The next day.
With bags under his eyes from an entire sleepless night, Denji walked into Makima's office.
Behind him, both Yuzuru Yamai and Kaguya Yamai followed, bickering with each other, as if nothing had happened the night before.
Seeing the three of them arrive, Makima, as usual, was sitting at her desk handling documents. She put down her pen and glanced at the three of them.
"Good morning, Denji, Yuzuru, and Kaguya."
Makima smiled casually as she greeted her subordinates, her tone light and easy, as if today were just an ordinary day.
But her demeanor didn't affect Denji in the slightest.
Normally, Denji would greet Makima with a flattering smile, but today, he was still wearing a downcast face.
Because he had come here to give the final decision.
After a whole day and night of thinking and conversing with the Yamai sisters, he was still indecisive about which of the two Wind Spirits he should choose.
Originally, he didn't plan to come so early.
He had even considered whether he could hide somewhere and delay the decision as long as possible, knowing that Makima hadn't specified a deadline for submitting the choice.
However, it seemed that the Yamai sisters weren't going to let him escape.
Early in the morning, as soon as Denji stepped out of his room and hadn't even had breakfast, they swooped in and flew him straight to the Anti-Devil Division's headquarters.
"So, Denji, what's your choice?"
Makima's voice was as calm as ever, as though she were asking about what to have for breakfast.
"You know who you should choose, right?" Kaguya Yamai's voice was a bit sharper, accompanied by a gaze that made Denji feel uncomfortable.
"Reminder, Denji already knows the correct choice, so please make the right decision," Yuzuru Yamai's cold voice came from behind, with an almost imperceptible hint of threat.
Denji gritted his teeth quietly.
With the three of them pressing him so tightly, he felt an urge to give up altogether.
"One after another, all pressuring me. Why am I the only one facing this situation?"
Outwardly, it seemed that Kaguya Yamai and Yuzuru Yamai were both trying to get Denji to choose them. But after last night's conversation, only Denji knew that both of them were secretly hinting that he should choose the other.
On the surface, both wanted to be the only Wind Spirit Yamai.
Behind the scenes, both were willing to sacrifice themselves for the other to win.
But this wasn't even the most suffocating part.
Denji took a deep breath, forcing his emotions to calm.
The most suffocating thing was that both of them were threatening him, saying that if he didn't choose the other Yamai, they would blow up all of Tokyo.
Though Denji doubted that these threats would come to fruition, since neither of them had ever killed anyone, he couldn't take the chance. After all, they were Devils, and even with a one percent chance of it coming true, he wasn't willing to gamble.
To be honest, he didn't really care what happened to Tokyo. If it was blown up, then so be it.
But if that happened, not only would the Yamai sisters become enemies of Japan, they would be officially hunted by the entire world as humanity's enemies.
Denji didn't want that to happen.
"Makima-sama, before I make my decision, I need to talk to you alone about something."
In the end, Denji, who couldn't find a way out, chose to seek Makima's help.
Seeing Denji signaling her desperately with his eyes, Makima paused for a moment before waving her hand, sending the Yamai sisters out of the office temporarily.
Once the door was closed, she turned to Denji and said, "What is it, Denji? What do you need to discuss with me?"
So, Denji immediately began recounting everything that had happened the previous night.
The conversations with Kaguya Yamai, the conversations with Yuzuru Yamai, and the identical threats both of them had made—he left nothing out.
Finally, having found someone he could speak to openly, Denji let out all of his frustrations.
It had taken so long for him to get a beautiful girl to take him out to see the night view, and another beautiful girl had a heartfelt conversation with him late into the night. But instead of what should have been an exciting evening, he had been met with threats that if he didn't choose the other Yamai, they would blow up all of Tokyo...
Listening to Denji vent, Makima occasionally responded to comfort him.
But inwardly, she wasn't surprised.
Because last night, she had used her Devil's control power and had been monitoring Denji and the Yamai sisters the entire time.
Everything that had happened between them was within Makima's sight, and she had been keeping tabs on them.
Last night, when she heard Kaguya Yamai wanting Yuzuru Yamai to live, and Yuzuru Yamai feeling the same about Kaguya Yamai, her emotions were just as confused as Denji's.
Even she hadn't expected that the Yamai sisters would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the other.
This was an unexpected variable in her plan.
Initially, her plan was for Denji to bear the pressure of choosing one of them to sacrifice, to have him personally decide the life or death of his companions.
Then, once the winner had been chosen, if the losing Yamai didn't accept Denji's choice and decided to violently resist, that would be even better.
If that happened, Makima could then team up with the victorious Yamai, calling in all the Devil Hunters from the Anti-Devil Division, including Denji, to execute the losing Yamai.
Making Denji personally decide his companion's life or death and then watching him kill his companion would surely crush Denji's spirit.
If he lost all hope for a good life, it would be the perfect time for Denji to sever his contract with the Chainsaw Devil.
But if he didn't give up, Makima wouldn't give up.
After all, besides the Yamai sisters, Denji had other companions.
Making them all die in front of Denji would, sooner or later, break him down.
However, Makima's plan hit a roadblock in this first step.
The mutual battle was just an act. In reality, the sisters saw each other as more important than themselves, to the point that they were willing to die for the other.
This was completely unexpected for Makima.
"Makima-sama, what should we do now?" Denji asked with a gloomy face. "If I choose Yuzuru, Kaguya will go wild. If I choose Kaguya, Yuzuru will go wild. No matter what, it's a dead end."
"Hm, I understand the full picture now." Makima said lightly. "Denji, you've done well. Leave the rest to me."
"Yay!"
The moment the responsibility was no longer his, Denji's eyes instantly lit up.
But the responsibility didn't disappear—it was just transferred to Makima.
"Makima-sama, what are you going to do?" Denji couldn't help but ask.
"If choosing any one of them will only bring disaster..."
Makima's voice grew a little darker.
"Then, we'll leave none of them."