The Anomaly Shinichi suddenly released Ran. The moment she was about to hit the ground, a blur appeared beside her, and the instant it touched Ran, it disappeared again.
By the time everyone regained their senses, they found that Makoto, who had been beside the Teddy Devil, was now holding Ran in a princess carry.
Fast. That was truly fast.
There was no seeing what had happened at all.
"Se... Sensei..." Through her haze, Ran saw a face that made her feel immensely at ease.
"It's okay. Sleep." Makoto looked down and said.
Ran returned a smile and closed her eyes.
"Te... Teddy Devil..." Maruo's attention, however, was still on the oddly shaped Devil beside Makoto.
He also knew the fearsome reputation of this Devil.
After all, the previous live stream had nearly drained ordinary people like them of their sanity value, and this creature was the main character.
But what Maruo and the others didn't know was that through that live stream, the Teddy Devil had absorbed the fear of countless people worldwide, his strength reaching a new level.
"Shut your fucking mouth!" The Teddy Devil glanced sideways at Maruo.
"You damn bitch!"
Not just Maruo, but his five adopted daughters behind him were also stunned.
"Wh-Why are you in this world?" The Anomaly Shinichi shouted, his voice trembling.
The face that repeatedly appeared in countless nightmares suddenly materialized before his eyes.
His pupils contracted sharply, and his body involuntarily retreated half a step.
"Listen, baby, I love you so much." The Teddy Devil swaggered towards the Anomaly Shinichi, slapping his fists together with a smack.
"Alright, watch me make you relive those old dreams."
Whoosh!
The Teddy Devil's full aura erupted, a gust of wind sounding.
"Ah… damn it!" The Anomaly Shinichi was so frightened he no longer cared about Ran. He turned and fled.
His mind went blank, only one thought screaming frantically: Run! Run!
Even after becoming an Anomaly, that voice still woke him up countless nights.
He thought returning to the real world would be safe, but now—
"I f*cking said stop right there!" The Teddy Devil erupted with speed no less than, in fact higher than, Shinichi's.
The two weaved through the city, drawing the attention of many citizens.
"Aaaaaaahhhh—"
The Anomaly Shinichi's screams echoed over the city.
The sound radiated naked fear, his heart seemingly about to leap from his throat.
"Where are you going, baby?"
Hearing that nightmare voice, the one that, countless nights, had been withdrawn from behind him only to plunge back in, every time, Shinichi didn't want to look back, but still woke up.
And this time, he couldn't help but look back anyway.
There he saw the Teddy Devil, having leaped into the air, propping his head on one hand in a coquettish sideways pose, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Open it yourself?"
"Ugh AAAAAHHH!"
The Anomaly Shinichi was literally scared into a meme face.
His steps faltered, he stumbled, nearly falling flat on his face.
And in that instant, the Teddy Devil suddenly accelerated, blocked the Anomaly Shinichi's path, and grabbed him by the neck.
"Wait a second. Chainsaw-sama said not to kill him yet."
The Teddy Devil half-turned his head, shaking Shinichi in his hand helplessly: "He passed out."
Beam, who had just emerged from the ground, was momentarily speechless.
'Just how much psychological trauma did you inflict on this guy?'
…
On the other side, Makoto princess-carried Ran and carried Sonoko on his back back into his residence.
Just then, Eri and Yukiko also got up.
Who knew how much effort they had spent digging out so many things?
"What happened?" Eri, her hair not even dried yet, saw her daughter covered in wounds and turned pale.
That morning when she woke up, she was still congratulating herself on helping her daughter escape disaster. How could she now be...
Makoto looked at Yukiko: "Help support her."
Although full of question marks, Yukiko still reached out and put her arm around her best friend's slender waist.
Having helped push her hips more than once the previous night, this was nothing.
"Mouri Kogoro is dead. Kudo Shinichi did it."
The moment these words landed, the air seemed to freeze.
This time, not just Eri, but even Yukiko felt her mind go blank.
Eri's body suddenly swayed, as if struck by a heavy blow to the chest.
Her eyes first showed confusion, then disbelief, and finally—
A scorching flame of rage surged up from her chest.
'Kudo Shinichi!!!'
Although back in the Naruto World, Eri had already felt her daughter shouldn't get too close to Shinichi.
And after crossing over to the Chainsaw Man World, that feeling grew stronger.
But she never imagined that Shinichi would actually...
Just as the two young mothers, who had been filled to the brim yesterday, were about to faint, a giant skeletal hand reached out from beside Makoto, steadying them.
Maintaining his pose of princess-carrying Ran with both hands while using Susanoo to hold Yukiko and Eri, Makoto went to the back garden and placed them one by one on the sofa.
On the way, they encountered Megumi, Kotonoha, and the others, who had also woken up.
Seeing Ran covered in blood, they all turned pale and asked what had happened.
Makoto simply gathered all the girls together to discuss the matter.
To be honest, he was also a bit surprised.
He didn't really understand the sequence of events either... he had just received word from the Lion Devil and his group that an Anomaly had appeared at Nakano Hospital, apparently an acquaintance of Ran, and had gone over out of curiosity.
He never expected such a huge surprise.
Before long, Sonoko, who had the lightest injuries, was the first to wake up.
Then Eri and Yukiko.
Ran was more seriously injured and was still unconscious.
Sonoko, who had witnessed the entire process, recounted the sequence of events to everyone.
However, the one whose expression changed the most was not Eri, whose husband had died, but Yukiko beside her.
Not only because her supposedly dead son was actually alive and had turned into an Anomaly-
But mainly because when Sonoko recounted the part where Ran opened her backpack and Shinichi was stimulated by the discovery that many of the condoms she bought yesterday were missing, Yukiko nearly fainted for the second time.
Fortunately, everyone's attention wasn't focused on that.
No one noticed Yukiko's strangeness except Makoto.
"Sob... sob sob!" Finally, Eri couldn't hold back and burst into tears.
But the crying wasn't entirely sadness.
She clenched her fists tightly, her body trembling violently with anger.
Because, although it had come at a price, she had just learned yesterday that her husband's illness had hope, and today he was dead.
The fall from heaven to hell completely shattered her psychological defenses.
Yukiko, unable to bear it, hugged her best friend and comforted her constantly. But her own complexion was equally pale… her son had killed her best friend's husband. She didn't even know how to face Eri.
The other girls were also buzzing with discussion, after all, this incident was too explosive.
Although it's not the most shocking thing they had encountered, it was definitely the most twist-filled and dramatic.
"U-Um, Makoto-kun, if we transplant a Devil's heart into Uncle Mouri... c-could it bring him back?" Sonoko asked tentatively.
Before Makoto could answer, Reze spoke: "That would only turn him into a Fiend."
Reze explained that a Fiend is a Devil's last-ditch survival method. When a Devil is near death with no blood nearby to replenish itself, if there's a human corpse available, it can possess the human body to live on.
That is a Fiend.
It could be said to be the complete opposite of a Weapon Human.
A Weapon Human is a human who has transplanted a Devil's heart, gaining the Devil's power, with the human's mind taking dominance.
A Fiend, on the other hand, uses the human body as a vessel, with the Devil's mind in complete control, though it is influenced by the deceased's memories and personality, and its strength is significantly weakened.
"Oh, wait, from what you just said, that uncle named Kogoro didn't even leave a corpse behind, so this method won't work either."
Hearing Reze's words, Eri cried even louder.
Makoto pinched Reze's pretty face in mild annoyance: "Can't you phrase things better?"
Reze stuck her tongue out at Makoto.
She wasn't close to that uncle, so why would she spare his feelings?
"What should be done with that Kudo Shinichi?" Airi remembered something and asked.
At this, the level of discussion heightened again.
Although these girls were generally kind-hearted, even Reze, a former spy, adhered to the principle of not killing if possible—
This time, Shinichi's actions were too inhumane.