Northern Town.
By the time Sasuke arrived, night had fallen.
Unlike the bustle of ordinary towns after dark, this place was far too deathly quiet.
The streets were deserted. Only a few dim yellow lanterns swayed in the cold wind, casting crooked, distorted shadows.
Every household had its doors and windows shut tight, without even a sliver of light escaping through the cracks.
The air carried a scent mingled with fear and oppression.
Sasuke's footsteps were the only sound on the long, empty street.
His magnificent crow was not as noisy as other Kasugai Crows. It simply perched quietly on his shoulder, its sharp eyes warily scanning the surrounding shadows.
He did not knock on a single door.
He knew that with fear hanging over this place, he would get no useful information by asking.
Sasuke slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, two black tomoe rotated slowly against the blood-red backdrop of his right eye.
The entire world instantly changed in his vision.
Dust invisible to the naked eye and the paths of fallen leaves caught in the wind all became incredibly clear.
More importantly, there were the traces of energy belonging to "demons" that ordinary people could not detect.
Through his Sharingan, they appeared as faint wisps of blackish-purple energy, spreading like ink dropped into clear water.
These wisps drifted faintly above the town, all ultimately pointing in a few specific directions.
Sasuke's figure melted into the town's shadows.
Like a ghost, he moved soundlessly between rooftops and alleys.
He passed house after house, his Sharingan sweeping over them. Some of those blackish-purple wisps lingered before doors, while others curled around windows.
He understood that these were all prey the demon had "marked."
They were all girls around sixteen years old.
The demon seemed to have a particular preference for girls of this age.
Sasuke's expression did not change, nor did he feel the slightest pity.
He was merely analyzing his prey's habits as a hunter.
Just as he was about to pass through an alley, he stopped.
At the end of the alley, a young man sat forlornly on the ground, his back against the cold wall.
His hair was disheveled, his eyes vacant, and he kept murmuring a name.
"Riko... Riko..."
Sasuke's Sharingan settled on this young man named Kazumi.
In his vision, a wisp of blackish-purple demonic energy clung to Kazumi's shoulder, thicker and fresher than those elsewhere.
It was as though...
When the demon had abducted his fiancée, it had left a mark on his shoulder with its claws.
A mark that said, "This is my prey."
Found it.
Sasuke stepped out of the shadows.
His appearance did not disturb the young man immersed in grief.
Sasuke walked up to him and looked down at him, his voice cold and devoid of emotion.
"Which direction did it disappear in?"
Startled by the sudden voice, Kazumi raised his head blankly and saw a boy wearing a Demon Slayer Corps uniform, his gaze terrifyingly cold.
He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something.
But Sasuke gave him no chance to speak.
He pointed toward the eastern end of the street.
"Was it that way?"
Kazumi instinctively looked in the direction he was pointing. Then, as though recalling some horrifying scene, his body abruptly began to tremble.
He nodded vigorously.
"Y-yes, that was the direction. Suddenly... a swamp suddenly appeared... and then Riko, she..."
A swamp.
Sasuke had obtained the information he wanted.
He lowered his hand, not sparing another glance at this source of information who had already lost his value.
He turned and was about to head east.
Just then, another presence rapidly approached from the other end of the street.
It carried a very clean, very warm scent, filled with integrity and sorrow.
At the same time, it was mingled with another...
A demonic presence utterly different from that of every demon he had slain.
Sasuke stopped.
He slowly turned his head, his scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan looking toward a boy carrying a huge wooden box on his back, with a scar on his forehead and likewise wearing a Demon Slayer Corps uniform.
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