Boar's Head and Inosuke

Tanjiro left the box beside the two children, then followed Lin Guang into the demon's house with Zenitsu Agatsuma.

Once they entered the house, a powerful demonic scent filled Tanjiro's nose.

"Lin Guang! The number of demons is wrong! Outside, two of their scents were masked. There are five demons in this house!" Tanjiro warned urgently.

At Tanjiro's words, Zenitsu Agatsuma's entire face turned blue, and tears streamed from his eyes.

"So many demons! There are only three of us! What do we do?! W-we're going to die!"

"What do we do? What do we do?! I'm going to die!"

"Zenitsu! Quiet! They're just a few demons! All we have to do is kill them!" Lin Guang snapped.

Zenitsu Agatsuma looked at Lin Guang and grabbed his leg. "I remember you saved lots of people during Final Selection, so you'll protect me too, right? You will, won't you?"

Lin Guang grabbed Zenitsu Agatsuma by the collar and hauled him up. "From now on, as long as you stay quiet and keep your hands off me, I'll protect you. Understood?"

Zenitsu Agatsuma immediately stepped aside and promised, "Yes! Understood!"

Seeing that Zenitsu Agatsuma had actually stopped making a fuss, Tanjiro clicked his tongue in admiration. "You really are amazing, Lin Guang."

Suddenly, the two children outside ran in.

"No! You can't come in!" Tanjiro shouted at them.

But the two children had already reached Tanjiro, Lin Guang, and Zenitsu.

"B-big brother, that box was making creaking noises!"

"J-just because of that... I'd be really upset if you left it out there. It's more important to me than my own life!"

Tanjiro looked at the two children who had come inside, troubled.

Suddenly, boom!

The entire house began to shake.

Zenitsu Agatsuma crouched down in fear, clutching his head, only to knock Tanjiro and the little girl into the adjoining room with his backside.

"Ah!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Suddenly, a drumbeat rang out, and Tanjiro vanished in an instant.

Zenitsu Agatsuma was about to scream, but when he caught Lin Guang's look, he immediately clapped his hands over his mouth.

Seeing that Zenitsu Agatsuma hadn't started screaming, Lin Guang said, "One of these demons must be able to control the rooms. Be careful not to get separated again."

As he spoke, Lin Guang gave Zenitsu Agatsuma a pointed look.

Zenitsu Agatsuma nodded with his hands over his mouth, indicating that he would stay close.

"Teruko! Teruko!"

Seeing his sister disappear, the little boy called out anxiously.

At the boy's voice, Zenitsu Agatsuma grabbed his arm.

"No! You can't make too much noise! If the bad guys hear you shouting, we'll be in trouble!"

Then Zenitsu Agatsuma looked at Lin Guang and suggested, "Why don't we go outside first?"

Seeing that Zenitsu Agatsuma was handling this even worse than he was, the boy couldn't help asking, "Why go outside? Do you only want to save yourself?"

"Aren't you ashamed of going on and on about dying? Don't you feel embarrassed clinging to someone younger than you?"

"What exactly is that sword at your waist even for?"

Each of the boy's questions pierced Zenitsu Agatsuma's heart like an arrow.

Zenitsu Agatsuma collapsed to the floor. "H-he's so harsh!"

Watching the boy mock Zenitsu Agatsuma's cowardice so mercilessly, Lin Guang chuckled.

"Haha, well said. Since we're already inside, stick close to me. Don't get separated again, or you might die."

At the end, Lin Guang deliberately glanced at Zenitsu Agatsuma.

Zenitsu Agatsuma nearly fainted from fright at Lin Guang's words and hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Lin Guang slid open a door, and just as he stepped through, a drumbeat sounded.

"This is bad!"

Lin Guang tried to step back, only to bump into a wall.

Looking at the wall behind him, Lin Guang felt somewhat speechless, but also a little pleased.

"We got separated after all. Still, now I don't have to hold back."

Lin Guang raised both hands before his chest. "Ram-Snake-Tiger! Clone Technique!"

With a pop, a clone identical to Lin Guang appeared beside him.

"Take that door and see if you can find any trace of the demons."

After Lin Guang pointed to the door on the right and gave his order, the clone drew the Nichirin Blade at his waist and headed in that direction.

Once the clone had left, Lin Guang continued forward.

He passed through a door into a corridor and kept walking. Soon, he heard rapid footsteps.

"Beastly Rush! Beastly Rush!"

A person wearing a boar's-head mask charged toward Lin Guang, showing no intention of going around him.

"Beastly Rush!"

Boar's Head rammed straight at Lin Guang, intending to send him flying.

Boom!

Lin Guang blocked Boar's Head's charge with both hands, then shoved hard, sending him flying back instead.

Boar's Head looked at Lin Guang. "Who are you?"

"Lin Guang, Demon Slayer Corps," Lin Guang said.

"Hahaha! Not bad, not bad! That's the first time a human's sent me flying!"

The moment he finished speaking, Boar's Head charged at Lin Guang with a sword in each hand.

"Shave!"

In a flash, Lin Guang dodged Boar's Head's attack.

"Hey! Boar's Head! The Demon Slayer Corps doesn't allow you to draw your sword on a fellow member."

"My name is Inosuke Hashibira!"

As he spoke, Inosuke put away both swords and threw a punch at Lin Guang. "If we can't use swords, let's fight bare-handed!"

Lin Guang effortlessly dodged every attack Inosuke threw at him.

Although Lin Guang knew how combative Inosuke was, he didn't want to get tangled up with him right now. He still had demons to kill and Treasure Chests to open.

Seizing an opening, Lin Guang grabbed Inosuke's arm and hurled him away.

With a crash, Inosuke smashed through a door and landed on the floor.

"I don't have time to fight you here. We can talk after we've killed the demons in this house."

Inosuke sprang to his feet with a kip-up and shouted at Lin Guang, "Who cares about that?!"

Then he charged at Lin Guang again.

Thump!

A drumbeat rang out, the room shifted again, and Inosuke disappeared from before Lin Guang.

Immediately afterward, a series of memories entered Lin Guang's mind.

"My clone disappeared?"

Lin Guang sorted through what his clone had seen, then chuckled.

"Looks like Tanjiro still ran into Kyogai. But it seems he couldn't fight freely because of the little girl."

"When my clone arrived, Kyogai used his Blood Demon Art, Room Inversion. My clone was flung away and vanished. But before he disappeared, the room shifted, so Tanjiro didn't know that was my clone."

"But the rooms have shifted again. Who knows where Kyogai has gone now?"

Just as Lin Guang finished speaking, heavy footsteps approached.

"Why does everyone keep barging into someone else's house?! It makes me furious! Wretched vermin! Damn you all!"