Pochita barked twice again.
This time, Goto's eyes widened even further.
"You're saying… Ryo also has a faint trace of devil scent on her? She's been in contact with a devil too?"
"What is with these people?"
"They're all just ordinary high school girls, so why is it that every single one of them is somehow mixed up with devils?"
She was about to continue her complaints when another thought hit her.
Right… if we're being honest, I live with Pochita every day, eat together, sleep together.
And on top of that, I can even use the abilities of devils I've killed, though I still don't know why.
Come to think of it… I'm not exactly normal either, am I?
The band only has four members, yet three of us are connected to devils somehow.
Goto sighed. "Pochita, do you think… our after-school band might actually be something incredible?"
"Woof~" Pochita's bark almost sounded like agreement.
After walking for over half an hour, Goto finally arrived at the so-called "haunted by a devil" hotel.
The rest of Public Safety's Division 4 had arrived before her.
"Pochi-chan!" Kobeni waved excitedly.
Besides Kobeni, there were two men and two women present.
One man carried a sword and wore his hair in a ponytail. The other looked like your typical, by-the-book salaryman.
The two women stood out even more one wore a black eye patch, the other had red horns sprouting from her head.
What an impossible-to-miss team.
"Ah, so you're the rumored new Chainsaw Devil?" The woman with the eye patch gave a light laugh. "I'm Himeno, and Aki-kun here is also your senior."
She gestured toward the man with the ponytail. That must be Aki.
Goto didn't pay much attention to them at first because Kobeni had already run up and hugged her. Still, she asked curiously, "Senior?"
"But as far as I know… devils haven't shown up in the human world for a long time. They only started appearing recently."
"That's true," Aki said, "but the devil hunter profession has always existed."
"Himeno and I joined a few years ago. Most of the time we just stayed in Public Safety doing training for 'what to do if a devil attacks,' collecting easy paychecks."
"But now… devils are actually appearing, so we've been forced into real fights. Honestly, I'd rather quit."
"After all, we're just working for a paycheck. Why risk our lives for that?"
"Unfortunately, Himeno and I signed long-term contracts, so quitting isn't an option. That's why we had to hurry and find devils to contract with, so we'd at least have some power to defend ourselves."
"For that, Himeno even gave up one of her eyes. When you think about it, it's not a very good deal."
"Haha." Himeno just smiled. "It can't be helped. If you aren't willing to pay a small price, getting killed outright by a devil would be much worse."
"I see…" Goto felt a twinge of sympathy.
Even though they called themselves her seniors, neither of them actually had much real experience fighting devils.
In truth, they were all rookies.
The salaryman-looking man introduced himself next. His name was Arai, and there wasn't much else remarkable about him.
That left just one teammate she hadn't been introduced to.
The woman with the horns.
"Hm? Where did she whoa!"
Before Goto could finish her thought, she felt a sudden, powerful grip around her waist and was lifted clean off the ground.
The horned woman had somehow appeared behind her without her noticing.
"Wahaha! So you're really the Chainsaw Devil? With a name like that, I thought you'd be stronger, but you seem pretty weak!"
Feeling uncomfortable, Goto stammered, "C-could you… please put me down?"
"Oh? You're actually begging me so politely?" The woman laughed even louder. "In that case, if I keep bullying you, won't I get to hear even more begging?"
Kobeni's face darkened. "Hey, listen when people talk to you. Put Pochi-chan down. Now."
"You wanna fight me?" the woman said. "Heh, bring it on. I'm not afraid!"
Seeing things heat up, Himeno quickly stepped in. "Alright, Power, if you keep making trouble like this, Miss Makima will be very angry."
"Ohhh." At the mention of Makima's name, the horned woman finally pouted and set Goto back on her feet.
Thanks to Himeno's introduction, Goto now knew who she was.
The Blood Fiend Power.
Unlike humans or devils, fiends were devils who had taken over a human corpse.
A human body with a devil's mind inside.
"You may look weak," Power said with a grin, "but I've gotta thank you for that gift last time. That big leech devil was so much fun to beat up."
"Ah… y-you're welcome," Goto replied weakly.
Aki glanced at his watch, then at the hotel, and sighed. "It's about time to get to work."
"That's right," Himeno agreed. "If we ignore the devil, we're not doing our jobs."
With that, the two of them headed toward the hotel entrance.
Arai and Power followed without another word.
"Pochi-chan, let's go too!" Kobeni grabbed Goto's hand.
"Uh, okay…" Goto hesitated. "You seem unusually cheerful and bold today, Kobeni."
"Ah, do I?" Kobeni's face turned red. "M-maybe it's because you're here…"
"But we've worked together before."
"T-that was different! Back then, I didn't know you yet. It's not the same!"
"That's true. I didn't know you back then either," Goto said. "But based on what I know now, you'd normally be afraid to face a devil."
"I'm not scared anymore, because I know the unbeatable Chainsaw Devil is right behind me!"
"…"
Goto could only force an awkward smile. She had no idea how to respond.
This whole "Chainsaw Devil" thing… this misunderstanding was probably never going to be cleared up.
And still, she couldn't figure out why the once-shy, timid Kobeni had suddenly changed like this.
Following the group into the hotel, they had barely climbed two floors before a strange devil appeared a floating human head with legs.
It was nothing special. Power casually formed a blood spear and skewered it.
They kept climbing.
But after a while, something felt wrong.
Arai glanced at the sign on the wall. "Wait, this is the eighth floor?"
"But didn't we just come up from the eighth floor?" Himeno frowned.
"Really?" she said. "Let's go up one more level just to check…"
They climbed another flight of stairs, only to find the sign still read "Eighth Floor."
Arai broke out in a cold sweat. "I, I'm going to check downstairs!"