they were all crushed by nothing, their bodies flattening all so suddenly and bursting into clouds of blood. On top of that they failed to retrieve the Chainsaw Heart.
Akane tightly gripped the edge of the sink before she splashed water on her face and tried to get her breathing under control. The tips of her fingers were itching, a perk of her contract with the Snake Devil is that it sped up the growth of her fingernails, so it had more to feed on later more quickly. She looked into the mirror, eyes that were still unfamiliar to her staring back at her, and she hated how shaken up she had been, and frazzled she looked. It wasn't supposed to go this way, they were supposed to kill everyone who was a threat to them, to her, but now they were in deeper sh*t than she had ever been before. There were eyewitnesses left alive, so they knew who she was, she knew it would only be a matter of time before her face was on wanted posters and the city knew her as a terrorist.
If only that woman hadn't shown up, that monster with the knife that made a joke out of them. She somehow dodged Snake, who had never failed in striking who she told it to strike, she literally disarmed the Katana Man and turned her own firearms against them. If she hadn't managed to escape she knew she would have been killed without hesitation or remorse. There was no mercy in those eyes.
The whole city would be after them, everyone would aim for the target that was on her back.
She almost threw up, but her head snapped back as she thought she heard something, and she carefully looked outside the bathroom door. There was nothing there.
Right now they're in a yakuza safe house, because going home was no longer an option.
Akane didn't sleep that night, too concerned over what was hiding in the shadows.
On the tree outside, a crow sat, staring through the window blinds.
000
The next day she managed to calm herself down, she recomposed herself and became calm and collected. She might be afraid but she refused to let that fear take control, she would be more cautious, but not be a coward because that was where mistakes would be made. If she's backed into a corner then there is no room for enemies to launch a sneak attack against her.
They have a meeting, her, the Katana Man and several other subordinates of his that had joined up but had not taken part in the raid of varying reasons, and they are all arguing about what it is they should do next. She let them yell and scream at one another for a good while before she herself spoke up.
“We'll play defensive from now on,” she said, confident but aloof in her speech, almost detached. She would not let anyone in this room know how terrified she actually was. “They're going to come after us sooner or later, so we better get our defenses ready for when that happens.”
They still need that Chainsaw Heart, it's the most important thing her, it's part of her contract with
“-make an attempt at his heart, but you-”
the Gun Devil. There is no time limit to fulfill it, so she can keep trying.
They would not fail this time.
000
That monster had a knife to her throat and Akane was reminded of that night as a girl when her sister died and she didn't know it until it was too late. She never even heard a single footstep coming up from behind her, and she didn't notice she was about to die until Hayakawa gave an order to not kill her. The operation failed, everyone was either dead or in handcuffs. Katana Man has been beaten by Chainsaw Man, and the handcuffs on her hands are designed to render her unable to enact her contract. It's all over.
She will not give them the pleasure of seeing them afraid, she's been beaten but she's not dead, so there's no need to get worked up or beg or plead. In some ways, she's safe, she supposed.
But something was bothering her, some itch in the back of her skull that begged to be thought of but she couldn't figure out what it was. It was important that she remembered it, but she just couldn't.
In the back of her mind, she heard the Snake Devil hiss and
“-when you get captured the Snake Devil will-”
Akane suddenly became very afraid.
For some reason, to Akane's confusion, the world spun around. But for the briefest of moments she thought she saw a headless corpse standing there. It reminded her of her sister.
“Matsuri?” Akane thought to herself in the single second before she died and her decapitated head hit the floor.
000
The head and body of Sawatari Akane had both been recovered and placed in a body bag, which was then placed in a drawer in the morgue under Public Safety. The corpses of fiends, hunters who signed their bodies over to the state upon death, and humans contracted with devils were kept here.
It's protocol.
Makima zipped open the body bag and looked down at the dead, blood ruby eyes of Akane.
“Sew her back up,” she said to the morgue attendant. “It would be improper for her to remain like this.”
Makima was already counting the days until she needed the Snake Devil again, and she already had Akane's suit picked out.
