Kiyohiko: I Knew I Wasn't Hated After All

After they passed through the last stretch of dark woods, the view suddenly opened up.

Morning sunlight filtered through cascading branches of wisteria, and the air was thick with a dizzying floral fragrance. This was forbidden ground for demons, and the path to survival for humans.

When Tanjiro and the others entered this sea of wisteria, the Ubuyashiki twins who had been waiting there-black-haired Kiriya Ubuyashiki and white-haired Kanata Ubuyashiki-turned around expressionlessly.

The moment Tanjiro stepped onto the stone stairs, the previously calm twins suddenly frowned in unison. Their gazes, like two icy blades, fixed on Tanjiro's back.

"Welcome back, everyone."

"Congratulations on safely passing the Final Selection."

The two spoke in unison, their childish voices completely flat. But in the next second, their tone changed:

"However, the red-haired swordsman must stop."

"This is Mount Fujikasane. Unclean things are forbidden from entering."

"Please behead the demon on your back, or throw him back into the mountain. Those are the rules."

Those words were like a boulder thrown into a tranquil lake.

"Even if you're joking, that's going too far!"

A fierce-looking boy with a mohawk-Genya Shinazugawa-angrily shoved his way through the crowd. He stared hard at the crude wooden box on Tanjiro's back, which was tightly wrapped in strips of cloth and clothing, and sniffed. "Ah... it really is the stink of a demon. Hey, are you crazy? Bringing your prey here?"

As he spoke, his large, rough hand came to rest on his sword hilt, killing intent plain in his eyes.

At the same time, Kanao Tsuyuri, on the other side, also turned and stared straight at Tanjiro. No one knew what she was thinking.

The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing.

"I won't give him up!"

Tanjiro jerked his head up and reached back with both hands to shield the person on his back, unprecedented stubbornness burning in his eyes.

"He's not prey! He saved our lives! Without him, at least half the people here wouldn't have made it back!"

"A demon saving people? Unheard of."

The Ubuyashiki twins remained cold. "Rules are rules. The Demon Slayer Corps exists to slay demons. If you persist in this, you will lose your eligibility to join and be treated as a traitor who aided a demon."

"Then cut me down too!"

A furious shout broke the stalemate.

The young swordsman whose leg had been broken earlier strode forward and stood in front of Tanjiro. "He's the one who healed my leg! If he's a demon, then what does that make me, someone a demon saved? A demon's lackey?!"

"Me too."

The female swordsman also stepped forward silently. "He gave me these eyes. I can't let him die like this."

"I'm really scared of dying... but..."

Zenitsu looked ready to cry. Though he was trembling, he planted himself firmly behind Tanjiro, facing Genya Shinazugawa. "If I let a little kid like him get killed, Grandpa will beat my butt raw! He definitely will!"

One, two, three...

The swordsmen Kiyohiko had treated stood with their backs to Tanjiro, forming an ironclad circle around little Kiyohiko, who lay unconscious at the very center.

[System notification: Bond event complete!]

Event: [Through Life and Death Together · Final Selection]

Rewards:

[Slight increase to all attributes]

[Basic Swordsmanship Mastery]

[Passive · Foodie (Eating food can alleviate the side effects of regeneration)]

Kiyohiko would never have imagined that the people he had saved would now choose, just like Tanjiro and Zenitsu, to stand on his side and protect him with their lives.

They too were people of flesh and blood, with thoughts of their own.

Genya Shinazugawa froze, his hand on his sword going rigid in midair. He cursed, "Huh? Have these people all gone crazy?"

Not far away, Kanao Tsuyuri, the girl who had been silent all this time, playing with a coin, also stopped what she was doing. For the first time, a ripple of "confusion" passed through her vacant purple eyes.

The Ubuyashiki twins exchanged a glance.

Such collective defiance had never happened in the Demon Slayer Corps' hundreds of years of history.

A crack finally appeared in their doll-like, exquisitely crafted expressions.

"The situation is abnormal."

"Unable to rule."

The black-haired child raised a hand, and a black Kasugai Crow fluttered down onto her arm.

"Send word to the Master at once. An 'anomaly' has appeared at the end of Mount Fujikasane. Several successful candidates are protecting him with their lives. Please ask Oyakata-sama to decide."

The Kasugai Crow cawed twice, seemingly frightened by the strange atmosphere as well, then spread its wings and soared into the sky.

Ubuyashiki Estate

Sunlight filtered through layers of leaves, falling on a blind young man. His forehead bore marks that looked as though a curse had eaten away at it, but his expression was calmer and gentler than the surface of a lake in spring.

Kagaya Ubuyashiki gently raised a hand, letting the Kasugai Crow, weary from its long journey, perch on his fingertip.

"Is that so... Twelve children survived?"

His voice was as gentle as a breeze soothing a wound, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly in a smile of heartfelt relief.

"In past years, it was fortunate if even two or three survived, but this year there are twelve... cough, cough..."

He coughed lightly twice, and the white-haired child beside him hurriedly rubbed his back.

"And there's also a demon who saved people..."

Kagaya's sightless eyes seemed to pierce the void and glimpse an unknown possibility.

"Those children, protecting him... What... kind and strong children they are."

"Since the children are willing to do this, that demon must have some 'humanity' we don't know about. Don't hurt him for now. Take him to Shinobu."

"Perhaps Shinobu will be interested in him. I hope he wakes up safely."