From the shattered petals of Kita's splintered skull, a single eyeball slowly rolled out.
In the final flicker of her vision, she clearly saw a pair of eyes watching her from atop a streetlight.
"If you want to live, I need to take your body."
The voice came from nowhere, and yet Kita heard it as clearly as if it were whispered directly into her ear.
Of course, in her dying state, she barely had the strength to comprehend it.
That said, considering the state of her brain splayed open like a blooming flower the fact that she could still form thoughts was surreal in itself.
I don't want to die. I want to live.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, Kita's broken body stood upright.
Her head, which had been pulverized, somehow reformed itself as if nothing had happened.
The only difference now was the scar that stretched across her left cheek.
And her eyes once shut forever opened once more, deeper and darker than they had ever been.
If Hitori Gotou had seen her in that moment, she would've been stunned.
Because in Kita's eyes now shone concentric rings eerily reminiscent of Makima's.
"Huh? What the hell? Didn't I just kill you?" Matsuzaka, now in her grotesque devil form, recoiled in confusion. "What the hell are you?"
"It doesn't matter if you know."
The voice that spoke through Kita's mouth was no longer bright and bubbly. It had grown cold, composed and powerful.
"I am the War Devil."
"It's been a long time since I set foot in the human world. You'll be my warm-up."
With that, the War Devil crouched down and stripped off Kita's running shoes.
Then, in a gesture that resembled some childish prank from kindergarten, she slipped the shoes onto her hands.
Whoosh.
In the blink of an eye, the sneakers began to transform twisting and shifting into deadly weapons.
Now, each shoe had become a giant, spiked gauntlet, the size of a sandbag and just as heavy.
The front of each was embedded with sharp metal studs, looking dangerously painful.
"Are you kidding me?" Matsuzaka scoffed. "You think you can beat me with a pair of stinky gym shoes?"
"These shoes are nothing special," the War Devil replied, unimpressed. "But for a third-rate freak like you, they're more than enough."
"Heh... heh heh… You're just a corpse. Don't act tough." Matsuzaka's voice trembled with fury. "I hate you. I loathe you. Even if you come back a hundred times, I'll kill you a hundred more!"
With a shriek, she launched a punch like a rocket.
But the War Devil effortlessly sidestepped it and, in the next instant, was already right in front of her.
One spiked fist raised high.
She muttered an incantation under her breath.
"Kita's Smelly Foot Fist!"
What kind of ridiculous name is that?!
Even as the punch was about to land, both Matsuzaka and the still-conscious Kita couldn't help but yell internally.
Boom.
As dumb as the name was, the impact was nothing short of devastating.
Matsuzaka's massive body exploded into chunks flesh, bones, and guts splattered across the ground like crushed fruit.
"Hmph... No need to worry. I'll make sure you're finished."
The War Devil sneered, then tore off the gauntlets and casually tossed them to the ground.
"Kita's Athlete's Foot Bomb!"
The spiked sneakers detonated the moment they hit the floor, obliterating the remains of the monster completely.
At that moment, Kita could no longer hold it in.
"Hey! My feet don't smell, alright?!" she shouted indignantly.
She blinked then realized something.
She could talk.
Looking down, she saw her body again.
But when she looked up, standing before her... was herself.
With a scar on her cheek and eyes far colder than her own.
"Need an explanation?" The War Devil grinned with Kita's face, a smile full of madness. "Put simply, we're sharing this body now."
"Eh? So this is..." Kita stared at her hands, still trying to process it all.
"You're just a soul now an echo," the War Devil explained. "You can't affect the physical world. I'm the one in control of the body."
"But don't worry. I'll hand it back when I don't need it."
"Studying, socializing, ugh, I've got no interest in any of that human nonsense. That's your job."
Kita paused, silently digesting this absurd reality.
Then she asked, "So... you're the War Devil from Hell, right?"
"That's right."
"Why me, though?" Kita blinked. "Why did you choose me?"
"Just coincidence." The War Devil shrugged. "You're not special. I happened to find you the moment I arrived and you were dying. I needed a body. Yours was convenient."
"Then... what do you even want from the human world?" Kita asked nervously. "You're not planning to use my body to do anything evil, are you?"
"Heh. Relax. I only have one target."
"You're going to kill someone?!"
"Correct. Once I do, I'll return your body."
"And... who are you trying to kill?"
"A girl named Bocchi."
Kita fell silent, eyes lowered in conflict.
Of course she didn't want to kill anyone but her life was no longer her own.
If she wanted to keep living, would she have to compromise?
The War Devil didn't care what she thought.
Instead, she looked up at the sky and muttered to herself,
"Makima... I wonder what kind of scheme you've got this time."
"But this time, I won't let you stop me."
Hitori Gotou was on her way to STARRY.
Back at school, she'd been following Kita.
When Kita suddenly turned around, Gotou had nearly screamed she thought she'd been caught.
But then, another pink-haired girl had popped out of the bushes. Gotou exhaled in relief.
That girl must've been hiding so well, even Gotou hadn't noticed her.
In hindsight, maybe Kita had actually sensed Gotou, not the other girl. And somehow, by coincidence, it was the other girl who got exposed instead.
But after seeing Kita walk off with the pink-haired girl, Gotou didn't have the guts to keep tailing her.
So, she gave up and made her way alone to the venue.
As she approached STARRY, Gotou stopped in her tracks eyes widening at the figure waiting near the entrance.
It wasn't Nijika, Ryo, or even Seika.
"Good afternoon, Bocchi-chan~"
"Makima?! What are you doing here?!"
Standing at the door was none other than Makima Division 4 of Public Safety Devil Hunters.
She smiled faintly and said, "I came to see you, of course. I heard you were in a band. I've been curious about Bocchi-chan's music."
"Why? Are you not happy to see me?"
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Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw some power stones and don't forget to add library maybe I'll be motivated to keep going.