"Right up ahead."
Tanjiro Kamado took the lead, grabbing the handle of the door between carriages and sliding it open.
"Delicious."
"Delicious."
"Delicious."
Kyojuro Rengoku's booming voice nearly scared the three of them out of their skins.
At this moment, the proud Flame Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps had completely surrendered to the boxed lunches on the train.
With every bite he took, he shouted "Delicious" at full volume.
He had turned into a human repetition machine.
"Is this really the Flame Hashira? He just looks like a professional foodie to me," Zenitsu muttered under his breath, deeply suspicious that this really was Rengoku.
Tanjiro nodded blankly.
"If we go by his face and his scent, this really is Kyojuro Rengoku."
With that confirmation from Tanjiro, Zenitsu could not find any more reasons to complain.
The four of them moved closer and hid behind Tanjiro like kids peeking from behind an older brother.
"Excuse me…" Tanjiro tried weakly.
"Delicious," Rengoku replied at full volume.
"Mr. Rengoku…"
Rengoku turned toward them, eyes blazing with life, and declared, "Delicious."
"We… we already fully understand how delicious it is…" Tanjiro said, half laughing, half crying.
Vincent Fox glanced at the attendant collecting the empty lunch boxes.
A quick look and he counted at least a dozen.
Sure enough, combat power and appetite were proportional.
"Mr. Rengoku, I am Tanjiro. We have met before. This is Zenitsu, that is Inosuke Hashibira, and this is Mr. Fox. They are all my companions and members of the Demon Slayer Corps."
Rengoku nodded. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
Then his gaze landed on the wooden box behind Tanjiro.
"The one inside the box is your sister, correct?"
"Yes."
Tanjiro nodded and set the box down beside him.
"This is my sister Nezuko. She is still sleeping to recover her strength."
Rengoku nodded and spoke thoughtfully.
"Recovering strength by sleeping rather than eating humans. She is truly an anomaly among demons. But that is exactly why she can be a friend to humans."
"Since the Master has already acknowledged her, I have nothing more to say. This mission may be very dangerous. You must protect your sister well."
"I will."
Tanjiro nodded vigorously.
Rengoku patted the seat beside him, signaling for them to sit.
Tanjiro sat down first at his side.
Vincent and Zenitsu took the seats across from them.
As for Inosuke…
He was already wandering around the carriage, poking at everything with the wide eyed curiosity of a complete hillbilly.
Just like that, they finally completed their rendezvous.
At the same time, Inosuke had entered another full blown hype cycle.
"This is amazing. It feels awesome inside the belly of the Lord of the Land."
He slapped the window with both hands, making it rattle loudly.
"All right. Calm down."
Vincent reached out and grabbed the boar mask, dragging Inosuke back by the head.
"Yeah. Could you act normal for once?" Zenitsu snapped.
Inosuke tried to struggle free, but Vincent locked him firmly in his arms like restraining a wild animal.
On the other side, Tanjiro finally voiced the question that had been weighing on his heart.
His father had always been sickly, yet could dance the Hinokami Kagura barefoot in the snow, wearing only thin clothing.
And in his battle against Lower Rank Five, Rui, Tanjiro had somehow managed to unleash a far more powerful technique, the Hinokami Kagura Dance of the Fire God.
"If you know anything, Mr. Rengoku, please tell me."
Tanjiro's expression was solemn as he waited for the Flame Hashira's answer.
"I do not know."
Rengoku answered at full volume.
"Huh?"
"This is the first time I have heard the name Hinokami Kagura. That you have developed such a powerful breathing technique is a good thing, but I truly know nothing about it," Rengoku said honestly.
"Ah… really?"
Tanjiro thought he had not explained things clearly enough and hurried to add details.
"Um… there are actually a few more details I did not mention…"
But Rengoku did not seem to hear him at all and simply continued in his own tempo.
"Become my Tsuguko."
"Huh?"
"Train under me."
Tanjiro felt the conversation had gone completely off the rails and blurted out, "Wait a second. Also, where exactly are you looking?"
Following Rengoku's gaze, he realized the Flame Hashira was staring at the carriage ahead of them.
But the door was closed. By all logic, he should not be able to see anything at all.
As he watched the two of them talk past each other, Zenitsu's large round eyes slowly flattened into beads.
He felt more and more that this Flame Hashira might not be entirely reliable.
At that moment, Rengoku began to reveal some inside knowledge.
"The Flame Breathing style has a long history. From the moment sword techniques using Breathing first appeared, there have always been swordsmen who used Flame Breathing and Water Breathing."
"Countless derived styles have been developed by branching off from those two main styles. That is not unusual."
"However…"
Rengoku glanced at the Nichirin blade Tanjiro carried.
"I have never heard of a swordsman with a black Nichirin blade becoming a Hashira. Swordsmen like that are very rare and often struggle to find a training method that suits them."
Tanjiro was stunned.
He had not gotten the answer he wanted and had instead learned about a very serious problem.
"But do not worry. Come train under me. Then there will be nothing to fear."
Looking at the righteous, fired up Rengoku, Tanjiro waved his hands in a panic.
"N… no need. Really. Also, where are you looking now?"
Even so, by reading Rengoku's scent, Tanjiro understood.
Rengoku might seem a little out of touch, but he was indeed a dependable, justice driven good man.
"Let me out. I am going to race the Lord of the Land."
At that moment, Inosuke somehow broke free from Vincent and shoved the window open, yelling outside. He looked ready to jump.
"Hold up. Can you please act normal for once?"
Now even Vincent's head was starting to hurt.
This guy really was the least reliable of them all.
He actually wanted to race a train. Was that something a person with a fully developed brain would say?
"Give it up, you idiot. It is dangerous."
Vincent grabbed the waistband of Inosuke's pants and yanked him back inside.
"I want to race the Lord of the Land and see who the fastest man really is."
"How stupid can you be?"
Zenitsu could not stand it anymore either and grabbed Inosuke's boar head, stopping him from launching himself out of the carriage.
Just as things finally quieted down, Rengoku spoke again, his voice calm for once.
"A demon could appear at any moment."
"What?"
Zenitsu's eyes went wide as he stared at Rengoku in disbelief.
Even Inosuke froze for a second, his body halfway out the window.
"Mr. Rengoku, what did you just say?"
Zenitsu rushed up to the Flame Hashira as if to confirm with his own ears.
"I thought the place where the demon was hiding would be at the final stop of the train."
"The demon is on this train."
"What?"
Zenitsu crumpled to the floor, his legs giving out completely.
He muttered under his breath, words tumbling over each other, no one able to tell what he was saying anymore.
Inosuke also regained his senses, gripping the window frame and peering anxiously outside.
"More than forty people have already gone missing on this train. The demon is lurking somewhere on board."
"Several Demon Slayer swordsmen have disappeared here as well and never returned. That is why I, as a Hashira, was dispatched."
Zenitsu stared at Rengoku in horror.
"Several swordsmen went in and never came back… a mission that needs the Flame Hashira himself…"
"I am done for."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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