In this regard, Tomioka Giyuu was slowly stirring up his emotions — the highlight had yet to come.
"Don't give the power of life and death to others!!"
Seeing Tanjiro's frightened expression with tears welling in his eyes, Giyuu thought to himself, Maybe I used too much force… Tch, never mind.
Then, he pointed his blade at Tanjiro and continued to shout:
"Don't kneel down and beg others just because you're miserable!!
If that worked, your family wouldn't have been killed!"
"The weak have no right to choose whether to plunder or be plundered!
You want to heal your sister? Find your enemy?
How ridiculous!"
Tanjiro was clearly stunned by Giyuu's words. He remained kneeling on the snow, speechless and unsure of how to respond.
But Giyuu wasn't finished. His voice now carried the full weight of his feelings:
"The weak have no right to choose! Even if they try their best, they'll still be trampled by the strong!
The method to cure your sister? Maybe only the demons know — but!"
He raised his voice further.
"Do you think those demons would ever respect your wishes and requests?
And frankly, neither will I. This… is reality!"
He took a step forward.
"And why? Why did throw your sister down just now?
Is this the way you're going to protect her?"
"Why didn't you use your axe? Why did you expose your back to me?!
Are you telling me: 'Go ahead, kill my sister'!?"
Tanjiro's breathing grew ragged. His eyes were dull, mind clouded — completely at a loss.
Tomioka Giyuu didn't stay frozen this time. He didn't slash at Nezuko like in the original encounter, but instead said calmly:
"I'll give you a chance, boy. Take your sister back from me.
If you succeed, I'll let you both live.
If you fail, she dies."
After saying that, Giyuu noticed that Tanjiro remained motionless on the snow. He sighed internally.
If I don't push this kid… he'll never get moving on his own.
With that in mind, Giyuu slowly raised his blade toward Nezuko's neck — but his eyes stayed locked on Tanjiro.
"You don't think I'm joking, do you?"
In truth, he didn't want to harm Nezuko. Not at all.
But if Tanjiro didn't act, this was the only way to provoke him into action.
Fortunately, seeing the slowly approaching blade, Tanjiro finally stirred. He grabbed a stone and hurled it at Tomioka, shouting:
"Stop it!!"
Seeing the motion, Giyuu let out a hidden sigh of relief. He casually deflected the stone. But when he looked up—
Tanjiro was charging at him, hands hidden behind his back, rushing forward with all his might.
Giyuu stepped forward deliberately to accelerate the confrontation.
Tanjiro's eyes widened. He hadn't expected that — but once the arrow was loosed, there was no turning back. He had to follow through.
But just as he was about to make contact—
A tremendous force slammed into his back, knocking him flat onto the snow. His consciousness faded.
Looking down at the unconscious boy, Tomioka Giyuu murmured:
"Alright. You've done enough. Sleep for a bit."
Bang—!
At that moment, the axe Tanjiro had secretly thrown earlier finally struck the tree behind Giyuu.
"Hmph. If I hadn't dodged that, the whole show would've been over."
Before he could finish the thought, Nezuko charged in and launched a powerful kick, sending Giyuu flying two meters.
Stabilizing himself in the snow, Giyuu gripped his katana tightly, muttering to himself:
"That power… pretty impressive for a freshly-turned demon."
"But it's not enough-"
Then, he saw Nezuko standing in front of her unconscious brother, arms wide in a protective stance, eyes blazing with determination.
"Uh… sorry, sorry. I really didn't want to do this…"
Before he could say more, Nezuko pounced at him again.
"Alright, alright. Time for you to take a nap too—just like your brother."
With a swift motion, Giyuu stepped back and struck her neck with a precise knife-hand.
Nezuko collapsed beside her brother. Giyuu gently dragged them both to a snow-covered spot and laid them down.
Looking around the still forest, he muttered:
"No idea when they'll wake up."
"Whatever. Let's start a fire. The cold's getting nasty."
He knelt and began building a small flame. A sharp chill filled his lungs.
"Ugh. This bitter cold reminds me of all the worst things."
***
An unknown amount of time passed before Tanjiro stirred awake. The moment he did, he scrambled to check on Nezuko.
Then he spotted Giyuu calmly warming himself by the fire.
Panicking, Tanjiro shielded his sister with his arms.
Seeing his reaction, Giyuu chuckled softly, then waved a hand.
"Relax. If I really wanted to kill her, she'd already be dead."
"Your sister… she's different from the rest. I'll accept her for now."
"Go to the foot of Mt. Sagiri. Find an old man named Urokodaki Sakonji who lives there."
"Tell him Tomioka Giyuu sent you. He was my master."
"If you pass his test, you'll learn what you need.
You must walk the path of a Demon Slayer.
Even if you want to turn your sister back into a human, that's the only way."
He looked up at the pale sky and down at Nezuko, still sleeping.
"Demons — disintegrate under sunlight. Your sister's no different."
"And at night, her hunger will be at its worst. Keep her hidden."
With those final warnings, Giyuu vanished in the blink of an eye.
Tanjiro remained frozen, still cradling Nezuko protectively. He couldn't believe Tomioka was gone just like that.
It took a while before he moved again.
Nezuko, now in her small and adorable state, finally woke up beside him.
On the other side, Tomioka Giyuu dashed toward Mt. Sagiri at full speed. Before taking on his next mission, he wanted to see Master Urokodaki one last time.
After all, Kanzaburo had just delivered a new mission. It might be a while before Giyuu could return.
It wouldn't take long — with his speed, he could still reach the assigned location afterward with time to spare.
As fate would have it, when Giyuu arrived at the familiar mountainside hut, Urokodaki Sakonji had just returned from chopping wood.
"Giyuu? What brings you here?"
"I haven't been back in a long time. I wanted to see you."
Giyuu smiled faintly and walked into the house alongside Urokodaki.
Still masked with his signature tengu mask, Urokodaki poured a cup of tea and said slowly:
"Now tell me… what's going on?
As a Hashira, every second of your time is valuable.
You shouldn't be wasting it on an old man like me."