Quote Originally Posted by Netflight
They were distracted discussing whether to kill Denji and looking for other ways out. The previous attack(s) also just made it larger, so I can see some hesitation until there are no alternatives, and Aki is bleeding out.
I do wonder if attacks actually made it larger, or if it was just fear that made it larger. The more they shat their pants, the larger it got. It could have faked the impression that attacks made it larger just to get that effect and to have them stop attacking it.

Himeno, Kobeni and Arai have the varying responses of "normal" people. They were happy to sacrifice Denji in the hopes of getting out and trying again, and succumbed to the usual fear stuff. Aki is the crazy one who was happy to die or lose some lifespan for a chance to kill the Gun Devil, and Power is Power.

I'm actually now quite happy that the other three broke - in contrast to their initial question of "Can we trust these guys to watch our back?"

The tobacco scene.. yeah, wouldn't have worked out well in the modern west. That's some coercive drug use.