Aomori Seafood Rice Bowl Specialty Shop.
After finishing his delicious seafood rice bowl, Teiichi pushed open the door and stepped outside, thoroughly satisfied.
By then, the streetlights had just come on, and the night market bustled with noise, vendors' cries rising one after another.
Looking at the almost modern streets before him, Teiichi, who had just eaten his fill, let his mind wander.
Ah, it was delicious, but a little expensive.
Sure enough, money earned in a small town was only good for spending in a small town. Spending it in a big city really hurt.
Well, time to find somewhere to sit for a while. Work would start later tonight.
Teiichi strolled along the street for a long time before finally reaching its end. Feeling there was little scenery worth seeing around him anymore, he turned into a deserted alley.
Having found an empty alley, he pushed off the walls on either side, leaping onto the roof as lightly as a swallow.
He looked around from the rooftop, found a spot with a good view and somewhere to sit, and settled down.
Glancing down at the still-bustling night market, Teiichi's lips curled slightly upward. In good spirits, he closed his eyes to rest, savoring the peace and comfort.
In the early hours of the next morning, darkness still shrouded the sky.
Teiichi sat quietly on the rooftop, his gaze lowered as he watched the night market below.
The night market now bore little resemblance to the bustling, clamorous scene of a few hours earlier. The streets had become empty and silent, and the neon lights had stopped flashing. Only a few dim yellow streetlights barely illuminated the road.
Occasionally, a few drunks staggered past, as though the city had fallen asleep.
Just then, a faint scent of blood drifted in on the night breeze and reached Teiichi's nose.
His heart tightened. He immediately raised his head and looked in the direction the scent had come from. Then, without hesitation, he stood and hurried off in that direction at a run.
After racing along for a while, Teiichi finally reached the rooftop where the scent of blood rose. He carefully approached its edge, then leaned halfway over and peered down.
The alley was pitch-black, so dark one could not see a hand held before one's face. Only faint, scattered patches of light allowed him to barely make out what was inside.
Teiichi focused his gaze ahead, his eyes quickly sweeping the entire alley.
Suddenly, he noticed a vague outline crouching on the ground. The figure caught his attention.
Teiichi concentrated, fixing his gaze on the figure.
At that moment, the figure was hunched up on the ground, its two hands seemingly gripping something and holding it close to its mouth.
Then, that large mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as though frantically tearing into whatever it held.
Not far below the figure, another person lay motionless on the ground, a horrifying pool of blood already gathered beneath them.
"This mission's going to be over this quickly?"
"Looks like another demon without a Blood Demon Art!"
Teiichi murmured to himself as he watched the scene before him.
Having completed quite a few missions, Teiichi could now roughly assess a demon's strength by observing its behavior.
First were ordinary demons-demons that could not even use a Blood Demon Art.
These demons were relatively weak and still unable to control their desire to eat humans. As a result, most stayed away from human society, choosing to live in remote wilderness or isolated villages.
Simply put, they lived wherever there were fewer people to avoid being discovered by humans. Of course, some lived within human society, but even there, they barely scraped by. Once their true identities were discovered, death was almost inevitable.
These demons often dressed shabbily because they had already left human society and could not buy suitable clothing. They also tended to have little choice when hunting, generally killing whoever they could catch, with a preference for lone targets.
Next were demons that could use Blood Demon Arts.
These demons lived relatively more elegantly. They could control their desire to eat humans, and their strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, who could barely fight back against them. These demons could already choose prey according to their preferences. Rather than killing indiscriminately like ordinary demons, they carefully selected their targets.
Last were the Twelve Kizuki.
They were incredibly powerful. Unless they encountered a Hashira, ordinary people were nothing but pigs waiting for slaughter before them.
They could basically eat whatever they wanted.
An Upper Rank could even eat a Hashira, though since there were relatively few Hashira, whether they got to eat one still depended on luck.
Of course, they could also slaughter people en masse to draw a Hashira over. But if a whole group of Hashira arrived, the roles of hunter and prey might end up reversed.
Take the demon below, for instance. From his clothing and behavior, Teiichi quickly judged that this was an ordinary demon. It dressed shabbily, its movements looked clumsy, and it clearly had not mastered a Blood Demon Art. Its prey was also someone who had been alone.
At that thought, Teiichi glanced at the demon below.
He took a deep breath and pushed hard against the rooftop with his right hand, his whole body leaping down as lightly as a bird.
Bang!
With a dull, resounding bang, Teiichi landed steadily on the ground.
The sudden noise startled the demon, which had been feasting heartily on its meal, and it quickly turned its head.
A gleam of steel flashed in the demon's pupils and swept past in an instant.
Thud... thud, thud.
The head bounced twice on the ground, then rolled to one side, only stopping when an obstacle beside it blocked its path.
Teiichi paid no attention to anything behind him and headed straight out of the alley. Behind him, the demon's head slowly dissipated.
In a big city, there was no need for the Kakushi to handle collecting bodies. He could simply leave it to the police the next day.
Returning to the inn, Teiichi opened his room's door and walked inside, then went to the window and climbed through it onto the roof.
On the other side of the rooftop, White Feather was looking around, seemingly waiting for something. Hearing footsteps approach, White Feather turned, a trace of curiosity flashing in his eyes when he saw Teiichi.
"Why are you back?" White Feather asked in confusion, his voice echoing through the night air.
Teiichi smiled slightly and answered, "Mission complete."
Hearing Teiichi's answer, White Feather exclaimed in surprise, "That fast?"
"Well, I got lucky. I happened to catch that demon coming out to hunt today." Teiichi shrugged and spoke casually.
White Feather nodded in understanding, then said:
"Then I'll head back to the Demon Slayer Corps to report on the mission. Are you going straight home?"
Teiichi lowered his head in thought for a moment, then raised it and said:
"I'm planning to spend a few days having fun here. It's not often I get to come to the seaside. This mission ended too quickly, and I had to rest during the day, so I barely got to do anything."
White Feather nodded in understanding:
"All right, I'll get going, then. Have fun!"
"Okay, bye!"
White Feather flapped his wings twice, seemingly in response to Teiichi, then flew off into the distance.
Watching White Feather disappear into the distance, Teiichi climbed back into his room.