After being mercilessly blocked by Takeo, Zenitsu sniffed loudly.
"Seriously, Takeo, you're so heartless! My beautiful dream just got shattered! I'm completely crushed!"
Takeo's lips twitched, but he said nothing. Thanks to Zenitsu, he no longer felt even the slightest regret about waking up—though he definitely would've preferred not knowing what kind of revolting dream that idiot had been having.
"Mm! You mustn't depend too much on others, blond youth!" Rengoku declared brightly. "That won't help you grow!"
He turned toward Tanjiro.
"Kamado boy! What do you think? Can you sense where the demon is?"
Tanjiro slowly scanned the carriage, his gaze settling on the rows of seats.
"This might be a childish guess… but if even my sense of smell can't track its direction, then it's possible this entire train is—"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO—!"
Zenitsu, who had only just managed to calm down, grabbed his hair in sheer despair.
"Don't tell me we're inside a demon's stomach right now?! You've got to be kidding me! Does that mean we've already been swallowed?! I just took a nap! Why is this happening to me?! Nooooo—!"
Tanjiro flinched at the ear-splitting scream.
"N-No, it's just a guess! Zenitsu, calm down! Even if that were true, we'd only be inside its stomach—we haven't been digested!"
"That's not reassuring at all! If that's the case, getting digested is just a matter of time!"
"Mm! A grim situation indeed!" Rengoku laughed, eyes blazing. "But that's exactly why we're here! If that's the case, we'll face it head-on!"
Just as he was about to give instructions, the boys and girls from earlier rushed forward and grabbed onto him. One of them shouted desperately,
"No! You can't hurt Master! If Master disappears, we won't be able to dream anymore!"
"Mm! I see!" Rengoku answered at once. "In that case, Kamado boy, I'll leave the demon to you! You seem unaffected by its Blood Demon Art! We'll handle the passengers here!"
Tanjiro nodded without hesitation. At the same time, he couldn't help feeling a flicker of sympathy for the youths clinging to Rengoku.
[Rengoku-san is bright and passionate… but holding a conversation with him does take stamina.]
"Stop! Don't go!"
As Tanjiro turned toward the next carriage, the youths panicked and tried to rush past Rengoku to block him.
But the moment they stepped past Inosuke—
Thud.
The boar-headed boy, who had been silent until now, casually struck one of them at the back of the neck.
Thud. Thud.
Three collapsed in quick succession.
"Enough already! You're annoying!" Inosuke barked. "If you want to keep dreaming so badly, then sleep forever!"
Takeo stepped in as well, knocking out the remaining few before they could chase after Tanjiro.
"Sorry about this."
Nezuko caught the unconscious bodies and gently eased them back into their seats. Then she looked toward the door Tanjiro had vanished through, worry flickering in her eyes.
"Is it really alright for him to go alone?"
"If it's Kamado boy, there's nothing to fear!" Rengoku replied confidently. Then his expression sharpened slightly. "However… it seems our opponent is growing impatient."
He lowered his gaze.
From the seams of the carriage floor, writhing strands of flesh began to seep out.
"Very well! Time to act!" His voice rang through the carriage. "You four take the rear cars! I'll handle the front!"
"Yes!"
…
Hiru studied the departure board, searching for the Infinity Train Kitaro had mentioned—the one assigned to the Flame Hashira. But no matter how many times he checked, he couldn't find its departure time listed anywhere.
"…Did I miss it?"
He stared at the handwritten schedule, his expression turning complicated.
"I skipped the Nanatsujiya dessert special just to catch this train. If I'd known it would end like this, I never would've missed the sweets sale."
"Caw. At this hour, there wouldn't have been any daifuku left anyway. Makes no difference whether you went or not," Kitaro said from atop the weapon box on his back. "And compared to sweets, the real waste of time was you stubbornly ignoring directions and going to the wrong station. Just admit you have no sense of direction already, caw!"
Hiru clicked his tongue, clearly irritated—but unusually, he didn't argue.
"…If I want to deliver the medicine quickly, I'll need the exact route and just run along the tracks. Kitaro, you're up."
The crow tilted his head.
"You could hijack another train and chase it down, caw."
"…No. I can't drive. Just go."
He watched as Kitaro flapped off. After a moment, he found a nearby bench and sat down, muttering to himself.
"I'm not directionally challenged. Impossible. It's just that the times are changing too fast. The routes are confusing now. That's all."
"Sir, would you like a bento?"
He looked up at the girl standing before him with a basket of boxed lunches and smiled.
"Sure. I was just starting to get hungry. I'll take one."
The bespectacled girl smiled and handed him a box.
"Here you are. Please enjoy."
"Beef bento… looks good."
The box was still warm in his hands as he reached for his wallet.
"How much?"
"N-No need to pay. Please, just take it."
Hiru paused.
He lifted his gaze and studied her carefully, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes.
"We're meeting for the first time, right?"
"Yes, it's our first time." She smiled, unfazed by his scrutiny. "To be honest, at dawn today, my family and I were saved by a swordsman wearing the same uniform as yours. Please think of this as a small token of thanks."
"I see."
He lowered his wallet.
"Then I won't refuse."
After a brief glance at her, he continued,
"I actually have something to ask. What do you know about the Infinity Train?
"When did it leave? Where is it headed? When will it arrive? And were there any swordsmen—people dressed like me—who boarded?"
"The Infinity Train… let me think." She rested her chin lightly in her hand. "It departed this evening. Since it has to detour around a large mountain range, it won't reach its destination until tomorrow morning. I don't believe it makes any stops along the way.
"As for swordsmen… the one who saved me yesterday is on that train. A blond man wearing a haori with flame patterns along the hem. I also noticed someone in a boar mask—he looked rather… distinctive. There were a few others in uniforms like yours with him, but I didn't get a good look at their faces."
"…So they all made it aboard."
His shoulders slumped visibly.
The girl looked uneasy.
"Um… did you get the departure time wrong and miss your companions?"
"No. I came to deliver something…"
He covered his face with one hand.
"How did this even happen…"
She was about to say something when a crow suddenly swooped down toward him.
"Ah! Watch out!"
But in the next instant, the bird landed squarely on his shoulder and immediately started squawking.
"Caw! I fly off to gather route information for you, and what do I find? You're sitting here chatting with a pretty girl and eating bento! You are an absolutely disgraceful swordsman! Crows have feelings too, you know! Caw!"
"Yes, yes…"
Hiru let out a helpless laugh as he rose to his feet. He placed the still-unopened bento back into the girl's basket.
"Sorry. Duty calls. I'll come back and buy one after I'm done."