Emergency Meeting

Of all the demons confronted with Muzan's sudden emergency meeting, the most confused and anxious was none other than Upper Rank One, Kokushibo-the strongest demon second only to Muzan.

"When you're out on your next missions, if you see someone wearing earrings with hanafuda-like designs and wielding a red-and-black Nichirin Blade, fight them with everything you have. Then cut off their head and bring it to me!"

"Yes!!!"

The demons knelt and nodded. Although the others were somewhat puzzled, this was an order from their boss, so they would give it their all. Only Kokushibo's eyes trembled. He raised his head to look at Muzan, and the moment their gazes met, he sensed the fear in Muzan's eyes.

"It couldn't be..."

Tamayo's mansion.

Chinatsu and Tanjiro returned shortly afterward. They had come back so quickly that both Tamayo and Yushiro looked shocked.

"That fast?"

"Yes. Those two demons weren't very strong."

It was ten at night, and Nezuko was still asleep, so Chinatsu and Tanjiro decided to stay there for the night as well.

After returning to her room, Chinatsu sat cross-legged on the bed as usual, switched her Breathing Style to Hinokami Kagura, and began training her stamina while once again trying to enter the "Transparent World."

I have to master those three cheat powers as soon as possible. If the Transparent World really doesn't work out, I'll have to try the Demon Slayer Mark.

Although the Demon Slayer Mark would shorten her lifespan to twenty-five years, that was still better than having so many people die as they had in the original ending.

Unsurprisingly, Chinatsu fell asleep again that night. She lay on the bed in an utterly bizarre position, drool shamelessly spilling from her mouth.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Mm... wh-who is it...?"

"Ugly girl, the sun's practically burning your backside. Get u-"

Before Yushiro could finish speaking outside her door, the half-asleep Chinatsu almost instinctively grabbed the still-sheathed Nichirin Blade beside her and hurled it, sheath and all, at the door.

With a crack, the sheath punched a hole through the door and lodged there, its tip less than five centimeters from Yushiro's head on the other side.

Yushiro went rigid, the gulp as he swallowed ringing out clearly. Tanjiro had just come up behind him and happened to hear his rude choice of address. He was about to correct Yushiro when Chinatsu's flying sheath frightened him into freezing on the spot as well.

So scary...

Ten minutes later.

"I'm sorry. I was still half asleep." Chinatsu pressed her palms together and bowed her head in apology.

"It's all right. It was only a small hole. Besides, Yushiro was being rude. Yushiro, you should apologize to Miss Chinatsu too."

Tamayo gently patted Yushiro's back. Looking at Chinatsu's face, he shuddered involuntarily, then bent forward in apology. "S-sorry. I shouldn't have called you ugly."

Chinatsu waved it off. It really wasn't that big a deal, and she knew what Yushiro was like.

Yushiro had fallen in love at first sight with Tamayo, the woman who had saved his life. In his eyes, every woman other than Tamayo was an "ugly girl," and he treated none of them particularly well. To put it simply: "I'm not singling you out. I'm saying every woman here is ugly."

In short, he just had a foul mouth, but that could be fixed.

"We'll be going, then. If we defeat any powerful demons, we'll collect some blood for you."

Chinatsu and the others said goodbye to Tamayo and Yushiro. Not long after they left, the crow that seemed determined to work them from nine to nine, six days a week, appeared again.

One assignment after another-this was even worse than that grueling work schedule. The instant Chinatsu saw the crow, an intense aura of negativity radiated from her, leaving it too frightened to come close.

"Next desti... destination... Southeast by South!"

The crow flew off without a moment's delay after delivering its message, a stark contrast to how it had repeated itself endlessly and clung to Tanjiro in the original story.

Afterward, Chinatsu and the others set off for the second-to-last dungeon before the death-level one: the Drum Mansion.

The sun was unusually dazzling that day, so Chinatsu and Tanjiro each bought a black coat and draped it over themselves. It might have been excessive, but their main concern was that the sunlight was so intense that the wooden box Nezuko lay in might not block it completely.

The two walked at a leisurely pace. After carrying out two missions in a row, even Tanjiro was tired enough not to want to run there. They estimated that walking should still get them to their destination before nightfall.

They walked from morning until noon and, just as expected, encountered the yellow-haired boy who had appeared at the Final Selection.

Zenitsu Agatsuma.

"Please! Please! Please! Marry me! In my line of work, I could die at any moment! I don't want to die without ever having a wife!!!"

Zenitsu Agatsuma was practically kneeling on the ground, reaching out to cling to a passing girl.

The girl wasn't about to put up with him. She immediately unleashed a Chika Fujiwara-style barrage of slaps on Zenitsu Agatsuma. Seeing this, Tanjiro hurriedly reached out to restrain her; otherwise, she would have beaten Zenitsu Agatsuma to a pulp.

"Don't stop her! Hitting means affection, and scolding means love! This girl likes me!"

"When did I ever say I liked you? I only came over to ask how you were because you looked unwell!"

Zenitsu Agatsuma instantly looked as though he had been struck by lightning and collapsed onto the ground.

The girl puffed out her cheeks in anger, turned, and left. Tanjiro was utterly bewildered. Honestly, he still hadn't quite figured out what was going on.

Zenitsu Agatsuma raised his head slightly to look at the two people in front of him. Their faces were hidden beneath their black cloaks, but Chinatsu's side ponytail was visible, letting him tell that she was a woman.

Zenitsu Agatsuma dreamed of dating and marrying an ordinary woman. In pursuit of that dream, he had already dated seven women, including beauties, cute girls, a shop owner's daughter, and even a dancer. But because of his personality, he had barely even held hands with them. They had ordered him around like a slave and swindled him out of quite a bit of money.

It was easy to die after joining the Demon Slayer Corps. Zenitsu Agatsuma desperately wanted to experience the joy of dating an ordinary woman, which was why he had fallen into this almost obsessive state.

Zenitsu Agatsuma scrambled up from the ground and hurried over to Chinatsu. Nervous, he said loudly, "Miss, please go out with me with marriage in mi-"

"I refuse!"

I'm picking up the pace a little and will start trying to post two updates a day.