"Is this supposed to be edible?" Power stuck the corner of the brick into her mouth and gave it a gentle bite. She quickly discovered it was way too hard and tasted like absolutely nothing. "You can't eat it, but you can definitely hit people with it."
As Arata spoke, the waiter brought over all the hot pot ingredients they had ordered. "Denji, let's trade gifts!" Power felt that an inedible brick was pretty useless and much preferred the clothes in Denji's hands. "No way!" Denji immediately hid his gift behind his back.
But Power's next move made Aki instantly stand up to stop her. "Hey, Power! Don't put the brick in the hot pot!!" "The Great Power just wants to see if boiling it will make it soft!" "He already told you it's a weapon, not food." Aki snatched the brick away and set it on the floor.
"Give the Great Power her gift back!" "I'll give it back after we finish eating." Aki sat back down and started dumping ingredients into the boiling broth. "Why don't I see Arai around?" Arata casually asked. "Arai took some time off the day before you left. I think his mother is in the hospital." Himeno fished a slice of meat out of the pot and dipped it into her bowl of sesame sauce.
"By the way, why didn't Miss Makima come? You guys didn't forget to invite her, did you?" Denji asked. A Division 4 dinner party just didn't feel complete without Makima. "I tried calling Miss Makima, but I couldn't get through to her. I don't know where she went," Himeno replied while chewing her meat. "Arata, didn't you ask for Miss Makima's address earlier? Did you not end up going to her house?"
"I did go, but Miss Makima wasn't home. There's a good chance she's already eaten," Arata smiled. When he checked the dream realm just now, Makima was still sitting on the floor. However, the dog bowl had been knocked over, spilling dog food and milk all over the ground. It seemed Makima didn't like eating out of a dog bowl. She probably preferred getting down on all fours and licking it directly off the floor.
"Rookie, put that hand back!!" Power roared at Kana Okura, who had just picked a piece of meat out of the pot. Startled, Kana accidentally dropped the meat right back into the broth. "You guys eat the vegetables! All the meat belongs to the Great Power, don't touch it!" With that, Power grabbed the slotted spoon and scooped a massive pile of meat out of the pot and straight into her own bowl.
"Don't take her words to heart, Kana. Power acts like this with everyone," Himeno comforted her. "Oh... okay." Looking a bit awkward, Kana set down her chopsticks and took a sip of soda instead. Since she didn't really know Power, she had no idea why she was constantly being targeted. Beside her, Beam wasn't eating any of the cooked food. Instead, he was happily munching on raw sashimi and live, squirming octopuses.
Right then, a middle-aged woman rushed into the restaurant, looking frantic. Her eyes were swollen, and the dark circles under them were painfully obvious. "Excuse me, are you the Public Safety Devil Hunters?" Everyone exchanged a glance. There was nothing more annoying than being bothered by work right in the middle of a meal.
"That's us. How can we help you?" Aki wiped a smear of sesame sauce from his mouth with a napkin. "My son has gone missing. Could you please help me find him?" the middle-aged woman pleaded anxiously. "For missing persons cases, you should go to the regular police. That's outside our jurisdiction." "I know missing persons cases aren't normally your job, but I'm certain Jiro was abducted by a devil."
Hearing that her son was abducted by a devil, Himeno looked up at the woman. Perhaps out of sympathy, she immediately engaged. "Take a seat and tell us what happened slowly. If it really is a devil, we'll help you." "Denji, grab a chair for the lady." "Oh, sure." Denji replied, pulling a chair over from an empty table nearby.
"Thank you." The woman sat down, her eyes scanning everyone as they ate. "I'm so sorry to interrupt your meal, but as a mother, I have no other choice." "It's fine, just tell us what happened." Himeno quickly chewed and swallowed her food.
"It happened three days ago. Jiro was driving me to the hospital to pick up some medicine. On the way back home, we suddenly saw an incredibly beautiful woman standing on the side of the road, waving at him. Probably out of the goodness of his heart, Jiro pulled the car over next to her."
"Once that woman got in the car, Jiro couldn't take his eyes off her. If I hadn't smacked him, he probably would have just kept staring at the woman in the passenger seat." "But at the time, the woman didn't really seem to care."
"When we got about halfway home, Jiro suddenly pulled the car over to the side of the road. He started screaming at me, demanding that I get out of the car." "I was completely shocked. I had no idea what I did to offend him." "Since I didn't know what was going on, I had no choice but to get out of the car while he kept screaming at me. After that, Jiro drove off with that woman. Ever since he left that day, Jiro hasn't come home once. I've tried calling him, but nobody ever answers." The middle-aged woman started crying as she spoke, clearly terrified for her son.
"Do you remember what the woman looked like?" Himeno asked. "I remember. She was incredibly beautiful, probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. Anyone who saw her even once would basically never forget her face." "The most beautiful woman!" Denji's interest was instantly piqued.
"What is Jiro's usual personality like? Is it possible he just got infatuated with that woman and they're intentionally staying in a hotel somewhere, ignoring your calls?" Aki asked after taking a sip of water. "My Jiro has always been incredibly filial! He has never raised his voice at his mother before. But after he saw that woman, Jiro acted like a completely different person. That's why I suspect the woman who abducted Jiro must be a devil. Otherwise, it's impossible for a human to be that beautiful."
"A devil with outstanding looks... Arata, does that ring any bells for you?" "Nothing comes to mind. Aside from her face, do you remember any other physical characteristics about that woman?" Arata asked. "She seemed to be a foreigner. She had red, curly hair and was wearing very revealing pink clothes. I also saw a tattoo of a goat's head on her left shoulder." Everyone immediately began trying to picture this female devil in their minds.
Suddenly, Power shrieked, "We're out of meat! Kobeni, hurry up and bring some more meat over!" Startled by Power's screech, the woman hurriedly stood up and pulled a photo out of her pocket. "I've already told you everything I know, so I won't disturb your meal any longer. Please, I'm begging you to find Jiro. This is a picture of him." The woman handed the photo of her son to Himeno, sensing that she was the most likely to actually help. With that, the woman left the hot pot restaurant feeling somewhat reassured.
"Arata, any clues?" Himeno asked, staring at the photo of Jiro. "No clues yet. Finding a specific devil based solely on a few physical traits won't be easy. But since she's already made a move, she definitely wouldn't stop at just abducting one man." "Good point. Let me call the regular police and ask if there have been any major cases lately." Himeno immediately pulled out her phone.
"Senior Himeno, why don't we just wait until after we finish eating?" Aki turned the heat back up on the stove and dumped a plate of meatballs into the pot. "It'll take a while for the meatballs to cook anyway. Might as well make a quick call." Once the call connected, Himeno immediately asked if there had been any strange missing persons cases recently.
If she hadn't asked, she wouldn't have known, but the answer gave her a massive shock. Realizing something was seriously wrong, Himeno quickly put her phone on speaker and set it on the table. Everyone heard the police report: recently, over 100 adult males had gone missing in Tokyo alone. Furthermore, similar disappearances of adult men had been reported in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and various other regions. The total number of missing persons was around 1,000. And every single one of them was an adult male. Among them, the vast majority were virgins.
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