Pov Narrator.
Bang.!
Isagi slapped Power's hand away as it approached with clear intentions of stealing his french fries.
"That hand, referee. You already ate what I bought you, let me stuff my face in peace." Isagi said while both of them were sitting at the tables outside a small shop. With one hand protecting his food.
Since Isagi had suddenly gotten hungry and Power wouldn't stop being annoying, he had decided to take a small break to snack a little after what had happened. If Denji was still alive, it would depend on luck or whatever it was that Makima wanted to talk to him about. And Isagi's powerful IQ gave him no idea what Makima could say, read, or predict she might do. It was almost impossible. Makima was... well, Makima.
Trying to understand her was like trying to read a book that was missing half of its pages.
"Grrr." Power growled and rubbed the back of her hand, looking at the french fries with obvious resentment." Hey, scoundrel, since when have you and Makima been mating?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't exaggerate, we haven't gotten to that level yet." Isagi coughed a couple of times, as he almost choked on Power's unfiltered words. He put a hand on his chest while catching his breath." What do you mean mating? It's not like we're animals. And answering your question, if you're talking about courting, well... not long ago. I think it was after what happened with the Bat Devil."
"What? That scoundrel Makima is scary." Power said, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Isagi, unable to understand how someone could do such a thing.
Her expression showed a mixture of disbelief and distrust, as if the mere idea of getting too close to Makima was enough to make her nervous.
"What? Are you afraid of Makima?" Isagi asked with a mocking smile, clearly enjoying the opportunity to tease her. That expression was enough to make Power angry.
"What?! The Great Power is afraid of no one!" Power slammed both hands against the table, causing some of the objects on it to move slightly.
"Oh, really? Oh, look, Makima is behind you." Isagi pointed behind Power, causing her to turn around abruptly. Her eyes widened and a small drop of sweat appeared on her forehead as she quickly looked behind her." Hahahahaha!"
Isagi laughed while slapping his knee when he saw that Power had completely fallen for it. The expression she had made when turning around had been far too good to let it pass. This only irritated the Blood Fiend even more, who clenched her teeth and fists, looking like she was about to pounce on him at any moment.
"Don't do that, you damn rascal!"
"Why not? I thought it was funny." Isagi said, letting out the last of his laughter while slowly regaining his composure." Anyway, have you showered lately?"
"Huh? Oh! Uh... of course I have." Power answered far too quickly, slightly averting her gaze.
"Really? Do you swear?" Isagi narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow, not believing her at all. His expression became suspiciously serious as he looked Power up and down." Well, I suppose it's true. You won't have any problems with me asking Aki if it's true. And if you haven't, I won't give you any of my blood."
"Excuse the interruption."
A somewhat tall man with dark brown hair and wearing the Devil Hunters' uniform approached the table where Isagi and Power were arguing. The latter was once again trying to take Isagi's food, while he simply moved his hand from side to side, easily dodging each of Power's attempts.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"Fuck, I'm eating." Isagi pointed at his food with both hands, as if that were the most important proof that he was indeed busy, but he still turned to see who had spoken to them." What funeral did this guy come out of?"
Isagi narrowed his eyes as he looked him up and down. More than a devil hunter, the guy looked like the owner of a funeral home who had just left his office to attend to a client.
"Are you Isagi Fushiguro?" The man didn't seem offended by Isagi's words. He maintained a neutral and professional expression, as if he were accustomed to dealing with difficult people.
"Does he owe you money?" Isagi asked without confirming anything yet, slightly pointing at himself.
"No."
"Did he get your sister pregnant?"
"No."
"Did he come here to threaten you?"
"Neither."
"Then yes, that's me." Isagi said with a calmer smile, settling a little more comfortably in his seat. One always had to be cautious when a stranger suddenly appeared asking for him.
The man coughed a couple of times and adjusted the glasses he was wearing. Internally, he still found it hard to believe that this was actually the target of the higher-ups. He spoke... how to put it... very ghetto. He definitely wasn't the kind of person he had imagined after hearing the reports about Isagi Fushiguro.
But even so, he maintained his calm and professional attitude. He only had to do his job and deliver the message he had been assigned.
"I'm here on behalf of the higher-ups of Public Safety."
"(Ah, a government dog. This can't be good)." Isagi thought, keeping the smile on his face as he carefully observed the man.
Despite the situation, his danger sensor hadn't activated, which at least meant that, for the moment, there didn't seem to be any immediate threat.
"I know you're a busy man." He glanced at the Blood Fiend, who was once again trying to steal Isagi's food, only to receive another swat that pushed her hand away. "So I'll be brief. One of the higher-ups requests your presence. You can go to this address."
The man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a card, extending it to Isagi, who took it and began looking at it from both sides, first right-side up and then upside down.
"They're looking for one of the best devil hunters currently, since another country requested some help exterminating a group that distributes the possibility of making contracts with devils illegally to several countries." The man said, giving Isagi some context as to why they were looking for him out of all the devil hunters. "The higher-up will give you more information if you decide to participate. The reward will also be told to you by him."
Isagi slightly raised an eyebrow upon hearing that. It sounded like quite a big problem, although at least they mentioned a reward. That last part managed to awaken a little more of his interest.
With those final words, the man left, leaving Isagi and Power alone again. Isagi looked at the card in his hands. It had a phone number and an address written on it quite clearly.
Power immediately took advantage of the man's departure to try stealing his food again. Isagi simply moved the plate a little farther away.
"Don't even try."
An international mission?
He had never heard that trafficking devil contracts existed. It was something quite strange, but it had to be true To some extent. Besides, considering the number of people and organizations willing to do anything to obtain power, it wasn't that difficult to believe that someone was illegally trading devil contracts.
After all, the Yakuza had killed Denji as part of a contract with the Zombie Devil.
Isagi thought about it for quite a while. It was a perfect opportunity to try out his new toy, the Magatsumi, and who knows, maybe among the contracted devils there would be one strong enough for him to summon Mahoraga.
Besides... Money. Yeah, if it was such an important mission that a higher-up had personally summoned him, it had to be because there was a good amount of money involved. He didn't know exactly what kind of problem he would have to face, but as long as the reward was big enough, he could consider making the effort.
And, after all, what could go wrong? Probably many things. But that was a problem for Future Isagi.
"Uhhh, looks like I won't have to worry about my eggs and creatine anymore. I'll go right now, chamba is calling me." Isagi said, pushing his plate of food toward Power. "Eat it, and then go back to the main Public Safety building and tell Makima that I'm going to work abroad. I went from bricklayer to construction foreman."
Power looked at the plate Isagi had just left in front of her. Her eyes immediately lit up when she saw that all that food was now hers. Without wasting any more time, Isagi ran off with a smile on his face, leaving Power there.
The Blood Fiend waited only a few seconds before throwing herself onto the food and beginning to devour it all, completely forgetting about the mission Isagi had just accepted.
.
.
.
.
Half an hour later...
Isagi was standing in front of a fairly long desk. Behind it were three people; one had to be the higher-up who had requested his presence, while the other two probably held positions of a similar rank, since they were sitting at his sides.
Isagi, for his part, remained standing in front of the desk, with his hands inside his pockets.
"Well, did someone here say chamba? Oh, chamba, well, here I am." He said With a slight smile, waiting to see what his big job would be.
"You must be Isagi Fushiguro, right?" asked the one in the middle of the three. "We've read the reports to see if you're qualified. Former civilian hunter, hunting several devils even beyond what an ordinary civilian Devil Hunter could face. Also, since you arrived at Public Safety, you've eliminated devils such as the Bat, Leech, Eternity, and Snake Devils. Quite a good track record for someone relatively new."
Isagi listened to the summary of his record while slowly nodding. In reality, he had never stopped to think about everything he had done since arriving at Public Safety.
"What can I say? I'm employee of the month, and it's all thanks to my eight eggs every day and always training to failure." Isagi said with some pride, crossing his arms while nodding to himself.
"You talk very strangely." The person on the left slowly shook his head, not understanding half of what he had heard.
The young man in front of them was confident. Too confident, to the point of bordering on insolence. He showed no particular respect toward them and spoke as if he were talking to any coworker. Even Makima, who was the Control Devil, didn't usually act so casually with them.
"Very well. We want to speak with you about a possible mission. If you succeed, you will be given a large monetary reward and a possible promotion. Mr. Kishibe is already old and, perhaps, it is time for someone else to take the place of Japan's strongest Devil Hunter."
Those words immediately caught Isagi's attention. Until that moment, he had been listening to the conversation with a fairly relaxed attitude, but this was different.
To be recognized as the strongest? Isagi's eyes shone slightly. Hell yeah, it was about time his chamba was recognized.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Hey, rascal! Why the long face?!"
Power hit Denji on the head when she found him in the hallway, after finishing the food Isagi had given her. She had returned just as he had told her and, luckily, had run into Denji, who was walking with his head lowered and seemed to be thinking deeply about the meaning of life.
Or at least that's what it seemed like. Beside him, something resembling a shark fin could be seen sticking out of the floor. It had to be Beam, the Shark Fiend, who had been Denji's temporary partner for less than three days and already seemed to have gotten used to following him everywhere.
Denji barely reacted to Power's hit. He simply raised his head slightly and continued walking.
"Power, do you think I'm incapable of resisting a woman?"
"Huh?! Where did that question come from?" Power asked, crossing her arms. The last time she had seen Denji with such a thoughtful expression had been after he discovered that she used padding to increase the size of her chest.
"It's just that, after you and Spiky Hair left, I tried to figure out what was going on between them, but... Miss Makima told me something that made me think." Denji replied without paying much attention to Power's tone. He was genuinely trying to find an answer to that question that had been circling around in his head for a while. "Could it be that, in my search to touch a good pair of melons, I'm incapable of focusing on a single woman? The vomit kiss the eyepatch girl gave me... I was unable to resist at first, even though I'm supposed to like Miss Makima."
"Do you want me to tell you the truth or do we stay friends? The truth is that you're easy to trick, rascal. I did it the first time just by promising to let you grope me." Power shrugged. Surprisingly, she was stating a rather obvious truth. "Then, when that eyepatch wench promised you a little kiss, you threw yourself at the Eternity Devil just to get it. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again, with some other rascal tricking you the way I did."
Denji became even quieter. Yeah... maybe it was true. As he thought about what Power had just said, he remembered Makima's words. Perhaps he really was incapable of trying to focus on a single woman. Maybe he always ended up chasing after anything that promised him whatever he wanted at that moment.
And, thinking about it, Isagi had beaten him in that regard. He had never seen him go after another woman or chase after a physical reward like he did. Isagi simply seemed to do whatever he wanted and get on with his life, as if he didn't need a woman to promise him something before throwing himself headfirst into a dangerous situation.
He had Power, although in reality he mostly used her as his errand girl, his lackey, and someone he could ask to do things whenever he didn't want to do them himself. Even so, Isagi had always seemed to get along better with Makima than with any other woman.
Denji lowered his gaze again. Even so, he still didn't quite understand what was wrong with it..If he wanted to touch a good pair of melons and also get the woman he liked, why did he have to choose only one?
"Anyway, rascal, I came to tell Makima that Isagi was summoned by some old geezers who call themselves the higher-ups. I'll leave you with your lackey." Power said, turning around and starting to walk back toward Makima's office.
---
End of chapter.