Dream Balls

Flipping through channels, Haruka sees that not one news outlet covers his group's escape. The airwaves instead fixate on Koma Komagawa, a reporter and idol falsely accused of marrying a wedded baseball player, a smear a tabloid built from a doctored photo. Nobana, a fan of Koma, feels relieved, yet Haruka stays uneasy. He insists he must be asleep: Devils multiply by the millions through the Chainsaw Man Church, conflicts erupt worldwide, and a pack of teenage fugitives slips away unnoticed, with nobody discussing any of it. Asa laments that despite losing an arm and once topping the Devil Hunter ranks, she too is forgotten. To Haruka, the strangest thing of all is Denji turning out to be Chainsaw Man.

The Nail Fiend finds the sleeping Denji adorable while Asa grumbles about Katana Man hogging the bathroom and the line of people waiting for it. Sent to complain to Fami, Asa instead finds her tearing into a plate of spaghetti and other dishes with bare hands. Denji wakes, asks where Asa's arm went, and learns Yoshida severed it, though she cannot say why. Wondering if he is dreaming, Denji gets his answer when Katana Man stomps his groin. The ex-Yakuza brags he reattached the testicles correctly just to settle a grudge from an earlier clash with Denji and Aki, and he craves another bout. The agony proves to Denji he is awake. Yoru, uninterested in his human shape, kicks him there as well, while Nobana frets about safety and Haruka asks where else they could possibly hide.

The group realizes the media is ignoring their breakout entirely, fixating instead on a fabricated celebrity scandal. Haruka voices disbelief that Denji is Chainsaw Man.

Denji wakes, learns Yoshida took Asa's arm, and a stomp from Katana Man convinces him it is all real. Yoru kicks him too, dismissing his human form.

Published April 24, 2024 in Volume 18, this chapter sits between Chapter 162 and Chapter 164 within the Aging Devil arc. The title renders in Japanese as Yume no Tamakin and runs seventeen pages. Hirofumi Yoshida and Koma Komagawa are referenced rather than shown.