Elsewhere, the moment Mitsuri Kanroji heard the news of their victory, she spun around and threw her arms around Obanai Iguro.
"Obanai-san! Did you hear?! Muzan is dead! Muzan is really dead!"
Her voice broke with tears, but a radiant smile spread across her bloodstained face as they streamed freely down her cheeks.
"This is wonderful!"
Obanai's entire body went rigid at the sudden embrace.
Even with most of his face hidden beneath bandages, the bright flush spreading from his neck all the way to the tips of his ears was impossible to miss.
Kaburamaru, caught between the two of them, flicked his tongue in annoyance but made no attempt to wriggle free.
"I-I heard."
Obanai's voice came out muffled.
He hesitated, slowly raising his arms, but stopped before actually embracing her and instead gave Mitsuri a gentle pat on the back.
"You should let go of me first."
"No!"
Mitsuri only hugged him tighter.
"Let me hold you for a little while! Just a little!"
Obanai froze again.
Delight flickered through his mismatched eyes, and this time he stopped hesitating.
He wrapped both arms firmly around Mitsuri.
As their bodies pressed close together, the beating of their hearts gradually fell into the same rhythm.
...
Kyojuro Rengoku sat cross-legged with both hands resting on his knees, his back perfectly straight.
His chest still ached and his breathing remained somewhat labored, but his eyes shone with astonishing brightness.
"Umu!" he declared, his voice still booming like a bell. "Victory! Muzan has been slain! Now this is a victory worthy of the Demon Slayer Corps!"
He raised his head toward the Kasugai Crows circling overhead and listened to the message they carried, a brilliant smile spreading across his face.
There was no exhaustion in it, no pain, only a passion that burned like an eternal flame.
"Everyone! Excellent work!"
His voice carried across the ruins toward the celebrating Demon Slayers.
"But we cannot rest yet! We still have many wounded who need treatment and a great deal of rubble to clear! Let us keep working!"
"Yes, Lord Flame Hashira!"
Replies immediately rang out from the Demon Slayers nearby.
...
Kanae Kocho stood at the edge of the ruins with one hand pressed against the wound at her waist, a gentle smile on her face as she looked over the injured Demon Slayers around her.
"We'll need to reopen the Butterfly Mansion as soon as possible," she murmured, warmth and determination in her voice.
"There are far too many people who need treatment. We'll have to gather everyone back together—Aoi, Kanao… and prepare enough medicine."
As she was thinking, movement above her caught her attention.
Sanemi Shinazugawa had dropped heavily onto the roof of a nearby wooden house.
The moment he heard the Kasugai Crows announcing Muzan's death, the nerves that had been stretched taut for far too long finally relaxed, and his body could no longer keep standing.
He sat on the rooftop with his one remaining eye fixed on the sky and the crows circling overhead.
For the first time in what felt like forever, a measure of peace appeared on his usually fierce face.
"Finally…"
Sanemi's voice was hoarse with exhaustion.
He lowered his gaze to his scarred, bloodstained hands, his lips twisting into something halfway between a smile and a grimace.
His ruined left eye still throbbed with pain, but he no longer cared.
"It's really over."
He leaned back and simply lay flat on the roof, letting the warm morning sunlight fall across his face.
Alongside the joy of victory, however, an unexpected emptiness rose inside him.
Muzan was dead.
So what was he supposed to do now?
The goal that had driven his entire future was suddenly gone.
Genya's face appeared in his mind.
'Whatever. I guess I'll just follow that brat wherever he goes. I was never much of an older brother anyway.'
Then a gentle voice reached his ears.
"Sanemi-san? Are you lying up here all by yourself, enduring your injuries?"
Sanemi opened his eye.
The moment he saw Kanae standing there, he suddenly felt as though he might have found a reason to keep moving forward after all.
...
Amid the bustling Kakushi, Muichiro Tokito crouched beside a stretcher. One hand held Yuichiro's while the other gently patted his older brother's cheek.
"Brother, wake up."
Victory had brought joy to Muichiro's still-youthful face, but worry for Yuichiro remained clear in his eyes.
"Muzan is dead. We won. If you can hear me, please wake up, okay?"
His voice softened.
"Don't leave me all alone…"
Yuichiro's eyelids twitched almost imperceptibly, though they did not open.
Blood was still seeping through the bandages around his chest, but his breathing had grown much steadier.
Muichiro did not rush him.
He simply remained there, holding his brother's hand and quietly repeating the news of their victory again and again.
...
Tengen Uzui lay on another stretcher, trapped in the embrace of all three of his wives.
Suma was crying uncontrollably, rubbing tears all over his clothes.
Hinatsuru was not crying, but the arms wrapped around him trembled faintly.
Makio looked the calmest, yet she was gripping Tengen's hand harder than either of the others.
"Hey, hey, you three… think you could loosen up a little?"
Tengen's voice was still weak, though his trademark flamboyant tone had already returned.
"I certainly enjoy having all three of you worry over me, but at this rate, I'm going to suffocate."
"No!"
Suma sobbed even harder.
"Tengen-sama, you idiot! Why did you have to push yourself that far?! Flamboyant this, flamboyant that—you almost died!"
Tengen blinked, then chuckled softly.
He raised one hand and gently patted Suma on the head.
"All right, all right. I'm still alive."
His grin widened.
"Flamboyantly alive."
Then he tilted his head back and looked toward the rising sun, a relaxed smile resting on his lips.
"Now this… this is the most flamboyant ending imaginable."
...
On the other side of the ruins, Giyu Tomioka and Sabito exchanged a glance.
Neither said much.
They looked over the wounds covering one another, then found a relatively clean patch of ground and sat down together.
"Hey, Giyu," Sabito said, his voice carrying a rare lightness.
"Mm?"
"After this… want to go back to Mount Sagiri?"
Giyu fell silent for a moment before giving a small nod.
"Yes. I was thinking the same thing."
"What were you thinking? Tell me."
Giyu considered it.
"We could open a dojo. There won't be any more Water Breathing swordsmen who need to kill demons, but there can still be students who learn Master Urokodaki's swordsmanship."
Sabito smiled.
"That's a great idea. Can I come too? I want to be the deputy instructor."
Giyu held out his hand with complete seriousness.
"No. I'm the deputy instructor. You're the head instructor!"
"Huh?"
...
Supported by his two sisters, Kiriya Ubuyashiki stepped out of the wooden house.
His young face was pale, but it carried a composure and relief far beyond his years.
He looked around at the celebrating Demon Slayers, then at the Kakushi busily treating the wounded.
"Kanata. Kuina."
Kiriya turned toward his sisters, and at last, genuine childish excitement entered his voice.
"We won."
Tears immediately spilled down the faces of Kanata and Kuina, but both girls nodded firmly.
"Brother, we won."
Kiriya raised his head toward the Kasugai Crows circling overhead.
For the first time in his life, his body felt astonishingly light.
The curse that had tormented the Ubuyashiki family for a thousand years had quietly disappeared.
"Father… Mother…"
Kiriya looked into the morning sky.
"You saw our victory too, didn't you?"
...
Watching everyone celebrate, Shinobu Kocho rubbed at the corners of her reddened eyes.
Right now, more than anything else in the world, she wanted to find Shinichi—and throw herself straight into his arms.