Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

"So, why were you captured by Douma?"

Akaza easily dealt with the ghost hunters who chased him from the vicinity of Flower Street, and even gave him a meal to soothe his body and mind after a restless night.

The moment the boy noticed someone approaching, he jumped off him and disappeared as soon as he hit the ground. He ran even faster than before.

It took some effort to find the man, but the boy did not try to hide after the ghost hunter died, and Akaza saw the boy hanging on the tree again.

Its two legs were dangling in the air, and it was not in a hurry when it was found. It leisurely picked the fruits from the tree.

It smelled like the unique fragrance of fruit, and its green with white color indicated that it was not yet ripe. However, Lin Guang couldn't tell whether it was good or bad. The mouth revealed fangs, and the sharp canine teeth easily pierced the skin and bit off the green flesh. It was dry and astringent, with little juice, but the fragrance spread out after it was crushed, making it smell better.

"To say he was taken away is not quite accurate..."

The dry flesh was spit out to the side, and Rinkou picked two more fruits and threw them to Akaza, who easily caught the "bomb" and caught the "assassin" with his other hand with the same ease.

"I went to play with Daki and the others, but I ran into Douma-sama at Yugoku first. I made a bet with him to play hide-and-seek, and he lost, so he showed me the rare blood he had been hiding."

Simple and straightforward, he wasn't captured. He was abducted. Akaza was certain of this in his heart.

"You're just running around outside by yourself?"

The fruit was stuffed back into Rinko's hands, and the boy was placed on his shoulders. Rinko's arm pressed down on Akaza's head, but the weight was not enough to hinder him, so he just let it go.

"The adults said it was time for me to go out and make some friends, but I hadn't decided where to go yet, so I wanted to come here and take a look."

Rinko's head also pressed against Akaza's head, causing vibrations with every word he uttered.

"Besides, let's say I'm not running around alone."

A hand stretched out in front of Akaza, and the wrist shook in front of his eyes. The rope on the slender wrist moved, and the bottle hanging on the rope appeared in front of him.

"The blood demon technique of Yuhu."

Akaza easily recognized the owner of the pot.

It was strange that such an obvious thing had not been noticed by Akaza until Rinkou actually brought it to him.

"Yeah, it's for me to put stuff in, but it can be taken down. If you knock on the door on his head, he'll come over."

"Knock on the door on his head?"

This novel statement made Akaza raise his eyebrows, and the next second the voice sounded in his head.

'Just like this.'

Rinko is Upper Rank Zero, and according to the rules, he can indeed do it, but before the voice really appeared, Akaza actually had no real sense of the so-called Upper Rank Zero's identity.

"Actually, at first, I wanted to play with you."

Rinko didn't notice Akaza's little thoughts. He put his arms back to support his head, and continued talking while looking at the scenery along the way.

"and then."

"But I don't know where you are. Lei is at Spider Mountain, Daki and Jifutaro are at Yukaku, Douma is at his church, and I don't know where you are, Hantengu's family, and Lord Kokushibo are."

Lin Guang counted the names he knew one by one on his fingers.

Akaza could understand why Rinko would think of looking for him instead of Kokushibo, but as for Hantengu, who cared why he didn't look for him.

But Lin Guangming can obviously talk directly in his head. At most, he can just tell him and find a place to meet, or he can come to him, right?

"Can't you just come to me directly?"

Rinkou blinked and paused for a moment, and Akaza felt the boy above him adjust from lying on his head to a more upright sitting position.

"Because that's rude! You told me that."

.

Did he say that? Akaza tried to recall, and finally found the only memory he had of him mentioning the conversation in his head to Rinkou.

Oh. He actually said it, and he didn't just say it was impolite, he directly called Douma that bastard.

"That jade pot..."

"He said that was outside the scope of his courtesy. As long as I didn't intentionally break his pot or destroy his artwork, I would be polite."

Lin Guang tried to recall and gave a serious answer.

It has the style of a jade pot.

Akaza gave the boy on his shoulder, who had sat up straight due to excitement, a little support and helped him shift his center of gravity back.

"Next time if you have any problems, you can just call me."

"That's not disrespectful..."

"You say something else."

----

----

"You mean, you made friends with humans, and not only did the adults not intervene, they supported you in continuing to make friends? With humans?"

Akaza squatted casually on a protruding rock on the shore, supporting his chin with boredom, watching Rinkou roll up his trouser legs and sleeves high, and enthusiastically fishing for small fish in the river.

"Hmm... He said it would be great if he could get to know the Demon Slayers and find out some useful information..."

Lingguang leaned down, soaked his hands in the cold running water, squatted patiently, and slowly gathered. The little fish wagging their tails in the water had not yet noticed the approaching danger, nor did they realize that the cage had been formed.

"What if it can't be done?"

When the little fish realized the existence of the barrier, it bumped into walls everywhere but had nowhere to escape. It just followed its instinct to go upwards, but the cage caught up with it. Finally, the fry was trapped in the palm of the hand, flying around like a headless fly.

“‘It doesn’t matter, just do your best.’ That’s what they say.”

Rinkou walked slowly towards Akaza and showed him the spoils in his hand.

Akaza stared at the tiny fish, completely bewildered. If he wanted to catch fish, he could easily catch dozens in a larger river. But what was so fun about a tiny fish like this? It was so tiny, it slipped easily through his fingers. The slightest pressure would crush its bones and internal organs. Even if he kept it in a bottle, it wouldn't survive more than a few days.

"That's good."

Akaza reached out and rubbed Rinkou's head twice as encouragement, and just like that, the boy contentedly put the fish back into the river.

"Catch only to release?"

Akaza raised his eyebrows, and the tail end of his voice also rose to express his confusion.

“Don’t catch fish just to catch fish, catch fish because you want to catch fish.”

Lin Guang flexed his hands, which had become a little sluggish due to the cold water, and searched for the next target in the river, explaining seriously.

But Akaza didn't understand what he was saying. Didn't he have to catch fish anyway? And if he caught one and then let it go, wouldn't that mean he hadn't caught any fish?

"What's important isn't the fish I caught in the end...but the fact that I wanted to catch fish, so Akaza actually brought me here and was willing to accompany me to do something that means nothing to you."

Lin Guang bent down very low, and his voice gradually became softer, as if he had seen some big target.

The boy was under this stone, blocked by a huge rock, and Akaza didn't know what he was looking at.

Akaza tilted his head, and remained in that state for a while, until he could no longer control his curiosity and leaned forward, supporting himself with one hand to provide a fulcrum, and leaned his upper body forward to see what was going on.

As the center of gravity of his body shifted, Rinko gradually appeared in the center of his vision. In a blink of an eye, water splashed high, coming from the blind spot of his vision, just waiting for his appearance. There was no hostility, no murderous intent, and the attack was not enough to cause harm, which could not arouse any response from Luo Zhen. It was not until the water splashed on his face that Akaza realized what had happened belatedly.

“That’s the point.”

The water splashed on his face, passed over the side of his face, flowed along his jawline and finally dripped onto the stone surface. The boy who had successfully carried out the sneak attack had a wild and ostentatious smile on his face.

"Rinko and Akaza, one to zero!"

Akaza casually wiped the water off his face and chuckled.

Ah, this is what they say, it’s not the result that’s important, but the process…

But now is not the time to feel sentimental.

Akaza disappeared from the stone surface in the next second, and at the same time, Rinko was completely drenched by the splash of water stirred up by Sorashiki.

"Rinko and Akaza. One to one."