On the other side of town, the Kudo family's manor.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Ran Mouri pressed the doorbell over and over, Sonoko Suzuki and Reze flanking her. No answer.
"Not home?"
Ran frowned.
"Maybe he went to school?" Sonoko guessed, then immediately dismissed her own suggestion. The boy had no legs. School was the last thing on his mind.
Come to think of it, did injuries from the other world carry over to reality?
Ran read the thought on her face before she could voice it. Counting the years they'd spent together across worlds, the two of them had known each other for nearly three decades.
"Injuries from the other world do transfer to your real body," she said quietly. During the Konoha Crush in the Naruto world, she'd taken some minor wounds fighting shinobi from the Hidden Sound Village. Nothing serious, but every cut had been waiting for her when she returned.
"Then let's go in and check on him," Reze said.
The other two nodded. Their eyes swept up the iron gate, nearly three meters tall, and they began channeling Chakra to their feet.
Before they could move, Reze raised her right hand and snapped her fingers.
A tiny spark leapt from her fingertip and kissed the gate.
The explosion blew both doors clean off their hinges. They tumbled through the air and crashed to the ground two seconds later with a sound like a car wreck.
Ran: ...
Sonoko: ...
Reze strolled through the ruined gateway and glanced back at the two of them. "What? Come on."
They hurried after her. Ran leaned close to Sonoko and whispered, "I don't think Reze has much common sense..."
Sonoko nodded vigorously. "We need to keep an eye on her."
The front door of the house was locked too. Reze was already raising her hand for an encore when Ran dove past her and punched in the access code.
"Shinichi? Are you here?"
Silence.
The three of them made their way to the living room and found Shinichi Kudo sitting alone on the sofa, head bowed, saying nothing.
What seized their attention were the empty pant legs below his knees.
Even braced for it, seeing her childhood friend like this, so hollowed out and broken, sent a wave of anguish through Ran's chest.
"Shin..."
"Did you come here to laugh at me?"
Ran flinched. "How... how could you think that? I was just..."
"Shouldn't you be visiting your teacher instead?" He cut her off again, and through the shock in her eyes, a cruel smirk twisted across his face. "Oh wait, you live together now. No need to make a special trip."
Coming home should have been a relief. But when Shinichi discovered his injuries had followed him back, the relief curdled. And knowing his childhood sweetheart was living under the same roof as Makoto Nishikado, the jealousy burned through whatever was left.
Ran stood frozen, words failing her.
The Shinichi in front of her felt like a stranger.
"Who do you think you are?!"
Sonoko stepped forward, her voice cracking with anger. "If Ran wasn't worried about you, we wouldn't have bothered coming to see you at all! So you lost your legs. You know what? Your father lost his life!"
"Don't talk about my dad!"
Shinichi's eyes blazed crimson, his voice a raw snarl. Every mention of Yusaku Kudo dragged him back to Makoto Ito, to the Teddy Devil under Makoto's command, to the horrors that father and son had endured.
Before the Reincarnation Game, Sonoko might have been shaken by that kind of outburst. But two trips to other worlds, thirteen years surviving in the brutal hell of the Chainsaw Man universe... even without gaining any real superpowers, her mental fortitude was nothing like it used to be.
She drew a deep breath and quietly weighed how best to set this ungrateful wreck straight.
Walking in, she'd been planning to use Suzuki Group connections to commission state-of-the-art prosthetics for him.
Now? Not giving him a piece of her mind would be generous enough.
Sonoko was the heiress of one of Japan's wealthiest conglomerates. Under normal circumstances, her temper ran mild. Otherwise, every man who'd toyed with her feelings in the original story wouldn't have lived to tell about it.
But right now, Shinichi Kudo had genuinely pissed her off.
"Want me to blow him up?"
Reze, who'd been watching in silence, spoke up without a trace of emotion.
The venom drained from Shinichi's face, replaced by naked fear.
He didn't know Reze. But he'd spent time with Public Safety in the Chainsaw Man world. He'd seen criminals far more dangerous than anything the real world had to offer.
He could tell. This girl wasn't bluffing.
If Ran or Sonoko gave the word, she would kill him.
"N-no, that's fine..."
Ran shook her head gently, then turned to leave. She needed to be alone.
The click of heels echoed from the doorway.
All four of them looked up. A woman in a sharp business suit stood at the entrance, every inch the composed professional.
"Mom?!" Ran blurted.
"I knew you'd be here." Eri Kisaki's expression was ice. She seized her daughter's wrist. "We're leaving. Don't come back."
"A-Auntie..."
The fury evaporated from Shinichi's face. He deflated like a punctured balloon.
It was pure reflex. All those years of dragging Ran to crime scenes as kids had earned him legendary tongue-lashings from Eri Kisaki. The childhood trauma ran deep.
"Shinichi, we're an ordinary family. We can't afford to get tangled up with yours."
Eri dropped the words like a verdict and walked away.
No mother could accept her daughter being tied to a man who'd lost both legs, let alone one with Shinichi's temperament.
And deep down, Eri had a nagging sense that Shinichi Kudo wouldn't be alive much longer.
He watched the four of them leave, his fingers crushing the sofa cushion.
The door slammed shut. From inside, one crash after another rang out as things shattered against walls.
And in that moment, neither the women walking away outside nor Shinichi himself noticed what was happening to his body.
Beneath his skin, flesh was quietly peeling away, revealing patches of barbed scales, black and white, that belonged to nothing human.
"All hail Chainsaw Man! All hail Chainsaw Man!! ALL HAIL CHAINSAW MAN!!!"
Outside Totsuki Culinary Academy, a crowd of students had barely stepped through the gates when they spotted the bizarre figure trailing behind Makoto Nishikado. The man wore nothing but shorts, bouncing along like an excited puppy, the upper half of his face shaped like a shark's snout.
More than a few students recalled the crab monster from the news.
"Shut up!" Yu Ishigami snapped.
Bringing Beam back to the real world had been Makoto's decision, and Ishigami followed his decisions without question. But enrolling this thing in the academy, letting it walk around in broad daylight? That felt like a direct threat to his position as number-one subordinate.
Makoto brought Reze and Beam to Senzaemon Nakiri's headmaster office.
Reze's appearance was human enough to pass without issue. But one look at Beam, and Senzaemon's composure flickered.
"Lord Nishikado, this one is..."
"Don't worry. Unlike the crab monster, Beam is one of mine."
The certainty in Makoto's voice left no room for argument. Senzaemon nodded and had two uniforms brought out immediately.
Beam resisted the clothes at first, but under direct orders, he grudgingly changed.
Stepping into Class 1-F sent an unexpected wave of nostalgia washing through Makoto. In the real world, less than a day had passed. For him, it had been over thirteen years.
"L-long time no see, Lord N-Nishikado."
Hayato Hayama scrambled to his feet from a seat near the door, greeting him with obvious unease.
"Huh. You're alive?" Makoto raised an eyebrow.
"Th-thanks to Hikigaya and the others..."
Hayama managed a stiff laugh. In the Chainsaw Man world, he'd stuck with the men's group led by Hachiman Hikigaya. When he'd seen what happened to Kazuya Kinoshita with his own eyes, his soul had nearly left his body.
"Oh, you were with them? I figured you'd be with the Yukinoshita group." Makoto thought back and shrugged.
Given that the blond's hopeless crush was Haruno Yukinoshita, it would've made sense.
Hayama scratched his nose, embarrassed. He would have liked nothing more. Whether she'd have him was another matter entirely.
"Can't figure out what you see in that woman. Couldn't pay me to take her."
Makoto walked past him and dropped into his window seat.
Hayama smiled bitterly. From anyone else, those words would've sounded like pure arrogance. But glancing at the lineup of beautiful girls gathered around Makoto, all he could think was: Fair point.
Haruno Yukinoshita was attractive, sure. But it depended on the competition.
In figure, she couldn't touch Kotonoha Katsura. In legs, Utaha Kasumigaoka had her beat. In personality, she wasn't in the same league as Megumi Kato. The only card she held was the two-for-one sister fantasy with Yukino, and even that paled next to the Akizuki sisters.
Thinking it through, Hayama had to admit there was nothing about Haruno that would catch Makoto's eye.
Silver lining: at least the girl he liked wouldn't be stolen.
What Hayama forgot was a simple truth.
Even if Makoto had no interest in certain women, that didn't mean those women wouldn't come to him.
Ten minutes later, the bell rang.
Mafuyu Kirisu, the history teacher for first period, strode into the classroom. Right behind her, another figure stepped through the door.
"Um, hi everyone! I'm Chika Fujiwara, transferring in from Class A. Starting today, I'm officially part of this class!" She snuck a quick glance toward the window, then broke into a bright, sunny smile. "I like board games and shopping. I'm in the board game club, so come hang out anytime!"
She paused, as if remembering something critical.
"Oh, right. I'm also currently serving as Prime Minister of Japan. So, um, nice to meet you!"
Every face in the room cycled through a spectacular range of expressions.
Then every pair of eyes swiveled to Makoto by the window.
The pink-haired girl owed that seat to this man alone. If anyone believed her transfer had nothing to do with him, they were delusional.
Kirisu spoke, unfazed. "Makoto Ito passed away from heart failure yesterday. Fujiwara, you can take his seat. Lot of sudden heart attacks lately..."
"Okay!"
Chika sat down in the dead boy's chair and beamed a dopey smile at Makoto.
She'd been up all night thinking about it. Step one: close the distance. As soon as class ended, she'd walk up, introduce herself properly, and ask if there was anything Japan's new Prime Minister could do for him.
Clap clap!
Kirisu tapped her pointer against the blackboard, pulling every wandering gaze back to the front. "Alright, class. I don't care if you're superhumans or heirs to corporate empires. In my classroom, you pay attention."
Makoto let out a quiet laugh.
He'd liked this no-nonsense teacher with the killer legs even in his past life. She was a definite upgrade over Iron-Fist Shizuka.
A shame she'd never become a crossover regular the way Shizuka Hiratsuka had. Probably because she couldn't trigger the main plotline of joining the Service Club.
The instant the bell rang, Kotonoha Katsura, Yotsuba Nakano, and the others converged on Makoto's desk.
Yotsuba's eyes sparkled. "Makoto! Thank you for beating the Control..."
"Shh."
He pressed a finger gently to her lips. "Forget what the system said? You can't reveal identities."
"Oh! Right!"
She clapped both hands over her mouth and nodded furiously, glancing around with exaggerated caution. It was almost too adorable.
Utaha sat with her legs elegantly crossed, black stockings catching the sunlight streaming through the window. Makoto's gaze lingered. Part of him wanted to tear them off.
"Almost everyone left in this class is a player," she said with a smirk. "No need to be that careful."
"Better safe than sorry. Nobody wants to get erased," Megumi said softly.
Airi Akizuki leaned on her desk, chin propped in her palms, murmuring, "Feels like more and more people are getting pulled in. Next time it might be the whole school. Then the whole country..."
Kotonoha stood quietly to the side, saying nothing, watching Makoto's profile.
Being near him like this was enough.
Makoto Ito was dead. She didn't have to hold back anymore.
Even before the last transfer, when Ito was still alive, she'd already stopped caring what he thought.
"Superpowers..." Alice Nakiri sighed wistfully, staring at Utaha, Megumi, and Yui Yuigahama. "I want some too."
Beside her, Erina Nakiri was quietly wrestling with her nerves, wondering if Makoto still remembered the promise they'd made.
Watching the cluster of girls around him, Chika Fujiwara wavered.
Is now a good time? Am I going to get mobbed if I walk up there?
While she was overthinking it, a figure brushed past her and stopped in front of Hayato Hayama.
"Move."
Hayama looked up from his phone and found himself staring into Yu Ishigami's brooding face. He nearly toppled off his chair, managing a smile that looked more like a grimace. "C-can I help you?"
He remembered perfectly well that Ishigami had gained powers in the Chainsaw Man world. And even before powers, the guy hit like he didn't know the meaning of restraint. Not someone to cross.
"Get lost. This seat's mine now."
Ishigami's face was blank stone.
Hayama blinked twice, then packed up his things without a word of protest.
Utaha stifled a laugh. "Ishigami, what's this about?"
His expression softened the instant one of Makoto's people addressed him. He scratched the back of his head, sheepish. "I figured being stuck in the middle school division put me too far from Boss. If he needs something, I can't get here fast enough. So I applied to skip ahead."
He shot a guarded glare at Beam.
This bastard is in the same class as Boss. If I don't keep watch, my spot as right-hand man is finished.
"Um, Lord... Nishikado? I... this is my first time being Prime Minister, and I was wondering if there's anything I can do for you?"
Chika Fujiwara finally summoned every scrap of courage and spoke up. If she waited any longer, the next bell would ring, and she might not get another chance until the end of the day.
Ishigami's eyes snapped to her, suddenly alight.
Wait.
A brilliant idea to cement his status as the number-one lackey had just occurred to him.