Did demons lose their hair too?

At the sight of that dark red blade, a thought flashed through Gyokko's mind:

This guy couldn't possibly be a Hashira too, could he?!

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Gyokko noticed the world before his eyes suddenly change.

In his eyes, that little boy was rapidly growing taller right in front of him.

His body did not seem to have registered what had happened either.

As Gyokko's head fell to the ground, the arms on either side of his body were still reaching up to feel around.

It looked as though he were checking whether his head was still properly attached to his neck.

At that moment, Lin Yoriichi even felt he could imagine what Gyokko was thinking:

What just happened?

A demon really couldn't get his head around this!

Upon seeing this "peculiar-looking little thing," Lin Yoriichi had quickly realized who he was.

[Upper Rank Five · Gyokko]

But after recognizing Gyokko and beheading him with a single stroke, Lin Yoriichi's expression grew even stranger.

He had now encountered four Upper Rank demons: Kokushibo, Akaza, Hantengu, and this Gyokko before him.

Of these demons, Hantengu had not left much of an impression on Lin Yoriichi because he had never revealed his true body.

The other three Upper Rank demons had all left very deep impressions on Lin Yoriichi-

"Nearly Headless" Kokushibo and "Head-Reattachment Champion" Akaza.

And now there was this one: "Can't Find His Head" Gyokko.

Lin Yoriichi still remembered that in the original story, this fellow had attacked the Swordsmith Village together with Hantengu.

Now it seemed that, perhaps because of his presence, Muzan Kibutsuji had summoned Upper Rank Four, Hantengu, to help Akaza escape.

Only Gyokko had attempted to attack the Swordsmith Village.

Lin Yoriichi also noticed that although Gyokko had no obvious injuries on the surface, through the Transparent World, he could see many wounds inside his body that had yet to heal completely.

At this thought, Lin Yoriichi's expression immediately turned somewhat odd.

Had this Gyokko first suffered a group beating from the Hashira?

Then, after finally escaping with his life, he'd run into me...?

All Lin Yoriichi could say was that Gyokko had done a wonderful job. Even in death, he had not forgotten to deliver his head to him!

As he thought this, Lin Yoriichi did not forget to ask Kotetsu:

"How are you? That fellow didn't hurt you, did he?"

Although Kotetsu wore a mask, making it impossible to see his expression directly,

the lingering tremor in his voice made it clear that the child had suffered quite a fright.

Still, when Lin Yoriichi asked him, Kotetsu did his best to suppress his fear and said in a trembling voice:

"I... I'm fine."

"That really ugly demon just gave me a scare."

At these words, Gyokko's head on the ground immediately began clamoring indignantly:

"What nonsense are you spouting, you little brat?!"

"My body is a perfect work of art!"

"I..."

Gyokko's incessant racket made Lin Yoriichi's eardrums ache.

He now understood why Muichiro Tokito had simply sliced Gyokko's head to pieces back then.

So Lin Yoriichi drew his sword again and turned Gyokko into "Gyokko paste" in an instant.

He could feel that his abilities had improved further compared to before.

After obtaining Yoriichi Tsugikuni's Nichirin Sword, not only had he gained the full effects of a bright red Nichirin Sword, but his Restoration Rate had also risen to 64%.

In fact, the moment his Restoration Rate passed 60%, Lin Yoriichi had noticed what felt like a qualitative improvement.

It was difficult to describe this improvement directly in words.

If he had to put it into words, it was as though everything around him had become clearer.

His body also felt completely refreshed, as though he had enjoyed a perfect night's sleep.

But after killing Gyokko, Lin Yoriichi discovered that his guess about his Restoration Rate had come true.

Killing an Upper Rank demon had only increased his Restoration Rate by 4%, bringing the total to 68%.

At this rate, even killing all the Upper Rank demons might not bring it up to 90%.

After all, the further he progressed, the smaller the increases in his Restoration Rate would become.

But this was not something Lin Yoriichi needed to consider right now.

He fished out another blood-drawing blade that Chachamaru had delivered along the way from his clothes and plunged it into Gyokko's body.

After two meows, Chachamaru appeared before Lin Yoriichi again.

Seeing the little cat appear out of thin air, Kotetsu was startled at first, then could not resist reaching out to stroke Chachamaru's head.

After petting the little cat for a while, Kotetsu visibly calmed down and asked:

"Mr. Yoriichi, this little cat is...?"

Lin Yoriichi smiled without answering directly.

The fact that Kagaya Ubuyashiki and Miss Tamayo had been working together was not much of a secret within the Demon Slayer Corps.

Even Hashira such as Shinobu Kocho had worked with Miss Tamayo to develop medicines.

But Lin Yoriichi was unsure whether he should tell Kotetsu all this, just as he had not told Kotetsu earlier why he looked so similar to the mechanical doll called "Yoriichi Type Zero."

Fortunately, Kotetsu was a very sensible child. When he noticed that Lin Yoriichi had not answered, he did not press him further.

At Lin Yoriichi's gesture, he worked up his courage and pulled the blood-drawing blade out of Gyokko's remains.

Then he tucked it into Chachamaru's backpack.

Inside the backpack, Kotetsu also discovered a folded note.

This time, Kotetsu did not touch it. Instead, he called Lin Yoriichi over and let him take the note out himself.

Lin Yoriichi unfolded the note and discovered that it was a message Miss Tamayo had left for him.

She said that she had made some progress in studying Lin Yoriichi's blood during this time.

If she could combine certain properties of demon blood with Lin Yoriichi's blood, perhaps his idea could be realized.

Aside from that, Miss Tamayo also hoped Lin Yoriichi could come to Tokyo when he had time, as she had some experiments that required his personal cooperation.

While Lin Yoriichi wrote his reply to Miss Tamayo, Kotetsu kept playing with Chachamaru.

However, after Kotetsu and Lin Yoriichi saw Chachamaru off, the former looked at the few strands of hair left in his hand and said in some confusion:

"I found some hair on the little cat's backpack."

Found some hair?

Hearing this, Lin Yoriichi was somewhat surprised too.

He took the hair from Kotetsu and held it up before his eyes for a close look.

He found that it was a short, fine, soft strand of hair, clearly from Yushiro's head.

This discovery left Lin Yoriichi rather astonished.

So demons lost their hair too?

Could it be because of the message I left last time, asking Yushiro to find a way to pinpoint the Infinity Castle's location?

Had he been working himself to the bone researching it all this time, to the point that his hair was falling out?

All I did was add, "Yushiro, you wouldn't want Miss Tamayo to think you can't do it, would you?"

Had it really been that effective?