Their Separate Fates

Perhaps the bond between Tanjiro and Nezuko was too intense, drawing Mu Yu in completely for a moment.

When he saw Giyu nearly kill Nezuko with a single strike, Mu Yu accidentally let some Killing Intent leak out.

Though it lasted only an instant, Giyu still sensed it, forcing Mu Yu to leave the tree.

[As expected of a Hashira, one of the Demon Slayer World's strongest fighters. His senses are quite sharp!]

Unable to find whoever was hiding, Giyu turned to Tanjiro, who was holding Nezuko.

With his dead-fish eyes and expressionless face, Giyu could not understand. "Why are you protecting her?"

Tanjiro was agitated. "She's my sister! She's my sister!"

Giyu's face darkened, his expression changing for the first time, though it vanished in an instant.

At the same time, Nezuko, who had nearly been killed, let out an angry roar at Giyu.

"Can that thing even be called your sister?"

Giyu flashed forward, lunging at Tanjiro and Nezuko.

Tanjiro instinctively crouched down, trying to shield Nezuko with his body.

But when he bent over and wrapped his arms together, he discovered that Nezuko had vanished from his embrace.

Tanjiro looked around, only then realizing that Giyu had somehow seized Nezuko.

Tanjiro was completely stunned. He could not understand how his sister had been taken.

"Nezuko!"

Just as Tanjiro was about to do something, Giyu shouted him down.

"Don't move. Slaying demons is my duty. That includes your sister."

Tanjiro panicked. His entire family had been killed by demons, and Nezuko was his only remaining relative.

"Wait, Nezuko hasn't killed anyone!"

"There was another scent in my home, one I had never smelled before. That thing was the one that killed my family, not Nezuko!"

"I don't know why she became like this, but—"

Still expressionless, Giyu said, "It's simple. Her wounds came into contact with a demon's blood, so she became a demon. That is how Maneater demons multiply."

Tanjiro said, "Nezuko won't eat people!"

Giyu said, "You can actually say that? She nearly ate you just now."

Tanjiro said, "No, she recognized me. I won't let her hurt anyone. I'll definitely turn her back into a human! I'll definitely cure her!"

Giyu said, "You can't cure her. Once someone becomes a demon, they can never become human again."

Tanjiro grew desperate. "Then I'll look for a way! I'll definitely find one, so don't kill her! I'll find the murderer who killed my family too! I'll settle everything, so... so..."

Unfortunately, Giyu's patience had run out. He raised his sword, preparing to cut off Nezuko's head in one stroke.

But at that moment, Tanjiro's actions made Giyu hesitate once more.

Tanjiro knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Giyu. "Please, don't take my family away from me again! Please, don't kill my sister. I'm begging you. I'm begging you!"

Giyu, who was usually expressionless, sparing with words, and calm as an ancient well, flew into a rage. Gritting his teeth, he roared, "Don't hand the power of life and death over to someone else!"

"Don't kneel and beg others just because your life is miserable. If that worked, your family would not have been killed!"

"The weak have no right to choose between taking and being taken from!"

"You want to cure your sister? Find your enemy?"

"Ridiculous!"

"The weak have no rights and no choices. They can only submit obediently to the power of the strong!"

"Maybe demons know how to cure your sister?"

"But don't think demons will respect your will and wishes."

"Of course, neither will I!"

"This is reality!"

"Why did you let your sister pin you down just now? Did you think that was protecting her?"

"Why didn't you swing your axe?"

"Why did you turn your back to me?"

"It was because of those mistakes that your sister was taken away!"

"Someone like you might as well die alongside your sister!"

Tanjiro was stunned senseless by Giyu Tomioka's sudden barrage of furious shouts. At a loss, he could only weep.

Even Mu Yu, standing far away, was deeply shaken.

Yet through his powerful Observation Haki, Mu Yu did not sense even a trace of anger from Giyu toward Tanjiro. What he sensed instead was mostly self-reproach.

Tanjiro's weakness and helplessness had reminded Giyu of his own past failures!

Rather than venting his anger on Tanjiro, Giyu was resenting the weakness and helplessness of his former self.

Giyu Tomioka's heart was filled with gentleness, like a warm spring. Mu Yu felt as though he had tasted sweet rain.

[Don't cry. Don't despair. This isn't the time for that. I know you have suffered a tremendous blow. Your family was murdered, and your sister became a demon. It hurts, doesn't it? You want to scream, don't you?]

[I understand. If I had arrived half a day earlier, perhaps your family would not have died!]

[But time cannot be turned back.]

[Be angry. A powerful, pure rage like "unforgivable" will become the firm driving force that pushes you onward.]

[With nothing but a fragile resolve, you cannot protect your sister, cure your sister, or avenge your family.]

With that thought, Giyu raised his sword and stabbed Nezuko.

Mu Yu liked Nezuko very much. Back when he had watched the series, seeing her wounded by Sanemi Shinazugawa, the Wind Hashira, had made him want to kill someone.

He had hated the Wind Hashira ever since, yet when Nezuko was stabbed by Giyu now, Mu Yu felt no anger.

Because Giyu's heart was truly gentle. More than anything, he had wounded Nezuko to provoke Tanjiro and make him pull himself together.

Seeing Nezuko stabbed, Tanjiro immediately became furious.

"Don't!"

Tanjiro grabbed a stone at his side and threw it at Giyu. At the same time, he snatched up his axe and charged at him.

Giyu looked down on such attacks. A simple attack driven by emotion was useless against him.

"Foolish!"

Pitying Tanjiro's misfortune and hating his lack of resolve, Giyu smashed the hilt of his sword directly into Tanjiro's back, knocking him to the ground.

But at that moment, Giyu discovered in surprise that Tanjiro was not holding his axe.

Where had the axe gone?

He had clearly seen Tanjiro charging at him with it raised!

Then Giyu saw, in astonishment, a spinning axe cleaving down from the sky toward his head.

Giyu tilted his head slightly and avoided the descending axe.

But when he caught sight of the axe embedded in the tree trunk behind him, only inches from the back of his head, Giyu was shocked once again.

He had thought Tanjiro was being ruled by emotion and attacking him mindlessly. He had not expected Tanjiro to devise a feint in such a short time.

Tanjiro had thrown the axe into the air when he ran past the tree in Giyu's blind spot. Yet to draw Giyu's attention, he had continued charging with the posture of someone about to swing an axe.

Even getting knocked down by the sword hilt had been intentional!

This boy...

Seeing Tanjiro knocked down, the enraged Nezuko seized an opportunity to break free from Giyu's control and immediately pounced toward Tanjiro.

Giyu inwardly cursed, but just as he thought Tanjiro was about to be eaten by Nezuko, he discovered in disbelief that demonized Nezuko had instead stood in front of Tanjiro like an eagle protecting its young.

Giyu was shaken once more!

A demon was saving a human?!

He had never seen anything like it!

Transforming from a human into a demon consumed an enormous amount of stamina. Nezuko was also injured and had lost a great deal of blood, leaving her completely exhausted.

She should have been ravenously hungry. Hunting and devouring every human in sight should have been her instinct.

Yet Nezuko had restrained that instinct and chosen to protect her brother!

Unbelievable!

Giyu Tomioka's heart wavered. Perhaps this boy and his sister really were different.

Giyu chose... not to kill her!

After a brief clash, Giyu casually knocked Nezuko unconscious with a chop to the neck.

Sensing Giyu's Killing Intent fade, Mu Yu could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Though he already knew how this scene would unfold, experiencing it in person felt entirely different.

The wheel of fate rolled onward. Tanjiro and Nezuko were both safe, so it was time for him to leave!

Shortly after Mu Yu left, Giyu confirmed the thought in his heart once again.

[There truly was an unknown presence!]

[Human? Demon? What an extraordinary method of concealment!]