Chapter Summaries

Rui remembered how Muzan Kibutsuji had turned him into a demon and manipulated him into killing his parents, and he broke down in grief and regret. As Tanjiro comforted him, Kirishima Bupai warned Rui that he had to slit his own throat to avoid being killed by Muzan from afar.

• Rui recalled his sickly childhood, Muzan Kibutsuji transforming him, and his parents’ attempt to kill him before he killed them instead.
• Rui realized Muzan had deceived him and sobbed over the bonds he had severed with his parents.
• Kirishima Bupai returned Tanjiro’s earrings and told Rui that Muzan Kibutsuji was responsible for his suffering.
• Tanjiro held Rui’s cold hands and quietly comforted him, while Nezuko whimpered from her box.
• After Rui’s sobs faded, Kirishima Bupai drove his Nichirin Blade into the ground and ordered Rui to slit his own throat to prevent Muzan from killing him remotely.

Kirishima Bupai ordered Rui to kill himself, and Rui chose to impale himself on a Nichirin Blade, dying beneath its burning heat. Kirishima Bupai then turned his attention to the female demon and demanded that she choose how to die.

• Kirishima Bupai told Rui to use a Nichirin Blade to end his life and suggested he could apologize to his parents in hell.
• Rui bowed to Kirishima Bupai, kicked the blade into a nearby boulder, and hurled himself onto its exposed tip.
• The Nichirin Blade pierced Rui, and he disintegrated into ash as the Bright Red Blade burned him; Rui, Lower Rank Five, perished.
• The female demon reassembled herself and ran to Rui, but Kirishima Bupai ordered her to shut up.
• Kirishima Bupai gave the female demon two choices: crawl to the blade and kill herself, or let him kill her.

Kirishima Bupai and Shinobu Kocho killed the demon, but Shinobu discovered Nezuko hiding in Tanjiro’s box and prepared to act against her. Kirishima Bupai stood between Shinobu and the box, leaving Shinobu questioning why he was protecting a demon.

• Kirishima Bupai urged the terrified demon to kill herself with his Bright Red Blade, but she could not move.
• Shinobu Kocho arrived and poisoned the demon with her butterfly-like attack, killing her after prolonged agony.
• Shinobu Kocho noticed Nezuko peering out from Tanjiro’s wooden box and turned her attention to the hidden demon.
• Tanjiro shielded Nezuko and pleaded with Shinobu Kocho, insisting that Nezuko had never harmed or eaten anyone.
• Kirishima Bupai blocked Shinobu Kocho’s path to the box, and Shinobu questioned why he was protecting a demon.

Kirishima Bupai blocked Shinobu Kocho so Tanjiro could escape with Nezuko, then stopped Shinobu from pursuing them by restraining and humiliating her. Shinobu was left furious and shocked as she struggled against him.

• Kirishima Bupai assured Shinobu Kocho that Nezuko had never killed a human and never would.
• Kirishima Bupai told Tanjiro to flee with Nezuko, and Tanjiro carried her into the forest.
• Shinobu Kocho pursued Tanjiro, but Kirishima Bupai blocked her with his Bright Red Blade.
• Kirishima Bupai caught Shinobu as she tried to leap over him, carved words into his blade, and hurled it into the forest.
• Shinobu attacked Kirishima Bupai with poisoned heel spikes, but he slapped her buttocks, leaving her red-faced and furious.

Kirishima Bupai stopped Shinobu Kocho from pursuing Tanjiro and Nezuko, promising to take responsibility if Nezuko became dangerous. As Tanjiro fled through the forest with Nezuko, Kanao Tsuyuri intercepted him and aimed her poisoned blade at the box, just as a roaring figure burst from the bushes.

• Kirishima Bupai restrained Shinobu Kocho and urged her to give Tanjiro and Nezuko a chance, promising he would kill Nezuko himself if necessary.
• Shinobu Kocho escaped his loosened grip, scolded him for his conduct, and realized he had arranged backup for the siblings.
• Tanjiro raced through the forest carrying Nezuko, but dodged a sudden blade that nearly struck his head.
• Kanao Tsuyuri appeared above Tanjiro and thrust her poisoned blade toward the box containing Nezuko.
• A figure burst through the bushes with a roar and charged toward Tanjiro and Kanao Tsuyuri.

Inosuke interrupted Kanao Tsuyuri’s attack on Tanjiro and Nezuko’s box, and Tanjiro tried to stop her with a headbutt. Inosuke’s grab sent Kanao stumbling into Tanjiro’s chest, leaving Tanjiro horrified and apologizing.

• Inosuke charged Kanao Tsuyuri with scarlet broken blades, then crashed into a tree and challenged her again.
• Kanao targeted Nezuko’s box, but Inosuke interrupted her attack and was wounded while parrying her sword.
• Tanjiro shoved the box aside and charged Kanao with a headbutt as she tried to retreat.
• Inosuke grabbed Kanao from behind to stop her escape, but his tug made her stumble forward.
• Tanjiro’s head struck Kanao’s chest, and he sprang back in embarrassment and apologized.

A Kasugai Crow delivered Oyakata-sama’s order to capture Tanjiro Kamado and Nezuko Kamado alive and bring them to headquarters, ending the fighting at Spider Mountain. Shinobu Kocho and Kirishima Bupai set off for headquarters, where a Hashira Meeting was expected soon.

• Tanjiro apologized frantically after colliding with Kanao, while Kanao and Inosuke stared in confusion.
• A Kasugai Crow announced Oyakata-sama’s order to capture Tanjiro and Nezuko alive and bring them to headquarters.
• Kanao sheathed her poisoned blade and accepted the order, while Inosuke questioned whether the fight was over.
• Another Kasugai Crow repeated the order to Shinobu Kocho and Kirishima Bupai.
• Shinobu and Kirishima agreed to obey the order and left for headquarters, expecting a Hashira Meeting soon.

Kirishima Bupai arrived at the Hashira Meeting and asked the other Hashira to trust him about Nezuko, insisting she had never harmed anyone and would not do so. Sanemi Shinazugawa rejected his claim and confronted him as Tanjiro and Nezuko’s box were brought before the group.

• Kirishima Bupai spent points on pig's trotter rice and ate behind a tree before the Hashira Meeting began.
• Mitsuri Kanroji praised Kirishima Bupai, and he teased Obanai Iguro about his feelings for her.
• Shinobu Kocho hinted that Kirishima Bupai had attacked her during their mission, embarrassing him in front of the Hashira.
• Kakushi brought Tanjiro and the bound Inosuke to the meeting while Sanemi Shinazugawa carried Nezuko's wooden box.
• Kirishima Bupai defended Nezuko as a demon who had never harmed anyone, but Sanemi Shinazugawa called the claim ridiculous.

Kirishima Bupai proposed testing whether Nezuko could resist Sanemi Shinazugawa’s Marechi, and Sanemi agreed to lure her out with his blood. Nezuko recoiled in fear and hid from its scent, leaving Sanemi shocked and furious that she had not attacked him.

• Kirishima Bupai suggested moving Nezuko’s box into the shade and using Sanemi Shinazugawa’s blood to test her.
• Sanemi cut his arm with his Nichirin Blade and held his bleeding arm near the box to tempt Nezuko.
• Nezuko emerged but covered her eyes and nose, trembling as she retreated from the scent of Sanemi’s blood.
• Sanemi pulled back his arm and shouted that Nezuko was pretending, stunned that she had resisted Marechi.

Kagaya Ubuyashiki stopped Sanemi Shinazugawa from attacking Nezuko and ruled that Tanjiro and Nezuko would be observed as special members of the Demon Slayer Corps. Kirishima Bupai backed Kagaya’s decision, though Sanemi remained furious as the meeting ended.

• Sanemi Shinazugawa tried to strike Nezuko, but Kagaya Ubuyashiki arrived and halted his blade with his voice.
• Kagaya Ubuyashiki heard the Hashira argue that Nezuko should be executed, while Tanjiro feared for his sister.
• Kagaya Ubuyashiki declared that he believed Nezuko would never eat humans and asked Kirishima Bupai for his opinion.
• Kirishima Bupai agreed with Kagaya and said Nezuko’s willpower and Tanjiro’s support enabled her resistance to demonic instincts.
• Kagaya Ubuyashiki placed Tanjiro and Nezuko under observation as special members of the Demon Slayer Corps and urged the Hashira to focus on Muzan Kibutsuji.
• After Kagaya Ubuyashiki left, the Kakushi freed Tanjiro, and Sanemi Shinazugawa angrily departed.

Several days after the Hashira Meeting, Tanjiro and Zenitsu recovered in the Butterfly Mansion ward while Inosuke fretted over his missing chocolate. Murata arrived shaken from facing the Hashira, and Kirishima Bupai entered with an overwhelming presence.

• Inosuke counted the chocolate wrappers and insisted that one was missing, though he had eaten the chocolates himself.
• Tanjiro smelled the chocolate wrappers, and Inosuke bragged that Kirishima Bupai had given him the treats.
• Murata entered the ward and told Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke that reporting to the ten Hashira had terrified him.
• Kirishima Bupai entered the ward, and Murata called him the Void Hashira.

Kirishima Bupai questioned Murata about his unclear report on Mount Natagumo, but Inosuke’s bizarre counting convinced Shinobu Kocho and Aoi Kanzaki that he needed medical observation. Inosuke was sedated and taken away for examination.

• Kirishima Bupai pressed Murata to clarify his report about a suspected second member of the Twelve Kizuki on Mount Natagumo, but Murata could barely speak.
• Inosuke sniffed the chocolate and cola in Kirishima Bupai’s pocket, prompting Kirishima Bupai to kick him back onto his bed.
• Inosuke proudly counted nine chocolate wrappers as eight and insisted his eyes and mind had recovered.
• Shinobu Kocho and Aoi Kanzaki watched Inosuke’s behavior with concern, and Aoi sedated him.
• Shinobu Kocho ordered Aoi to take Inosuke to an observation room and postpone his rehabilitation training.

Shinobu Kocho gave Kirishima Bupai a lunch box and chided him for forgetting it, while Muzan Kibutsuji summoned the Lower Rank demons to judge their usefulness. Muzan killed Koyuki, leaving the remaining demons terrified.

• Shinobu Kocho handed Kirishima Bupai his forgotten lunch and warned him to get his head examined.
• Wakuraba, Koyuki, Kamanue, Enmu, and Crossing Dream gathered in Infinity Castle, where the Upper Ranks were absent.
• Muzan Kibutsuji appeared in a woman's form and demanded to know whether the Lower Rank demons were still useful.
• Muzan questioned Koyuki about killing Hashira and finding clues to the Blue Spider Lily.
• Muzan called Koyuki useless and killed her, terrifying Wakuraba and Kamanue.

Muzan spared Kamanue after Crossing Dream and Enmu persuaded her to send them after the silver-haired man, the hanafuda-earringed boy, and the demon in the box. Alone in the Infinity Castle, Muzan was shaken by the man’s words, “What do you take life for?!” and wondered who he was and how he knew them.

• Muzan killed Wakuraba and prepared to kill Kamanue for his failure to report what happened at Mount Natagumo.
• Crossing Dream defended Kamanue, and Enmu joined him in praising Muzan and offering to investigate the anomaly.
• Crossing Dream identified the silver-haired man in sunglasses and a black haori, prompting Muzan to order him and Enmu to find the man and eliminate the boy with hanafuda earrings and the demon in the box.
• Muzan gave Enmu and Crossing Dream her blood to strengthen them, then dismissed them and allowed Kamanue to leave.
• Alone, Muzan trembled as Rui’s memories replayed the silver-haired man asking, “What do you take life for?!”
• Muzan was haunted by the question and saw visions of Yoriichi and the doctor she had killed.

Kirishima Bupai received orders to investigate a wave of disappearances and attacks involving several trains and stations. He set out for East Junction Terminal, then paused at a tavern to read about the authorities’ response.

• A Kasugai Crow warned Kirishima Bupai that multiple trains had attacked passengers and staff, with more than six hundred people dead or missing.
• Kirishima Bupai read the Corps’ orders to investigate East Junction Terminal, identify the demon, and rescue any captured Corps members.
• The chapter revealed that Lower Rank One, Enmu, and Lower Rank Two, Crossing Dream, were behind the attacks, with Crossing Dream’s Blood Demon Art turning trains and stations into deadly traps.
• Kirishima Bupai headed toward the station area and remarked that he wanted to see what the “outstanding employee” had been doing.
• Kirishima Bupai read a newspaper at a tavern reporting the disappearances and warning the public to report suspicious sword-bearing individuals.

Kirishima Bupai learned that Inspector Inoue was using the authorities to arrest people, then discovered that he and Tanjiro, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira had been framed as wanted criminals. The chapter ended as guards spotted the group’s wanted posters and rushed to catch them at the train station.

• Kirishima Bupai heard tavern patrons say Inspector Inoue had been arresting strong, healthy people who then disappeared, including Demon Slayer Corps members.
• Kirishima Bupai saw a wanted poster naming him a Class-A felon and listing fabricated crimes, then found his face plastered across the city.
• Kirishima Bupai reached Central Train Station and saw Tanjiro, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira named as his accomplices.
• Guards shouted that they had found the people on the wanted posters and rushed into the station hall.

Tanjiro, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira escaped the guards by boarding a departing train, while Kirishima Bupai planned to confront Inspector Inoue before following them. At the deserted station, Kirishima boarded the only train he could find, and its conductor hinted that the wanted posters were part of an “if you know, you know” arrangement.

• Tanjiro, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira dodged the guards and escaped aboard the departing train.
• Kirishima Bupai watched the train leave and decided to visit Inspector Inoue before pursuing the boys.
• After nightfall, Kirishima boarded an empty dark green train at the deserted station.
• The conductor found Kirishima in the carriage and explained that the wanted posters were an “if you know, you know” matter.
• Kirishima asked what the conductor meant.

Kirishima Bupai learned that Inspector Inoue was using false charges and arrests to remove people, then discovered that the Mugen Train was being serviced in a nearby depot. He infiltrated the maintenance shed and approached the foreman, but a scream rang out from inside a carriage.

• The conductor told Kirishima Bupai that Inspector Inoue had been arresting people at random and that many detainees never returned.
• The conductor pointed Kirishima Bupai toward the Mugen Train's maintenance shed, and Kirishima leapt from the carriage to reach it.
• The conductor tore down the wanted notice and threw it into the night.
• Kirishima Bupai entered the brightly lit depot and claimed he was checking maintenance work for the Logistics Support Department.
• The foreman said workers had fled because they believed the depot was haunted, then a piercing scream came from near an open carriage.

Kirishima Bupai rescued a maintenance worker from Ripper, the Bento Terminator, and effortlessly crippled the demon. As Demon Slayer Corps reinforcements arrived, Ripper regenerated his limbs, but Kirishima Bupai slammed him headfirst into the workshop floor.

• Kirishima Bupai found Ripper holding a young maintenance worker by the throat and sliced off the demon’s four limbs, freeing the worker.
• Ripper threatened Kirishima Bupai and boasted about torturing Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen, while Kirishima Bupai asked what he took life for.
• A group of Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen arrived and reported that Lower Rank Two, Crossing Dream, had infiltrated the Mugen Train area.
• Ripper regenerated his arms and legs, but Kirishima Bupai struck him into a crater in the concrete, leaving his body stuck headfirst in the floor.

Kirishima Bupai had the Demon Slayer Corps bind the Ripper to the tracks, then kicked a broken thousand-ton locomotive into motion to crush him. After the train ran over the demon, Kirishima claimed he had not seen him and stopped the locomotive by kicking it backward, leaving the stunned witnesses staring.

• Kirishima Bupai ordered the Demon Slayer Corps members to pull the Ripper from the pit and chain him to the tracks.
• Kirishima Bupai learned that an aging freight locomotive had working wheels but a broken power furnace.
• Kirishima Bupai kicked the locomotive into motion and rode it toward the Ripper bound to the rails.
• The locomotive crushed the Ripper, and Kirishima Bupai claimed he had mistaken him for a pebble.
• Kirishima Bupai kicked the locomotive's front buffer and forced the thousand-ton train to reverse.