An excruciatingly awkward silence fell over the room. Tanjiro straightened and looked at Yuichiro. Yuichiro glared at Tanjiro. Muichiro remained lying there, staring at the ceiling, as though everything happening around him had nothing to do with him.
The four of them-or rather, three people and one demon-stared at one another in the moonlight. No one spoke again.
Suddenly, a faint scraping sound broke the deathly silence.
It sounded like something crawling across wooden boards.
Tanjiro whipped his head around. His nose twitched furiously as an intensely strong, foul, nauseating stench of blood flooded his nostrils. It was a hundred times stronger than the scent of any demon he had encountered before.
A withered hand slowly pushed the paper door open.
A hunched demon with an exceedingly aged face crawled into the room. A huge fleshy lump protruded from his forehead. His eyes were bloodshot, and his entire body trembled violently.
"So scary... so scary..." The old demon lay on the floor, tears and snot streaming down his face, his voice utterly shrill. "Why are you bullying me... so scary..."
Tanjiro's pupils instantly contracted. He had not sensed this demon approaching at all.
An Upper Rank!
In the instant Tanjiro froze in shock, the Tokito Brothers' reactions demonstrated their prowess as elite swordsmen.
Almost the very second the old demon pushed the door open, Yuichiro kicked over the table he had been sitting beside. He snatched up the Nichirin Blade from the table and drew it in an instant.
"Muichiro!" Yuichiro shouted.
The moment his brother called his name, Muichiro rose from his bedding and drew his blade in one motion. His vacant gaze instantly became wildly unsettled and full of murderous intent.
Yuichiro pushed off the floor, launching himself like a cannonball toward the old demon lying on the