The gap between the upper and lower strings

It was past midnight and everything around me became quiet.

Someone passed by in the yard, his footsteps were so light that he didn't wake anyone.

The clouds that blocked the moon dissipated, and the bright moonlight shone through, and the light blue hair swayed slightly.

There were many wisteria flowers planted at the entrance of the Butterfly House. On the corridor that ran across the yard, two people were standing near the entrance.

The white-haired woman in the lead was wearing a light-colored kimono. She noticed the approaching footsteps and although she was a little surprised, she took the initiative to walk out of the corridor's eaves.

The moonlight shone on her face, making her look even more like a beautiful birch tree fairy.

"Ichiro? Is there something going on?" Tianyin asked, "Or do you need something?"

The boy called Yuichiro did not answer. He stopped a few meters away and half-knelt down. "Mrs. Tianyin, I know that as a ghost now, I cannot meet Master Yaoya directly. So please convey my message to me."

That look was very different from the aloofness he showed during the day. Tianyin was silent for a moment, then nodded.

The ghost in the yard raised his head, as if relieved to be recognized: "I am Muichiro, and becoming a ghost is my own choice."

Tianyin was a little surprised. Standing behind her, Beimingyu Xingming moved his rosary beads and said, "Shitou, no matter how ridiculous your reasons are, the lord is kind and will forgive you."

〖Muichiro〗 raised his head, lowered his eyes, and said firmly: "Although it is difficult to understand, my brother and I, as well as the Kamado siblings, are not from this world."

These statements were absurd, but Tianyin continued to listen after covering her lips unexpectedly.

After a long while, the young man stopped talking. There was a long silence afterwards, and Tianyin closed his eyes: "I understand, I will pass this on to the lord."

"What a bizarre thing." Beimingyu Xingming lowered his head slightly, "But even if it is true, as a ghost you cannot move freely."

Upon hearing this, [Muichiro] just smiled, as if he had solved a problem: "I know, I won't hurt anyone, and neither will my brother."

"Usually it is my brother who comes forward, so if he says something, please take it seriously, Madam Tianyin."

"Because my brother's blood demon magic ability is - prediction."

The night passed quickly, but I don't know why I couldn't muster up the energy. Ghosts rely on cannibalism to maintain their energy, so since there is no food source, hibernation to reduce energy loss is the normal choice.

Ichiro yawned, and before the sun came out, he closed the paper door with a "bang". But today seemed to be particularly lively, and soon there were footsteps outside the paper door.

The person at the door knocked politely and then asked, "Youyilang, can I come in?"

After a long period of no response, the person outside the door reminded again: "I'm about to come in, Youchilang, hide."

“Tsk.”

Ichiro, who was lying on the tatami mat, rolled over and punched. He leaned his back against the wall and asked the person who came in with some impatience, "What's wrong?"

Nezuko smiled at first, then said with some worry: "I'm just a little worried. This world is too real. Is it really impossible for us to escape from the dream?"

Nezuko also regards this place as a "dreamland". Although she accepts all the differences here well, she often feels melancholy.

Here, she only has her brother as her only relative, which is too cruel.

Aren't dreams supposed to be happy and intoxicating? The cruelty of the ghosts terrified her, but her brother in this world often asked her about the things in the other world.

Then, after learning that his mother and the others were still alive, he smiled while showing a sad expression.

"That's great, Nezuko..."

"I don't know." Yuichiro half-closed his eyes and said lazily, "Maybe if you wipe your neck and die here, you can go back."

Nezuko swallowed, touched her neck, and then shook her head decisively in rejection.

In this "dream", she can feel hunger, warmth, cold, and pain. If she dies... she will really die!

"Didn't they say it was because of brother's blood demon art? Brother has been in a deep sleep, and we..." Nezuko looked worried, but quickly changed the subject.

Because the boy, who was lying on his side with his chin propped up by his hand, had closed his eyes. It was only then that she realized that Yuichiro, like his brother, probably needed a rest.

So Nezuko could only comfort herself by not worrying. Just when she was about to grab the quilt to cover Ichiro, she heard heavy footsteps in the corridor outside the room.

As if deliberately wanting to let others know of his coming, the owner of the footsteps came over with heavy and big strides, and then slapped on the paper door.

“Bang!”

"You really think the Demon Slayer Corps is a place where anyone can come and go as they please?" The white-haired man with several scars on his face said angrily, "It's fine if there's a swordsman with a demon, but do you really think the Demon Slayer Corps is a random place where any demon can come?"

The duty of the Demon Slayer Corps is to kill demons, and although the demons do not eat humans, they will sooner or later lose control of their desires.

Fuzukawa Miyabi had an angry look on his face. He hurried over without even fully understanding the whole story.

He thought to himself that the ghost like the Xiazhu was just taking advantage of the lord's kindness. But as long as it was a ghost, it was not a good thing!

Nezuko was frightened by the ferocious face. She grabbed the quilt tightly and asked, "Are you Mr. Busikawa?"

In the past few days, Nezuko has roughly known who the nine pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps are through her brother and Zenitsu.

"Huh?" Fuzugawa Shigeya squinted his eyes and looked at Nezuko, "Are you the sister who turned into a demon? No, there are two of them."

Of course, Fuzukawa remembered that he had pierced the box with a sword himself, but the girl who turned into a demon resisted his blood.

At first glance, it seemed that she had successfully transformed from a ghost into a human. But when he saw the uniform she was wearing, he remembered Shinobu Kocho's explanation.

It's really incomprehensible, how can there be two identical people in the world? !

Shinobu Kocho, who was late to the party, explained: "Mr. Busui, this Miss Nezuko is a human."

Busui turned his head and retorted with his eyebrows furrowed: "Huh? Do you think my eyesight is bad?"

He hated ghosts, but his eyesight was not so bad that he could not distinguish between humans and ghosts.

"Mr. Busikawa, this is the Butterfly House, no fighting or causing trouble." Shinobu Kocho reminded with a smile, "And Mitsuri, you can just stand up."

"Hey! I, I'm just passing by here." The person hiding behind the corner secretly poked his head out, blinked, and his face turned red in an instant, "Shinobu? Is that really Tokito?"

"It's so noisy." You Lang, who had been lying down, opened his eyes and said, "Are you guys so idle?"

There were too many people gathered in the Butterfly House. Apart from the Pillar Meeting held every six months, there had never been so many Pillars gathered here.

"Well, that's because the lord asked us to come back." Kanroji Mitsuri covered her face, observed through her open fingers, and then whispered, "It's really exactly the same--"

If she hadn't just seen the dazed Xiazhu at the door of the Butterfly House, Kanroji Mitsuri would have almost suspected that her colleague had turned into a ghost.

Ichiro sat up and crossed his legs. "You guys are really boring. It seems that you have too much free time."

The corners of Fushigawa Shima's mouth twitched, and he clenched his fists in response to the boy's casual words: "You are a man who knows nothing. How could anyone know what your purpose is in getting close to the lord?"

"Then you can kill me." Youchiro raised his eyes, his lips curled up, "But the lord didn't order it like that, do you want to disobey his order?"

Compared to Kasumisharu Tokito Muichiro who is often distracted and forgets their names, the demon in front of him who looks exactly like him is indeed more eloquent.

It is daytime now, not the time for ghosts to appear. However, each pillar is responsible for a different area, and although daytime is the time for rest, they don't all gather here.

This is exactly why Ichiro said they were idle. As the top fighting force of the Demon Slayer Corps, these pillars were busy everywhere and came back to see what he was doing.

Nezuko was also very confused, but she asked more directly: "Is there any special reason why everyone is gathered here?"

The most likely possibility is that the lord summoned him, but that wise lord would not waste resources for his own safety. If someone else was attacked at night while the column was being summoned, it would be a loss.

Therefore, there is probably only one reason why these pillars can come here with peace of mind - because there is something unusual happening on the demon side.

After rolling his eyes, Ichiro looked at Shinobu Kocho who obviously knew the situation: "It must be because of the unusual movement of the demons."

The boy's voice was calm, but it hit the nail on the head. However, it sounded like he was a traitor.

So Busui immediately became alert, but before he could speak, Kocho Shinobu raised her hand and said, "Let me explain, Mr. Busui."

"Just as Ichiro said, in just a few days, the ghosts that used to move around at night seemed to have disappeared."

Not only did it stop harming people, but when we searched for places where the ghosts might be hiding, we found nothing, as if they had suddenly disappeared from the world.

"Oh?" Yuichiro perked up and looked around. "That - where is the purgatory?"

Just when he closed his eyes for a short rest, he fell into a dream again. This time the story in the dream was clearer, and he clearly saw the Flame Pillar Rengoku Kyojuro, who fell before dawn.

Ichiro was not sure whether this was going to happen in the future or now. After he asked, the expressions of those who knew the situation turned strange.

"Renjiu met Upper Rank Three." Shinobu Kocho said, "Upper Rank Three Akaza."

To be precise, before meeting the Upper Moon, the members of the Purgatory also met the Lower Moon One. In order to protect the people on the train, the Purgatory, as a pillar, did not hesitate to fight.

But the gap between the Upper Moon and the Lower Moon is huge, even the Pillar has no chance of winning.

But at this critical moment, another ghost fell from the sky.