Sitting calmly inside the room, Aoyama Ren held a cup of wine in his hand as he waited for the oiran named Warabihime to arrive.
"What kind of person is Warabihime Oiran?"
He casually asked the girl pouring wine beside him.
But the girl's hand trembled slightly as she held the wine pot. She nearly spilled the drink outside the cup.
"Warabihime Oiran is… very beautiful."
Other than that single sentence, she didn't say another word.
Footsteps sounded outside the door.
Aoyama 's gaze shifted toward the entrance.
The sliding door opened, revealing an incomparably beautiful woman standing outside.
A demon.
A smile slowly spread across Aoyama Ren's lips.
And not just any demon—
An Upper Rank demon.
"This… is our establishment's oiran—Warabihime Oiran!"
The woman attending the room introduced her.
Still seated, Aoyama Ren raised his hand and gestured for her to sit beside him.
Daki gracefully took a seat in front of him. She accepted the wine pot from the girl and motioned for her to leave.
The door slid shut behind them.
Aoyama glanced at the tightly closed room around them.
To be honest, he was a little nervous.
After all, he had entered in disguise.
His Nichirin Blade wasn't with him.
"Sir, I don't believe I've seen you before. You're not from around here, are you?"
Daki poured wine into his cup.
"I'm not a local. I'm a traveling merchant."
"I heard that the oiran here are exceptionally beautiful, so I came to take a look."
"I wanted to see how they compare to the oiran where I'm from."
When it came to making things up, Aoyama Ren had never lost to anyone.
Daki didn't grow suspicious.
She only felt that the man before her was somewhat unusual.
Is he from the Demon Slayer Corps?
Her gaze settled on the man beside her.
He wasn't carrying a Nichirin sword.
So he probably wasn't a Demon Slayer.
Noticing her observing him, Aoyama Ren straightened his posture and calmly let her examine him.
He had great confidence in his disguise.
As long as he didn't start fighting, this demon wouldn't discover his true identity.
It was the day they had agreed to meet and exchange information.
Tanjiro and Inosuke arrived first at the meeting point and waited for the others to come.
They planned to share everything they had discovered inside the brothels.
Inosuke, who had been forced to stay silent inside Ogiya, immediately began gesturing wildly the moment he saw Tanjiro.
Using both hands and voice, he tried to describe the demon he encountered.
But the more anxious he became, the harder it was to explain.
Tanjiro was completely confused.
"Inosuke, slow down!"
"I really don't understand what you're saying!"
Tanjiro said helplessly.
"It looked like this! Like that! The demon looked like this—fangs and claws everywhere!"
Inosuke stubbornly continued gesturing.
"Maybe we should wait until Uzui, Aoyama , and Zenitsu arrive," Tanjiro suggested.
"Then we can explain everything properly."
At that moment, a figure appeared on the rooftop.
It was Tengen Uzui.
He carried his dual blades on his back, his expression grim.
Shortly after Uzui appeared, Aoyama Ren also arrived on the rooftop.
He looked around at the people present and immediately confirmed his suspicion.
"Where's Zenitsu?"
Tanjiro asked.
"Why hasn't he arrived yet?"
Uzui stood with his back to them and spoke in a low voice.
"Zenitsu… isn't coming."
Tanjiro and Inosuke exchanged looks.
"That coward probably ran away because he was scared of demons," Inosuke said bluntly.
Smack!
Aoyama slapped the back of Inosuke's head.
"Is your brain full of mush?!"
"Zenitsu was captured by a demon!"
"He's in Kyogoku House."
"I've already seen that demon."
"An Upper Rank demon."
Uzui nodded in agreement.
He had also sensed that something about the Entertainment District was abnormal.
Only an Upper Rank demon could possess such terrifying strength.
Hearing that Zenitsu had been captured, Tanjiro's expression turned serious.
"Then we should go right now!"
"We'll kill the demon and rescue Zenitsu!"
He immediately stood up on the rooftop, ready to head toward Kyogoku House.
"Stop!"
Uzui shouted.
Tanjiro froze.
"Uzui-san?"
Uzui looked at them with guilt written across his face.
"You should leave."
"That's an order."
"This place is too dangerous."
"Your ranks are too low. If you stay here, you'll only die."
He lowered his head slightly.
"I've already made several mistakes because I wanted to save my wives."
"Zenitsu's disappearance is also my fault."
"I lost contact with him last night."
Uzui slowly stood up.
"When someone loses contact… we treat them as dead."
"I'll handle everything from here."
"You should live."
"Living is victory."
Hearing that they were considered too weak and ordered to flee—
Aoyama Ren stepped forward.
He grabbed Uzui's collar and forced him to look directly into his eyes.
Coldly, he said:
"Uzui-san, don't make decisions for us."
"Rank means something—but it doesn't mean everything."
"We're rescuing Zenitsu."
"We're rescuing your missing wives too."
"And if we leave…"
"We'll leave after killing the demon."
Uzui met Aoyama 's unwavering gaze.
This man…
"B-But—"
"There's no 'but.'"
Aoyama cut him off.
He turned to Tanjiro and Inosuke.
"So what about you two?"
"I'm staying until the demon is dead and the people are rescued."
"What about you?"
"We're staying too!"
Tanjiro said firmly.
"Hell yeah! Let's kill the demon!"
Inosuke shouted excitedly.
Aoyama looked back at Uzui with a faint smile.
"Uzui-san, we'll do it my way."
"We save the people."
"And we kill the demon."
Uzui nodded firmly.
"Tanjiro, Inosuke."
"Go back and prepare."
"Tonight…"
"We wipe out the demon's nest."
Aoyama laid out the plan.
Inosuke suddenly remembered something.
He had already confirmed there was a powerful demon inside Ogiya, and he felt a little uneasy.
"Um… could someone come back with me?"
"The demon over there is—"
Before he could finish, both Aoyama and Uzui had already disappeared.
Inosuke stomped angrily.
He grabbed Tanjiro's face.
"You! Come back with me right now!"
Tanjiro shook his head.
"Inosuke, I'll come find you tonight."
"I still need to finish investigating Tokito House."
"My instincts tell me there's a demon there too."
Since no one would accompany him, Inosuke reluctantly returned alone.
He waited inside Ogiya, searching for the right moment to act.
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