After burying the fallen swordsman, Kazuki continued searching through Mount Fujikasane together with Agatsuma Zenitsu.
"Can you hear any other demons nearby?" Kazuki asked as they walked.
From what had happened earlier, he already knew that Zenitsu possessed hearing far beyond that of ordinary people—sometimes sharp enough to distinguish demons purely by sound.
Zenitsu shook his head in response.
Just then, a swordsman burst out of the forest ahead, his expression panicked, repeatedly glancing over his shoulder.
"Get out of the way!"
Seeing Kazuki and Zenitsu, the swordsman shouted, shoved past them, and continued fleeing.
As he ran by, Kazuki caught what he was muttering under his breath.
"A demon that's eaten fifty people… How are we supposed to deal with something like that?!"
"F-Fifty people?!" Zenitsu's face turned pale as he looked at Kazuki in terror.
"Kazuki, you're not seriously thinking of going after that thing, are you?! That's a demon that's eaten fifty people! That's completely different from the ones that only ate two or three! Its strength must be terrifying—we should stay far away from here, right?!"
Zenitsu had clearly heard the swordsman as well and was now desperately trying to persuade Kazuki.
"Let's go," Kazuki said simply—and immediately sprinted in the direction the fleeing swordsman had come from, completely ignoring Zenitsu's warning.
"Ah—! I knew it! Wait for me, Kazuki!" Zenitsu yelled, grabbing his hair in frustration before chasing after him.
They pushed through the dense forest.
What Kazuki saw was a massive green hand in the process of turning to ash. From its sheer size alone, it was easy to imagine how enormous the demon must have been.
So it's already been killed…
By that boy, I suppose.
Kazuki stopped and looked toward the red-haired boy nearby, who was sheathing his Nichirin Blade beside the disintegrating hand.
What surprised him, however, was that the red-haired boy stepped forward, grasped the giant hand, then closed his eyes and rested his forehead against it—as if praying.
"Hey—what are you doing?" Kazuki snapped, anger flaring.
"Are you sympathizing with a demon?"
Demons had slaughtered countless people, destroyed innumerable families. What was there to sympathize with in creatures like that?
Hearing Kazuki's voice, the red-haired boy turned around. Kazuki saw the scar on his forehead—and the look of compassion on his face.
"Demons were once human too," Kamado Tanjiro said quietly.
At that moment, the Hand Demon's last remaining fragment finished turning to ash.
"But after becoming demons, they slaughter countless people and ruin countless lives," Kazuki replied, still unable to accept it.
"The demon you just sympathized with had eaten plenty of people too, hadn't it?"
"I know," Tanjiro said gently.
"That's why I don't hesitate when I cut them down. But many of them didn't choose to become demons. They're victims too. When I killed it, I could smell sorrow."
Tanjiro's explanation didn't convince Kazuki.
He already knew—from Rengoku Kyojuro—that all demons were created by the progenitor demon, Kibutsuji Muzan. But to him, once a demon had eaten humans, it was no longer innocent.
His own experiences made it impossible for him to feel sympathy toward such creatures.
"I can't understand that," Kazuki said, shaking his head.
Though he didn't agree with Tanjiro's compassion, the fact remained that Tanjiro had slain the demon. There was nothing more Kazuki could say.
At that moment, an untimely sound echoed from beside him, and the horizon began to glow faintly with the pale light of dawn.
"Kazuki… I'm starving," Zenitsu groaned weakly, tugging at Kazuki's sleeve.
"Let's go find something to eat."
Kazuki looked up at the gradually brightening sky.
"Alright. Once it's daylight, the demons should all be hiding anyway. We won't be able to hunt them anymore."
Just as Kazuki was about to leave with Zenitsu to search for food, a voice called out from behind them.
"Um… if you don't mind, I have a few flatbreads here. We can eat together."
Kazuki turned around. Tanjiro had taken several pieces of flatbread from his clothes and was offering them with a smile.
"Really?! Thank you so much!"
The moment Zenitsu saw the food, he rushed over, grabbed a flatbread, and started devouring it.
"We've been walking all night without any rest at all—I was seriously about to starve!"
"That must have been tough," Tanjiro said with a gentle laugh.
"If it's not enough, I still have more."
He then handed another flatbread to Kazuki.
"Huh? Oh… thanks," Kazuki said, accepting it somewhat awkwardly.
He looked at the flatbread in his hand, then at Tanjiro's warm smile. The faint dissatisfaction he had felt earlier toward Tanjiro's actions vanished completely.
He's… really a gentle person, Kazuki thought.
Zenitsu: "What's your name?"
Tanjiro: "Kamado Tanjiro. And you?"
Zenitsu: "I'm Agatsuma Zenitsu. He's a friend I just met—his name's Kazuki."
Kazuki: "That wound on your forehead—I can help bandage it."
Tanjiro: "Thank you."
The three of them sat together, eating flatbread and chatting. Their bond grew rapidly.
Over the following six days, Kazuki, Zenitsu, and Tanjiro continued moving together. With Zenitsu's hearing and Tanjiro's sense of smell, Kazuki's efficiency in hunting demons increased significantly.
During these hunts, however, Kazuki noticed that Tanjiro always asked the demons if there was a way for them to return to being human.
Though puzzled by this, Kazuki never questioned him about it.
During that time, they also saved many participants of the Final Selection. By the fifth day, Kazuki had already wiped out all the demons on Mount Fujikasane. For the remaining two nights, they didn't encounter a single demon.
—
Morning of the Final Selection's Conclusion
Kazuki and the other two emerged from the mountain's central area and returned to the platform.
"Only a little over half are left…" Kazuki murmured, his heart growing heavy as he looked at the drastically reduced number of people.
He had tried to hunt demons as quickly as possible, but sometimes he still arrived too late. Most swordsmen were still gripped by fear of demons, unable to fully display their strength. And with Mount Fujikasane being so vast, there was only so much he could do.
What he didn't know was that having this many survivors was already an absurdly rare outcome for the Final Selection.
"Welcome back."
"Congratulations on returning safely."
The two children still stood beneath the torii gate, offering their congratulations to the surviving swordsmen.
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