Mount Sagiri.
Giyu Tomioka stepped into the familiar wooden house, a mix of awkwardness and anticipation.
"You're back… It was hard, Giyu." Sakonji Urokodaki, wearing a tengu mask and with a slightly hunched back, stood with his hands behind him, looking at the uneasy Giyu Tomioka who had stopped at the door.
"Master…" Giyu Tomioka lowered his head.
He had seen his Master at the great decisive battle in Tokyo the previous night.
During the great decisive battle, almost every swordsman capable of wielding a sword had come.
"Have you returned this time to bid me farewell?" Sakonji Urokodaki's stern voice held a hint of kindness. He had heard from Master that his disciples, blessed by God, would go to other worlds to save humanity.
He was extremely proud of this, believing that his outstanding disciple would surely become a noble God who saves the world in the future.
"No, Master, I came to see Sabito." Giyu Tomioka nervously clasped his hands, a little uneasy: "Lord Xia Wei told me that Sabito has not yet reincarnated and has been protecting his junior disciples on Mount Sagiri."
Sakonji Urokodaki's body stiffened for a moment, then quickly relaxed: "Is that so? Has that child been here all this time? I really don't know what to say about him." Under the mask, Sakonji Urokodaki's eyes were moist.
He had always treated all his disciples as his own children. To ensure they would survive after becoming Demon Slayers, he would train them with the strictest methods until he was certain they could easily slay demons before letting them graduate.
Unexpectedly, two of his disciples failed to pass the Final Selection, which filled him with regret to this day.
Suddenly, a faint whisper echoed in his ears.
'Master, Giyu.'
'Master, junior disciple.'
His vision blurred for a moment, and two transparent figures appeared before Giyu Tomioka and Sakonji Urokodaki.
One was a boy with reddish-brown hair and a scar on his face, and the other was a gentle-faced girl with black hair.
"Sabito, Makomo…" Sakonji Urokodaki could no longer hold back his tears, which streamed down from beneath his tengu mask: "Good children… You are all good children."
"I never expected you to be here all this time. You were barely twenty, and your lives had just begun, only to end with me. It's all my fault for not teaching you properly."
Sabito said, "Master, we are the ones who should apologize. We made you worry."
Makomo: "Master, meeting you was the happiest time of my life."
Under Sakonji Urokodaki's mask, tears and snot were already flowing freely, but as a Master, he couldn't let his disciples see his current distress.
Giyu Tomioka could no longer suppress his emotions, his nose stinging as he choked out: "Sa, Sabito, I, I, I…"
Sabito looked at Giyu Tomioka and smiled like an older brother, saying, "Giyu, you are amazing. You and everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps defeated Kibutsuji Muzan."
"I know you have a lot to say to me, and I know what you want to say."
"After all, I saw it all."
Giyu Tomioka's lips moved: "I…"
Sabito: "But I still have to scold you fiercely." At this, his face was full of anger and disappointment towards Giyu Tomioka.
"Why do you deny yourself? Why do you think it would have been better if you had died in my place back then! Giyu, you scoundrel!"
"If I couldn't touch you, my fist would definitely swell your face!"
Giyu Tomioka felt as if he had been slapped hard across the face, instinctively covering his face, opening his mouth and looking at the furious Sabito.
Memories from long ago resurfaced.
It was during the Demon Slayer training with Master and Sabito.
A demon appeared the night before his sister's wedding, but his sister led the demon away to protect him, and he survived.
He had always regretted that it would have been better if he had died instead.
But Sabito had slapped him to the ground and told him, 'Your sister knew she would die, but she still wanted you to live. Saying it would have been better if you died is a blasphemy to your sister. She wanted your life to continue, and she entrusted her future to you.'
'If you ever say such things again, we're done!'
Giyu Tomioka looked at the angry Sabito before him, biting his lip and sobbing like a child, finally breaking down into loud sobs.
Sabito, at that time, thought the same as his sister: he wanted me to live and entrusted the future to me.
And I… and I yet…
Sabito looked at Giyu Tomioka, smiling with satisfaction: "Have you understood? If you have, then I can completely rest assured."
"It's time for us to go, Giyu."
Sabito and Makomo bowed deeply to Sakonji Urokodaki: "Master, please take care of yourself."
Giyu Tomioka quickly reached out: "Wait! Sabito!"
Sabito smiled, said nothing, and waved. Makomo smiled and said, "Please take care of Master for us."
Sakonji Urokodaki and Giyu Tomioka's vision blurred for a moment, whether from tears or something else. When their vision cleared again, Sabito and Makomo were already gone.
Giyu Tomioka raised his arm to wipe the tears from his face.
He couldn't help but recall what Lord Xia Wei had told him a few days ago.
'But you should be prepared to be scolded until you cry.'
Is this how I was scolded until I cried, God? I'm willing to be scolded like this any number of times.
…
On the other side.
Sanemi Shinazugawa and his brother Genya confessed their thoughts to each other.
Sanemi Shinazugawa wanted Genya to marry and have children safely under his protection, even if it meant he would carry the misunderstanding of killing their mother until his death. Genya confessed to his brother that he knew his brother had no choice but to kill their mother, who had turned into a demon, to protect him.
Meanwhile, Gyomei Himejima encountered an unexpected girl at the entrance of an orphanage in Tokyo. The girl burst into tears of excitement the moment she saw Gyomei Himejima.
"Gyomei! I've been looking for you for so long, and I have so much I want to tell you."
This girl was one Gyomei Himejima had adopted when he lived in a temple before joining the Demon Slayer Corps, and she was also the girl who caused him to be wrongly imprisoned.
Ten years ago, a naughty child broke the rule of not going out at night. To survive, he extinguished the wisteria incense candle and let a demon into the temple.
He fought the demon until dawn to protect the children, but a dozen children didn't listen to him and hide behind him; instead, they fled the temple and were killed by the demon. Only one girl named Sadayo listened to him.
It wasn't until daytime that people discovered the abnormality at the temple, but they only saw the murdered children and him, covered in blood.
The demon had already vanished in the sunlight.
Sadayo, however, said, "That person, that monster, killed everyone." This sentence made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
He was wrongly imprisoned because of this and was saved by Master just as he was about to face the death penalty.
He didn't expect his innocence to be cleared; he only hoped that Sadayo, whom he had protected, would say 'thank you' to him, which would be enough to redeem the kindness he had given.
"I'm sorry, Gyomei. I was too scared back then. What I said back then was that the terrifying monster killed everyone, which caused you to be wrongly accused."
"I tried to explain to everyone that the monster had disappeared, but no one believed me."
"Later, I heard that Gyomei was pardoned, and I wanted to find you, but I couldn't find you anywhere."
"I always wanted to thank you for taking me in and protecting me."
As Gyomei Himejima listened to Sadayo's sincere, tearful voice, the shadows in his heart instantly dissipated, and his soul found redemption. Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.
"So… I was mistaken all this time."