Chapter 6: Left Eye Kamui
Despite the distance, Otonashi Chiya had absolute confidence in his vision. He could see with perfect clarity: although the thin, emaciated figure was difficult to distinguish at a glance, the waist-length golden hair was certainly not something a man would grow out.
Moreover, the little girl was clutching Pochita in his chainsaw form. There was no mistake—that was Denji.
Did the Chainsaw Man world I transmigrated into have some kind of bug? Was Denji gender-bent?
While Chiya's mind was in a whirl of confusion, the distant Denji was already locked in combat with the Ant Devil. While a normal ant is smaller than a fingernail, the Ant Devil was several times larger than Denji. It had a gaping maw filled with countless sharp teeth, and its six legs were gaunt, skeletal human limbs.
Few people fear ants, but the ant's natural, incredible strength and tenacious vitality meant that a giant Ant Devil was by no means a weakling.
"Pochita, let's go!"
Cold sweat dripped down Denji's face. She clutched Pochita and charged toward the Ant Devil. She was at the end of her rope; if she didn't hunt this devil to pay off her debts, she would be forced to sell her organs tomorrow. No matter how dangerous it was, she had to risk everything.
However, at this stage, Denji was unskilled in using Pochita, and her frail, malnourished body lacked the strength to compete. She tried to saw through one of the devil's legs, but a massive antenna whipped out and sent her crashing to the ground.
"No... I can't win!"
Panic finally washed over Denji's face. But the more she feared, the stronger the Ant Devil became. Seeing Denji in danger, Chiya naturally wouldn't stand by. Running over wouldn't be fast enough. He snapped his left eye open, the whites of his eye blooming with bloodshot veins.
His Left Eye Kamui focused on the Ant Devil's head. A vortex of warping space appeared out of thin air, twisting the devil's neck until it snapped off entirely from a distance. This was one of the functions of the Left Eye—often referred to as the Offensive Kamui.
With both eyes combined, the speed of the spatial vortex and the teleportation became significantly faster. The principle behind snapping a devil's neck from afar was essentially "teleporting" that specific piece of space away.
"Gaah??"
As its head hit the ground, the Ant Devil let out a final croak and collapsed with a heavy thud.
[Ding! Host has successfully hunted the "Ant Devil." Gained 7 Attribute Points!]
Denji was terrified. She remained frozen on the ground, staring blankly at the headless corpse.
"What happened? Why did it just die out of nowhere?!" Denji exclaimed in shock.
"Woof~"
Pochita had returned to his normal "orange dog" form and nuzzled against Denji.
As Otonashi Chiya walked toward her, he felt a wave of discomfort. A sharp, stinging pain radiated from his left eye, and a thin trail of blood began to leak out. He covered his eye with his hand, a bitter taste in his mouth. Still a bit forced, huh...
Even with his Vitality stat at 30—three times that of a normal human—simply using Kamui's ability once still carried such heavy side effects. Fortunately, his recovery speed was also three times faster than normal; he would heal on his own given time.
[Ding! Allocation complete. Vitality +7!]
Current Status:
Vitality: 37
[Vitality: 37] > [Available Attribute Points: 0]
Otonashi Chiya immediately allocated the points gained from hunting the Ant Devil into "Vitality." His body instantly felt better, and the stinging in his left eye began to fade. Having the heaven-defying power of Double Kamui but being unable to use it freely was incredibly frustrating! It made Chiya even more desperate to hunt more devils and grind for points.
At that moment, Denji was looking around, trying to figure out who had killed the Ant Devil. Her eyes landed on a handsome older brother walking toward her from a distance.
"Was it... was it you who just saved me?" Denji asked.
Otonashi Chiya nodded with a smile.
[Ding! Host has activated the achievement "Meeting Denji for the First Time." Gained 1 Attribute Point!] > [Ding! Host has activated the achievement "Meeting Pochita for the First Time." Gained 1 Attribute Point!]
Earlier, Chiya had only seen her from the side or back. Now, seeing Denji from the front, her features weren't much different from the original series, except they were more refined, and she had those signature "shark teeth."
However, her face was covered in dirt, and her waist-length golden hair was tangled and filthy, as if she hadn't bathed or washed her hair in days. Only her dark red pupils remained clear and spirited. Her clothes were tattered, thin, and dirty; her body was frail and showed signs of severe malnutrition. Since this wasn't the main timeline of the original story yet, Denji was still quite young.
Chiya first made a call to the truck driver and notified the police to handle the devil's corpse. Listening to the phone call, Denji seemed lost in thought. After hesitating repeatedly, she waited for Chiya to hang up before speaking in a small voice.
"Um! ...Big brother, could you give me just a little bit of the devil's corpse...?"
Denji's expression and tone were incredibly cautious, fearing she might anger him. But she was at a dead end; even a tiny piece of the devil's meat to sell for cash would help.
Hearing this, Otonashi Chiya shook his head.
It wasn't that he was cold-blooded. It was because even if he gave the entire corpse to Denji, it wouldn't help. Her life story was tragic: a broken home, a mother dead from heart disease, and a father who was an alcoholic and borrowed massive amounts of high-interest money from the yakuza. Her father eventually went mad and tried to kill her, forcing her to kill him in self-defense.
Then, under the yakuza's manipulation, she was saddled with her father's debt—nearly 100 million yen. Chiya knew that handing over one Ant Devil wouldn't fill that bottomless pit. Nothing would change; Denji would eventually be forced into selling her organs or her body, becoming a tool for the mob.
Seeing the "big brother" shake his head, the light in Denji's eyes dimmed. She lowered her head, filled with despair. Yet, she didn't throw a tantrum or cry. She knew no one was obligated to help her; the fact that he had saved her life was already more than enough.
Chiya sighed, feeling a pang of sympathy. "How much debt do you have left to pay off?"
Denji blinked, stunned. She started counting on her fingers in a daze, and only after a few moments did it click—how did this stranger know she was in debt? She looked up in confusion, about to ask.
"It's close to 100 million, right?"
Chiya spoke before she could. "This devil corpse won't change your situation. Why don't we try a different approach—and solve the problem at its root?"