Kobeni was hunched over a trash can in a back alley next to the bar. Denji held her now unfastened hair, having lost the hair tie in the stumble out of the bar. He didn't know why Kobeni drank so much, given her relatively small build and her general demeanor, leading Denji to believe that she wouldn't really be a heavy drinker. He wanted to ask about the weird situation from earlier, but he didn't know if he should. When he wrestled with the invisible person, he saw that she was distressed and even scared, talking loudly to what he assumed was herself.
Kobeni struggled to lift her head without feeling queasy. One of her hands pressed into the concrete wall of the alley, the other on her knee to steady herself. The rustling of soft paper came from behind her. "Here," she heard Denji say. Her mind was still foggy from the overdrinking. Despite throwing up, she barely registered that the chainsaw fiend was still with her.
Her eyes darted to his face, even with the smell of vomit hanging over the alley. She didn't know where most of her thoughts were coming from, given her mind was just a mix of euphoric fuzziness that drowned out every sane thought. The boy never made eye contact with her. Kobeni looked into his eyes. Makima always focused on people like that. She knew from the awkward situation inside that everyone knew Makima wanted something from him.
Kobeni was trained by Makima. When a piece of the gun devil's body was found, she looked at Makima holding the piece. The small, rotten corpse part was like gold to the hunter head. The yellow, swirling eyes seemed to peer deeply into it. Kobeni's grip on her pants tightened as she imagined it. Denji, who had been through something so terrible only a few days before, was now seen by Makima as no different than another trophy, another weapon.
"Denji," she said, grabbing his attention, her eyes fogged up. Denji wasn't like the other devil hunters, she thought. Aki was in devil hunting for revenge, and Makima was in it for the power, at least that was her guess. She couldn't imagine how her face must look to the boy. After all, she felt horrible.
"Denji, I want to make a contract," she said. Denji felt the air around him thicken; tension filled the alley. It was like the very air was rejecting every breath taken by the two.
"I don't care if it's illegal," she continued. "Denji, you made a contract to protect me. Now I want to make one for you." He looked at her, confused. "I don't want you to be used as a weapon, Denji. I haven't known you very long, but I know you just want what i want. to be normal."
She gulped, and Denji's expression didn't change. He raised his hand and put it behind his head, seeming to think about it for a moment. "You're drunk. You don't know what you're talking about."
Kobeni raised her hand. "Denji, you protect me. Now, I want to help you."
Denji felt the buzzing igniting—it was practically burning through his brain now. Every word that Kobeni said felt like it was being zapped into him. He felt goosebumps on the back of his neck; eyes watched him, and he knew it. Kobeni seemed to pick up on it, cutting off her speech halfway through.
Denji looked upwards at a light pole far above them in the darkness of the night sky. A small form roosted in an old nest—an odd-looking owl-like creature stared at the two. Denji spotted its yellow swirling eyes, and it made eye contact with him, as if it knew he was aware of it. "A devil?" he thought. "No, Makima," he realized, recognizing the way it looked at him. He reached into his shirt, trying to grab his ripcord.
"1 year!" Denji heard from behind him. Angel's voice echoed deep in the alley, and light shined from behind the two. A spear seemed to manifest from the empty air in front of Angel. His suit and hair rustled in the wind as he grabbed the shining spear. He slowly brought his hand back and threw the spear into the air. Once it was above the ground, the tip split into 3 points like a trident and stabbed clean through the bird, causing it to fall limply to the ground in cinders.
Angel turned to look at the two. "You all need to come back inside. Makima is assigning us a new mission." Denji turned to fully look back at the door, seeing Kishibe, who glanced at the smouldering bird before looking back at them. "Denji, Kobeni, Angel. Come inside; we have a job."
Angel began walking back inside, and Denji grabbed his shoulder. "What's the mission about?" Angel looked up at him, his eyes glazed over like when they first met. "We are going to go meet our 5th team member." Denji and Kobeni shared a look, and Kishibe tossed a put-out cigarette butt towards Denji, gathering his attention. "Come on."