Night fell once more.
The streets that had been nearly empty through the day gradually ca alive. Lanterns blood one after another beneath the eaves, painting the roads in warm gold and crimson. Laughter drifted from the houses on both sides. Shamisen strings trembled behind paper doors. Perfu, wine, costics, tobacco, and human sweat mingled into a thick scent that pressed against Tanjirou's nose from every direction.
He had been waiting in the street since morning.
At last, Asuramaru's voice rang inside his mind.
"The demon is back."
Tanjirou's eyes sharpened.
"I know, Asuramaru!"
He turned at once and ran toward Ogimoto House, slipping through the tide of people crowding the street. Shoulders brushed past him. Voices rose and fell around him. He ignored them all and kept moving.
By the ti he reached Ogimoto House, Sanemi, Zenitsu, and Inosuke were already waiting outside.
Sanemi looked over first.
"Has it appeared?"
Tanjirou nodded. "Yes. We can begin."
"Then stop wasting ti. Move."
The four of them entered Ogimoto House and returned to the wooden corridor they had checked the night before. By luck, no one was passing through at that mont.
Sanemi drew his Nichirin sword.
One slash.
The floorboards split apart with a sharp crack, exposing the foundation beneath. A narrow opening appeared in the darkness below, barely wide enough for a child to squeeze through.
Sanemi stared at it and imdiately frowned.
"This hole's too narrow. None of us can get through. We'll have to abandon this route."
"Ha!"
Inosuke stepped forward, pride practically radiating from beneath his boar mask.
"Leave it to Lord Inosuke! I'm a man who can dislocate every bone in his body! If my head fits, the rest of fits!"
As he spoke, he twisted his shoulder with a sickening pop, loosening the joint as if it were nothing.
Tanjirou imdiately stepped in front of him.
"No. It's too dangerous for you to go down alone, Inosuke."
Inosuke tilted his mask toward him.
"Then what do we do, Gonpachiro?! Stand here and stare at the hole until it gets scared?"
Before Tanjirou could answer, Asuramaru's voice ca again.
"The clone underground isn't very strong. He should be able to deal with it."
Tanjirou hesitated only for a mont before choosing to trust him.
"Inosuke," he said seriously, "I'm counting on you. You should be able to handle the demon's clone down there, but don't act right away. Wait half an hour before making your move."
"Half an hour?" Inosuke gripped both swords and crouched by the hole. "Fine! I'll wait. Then I'll slice everything underground into pieces!"
"I'm counting on you."
Tanjirou gave him one final look before leaving with Zenitsu and Sanemi.
Once outside, they split up.
Sanemi headed alone toward the wilderness, where the battle would hopefully be drawn away from the crowds.
Tanjirou and Zenitsu hurried toward Kyogoku House.
When they arrived, Tanjirou concealed himself in the shadows across the street, watching the building in silence.
Zenitsu, anwhile, hid his sword inside his kimono. His expression had beco strange, half tragic and half resentful, as though he were walking to his own funeral while still hoping a pretty girl might cry over the coffin.
In an empty corner, he took out a small vial and dripped blood onto his forearm beneath his sleeve.
Then he started muttering.
"If I die and beco a ghost, I'm haunting all of you. Every single one of you. Especially Sanemi..."
He dragged his feet into Kyogoku House and climbed alone to the third floor.
The shaded side of the building was quiet.
Zenitsu moved to stand near the rooms Asuramaru had pointed out. He barely had ti to prepare himself before one of the sliding doors opened.
A woman stepped out.
She was beautiful enough to make the corridor seem dim around her. Her kimono was formal and elegant, her posture flawless, her pale eyes carrying a faint, cruel shine. At first, greed flickered through her gaze when she slled the blood.
Then she saw Zenitsu's face.
The greed vanished.
Disgust replaced it so quickly Zenitsu almost heard his own heart crack.
The woman tilted her head, looking at him as if he were sothing scraped off the bottom of a shoe.
"What an ugly little freak."
Zenitsu froze.
The woman's face twisted with open contempt.
"Just looking at you makes sick. A creature like you should crawl as far away from as possible. This is no place for you."
With that, she turned and went back into the room.
The door slid shut.
Zenitsu stood in the corridor, thunderstruck.
Thanks to his hearing, he still caught the faint voice from inside.
"Such rare blood, but why does he have to be so ugly? It kills my appetite. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting..."
Zenitsu's soul nearly left his body.
For the first ti in his life, he had encountered a demon who was picky about eating people.
And the reason she refused to eat him was that he was ugly.
Was this good luck?
Bad luck?
A new kind of psychological torture?
Zenitsu did not know.
He only knew he wanted to cry.
For now, he could only leave. The plan had failed. He turned around and hurried downstairs, then ran straight back outside.
Tanjirou erged from the shadows the mont he saw him.
"Zenitsu, what happened?"
Zenitsu's face was stiff.
"I failed."
Tanjirou stared at him in disbelief. "Failed? But why? Wasn't the blood enough? Did the demon not notice?"
Zenitsu's mouth twitched.
He did not want to say it.
He really, truly did not want to say it.
But their preparations might be wasted if he kept silent, and Inosuke was still waiting underground.
Zenitsu clenched his teeth and forced the words out.
"The demon called an ugly freak and said she had no appetite for ."
Tanjirou fell silent.
For once, even he did not know how to respond imdiately.
After a long pause, he said gently, "It's okay, Zenitsu. It isn't your fault."
Zenitsu's expression warped.
"Is that supposed to comfort ?! Think of sothing, Tanjirou!"
Tanjirou looked troubled.
Using an ordinary person as bait was impossible. That would be no different from offering soone to a demon. Going himself would not work either. The demon already knew to be cautious, and more importantly...
His appearance was only slightly better than Zenitsu's.
The thought left him strangely wounded.
Then, in the middle of his anxiety, he suddenly rembered sothing Asuramaru had said before.
Use your head.
Tanjirou's eyes lit up.
A flash of inspiration struck him.
"Asuramaru, can you..."
"No."
The answer ca before he could finish.
Inside the sword, Asuramaru's mood sank.
I told you to use your brain, and this is what you ca up with?
You're targeting now?
Tanjirou, you've changed.
Tanjirou's expression stiffened.
He had no argunt.
Asuramaru had refused, and he would never use his position as Sword Master to force him. That was sothing Tanjirou could not do.
But Inosuke was already waiting.
Sanemi had already gone ahead.
The demon had returned.
If they abandoned the plan now, the chance might slip through their fingers, and more people could die because of it.
Tanjirou lowered his gaze, his hands curling into fists.
Inside the sword, a system notification rang in Asuramaru's mind.
[Ding! Detected intense negative emotions from Tanjirou. Gained 1,000 emotion points!]
Asuramaru paused.
He had not expected the refusal to hit Tanjirou that hard.
After a mont, he sighed inwardly.
The situation had already begun to deviate from the original course. The Mugen Train had proven that much. If they delayed too long here, who knew what new variable might appear?
Better to end this quickly.
Tanjirou had already turned, preparing to rush back to Ogimoto House and adjust the plan.
Then Asuramaru's familiar voice sounded in his mind again, reluctant and clearly annoyed.
"Since you want it that badly, I'll help you this once."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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