"Ah!!" Denji grabbed onto Arata's arm. It wasn't just a human head that fell from the sky, but sheer terror as well.
"Don't panic, it's just a human head."
"Just a human head?!" Denji glanced at the dead eyes staring right at them, deeply admiring Arata's calmness.
"Ah, a devil!!!" Before Denji could recover from his fear, another woman's scream echoed from the hot spring next door.
"What's going on, did a devil show up?"
"It's a devil alright, and an asshole devil at that."
"An asshole devil? How do you know?"
"Throwing a human head over to our side, what else could it be but an asshole?"
"Never mind that, let's hurry up and go take a look." Denji scrambled out of the hot spring, making sure his path kept him as far away from the unblinking severed head as possible.
Arata wasn't in a rush to get out of the water. He picked up the head and examined the cut on the neck.
"Hey, Denji."
"What now?" Denji turned around impatiently. Suddenly, an unidentified object flew right at him. His body caught it on instinct. When he looked down, it was the severed head.
"Ah!! You bastard."
He immediately threw it back at Arata. Arata simply reached out and swatted it back. They tossed it back and forth a few times until Denji finally threw it over the wall into the next bath.
"Ah!!!" The woman next door saw the head flying back and thought it had come alive.
"My bad, overthrew it."
"Hurry up, put on your robe and let's go check it out." Arata knew exactly where the next room was and led Denji running over there.
By now, the hallway outside the women's bath was crowded with female customers in their bathrobes.
"Hey, what are you doing? Don't go in there. There might be a devil inside."
"Then we definitely need to go in, because we're Devil Hunters."
"Public Safety Devil Hunters?"
"Private Devil Hunters."
"We don't have money to hire you."
"You don't need to pay. Even a devil's corpse holds a lot of value to us." Saying that, Arata led Denji inside.
Meanwhile, Denji's eyes were completely glued to the beautiful, pale-skinned women at the entrance. It was his first time seeing so many women wearing so little.
"Stop staring. Once you kill the devil and become a hero, they might just fall for you."
"They'll fall for me?!!"
"Who are you people?" Seeing two men barge in, the manager of the women's bath immediately stepped in to stop them.
"We're Devil Hunters. We were in the room next to the crime scene and someone threw a severed head into our bath."
"Devil... Hunters." The manager froze for a moment. "Then please, hurry and check the crime scene. There really might be a devil. I took one look and ran right back out. There's still a woman in there."
Arata nodded, and the two of them entered the crime scene.
At the doorway leading from the changing room to the hot spring lay an unconscious woman. She wasn't wearing a bathrobe, but was fully dressed in regular clothes. In her arms, she was cradling a bloody severed head.
Walking further in, a headless female corpse floated in the crimson hot spring. The corpse's stomach had been sliced open, exposing some of her intestines.
A wooden bucket for cold water was knocked over by the side of the pool, and a ring of faintly blood-tinged water puddled around the edge.
"Blergh!!" Denji covered his mouth, almost throwing up.
But after sensing his surroundings, Arata couldn't detect even a trace of a devil.
Just then, the clatter of footsteps echoed from the doorway. The women's bath manager had returned.
"How is it? Did you find the devil?"
"No. But what did you see before you came in?"
"I saw a human head fly over from next door. That woman caught it, screamed, and fainted."
"And before that? I heard someone scream and yell about a devil," Arata asked.
"Yes, I heard that too. I was standing at the entrance to the women's bath. When I heard the noise, I rushed over, and then I saw what I just told you."
"Did you see anyone else on your way here?"
"No. From where I was standing, I could see the entire hallway. When the sound happened, no one appeared in the hall."
"So these two were the only customers in this hot spring room?"
"That's right. They were laughing and talking when they arrived, discussing a new movie premiering tonight. It sounded like a movie the victim had been looking forward to for a long time, and she kept thanking the other girl for coming with her."
"I understand. You can leave now."
"But, if there really is a devil, you have to get rid of it. We've already had one person die here. If another one dies, we won't be able to stay in business."
"If you can't kill it, at least drive it somewhere else."
"Relax, I'm the strongest Devil Hunter. I won't let a single devil get away," Denji boasted.
After sending the manager away, Arata walked over to the unconscious woman. She was wearing regular clothes, not a bathrobe.
He placed a hand on her forehead and confirmed that she had indeed fainted from sheer terror. He then tapped her forehead, and the woman slowly opened her eyes and woke up.
"Did it succeed?" she mumbled.
"Did what succeed?" Arata frowned.
Hearing a man's confused voice, the woman's eyes snapped wide open. "Who... who are you?"
"I'm a Devil Hunter from the hot spring next door. I heard someone yell about a devil, so I came to check it out."
"A Devil Hunter!!" Hearing this, the woman instantly broke down in tears, looking incredibly aggrieved. "Please save me, a devil killed my friend."
She grabbed Arata's collar, her body trembling violently. "The devil is already gone."
"It's... gone." The woman breathed a sigh of relief. But when she turned her head and saw her friend's severed head, she threw her arms around Arata.
Watching from the side, Denji felt incredibly jealous.
"Tell me what you saw."
"Could you move Eiko's head away first?"
"It's fine if we just cover it." Denji picked up a seating cushion and tossed it over the victim's head.
"Eiko and I were bathing together. After I finished, I came into the changing room to get ready for the movie, leaving Eiko alone in the hot spring. Then I suddenly heard her scream. I ran out and saw a headless devil holding Eiko's head, and it just casually tossed it over the wall."
"Dammit, so it really was a devil that threw that head to scare me," Denji said angrily, punching his palm.
"And then, I screamed that there was a devil."
"The devil didn't kill you?"
"No. I was scared stiff, I have no idea why it didn't kill me."
"Where did the devil go?"
"It disappeared."
"How did it disappear?"
"Do you have to interrogate her like this? The lady is already terrified, we should get her out of here first." Denji acted extremely enthusiastic, determined to win the woman's attention.
"It just vanished, like a ghost." The woman looked a bit stunned, not expecting Arata to ask for such specific details.
"So let me get this straight. The devil suddenly appeared, killed your friend, threw her head over to us, you saw the devil and screamed, and then the devil vanished."
"Right... yes, that's exactly what happened," the woman stammered.
"Then what did you mean when you woke up and asked, 'Did it succeed?'"
"Did I... say that?"
"You did, you did, I heard it too," Denji chimed in, sealing the trap.
"It was just something I said without thinking, I don't even know." The woman forced an awkward smile.
Arata looked at her dead serious. "And you expect me to believe that?"
His freezing tone made the woman feel like she was suffocating.