Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

Chapter 161 Like a Human

The clatter of feet on the ground, the creaking of wooden boards bearing weight, the gentle voice of a girl calling another, and even the sound of water being filled in a teacup all reached Zenitsu's ears clearly.

But nothing unusual.

I didn't hear the name of the so-called Miss Hinazuru, nor did I hear the voice of anyone other than those I knew.

This doesn't seem right, but it seems right.

But in the final analysis, it is impossible to confirm whether Miss Hinazuru is really here, where she went, and whether what the guy named Tianyuan said is completely true.

It doesn't look like there are ghosts here...

"Are you the new girl?"

A sound without warning.

From behind.

Very close, too close, so close that it's abnormal.

It's not that it's abnormal for the sound to appear so close, but it's abnormal that it appeared behind me without any warning. There was no sound of it gradually approaching, no obvious breathing, the breathing was very light, the heartbeat was very slow and weak. If you don't pay attention, you might mistake this sound for a human's 'voice'.

But it wasn't. The human 'voice' wasn't like that. While there was even breathing and a steady heartbeat, everything was too flat and too faint. It was impossible for a human to maintain such a subtle rhythm and such a steady pace.

And the fact that it appeared without any warning was strange enough.

Who is it? It’s a ghost, a very powerful ghost. At least in terms of concealing its breath, it completely surpasses any ghost I have encountered before.

"Good evening, are you the new one here? What's your name?"

A corner of his sleeve was pulled, the force coming from a very low direction, and the sound sounded like a child. Zenitsu turned his head reluctantly, and what he saw was a beautifully dressed "little girl" who was looking at him with a pair of beautiful blue eyes. When she saw him turning around, a beautiful smile appeared on her face.

It was a ghost for sure. Even though what he saw was a completely human being, he didn't feel anything wrong from the other party. There was no suffocating feeling of oppression, no sharp murderous intent or the foul and bloody smell that Tanjiro described. But the 'sound' captured by his ears clearly told Zenitsu the truth.

The seemingly harmless 'little girl' standing before him was actually a ghost in disguise.

"My name is Shanzi."

He suppressed his emotions as he inhaled, trying to make his voice as calm as possible, trying not to reveal that anything was wrong.

"Zenko... a nice name. My name is Rin, the winter Rin. Zenko, do you want to be my friend?"

The voice was gentle. Children of this age have childish voices, and when the voice was deliberately lowered it did sound more like a girl's, but a girl's voice should not be like this.

No, that wasn't the point. The point was something else: being friends? A ghost wanted to be friends with him? Was this some kind of trap, some deliberate attempt to confuse him, or something else? Was he planning to use this as an excuse to lure him somewhere and kill him?

But why is there a child-like ghost? He's so well hidden, and doesn't seem like the strength of a lower-rank ghost at all.

Is it an upper-rank demon? Are there any demons among the upper-rank demons that look like children?

Rin. He said his name is Rin?

and many more.

cold.

Zenitsu's almost overloaded brain was slow to grasp the key words as thoughts flashed through his mind.

Rin. Rin. Isn’t the Rin of winter the same as the Rin of Rinko?

Could this be Upper Zero, Rinko?

A huge sense of fear enveloped Zenitsu in an instant. He could feel his fingers trembling uncontrollably and breathing became difficult. He swallowed subconsciously and tried to continue thinking, but when he realized that the boy in front of him was most likely the Upper Rank Zero that Tanjiro had mentioned before, he found it difficult to continue thinking.

Even though Tanjiro said that Upper Rank Zero was different from other demons, he was still a demon after all. How could a demon not eat people? Even if he was a demon like a child, if he became Upper Rank Zero, it meant that he had eaten many, many people, right?

"Shanzi. Don't you want to be my friend..."

The boy raised his head and looked at him, their eyes met. There was still a gentle smile on the other person's face, and his voice had not changed, but Zenitsu keenly caught from those voices that the gentleness and joy just now had disappeared.

He is going to be angry.

Zenitsu didn't know what the price of anger was, nor did he really want to know, and he didn't want to be part of the price.

"No, no, I just, I've never seen a child like you. It's just, you see, children as young as you are rare here, right?"

Zenitsu found his voice amidst the deafening heartbeat. As soon as the first word came out, everything that followed became easier.

He didn't know why Tanjiro was so sure that this Upper-Rank Zero was different from other demons, but he was willing to believe Tanjiro's decision.

"Indeed, there are very few children here. No, there are some, but they are not allowed to go out and see the public. I am studying with the oiran Warabihime, so I am allowed to go out and about."

The good news was that the boy seemed to be convinced by his words. His eyes blinked and no longer stared at him like prey. Instead, they moved to the side, and his voice sounded as if his mood had improved a lot.

"You, how could you ever think of being friends with me..."

Zenitsu asked tentatively, trying to gain some trust or goodwill from the other party so that he could feel safer.

He should actually just get by with it, get by with it, and then leave quickly, tell Tianyuan the news here immediately, and let his pillar deal with the upper ranks here. No, he should call more pillars, because one pillar cannot defeat the upper ranks.

But he finally chose to stay and continue talking to the boy.

Why, he asked himself, because the boy was too dangerous, the other party was Upper Zero, if the other party wanted, he might die here in the next second, but more than that, Zenitsu heard his own voice.

Because of the boy's voice.

(Would you like to be my friend?...)

The gentleness disappeared, as did the joy, but sadness appeared, and what was hidden behind the expression but revealed in the voice was loss.

The boy is a ghost, but his expectations, joy and sadness are all real.

"Because Shanzi isn't very pretty, I decided to be friends with her."

.

The blunt words stung my heart deeply, and for a moment the tension and fear were completely overshadowed by the stinging feeling.

If you ignore the abnormal 'sounds' in your ears and only look at the eyes, you will see that this is just an ordinary child. His expression, movements, mentality, words and deeds, everything is normal and scary, completely different from a ghost.

"But Shanzi isn't ugly, she's just not pretty. That's different."

The boy seemed to notice his emotional fluctuations and immediately followed up with an explanation. It was hard for Zenitsu to say whether such an explanation could be considered a compliment, but it did make him feel a little better. After all, he was just not as pretty as the oiran, which was normal.

"So, don't be sad, Yoshiko, because Yoshiko plays the shamisen very well, even better than Rin."

The boy raised his little hands high, stood on tiptoe and patted his head gently.

The force was very light, very light, and it reminded him of how his grandfather would pat his head gently like this many years ago.

Zenitsu looked at the boy in front of him, and only then did he truly share the same incredible opinion as Tanjiro.

Lin Guang doesn't look like a ghost, he looks like a human being...