Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Crack... pop...
The fireplace in the house flickered on and off.
Tiny mosquitoes flitted around in the room.
Giyu was sitting in front of the sleeping Mizuki, and he put the Nichirin blade on the ground beside him. He observed Mizuki's house with careful precision.
With no other clues, Giyu chose to wait at Mizuki's house.
Click.
Giyu's ears twitched slightly at the sound of metal objects colliding with the roof.
'Someone here...'
He raised his head and looked toward the ceiling.
The moonlight crept through the opened tiles; he could vaguely see the silhouette of a hand moving.
After the tile was moved, Giyu squinted his eyes to see if he could catch the person's face on the roof.
At the same time, Zinan also looked down from the hole.
Both men locked eyes for a moment; both of their eyes, usually devoid of emotion, now had a trace of surprise in them.
Click.
The next moment, Zinan placed the tile back in its position.
Giyu has already drawn his nichirin blade from its scabbard.
But as he drew his sword, Giyu hesitated. His eyes were doubtful, and his eyebrows were furrowed.
"...a human?"
He paused for a moment but quickly rushed out of the house and onto the street.
He turned his head toward the roof.
In any case, this may be his only chance to get a clue. He can't let the man go!
It seems Giyu was quick enough to catch the man flustered as he put away his kunai in his back pouch and quickly took off.
Giyu lightly tensed his calf and used his toes to launch himself.
Swish!
Almost instantly, he jumped high into the air and easily covered the distance between him and Zinan. Giyu stepped in front of the man, stopping his escape.
"Stop." Giyu landed with his legs bent slightly, his nichirin blade pointed at the man.
He raised his head to look at the expressionless face of Zinan Uzui.
Giyu was stunned for a moment after seeing Zinan up close.
Looking at the headdress on his forehead, his face was revealed by the moonlight as the clouds moved away from covering the moon.
The person in front of him was overlapped by the flamboyant, arrogant figure that was his colleague.
"...Uzui?" Giyu murmured in confusion.
Seeing that Giyu was stunned,
Zinan took out a few small balls from the sleeve of his arm, then he threw them hard on the roof under him.
Giyu's reaction time was quick as he pushed off the roof and quickly retreated when he saw this man throw those balls.
Sparks flew from the balls and rolled onto the tiles.
Puff!
From the balls, a huge smoke and dust mixed with the sound of explosion suddenly covered the whole roof. The smoke bomb quickly spread around on the roof and down to the ground.
Giyu covered his mouth and nose with his haori. He squinted his eyes, but he had already lost track of the man, as the smoke was thick enough to hinder his vision.
When the smoke finally cleared, there was no one else on the roof except him.
He stopped where he was, his hand holding the nichirin blade lowered. Giyu expressed a rare look of confusion on his face.
'That guy... is he Uzui-san?' He tilted his head.
The familiar headgear, the familiar face, and the escape tactics.
But...
If it was Uzui-san, Giyu wouldn't have been able to catch up to his speed.
After all, Tengen is the Sound Hashira, the fastest swordsman in the Corps right now.
The man was also loud. He would laugh at Giyu's attempt to catch up to him.
Something moved between the roof tiles that caught Giyu's attention.
It was a torn piece of paper.
Giyu walked over in confusion and picked it up. He straightened it out and scanned the contents on it.
On the paper,
The three kanji that made Mizuki Nana's name were written, along with a string of information below.
He turned his gaze to the corner of the tattered paper.
"The client... is a holder of a martial arts license..."
Giyu suddenly understood something from this clue.
The paper in his hands was a bounty poster issued by a student who had previously graduated and received a license to teach martial arts for his own dojo. So he left his previous dojo and started his own school against his previous master.
Giyu folded the paper and put it in his clothes along with the photo.
He jumped off the roof and decided not to chase the ninja. He returned to Mizuki's side.
He looked at the sleeping form of the girl in front of him, who was not affected by all the noise that happened just now.
'First you encountered a demon... and now someone wants you dead...'
"Caw!"
Just as Giyu was about to sit down, his crow came in through the door and plunged into Mizuki's stomach.
"Uuff!" Mizuki suddenly sat up from the crow landing on her abdomen, but her eyes rolled back into her head as she immediately fell asleep again.
But this time it was not peaceful sleep but a forceful one.
"Kanzaburo!" Giyu quickly moved to caress his crow.
His messenger crow, Kanzaburo, was already old.
It often gets confused during flight and fails to deliver the message.
Kanzaburo shook its dizzy head and looked at where he thought Giyu was, which was a block of wood.
"Tomioka-sama...~ Oyakata-sama is summoning you!"
"All the Hashira must come! Your task, if it's not urgent, will be taken over by the lower-ranked members!"
"Go to the headquarters to assemble!"
"Caw!"
Giyu was confused by the order. 'Did something happen?'
After requesting three Hinoe-ranked members to guard Mizuki Nana, Giyu temporarily suspended all his activities.
The tasks that the Hashiras have taken are all judged to be the utmost dangerous.
So for these reinforcements, their main order was to maintain the status quo of the mission until the Hashira on duty came back.
To avoid the situations where low-ranked members would just die uselessly.
Of course, the more dangerous ones will need a lot of bodies to maintain.
At the same time,
Zinan was running fast between the roofs; his legs moved quickly as he escaped from the dangerous man.
His eyes occasionally looked back behind him.
He had run a long way and almost arrived at another town.
The mission has failed.
He was discovered instantly.
'Who was that guy... we didn't have any info about him before...'
Then, his father's voice echoed in his mind.
"A ninja does not have feelings. The value of our existence is to carry out the missions."
"If the mission fails..."
Zinan suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He stood still as his head lowered and expression turned to fear. His mind keeps repeating the ninja creed.
After a while, and steeling himself,
Zinan opened his mouth and used his tongue to poke the pills he hid.
Behind the molars, there was a ball of blue potion.
This is the poison that ninjas use to commit suicide.
Just as he was about to bite down.
"Oh my, what a pity." A cold and faked happiness voice came from behind him.
"Isn't this Akaza-sama's territory?"
"Still, before I go back..."
Whoosh!
The cold aura instantly intensified, and Zinan's whole body stiffened.
"...I like your headpiece~"