After calming herself, Tamayo stood and looked at Kujo Tachibana. She said earnestly:
"Actually, I've been in contact with every Master of the Demon Slayer Corps over the past three hundred years."
"Many of the devices here were provided by them. It wouldn't be very convenient for us to go to the Demon Slayer Corps' headquarters."
"I can conduct my research here just as well."
Kujo Tachibana shook his head.
"Things are different now!"
"Kibutsuji Muzan is in Asakusa right now. You could run into him at any moment."
"Have you still not seen his demise? Are you in such a hurry to be reincarnated?"
Tamayo frowned, but still refused.
"Yushiro and I will move soon. We have places to hide outside Tokyo, too."
Kujo Tachibana smiled and didn't press her further.
"I know what you're worried about, but I hope you'll trust me!"
"The age of demons will end at my hands!"
"I'll kill Kibutsuji Muzan with my own hands, too!"
Kujo Tachibana gazed at Tamayo with utter sincerity!
As she met the boy's earnest gaze, Tamayo seemed to glimpse, for a moment, the man from three hundred years ago.
After leaving Tamayo's residence, the sky had gradually darkened.
As Kujo Tachibana hurried toward the hospital, the presence of a low-level demon entered his awareness.
Kujo Tachibana drew his Nichirin Sword and dispatched the low-level demon with a casual swing.
Meanwhile, Kibutsuji Muzan sensed that a "demon" nearby had died. He slowly closed his eyes and viewed what the demon had seen just before its death...
In the death replay, a stern-looking boy with two swords at his waist killed the demon with a single stroke.
Muzan opened his eyes and furrowed his brow deeply.
"That human seems even faster than before!"
"Has he improved that much...? He's almost at the level of the First's swordsmen, isn't he?"
"Or have the Lower Rank Demons never managed to make you use your full strength?"
Muzan looked at the empty air before him and gave an order:
"Nakime, notify Akaza and have him come to Asakusa at once!"
"Zing..." A long, resonant biwa note suddenly rang out.
Holding her biwa, Nakime appeared abruptly in front of Muzan.
"Yes, Lord Muzan."
Just as Nakime was about to pluck the strings and use her Blood Demon Art to open the Infinity Castle,
"Wait!" Muzan called out.
Remembering that lightning-fast slash, Muzan felt that the plan still wasn't secure enough. Akaza might not be able to kill the human...
Besides, the human looked quite young, and humans were at the peak of their growth in strength at that age.
If they still couldn't kill him this time, things would get troublesome...
Thinking about how the human had cut down the Lower Rank Demons as effortlessly as chopping vegetables, even Muzan was worried.
What if... Ah!
Muzan didn't want to hide for decades again, like he had more than three hundred years ago!
"Bring Kokushibo here, too!"
The cautious (cowardly) Muzan decided he would give the human no more chances to grow stronger!
He would deal with the problem once and for all!
You might ask: with Muzan so close, why didn't he deal with the human himself?
Come on. Apart from attacking his own subordinates, how many times did the pathetic boss actually fight in the whole series?
(That pathetic boss was the most timid villain of all...)
"Yes, Lord Muzan." Nakime was like an emotionless tool, not wasting a word. She plucked her biwa and returned to the Infinity Castle.
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After Nakime left, Muzan summoned two more demons.
Sure enough, when Kujo Tachibana reached the hospital, he found that the outcome was just as he had expected.
This hospital, run by foreigners, was also unable to treat Rengoku Ruka's illness.
Seeing how downcast the Rengoku family looked,
Kujo Tachibana decided not to hide the truth any longer. Once they had all arrived at the inn, he went straight ahead and told the couple about Tamayo, the demon doctor.
"What! You want a demon to treat Ruka's illness?!"
"Impossible. I'll never agree to it!"
Rengoku Shinjuro lost control for a moment and shouted in agitation.
Rengoku Shinjuro simply couldn't believe that a demon could refrain from eating people and even regularly "neglect its proper duties" to treat the public for free!
Rengoku Ruka shot her husband a reproachful look, then turned to Kujo Tachibana.
"Thank you, Mr. Tachibana. I know you mean well."
"I even believe what you've told me today."
"But everyone's fate is something Heaven decided long ago."
"I don't wish to force any changes. I only hope to spend the time I have left by my family's side."
Looking at the stubborn couple, Kujo Tachibana thought it over. There was no need to rush; perhaps they might change their minds in a few days.
As Kujo Tachibana walked out of the room, Rengoku Shinjuro wore a troubled expression. He opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't call out to Tachibana.
After all, Rengoku Shinjuro still held on to a sliver of hope.
If this hospital run by foreigners couldn't cure her, they'd try another one!
There were so many doctors in Tokyo. Rengoku Shinjuro refused to believe that none of them could help, apart from that demon doctor called Tamayo.
Unfortunately, Muzan didn't give Rengoku Shinjuro much time to choose.
Three days later, at around ten o'clock at night,
Kujo Tachibana had just finished bathing at the inn and was getting ready for bed when his expression suddenly turned dreadfully grim!
How could this be!
Why had those two appeared here at the same time?
In an instant, Kujo Tachibana remembered the low-level demon he'd killed a few days ago!
Kujo Tachibana sighed and, with a helpless, self-mocking smile, spoke to the empty air before him:
"Muzan! Muzan!"
"Is this what happens when you don't have the protagonist's plot armor?"
"Why don't you go after Tanjiro this hard?"
That was right. Kokushibo and Akaza, who had received Muzan's orders, had both arrived in Asakusa!
They were now only a little over two hundred meters from the inn!
For some reason, though, neither of them had attacked.
Kujo Tachibana turned and hurriedly got dressed, grabbed his two swords, and reached the Rengoku family's door in an instant.
"Bang..."
There was no time to knock. Kujo Tachibana kicked the inn room's door off its hinges.
The Rengoku family stared blankly at Kujo Tachibana as he burst in.
"Upper Rank One, Kokushibo, and Upper Rank Three, Akaza, are both here. I'm probably their target!"
Rengoku Shinjuro was startled and started to speak!
Kujo Tachibana raised a hand to stop him, then continued:
"Brother Shinjuro, if you still want me to survive, you have to do exactly as I say!"
"I'll lead them out of the city in a moment. There are too many people here!"
"If nobody stops you, take Ruka and the others and leave at once. Go to the place I mentioned before and find Miss Tamayo!"
"Wait until sunrise tomorrow, then come look for me outside the city!"
"Brother Shinjuro! Remember, don't come until the sun has risen!"
The moment he finished speaking, Kujo Tachibana became a streak of blue-yellow lightning and shot out of the inn in an instant!
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