Three or four days had passed since the Hashira Meeting ended, and the uproar over their wanting to kill Nezuko had also died down.
Early the next morning-
The faint scents of disinfectant and medicinal herbs filled the Butterfly Mansion's ward.
Compared with the clamor of battle, it was especially peaceful now.
Among the three hospital beds, Tanjiro and Zenitsu Agatsuma were both sound asleep, their soft snores rising and falling in turn.
Inosuke alone was an exception. His muscular torso bare, wearing only hospital pants below, he lay facedown on his bed in an extremely awkward position.
His trademark boar mask lay crookedly beside his pillow.
Without the mask to conceal it, his sharply defined face, now full of confusion and defiance, was exposed to the morning light.
Scattered across the white bedsheet before him were nine brightly colored plastic wrappers printed with letters and patterns he could not understand.
They were from the chocolates Kirishima Bupai had given him earlier on Spider Mountain. Now only the wrappers remained.
Staring at those wrappers, Inosuke knotted his brows and carefully poked at the empty packaging with his thick fingers.
"One..." His fingertip jabbed hard at the first.
"A pair..." The second.
"Two..." He paused, then moved his finger to the third after deciding nothing was wrong.
"Three!"
"Four!"
"Five!"
"Six!"
"Seven!"
"Eight!"
After counting the ninth, he jerked his head up, his eyes filled with deep bewilderment and a trace of frustration. "Eight! There are eight!"
He muttered under his breath as though trying to convince himself. "But..."
Scratching irritably at his tangled hair, Inosuke looked utterly baffled. "Why do I keep feeling like I counted nine before?"
"Which bastard stole one? No, I ate them all myself... I'm not stupid! Something's gotta be wrong!"
Tanjiro and Zenitsu had actually