Chapter 6: Kill Denji

Arai is staring down at the group from the top of the stairs.

"Arai... just now... you were going downstairs, right?" Himeno asks. Kenobi begins to panic and Himeno turns to her. "Kobeni, make a double peace sign and stay put."

Kobeni puts up her hands and does a double peace sign as Himeno runs down the stairs, only to come down from the top and end up next to Arai.

"Well, shit." Himeno says.

Kobeni panics more and Io takes a deep breath to get the scent of fear from her.

"Aki... what's going on here?" Himeno asks him.

"It has to be a devil's power at work." Aki states.

"This is one annoying devil." Io says as he lights a cigarette. 

Aki grabs Kobeni and drags her to the front of a door. "Kobeni, stand right here."

Aki enters the room and Denji does the same and enters another room. Only they both end up coming out of the door from across the hall. Kobeni screams in panic.

"Hey! None of the windows go anywhere!" Denji states when he comes out of a room. "They just open to the room across the hall!"

"I figured as much." Aki sweats a little. "We're trapped on the eighth floor."

Io sighs in annoyance as his smile turns to an annoyed one too.

After a while of trying many different ways of leaving, the group enters a room. Io takes off his jacket and tosses it on a chair then he goes, and lays on the bed closest to the door. As his head hits the pillow he starts to feel tired.

'This is so comfortable.' Io says in thought as he gets under the covers. 'Just a few minutes of shuteye., yeah that sounds nice.' He falls asleep.

"Hey!" Arai yells at Io. "Now's-" He gets off bu Kobeni panics and waving her arms.

"Don't- Don't wake him!" Kobeni says. "He'll kill us all!" She sweats and Arai just looks to Himeno and she nods.

"Let's run through what we know." Aki says. "This is probably the devils doing, and no matter how many times we try to go to a different floor, we end up on the eighth again." Denji yawns. "The elevator is inoperable for whatever reason. There's no way outside via the rooms or any windows. We tried going through the ceiling, but ended up on the eighth floor again."

"Maybe it's because Power killed that devil?" Denji suggests and she looks to him. "He coulda died while using the power to keep us trapped. And now--"

Power gets annoyed and she gets right in Denji's face. "You commanded me to kill him!"

"Did not!"

"A devil's powers are released when they die." Aki states. "It can't be that."

"Is the flesh piece reacting, Aki?" Himeno asks.

"Actually..." Aki holds out the necklace and it is completely still. "It's gone dead still."

"That devil before was bait, and we hit hard. I've never seen a devil try something so cleaver before."

"But if no one hears from us for a while, won't other Devil Hunters show up to help?" Arai asks Himeno.

Himeno takes a puff of her cigarette. "I guess we better hope they don't fall into the same kind of trap, then."

"We're all gonna die here." Kobeni whispers. "We're gonna starve to death. "

"H-Hang in there, Kobeni!" Arai says. "Didn't you become a Devil Hunter to send your brother to college?!"

"They basically forced me to do it. My parents are set on my older brother going to college, since he's the gifted one. So they made me get a job." Kobeni begins to cry. "It was become a Devil Hunter or a sex worker! I wanted to go to college, too!" Snot, drool and tears start to mix as they fall from her face. "And now I'm gonna die here!"

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Power begins to chuckle then she full blown laughs at Kobeni. "Her face...!"

"Enough!" Arai yells at Power. "Quit laughing!"

Himeno walks over to Kobeni. "Kobeni, devils love fear, okay?" She sits down next to Kobeni and gives her a side hug. "If you get scared, you're giving them what they want, sweetie."

"But I'm so scared!" Kobeni cries out.

Himeno looks towards Aki. "something bothering you, too, Aki?"

Aki looks to Himeno. "The clocks in this room... have been stuck at 8:18 for a while now." Kobeni stops crying and looks to Aki and powers stops laughing and does the same. "In every single room... it's 8:18. There's a chance that time has been frozen here on the eighth floor. And if that's the case, no one is coming."

Denji pops out from under the covers of his bed. "Oh, shit! Then we can sleep all we want, right?"

Everyone, minus Io's who is still sleeping, looks at Denji. 

"How stupid are you?" Arai asks Denji. "We might be trapped in here forever."

"I mean, we might be, but we might not be, too, y'know." Denji states and he closes his eyes. "Wake me when you figure it out. This bed is freaking sweet. It'd be stupid not to sleep in it. I owe the devil for this nap." He falls asleep.

"He's actually asleep..." Arai mutters.

A little while later.

Himeno pokes the sleeping Denji in the face. "Rise and shine, Denji."

Denji groans then he stretches out and yawns. Then he looks up to see Himeno smiling down on him. "We find a way off the eighth floor yet?"

Himeno sits down on the side of Denji's bed. "Hate to break it to you, but not yet." On the second bed, with Io still sleeping, there's some food. "We found out the power and electricity are still working while you were asleep. There was a little bit of food that some of the guests who ran must've left behind. I'll be honest, everyone's really worn out. Aki's been searching for the devil nonstop. I told him to take a break, but he won't listen. Arai was helping Aki at first, but now he's locked himself up in another room to have a panic attack. Kobeni freaked out and tried to drink toilet bowl water, so I knocked her out. And as for the Fiend..."

"Something happen to Power?" Denji asks.

Couple minutes later.

Denji got out of bed and is standing next to Himeno as Power lays on the bed on her side.

"Given there's nothing else to do, I've decided to win the Nobel Prize!" Power states and she moves her finger around in a circle in the air. "Once I've earned such glorious esteem, the humans will all kowtow to me! And with the Nobel Prize as my foothold, I shall ascend to the prime minister's throne! What better way to ensure human suffering?" She sits up and shakes her fist in the air. "My first act will be passing a 100% sales tax!"

"She's always like that." Denji says.

"Huh. Okay then." Himeno shrugs. 

Denji then points to Io. "Why not wake Io up?"

Himeno just smiles. "Io hates being woken up from a nap. We've actually lost a couple rookies a few years back because of that. See, Io has bad insomnia and can barely ever sleep, so that's why he's usually meaner in the mornings."

"Huh."

Denji, Himeno and Power leave the room.

Io is still sleeping and we see his face twitch a few times and his mouth slightly quiver. 

Io's dreams.

November 15, 1917. World War One.

In the mountains of Monte Grappa, Italy. 

A lone figure is staring up at a burning blimp falling from the sky.