"So what now? What am I supposed to do next? Where's my sword?"
After hearing the two children speak, a boy with dark, cockscomb-like hair and a scar stretching from his right cheek to the bridge of his nose spoke impatiently to them.
The two children ignored him and continued addressing the surviving swordsmen.
"The organization will first prepare uniforms for all of you. After your measurements are taken, your rank will be embroidered onto the uniform.
Within the Corps, there are ten ranks in total: Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoe, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, Tsuchinoto, Kanoe, Kanoto, Mizunoe, and Mizunoto. All of you are currently at the lowest rank—Mizunoto."
"And the sword?" the cockscomb-haired boy asked again.
"The organization will have you personally select the steel for your blade today," the white-haired child replied.
"After ten to fifteen days, your sword will be completed."
He then continued, "In addition, we will immediately assign each of you your own Kasugai Crow."
As soon as he finished speaking, a flock of cawing crows descended from the sky, landing on the arms of the swordsmen. Kazuki received his own Kasugai Crow as well.
There was only one exception.
What Zenitsu received… was a sparrow.
Staring at the small sparrow perched on his arm, Zenitsu froze. He turned to the white-haired child in disbelief and complained, "Huh? You said crow, right? This is clearly a sparrow!"
The sparrow chirped once, sounding rather displeased.
"Kasugai Crows are messenger birds used to convey information," the black-haired child continued explaining to the group.
Kazuki glanced at the crow standing on his arm and felt quite satisfied.
He had seen Rengoku's Kasugai Crow during his sword training and knew that these crows could speak and were extremely intelligent—very convenient for relaying messages.
Not everyone shared that satisfaction.
The cockscomb-haired boy suddenly slapped his Kasugai Crow away. The crow let out a pained "Caw!" as it was sent flying.
"I don't care about some stupid crow!" the boy shouted furiously at the two children.
"What I want is a sword! Do you understand?!"
As he yelled, he swung a punch toward the white-haired child.
Kazuki noticed the movement instantly and grabbed the boy's wrist.
"Didn't they explain it clearly already?" Kazuki said calmly, looking at him.
"Your sword will be completed in ten to fifteen days."
He couldn't stand seeing someone bully the weak.
"What does this have to do with you?! Let go of me!" the boy roared, his face twisted with anger.
Kazuki flung his hand away and stepped in front of the two children. The boy was sent stumbling back several steps by the force.
"I'd advise you to calm down," Kazuki said.
He hadn't seen this person before, but anyone who survived the seven days on their own clearly had some ability. Still, that was no excuse for acting so arrogantly. If the boy insisted on continuing, Kazuki didn't mind teaching him a lesson.
"Picking on kids is pretty pathetic, you know."
"Yeah, they already explained everything clearly."
At that point, the other swordsmen gradually gathered around, voicing their disapproval. Almost all of them had been saved at some point during the Final Selection by Kazuki's group.
Meanwhile, Zenitsu picked up the crow that had been slapped away and gently comforted it.
"Tch."
Seeing that nearly everyone was displeased with him, the cockscomb-haired boy said nothing more, turning his head away in silence.
"Thank you," the white-haired child said to Kazuki.
Kazuki waved his hand, indicating it was nothing.
"Everyone, please choose the steel that will be used to forge your personal sword," the black-haired child announced.
On the table beside her lay many pieces of steel, each different in shape and size.
Kazuki looked over the materials and noticed that within them glowed a light resembling the sun.
So this is the Scarlet Crimson Ore Rengoku-sensei mentioned…
Absorbing the power of sunlight after long exposure?
As he thought this, Kazuki stepped forward and selected the piece of ore with the most intense inner glow.
Before long, all the swordsmen had made their selections. Though more than half had survived, there were still only a little over a dozen people left.
The swordsmen began leaving one after another. Before departing, most of them came over to thank Kazuki and the others.
"Are you two leaving as well?" Kazuki asked Agatsuma Zenitsu and Kamado Tanjiro.
"Yeah. I'm heading back to Urokodaki-san's place," Tanjiro replied with a smile.
During the seven days together, Kazuki had learned that Urokodaki was Tanjiro's mentor.
"I'm going back to Grandpa Kuwajima's too," Zenitsu said tearfully.
"After this, I'll probably have to go on demon-slaying missions alone… and I might die any day now. So this might be our final farewell!"
His entire body radiated fear and despair.
"That won't happen," Tanjiro said gently. "Zenitsu, you're really strong."
"Not at all!!!" Zenitsu shrieked.
"I'm pathetically weak! The only reason I passed the Final Selection was because I got lucky and met Kazuki! If I had to fight alone, I'd have been dead long ago! Once I'm on solo missions, I'll definitely get killed by a demon right away!"
Rather than being comforted, Zenitsu only grew more frantic, screaming and hopping around.
Kazuki could only feel helpless watching him. From what he had seen, Zenitsu was clearly among the strongest of the Final Selection candidates—he just had no idea why the boy was always this cowardly.
After chatting a bit more, the three finally parted ways.
Kanao's already gone…
Looks like I'll be heading back alone.
After separating from Tanjiro and Zenitsu, Kazuki realized that Kanao had already left as well. He turned and began making his way back along the path they had come from.
—
At the Ubuyashiki Estate, Ubuyashiki Kagaya sat on the steps, listening to the Kasugai Crow's report on the Final Selection.
"Thirteen survivors… I see. Rengoku's tsuguko is truly exceptional," he murmured.
"It seems the Demon Slayer Corps may soon gain another Hashira. How exciting…"
After hearing the report, Kagaya spoke softly to himself.
—
Upon returning to the Demon Slayer Corps estate, Kazuki immediately went to find Rengoku Kyojuro to share the good news. Fortunately, Rengoku hadn't left on a mission yet.
"Rengoku-sensei! I passed the Final Selection!"
Kazuki excitedly pushed open the door to the Corps' dining hall and shouted—only to freeze at the sight before him.
The table was piled high with bowls. Rengoku sat in the middle of it all, chopsticks in hand, focused entirely on devouring the rice bowls before him, loudly shouting as he ate:
"Delicious! Delicious!"
Beside the table, a girl with twin ponytails and a butterfly hairpin was carrying dishes over. Even just that much had her drenched in sweat.
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