The Demon Slayers’ Final Selection takes place on Mount Fujikasane.
Here, where wisteria blooms all year round, the demons captured by the Demon Slayers are confined.
Surviving here for seven days is the entire point of the Demon Slayers’ Final Selection.
There’s no need to actively hunt demons. If you simply run and hide well for seven days, you pass the test.
It was a very simple test, and in some ways, it might even seem easy.
...But in truth, it’s probably nothing of the sort.
As the test began and Tatsuo entered the mountain, he looked around and thought.
The demons trapped here probably aren’t being fed separately or anything like that.
They must be starving. The moment they see an examinee, they’ll come charging in without caring about anything else.
Tatsuo started walking. A cool breeze brushed pleasantly past him.
The Demon Slayers’ tradition, carried on for decades. Weak die, and only the strong survive... What a cruel test to have been made by such a man.
As he walked, wondering why Ubuyashiki, who valued life so much, continued to uphold such a test, Tatsuo stopped.
“A fork in the road...”
He muttered the words that had slipped out unconsciously, staring at the three paths that had appeared before him.
Should I head down the center?
According to Ichihana, demons generally tended to travel alone.
Why was that? He didn’t know, but it made him think of territorial animals.
Then there’s a good chance the stronger ones are deeper in the mountain.
The strongest demon was probably holding the center, while the weaker ones pushed out toward the edges.
Or not. It’s not like I know their ecology in detail.
Maybe I should go over there.
He had sensed a presence not too far away for a while now.
The presence had gone from one to two, then back to one again, changing constantly.
Looks like they’ve got the skill to cut down demons easily... Maybe I should go see.
Tatsuo tapped the sword at his waist with his finger as he thought.
“Decided. Might as well go take a look.”
“...And if you’re going to ambush someone, do it properly. You’re too obvious.”
Tatsuo turned his head and spoke over his shoulder.
The being standing right beside him seemed startled and leaped backward.
“How did you see through my stealth!?”
The being Tatsuo had addressed was a demon.
It wore an unusually strange outfit, its entire body wrapped tightly in black cloth.
Tatsuo and the demon glared at each other.
The one who moved first was Tatsuo.
With a faint gust of wind pressure, Tatsuo vanished from the demon’s sight.
“Where do you think you’re running!? Were you that afraid of my stealth!?”
Perhaps irritated that he had been the first to back off, the demon shouted at Tatsuo.
“Hurry and turn arou—”
The demon never finished the sentence.
Its head had been split cleanly in two vertically.
Before long, the demon’s body was cut into several pieces and scattered blood everywhere.
*
“I wasted time on such a worthless one.”
Tatsuo muttered as he ran.
The thing had been following him the whole time, but it was so sloppy he’d left it alone, wondering if it might be some kind of trap.
But that wasn’t it either. It wasn’t a trap, and it wasn’t clever. It was simply something infinitely weaker than him.
There were more weak than strong. It was a fact he had forgotten after meeting interesting opponents so often lately.
“I expected too much.”
Leaving his disappointment behind, Tatsuo dashed onward and soon reached his destination.
The person he had been looking for wasn’t there.
From here on, I’ll walk. I don’t want to cause any unnecessary misunderstanding.
He had stopped at a fair distance because he didn’t want to be mistaken for a demon approaching quickly and create some annoying trouble.
Now then.
Tatsuo began walking.
*
“...But... then... hand... Tanjiro...”
After walking for quite some time, Tatsuo heard someone murmuring.
Judging by the voice, it’s a woman. But what is she muttering about?
Curious, he moved through the trees.
Then a clearing came into view.
In the center of the clearing stood a woman, just as Tatsuo had expected, pacing around with a serious expression as if something was bothering her.
She was quite beautiful.
Her long black hair fell all the way to her waist, glossy and smooth, while her equally black eyes gave off a mysterious air.
Her small frame and delicate face made her look almost like a fairy.
She was the kind of beauty a man would turn to look at at least once, but none of that mattered to Tatsuo.
Hmm...
Tatsuo appraised her.
A little disappointing, but... not bad.
It was the judgment of a man whose standards had risen after all the opponents he’d faced so far.
To Tatsuo, she seemed weaker than Katame.
Still, she looked about the same age as him.
In other words, she still had room to grow.
And even in her current state, she looks like she could handle that trash from earlier pretty easily...
“Eek! Who are you...?”
Tatsuo’s thoughts were cut off midway. The woman had noticed him.
“Um, did you... hear what I was saying just now?”
She asked him carefully, looking uneasy about something.
“I only saw you muttering. I didn’t hear the content. Why? Was it something I shouldn’t have heard?”
“No, no, no. If you didn’t hear it, then it’s fine... absolutely! It wasn’t anything important.”
At Tatsuo’s answer, the woman waved both hands in front of her.
“...”
“...”
For a moment, silence fell between them.
“Um... this is kind of awkward, so should we introduce ourselves?”
“If you want.”
“Yes...”
The woman looked quite flustered by Tatsuo’s blunt reply.
“My name is Kakuro Sana! I studied under Kuwajima Jigoro, the former Thunder Hashira, and I came here to take the Final Selection.”
“I’m Tsunokake Tatsuo. So you’re the disciple of Kuwajima that Ichihana mentioned.”
At Tatsuo’s words, Sana’s eyes went wide.
“You know Kuwajima?”
“No. We’ve never even met.”
“No! Then you should at least use an honorific! You’re way younger than Kuwajima, you know! Besides, Kuwajima is a former Hashira!”
Sana’s voice grew louder than before as she protested at Tatsuo.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Of course, Tatsuo’s attitude didn’t change.
“Grr!! Do you even understand how amazing a Hashira is in the Demon Slayers?”
“I do. That’s why I said it has nothing to do with me. I’m going to become a Hashira.”
“Sigh... I’m sorry, but Tsunokake, you won’t become a Hashira. In fact, you might even lose your life on a mission.”
Sana pressed a hand to her forehead, lowered her head, and let out a sigh before speaking.
“Why do you think that, Kakuro?”
At Sana’s confident-sounding statement, Tatsuo asked.
“...Sorry. Please forget what I just said.”
Perhaps it had slipped out unintentionally, because Sana quickly asked him to forget it.
“Watch out!!”
Sana shouted at Tatsuo.
By then, a black shape had appeared behind him.
The black thing was the demon Tatsuo had killed.
“Kahaha!! You let your guard down! The one you killed earlier was only my clone. The price for underestimating me, Monokage, will be your life!!”
I know.
Tatsuo thought.
He had known all along that the demon he killed earlier had been a clone, and that the real one had been following him in secret.
I even moved slowly and showed openings on purpose so it would keep following me... How frustrating.
Tatsuo thought the words that would have sent Monokage into a fit if he’d heard them.
Tatsuo’s eyes shifted behind him.
The demon had already raised its arm high, ready to attack.
Its fingers had long since turned into blades.
He looked forward again. Kakuro Sana was there.
She had settled into a stance, as if she intended to handle this herself.
She said she was Kuwajima’s disciple, so she must use Thunder Breathing.
Sana’s back leg slid behind her. She lowered her upper body and gripped the sword at her waist.
A textbook drawing stance.
Thunderclap and Flash, huh. The First Form of Thunder Breathing, said to be the fastest among the five fundamental styles.
[Thunder Breathing, First Form - Thunderclap and Flash]
With a light crack of thunder, Sana’s figure vanished.
By the time Tatsuo looked behind him again, he had tracked Sana’s speed with his eyes.
The demon’s head was already severed and rolling across the ground.
“...!!”
The demon blinked in confusion, as if it couldn’t understand what had just happened to it.
Sana, who had cut off its head in the blink of an eye, was back in the same stance as before.
There still seemed to be a faint current running through her body.
“You should be thanking me. If I hadn’t stepped in, you would’ve been done for.”
Sana said, lifting her upper body and looking at Tatsuo.
This is interesting.
Tatsuo thought, feeling a little more intrigued than before.
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