"It really was Kobeni who killed the devil!!"
Arai and Aki Hayakawa stared in shock.
Power looked defiant, clearly unwilling to accept this fact.
But the one who found it most unacceptable was Denji.
Because his hot, agile tongue was now left with nowhere to go.
"It's absolutely true. This is the piece of the Gun Devil's flesh I found inside the Eternity Devil's heart."
Arata tossed the piece of the Gun Devil's flesh to Aki Hayakawa.
Aki inspected it briefly before asking, "Kobeni, how exactly did you kill the Eternity Devil?"
"I already told you, the Eternity Devil came to me holding its heart and begged me to kill it."
"That's bizarre!! I wouldn't have believed it when you first said it," Himeno said. "But if you really did kill the Eternity Devil, then that reason makes perfect sense. After all, you don't have the strength to kill it in a straight fight."
"Why did the Eternity Devil specifically ask Kobeni to kill it? Did they make some kind of deal?" Arai voiced all of his doubts.
Having spent the most time with her, Arai knew Kobeni's capabilities better than anyone else.
Aside from a deal, Arai couldn't think of any other reason why the Eternity Devil would beg her for death.
And now that Kobeni had killed the Eternity Devil.
It made Arai look like the absolute dead last member of the squad.
"Because the Eternity Devil is afraid of pain," Arata explained. "I let Denji use the Eternity Devil as a training dummy, with the explicit instruction not to kill it. So the Eternity Devil was kept in a constant state of agonizing pain. It knocked on our door just to be put out of its misery."
"Arata, did you know the one knocking on the door earlier was the agonizing devil?"
"That's right. And I deliberately made Kobeni go open the door. The goal was to force her to bravely take her first step."
Hearing that Arata had orchestrated everything.
Kobeni's eyes instantly widened.
She had originally resented Arata for his rough treatment.
But now, she felt deeply grateful to him.
After killing a devil, Kobeni's mindset had clearly matured significantly.
She was no longer a rookie who only sought shelter behind others at every turn.
"I didn't expect this. Arata, you actually look out for Kobeni."
The reason Himeno looked after Kobeni was because Kobeni's situation was somewhat similar to her own past experiences.
After all, very few girls became Devil Hunters.
And once they became Devil Hunters, they naturally encountered many unacceptable things.
The old Himeno was almost exactly the same as the current Kobeni.
During her first mission, she was constantly timid and cowering behind Kishibe.
That was until Kishibe locked Himeno in a dark room with a devil.
In order to survive, Himeno fought with everything she had and killed the devil.
The moment she walked out of that dark room, Himeno's mindset, much like Kobeni's after killing the Eternity Devil, had undergone a massive upgrade.
"We're comrades, and Kobeni has secrets I don't know about yet, so I gave her a little special treatment."
"Thank you, Arata-senpai. Can I call you Master too?" Kobeni realized that if she didn't step forward and remained stagnant, she would quickly be fired.
Then her only options would be sex work or flipping burgers.
Compared to those two jobs, being a Public Safety Devil Hunter offered many benefits and a high salary.
Aside from occasionally having to deal with devils, the rest of the time was actually quite relaxed.
"Sure." Arata agreed readily. "Denji, you have a junior sister now."
"The fact that Kobeni actively asked to be your apprentice means she really has changed quite a bit." Himeno nodded in satisfaction, happy that Kobeni had taken a step forward.
"Alright, it's time for you to reward Kobeni. Don't try to get out of it."
"Um... there's no need. We're both girls." Kobeni's face instantly turned red.
"Right, since we're both girls, let's change the reward." Himeno walked over to Kobeni and patted her shoulder. "Big sister knows you're short on cash, so you can take the lion's share of the bonus from this mission."
"R-really!" Kobeni said excitedly.
"Wait, we get a bonus for killing devils?" Arata suddenly asked.
"Of course we do. Aki-kun bought his apartment entirely with his bonuses."
"And the stronger the devil, the bigger the bonus. High risk, high reward."
"Hearing that makes my dream of making movies much easier to realize."
For the past year and a half, Arata had always harbored a dream of becoming a director and making movies.
In this era, movies were mostly just romances, art films, comedies, or adult action films.
There was an extreme lack of genres like sci-fi, suspense, and horror.
Since Arata had seen countless movies from the new century.
His cinematic inspiration would practically never run dry.
He could just make things like Inception, Knives Out, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or Wrong Turn ahead of their time.
"Ooh, Arata, you want to be a director? You definitely have to let me be the female lead when the time comes."
"No problem. When Young Mother starts filming, I'll definitely have Himeno-senpai as the female lead."
"Hey, you guys!!"
Just as everyone was discussing Arata's movie dreams.
Several members of Public Safety Special Division 3 came up the stairs.
The man walking in front had a large broadsword strapped to his back.
In his hand, he held a piece of the Gun Devil's flesh suspended by a string.
Behind him was a man and a woman.
The woman was dressed like a ninja, with numerous kunai hidden in her waist pouches.
The man had six arms and six vertical eyes on his demonic face. Like Power, he was a Fiend.
"Oh, if it isn't Tsurugi, Tenten, and Peter from Special Division 3. What brings you guys here?"
Himeno had been a Public Safety Devil Hunter for many years.
And because her master was Kishibe, the strongest Devil Hunter.
She knew the members of the other Special Divisions.
"You're Himeno?" Tsurugi's face showed absolutely no warmth.
"That's right. It's only been a few months, don't tell me you forgot me already."
Himeno joked. She had spent some time in Special Division 3 before.
She had completely figured out what kind of person Tsurugi was long ago.
"Of course I recognize you, Himeno. But the police officers downstairs said you guys were dead, and that you've been missing for four days before suddenly reappearing. So they suspect you aren't human, but rather the devil's puppets."
"Are you kidding me? We aren't devils."
"How can you prove it?"
"Prove it? Tsurugi, do you still remember that time we played strip rock-paper-scissors?"
"Shut up!!" Tsurugi suddenly yelled.
To this day, he couldn't forget the scene of people mocking him for being a toothpick.
"I think a single leaf was enough to cover it."
"Don't say another word. I believe you're absolutely not devils."
"That's more like it. If you still didn't believe me, I could have shared a few more details."
Himeno had Tsurugi completely by the balls.
As long as she brought up the strip rock-paper-scissors incident, Tsurugi would absolutely beg for mercy immediately.
"Did you say earlier that we've been missing for four days?" Aki Hayakawa asked.
"That's right. Because you went missing for four days without a trace, higher-ups commissioned us to investigate the cause of your disappearance."
"Four days have passed!!"
The group was shocked and immediately pulled out their phones to check.
Rows of eye-catching missed calls were displayed right at the top.
"Himeno-senpai, I need to call my family first."
"Me too."
Kobeni and Arai both had families.
Their first priority was to call and let them know they were safe.
The rest of the group didn't even bother pulling out their phones.
Because they had already lost so much.