"Too much talk."
Roy's hand flashed. His blade pierced straight through Dohihara's skull.
He shook off the brain matter, letting it splatter into the snow, then turned his cold gaze on Tanjiro. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"I know."
"If you know, why didn't you act?"
Tanjiro's voice wavered. "I... don't know."
Roy yanked the axe free and pressed it against his brother's neck. The blade kissed Tanjiro's carotid artery—five more millimeters and it would break skin, sever the vessel, and end his life.
"Don't know? Perfect."
Roy's laugh was bitter.
"In that case, rather than watch you get eaten by a demon next time, I think it's better to kill you now. At least I can leave you with an intact corpse."
Sympathizing with demons—who did Tanjiro think he was?
In the original story, this same hesitation nearly made Sakonji Urokodaki give up on him. Now, Roy felt that brain-splattered Dohihara had said one thing right.
Bleeding hearts deserve to have blades pointed at them.
"I just... thought he was pitiful."
"Was that man whose organs were ripped out in the temple not pitiful? What about all the people this demon's eaten over the years—aren't they pitiful?"
Roy's fury erupted. His hand tightened on the axe handle. Then he spun it and swung the flat side at Tanjiro's face.
CRACK
The blow sent Tanjiro flying ten meters. He crashed into a tree trunk and slid down, leaving a smear of blood on the bark.
"Remember what I said. If there's a next time, if the demon doesn't kill you, I will."
Roy sheathed the axe at his waist, shouldered his basket, and walked into the shrine. A small oil lamp inside painted his silhouette in flickering orange.
Tanjiro sat slumped against the tree. His right cheek had swollen grotesquely, but he felt nothing. Only emptiness as he stared at Roy's retreating figure.
When he was young, Father Tanjuro always taught him to maintain a kind heart. To help those in need when possible. But today, his kindness had been misplaced.
Demons were demons. Humans were humans. When prey sympathizes with the hunter, it seeks its own death.
Dohihara's corpse lost brain control and crumbled to ash. The snow fell heavier, blanketing everything in cold white silence.
After a long while, Tanjiro came back to his senses. The burning pain in his cheek finally registered.
Thanks to the Zoldyck family's harsh training, Roy knew exactly how to hit people—injuring only skin and flesh without damaging bone or tendon. Though Tanjiro looked pitiful, he was actually fine.
He climbed up from the ground and knelt in the snow facing the shrine, shouting his repentance.
He was still young. There was room for reform. If an adult had shown such weakness, Roy would have killed them without a second word to avoid being dragged down.
Without even glancing over, Roy snorted. "Do I need to come out and help you up? Can't you crawl in yourself?"
He removed his basket and found a broom near the door, beginning to clean the shrine's corpse and bloodstains.
Once "pardoned," Tanjiro breathed a long sigh of relief. He hurried to Roy's side and snatched the broom from his hands with an ingratiating smile. "Let me do it. You go rest."
"Don't worry, I promise to clean the shrine spotlessly. Not a trace of bloody smell."
Roy trusted Tanjiro's sharp nose. Since he volunteered, he simply gave him a chance to prove himself.
Until the young man walked behind the statue.
Bones. Piled into a small mountain.
Only then did he truly understand why Roy wouldn't give Dohihara even a sliver of mercy.
These demons—every single one of them—deserved death.
"And I actually believed that bastard's lies."
Tanjiro's expression twisted with self-loathing. If he could, he would return to minutes ago and slap himself for his misplaced compassion.
But time couldn't be reversed. Just as these bones could never be brought back to life.
Roy had already seen this scene through Gyo.
He said nothing, his heart like tonight's moon covered by clouds—cast in thick shadow.
The Zoldyck family killed people too. Grandfather Zeno even killed daily, far more than Dohihara ever had. But whether Zeno, Father Silva, or the old man Roy had ever seen them act, they all chose to give assassination targets "a quick end." Painless. Clean.
But this pile of bones was different.
Roy could barely imagine the pain and despair of being eaten alive.
Wearing those earrings symbolizing sun and mountains, he stood silently. Then he moved again. Passing his basket, he pulled out the hoe and walked toward the shrine's exit.
Father Tanjuro had noticed the hoe was dull and specifically instructed him to find a blade sharpener. Now it came in handy.
Hearing footsteps, Tanjiro turned. Seeing the hoe on his shoulder, he realized what Roy intended. He picked up the oil lamp and silently followed.
The brothers circled around and found an open space behind the shrine connecting to the mountain. Braving wind and snow, they dug.
Soon, they brought the pile of bones out and buried them in the pit.
By now the snow had grown to goose-feather size.
By the oil lamp's dim yellow light, Tanjiro murmured, "Please, Fire God, bless these poor souls to be reborn in paradise and reincarnated soon."
After Roy filled in the last handful of earth, he stopped. Tanjiro carefully asked, "Shall we go inside?"
Roy leaned on the hoe, standing in the wind and snow, quietly looking at the grave mound without speaking.
But his eyes, in a place Tanjiro couldn't perceive, were covered with a layer of milky-white Nen.
A moment later, a mass of pale energy floated out from the grave mound—barely visible, like breath in cold air.
Tanjiro couldn't see it at all.
Only then did he hear his brother cup his hands toward the grave. "Forgive me for meeting you in this manner. I am Kamado Eiichiro. May I ask your name, sir?"
"This humble one is Nanno Hiroshi, residing in Konaide Village below Mount Sagiri. I express gratitude for Lord Eiichiro's revenge on my behalf."
A cold wind blew up, rolling snow across Tanjiro's face. He rubbed his eyes and looked over in bewilderment.
Roy gently touched his forehead, using his body as a medium to transfer a layer of aura that attached to his amber eyes.
Only then did the foolish little brother notice—right beside his feet, a blurry human figure faced Roy, prostrating himself, forehead pressed to snow, kowtowing.
"Isn't that the man whose organs were ripped out by the demon?"
Tanjiro cried out in shock.
That's right—it was the man eaten by the demon. He was appearing for the first time in Roy's life in the form of post-mortem Nen.