Takeo hadn't paid close attention before, but now that he realized sothing might be going on aboard this ship, he began to notice it!
There was definitely sothing off.
The rchant's entourage was fine—they all behaved normally. What stood out were the ship's crew mbers.
This was a large wooden vessel headed for Mito, capable of carrying around eighty passengers.
Excluding the guards brought by the rchant, the number of sailors and deckhands was about twenty. The rest were common passengers and travelers.
But among those twenty or so crew mbers…sothing felt wrong.
So of them still looked relatively normal, but others seed nervous and fidgety, a few even showing clear signs of fear. When Takeo approached them and asked what was wrong, none of them would say a word.
And with behavior like that—if he still couldn't figure out that sothing was happening on this ship, then he'd have to be a complete idiot.
"Hey!!"
Another shout—and the familiar swoosh of a bamboo sword cutting through the air behind him.
Still half-lost in thought, Takeo instinctively stepped to the side, caught the bamboo sword, and—with one smooth motion—flipped the little rascal over his shoulder.
Thud!
The kid hit the ground hard—but he didn't seem fazed at all.He imdiately sprang back to his feet, pointing an accusatory finger at Takeo:
"Hey! That was way too rough this ti!!"
"Sorry, I was thinking about sothing just now… Wait—why are you back again?"
Takeo, snapping out of his thoughts, gave Ichirō an apology that had absolutely zero sincerity behind it, then blinked in surprise.
Normally, Ichirō only "attacked" Takeo twice a day: Once in the morning, and once in the evening.
But it was still a while before sunset—this second "sneak attack" was a bit early.
Hearing Takeo's question, Ichirō seed to suddenly rember why he'd co. He looked around suspiciously, then motioned for Takeo to lean in closer.
Takeo stared at him, deadpan, but eventually obliged, bending down toward the boy's ear.
Only then did Ichirō whisper in a hushed, excited tone:
"…I overheard my father talking with that guy!"
"You eavesdropped on them?!"
"I did not eavesdrop!" Ichirō hissed, raising his voice a little—then, realizing it might've been too loud, quickly lowered it again and muttered defensively:
"I just happened to be walking by and overheard them, okay…? Anyway—do you wanna hear what I heard or not?!"
"…Fine. What did you hear?"
Not bothering to call Ichirō out on his obvious lie, Takeo, still very curious about the identity of the mysterious swordsman, pressed further: "So? What did you hear?"
Ichirō leaned in again and whispered softly:
"I heard them say… there's a demon on this ship!"
Demon?!
Takeo's eyes sharpened instantly, his expression turning serious. "There's really a demon on this ship?"
"Don't ask —how would I know?" Ichirō huffed. "I just heard them say there might be a demon on board. And that mysterious guy? He's a demon slayer, here to hunt it down. That's all I heard."
Ichirō gave a quick summary of the conversation.
According to him, there had been disappearances on the ship,and Captain Mizunoki had deliberately tried to hide it—but the demon slayer had still found out.
No one knew where he got the information, but he had personally co to investigate the missing crew,and once the rchant learned about it, he welcod the demon slayer aboard himself.
Demon.
Demon Slayer.
So that was the frawork of this world. It really did have demons?
Takeo mulled over this revelation—and suddenly thought of Kamado Tanjiro.
If the main power structure of this world really revolved around demons and demon slayers, then could Kamado Tanjiro have beco either a demon… or a demon slayer?
Wait a second—demon? Tanjiro?
Why did that sound more and more familiar…?
Takeo's thoughts spun rapidly. It felt like he was on the verge of rembering sothing—but no matter how hard he tried to grab hold of the thought, it kept slipping away.
He was missing one key piece of information—just one detail that could help him figure out what kind of world he had ended up in.
Aaaah! Can't I have transmigrated to Harry freaking Potter!! Or any other Hollywood bull crap I ever binged!! It would've been so much easier—Ugh, my dreams of becoming a Hogwarts student could have co true, but NO!
I got shoved into a plot I don't even recognize!!
"Oh, right," Ichirō suddenly said, as if rembering sothing. "That demon slayer said he was from so group called the… 'Demon Slayer Corps'?I think that's what it was. Do you know what that is?"
"A Demon Slayer... from the Demon Slayer Corps.. Wait a minute—!!"
It hit him.
Takeo's pupils shrank.
All at once, he rembered what ani world this was.
Demon Slayer Corps, demons, Kamado Tanjiro, Kamado Nezuko…
Wasn't this the ani my college roommate used to obsess over all the ti?
What was it called... "Hashira Slayer: The girl with two big bouncy juggs"?!
Um…?
Wait—no. That wasn't the na…
It was probably Demon Slayer: Kitsu no Yaiba, right?!
Then why did his roommate always jokingly call it "Hashira Slayer"…?
Recalling how his ani-loving roommate used to yell things like "Hashira Slayer" back in the dorms, Takeo felt his mory getting jumbled.
He couldn't tell if his roommate had been saying the na wrong, or if he was the one misrembering—but either way, one thing was certain:
This world definitely belonged to an ani. There was no doubt about that.
And Tanjiro and Nezuko—they were the main characters of this world!
Or rather, the male lead and female lead.
"…So that ans, the one who destroyed the Kamado family… was most likely a demon?"
Now that he had recalled the general setting of this world, Takeo felt certain:the one who had killed the Kamado family was probably a demon.
"Hey!! Hey!!!"
Takeo had been lost in thought for a bit too long, and Ichirō was growing impatient.He shouted right in Takeo's ear, trying to snap him out of it.
Takeo, mildly annoyed by the shouting, replied without thinking:
"I'm listening, I'm listening—stop yelling. My ears are gonna go deaf."
"You didn't look like soone who was listening just now…"
Ichirō eyed him suspiciously.
Takeo let out a sigh, then grabbed Ichirō's bamboo sword and lightly tapped it against his own shoulder before changing the subject:
"…Weren't you the one who wanted to teach you swordsmanship?"
That one sentence instantly made Ichirō's eyes light up.
He imdiately forgot about Takeo zoning out earlier and asked excitedly:
"You're really gonna teach ?!"
"If it's just the basics, I know a little. I'll teach you so before we reach shore."
Takeo gave the bamboo sword a casual swing as he spoke.
Ichirō's eyes grew brighter and brighter—and when he heard the last part, he literally jumped three feet off the ground.
"Aweso!! I'm gonna beco a samurai!!"
Yelling that, Ichirō ran off with his bamboo sword, hopping with joy.
Agreeing to teach him a bit of swordsmanship was Takeo's way of repaying him for helping gather information about the demon slayer.
Sure, he could've stuck to his earlier line—"Eavesdropping isn't sothing a true samurai should do"—and used that to brush him off again.
But the information Ichirō had gathered helped Takeo understand the truth of this world—and for that, he definitely owed the kid a favor!
I ain't a Slytherin after all!
Besides, it was just so basic swordsmanship theory. Teaching that much shouldn't be a problem.
"Well then… what should I do next…"
Now that he understood the nature of this world—and knew there was a demon slayer on board—Takeo began thinking about how to approach him.
After all, in this world, the conflict between demons and demon slayers was the central axis. Demon slayers likely had their own unique thods of training.
And if Tanjiro really was the protagonist, there was a high chance he would beco—or already was—a demon slayer himself. If Takeo could beco one too, it would significantly increase his chances of finding Tanjiro.
The real issue now was: what kind of excuse should he use to approach the demon slayer?
Maybe… telling his entire family were killed by a demon? Playing the tragedy card—Would that actually work?
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