It Was the Demon Who Ran into Me

Chachamaru clearly understood what Lin Yoriichi meant, his cat eyes instantly going round.

Seeing this, Lin Yoriichi felt as though the cat was so worked up he was about to start speaking.

Lin Yoriichi could even imagine what Chachamaru wanted to say:

"I might not be human, but you're a real bastard!"

He smiled and stroked Chachamaru's head, waving the little knife covered in blood at him.

"Chachamaru, you wouldn't want to disappoint Miss Tamayo by failing to bring back a blood sample, would you?"

Chachamaru immediately gave two indignant meows, then approached Enmu's headless corpse and began distinguishing the scents.

A moment later, Chachamaru began meowing at the shop floor, scraping at it with one paw.

Lin Yoriichi immediately asked:

"Are you saying this guy's real body is hiding underground?"

Chachamaru meowed, confirming Lin Yoriichi's suspicion.

Then he began rubbing against Lin Yoriichi's trouser leg, urging him to hand over the blood sample.

After sending Chachamaru off, Lin Yoriichi immediately drew his sword, leaped sideways, and slashed at the ground.

[Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky]

With a tremendous crash, a large opening was torn into the shop floor.

Once the dust billowed up, Lin Yoriichi clearly saw a structure resembling the bones of a human neck inside the hole.

Going by the original story, this should have been Enmu's real body. His body had already fused with the entire shop.

And that section of bone was Enmu's "neck."

In theory, he only needed to sever that section of bone to finish Enmu off for good.

But just as he raised his sword, Lin Yoriichi suddenly paused.

He had already considered that, at this point in the world's timeline, Enmu had yet to receive more of Muzan Kibutsuji's blood.

His abilities were therefore somewhat weaker, allowing Lin Yoriichi to break free of the dream he had fabricated.

In the original story, Enmu had also taken some time to fuse with the entire Mugen Train, his goal being to turn the whole train into his "stomach" and devour the more than two hundred passengers aboard.

But did Enmu have any reason to hide his real body underground and fuse with a shop selling boxed meals?

So was this thing in front of him really Enmu's real body?

Lin Yoriichi genuinely believed that someone whose mind worked strangely enough to put his own eyeballs in boxed meals could absolutely hide himself somewhere obscure!

As for this neck hidden underground, it was very likely another decoy, just like the humanoid body he had cut down earlier!

An idea struck Lin Yoriichi.

He pretended to be startled by the cervical vertebrae underground, freezing briefly before raising his sword again.

Sure enough, the instant Lin Yoriichi swung his sword, he saw a figure drop silently from the roof through his Transparent World vision.

This figure was considerably shorter than the Enmu he had seen before, and his build was unusually thin.

Seeing Lin Yoriichi swing at the cervical vertebrae underground, the figure immediately rushed over.

A tentacle of flesh and blood sprouted from his back in an instant, its tip stabbing straight toward Lin Yoriichi's back!

Yet in the next instant, the sword in Lin Yoriichi's hand abruptly changed direction!

[Sun Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dragon Sun Halo · Head Dance]

Surging solar flames instantly engulfed the blade, like a great beast of solar fire opening its enormous maw and swallowing Enmu whole!

One moment, Enmu had been caught up in the excitement of being about to kill his opponent; the next, he felt the searing pain of his limbs being sliced apart.

"Why?!"

"How could you react to where my real body was?"

"I was already so careful!"

"Why..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw a blade wrapped in solar flames rapidly grow larger before his eyes.

The blade flashed, and Enmu's head fell to the ground.

Lin Yoriichi sheathed his sword and said in a low voice:

"There aren't that many whys."

With that, Lin Yoriichi immediately checked his Restoration Level System.

Only when he saw that his restoration level had risen to 55% did Lin Yoriichi breathe a sigh of relief, certain that he had truly killed Enmu.

As Enmu dissipated, Kyojuro Rengoku immediately woke from where he lay slumped over the table.

The elderly shopkeeper and her granddaughter gradually regained consciousness as well.

They looked at the large hole in the shop floor, their faces instantly filling with shock.

Kyojuro Rengoku immediately drew his sword and called out:

"Mr. Yoriichi, did you run into a demon?"

Lin Yoriichi reached out and lowered the sword in Kyojuro Rengoku's hand to keep the grandmother and granddaughter from being frightened again.

"Rather than saying I ran into a demon, you should say the demon ran into me."

Then Lin Yoriichi looked at the grandmother and granddaughter, feeling a slight headache coming on.

He really was no good at explaining what had happened to others, and even worse at handling this sort of aftermath.

Fortunately, there were professionals standing by nearby outside.

He summoned a Kasugai Crow and had it send word to Momoki Haruko and the nearby Kakushi.

Only after they had taken the elderly woman and her granddaughter away did Lin Yoriichi explain to Kyojuro Rengoku what had just happened.

After hearing Lin Yoriichi's account, Kyojuro Rengoku immediately said in his hearty voice:

"To think all that happened just now! I actually fell victim to that demon's Blood Demon Art!"

"As a Hashira, I let you fight the demon alone, Mr. Yoriichi!"

"That was disgraceful of me!"

"I wish I could dig a hole and crawl into it!"

These words were meant as self-reproach, but Kyojuro Rengoku's tone was so hearty that they sounded exceptionally bold instead.

But Lin Yoriichi knew very well that Kyojuro Rengoku genuinely meant them.

At this very moment, he truly blamed himself.

But that self-reproach would only become motivation for Kyojuro Rengoku to push himself forward, never shackles that trapped him.

That was Kyojuro Rengoku.

Always passionate, always sunny!

Kyojuro Rengoku continued:

"If we encounter another demon, I hope you'll let me handle it while you rest!"

"At the very least, let me fight alongside you!"

"Even though I know you want to protect us!"

"If you always have to slay the demons yourself while I can only stand by, I would be far too ashamed!"

At those words, Lin Yoriichi genuinely felt ashamed.

He actually rather wanted to tell Kyojuro Rengoku the truth.

He had not really given much thought to protecting them. The only reason he always rushed to act first was to "steal the kills."

But faced with Kyojuro Rengoku's far too bright and sincere gaze, Lin Yoriichi could only nod.

With Enmu, the culprit behind everything, dealt with, the train incident could be considered settled for the time being.

As for why Enmu had released those passengers and staff, only to hide here-

Perhaps he had merely been passing through, but then spotted Kyojuro Rengoku coming to investigate and decided to strike.

As for any deeper reason, Lin Yoriichi felt that the investigation could wait until he and the Hashira returned from the Swordsmith Village.

Looking at the ever-energetic Kyojuro Rengoku beside him, Lin Yoriichi quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Upper Rank Three, Akaza, whom he had anticipated might appear, had never shown up, making his actions seem like an overreaction brought on by his own fears.

But given the choice, Lin Yoriichi truly hoped that every anxious ordeal would turn out to be nothing more than a false alarm.

Tap, tap-

Just then, a series of forceful footsteps suddenly rang out...