Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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"Phew... finally disarmed."
Mitsuri wiped the sweat from her forehead as she breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the broken wall in the ruins.
She put down the recently defused bomb. Trying to do it while in the presence of an Upper Moon One was nerve-wracking.
She almost couldn't take it and had the idea to throw the bomb at the six-eyed demon!
But considering the distance to cover and her uselessness, she thought better and hid herself.
"I wonder how Kamado-san and Rengoku-san are doing..."
"We just defeated a Twelve Kizuki, and then that thing came..."
A demon with six eyes! How scary... and disgusting!
She became nervous again, remembering Kokushibo's appearances, and strained her ears to hear the ongoing combat.
Although,
Mitsuri noticed that the sound of blades clashing together was nowhere to be heard.
Come to think of it, she hasn't heard it while she was halfway disarming the bomb.
Mitsuri cautiously poked her head out from the wall.
"Eh?"
She saw that the demon had disappeared as she scanned her surroundings.
"Eh?"
"That six-eyed demon..."
"He's... gone now?"
Mitsuri looked around in a daze. Her arms were clutching the bomb as she stepped out from behind the wall.
Eventually, she noticed the two figures standing on the street.
"Ah! Rengoku-san! And that... Uncle Kamado!"
Both of them were putting away their swords and having a conversation.
It seemed the danger had passed.
Kyojuro's kasugai crow also landed on his shoulder.
'That's great! It looks like both of them are fine!'
Mitsuri was delighted seeing the both of them. She ran over with the bomb in her hand.
"Rengoku-san!!"
The two looked over when they heard the shout coming.
"Kanroji!" Kyojuro smiled and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Mitsuri was fine.
"You're okay! That's great!"
"Yes! I'm so glad Rengoku-san and Kamado-san are fine also." Mitsuri ran to the two and nodded vigorously.
"Kamado-san," Mitsuri said hesitantly. "...the demon just now..."
"He's gone."
Tanjuro exhaled deeply as he looked at the place where Kokushibo had been standing.
"He could still fight, yet he left."
Click.
Tanjuro sheathed Kusabimaru in its scabbard. He also put away his broken Nichirin blade on the ground back into its sheath.
"There shouldn't be any demon nearby anymore."
Kyojuro nodded as he checked with his kasugai crow on his team members.
Kokushibo left so abruptly that it left them questioning his purpose here.
'Is he here to test me?' Tanjuro wondered.
'But he already knows I'm not Yoriichi... and although I don't know why he left without killing us.'
'I survive another encounter with a demon!'
'No doubt that once Kokushibo reports back to Muzan, he'll know I'm a fake.'
'Which means Muzan will definitely increase his effort to eliminate me for the humiliation.'
'I can't let my guard down!'
Tanjuro sighed in his heart, feeling a little tired and exhausted from all this excitement.
'What a pain... might as well figure out how to get rid of Muzan in advance...'
Mitsuri looked at both men, who radiated calm and composure, back and forth.
'So strong! Both of them are so cool!'
Mitsuri sighed wistfully. She was a little down because she couldn't help them in anything.
"I'm sorry... I'm a member of the Corps, and yet I couldn't help at all..."
"Kanroji! No need to apologize!"
Kyojuro reached out and patted Mitsuri on the shoulder. He smiled brightly, and his eyes shone with comfort.
"This is your first mission, and you've done enough!" Kyojuro proclaimed loudly.
"The rest of the team are also fine, aren't they?"
Kyojuro's gaze fell on the bomb in Mitsuri's arms, where the ticking clock was frozen and dismantled.
"You also help in defusing the bomb, thus avoiding more casualties. Well done!"
Kyojuro showered praise on his protégé and laughed so loud in the night.
"If anyone is useless, it's me!" He patted his chest.
"As a Tsuguko to the Flame Hashira, I've been bailed out twice in the battle against the Twelve Kizuki."
"It is really shameful of me!"
Kyojuro's thick eyebrows shot upward as his bright eyes turned to look at Tanjuro.
"I'm going to find a hole in the ground and crawl into it!"
Although he said that, Kyojuro's heart was far from being ashamed.
After witnessing such a battle, he was eager to go back and start his training montage!
As long as he is as strong as Tanjuro-san, even his father would be moved!
"Rengoku-san..." Mitsuri's eyes watered from Kyojuro's comforting words.
"Thank you!" She hugged the bomb more tightly in her arms and said in gratitude.
Tanjuro looked over the two of them and nodded lightly. There's nothing more to say or add between them.
He turned his attention to his body, which is still strong and maintaining the peak of his potential.
Blood flowed easily like a river released from a dam.
As long as there is enough vitality in his body, he can maintain this state indefinitely.
Although it doesn't solve the fundamental problem with his body, it is enough of a boost to kill demons.
He needs to heal his malnourished body, and it would be better if he could do it fast.
'Hm?'
The moonlight was covered by the clouds, which reduced visibility in this already dark street.
But Tanjuro senses two figures quietly snooping around from the corner of his vision, as if they were looking for something.
"...found it!" A young man wearing a white haori with shaded mint green to black.
He was squatting on the ground, and on his forehead was a piece of paper with eyes drawn on it.
The paper was emitting a subtle demonic energy that hid the person it was on, so except for Tanjuro, none of the two people he was with noticed them.
Along with him, a beautiful woman in a dark purple kimono also squatted next to the young man.
"Tamayo-sama, you don't need to come for such a dangerous job. I can do it alone."
Yushiro spoke quietly and covered his mouth with his hand.
"It would be troublesome if we were discovered by the demon hunters. My blood demon art is just a trick that can't perfectly hide us."
"Besides, that strong demon has just left; it's too dangerous!"
"It's okay, Yushiro." Tamayo shook her head gently; her light purple eyes looked as if they were shrouded in a thin mist.
"This is something we have to do."
Tamayo reached into her kimono sleeve and pulled out a delicate wooden box, which she opened.
She took out a new, empty, well-made syringe.
Tamayo placed the needle of the syringe on the item on the ground.
It was the part of Kokushibo's arm cut off by Tanjuro.
Puchi!
With the sound of the syringe entering the flesh, Tanjuro finally turned his head to look over at the two demons.