Chapter 187: The Ghost Train?
The black shadow in the distance charged straight toward them like a gigantic metallic beast.
A rumbling sound came from above the shadow as thick smoke billowed into the sky.
"It's the train!!!"
Sanemi roared, his bloodshot eyes widening.
How many days had it been?!
Good grief, it had finally arrived!
The train rumbled to a stop in front of them. Before it had even come to a complete halt, Sanemi leaped onto the roof and headed straight for the front.
Sanemi truly lived up to his reputation as the Wind Hashira. With only a few leaps, he reached the front carriage.
He crouched down, found a window, and slipped inside!
Shinobu shook her head when she saw this.
Sanemi was still as impulsive as ever.
However, when she thought about how the train's delay had meant she would have to wait two whole days before seeing Ren, a surge of anger suddenly rose within her as well.
She boarded the train furiously and began making her way toward the front.
But before Shinobu could reach the front carriage, a tremendous crash suddenly rang out from ahead!
Bang—!
It sounded like metal being torn apart!
Shinobu's delicate face instantly turned pale.
"Did Sanemi make a move?!"
The thought had barely appeared in her mind when another tremendous crash rang out!
This time, it was the sound of shattering glass!
Then Shinobu saw Sanemi's figure through the window.
"Sanemi!"
Shinobu jumped off the train, only to see Sanemi stop again in the distance.
The two met about fifty meters from the front of the train.
Shinobu asked curiously, "What was that just now?"
Shinobu wasn't stupid.
Although Sanemi was annoying, he was simply a man who enjoyed killing demons.
Even if the train driver had been delayed, there was no way he would draw his Nichirin sword and kill a human.
Besides, there had been two sounds from the front of the train just now.
One had come from Sanemi—the second sound.
The other hadn't come from him.
That meant it had definitely come from the first one.
Based on what Shinobu knew about Sanemi, there could only be one explanation.
It was a demon!
At that thought, Shinobu's expression became serious.
"How strong was it?"
Sanemi's expression wasn't particularly good either.
After a moment of silence, he tightened his grip around his Nichirin sword.
"It was stronger than me."
"Stronger than you?!"
Shinobu was startled.
One had to understand that Sanemi was the Wind Hashira, one of the strongest members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Yet the demon they had just encountered was even stronger than Sanemi!
Could it be an Upper Rank?
Shinobu's thoughts raced.
"Could it be—"
"No."
Sanemi glanced at Shinobu. He understood exactly what she was thinking.
"Even if it really is one, this isn't something you can handle right now."
Shinobu's thoughts had been seen through, and she was still somewhat indignant.
But then she remembered that Ren had said something similar to her before, and she abandoned the idea.
She took a deep breath before putting on a forced smile.
"Then, Mr. Sanemi, were you able to get a good look at what it looked like?"
"What a pity~. Even with Mr. Sanemi there, your opponent still managed to get away~. Could it be that Mr. Sanemi isn't strong enough~?"
"What a pity, what a pity~!"
Sanemi's face flushed bright red.
To be honest, he had rarely suffered a defeat since becoming the Wind Hashira.
He was certain that the demon he had encountered today was one he knew of.
It had to be an Upper Rank!
"It looked similar to a human. A humanoid demon."
Sanemi fell into thought.
"It was wearing even less than I was. It seemed to be wearing only a vest, and it had a lot of tattoos on its body."
"But strangely..."
Sanemi's voice suddenly trailed off.
Shinobu put away her smile and asked seriously, "What is it?"
Sanemi rubbed his chin and, unusually, pondered for a moment.
"But just now, I took a close look at its eyes. I didn't see any numbers..."
"What?"
Shinobu's beautiful eyes widened.
A demon that even Sanemi considered powerful wasn't one of the Twelve Kizuki?!
At this moment, Shinobu felt that her understanding of demonic strength had been completely challenged.
"But why didn't it attack you?"
Shinobu was puzzled.
This confused Sanemi as well.
Logically speaking, that demon hadn't even fought him, so it certainly couldn't have known that he was a Hashira.
Then why had it run away the moment it saw him?
Could it be because his strength had increased tremendously recently?
Had his appearance and aura become intimidating enough to frighten demons away?
"We'll report this to Master when we return. There's no point thinking about it any further right now."
Sanemi and Shinobu boarded the train again.
By then, some passengers had already gotten on.
Once people realized that the train had arrived, word quickly spread.
Neither Sanemi nor Shinobu was particularly concerned and they found seats.
But after waiting for a long time, the train still didn't move.
Finally, one of the passengers suddenly realized something.
There was no driver on this train...
Sanemi froze.
He seemed to have noticed a problem.
If there was no driver, how had the train returned here?
Could this be a demon train?
Something was wrong.
Sanemi suddenly stood up, immediately attracting Shinobu's attention from the seat beside him.
Shinobu blinked.
"Mr. Sanemi, are you doing some kind of special training?"
Sanemi stared blankly ahead.
"I just remembered. When we first boarded the train, there wasn't a single person inside. I didn't even see a driver!"
"What?"
Shinobu was stunned as well.
Not a single person?
Then how had this train returned here?
Could it really be a demon train?
Had a demon driven it back here?
Strange.
Far too strange.
The whole situation was impossible to understand.
First, they had encountered a demon.
Then they discovered that there hadn't been a single passenger on the train.
It simply didn't make sense.
If they didn't think about it too carefully, it almost felt like they had encountered some kind of supernatural phenomenon.
Shinobu's beautiful eyes swept across the train.
Then she seemed to suddenly remember something.
She smiled faintly and casually asked a nearby passenger,
"Excuse me, sir. May I ask what this train is called?"
The man saw a beautiful woman speaking to him and immediately answered.
"The Mugen Train!"
The Mugen Train!
So it was this train!
Shinobu's thoughts raced.
Wasn't this the same train the Flame Hashira had taken the last time he went on a mission?
Had something gone wrong with this incident?
Shinobu came to the same conclusion.
After thinking it over, Shinobu still sent a message through her Kasugai Crow.
That way, the information could reach the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters as quickly as possible.
Then Shinobu looked toward the passengers in front of her and casually said,
"Oh my~. A train can't run without a driver. I wonder who could solve this problem?"
I will!
One of the passengers immediately stood up and ran to the service desk to report the situation.
This train was leaving both Shinobu and Sanemi with countless questions.
Fortunately, the passenger who had noticed the problem reacted quickly.
The railway staff soon arrived and arranged for another driver.