Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

"Three, upper moon."

Rinkou looked at the words in Akaza's eyes seriously. Unlike the nervousness he felt when he first faced Kokushibo, he reviewed the numerical parts afterwards to prevent himself from forgetting and not being able to read the words, which would eventually lead to him being hit on the head again.

"It's... Upper Three."

But Kokushibo still spoke up to correct his wording.

"But that's what Master Muzan taught me last time."

Rinkou put his arms on his knees, tilted his head and looked at Kokushibo behind Akaza, his tone sounding quite righteous.

Kokushibo said nothing, as if he was thinking and trying to recall.

"He said, 'That's the waxing one.' And right after I said, 'One, waxing one.' He corrected me and said it was the waxing one. So I corrected it. Here, three, waxing one."

In order to prove himself, Rinkou quickly changed from a sitting position to a kneeling position, moved in front of Akaza, and turned his head towards Kokushibo.

Forced to become a member of a two-person team, Akaza frowned and twitched the corners of his mouth, but in the end he said nothing and did nothing.

After a brief recollection, Kokushibo recalled the long-awaited meeting based on those keywords. At the same time, he also found the root of Rinko's problem.

"It's not... left-right order, but... the order of arrangement. Upper Rank. One. Upper Rank. Three. Do you understand... Rinko?"

Akaza wasn't sure if Rinkou had realized what was wrong with his little head, but he knew being forced to twist his head like that wasn't a good experience, and he didn't want to be a link between two people anymore. Akaza reached out and expertly grabbed Rinkou's collar. With a lift, Rinkou let go. With a release, Rinkou obediently sat down cross-legged, just like Akaza, with no posture at all. Seeing this, Kokushibo frowned.

"Oh...."

Rinko glanced at Akaza and Kokushibo's faces, and finally responded and sat up quietly, but he only lasted less than five seconds before he grabbed his ankles and shook his head back and forth.

"So you came to us all of a sudden...is there something wrong?"

"There's a new Upper Rank... joining us. I'd like you to get to know them... and maybe even have you learn from someone else."

Rinko and Akaza looked over at the same time, but Kokushibo remained seated as steady as a mountain, not giving any further explanation. He just stared at Rinko silently, and no one knew what he was thinking.

If it were more than ten years ago, Akaza would probably be very happy to hear this news, but now, it’s hard to say, but in any case, he doesn’t feel very happy.

Rinko has no choice in who to follow. He will follow whoever Muzan says. But if he just thinks about it, he will feel more comfortable with Akaza, who looks the closest in age.

The first to arrive was the Upper Two, a figure Rinko had never seen before, and surprisingly, a female. Sadly, Akaza's plan to defeat the Upper Two was shattered.

"it's a pity."

"That's okay, the ultimate goal hasn't changed anyway."

Akaza was very optimistic. His eyes, full of fighting spirit, looked at Kokushibo. Kokushibo noticed it but didn't care. He just finally withdrew his gaze from Rinko and sat there silently waiting.

After that, a pot fell from nowhere, and the person who came out of the pot was indeed challenging Rinko's aesthetic standards.

Rinkou had seen many ghosts while following Akaza everywhere, but there weren't many with such unique personalities. Rinkou had seen many with hands, and many with mouths.

But why do ghosts' mouths, eyes and hands all grow in places where they shouldn't...

"There are actually children who aren't upper ranks? How surprising..."

As the mouth that was where the eyes should be opened and closed, Rinko couldn't help but frown. It was the first time that Akaza saw such clear disgust on the little guy's face, but it was understandable. The thing that crawled out of the pot was indeed not good-looking.

"Ah, am I the last one to arrive? I'm so sorry for keeping you all waiting for so long..."

The sound came from far away, but in the next second it came closer and Lingguang was hugged from behind by a pair of hands.

"You must be little Rinko, right?... You're such an irresistible kid, you know? It's a shame you're a boy. But Rinko is so cute, so I like him even if he's a boy~"

Lin Guang had been held by different people before, but this was the first time he was lifted up from behind and held tightly in two arms.

I could feel a broad chest against my back; it felt like he was a very tall and strong man, probably second only to Kokushibo. That face moved closer, and the deliberate sniffing was easily picked up by my ears.

"Ah, it smells good too. Can you let me have a bite, Rinko? Just one bite, I'll be very warm-"

"Enough is enough, you bastard."

The man was interrupted by Akaza halfway through his words, in the physical sense.

Blood splashed on Lin Guang's face. The sound of bones and flesh breaking was right next to his ears, but now all he could hear was the sound of blood flowing down. The hand that easily smashed someone's head was retracted, accurately grabbing the collar and pulling Lin Guang out of the arms of this impolite newcomer.

Rinko sometimes wondered why Akaza didn't consider changing his clothes like Kokushibo did. Was it because such a loose coat was more likely to be pulled?

"who is he....?"

After Akaza put Rinko down, she turned around. The head had grown back, and there were words in its beautiful colorful eyes. Rinko knew those words.

"Upper Rank. Lu."

This sentence seems to give men unlimited confidence.

"Yes, Rinko, I'm the new Upper Six—Douma—am I very powerful? Although I haven't been a demon for long, I'm already an Upper Rank demon—"

Douma bent down and looked at Rinkou who was "stolen" by Akaza. The sudden close distance did not make Rinkou show any expression, he just said "oh".

"Noisy."

It was Akaza who spoke, and along with it was the sound of clenching fists.

"Ah, Akaza-dono, I've heard about you for a long time—the other ghosts say you're very—very powerful... That punch just now was really powerful, it blew my head off in one blow."

"I wouldn't mind blowing it up again."

Hmm. The atmosphere seemed quite tense... Akaza looked completely furious, and Douma seemed oblivious to it. Rinko looked at the people around him, then at the one in front of him, subconsciously considering who would win if the two of them came to blows.

"How long will he stay there?"

This sentence attracted the attention of two people. Both pairs of eyes looked at Lin Guang, while the other party was looking up with his head raised. So the two pairs of eyes moved upwards and just happened to see a little old man hiding timidly on the beam.

"Who knows. He can stay up there if he wants. Come and wait."

Akaza knew that Rinkou was changing the subject, so he rubbed his head and sat back down, and Rinkou followed Akaza and sat down obediently.

Douma's eyes stayed on the two of them. He uttered an "oh" with an ambiguous tone before sitting down beside them.

Not long after everyone arrived, with the sound of a pipa, Muzan appeared silently in front of everyone. The first one to notice it was Kokushibo, and Rinkou also quietly looked up.

Children don't need to listen to adults' meetings. This is what Muzan had told him a long time ago, and Rinkou really implemented this point to the end. Every time he heard these people start talking about something he didn't understand, he lowered his head and started thinking about his own things, or simply lowered his head and took a nap. Anyway, someone would be responsible for taking him away after the meeting.

"Rinko. Stay with Douma for the time being."

"Um....?"

Rinko was not the only one surprised by this arrangement. Kokushibo and Akaza also cast their eyes over, especially Akaza. Rinko could even see the bulging veins on Akaza's neck.

"Do you have any comments?"

"No. No problem."

Lin Guang knew that he would definitely cooperate in front of outsiders, but even if there was no one else here, Lin Guang would not refuse.

He never refused Muzan's request.

"Then you have to get along well with me from now on, Rinko - I've been curious about you for a long time -"

If Douma was the happiest person after the meeting, then Akaza was undoubtedly the one with the ugliest face. Seeing Douma immediately get close to Rinko, the expression on Akaza's face was worse than Rinko's expression when he saw Tamakō.

"If you don't like him, tell me later and I'll help you smash his head in."

Akaza would not and could not disobey Muzan's orders, but he had no good feelings towards Douma. He squatted down and said a few words to Rinko, then left with a lot of anger. After all, Muzan had just assigned him a task.

"Hey, Lord Kokushibo, do you have something to say to Rinko? Rinko is really popular. If I stay with Rinko, I will be more popular too."

Douma picked up the expressionless boy from the ground. His thin body was almost weightless in his hands, and he looked as cute as a little doll. The child who was raised and favored by Lord Muzan looked very interesting. Even Lord Akaza and Lord Kokushibo seemed to like him very much. What an interesting child.

"Rinko."

"Ah."

Kokushibo had always been the quiet one, but Douma couldn't understand how he could be this quiet. However, Kokushibo disappeared even faster than Akaza, so Douma turned his gaze to another person who knew the truth.

"Hey, Rinko, what is Lord Kokushibo telling you?"

He shook the boy in his arms who was like a little toy, and Lin Guang tilted his head, not knowing where his eyes were looking.

"Just normal greetings and instructions. After all, we don't see each other very often."

"Don't be perfunctory with me, tell me, what are you talking about——"

If Kokushibo is silent and Akaza is normal, then Douma is undoubtedly the other extreme of this line. To put it nicely, he is eloquent, to put it bluntly, he is...

Noisy.

As expected, Akaza's intuition is very accurate, and so is his ability to spot ghosts.