Chapter 96: Little Jiji

"What? Zenitsu is missing?"

Tanjiro arrived at the rendezvous point, only to hear Inosuke say that Zenitsu had gone missing.

It turned out that after receiving the rendezvous notification from the Kasugai Crow, Yuki, Zenitsu and Inosuke had gone to change back into their original uniforms.

During this time, Inosuke changed back into his uniform and, after retrieving his Nichirin sword from the Muscle Mice, sensed movement from underground, along with the presence of a demon.

Not only that, he sensed another familiar presence among them.

He intended to pursue, but the presence vanished not long after; Inosuke sensed for a long time but could no longer detect it.

He decided to give up for the time being and go find Zenitsu to head to the rendezvous point together.

To his surprise, Zenitsu was gone!

He searched all over the Ogimoto House but couldn't find him.

An angry Inosuke assumed Zenitsu had ditched him to go meet up with everyone else alone.

Upon arriving at the rendezvous point and still not seeing Zenitsu, he finally remembered the demon presence and the other familiar presence he had sensed earlier.

Standing to the side, Tengen Uzui listened to Inosuke's report and fell into deep thought.

"No need to wait... because I was too desperate to save my wives, I made some mistakes. It is my fault that you are in this position..."

Tengen Uzui said, sounding somewhat self-reproachful.

"Leave as soon as Zero's signal goes off. Leave the rest to me and Zero... The demon here is an Upper Rank; your ranks are too low, and you simply cannot handle it..."

"But, Mr. Uzui, we..."

"There are no 'buts.' Do not feel ashamed; surviving is victory. Do not misjudge the timing... Time is running out, and Zero should be sending the signal soon..."

Tengen Uzui's figure vanished from the spot, and he headed alone toward the center of the entertainment district, standing on a rooftop to wait for Zero's signal.

"Are we not trusted because our ranks are too low..." Tanjiro felt somewhat dejected.

"We are already 【Kano】 rank! Don't believe me? Look, check the rank display!"

The character 【Kano】 appeared on the back of Inosuke's hand.

The ranks of Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen are formed by a special technique called "Wisteria Carving" imprinted on the back of the hand, which appears for anyone who passes the Final Selection at Mount Fujikasane.

Furthermore, by using words and muscle expansion, one can display their current corresponding rank.

Over these past few months, Tanjiro and the others had been carrying out missions, so their ranks had advanced from 【Kinoe】 to 【Kano】.

"So we don't have to leave. Let's do our best together!"

Inosuke was full of fighting spirit and did not show any signs of backing down.

"I understand. Then we shall wait for Brother Zero's signal and do what we can!"

"What you said is exactly what I wanted to say!"

Subsequently, the two of them prepared for battle and waited for the signal.

…………

Kyogoku House.

Zero felt that the time had almost arrived, and he headed alone toward the room of Oiran Warabihime once more.

On the way, he encountered Madam Sanjin.

"Zero, are you... heading to Oiran Warabihime's place?"

"Yes, there are still things to be done, after all."

Seeing this, Madam Sanjin pondered for a moment, but couldn't help but ask: "Zero, do you... do you know something..."

Seeing this, Zero smiled faintly, leaned close to Madam Sanjin's ear, and whispered: "Haven't you already guessed it?"

Madam Sanjin had only been speculating, but now that she heard Zero say it himself...

The amount of information was too much, and she was still somewhat shocked.

"Zero, you... you..."

"Shh~" Zero used his fan to block Madam Sanjin's mouth and whispered: "Sometimes, pretending not to know anything is the better way to survive~ I will take care of the demon."

Having said this much, Zero believed she knew what to do regarding the rest.

Arriving in Warabihime's room, he saw her kneeling there, wearing a relatively simple floral kimono.

The moment she saw Zero at the door, the joy in Warabihime's eyes could not be hidden.

After tonight, once the Demon Slayer Corps matter was resolved, Zero would belong to her alone.

Then she could enjoy him all to herself.

But for now, she knew she still had to pretend to be the same as she was last night.

Zero slowly approached Oiran Warabihime, lifted her chin, and smiled: "Little Jiji, are you... waiting for my arrival?"

"Yes." Warabihime didn't care how Zero addressed her; she would be "retiring" soon anyway.

"Why?"

"Because... I want to possess you all to myself!"

"Hehe~ Interesting~ What makes you think you can possess me? Or rather..."

As he spoke, Zero leaned down and whispered in Warabihime's ear: "Or rather... is it because you are Upper Rank Six that you think you can possess me? Am I right, Daki~!"

"!!!"

Warabihime... no, Daki, revealed an extremely shocked expression, and without thinking, she blurted out: "You... are you from the Demon Slayer Corps?!"

"Hehe~ It seems you aren't too stupid after all, but that's as far as it goes!"

"Damn you, go to hell!"

Boom!

Daki quickly whipped out her obi and attacked Zero.

She couldn't believe she had been teased like that by a demon hunter!

However, Zero simply turned, dodging it with ease.

While dodging, he took his Nichirin scythe out from his 【Nano Space】 and sliced the obi into several pieces.

Seeing that Nichirin scythe, Daki recalled the incident at the Infinity Castle a few years ago.

"It's you! You're that white-haired demon hunter... You're a Hashira! I can't believe you're cross-dressing as a woman; it's disgusting!"

Recalling the scene of being teased by "Zero" last night, she felt a wave of nausea.

That wasn't even the worst part; her own body had actually felt aroused...

Thinking back on that image now made her feel sick.

Daki had now returned to her demon form: black hair with golden eyes, flower hairpins in her hair, and flower tattoos on her left cheek and right forehead.

She was dressed provocatively, which looked quite sexy.

The abyss in front of her chest stared fixedly at Zero, but in Zero's eyes, it was nothing.

It wasn't even as good-looking as Mitsuri's~

Because she had split off many obi clones, Daki was currently in a weakened state.

"But even if you are a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, what can you do? Can your Demon Slayer Corps really just ignore ordinary people?" Daki smiled disdainfully.

Zero ignored what Daki said; he had long since made preparations.

Thus, he deactivated the stealth mode of his 【Analysis Glasses】, revealing them.

And through the 【Analysis Glasses】, he detonated the bombs he had placed in advance in some deserted areas of the Yoshiwara Entertainment District.

Bang! Bang! Bang!......

Huge explosions occurred one after another in multiple locations in the Yoshiwara Entertainment District, causing fires.

But strangely, the fires caused by the explosions did not spread to the other ordinary people.

On the contrary, those ordinary people still had plenty of time to escape the Yoshiwara Entertainment District.

After all, once some unknown panic is triggered, the first thought of ordinary people is to flee the scene as quickly as possible to avoid being caught up in it.

That was exactly the situation outside right now!

Inside the building, everyone heard the commotion outside and saw the huge fires, so they all began to flee.

Fearing that the fire would spread here in the next second and bury them in a sea of flames.

Seeing this scene, Daki's heart could not remain calm for long!

However, a flash of cold light passed, and Daki's head was already separated from her body.

The headless body knelt on the ground, holding its own head, with an expression of utter disbelief.

"I... I was cut... I was actually decapitated?!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!......

Hearing the explosions, Tengen Uzui understood that this was Zero's signal.

He jumped down from the roof, took off his dual blades from his back, and tore off the cloth strips on them.

Sound of Breathing. First Form. Boom!

He swung his dual blades downward, and a huge explosion accompanied by a loud sound smashed a large hole in the ground, leading directly to the depths of the underground cave.

Immediately, Tengen Uzui jumped down through the hole he had smashed.

When he reached the depths of the underground, he found that it was exactly as Zero had said.

"It really is exactly as Zero said. There is a cave down here, and the demon captures those missing people and stores them here as food reserves."

At the bottom of this cave, the ground was covered with white skeletons.

Above, it was hung full of strips of obi, and many women were trapped inside the obi.

He could clearly feel the life force of humans.

"This is..." Tengen Uzui noticed the figures on the three obi not far away.

"Makio, Hinatsuru, Suma!"

Seeing that his three wives were still alive, his heart finally settled.

But at the same time, he noticed the figure on another obi.

"This guy was actually captured here too... How unflashy..."

The figure on the other obi was Zenitsu.

"Hey! You guy, how dare you barge into someone else's granary!"

Behind Tengen Uzui, a female voice came.

Turning his head, he discovered that it wasn't a woman at all, but just an obi with a pair of eyes and a mouth speaking.

"What is this thing? Not flashy at all!"

Hooo~

He took a deep breath into his lungs, and in less than the blink of an eye, he launched an attack, precisely cutting all the obi open without harming the women inside.

"This presence, it's a Hashira!"

The obi that had just spoken never expected that their food storage would attract a demon hunter, and a Hashira at that!

Just as it was considering how to deal with this, it felt its main body summoning it, so it immediately took the remaining obi and flew away through the hole Tengen Uzui had just smashed.

Tengen Uzui didn't pursue, because standing in front of him were three women—his wives.

"Makio, Hinatsuru, Suma, I'm sorry I'm late. Seeing that you are still in such high spirits, I am relieved!"

"Lord Tengen..." x3

"You are truly amazing, worthy of being my wives!"

Seeing this, the three women rushed into Tengen Uzui's arms.

After enjoying the softness of the six big white rabbits for a moment, Tengen Uzui patted each of their heads and said: "I leave the people here to you; I am going to help Zero slay the Upper Rank demon!"

"Yes, Lord Tengen!"

Immediately, Tengen Uzui grabbed Zenitsu, who was standing to the side and still fast asleep, and left the underground cave!

Daki reattached her head, and Zero didn't stop her, just stood not far away watching.

Many obi flew in from outside the window, crashed into Daki, and finally merged into her body.

Her appearance also returned to her normal state: silver hair with green tips and golden eyes.

"I didn't expect there to be another Hashira! Hehe... Hahahaha! Great! As long as I kill these two Hashira, Lord Muzan will be very happy!" Daki laughed in a dazed manner.

Zero couldn't help but slap his own forehead, feeling that Daki definitely had a hole in her brain!

Did she trade all her IQ for her looks?

Not to mention himself, even if she were fighting Tengen Uzui, she would probably just be getting bullied.

If it were her brother fighting Tengen Uzui... well, that would probably be a different story.

"You cross-dressing guy, go to hell!"

Whoosh!

Four obi extended from behind Daki and gathered together, attacking Zero's head directly, at a speed several times faster than before.

Bang!

The obi attack didn't hit Zero; instead, it pierced through several walls.

Zero's figure had long since vanished from in front of her, and his whereabouts were unknown.

"Little Jiji, do you think... you can do it again?"

!!!

What?!

When did he appear behind me?!

Hearing the voice from behind, Daki felt a bone-chilling cold spread throughout her body.

Because Zero had appeared behind her at some point, one hand wrapped around her neck, pinching her chin and gently kneading it.

"Little Jiji, aren't you... going to call your brother out to help? Otherwise, you're going to die a miserable death~"

Zero whispered in Daki's ear, the hot air he exhaled hitting Daki's ear.

"Go to hell!!"

The obi behind her changed from four to eight, each one becoming incredibly hard and extending dozens of times, attacking in all directions with herself as the center point!

Boom!

The surrounding houses were instantly torn apart, turning into a pile of ruins!

Fortunately, all the people in the vicinity had already fled the Yoshiwara Entertainment District, so there were no casualties for the time being.

However, Zero's figure vanished from Daki's field of vision once again, dodging the attack just like before.

"Truly pitifully weak, and stupid enough!!"

Whoosh!

Zero flashed instantly in front of Daki and kicked her in the chest, sending her flying, crashing through several walls before she stopped.

Immediately, Zero rushed over with his Nichirin scythe and decapitated Daki once again.

Daki, who hadn't reacted yet, saw the surrounding scene begin to flip again, her body kneeling on the ground holding her own head.

"Again... decapitated again... Ahhhh! Why! Why decapitate my head again! You guy! Why!"

"Because you are too weak, idiot!"

"Are you kidding me?! I am not weak at all! I am very strong! You say I am not Upper Rank Six, but that Lord gave me a number! I am Upper Rank Six!"

"Not convincing at all~ Bai Chi~"

After saying this, Zero prepared to turn and leave to find a place to change his clothes.

Wearing these clothes was restrictive, and when he lifted his legs, it felt chilly underneath; he really wasn't used to it.

"You stand still, where are you going!? You cut off my head, don't think you can leave so easily! Also, you actually dared to call me by that ugly name, Little Jiji, I will definitely eat you!"

Zero: (? ー`? ′ー）

"Shut up, you idiot, trash, moron, retard! What are you showing off for as a fake Upper Rank Six?! Don't you have any self-awareness of your own strength?"

After scolding her a few times, he walked away without looking back to find a corner to change his clothes.

Hearing Zero scold her like that, Daki felt aggrieved, and tears flowed out uncontrollably.

Finally, she couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into loud, tearful sobs while holding her head.

"?? o·(????????????)? o·? Waaaah! Why is everyone bullying me! I am clearly Upper Rank Six! Clearly that Lord gave me a number! Why, why!"

Just then, Tengen Uzui heard the commotion and rushed over, only to see Daki crying while holding her own head.

"Are you kidding me? A demon is crying?! Did your brains explode? Not flashy at all~"

But soon, Tengen Uzui noticed another thing: this female demon had clearly been decapitated, so why hadn't she disappeared?

Sensing that the situation was not right, he immediately assumed a fighting stance.

Daki was still wailing, her headless body pounding the ground, shouting: "Go to hell! Go to hell! Everyone, just go to hell!"

"BRO! THER!"