"Why are so many students still hanging around instead of going home?"
Senzaemon Nakiri arrived at the school gates to find clusters of students milling about, and the question left his lips before he could stop it.
He'd just received word that his son, stationed in Northern Europe, had died of a sudden heart attack. He was on his way to collect the body and arrange the funeral.
The loss stung, as any father's would. But beneath the grief, something else nagged at him.
Weren't there too many sudden cardiac deaths lately?
That morning's news had reported the passing of Yusaku Kudo, the world-renowned mystery novelist, from the same cause. Within the academy itself, several students had been reported dead from cardiac arrest in quick succession.
It was almost coordinated.
"Grandfather!"
Erina and Alice hurried over with respectful bows the moment they spotted him. The other students parted to make way as the Director of Totsuki appeared.
Senzaemon looked past them and froze. Four girls in Shuchiin Academy uniforms were on all fours, barking like dogs.
"What are they doing?"
His worldview took a direct hit. Were kids these days really this creative?
"Grandfather, the thing is..."
Alice rose on her tiptoes, leaned close to his ear, and rattled off the entire story at speed.
Senzaemon listened in silence. Then continued his silence.
Kids these days truly fear nothing. After witnessing Makoto Nishikado's power firsthand, they still had the nerve to run their mouths behind his back?
At the very least, save it for behind closed doors at home. Flapping their gums on school grounds, when the man's eyes and ears were everywhere... did it not occur to them that someone might report straight back to him?
"The girl called Kotonoha Katsura was taken away. What does Makoto-sama intend to do with her?"
Even in Makoto Nishikado's absence, Senzaemon used the honorific. He was genuinely afraid. Yu Ishigami could materialize out of thin air at any moment and slap the taste out of his mouth.
But Senzaemon was still too naive. The Yu Ishigami of today was nothing like the boy he used to be.
If he caught anyone badmouthing Makoto Nishikado now, a slap would be the least of their worries. He'd put a bullet in them.
"No idea. Maybe he'll give her a blade to kill those four, or maybe something else entirely." Alice shrugged as she tossed out her guess.
Senzaemon found himself curious enough about Makoto Nishikado's intentions to shelve his plans to handle his son's affairs. The crowd lingered at the school gates with him. Most had a rough idea of what was coming, yet none could resist the urge to see it play out with their own eyes.
"By the way, how are things between you two and Makoto-sama? Getting along well?"
The question came suddenly, directed at both granddaughters.
Erina and Alice flushed crimson in unison.
"Getting along" didn't begin to cover it. They'd gone well past that. One had been bitten by him. The other had given herself to him entirely.
Noticing the telltale bashfulness on their faces, Senzaemon nodded to himself. Good. Things are progressing even better than expected.
The odds weren't great, admittedly, but if Makoto Nishikado might one day formally marry one of them... Erina Nishikado, or Alice Nishikado... that would be ideal.
Even so, he couldn't bring himself to throw both granddaughters into the fire. The man had far too many women around him already. To put it crudely, a man only has so much 'inventory.' With that many women, how many drops could one person realistically expect?
After a moment's deliberation, he spoke. "Erina. Do your best."
The bashful warmth on both faces evaporated.
A spark of hope flickered in Erina's eyes. Alice looked like she'd been slapped.
The meaning was unmistakable. Grandfather was backing Erina's pursuit of Makoto Nishikado.
"Grandfather, what exactly do you mean by that?"
Alice's expression went cold.
Her whole life, the family had favored Erina. In the past, all she'd lost were toys and snacks. This time was different. The man she'd fallen for, and her own family expected her to step aside?
Sensing the ice in Alice's gaze, Senzaemon scrambled to explain. "Alice, Makoto-sama has too many women around him already. There's no need for both of you to get tangled up in that. The boy named Kurokiba, the one always at your side... isn't he a fine match?"
On the surface, it sounded like he was protecting Alice, sending Erina into the lion's den while keeping her well clear.
Alice heard it differently.
"If another mutant like the Crab Monster showed up, could Ryo protect me?" She scoffed. Grandfather's logic was laughable.
Setting aside the fact that she'd already given everything to Makoto Nishikado, that her heart was irrevocably his...
The world itself had changed. Every news broadcast carried reports of mutants rampaging across the globe. Modern weapons could still barely handle them. But who could guarantee something on the scale of the One-Tailed Shukaku from the Naruto world, or the Gun Devil from the Chainsaw Man world, wouldn't appear next?
When that day came, could her little attendant Ryo Kurokiba keep her safe the way Makoto Nishikado could?
"Alice, I..."
Senzaemon trailed off, unable to muster a rebuttal.
Erina, feeling guilty, tried to intervene. "Alice, you can't speak to Grandfather like that."
"Shut up, Erina! Don't you dare play innocent after coming out on top!" Alice's emotions boiled over. Eyes reddening, she glared at her cousin. "I was planning to let you have a share eventually. But I've changed my mind. As long as I, Alice Nakiri, am breathing, you will never set foot in the Makoto household!"
The argument escalated, drawing stares from every direction.
Utaha Kasumigaoka, the Akizuki sisters, and the rest exchanged bewildered glances. Where had this white-haired girl come from, strutting around like she was the main wife?
Airi Akizuki, Makoto Nishikado's first girlfriend in this world, wore an expression that could rival Sasuke's trademark scowl. What is this girl even talking about?
Even Erina, for all her inexperience in romance, could sense something was off.
"Makoto-senpai!"
"Lord Chainsaw!"
Before she could press the issue, Yu Ishigami, Beam, and the others bowed toward the school building behind them.
Everyone turned. Makoto Nishikado was walking toward them with Kotonoha Katsura at his side.
Nayuta, still riding piggyback on Otome Kato, twitched her nose and caught an unfamiliar scent. "Huh? You turned the big-chested girl into a Weapon Hybrid?"
Turned? Weapon Hybrid?
The terms meant nothing to those who'd spent thirteen years in the Chainsaw Man world without ever contacting Makoto Nishikado: the Yukinoshita sisters, Shizuka Hiratsuka, and others still ignorant of the Reincarnation Game's mechanics like Chika Fujiwara. Blank stares all around.
Kokoro Katsura pouted. "Nayuta, don't call my big sis that."
"Shut it! Lick my..."
Nayuta raised her hand, index finger aimed at Kokoro, like she was ready to unleash hollow purple.
Makoto Nishikado appeared beside her in an instant and caught her small finger.
"What did I tell you about using your abilities on our own people?"
Nayuta stuck out her tongue and made a face at him.
He turned to Kotonoha. "Show them what you can do."
A small nod. She drew a quiet breath. Under the weight of hundreds of stares, her right hand gripped the back of her left.
Crack.
She tore her left hand clean off.
Not ripped. Detached. Palm separated from wrist like a component unslotting from a machine. No blood. Not a single drop.
From the stump, a blade emerged.
Reze's eyes lit up. "Oh, the Katana Devil."
Katana Devil?
Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki blinked, remembering someone at last night's otherworld banquet mentioning that Yu Ishigami's power came from the Gun Devil.
Before anyone could process it, a massive tachi erupted from Kotonoha's forehead and both arms with a shriek of tearing skin. Blood sprayed in every direction.
Several of the more timid girls fainted on the spot.
"Sis... is that you?"
Kokoro's face drained of color. She stared in disbelief at the figure before her, half its face and both arms encased in enormous blades.
Nayuta smiled knowingly and snapped her fingers, releasing her control over Otome and the other three girls.
Clarity flooded back into their eyes. They blinked at the gathered crowd in utter confusion.
"Wh-what happened?"
Before they could pick themselves off the ground, a bone-deep chill crawled up their spines.
They whipped around.
The Katana Devil form of Kotonoha Katsura stared down at them.
"Stared" wasn't quite right. Her face had fully demonized: jagged fangs jutting from her mouth, the skin from forehead to nose bridge sheathed by the massive blade. Her eyes were invisible beneath it.
"K-Kotonoha?"
Despite the transformation, the four girls who'd tormented her for so long recognized that unmistakable figure.
The Katana Fiend said nothing. She raised her right arm. More precisely, the great blade that had burst through the skin of her right hand.
"N-no, plea..."
The blade fell.
It split Otome Kato from brow to groin in a single, clean stroke, bisecting her with surgical precision.
The two halves hit the ground with a wet thud. Blood fountained outward, splattering the onlooking students. Most of it drenched Obuchi, Koizumi, and Morino.
Screams ripped through the air.
The three of them lost every shred of composure. Seconds later, heedless of Makoto Nishikado, Megumi Kato, and all the other powered individuals present, they scrambled to their feet and bolted for the school gates in a blind, stumbling sprint.
Under the stunned silence of the crowd, Makoto Nishikado spoke again. "I recall you studied kendo, Kotonoha. That should translate well here."
The Katana Fiend shifted her left foot forward into a wide stance, settling into a sword-drawing position.
She vanished.
Three heads sailed through the air in perfect unison. The dull thuds of skulls hitting pavement came before her silhouette flickered back into existence.
Iai slash.
Makoto Nishikado broke into applause.
Reze smiled and joined in. She'd resolved to live as an ordinary high school girl, at least most of the time. But encountering another Hybrid in this world was still something worth celebrating.
Yu Ishigami, Beam, and the others clapped along.
"Applaud."
Yu Ishigami's voice cut through the silence.
"Huh?"
Miyuki Shirogane and the rest hadn't recovered from the shock.
"APPLAUD!"
The crowd jolted awake. Fighting down the bile rising in their throats, they clapped for all they were worth.
The Katana Fiend walked back to Makoto Nishikado's side, stumbled, and collapsed.
He caught her. The instant his hands made contact, the blades retracted into her body with a shudder, her skin smoothing back to normal.
"First time. Still getting the hang of it, huh?"
He murmured the words while looking down at the unconscious girl, then hoisted her onto his back. Turning to the women gathered around him, he said, "I'll take her home. I'll catch up with you later."
"You're so unfair." Megumi Kato puffed out her cheeks in a rare display of jealousy. "Keeping an ability like that hidden and not using it on any of us."
It wasn't the power itself she envied. It was that Makoto Nishikado had given this gift to Kotonoha instead. They'd been in a relationship with him far longer, yet had never received anything like it.
He flicked Saint Megumi on the forehead. "None of you use swords."
Kotonoha had trained in kendo since childhood. That iconic scene from the original story where she gutted Sekai Saionji was practically legendary. After weighing his options, the Katana Devil's heart was the perfect fit.
The explanation made sense, but the jealousy lingered. Tonight, he was in for a "battle" of an entirely different kind.
As he turned to leave with Kotonoha on his back, Nayuta and Kokoro in tow, Alice broke from the crowd, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him hard on the lips.
He looked at the girl blinking up at him with those sparkling eyes. "What was that about?"
"Because I love you~" Alice cooed, swaying her curvaceous figure playfully.
Then she shot a triumphant look at her grandfather and her cousin.
The Totsuki students nearby wanted to cry. This bastard had already laid waste to every beauty at Shuchiin Academy. Now he was coming for theirs?
The most stunned were Senzaemon and Erina.
Senzaemon couldn't fathom how his granddaughter had moved so fast. When had she gotten involved with him?
Erina stood frozen. Alice embracing Makoto Nishikado, kissing him... the image replayed on a loop behind her eyes. Disbelief and fury tangled together in a knot she couldn't begin to unravel.
"I win."
Alice's smile was pure, radiant victory.
All their lives, everyone had favored Erina. But this time, the winner was her.
"You... you..."
Erina pointed a trembling finger at Alice, unable to form a complete sentence. She couldn't even figure out what grounds she had to accuse her.
You stole my man?
But was Makoto Nishikado really hers? Could what they had be called a relationship?
He... he bit me. That has to count for something, right?
Yet he'd never confirmed it himself. And judging by what she'd just witnessed, Alice had clearly gone much further...
Eyes glistening, Erina spun on her heel and sprinted toward the luxury villa within Totsuki grounds.
"Miss Erina! Please wait!"
Her secretary Hisako cried out and chased after her.
"I thought you said keeping it a secret from her would be more fun," Makoto Nishikado said, puzzled.
Alice flashed a foxy grin. "I changed my mind. Problem?"
He shook his head with a helpless laugh. Women. Always rewriting the script.
The students who'd been about to leave froze again.
Now what?
A love triangle between cousins?
Today's drama was relentless.
Then an unfamiliar girl with short purple hair bounced up to Makoto Nishikado, nudged Alice aside, tiptoed up, and pecked him on the corner of his mouth.
"Say, once she's got the hang of her powers, how about the three of us do it in our Devil forms?" Reze glanced at the unconscious Kotonoha and grinned.
Makoto Nishikado blinked. Why are you so fixated on doing it in Devil form?
The crowd's brains short-circuited for the third time.
Another one?
They didn't know what "Devil form" meant, but the word "do" left far too much to the imagination.
What kind of depraved nonsense are we hearing right now!?
Everyone fled.
If they stuck around any longer, they were convinced they'd be silenced permanently.