Chapter 115: High Schoolers These Days

Roughly three days into the Eternity Devil's siege, the fish have begun to rot and the toilets have failed. Sprawled on the floor, Asa endures Haruka's reminder that the group could have escaped had she not broken her mother's phone in her fall. Stung, she shoots back that he proclaimed himself Chainsaw Man and ought to act, pointing to the starter cord on his chest. Haruka, bewildered, explains that the cord is a surgical implant he had installed purely out of fandom. As Asa presses him to confirm he is not the real Chainsaw Man, he dissolves into laughter and begins pleading for Chainsaw Man to rescue them, leaving her aghast.

Hearing Haruka unravel, Yoshida nudges Denji to step up. Denji explains that he only defeated the Eternity Devil before because it had shown itself to him, and with the creature nowhere in sight he is powerless. He turns the question back on Yoshida, who produces a phone but warns that a single bar of signal cannot summon help. Yoshida theorizes that the Eternity Devil has effectively halted time in the outside world, rendering any call pointless. Observing that Seigi and Nobana have each cracked under the strain, he admits he is at peace with dying, then asks whether Chainsaw Man could devour the Death Devil for humanity's sake. Denji gives no answer.

Denji goes looking for Asa and, finding her sulking, asks if she is all right. She confesses she is hungry but cannot bring herself to eat the rotting fish. She then apologizes for dragging him into this by asking him out, admitting she had only meant to forge him into a weapon yet cannot follow through because she is unsure her cause is just. She suspects this very fixation on doing right, and her dread of getting it wrong, is what makes her dull and pushes people away. Denji simply sits beside her and produces a starfish, an edible animal that hardly looks alive, offering it to her and asking if she has ever tried one.

Haruka admits his chest cord is a fan's surgical implant rather than proof he is Chainsaw Man, then breaks down entirely. Yoshida argues that the Eternity Devil has frozen time outside and floats the grim idea of Chainsaw Man eating the Death Devil. A starving Asa confesses to Denji that she meant to weaponize him but cannot, and reflects on why she drives people away. Denji responds with a small kindness, offering her a starfish to eat.

A Dating Denji arc chapter in Volume 14. It introduces the concept of the Death Devil and turns the aquarium prison into a quiet character study of Asa and Denji. The Eternity Devil's grip over the flow of time becomes a central worry for the trapped group.