New Novel
Chapter 6: Unlocking a New Codex

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Unlocking a New Codex

Kotone Asaba followed Denji’s gaze and saw a bag of very cheap, ordinary bread. The slices inside could even be sold one at a time.

"Bread? You can eat whatever you want. You don’t have to be so reserved."

"Whatever I want? Really?!"

Disbelief showed on Denji’s face.

"Of course. I told you I’d take good care of you. Let’s find a decent restaurant."

"Yeah!"

Denji immediately nodded hard, so excited that he even forgot his hunger.

Usually, he filled his stomach with the cheapest bread he could find. He had no idea how long it had been since he had eaten a proper meal.

Before long, Kotone Asaba found a restaurant that looked pretty good.

"Pick whatever you want."

"I want... I want udon. And if that’s okay, maybe something grilled too..."

Denji still seemed a little unable to relax.

"Boss, one bowl of udon, one grilled sausage skewer, and one grilled chicken drumstick skewer."

Kotone Asaba ordered for Denji directly, then lifted Pochita up with both hands and asked, "What does Pochita want to eat?"

"Woof!"

[Pochita Affinity +5%]

Kotone Asaba had no idea what Pochita was saying. In the original story, Pochita actually could talk. He just basically never spoke in normal circumstances.

Even in Makima’s memories, the Chainsaw Devil in Hell had never spoken. It was only at the very end, when Denji fought Makima, that Pochita deliberately imitated Denji’s way of speaking to mislead Makima.

"...Then Pochita can eat the same thing as me."

Just as Kotone Asaba was about to order food for himself and Pochita, he noticed that the restaurant owner was looking at them with fear.

"Uh... sir..."

The owner’s frightened and disgusted gaze was directed at Pochita.

And it wasn’t just the owner. The other customers nearby who had been about to order had also moved far away, too scared to get too close to Pochita.

The owner’s disgust toward Pochita mainly came from the fact that his business would be affected.

"I’m a private Devil Hunter. This is my devil companion. He has no hostility toward people. Sorry for frightening you."

As he spoke, Kotone Asaba showed his identification.

After seeing Kotone Asaba’s ID and confirming that he really was a registered private Devil Hunter, the owner finally relaxed a little.

"Two more bowls of udon, please."

Kotone Asaba finished ordering.

There wasn’t anything he particularly wanted to eat, so he just randomly ordered udon to fill his stomach. The second serving was for Pochita.

A little while later, the food they had ordered was brought over.

Looking at the udon, grilled sausage, and grilled chicken drumstick in front of him, Denji felt as if he were dreaming.

Before this, these were delicacies he could only dream of while sleeping. Now, they were truly sitting right in front of him.

"Eat while it’s hot."

Kotone Asaba reminded Denji.

"Yeah!"

Denji began enjoying the food to his heart’s content.

Pochita stood directly on the table and ate the udon.

[Pochita Affinity +5%]

[Pochita Affinity progress has reached 30%. Achievement reward obtained: Constitution +1]

Pochita’s Affinity was rising pretty quickly, and most importantly, the difficulty was not high.

If the target were someone like Makima or that gorgeous Master type, increasing Affinity would be much harder.

Of course, Kotone Asaba wasn’t sure whether Makima and Master were actually included in the Codex pages that had not been unlocked yet. He was only using them as examples.

[Denji Affinity +20%]

[Denji Affinity progress has reached 40%. Achievement reward obtained: Constitution +1]

[Denji Affinity progress has reached 50%. Achievement reward obtained: Constitution +1]

"Phew! That was awesome!"

After eating a wonderful, filling meal, Denji’s Affinity shot up again. It had already reached fifty percent.

Logically, the third page of the Affinity Codex should have been unlocked too.

With a thought, the Affinity Codex appeared before Kotone Asaba’s eyes.

Using his mind, he flipped the Affinity Codex to the third page. Sure enough, the third page had already been unlocked, and the target it had revealed was named Kobeni Higashiyama.

The Codex also displayed information related to Kobeni Higashiyama. She was sixteen years old, attending Chiba Rissei High School, and living at the Higashiyama family home in Chiba Prefecture.

In the original story’s timeline, Kobeni Higashiyama was twenty years old. Four years earlier, she would indeed be sixteen.

However, Kotone Asaba hadn’t expected the third page of the Codex to be Kobeni Higashiyama.

From the look of things, he would have to make a trip to Chiba Prefecture later.

Although Chiba Prefecture was near Tokyo, the actual distance was still quite far. He wasn’t in a rush to go there for the time being. He planned to deal with Denji’s situation first.

"Thank you so much, Kotone..."

At that moment, Denji looked a little gloomy. "But you should hurry up and leave before tomorrow... There’s a creditor who wants me to pay back seven hundred thousand tomorrow. I can’t get that much money at all, and I don’t want to drag you into this..."

Denji voiced the worry in his heart, hoping Kotone Asaba would leave quickly so he wouldn’t be implicated.

"Mm..."

Kotone Asaba didn’t say much. He had no intention of telling Denji that he planned to get rid of that old Hamano bastard next.

After all, a restaurant was crowded and full of strangers. It wasn’t the right place to talk about something like that.

In the afternoon, Kotone Asaba rested in Denji’s home, restoring his ocular power and body to their best condition.

By evening, Kotone Asaba took Denji out for dinner again.

[Denji Affinity +5%]

Denji’s Affinity increased by another five percent. Incidentally, however, a five percent Affinity increase at this point was not the same weight as a five percent Affinity increase when they had first met.

That was because Denji already had a base Affinity of fifty percent toward Kotone Asaba. The higher the base Affinity, the greater the weight of each further increase.

When they had just met and the base Affinity was zero percent, increasing Affinity by five percent had been very easy, so there was a huge difference in weight.

"I have something to take care of now, so I’m heading out. I might not be back until very late tonight."

It was nighttime, and Kotone Asaba was ready to act. Before leaving, he said this to Denji first.

"Okay..."

Watching Kotone Asaba’s back as he walked away, Denji looked a little downcast and reluctant to part with him.

He felt that Kotone was probably trying to politely leave this place. After all, he had already told him about the creditor coming tomorrow.

Although Denji also hoped Kotone would leave in time and avoid being dragged into his trouble, he had never met anyone as good as Kotone before. Kotone had genuinely been too kind to him.

Now that Kotone was leaving, Denji inevitably felt downcast and unwilling to see him go.

But Denji soon accepted it. Today, he had eaten a lot of delicious food. He was already satisfied and happy.

If the creditor really chopped him up tomorrow to settle the debt, then he wouldn’t have any regrets... probably.