Chapter 173
The Chainsaw Lovers' Club.
And even excluding the Chainsaw Man right in front of me, there are a whopping five members?
As expected of Dusk City, a place with more abnormal persons than normal persons.
My mind automatically pictured six muscular brutes, each with a giant chainsaw slung over their shoulder, crammed tightly around a table and heartily chugging beers.
…For starters, I don’t think two tables will be enough to handle that.
And the fact that there are five more characters like him seems equally hard to handle.
“Come to think of it, Hand Butcher. Have you thought about join - “
“Oh!!! Right. The Chainsaw Lovers' Club, Che-Sa-Mo! I’ve been so busy lately that I completely forgot. You said there are six members? That’s a lot. Do the other five give off a similar vibe to you?”
As I subtly changed the subject and asked, Chainsaw Man let out a hearty laugh.
“No, the people in my group are completely different from me! Everyone is unique in their own way. You’ll be surprised when you see them! Come to think of it, it’s about time they all arrived.”
Speak of the devil, right on cue, the shadow of a person walking up the stairs beyond the bar door began to appear.
But that figure…
'He’s huge?'
I could get a solid estimate just from the towering head. It was big and heavy. On top of that, it was bald. Even the copper skin tone looked exactly like Chainsaw Man.
[Irasshaimase-!]
The person who eventually opened the door and walked in was, simply put, Chainsaw Man The Deep.
There were the muscles writhing as if they were about to burst, the engine-saw slung over his back, the solemn expression, and the manly mustache.
If his facial features hadn’t been slightly different, I might have seriously suspected he was a replicate.
…You said they were completely different. This is just Chainsaw Man MK.2.
When I stared at him with an absurd look, Chainsaw Man noticed my gaze and laughed awkwardly.
“Ah, except for this guy. The rest are really all unique, but this friend here is just a little similar to me. Oops, come to think of it, I haven’t introduced you. Paulo, this is Aaron, the famous Hand Butcher. Aaron, this is Paulo. He’s a talented young friend who recently started ronin work.”
He recently started ronin work? Just looking at his mug and build, I’d believe it if you told me he was a veteran who’d been around the block for ten years.
Isn’t he Chainsaw Man’s twin younger brother or something?
Feeling suspicious, I shook hands with Paulo, who greeted me with a vicious demeanor.
“Ah, Chainsaw Man and Paulo? You remember the bar guidelines, right? You have to leave your weapons with me.”
Calling Paulo by his name and Chainsaw Man by his nickname felt incredibly awkward, but it couldn’t be helped.
When I held out my hand, Chainsaw Man handed over his engine saw without hesitation, whereas Paulo raised an eyebrow as if the request was preposterous.
He glared at me as if trying to intimidate me, but when that didn’t seem to work, he rolled his eyes and opened his mouth.
“This saw is, well… not a weapon, but an assistant medical tool.”
Wow, world. How is even the way he makes up nonsensical excuses to avoid handing over his saw exactly the same?
It reminded me of when I first met Chainsaw Man. I was really pissed off back then because he kept spouting nonsense about how he couldn’t sleep without his saw, or how it wasn’t a weapon but a dining knife.
It wasn’t even that long ago, but now it just feels like a fond memory. Maybe that’s why Paulo acting like that somehow looks cute.
…Am I crazy? Maybe I am.
I was seriously doubting whether I too had been tainted by the madness of this city and turned into an abnormal person.
“Paulo!!! What did I tell you!”
Suddenly, Chainsaw Man scolded Paulo in a stern and booming voice.
“Miguel, but…”
“I can understand not being able to entrust a weapon that is like a part of your body to a stranger. However, not being able to entrust it to a friend is nothing but a coward’s stubbornness!”
“But, well, Hand Butcher isn’t my friend, is he…”
Paulo’s excuse wasn’t wrong in my eyes. Right. We barely know each other, what do you mean friends.
However, Chainsaw Man thought differently.
He slapped his forehead.
“To be so short-sighted! Because of you, I’m too ashamed to even lift my face in front of Hand Butcher! I’m sorry, this friend of mine has a somewhat frustrating side to him…”
“Ah, no. It happens.”
I laughed awkwardly.
It was honestly a bit absurd for Chainsaw Man to describe someone else as frustrating.
It’s the pot calling the kettle black; you were way more persistent than that guy, you know?
“No, that cannot be! Paulo, you say Hand Butcher is not your friend?”
“Yes. That is the truth, is it not.”
“Do you mean to say, then, that I am also not your friend!”
“Huh?”
…?
At Chainsaw Man’s sudden, incomprehensible outburst, not only Paulo but I was dumbfounded too, blinking my eyes.
What the hell is he talking about?
“No, how could that be!”
“Exactly! You are my friend, no different from a brother, Paulo. And the same goes for Hand Butcher. A brother’s brother is a brother, and a friend of a friend is a friend! Are you saying you cannot accept my companion, Aaron Nakamura, who is like a blood brother to me, as your own companion!”
No, what kind of bullshit is this.
Just blindly spouting things like 'blood brother' and 'a friend of a friend is a friend' couldn’t possibly work―.
“Waaahhh! Brother Miguel! I was foolish! Your friend is my friend! What does a mere saw matter!!!!”
“No, but don’t just throw the saw! You’ll break the floor!”
No, why did that work.
Seeing as I couldn’t possibly understand the arbitrary way of thinking of those scum who carry saws on their backs, it seemed I was still in my right mind after all.
After barely calming down Paulo, who suddenly dropped to his knees and said burdensome things like 'I will serve you as my Hyung-nim from now on!!!!', I carefully stored both giant chainsaws in the warehouse, feeling completely drained.
Still, there was something gained. Thanks to that, I was able to learn Chainsaw Man’s name.
Miguel, nice. Next time, I should subtly call him Miguel as if I had known it all along.
When I returned to the seating area, Chainsaw Man waved his hand and shouted.
“Hand Butcher! Here are the other group members.”
Hearing those words, my footsteps stopped on their own.
Right. Paulo wasn’t the end of it. There were still four more left.
Just one was enough to drain my energy, but four more?
…It’s not too late to run away now, is it?
But there was something strange.
At the table I had guided them to, I could see Paulo and Chainsaw Man, who stood out even from a distance, along with two other people sitting there.
And surprisingly, the other two didn’t have chainsaws, weren’t bald, and weren’t muscular big brutes. One of them wasn’t even a man, but a woman!
My god, what kind of woman joins the 'Chainsaw Man Lovers' Club'?
Am I perhaps an old-fashioned Sexist?
…Come to think of it, that might be true. I did come from the 21st century, after all.
As I approached in confusion, Chainsaw Man introduced the other two to me as well.
“This is Angela, and Nigel. Friends, this is the famous Hand Butcher, Aaron Nakamura.”
I smiled awkwardly and shook hands with Angela and Nigel.
I don’t know why he always attaches modifiers like 'the famous Hand Butcher' every time he introduces me. He’s the one who made up that nickname in the first place!
“I take it you two aren’t chainsaw-wielding ronin like Miguel or Paulo? I have to admit. These two are definitely completely different from you.”
When I pointed at Chainsaw Man and said that, not only Chainsaw Man but also the woman sitting next to him, Angela, burst into laughter.
Okay. Subtly calling him by his name as if I had known it all along, success. Plus, it wasn’t a great joke, but… having a woman laugh at it feels pretty good.
If I had to choose who caught my eye first between Angela and Nigel, it was undoubtedly Angela.
Of course, it’s only natural for a healthy male to be drawn to a woman rather than another man.
But aside from that, Angela had a glamorous charm. Voluminous, wavy blonde hair, and equally voluminous breasts highlighted beneath her jacket. Oh wow.
Should I call her the epitome of a Western beautiful woman? It would be a lie to say my heart didn’t flutter seeing her smile at me with her eyes.
Get a grip, Jo Aron…! You know better than anyone that pretty women are the ones you need to be most careful of in this terrifying city!
Ms. Angela didn’t give off the vibe of the high-risk transgender or crossdresser types that I had to be wary of day and night, but I still had to be careful.
In the first place, I wasn’t exactly in a position leisurely enough to be taking an interest in women anyway.
On the other hand, the person named Nigel… gave off a somewhat dangerous vibe.
You know, that type. goth, or punk… people who give off that kind of rebellious and gloomy vibe. There were quite a few of them in the condo I used to live in.
From what I could see, this Mr. Nigel was someone quite seasoned in that regard.
dark circles drooping heavily down to his mouth, messy hair and pale skin, and a sluggish, lethargic way of speaking that seemed to drag an aura of death around with him.
No matter how I looked at it, he was the complete opposite of the always-energetic Chainsaw Man, a totally droopy type. How could someone like this be a member of 'Che. Sa. Mo.' beggar?
Was he dragged here by force?