About ten minutes passed.
One by one, boys and girls came from the other cars into the car where Chinatsu and the others were. Holding awls and lengths of rope, they approached the supposedly sleeping group step by step.
"They should... should all be asleep, right?"
"Huh? Why are their faces so red? Did someone hit them?"
"Who cares? Let's get this over with. I want a good dream. I can barely hold on anymore..."
The boys and girls reached Chinatsu and the others, speaking softly as they reached out to begin.
Of course, they were not about to physically kill Chinatsu and her companions.
The space that Lower Rank One Enmu's Blood Demon Art sent its hypnotized victims into was not purely a dreamscape.
A dreamscape was not infinite. It extended only a limited distance around the dreamer within the dream world. Beyond that boundary lay the void of the dreamer's subconscious, where a "core" representing their spirit was hidden.
Destroying that "core" was equivalent to destroying a person's spirit. They would be left utterly incapacitated, in a state even more complete than a vegetative one.
That was precisely what these boys and girls intended to do. Through a special ritual, they planned to enter Chinatsu and the others' dreams and destroy those "cores."
The instant one girl reached toward Chinatsu, Chinatsu suddenly opened her eyes.
The girl jumped in fright. Before she could cry out, Chinatsu knocked her unconscious with a Hand Chop. The strike was so clean and decisive that the girl barely felt any pain.
The others likewise knocked out the people who were about to attack them. They laid them across the seats and let out a breath.
Tanjiro's keen nose picked up the scents coming from these people. He turned to Chinatsu and said,