Chapter 186: Shinazugawa Waits for the Train
Time passed.
Ren returned to the Butterfly Mansion once again.
This time, he slipped in through a secret entrance, quietly avoiding all the Demon Slayer Corps members who had been waiting for him to return.
As soon as Ren entered the inner room, he saw a familiar large backpack.
What's this? Ren asked hesitantly.
"This is Lord Ren's backpack!"
Kiyo appeared from somewhere and said excitedly, "Lord Ren, you're finally back! Aren't you happy that your belongings weren't lost?"
To Kiyo's surprise, Ren's face immediately went pale.
"Didn't I leave this backpack behind?"
"It was Tanjiro," Kanao explained. "Tanjiro said your backpack was on the train. He was worried that you were too tired, so he brought your luggage back."
Ren: "???"
Ren's heart skipped a beat.
Seriously, thank you. You're such a good person!
Ren truly hadn't expected this.
He never would have imagined that the usually honest and enthusiastic Tanjiro would be so enthusiastic that, after seeing Ren's luggage, he would simply pick it up and bring it back without even asking what was inside.
Didn't that mean he was completely finished?!
The others didn't know what was in the backpack.
But Ren knew!
Wasn't it the collection of those... refreshing little outfits Hinatsuru and the others had given him?
"What's inside?" Kiyo asked. "I was too busy when Tanjiro brought it back, so I didn't have time to open it and look."
Kiyo scratched her head.
"It's all my fault. I'll go open it for Lord Ren right now. Lord Ren needs to rest."
"Stop!"
Ren shouted.
He successfully stopped Kiyo.
Kiyo looked at him in confusion.
"Lord Ren, what's wrong?"
Ren paused, thinking desperately.
This... this backpack contains clothes I haven't washed yet. They're filthy. Don't touch it. I'll deal with it myself!
Hearing this, Kiyo became even more determined.
"No! Lord Ren is already exhausted. Let Big Sister Aoi wash the clothes!"
"Big Sister Aoi is washing the bed sheets right now. I'll take this to her!"
"Wait!"
Ren stopped Kiyo again.
At this point, Kanao also sensed that something was wrong.
She blinked and looked at Ren.
"Ren... could there be some... personal belongings of yours inside?"
As she said this, Kanao's face unconsciously turned red.
Ren decisively nodded.
"Ah, yes!"
Who cared about anything else?
The most urgent task was to prevent the girls from opening the bag.
Otherwise, he would lose all dignity!
Ren took two or three steps toward the backpack and picked it up.
"I'm going to throw it away. Leaving these things here is too unhygienic."
"No! Lord Ren!"
Kiyo stopped him again.
"These are Lord Ren's belongings. Big Sister Aoi will wash them. Don't throw them away!"
In the end, Ren still couldn't win against her, so the two sides compromised.
Ren said that he would wash them himself and hid the backpack in his room.
He planned to find an opportunity to throw it away later.
At the same time, Ren kept looking around.
Strangely enough, he hadn't seen Shinobu.
Where's Shinobu?
Ren walked over to Kanao and couldn't help asking.
He had already been back for quite a while.
Even if Shinobu had gone out to handle something else, she should have returned by now.
Hinatsuru had sent a message to the base here before returning, so Shinobu should have already received it.
Kanao answered, "Master went to look for you. She hasn't come back yet."
Hearing this, Ren couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.
So Shinobu wasn't here!
Good. Good.
Otherwise, if she found out what was inside his backpack, she'd probably be the first person to dismember him!
However, judging from Kanao's words, Shinobu seemed to have gone quite far.
And it was related to him.
Looking for me?
Ren pointed at himself in confirmation.
"Didn't she know I was at the Butterfly Mansion? Where did she go to look for me?"
Kanao blinked before shaking her head.
"I don't know."
Achoo—!
At an unknown train station, Shinobu and Sanemi were waiting for the train and growing increasingly bored.
Shinobu looked up at the sky, a puzzled expression on her delicate face.
"Strange. Is Ren thinking about me?"
The sky had already begun to darken.
Winter had arrived in the city, and as night fell, the temperature dropped once again.
Shinobu's petite body felt the cold, and even a thin layer of mist had gathered over her colorful haori.
The sudden drop in temperature was obvious.
Standing beside the tracks, Sanemi stood bare-chested, his expression dark as he gritted his teeth.
"This is ridiculous. The train was supposed to arrive yesterday. Why hasn't it arrived yet?!"
Sanemi had already been waiting here for two full days!
Earlier, the girl Shinobu had politely told him to go back and rest.
He had said that he would inform her when the train arrived at the station.
And then Sanemi had stayed here to wait.
That wait had lasted an entire day and night.
The train must have broken down.
After waiting for so long without seeing it arrive, many of the passengers had silently left.
But Sanemi stubbornly remained where he was.
Time was running out.
He had to get on the train and return to the Demon Slayer Corps as soon as possible.
He wanted to thoroughly question Ren about the subsequent developments concerning the Mark.
Of course, there was something even more important.
The incident involving prostitution in the Entertainment District.
Sanemi's sharp mind couldn't shake the feeling that things weren't as simple as they appeared.
His instincts told him that the incident had an extremely close connection to Ren.
Now, however, Sanemi was beginning to stagger from exhaustion.
The train still hadn't arrived!
Shinobu could no longer wait.
She came to the station herself.
At first, Shinobu had been confused.
She had rested for an entire day, yet Sanemi still hadn't notified her.
Shinobu had even wondered whether Sanemi was deliberately refusing to take her back to see Ren as revenge because she had complained about him before!
So Shinobu hurried anxiously to the station.
The moment she arrived, she saw Sanemi standing in the wind in a state of dishevelment...
She herself was fine.
At the very least, she had several layers of warm clothing on.
Sanemi, however, was wearing only a single layer, leaving his chest exposed.
After standing outside all night, even the mucus from Sanemi's nose had frozen and was running down his cheeks...
The two of them continued waiting for the train.
By now, all the other passengers had left.
Only the two of them remained.
The Wind Hashira, Shinazugawa Sanemi, had been blasted by the freezing wind until his face turned blue.
"Heh. That train driver had better not let me catch him. Otherwise, I'll cut him down myself!"
To say he wasn't angry would have been a lie.
Sanemi's ticket had been for the previous night, but the train had been delayed and still hadn't arrived tonight.
He didn't know whether the train driver was driving with his feet.
How could it possibly be this slow?!
"Sanemi, look! Is that smoke coming from the train?!"
Suddenly, Shinobu excitedly pointed toward the enormous black shadow in the distance.
Sanemi raised his head.
From far away came the sound of metal grinding against metal.