Chapter 11: Compromise

Denji comes to in a hospital bed and finds Aki Hayakawa calmly peeling an apple nearby. Aki explains that his severed arm fused back on during a blood transfusion, a recovery so unnatural that he likens Denji to a devil. Denji shrugs it off, mentioning he had been chatting with an actual devil. Aki uses the moment to describe how hunters operate, forging contracts that trade something of themselves for a devil's strength. His own pact is with a Fox Devil, paid in pieces of his body, and this time he offered up some of his skin.

Aki warns that devils and fiends alike crave human death, prompting Denji to insist that Power is a decent fiend. Aki counters that the two were caught slipping out of their assigned zone, and that Denji's blood turned up in what they took to be the Bat Devil's lair. He presses Denji on why he keeps defending a creature that nearly killed him. Aki then lays out his terms: digging deeper would doom both Denji and Power to execution, but with no lives lost he is willing to bury the matter, provided Denji obeys his orders. Denji accepts, and Aki exits.

In the corridor, Power waits in handcuffs beside Himeno, loudly protesting her innocence and demanding release. Himeno questions whether freeing her is wise, since any death Power causes would fall on Aki, but she unlocks the cuffs anyway, reasoning that hunters should use every available tool while making clear she has no wish to befriend a fiend. Power later turns up at the apartment Aki and Denji share. Aki phones Makima to ask why, and her reply that she trusts him above anyone leaves him flustered and agreeable. Over dinner Power flicks away her vegetables, earning shouts from both men, then boasts that she rarely bathes or flushes, mocking them as squeamish. Stuck cleaning the toilet she fouled, Denji is suddenly placated when Power offers to let him grope her chest, and his fury melts into adoration as he calls her an angel.

Aki recounts how Devil Hunters bind themselves to devils through contracts, citing his own Fox Devil pact. He offers Denji a deal that spares both him and Power from being put down in exchange for obedience. Himeno releases a handcuffed Power while voicing her distrust of fiends. Makima's blunt declaration of trust rattles Aki over the phone. Power moves into the shared apartment and immediately disrupts it with her crude habits, winning Denji over with a single shameless bribe.

An early entry in the Bat Devil arc, collected in Volume 2 and adapted as part of Episode 4 of the anime. The Japanese title Dakyo translates to compromise, reflecting the uneasy arrangement Aki and Denji reach. The chapter cements the household dynamic shared by Denji, Aki, and Power.