Before the bound Yukiko, or Akane Sawatari beside her, or the middle-aged driver up front could so much as flinch, the chainsaw had already carved a perfect circle through the van's roof.
A fist punched the cut panel inward.
Through the gaping hole, the three of them stared up at the man and the dog standing on top of the vehicle.
Yukiko's pupils contracted the instant she recognized him.
"Who the hell are you people?!" Akane shrieked.
Makoto looked down at Yukiko Kudo, a flicker of genuine interest crossing his face. "Well. It really is you."
He'd thought the voice sounded familiar. There weren't many players left in Japan these days, and only two women fit the bill: Yukiko Kudo or Sekai Saionji.
The absence of Yusaku and Shinichi struck him as odd, though. In his experience, those two showboats from the Conan-verse were far more likely to attract trouble than she was. How had Yukiko ended up the one in chains?
"Please, help me!" All thoughts of the grudge between Makoto and her husband and son evaporated. Yukiko was begging before pride could stop her.
She had no other options.
Before Makoto could respond, Akane thrust out her index finger and hissed a single command:
"Snake. Tail!"
Her fingernail shattered into dust. Blood sprayed from the exposed tip.
The asphalt around the van erupted. A serpentine tail, easily two meters thick, burst from the earth and whipped toward the man and dog on the roof with enough force to flatten a building.
"Pochita."
Makoto's voice was almost lazy.
Pochita barked once and leapt onto his shoulder. In the same breath, Makoto flipped sideways off the van, clearing the tail's sweep by inches. Half a second of freefall was all Pochita needed to slide from shoulder to forearm, positioning its back-mounted grip right where his hand closed around it.
His left hand found the pull-cord on Pochita's tail and yanked.
The chainsaw between Pochita's eyes erupted, doubling in length to over a meter, its high-speed rotation filling the air with a deafening whine.
Three slashes. That was all it took.
The massive tail fell apart in wet, heavy segments.
A bestial roar of agony split the night, somewhere deep below the asphalt. The Snake Devil, in pain.
Makoto landed back on the van's roof and crooked a finger at Akane, his tone light and mocking. "Go on. Summon it again."
Akane didn't waste a second. She threw the van door open.
"We're leaving!"
Her contract costs were low, but she wasn't stupid enough to ignore a gap in combat power that wide. Another fight would be pointless. Worse, if the Snake Devil got cut down again, it might resent her enough to break their contract entirely.
The driver scrambled out his door and bolted.
Without anyone at the wheel, the van swerved hard and plowed into the roadside planter.
"Shame. I wanted to see a bit more of how Devil Hunters fight." Makoto shrugged.
Behind him, a colossal grey-black skeletal phantom materialized. Its left hand slammed down on the careening van, pinning it still. Its right hand shot out and snatched the fleeing driver out of the air.
"Don't kill me! Please! I'm just the driver, I swear, I'm just..."
The man's voice broke apart at the sight of the Susanoo towering behind Makoto, dwarfing even the Snake Devil in sheer menace.
His plea ended in a wet crunch as the spectral fist closed. What had been a man became pulp, and only the head remained intact, spinning upward through the air.
It was about to land at Makoto's feet when he swung his leg and punted it like a cannonball.
The skull rocketed across the road, straight at the fleeing Akane.
She sensed something closing in from behind and turned on instinct.
The last thing she saw was her partner's head, mouth wrenched open, face twisted in frozen horror, hurtling toward her.
Impact.
The driver's skull hit hers with the force of a cue ball striking dead center, ripping her head clean off her neck. Both skulls skewered themselves onto the trunk of a nearby tree, stacked like candy on a stick.
Makoto walked over with Pochita and untied Yukiko's wrists.
"Th-thank you... I'll be going now."
The moment the ropes fell away, Yukiko tried to bolt. He'd saved her life, but she knew full well what lay between him and her family. The less contact, the better.
"Did I say you could leave?"
His voice drifted after her, unhurried.
Yukiko froze mid-step. She turned back like a rusted automaton and forced a smile that looked worse than crying.
"Wh-what do you want...?"
Makoto dropped into the van's back seat and kicked his feet up. "I've been curious. How'd you end up on a civilian Devil Hunter's hit list? How has your family survived the last two months?" A pause. "And is that detective brat dead yet?"
Every time the Reincarnation Game dropped players into a new world, the system assigned them identities that let them blend in.
But unlike last time, when Kayoko Akizuki and Mrs. Yukinoshita had arrived in the Naruto world with supplies, this round the system had given nothing beyond a cover story.
Shinichi's injuries had needed emergency treatment from the start. Without a hospital, he was dead. And neither Yusaku nor Yukiko had arrived with a single yen to their names.
Which was exactly why Makoto was curious.
Had Shinichi actually died?
Yukiko didn't dare refuse. She laid it all out: how she'd used her disguise skills to steal, day after day, keeping her family afloat for two straight months.
From her account, Makoto learned that Shinichi was still alive, bedridden in a hospital room in central Tokyo, racking up astronomical medical bills every day.
That was why Yukiko had been forced to keep thieving. She'd made the fatal mistake of stealing from the wrong people and landed squarely on the yakuza's radar.
"Oh right, I almost forgot. Everyone from the Conan-verse comes equipped with some kind of superhuman party trick."
He laughed once he'd heard the whole story.
Hard to forget, really. The people from that world were never normal. A Shinigami disguised as a grade-schooler who could kick a meteorite out of the sky with a soccer ball.
Makoto Kyogoku catching bullets barehanded. Kaito Kid, the habitual cross-dresser. Amuro Tooru and Shuichi Akai flirting on top of a Ferris wheel...
Each one more ridiculous than the last.
And Yukiko's disguise work was every bit as good as Kaito Kid's father's. Using that skill to make money should have been child's play.
"So where's your husband in all this? You've been the sole breadwinner while he lies around at home?"
Yukiko rushed to explain. Yusaku had tried writing novels but couldn't produce anything. He was currently applying for a position as a deductive consultant with Public Safety.
With the family in crisis, he couldn't focus enough to write. His only real asset was his reasoning ability, and he was trying to leverage it into a government job, the same way he'd helped the police solve cases back in their original world.
But he was still on probation, and the meager consultant's pay couldn't begin to cover Shinichi's medical bills. So the burden still fell on Yukiko.
"Alright then. Planning to keep stealing?" Makoto spread his hands.
Yukiko went quiet.
Her disguise abilities and her real face had both been exposed to the criminal underworld. Even if she could still change her appearance day to day, who knew how many eyes were watching her now.
Theft was a dead end.
Makoto spoke again, voice light as air. "Good thing you know disguise work. Otherwise, the only fast money left would be working at a soapland to pay for your son's hospital bills..."
The color drained from Yukiko's face. She looked ready to cry.
He was right. If she couldn't steal anymore, and she needed cash fast... there was only one road left.
Was that... truly all that was left?
"Kudo's still alive. Bit of a pity, but it's fine. I'm curious to see what new stunts he pulls down the line."
Makoto hopped out of the van. "Let's go, Pochita."
Pochita nodded and trotted obediently at his heels.
The little dog didn't understand what Makoto had said to the woman, didn't grasp the history between them. But it had decided to follow him forever, and that meant no hesitation. Ever.
"Wait, please!"
Yukiko's voice caught him mid-stride.
He glanced back. She was biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, the look in her eyes like someone who'd made peace with a death sentence.
"How... how much would you pay?"
"Huh?" For once, Makoto didn't follow.
Yukiko's composure shattered.
"I need money! How much can you pay?!"
The Nakiri estate was warm with the smell of cooking.
"Hmm-hm-hm~"
Alice Nakiri hummed a bright little tune as she worked in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Beside her, Erina watched her cousin's insufferably cheerful display and felt an irritation she couldn't quite name.
Then Makoto appeared out of thin air.
"Makoto! Welcome back! Dinner's almost ready..."
Alice beat Erina to him, trotting over with a smile.
Damn it. Again. Erina ground her teeth.
"Hm? Who's this little one...?"
Alice's eyes went wide at the creature cradled in Makoto's arms.
"This is Pochita. Starting today, it lives here." He kept his voice gentle. "It's a Devil, but it won't hurt anyone. Be nice to it, okay?"
Leonora Nakiri and Mana Nakiri, who'd been watching television, came over to investigate the newcomer.
"A dog with a handle and a chainsaw on its head. How strange."
"But it's kind of cute? It's so chubby."
"Can we pet it? We can, right?"
Under the collective gaze of so many strangers, Pochita's expression turned wary.
Makoto patted its head. "You'll get along with everyone, won't you, Pochita?"
"Arff!"
Pochita gave a firm nod.
Within minutes, it had become the household's newest darling. Mana, Leonora, and Alice couldn't keep their hands off its round, furry head.
Erina fought back the urge to rush over and join the dog-petting. Instead, she sidled up to Makoto and dropped her voice to a whisper.
"Makoto, um... tonight..."
It had been nearly two months. Maybe it was time to try asking again.
This had become something like a demon haunting her. She didn't even understand why she was so fixated. Logically, Makoto giving up on her should have been a relief.
Alice, who'd been monitoring Erina from the corner of her eye, frowned.
For two months, Makoto hadn't gone to Erina once, and that was entirely thanks to Alice's tireless efforts. She'd done everything she could think of to keep him interested: dressing up as her own mother, putting on a bunny-girl costume and dancing, anything to keep his attention away from her cousin.
But she knew she was running out of tricks. The gap in their... stamina had never been close to equal. Cute gimmicks could only carry her so far.
I can't let Erina win!
Think, think, think. What else can I do to stop her?
Just as Alice was racking her brain, certain that Erina was finally about to get her way, Makoto spoke.
"I've got something to take care of tonight. I won't be back."
"Huh?"
The three women petting Pochita all looked up.
Alice jumped in first. "What's going on, Makoto? Something urgent?"
Even two months ago, when she'd dressed as her mother and things had gotten... intense, they'd still come home to avoid raising suspicion with the family.
Makoto spending the night elsewhere? That had never happened.
"Something came up. Don't worry. Pochita will keep you safe."
Every pair of eyes in the room turned to the small, chubby dog currently hugging a bag of chips on the sofa and watching TV.
That thing? Seriously?
"Oh, one more thing. How much cash do we have in the house?"
The four women blinked but didn't press. After months of living with Makoto, they'd learned not to ask questions.
Mana, her body long since restored under the influence of Makoto's Genjutsu, headed upstairs without a word and returned with a thick pouch of bills.
"This is what we have. Is it enough?"
Makoto pulled out a few notes. "Plenty. You all stay put."
He activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and vanished.
Erina puffed out her cheeks, fuming. Two months of building up her nerve, another rejection.
Alice, on the other hand, pressed a hand to her mouth and stifled a laugh.
She didn't care what Makoto was doing. As long as Erina hadn't gotten what she wanted, that was victory enough.
Still... I need to come up with something new. Fast. Keep things fresh for him...
Tokyo University Hospital. The nation's finest, in any era.
Shinichi Kudo lay in his bed, staring out the window at nothing in particular, lost in his own thoughts.
"Shinichi, are you feeling any better today?"
Yukiko pushed open the door and stepped inside, her voice soft.
"I'm fine, Mom. I want to get discharged soon."
She reached out and rested her hand on top of his head, her tone gentler than usual. Almost too gentle.
"There's no rush. Staying a bit longer will help your recovery. Don't worry about the money."
"But what you've been doing is dangerous. I want to join Public Safety, like Dad."
Something tightened in Yukiko's expression at the words "Public Safety," but she held her smile.
"Why Public Safety?"
"I heard that joining gives you a chance to form a contract with a Devil. Maybe I can find one that'll heal my legs. And besides..."
His voice dropped. His teeth clenched.
"I can't let someone like Makoto Nishikado keep doing whatever he wants just because he has power!"
The color vanished from Yukiko's face.
"Sh-Shinichi, stop thinking about all that. Here, have some tea."
She produced a cup of black tea from somewhere and held it out to him.
"Mom, I don't want any..."
"Everything you eat, the bed you sleep in, all of it comes from your mother working herself to the bone. And now you won't even drink a cup of tea?"
Her voice sharpened. A tremor ran beneath the words.
Shinichi flinched. It was just tea. He didn't understand why she was so upset.
But the look in her eyes left no room for argument. He took the cup and drained it.
Within seconds, his eyelids grew impossibly heavy. His head lolled to one side, and he sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Yukiko drew the blackout curtains shut with a sharp pull and walked out.
Into the room next door.
"C-couldn't you at least wait until we got to a hotel? You really have to do this here... mmph!"
In that moment, Makoto finally understood why Alice had always insisted on doing it in Erina's room.
The thrill was real.