Chapter Summaries

Kagaya Ubuyashiki asked Giyu Tomioka how he would fare against Muzan Kibutsuji, and Giyu admitted he had no chance in a direct fight. Kagaya relieved him of other duties and ordered him to focus solely on becoming strong enough to kill Muzan, while Muzan hid in the Infinity Castle and feared Giyu was tracking him.

• Kagaya Ubuyashiki asked Giyu Tomioka how confident he was about facing Muzan Kibutsuji again, and Giyu answered that his confidence was zero.
• Giyu explained that Muzan’s five brains, seven hearts, and rapid regeneration made him far stronger, and that he might not survive a minute against him.
• Kagaya acknowledged Giyu was only sixteen and relieved him of patrol, training, and support duties so he could focus on killing Muzan Kibutsuji.
• Muzan woke from his hiding place in the Infinity Castle after sneezing, feared Giyu had locked onto him, and ordered Nakime to add ten more layers of spatial barriers.

After the Master ordered Giyu Tomioka to focus on becoming stronger, he planned an intense training session, but Kanae Kocho persuaded him to accompany her to visit the retired Rengoku. They walked together toward the Rengoku residence, with Giyu still insisting he would train afterward.

• Giyu planned to swing his sword ten thousand times and run weighted laps after leaving the Ubuyashiki Estate.
• Kanae stopped Giyu and asked him to accompany her on a visit to the retired Rengoku.
• Giyu objected that the visit would not help him defeat Muzan, but Kanae linked arms with him and appealed to his concern for her.
• Giyu agreed to go with Kanae on the condition that he could return to training afterward.
• Kanae and Giyu walked through the crowded streets toward the Rengoku residence, while Giyu mistook the onlookers' jealous stares for disapproval of his slacking.

Giyu Tomioka and Kanae visited the Rengoku residence, where their close arrival sparked teasing from the Rengoku family. In private, Shinjuro recognized Giyu's extraordinary strength, but Giyu insisted he still needed to grow stronger to defeat Muzan Kibutsuji.

• Kanae clung to Giyu's arm on the way to the Rengoku residence, and Giyu used Transparent World to determine that she had not twisted her ankle.
• Kyojuro welcomed Giyu and Kanae, mistook their linked arms for a new training method, and invited them into the courtyard.
• Shinjuro teased Giyu about arriving with Kanae, while Giyu earnestly explained that she had wrapped herself around his arm.
• Ruka took Kanae to the back garden for tea, leaving Shinjuro and Giyu alone in the courtyard.
• Shinjuro asked how far Giyu had advanced and brought up an ancient account of a divine realm; Giyu said he was not there yet and needed to become stronger to kill Muzan Kibutsuji.

Giyu Tomioka refused Shinjuro Rengoku's request to take Kyojuro as his Tsuguko, but agreed to spar with him and gave him blunt swordsmanship advice. Kanae Kocho then teased Giyu about giving her private combat instruction, leaving him flustered.

• Shinjuro asked Giyu to take Kyojuro as his Tsuguko, but Giyu refused because he needed to focus on defeating Muzan Kibutsuji and believed Kyojuro should follow his own path.
• Giyu offered to spar with Kyojuro before leaving and challenged him to make Giyu move his feet by half an inch.
• Kyojuro charged with Flame Breathing, First Form—Unknowing Fire, but Giyu deflected his wooden sword with a branch and stopped it at his throat without moving.
• Giyu pointed out flaws in Kyojuro's balance and breathing, and Kyojuro eagerly vowed to practice twenty thousand swings.
• Kanae Kocho returned with Ruka Rengoku, clung to Giyu's arm, and teased him by asking for private combat instruction at the Butterfly Mansion.
• Giyu blushed and grew flustered as Kanae continued teasing him.

Kanae Kocho received advice from Ruka Rengoku on loving a swordsman without trying to change him, then showed Giyu Tomioka quiet acceptance on their walk back to the Butterfly Mansion. Giyu responded with small, unspoken gestures of tenderness as they headed home together.

• Kanae complained to Ruka about Giyu's oblivious remarks, and Ruka told her to be a welcoming refuge for a swordsman returning from battle.
• Kanae resolved to accept Giyu as he was and gradually melt his emotional reserve in her own way.
• Kanae clung to Giyu and teased him about giving her combat instruction, while Giyu left the Rengoku residence without rejecting her.
• Shinjuro laughed at Giyu, and Kyojuro thanked him for their training and vowed to improve his stance.
• On the walk back, Kanae rested against Giyu and thanked him for his hard work; he quietly drew his arm closer and slowed his pace to match hers.

After walking Kanae back to the Butterfly Mansion, Giyu resolved to learn the complete Sun Breathing so he could defeat Muzan and set out to find Tanjuro Kamado on Mount Kumotori. As he prepared to leave, Kanae arrived with dinner and found his travel bundle.

• Giyu and Kanae returned to the Butterfly Mansion, where Shinobu teased them about taking two hours to walk home.
• Giyu reflected on his feelings for Kanae and resolved to live and defeat Muzan Kibutsuji.
• Giyu recalled that Sun Breathing had frightened Muzan and that he had imitated part of Tanjuro Kamado's Dance on Mount Sagiri.
• Giyu decided to travel to Mount Kumotori to learn the complete Sun Breathing and packed supplies for the journey.
• Kanae came to Giyu's room with salmon and daikon and noticed his unfinished travel bundle.

Giyu ate a meal Kanae prepared, then told her he was leaving for Mount Kumotori to learn a Breathing Style capable of killing Muzan Kibutsuji. Kanae encouraged him to go, but chased after him in the moonlit garden and kissed him before he could leave.

• Kanae served Giyu salmon and daikon, and he finished the meal before preparing to leave.
• Giyu told Kanae he was going to Mount Kumotori to learn from a charcoal seller how to kill Muzan Kibutsuji.
• Giyu explained that Muzan had five brains and seven hearts, and that only absolute heat could destroy his cells completely.
• Kanae accepted Giyu's decision, straightened his haori, and urged him to move forward without worrying about the Butterfly Mansion.
• As Giyu started to leave through the garden, Kanae ran after him, grabbed his haori, and kissed him under the moonlight.

Giyu and Kanae shared a passionate kiss before agreeing to spend the night together. Giyu promised to return after learning Sun Breathing and killing Muzan, and Kanae promised to wait for him.

• Kanae kissed Giyu urgently, and he embraced her and returned the kiss passionately.
• Kanae asked Giyu to stay the night, and he agreed.
• Kanae and Giyu lay together on a narrow futon, where Giyu held her close and asked her not to move.
• Giyu promised to return in one piece after learning Sun Breathing and killing Muzan, and Kanae promised to wait for him.

Giyu Tomioka quietly left Kanae Kocho at the Butterfly Mansion and traveled to Mount Kumotori to meet the Kamado family. After spending time with them, he asked Tanjuro to teach him the Breathing Style that was like the sun.

• Giyu carefully slipped away from Kanae, tucked the covers around her, and left for Mount Kumotori.
• Several days later, Giyu reached the Kamado cabin and was warmly welcomed by Tanjiro, Kie, Nezuko, and the other children.
• Giyu shared tea and a roasted sweet potato with the family, whose lively warmth reminded him of his late older sister.
• After asking the children to leave them alone, Giyu told Tanjuro he wanted to learn the Breathing Style that was like the sun.

Giyu Tomioka learned the Hinokami Kagura from Tanjuro Kamado and settled on Mount Kumotori to master it. As he trained alongside the Kamado family, he thought of the woman at the Butterfly Mansion and resolved to return once he was strong enough to end the thousand-year nightmare.

• Tanjuro explained that the Hinokami Kagura was a family dance of prayer, but agreed to teach it to Giyu after hearing that Giyu believed it could slay demons.
• Tanjuro performed the twelve forms, and Giyu used Heaven-Defying Comprehension and the Transparent World to memorize them after one viewing.
• Giyu began secluded training on Mount Kumotori and wore old clothes from Tanjuro while helping the family with chores.
• Giyu broke another chopping block while splitting firewood, then beat Takeo at arm wrestling and made him clear the snow.
• Tanjiro noticed Giyu's embarrassment when Takeo teased him about finding a wife, and Giyu thought of the woman at the Butterfly Mansion as he resolved to master the style and return to her.

Giyu tried combining Sun Breathing and Moon Breathing, but their opposing forces exploded into a shockwave instead of forming a precise attack. When a giant bear charged into the yard, he killed it with a pebble and offered it to Kie Kamado for lunch.

• At breakfast, Tanjiro noticed Giyu smelled strange, and Takeo teased him about missing someone, but Giyu denied it and ate his fish.
• Giyu combined Sun Breathing and Moon Breathing in a sword strike, but the forces repelled each other and carved a hundred-meter trench through the backyard.
• Tanjuro saw the destruction and admitted he could not advise Giyu on whether the sun and moon could coexist.
• A giant bear charged out of the woods toward the Kamado family's yard, frightening Tanjiro, Takeo, and Tanjuro.
• Giyu killed the bear with a pebble and told Kie Kamado it could be an extra dish for lunch.

After more than half a year training on Mount Kumotori, Giyu Tomioka learned from Tanjuro that his fading killing intent marked a shift from fighting to destroy toward fighting to protect. As he shared a peaceful evening with the Kamado family, Giyu understood how to wield his blade and smiled without his former loneliness.

• Giyu Tomioka and Tanjiro Kamado sold their charcoal in town, where Giyu turned an admirer’s flirtation into a charcoal sale.
• Tanjuro Kamado led Giyu and Tanjiro into the forest to hunt meat for winter and taught Giyu to sense the rhythms of the world around him.
• Giyu knocked out a charging mutant boar with a single strike, preserving its meat for the family’s stew.
• Tanjuro told Giyu that his killing intent had given way to a gentleness rooted in protecting everyday life, and Giyu reflected on the warmth he had found during his training.
• At the cabin that night, Giyu spent time with Nezuko and Takeo, then realized he would wield his blade to protect the warmth of the world and smiled.

After a year living with the Kamado family on Mount Kumotori, Giyu Tomioka helped the family through a frightening decline in Tanjuro’s health. Tanjuro entrusted Giyu with protecting his family and carrying on their will, and Giyu accepted that responsibility as a legacy rather than a burden of guilt.

• Giyu meditated while Shigeru and Delia clung to him, then hit Takeo with a snowball after Takeo’s throw struck Tanjiro.
• Tanjiro eagerly interpreted Giyu’s casual order to sweep the snow as a training lesson, and the family shared a warm meal together.
• Tanjuro suffered a severe coughing fit and coughed blood, prompting Giyu to use Total Concentration Breathing to steady his breathing and warm his body.
• Tanjuro sent Kie and the children away so he could speak privately with Giyu about the difference between humans and demons and the importance of passing on the desire to protect.
• Tanjuro entrusted Tanjiro and the family to Giyu, helping him see his sister Tsutako’s sacrifice as a legacy entrusted to him.
• Giyu promised Tanjuro that the flame of their will would not go out as long as he lived.

Giyu trained Takeo while Nezuko styled his hair, then witnessed Tanjuro entrust the Kamado family’s heirlooms and children to Tanjiro and Giyu. Tanjuro died, leaving Giyu silently guarding the grieving family.

• Nezuko tied Giyu’s hair into two tufts with pink ties, and Takeo laughed before asking Giyu to teach him swordsmanship.
• Giyu made Takeo hold a horse stance with a stone on his head, then cut his lunch in half and sent him to fill the water vat.
• Tanjiro told Giyu that Tanjuro was awake, and Giyu recognized that Tanjuro’s apparent improvement was a final rally before death.
• Tanjuro gave Tanjiro the Sun Wheel Hanafuda Earrings and told him to preserve them and continue performing the Hinokami Kagura.
• Tanjuro asked Giyu to look after his children, and Giyu nodded as a solemn promise.
• Tanjuro died, and Giyu stood watch while Tanjiro wept beside his father’s bed.

After Tanjuro Kamado's funeral, Giyu supported the grieving Kamado family by preparing for their survival and leaving them his fortune before departing. The family discovered his gift, while Giyu realized he had left himself penniless on the journey back to the Butterfly Mansion.

• Giyu dug a sturdy grave for Tanjuro, and his blunt explanation briefly eased the family's grief.
• Giyu chopped and neatly stacked enough firewood to supply the Kamado family for three winters.
• Before dawn, Giyu left all his silver notes for Kie with a message telling the family not to sell charcoal or starve.
• Tanjiro and his family found the money and note, and Tanjiro interpreted Giyu's gift as strict training meant to protect them.
• On his way back to the Butterfly Mansion, Giyu discovered he had no money for food and hurried down the mountain.

After a year away, Giyu Tomioka returned to the Butterfly Mansion and reunited passionately with Kanae Kocho. The chapter ended with Kanae leading her hungry, penniless beloved to the kitchen while Shinobu Kocho decided to join them.

• Giyu ran all the way from Mount Kumotori because he had given his money to the Kamado Family and had not eaten in two days.
• Kanae Kocho spotted Giyu at the Butterfly Mansion and rushed into his arms, where they kissed passionately.
• Shinobu Kocho watched from behind a pillar, felt jealous, then accepted Kanae's happiness and planned to pursue Giyu herself.
• Giyu told Kanae he was hungry, and she led him to the kitchen to cook him salmon.
• Shinobu followed them to the kitchen, and the Butterfly Mansion regained its bustle with Giyu's return.

After a meal at the Butterfly Mansion, Shinobu told Giyu about new Hashira before Kanae introduced him to Kanao Tsuyuri, her traumatized new Tsuguko. Kanae asked Giyu to help Kanao regain the ability to make her own decisions, and he began considering how to do it.

• Giyu ate Kanae's cooking and complimented Shinobu's improved knife skills, flustering her.
• Shinobu told Giyu that Sanemi Shinazugawa and Obanai Iguro had become the Wind and Serpent Hashira.
• Kanao arrived and used a coin flip to decide whether to greet Giyu.
• Kanae explained that she and Shinobu had rescued Kanao from a human trafficker and that Kanao relied on her coin to make decisions.
• Kanae asked Giyu to help Kanao, and he began thinking of ways to restore her initiative.

Giyu tried to help Kanao overcome her trauma with a coin-flipping demonstration, but she remained withdrawn, so Kanae took him away to spend time with her. Over the following days Kanae grew increasingly intimate with Giyu, and the chapter ended with her scrubbing his back in the Butterfly Mansion’s hot spring.

• Giyu tried to convince Kanao that strength could control chance by landing a coin on its edge ten times, but she returned to watching the Wisteria without responding.
• Kanae comforted Giyu over his failed attempt to help Kanao and persuaded him to leave with her.
• Kanae brought her bedding into Giyu’s room and cuddled him through the night, claiming she was providing psychological counseling.
• After three days of Kanae’s increasingly bold attention, Giyu went to the hot spring alone to relax.
• Kanae entered the men’s bath, called it a mixed bath, and began scrubbing Giyu’s back.

Kanae and Giyu arrived at the Hashira Meeting together, where Sanemi and Obanai confronted Giyu over his year away and his relationship with Kanae. Their argument turned into a scuffle before Lady Amane announced the Master’s arrival.

• Kanae teased Shinobu as she left the Butterfly Mansion with Giyu for the Hashira Meeting.
• At the Ubuyashiki Estate, Sabito saw Kanae clinging to Giyu’s arm, and Sanemi accused Giyu of missing meetings during his year away.
• Giyu explained that he had taken approved leave and trained on Mount Kumotori, infuriating Sanemi further.
• Obanai reproached Giyu for letting Kanae cling to him, and Kanae teased Obanai about being single.
• Giyu defended his swordsmanship and relationship, prompting Sanemi and Obanai to attack him in a childish scuffle.
• Lady Amane opened the room’s paper door and announced the Master’s arrival, causing the three fighters to separate and straighten their clothes.

After the Hashira reported that demons had grown scarce, Kagaya Ubuyashiki privately assigned Giyu and Kanae to investigate the Eternal Paradise Cult, whose leader was Upper Rank Two, Doma. Giyu reluctantly agreed to take Kanae with him, and they prepared to leave that night.

• Sanemi, Obanai, and Giyu stopped fighting when Kagaya arrived, and the Hashira reported that demons had retreated and were mostly weak.
• After the meeting, Kagaya asked Giyu and Kanae to stay behind and told them that the Eternal Paradise Cult was led by Doma.
• Kagaya warned that Doma's ice could damage a swordsman's lungs and assigned Kanae to accompany Giyu on the mission.
• Giyu objected that the mission was too dangerous for Kanae, but she insisted she could help as a pharmacology expert and pressured him to accept.
• Giyu agreed to take Kanae, and Kagaya ordered them to pack and depart under cover of darkness that night.