Inei's POV. Wisteria House.
A house marked with the Wisteria Flower.
I knocked on the door and the people living there somehow knew I am a Demon Slayer, although I am not wearing the uniform.
The owner of the house, Nanako-san, let me in when I revealed my identity as a member of the Corps.
Nanako: I see.
Inei: Also, my comrades are on their way here. I'm going to wait for them here, and then we'll have to discuss our plan from here on out.
Before I came here, I took the time to do my own investigations around the district. Apparently, Kage found out that Tengen-san's wives infiltrated the district.
Locating the houses they each infiltrated was a tough job even for me.
But then, we quickly narrowed down the houses they infiltrated.
Suma-san in the Tokito House. Makio-san in the Ogimoto House. Hinatsuru in the Kyogoku House.
Somehow, I'm having a bad feeling in the Kyogoku House.
I mean........I heard some rumors surrounding the house. About the women just suddenly "losing their footing" within the house.
But that's the only information that I gather, because as things currently stand, I won't be able to gather any information outside. No wonder why Tengen-san had the idea of sending his wives to infiltrate and gather intel.
But then, according to what Kage gathered from Tengen-san, he and wives are constantly exchanging letters, with the information about the demon's movements.
Then things went down when Tengen-san lost contact with his wives.
I guess Kagaya-sama decided to send me here as well, due to my skills in gathering information.
Heh, though Kagaya-sama is not a fighter, he is qualified to be a tactician. A truly qualified man to lead the Corps.
A few hours later, Tengen-san, along with Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke finally arrived.
Inei: Took you guys long enough.
Tengen: It seems like you took your time to investigate. So, any valuable intel?
Inei: Can I see the letters? Maybe I could match it with the information that I gathered earlier.
He gave me the letter as I began to cross reference the information that I got and from the letters.
Honestly though. They're so noisy.
Zenitsu: HUH!? YOU HAVE THREE WIVES!? WHY DO YOU HAVE THREE—
Inei: 💢
Inei: SHUT THE HELL UP!
I threw unsheathed my wakizashi and threw it's sheathe to Zenitsu's face, knocking him out in the process.
Zenitsu: ..........
Inei: *sigh*
Inei: Seriously, what's wrong with Zenitsu acting like a pervert.
Inei: Tanjiro, make sure that Nezuko marries a proper guy in the future, okay?
Tanjiro: O-Okay.
Tengen: Thanks for saving me the trouble of that noisy guy.
Inei: No problem.
I picked up the sheath and put my wakizashi back.
Inei: *sigh*
Tengen: So?
Inei: *sigh*
Inei: Their intel matches what I found during my initial investigation and to what Kage told me earlier.
Inei: As of now, we're in a dead end. We got to infiltrate the three houses that you mentioned earlier.
Tengen: I see.
Tanjiro: But nii-san, in the letters, Uzui-san reminded them not to stand out. How exactly are we going to do this?
Inei: We got to disguise ourselves. That is the hardest part after all. But that is our only way to get this mission done.
Tengen: As much as I hate the idea, I agree with Saito here. You guys have to do a very specific task, then infiltrate.
Tengen: My three wives are top of the line kunoichi. Just as Saito said earlier, the Yoshiwara District is a very ideal place for a demon to lurk around.
Inei: Infiltrating as a customer will almost lead you to nowhere. So the only chance to gather information, is to go infiltrate as deeper than mere customers.
Inei: That was the reason why Tengen-san needed female corps members for this mission.
Tanjiro: I see.
Inei: So, as of things stand, we got to look for Tengen-san's wives.
Tengen: Exactly. Suma in the Tokito House, Makio in the Ogimoto House, and Hinatsuru in the Kyogoku House.
Inosuke: Aren't your wives dead already?
Tengen-san immediately punched Inosuke and knocked him out instantly.
Inei: *sigh*
Tanjiro: We're sorry.
Then one of the helpers of the house delivered the items that Tengen-san asked earlier.
Tengen: Thanks.
Afterwards we began to discuss our plans.
Inei: Okay, Tengen-san will be on a lookout. Me on the other hand will blend in with the crowd and try to gather some information about the three houses as much as possible.
Tanjiro: But how exactly are you going to do that?
Inei: I have my ways. Daggers are also a convincing argument.
Tengen: Hahahahaha! Never underestimate a former assassin of the Emperor.
Tengen: As a former shinobi myself, I heard from my father that the imperial assassins are much even more proficient than shinobi in terms of infiltration.
Tengen: After all, they will always get their target no matter what. Not to mention, Saito here is already familiar with the place.
Tengen: No wonder why Oyakata-sama assigned this mission to help us as well.
Inei: As much as I really hate the Red Light District, I have no choice but to take the mission.
Inei: Also, I received another vital information within the district.
Inei: And I already had a bad feeling about this.
And so...........
We began our infiltration.
Our plan was to let Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke infiltrate the three houses and search for Tengen-san's wives.
And in order to do that, we had the three of them to cross dress as girls.
Inei: I think they went too much for the make up. I mean, Inosuke doesn't even need a make up.
Tengen: Really?
Inei: Yeah, put some girl clothes on Inosuke and then yeah, he'll be mistaken for a girl.
And we began to "sell" them into the three houses. First was Tanjiro.
Tengen: All right. Next.
Inosuke: What's that over there?
Inei: Hm?
Inosuke points to the gathering crowd and so we joined the crowd.
Inei: Ah, right. What you guys see here is an Oiran Procession.
Inosuke: Oiran Procession?
Tengen: That's Tokito's House Koinatsu Oiran.
Tengen: The highest-ranking oiran is on her way to meet her client. How flamboyant is that?
Inei: *sigh*
Tengen: Hey, Saito, let me ask you something.
Inei: Hm?
Tengen: Can you imagine Kocho wearing such flashy clothing?
Inei: Oh shut up. As if she would gather that much attention. She would be mistaken for a child due to her height.
Tengen: I see. You're also among the hashira who can actually insult Kocho with her height.
Inei: Heh. I've known Shinobu for years.
Tengen: Ah, that's right. You're the one who saved her and the former Flower Hashira back then, huh?
Tengen: As far as I know, I am still just a member of the Corps when the Kocho sisters joined us as well.
Inei: Yeah.
Tengen: And you're already a Hashira during that time.
Zenitsu: Wife? Is she your wife by—
I smacked Zenitsu in the head.
Zenitsu: WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!?
Inei: That's my line, dumbass!
Tengen: If you're assuming she's my wife! You're dead wrong!
Inei: *sigh*
Inei: Zenitsu, if you wanted to be flocked by girls so much, you got to fix that attitude of yours.
Inei: Or else you'll just be a good-for-nothing husband if you do.
Tengen: That's really wise of you, Saito.
Inei: Well, throughout my journey during the past years, there are some kind families who let a humble traveler like me to stay at their house for at least a couple of weeks.
Inei: From that time, I got to know each family members and the children.
Tengen: I see.
Suddenly, the chaperone of Ogimoto House came to us and wanted to buy Inoko (Inosuke).
And with that, Inosuke (Inoko) got employed.
Inei: All right. That's two down........
Then Tengen-san and I looked at Zenitsu with nothing but disappointment.
Inei: One to go.
Tengen: ............
Somehow, we managed to get Zenko (Zenitsu) to Kyogoku House.
Tengen: All right. Now that we got them to our three suspicious houses.
Inei: All right. I'll be doing my investigation from here. I'll take the streets, you investigate from above.
Tengen: Leave it to me.
We dispersed and began our investigations.
After a few more hours, we reconvene to one of the rooftops.
Tengen: So, you got anything?
Inei: Still a dead end. I already asked almost anyone but yeah, still nothing.
Inei: Also, let me get you in on the information that Kage got.
Tengen: What is it?
Inei: A demon is lurking here who is adept in espionage. A demon who can completely disguise themselves as an Oiran.
Inei: And the worse possible case here is............
Inei: The said demon, is said to be........
Inei: An Upper Rank Demon.
Tengen: ...........
Tengen: I also got that feeling, but to think that you already confirmed that yourself.
Inei: *sigh*
Inei: I can also sense that a great battle is about to come, once we confront the said demon.
Tengen: It seems like this is the reason why Oyakata-sama sent you here as well.
Tengen: To be honest, there won't be a better help than you in this mission.
Inei: An Upper Rank Demon is infiltrating the Yoshiwara District, huh?
Inei: An ideal place for—
Inei: !?
Inei: ...........
Tengen: Hm? What's wrong?
Inei: Wait, this presence.........somehow, I can sense a very familiar presence here.
Tengen: .............
Inei: Spirit Breathing, First Form - Spirit Call.
Tengen: Presence?
Inei: Somehow, I detected a very familiar presence here..........
Inei: But..........
Inei: ............
Inei: Maybe just my imagination. The presence was somehow like, two days before we came here.
Tengen: If you say that there is an Upper Rank Demon here........
Tengen: Then it seems like we're in for an ultra flamboyant fight to the death.
Inei: So far, the only information that I got from the Three Upper Ranks that I cornered.........
Inei: Upper Rank One won't have any interest in this place.
Inei: Upper Rank Two could probably be in this place, as he enjoys eating women.
Inei: Upper Rank Three wouldn't also be in this place, he only looks for the strong.
Inei: As for Upper Ranks Four, Five, and Six........
Inei: Unfortunately, I don't have any idea as of now.
Inei: So, as things stand, our chances is that, we will encounter either Upper Rank Six, Five, or Four.
Tengen: Hmmm........
Tengen: As someone who already fought three Upper Rank demons, what was your input?
Inei: As much as possible, you got to be careful in fighting them. They always have a hidden trump card in their sleeves.
Inei: We got no choice but to prolong the battle, to know their abilities, to know their weaknesses, and find a way to defeat them.
Inei: Or we can just prolong the battle until the sun rises up. But, this idea won't be the best as we're going to fight in a very populated place.
Inei: We can't also just go tell the civilians here to evacuate immediately all because there is a demon lurking here.
Inei: That would also totally be in favor of the demon because they can use the chaos to well, wreck havoc and cause massive destruction.
Tengen: Damn.......
Inei: To be honest, I had to deal with targets with this kind of attitude.
Inei: And I'll tell you this, they're the most annoying piece of shits, that's why once you kill them, it will be a great reward.
Tengen: As expected from a former assassin of the emperor.
Tengen: All right then. Seems like we got to wait for a few more days in here, huh?
Inei: Yeah. Until the trio got any information about your wives, we won't be able to make our next move.
Inei: So, our only option as of now, is to be in the shadows and gather as much information as we can.
Inei: Once we got our decisive evidence........
Tengen: We'll strike.
Inei: Exactly.
And so, our mission to the Red Light District had begun.
My intuition is telling me, that we're going to have a big battle here, with an Upper Rank Demon.........
For now, we got to lay low. Being reckless is out of the question during this kind missions.
Inei: Honestly, it's a headache dealing with these kind of demons.
Inei: But somehow, I can really sense that there is even more than the demon here.
Inei: Something is telling me that, there is more to this demon that meets the eye.
Inei: It seems like I got to gather more information as much as I can............