After burying the fallen swordsman, Chiba Yang continued searching through Mount Fujikasane together with Zenitsu Agatsuma.
"Can you hear any other demons nearby?" Chiba Yang asked as they walked.
From what had happened earlier, he had already realized that Zenitsu possessed hearing far beyond that of ordinary people. Sometimes he could even locate demons just by listening.
Zenitsu shook his head.
At that moment, a swordsman suddenly burst out of the forest ahead of them, panic written all over his face. He kept glancing nervously over his shoulder.
"Get out of the way!"
When he saw Chiba Yang and Zenitsu, he shouted and shoved them aside before continuing to run forward.
As he rushed past them, Chiba Yang heard him muttering under his breath.
"A demon that has eaten fifty people… How could we possibly defeat something like that?"
"Fifty… fifty people?!"
Zenitsu had naturally heard the same words.
His face immediately turned pale with terror.
"Yang, you're not thinking about fighting that demon, are you? That thing has eaten fifty people! It's completely different from those demons that have only eaten two or three! It must be incredibly strong! We should stay far away from here, okay?"
"Let's go," Chiba Yang said.
Then he immediately ran toward the direction the fleeing swordsman had come from, completely ignoring Zenitsu's attempt to stop him.
"Ahhh—I knew it would be like this! Wait for me, Yang!"
Zenitsu grabbed his hair in frustration before chasing after him.
After pushing through the dense trees, the only thing Chiba Yang saw was a massive green hand slowly turning into ash.
Judging from the size of the hand alone, the demon's body must have been enormous.
So it's already been defeated… probably by that boy.
Chiba Yang stopped running.
Not far ahead stood a red-haired boy who had just sheathed his Nichirin Blade.
However, something happened that Chiba Yang did not expect.
The red-haired boy walked over to the giant hand and gently held it.
Then he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the back of the demon's hand as if praying.
"Hey… what are you doing?" Chiba Yang asked angrily.
"Are you pitying a demon?"
Demons had slaughtered countless people and destroyed countless families.
What possible reason could there be to feel sympathy for such creatures?
Hearing his voice, the red-haired boy turned around.
Chiba Yang noticed the scar on his forehead and the compassionate expression on his face.
"These demons were once human too," Tanjiro Kamado said softly.
By this time, the last remaining hand of the demon had completely turned into ash.
"But after becoming demons, they killed countless people and destroyed countless homes," Chiba Yang replied coldly.
"The one you just pitied must have eaten many people too."
He could not understand the boy's actions at all.
"I know that," Tanjiro said.
"That's why I never hesitate when I kill them."
"But they might not have chosen to become demons. They're victims as well."
"I could smell sorrow from him."
Tanjiro's explanation did not convince Chiba Yang.
Rengoku had already told him that all demons were created by the progenitor demon, Muzan Kibutsuji.
But in Chiba Yang's mind, once a demon had eaten humans, it had already lost any claim to innocence.
Such creatures deserved to be sent straight to hell.
His own past made it impossible for him to feel sympathy toward demons.
"I can't understand that," Chiba Yang said quietly, shaking his head.
Even though he disagreed with Tanjiro's feelings toward demons, the boy had still killed the demon.
There was nothing more he could say.
Just then, an untimely sound broke the silence.
Zenitsu's stomach growled loudly.
At the same time, the eastern horizon began to glow faintly with the first light of dawn.
"Yang… I'm so hungry," Zenitsu said weakly, tugging on Chiba Yang's sleeve.
"Let's find something to eat."
Chiba Yang glanced at the brightening sky.
"Alright. Once the sun rises, the demons will hide anyway. There won't be any more hunting tonight."
Just as he and Zenitsu were about to leave to search for food, a voice called out behind them.
"Um… if you don't mind, I have some rice cakes here. We could share them."
Chiba Yang turned around.
The red-haired boy was holding several rice cakes in his hand, offering them with a gentle smile.
"Really?! Thank you so much!"
Zenitsu immediately rushed forward and grabbed one.
He began eating frantically.
"We've been walking all night without resting at all! I was starving!"
"That must have been exhausting," Tanjiro said kindly. "If it isn't enough, I still have more."
Then he picked up another rice cake and handed it to Chiba Yang.
"Ah… thank you."
Chiba Yang accepted it somewhat awkwardly, unsure what to say.
He looked down at the rice cake in his hand.
Then he looked back at Tanjiro's warm smile.
The slight irritation he had felt earlier instantly disappeared.
He's such a kind person…
Chiba Yang thought silently.
Zenitsu spoke while chewing.
"What's your name?"
"Tanjiro Kamado," the red-haired boy replied. "What about you?"
"My name is Zenitsu Agatsuma," Zenitsu said proudly.
"And this is my friend I just met—Chiba Yang."
Chiba Yang looked at Tanjiro's forehead.
"Your injury… let me bandage it for you."
"Thank you."
The three of them sat together, eating rice cakes while chatting.
Their friendship quickly grew closer.
Over the next six days, Chiba Yang, Zenitsu, and Tanjiro traveled together across Mount Fujikasane.
With Zenitsu's extraordinary hearing and Tanjiro's powerful sense of smell, Chiba Yang's demon hunting became far more efficient.
However, during their hunts, Chiba Yang noticed something strange.
Tanjiro would often ask the demons if there was any way for them to become human again.
Although Chiba Yang felt puzzled about this, he never asked Tanjiro directly.
During those days, they also saved several other participants taking part in the Final Selection.
By the fifth day, Chiba Yang had already eliminated every demon remaining on Mount Fujikasane.
For the final two nights, they did not encounter a single demon.
On the morning when the Final Selection ended, the three of them walked out of the mountain's central forest and returned to the platform where it had all begun.
"Only a little more than half of them are left…"
Seeing how many participants were missing compared to the beginning, Chiba Yang felt his heart grow heavier.
He had hunted demons as quickly as he could.
But sometimes he still arrived too late.
Most swordsmen were still deeply afraid of demons, preventing them from fighting at their full strength.
And Mount Fujikasane was enormous.
There were simply too many places for him to cover.
What Chiba Yang did not realize was that having this many survivors was already an extremely rare outcome for a Final Selection.
"Welcome back."
"Congratulations on your safe return."
The two children still stood beneath the torii gate, greeting the surviving swordsmen.