Chapter 196: Chainsaw Man to the Rescue!

The newcomer opens her introduction by telling the class she pities them all, then bursts into tears the instant the teacher steps out. A boy with a bandage on his cheek asks whether she wants to pitch in, and she agrees at first, but when the only task offered is hauling trash to the school incinerator, she balks, calling it a waste of her powers. She suggests he handle it instead, since he lacks the abilities she has to rescue people. Avoiding a quarrel, he quietly takes the garbage and leaves while the other students trade uneasy looks.

The same girl who once bullied Asa tells the transfer that her presence is making everyone deeply uncomfortable, and that if she truly wants to be useful she should go crush ants outside. The bandaged boy later finds her doing exactly that. Sighing, he guesses that as an out-of-towner she likely lived through some devil-related tragedy, like many of their classmates who treat school as their only refuge from reality. If she really wants to save them, he says, she could do it just by smiling.

The transfer drops her facade, declaring the festival doomed no matter what but insisting she can still save everyone by releasing them from suffering through death, exposing herself as a Devil. She rests a hand on the boy, meaning to make an example of him, then halts as she spots a silhouette above the school. He identifies it as Chainsaw Man, who launches into a grandstanding speech and even offers to save the devil. Yet his talk of fighting with the power of justice, paired with his off appearance, signals that this figure is not what he seems. The chapter is part of the War Devil arc and Volume 21.