"Three. Upper Rank."
Rinko studied the characters in Akaza's eyes with great seriousness. Unlike the tension he had felt the first time he faced Kokushibo, he had since gone back and reviewed all the numbers carefully, precisely to avoid forgetting how to read them and earning another knock on the head.
"It is… Upper Rank Three."
Kokushibo still corrected him.
"But Lord Muzan taught me this way last time."
Rinko rested his arms on his knees, tilting his head as he looked past Akaza toward Kokushibo, his tone carrying a rather justified confidence.
Kokushibo did not respond immediately, as if thinking and trying to recall.
"He said, 'That is Upper Rank One.' Right after I said 'One. Upper Rank.' Then he corrected me and said it was Upper Rank One. So I fixed it. See. Three. Upper Rank."
To prove his point, Rinko abruptly shifted from sitting to kneeling, scooting over to Akaza and physically turning Akaza's head toward Kokushibo.
Akaza, unwillingly turned into the literal link between them, twitched his mouth in irritation, but in the end said nothing and did nothing.
After a brief recollection triggered by a few keywords, Kokushibo remembered that rare meeting and also found the source of Rinko's confusion.
"It is… not the left and right order. It is… the ranking order. Upper Rank. One. Upper Rank. Three. Do you understand… Rinko."
Akaza had no idea whether Rinko's small brain had actually caught on, but he did know that having his head forcibly twisted like this was not a pleasant experience. Not wanting to remain stuck between the two of them, Akaza reached out, expertly grabbed the back of Rinko's collar, lifted him, and Rinko immediately let go. When Akaza set him down, Rinko obediently sat cross legged, mirroring Akaza's sloppy posture almost exactly, enough to make Kokushibo frown.
"Oh…"
Rinko's gaze bounced between Akaza and Kokushibo. He answered softly, then straightened up quietly. That lasted less than five seconds before he grabbed his ankle and started rocking his head back and forth.
"So… why did you suddenly call us here. Is there something going on?"
"There is… a new Upper Rank… joining. You will… meet them. And possibly… you will change who you follow… to learn."
Rinko and Akaza both turned their eyes toward Kokushibo at the same time. Kokushibo remained unmoving, offering no further explanation, simply watching Rinko in silence. No one could tell what he was thinking.
If this had been ten years ago, Akaza probably would have been delighted by the news. Now, not so much. At the very least, he was not pleased.
Rinko did not have the right to choose who he followed. Whoever Muzan decided on, he would follow. But if he could wish, Akaza, who looked closest to his own apparent age, was still the most comfortable choice.
The first to arrive was Upper Rank Two.
Rinko had never seen her before. Rarely enough, she was a woman.
A pity. Akaza's plan to fight his way up to Upper Rank Two was now ruined.
"What a shame."
"It's fine. The final goal hasn't changed anyway."
Akaza was surprisingly optimistic. His eyes, filled with battle intent, shifted toward Kokushibo. Kokushibo noticed, but did not care, finally withdrawing his gaze from Rinko and sitting silently.
After that, a pot fell from somewhere unknown.
The being that crawled out of it challenged Rinko's aesthetic limits.
Having traveled everywhere with Akaza, Rinko had seen many demons. But something this distinctive was rare. He had seen demons with many hands. He had seen demons with many mouths.
But why were there mouths, eyes, and hands growing in places they clearly did not belong.
"There's even a child who isn't an Upper Rank? How surprising…"
As the mouth that sat where eyes should have been opened and closed, Rinko could not help frowning. This was the first time Akaza had ever seen such obvious dislike on the child's face, which was understandable. The thing crawling out of the pot was, indeed, hard to look at.
"Ah, ah, am I the last one to arrive? My apologies for keeping everyone waiting."
The voice came from far away, then suddenly from very close.
Rinko was scooped up from behind, lifted into someone's arms.
"So you're little Rinko. Just as expected, a completely defenseless child. A pity you're a boy. But you're very cute, Rinko, so I like you anyway."
Rinko had been picked up by many people before, but this was the first time someone had lifted him from behind and wrapped both arms firmly around him.
His back pressed against a broad chest. It felt like a tall, powerfully built man, second only to Kokushibo. A deliberate sniff reached his ears as the face drew closer.
"Ah, you smell quite nice too. Rinko, can I take a bite? Just one bite. I'll be very gent…"
"Know when to stop, you bastard."
The man's words were cut off halfway through, in the most literal sense.
Blood splattered across Rinko's face. The sound of bone and flesh shattering rang beside his ear, followed by the rush of blood pouring down. The hand that had just effortlessly smashed a head retracted and precisely grabbed Rinko by the collar, yanking him out of the arms of the extremely impolite newcomer.
Sometimes, Rinko wondered if Akaza never considered changing his clothes because these oversized garments made it easier to grab him like this.
"Who is he…?"
After Akaza set him down, Rinko turned around. The head had already regenerated. Those beautiful, multicolored eyes now held characters.
Rinko recognized them.
"Upper Rank. Six."
That seemed to give the man endless confidence.
"That's right. Rinko, I'm the new Upper Rank Six, Doma. Pretty impressive, right? I haven't been a demon very long, but I'm already an Upper Rank demon."
Doma bent down, locking eyes with Rinko, who had been "snatched away" by Akaza. The sudden closeness did not change Rinko's expression at all. He simply responded with a flat "Oh."
Akaza spoke, and at the same time, the sound of fists tightening followed.
"Ah, Akaza-dono. I've heard about you for a long time. Other demons say you're extremely strong. That punch just now was really powerful. You blew my head clean off."
"I wouldn't mind doing it again."
The atmosphere turned subtle.
Akaza was clearly angry. Doma, on the other hand, seemed completely unaware.
Rinko glanced at one, then the other, unconsciously weighing who would win if they fought.
"How long is he going to stay up there?"
The question drew both their attention.
Two pairs of eyes followed Rinko's upward gaze and landed squarely on a small old man timidly hiding in the rafters.
"Who knows. If he likes it up there, let him stay. Come over here and wait."
Akaza knew Rinko was changing the subject. He ruffled the child's hair and sat back down. Rinko obediently followed and sat beside him.
Doma's gaze lingered on the two of them. After dragging out an ambiguous "Oh," he sat down as well.
Once everyone had arrived, a single strum of a biwa sounded.
Muzan appeared before them without a sound.
Kokushibo was the first to notice. Rinko quietly lifted his head to look.
Adult meetings were not for children. Muzan had told him that long ago, and Rinko had taken it seriously. Whenever they started discussing things he did not understand, he would lower his head and think about his own matters, or simply fall asleep. Someone would carry him away once the meeting ended.
"Rinko. For a while, you will follow Doma."
"Hm…?"
Rinko was not the only one surprised by this arrangement.
Kokushibo and Akaza both turned to look, especially Akaza. Rinko could clearly see the veins bulging at Akaza's neck.
"Do you have any objections?" Muzan asked.
"No. It's fine."
In front of others, absolute cooperation was something Rinko understood. But even without others present, he would not have refused.
He had never refused Muzan's requests.
"Then from now on, we'll have to get along well, Rinko. I've been curious about you for a long time."
If anyone was happiest after the meeting, it was undoubtedly Doma. As he immediately moved closer to Rinko, Akaza's expression darkened beyond even what Rinko had shown when seeing Gyokko.
"If you don't like him, tell me later. I'll smash his head in for you."
Akaza could not and would not disobey Muzan's orders, but he felt not a shred of goodwill toward Doma. He crouched down to give Rinko a few quick instructions, then left with a stomach full of anger, already assigned a task by Muzan.
"Oh? Does Kokushibo-dono also have something to say to Rinko? Rinko is really popular. If I stay with Rinko, maybe I'll become more popular too."
Doma lifted the expressionless boy from the floor.
The small body weighed almost nothing in his hands, like a doll. A child raised with Lord Muzan's favor, interesting by default. Even Akaza-dono and Kokushibo-dono seemed to like him. Such a fascinating child.
Kokushibo was always the quietest one. Quiet to a degree that Doma could not understand at all. Kokushibo vanished even faster than Akaza, leaving Doma to turn toward the only remaining source of information.
"Hey, hey, Rinko. What did Kokushibo-dono say to you?"
He shook the boy lightly, as if playing with a toy. Rinko tilted his head, his eyes unfocused.
"Just normal greetings and advice. We don't see each other very often."
"Don't brush me off. Tell me. What were you talking about?"
If Kokushibo represented silence, and Akaza represented normalcy, then Doma was clearly the other extreme of the spectrum.
Put more bluntly.
Akaza's instincts had been spot on. His eye for demons was excellent too.
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