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...
After finding nothing at the Tokito house, Mika went to the Ogimoto house where Hashibira Inosuke was located.
As he expanded his circle, Mika quickly noticed something unusual.
In a room beneath his feet, a woman with blonde hair on her forehead was bound by ribbon-like objects in the room.
Mika was very familiar with this girl.
She was one of Uzui Tengen's wives, whose photo he had shown to Mika before.
"I found her. Your wife Makio is in the Ogimoto house, but she seems to have been captured by a demon and is now tied up in the room."
Hearing Mika's words, Uzui Tengen's pupils immediately constricted, wanting to go down to save her.
But he quickly stopped himself and regained composure.
"Correct judgment!"
Glancing at Uzui Tengen, Mika said seriously, "From the scene, the enemy's behavior is very strange. They didn't immediately eat the person after capturing them, which means they have a bigger plan."
"Their target is you, Tengen! They must have discovered your letters with them, so they captured them and are waiting for you to come! Since their target is a Hashira, the enemy must be an Upper Rank demon."
"Moreover, there's no trace of your wife Suma in the Tokito house, so she must have been hidden by the enemy. Judging from the fact that Makio hasn't been killed, your other two wives are probably still alive too."
"So it's best not to startle the snake before we figure out the identity of the Upper Rank demon and the location of your other two wives."
"I understand!"
Taking a deep breath, Uzui Tengen said seriously.
Looking at Uzui Tengen who was forcibly restraining himself, Mika pointed to the room where Makio was.
"Since she's confined in there, others shouldn't be able to enter. You stay here and listen for any sounds from inside, in case something happens to her."
"I'll go to the Kyogoku house now to see if Hinatsuru is there."
"Ah, then I'll leave it to you."
Feeling Uzui Tengen's grateful gaze, Mika nodded and ran towards the Kyogoku house.
Soon, he arrived on the roof of the Kyogoku house.
Under the coverage of his circle, the scene inside the Kyogoku house appeared before Mika's eyes.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of Uzui Tengen's wife Hinatsuru in the Kyogoku house.
"No results, huh!"
Shaking his head, just as Mika was about to leave, he suddenly noticed something out of place.
He didn't see the Oiran of Kyogoku house, Warabihime.
According to the information Mika had obtained, among the three suspicious establishments, both Tokito house and Kyogoku house had famous Oiran of the entertainment district.
They were the Oiran Kochō of Tokito house and the Oiran Warabihime of Kyogoku house.
Although Mika had no intention of peeping, in his circle, he did see the Oiran Kochō resting in the Tokito house.
After all, it was early morning, the time when Oiran who had worked all night were resting.
But now, Mika couldn't see the Oiran Warabihime in the Kyogoku house.
"Is she not in the Kyogoku house, or could she be the demon?"
"If she's the demon, could her Blood Demon Art be related to space?"
Pondering over the information about Oiran Warabihime, various ideas suddenly appeared in Mika's mind.
However, these ideas were very chaotic and unsystematic.
So, he needed to do some 'organizing'.
After a while, Mika returned to the roof of the Ogimoto house.
"How was it?"
As soon as he saw Mika, Uzui Tengen asked anxiously.
Shaking his head slightly, Mika said seriously to Uzui Tengen's disappointed eyes, "Although I didn't find any trace of your wife, I discovered other suspicious points."
"Other suspicious points? Is it about the demon?"
"That's right!"
Then, Mika told Uzui Tengen about the situation he had just seen and his speculations.
Then, with Uzui Tengen's approving gaze, he continued, "After thinking about it earlier, I came up with some other possibilities."
"The entertainment district, as a street that thrives at night, is indeed the most suitable place for demons to hide. But at the same time, living in the bustling entertainment district, she must also be bound by the constraints here."
"Once a demon eats someone, it will leave bloodstains everywhere, and there's no perfect place for her to dispose of bodies here. Moreover, if she only eats people from the same house, abnormalities will quickly become apparent."
"And night is the working time for geishas, so this demon should have the ability to move between various shops during the day and capture people into her 'food storage'."
"Adding to that the ribbon binding Makio in the room below us, I suspect her ribbon has space-related abilities that can be used for capturing people."
"Underground, there are tunnels for her ribbons to pass through, and even deeper underground, there might be a 'food storage' where she keeps your wives."
"And now, the most suspicious Upper Rank candidate should be that Oiran Warabihime."
With his hands behind his back, Mika told Uzui Tengen all of 'his analysis' in one breath.
He quickly turned off the phone he was using to chat with Mellie and hid it in his sleeve.
After hearing Mika's analysis, Uzui Tengen, after a moment of silence, sighed, "Mika, you truly deserve to be the leader of the Yahweh Familia. I'm genuinely impressed by your intelligence."
"Not at all, these are just speculations for now."
Mika waved his hand, indicating it was nothing.
Although he was the provider of various information and guesses, and accepting Uzui Tengen's praise was completely fine,
the integration and development of clues were done by Mellie.
If he accepted more praise, Mika would feel embarrassed.
"From what we can see, the most important thing for us now should be to verify the identity of the Oiran Warabihime from Kyogoku house!"
Mika immediately changed the subject.
"But it's still daytime now. If we want to disguise ourselves as customers and go to Kyogoku house, we'll have to wait until night!"
Uzui Tengen immediately responded.
"In that case!"
"We'll have to rely on our Zenitsu!"
Mika and Uzui Tengen smiled at each other, immediately making a decision.
"Since that's the case, let's split up then! I'll assist Zenitsu in secretly investigating Warabihime's identity, and you go look for the possible underground 'food storage' of the enemy."
Hearing Mika's arrangement, Uzui Tengen nodded seriously.
As a breathing technique developed from Thunder Breathing, both had unparalleled advantages in hearing compared to ordinary people.
"How about it, do you need to rest for a bit?"
Looking at the somewhat excited Uzui Tengen, Mika smiled calmly.
"No, I'm at my peak condition right now."
With that, Uzui Tengen leaped across the eaves in succession, quickly disappearing from Mika's sight.
Shaking his head slightly at the direction where Uzui Tengen disappeared, Mika ran towards Kyogoku house again, preparing to arrange Zenitsu's task.
Although they had only been in the entertainment district for a day, Mika knew that the battle was about to begin.
---
"Confirm whether the Oiran Warabihime is a demon?"
After receiving the message from Mika, Agatsuma Zenitsu became nervous.
Not to mention how strong the opponent might be.
As a swordsman, just not having his Nichirin sword by his side made him feel uneasy.
Fortunately, the four months of training had given Zenitsu the courage to face demons alone. Otherwise, if it were him just after joining the Demon Slayer Corps, he would probably have collapsed on the ground, too scared to move forward.
"Phew!"
He exhaled deeply.
Calming his inner nervousness, listening to the sounds constantly coming from various parts of the Kyogoku house, Zenitsu looked up towards the upper floor.
That was where Oiran Warabihime lived.
"Looks quite calm, huh!"
Observing Zenitsu's actions through his circle, Mika chuckled lightly.
As the mentally weakest of the trio, Mika had been a bit worried that Zenitsu might get stage fright, but now it seemed there shouldn't be any slip-ups.
"If we hadn't yet found Tengen's wives, I'd really want to rush into the Kyogoku house right now and drag that Upper Rank demon out to bask in the sun in broad daylight!"
Although there was a smile on his face, Mika's words were full of venom.
Towards demons, he couldn't be as gentle as Tanjiro.
Just as Mika was pondering various scenarios, a Kasugai crow flew over, bringing back information from Zenitsu.
"According to what people in the Kyogoku house are saying, Warabihime is resting in her room right now?"
"No one saw her leave?"
Stroking the crow's feathers, Mika couldn't help but smile.
"It seems the probability of this Warabihime being a demon is about ninety percent. Next, we just need to see her suddenly appear in the room using Blood Demon Art with our own eyes, then we can be completely certain."
"However, to prevent her from using Blood Demon Art to appear outside my perception, and then appearing in the room through something like a tunnel, it's better for Zenitsu not to withdraw."
Through his 'circle', Mika could sense all objects within its range.
But he didn't have the ability to 'see through' things.
Whether the target was a demon or not still needed to be confirmed with 'eyes'.
And now, Zenitsu was those eyes.
After conveying the preparatory items to Tanjiro and Inosuke through the Kasugai crow, Mika quietly sat on the roof of the Kyogoku house, waiting for the Upper Rank demon's return.
At the same time, he also began a more intensive search.
Although Mika could see all scenes within his 'circle', his information processing ability was not sufficient to see every detail clearly.
Therefore, Mika needed to observe selectively.
When searching for traces of the Upper Rank demon and Uzui Tengen's wives earlier, Mika had used all his processing power to search for 'people'.
Now, what he was searching for were the possible secret passages underground in the Kyogoku house.
"The circle can't penetrate the ground. I hope those potentially existing tunnels aren't blocked," Mika thought silently.
So under Mika's detailed search, a narrow tunnel appeared in his view.
"As expected, I knew it!"
Mika hurriedly sent this information to Uzui Tengen via a Kasugai crow, helping him determine the location of the enemy's 'food storage'.
"Mika!"
Just as he sent the crow away, Mika saw Tanjiro and Inosuke rushing over.
"Don't be nervous, be prepared. The start of the battle is not far off."
"Understood!"
Hearing Tanjiro's response, Mika closed his eyes again, focusing entirely on the situation inside the Kyogoku house.
Seeing Mika close his eyes again, the impatient Inosuke was about to shout something when Tanjiro covered his mouth.
"Calm down, Inosuke! Don't disturb Mika."
As a close friend, Mika had explained some of his commonly used abilities to Tanjiro before.
Naturally, information about the 'circle' was among them.
Therefore, Tanjiro knew very well what Mika was doing.
"Let's wait quietly, Inosuke," Tanjiro persuaded in a low voice.
...
Evening.
As time passed, dusk had filled the sky.
At this moment, in the room of Oiran Warabihime on the upper floor of the Kyogoku house, a beautiful woman suddenly appeared.
She stood quietly in the dark room, her yellow pupils seeming to emit light.
Even tied back, her silver hair still hung down her back.
However, these were not her most striking features.
The most attention-grabbing part of her face was the flower tattoo imprinted on her left cheek and right forehead, adding a touch of exotic charm to her beauty.
"She's appeared!"
Looking at the appearance completely different from the information he had gathered, as well as her movements,
Mika knew she was the prey he had been waiting for all day.
After all, the Upper Rank Six mark that appeared in his eyes had clearly identified her.
"Tanjiro, immediately pass a message to the Sound Hashira. Tell him Warabihime is the prey we're looking for, she's Upper Rank Six. Tell him to prepare to act according to the plan."
Quickly opening his eyes, Mika immediately ordered.
"Understood!" Tanjiro responded swiftly.
"After delivering the message, you and Inosuke go to the Ogimoto house. Use rescuing the Sound Hashira's wife Makio as bait to try and lure the enemy out."
"Once the battle starts, don't rush to join the battlefield. First, evacuate the crowd."
"Understood?"
"Understood!" Tanjiro and Inosuke responded in unison.
With that said, the two quickly ran towards the Ogimoto house.
After watching their figures disappear, Mika began to send a message to Zenitsu.
After finishing his instructions to Zenitsu, Mika also quickly ran towards the Ogimoto house.
After all, that was going to be the main battlefield.
...
In the Kyogoku house, Warabihime, who had just finished disguising herself, was about to call someone to inquire about the day's situation in the Kyogoku house when the scene from the Ogimoto house suddenly appeared in her mind.
"These are... members of the Demon Slayer Corps!"
"They've really come!"
A smug smile appeared on Warabihime's face.
When she discovered that Suma, Makio, and Hinatsuru were constantly in contact with someone from the Demon Slayer Corps, she thought of the Hashira.
As an Upper Rank demon, killing the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps was their responsibility.
So, Daki, who had taken on the name Warabihime, captured the three of them and used them as bait to fish for big fish from the Demon Slayer Corps.
And today, people from the Demon Slayer Corps had finally come!
"I wonder if there's a Hashira!"
Laughing loudly, Daki's figure immediately disappeared from the Kyogoku house.
...
"Quickly!"
After delivering the message, Tanjiro and Inosuke rushed into the Ogimoto house, quickly arriving at the place where Makio was tied up and imprisoned.
Swinging their Nichirin swords to cut the ribbons in the room, the two supported the collapsed Makio and ran outside.
"Has Tengen come?" Makio asked weakly after being rescued.
"Ah, Sound Hashira Uzui Tengen brought us here," Tanjiro responded gently.
"Aha! So it's the Sound Hashira who came!"
A figure suddenly appeared behind Tanjiro and the others along with ribbons, laughing, "Indeed, I knew a Hashira would come. It seems my preparations these past days have been quite successful!"
After a bout of laughter, Daki looked at the three and smiled, "But you three, just obediently become my food!"
With that said, eight ribbons shot out from behind her simultaneously, directly targeting Tanjiro and the others.
At that moment, a cold wind blew past.
The ribbons that were originally shooting towards Tanjiro and the others quickly frosted over and fell to the ground.
"Upper Rank Six, huh? I'm your opponent!"
Resting his deep blue Nichirin sword on his shoulder, Mika appeared smiling lightly in front of Tanjiro and the others, blocking Daki's attack.
...
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