A deathly silence filled the carriage.
Only the clatter of wheels over the rails rang out, like a death knell tolling for the sleepers.
Four frail figures moved soundlessly, like fungi sprouting in the darkness.
Their faces bore a sickly flush and a longing for pleasant dreams, their hands tightly clutching ropes that connected illusion and reality.
Their targets were the sleepers with the most powerful presences in the carriage.
A girl approached Kyojuro Rengoku, her eyes filled with greed.
As long as she destroyed this man's golden, warm spiritual core, she could remain immersed in happy dreams forever.
She reached out with a trembling hand, preparing to tie the rope around Kyojuro's wrist.
Just then, a shadow fell over her.
Before the girl could look up, she felt a numbness at the back of her neck, and the world before her eyes plunged into total darkness.
Uesugi Sasuke appeared behind her, as though he had peeled away from the shadows.
He withdrew his knife-hand, his gaze utterly unchanged.
He did not even look at the girl as she fell; his eyes had already locked onto his next target.
Another boy was tiptoeing toward Tanjiro.
There was a trace of hesitation on his face, as though he had been affected by the exceedingly gentle presence of Tanjiro in his dream.
But that hesitation lasted less than a second.
His longing for happiness overwhelmed everything else.
He had just raised the awl in his hand.
A barely audible whistle cut through the air.
A kunai struck the wrist of his awl-holding hand with precision from a tricky angle.
"Ah..."
Just as he was about to cry out in pain, an icy hand covered his mouth, while a tremendous force struck the back of his head.
Thud.
Another figure crumpled limply to