stsumugi

They’re family, yes. That much is undeniable. They love each other. In what way? I truly believe it is something far beyond romantic or platonic. Something that is deeper than that and combines aspects of both and is simultaneously its own thing entirely. Denji and Power bicker, pull pranks with each other, and may argue and then make up in a way that is “sibling-like,” but they also continuously have intimate and even sexual encounters with each other that siblings do not have. In the last weeks that they spend together, Denji showers, bathes, and sleeps with Power every day. He doesn’t merely sit in the bathroom with her or even just help her bathe—he sits in the tub with his back against it and Power resting on his chest, both of them naked. They engage in pseudo-sex via Power asking Denji to drink her blood and it is the first and ONLY time in chainsaw man that Denji is given agency over an intimate encounter, where he is on top and controlling the situation and able to think clearly and ruminate on his situation.

He says that this intimacy “doesn’t feel naughty at all” and he as a sixteen year old boy doesn’t have the capacity to understand yet that not all intimacy is meant to feel “naughty,” especially with someone you love, care about, have deep feelings for, know intimately. He recognizes there is something different about his relationship with Power but he doesn’t have the life experience to understand what that means.

I've seen some people argue that it means Denji is slowly forgetting their faces, but, dunno. Thinking about his overall coping mechanisms > hiding what happened behind a 'door' < it's more believable to me that it's on purpose, because if he really remembered their faces and everything, he'd crumble (more than he already did during that chapter). He's detaching himself of a greater pain by avoiding their faces. Denji still blames himself for Power & Aki's death, so remembering would make him feel worse. He remembers Reze as the girl who introduced him to coffee and laughed at his jokes instead of the weapon she was.

There's also this panel here: