Normal Life

Reaching school in low spirits, Denji is cornered at his locker by a student who fancies himself an intellectual. Spotting the Chainsaw Man shirt, the boy lectures him about the theory that Asa is truly responsible for his recent feats and tries to shame him for backing a victimizer. A second student then threatens both of them for insulting Chainsaw Man, and before Denji can collect himself, that student abruptly punches him. In the principal's office afterward, Denji is scolded under the assumption that he started the brawl because he grew up an orphan. On his way out, the principal notes that the other student landed in the hospital from Denji's blow.

Later, Denji meets Yoshida and brushes off the fight, claiming the boy lost only a tooth. Yoshida dismisses it as a routine high school event, something he confesses he never experienced either, and decides to lift Denji's mood by ditching class to catch a movie. In the theater, Yoshida observes that they are hardly enjoying themselves, and Denji chides him for talking during the film. Yoshida mentions the place is empty because a squid-like Devil attacked, though the cinema's own hunters resolved it in two minutes with no apparent deaths. He tells Denji that he is no story protagonist and that the world will carry on without him no matter what he does, just before a third person arrives.

Yoshida reveals that a classmate hoping to date Denji was the one he brought along, then steps away and wishes him luck. Denji asks whether the day's events are what being normal feels like, and after a pause Yoshida confirms they are. As the girl sits down, Denji begins rambling that he is not himself and wants to be left alone, only to be cut off when his date starts fondling him through his clothes. Her face is locked in a deeply perverse, twisted expression, yet Denji takes no notice, fixated instead on the groping.

Collected in Volume 16 and part of the Chainsaw Man Church arc, this chapter introduces Fumiko Mifune and contrasts Denji's longing for normalcy with the strangeness that keeps intruding on it. Featured characters include Denji, Hirofumi Yoshida, and Fumiko Mifune, with Asa Mitaka referenced. It sets up the unsettling date that carries directly into the following chapter.