After breakfast, Makoto took Alice into Tokyo's city center.
Although this world was set in the 1980s, it didn't feel much different from Japan in the real world.
Unlike the infrastructure-obsessed China, Japan seemed not to have changed much in decades.
If you've watched anime in your past life, you'll notice that whether it's anime from the 80s or anime from 20 years later, the Japan used as a backdrop always seems to look the same.
"You have a thing for my mom, don't you?"
In the evening, after watching a movie, Alice pouted and glared at Makoto.
"What are you talking about?"
Makoto gave her a light smack on the rear.
'Just a thing? It was a huge thing!'
"Hmph!"
Alice snorted. Suddenly noticing a hair salon across the street, her ruby-like eyes twinkled. "You go to the hotel first. Wait for me."
"What's up?"
"Just go!"
Alice stomped her foot and pushed Makoto towards the hotel.
About two hours later.
A knock came at the door.
Makoto opened it to see a beautiful figure in a purple dress and red high heels standing before him.
"Oh? Mrs. Leonora, what brings you here?"
Makoto raised an eyebrow slightly.
Leonora pressed her lips together in a smile, said nothing, and pulled Makoto into the room. She kicked the door shut with her heel.
Looking at their joined hands, Makoto was also a bit surprised. "I, the creditor, haven't even come to collect the debt, yet you debtors are just showing up on my doorstep?"
Before Makoto could say anything else, 'Leonora' suddenly pressed against him, pushing him onto the bed.
Now Makoto wasn't just surprised… he was shocked.
'Were Europeans this forward?'
He couldn't help but think of certain stories from his past life.
Maybe it was the first time seeing this expression on Makoto's face. The woman on top of him suddenly giggled. "Hey~ Nishikawa-kun, is your aunt beautiful?"
The moment she spoke, it was obvious… compared to an adult woman, a high school girl's voice was still relatively young. Makoto was stunned for two seconds, then couldn't help but smile. He gently tugged at 'Leonora's' hair.
Just as he suspected, the wig came off, revealing Alice's short hair underneath.
"This is what you were busy with?"
Makoto was a bit speechless.
"How is it? I look just like my mom, right?"
Alice put the wig back on, stood up, and twirled in front of Makoto, holding the hem of her dress.
Makoto looked her up and down and nodded. "Yeah, but your voice is too young. Plus, your mom has that 'military commander' accent when she speaks Japanese."
That's right. Leonora's Japanese had a very peculiar intonation since she's a foreigner.
"I went through all this trouble to satisfy your weird fetish, and you're still nitpicking."
Alice hit Makoto in dissatisfaction.
"Okay, okay, my bad, my bad."
Makoto pulled her into his arms.
"Nishikawa-kun, lick my feet!"
Makoto: "..."
'You're getting a bit too cocky, aren't you?'
Makoto flipped Alice over.
"Ah! Auntie was wrong!"
'She was really getting into it, huh?'
Today, Makoto went out again.
Well, to be precise, he went out every day.
But what really bothered Erina was that every day, she would find an opportunity to tell Makoto that she could fulfill her promise at night.
However, whenever evening came, Alice would appear and take Makoto away for various reasons.
Sometimes it was to have him taste a new dish she had made, sometimes it was to invite him to play cards.
Yesterday, the three of them played a card game called [Landlord], but Erina fell asleep in the middle of it.
Erina didn't know why, but she had been feeling very sleepy lately.
Then when she woke up in the morning, she would find herself already in her room, and the room would still have that strange smell.
For the first few days, Erina could still hint at Makoto.
But after several failed attempts, Erina gradually gave up.
After all, her personality was also Tsundere and easily embarrassed. Once or twice was fine.
Continuously inviting a man to do that to her was something she couldn't bring herself to do.
But what intrigued Erina more was: Did Makoto not want it?
Or was she not attractive to him?
Thinking about this, Erina began to feel insecure.
This might be the first time since she was born that she doubted her own charm.
As usual, after Denji's father went out to gamble, Makoto placed a bowl of rice at the door.
It felt a bit like feeding a stray dog.
Actually, Makoto had thought about killing Denji's father.
But after thinking it over, he decided against it.
He was still the boy's father, after all. If anyone was going to kill him, it should be Denji himself.
After finishing his daily training, Makoto wandered around the outskirts of Tokyo as usual.
"Should I try looking around the Yokohama area?"
Makoto suddenly thought of another method.
The news of the Gun Devil's indiscriminate global massacre had already been broadcast.
According to official reports, the Gun Devil had first descended in Yokohama, Japan, and then fired indiscriminately across the globe.
And the one who stopped it was almost certainly Chainsaw Man, Pochita.
That meant, in the original work, Pochita had probably killed the Gun Devil in Yokohama, then spent a few years wandering until he reached the outskirts of Tokyo, where he met Denji.
Thinking this made sense, Makoto immediately went to Yokohama and began investigating the roads between the two cities.
Thus, two months passed.
The distance between these two places was only about thirty kilometers.
In his past life, in China, that was the distance between two districts in the same city.
Who knew why it took Pochita five or six years to wander that short distance to Tokyo? Maybe after killing the Gun Devil, he had been unconscious for a few years.
Just as winter was about to end, in a town between Yokohama and Tokyo… Kanagawa.
Yes, the same city that housed Rikkai University from The Prince of Tennis and Shohoku from Slam Dunk.
In the outskirts here, Makoto saw a small, orange-red dog covered in blood, with a chainsaw on its head.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Seeing Makoto staring directly at it, Pochita widened its eyes in surprise. It was the first time it had encountered a human who didn't run away from a Devil.
Recovering, Pochita barked, trying to scare him off.
"You're badly hurt."
Ignoring the chainsaw dog's barking, Makoto approached. To the dog's astonishment, he used the Flying Thunder God kunai to cut his own palm.
"I heard Devils can regenerate by drinking blood. Drink mine."
With that, Makoto extended his hand towards Pochita.
Though surprised, Pochita, drawn by the enticing scent of human blood, approached on its little legs, stuck out its small tongue, and began lapping.
Makoto said, "I really like dogs. Once, I took my beloved dog back to my hometown in the car. But for some reason, that night after we got back, it suddenly convulsed and died. It was during the New Year, so I couldn't find a pet hospital. I still don't know what killed it. We had been having so much fun on the road."
Listening to Makoto's story, Pochita looked up at him with curious eyes.
"I still don't know how it died."
Makoto met the chainsaw dog's gaze, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile.
"But Devils won't die as long as they drink blood, right? That means, that won't happen to you."
Seeing the blood on his palm had dried, Makoto cut himself again under the dog's astonished gaze.
"Can you replace that little one who left me and become my new family? Make this contract with me. Come along."
Hearing the sincerity in Makoto's voice, the chainsaw dog narrowed its big eyes into slits.
With a 'Woof' in response, it resumed licking Makoto's palm.
Contract, established!