A Place to Be

With demon attacks halted since Nezuko's resistance to sunlight became known, the Hashira split their efforts between nighttime security and daytime instruction, training every member ranked below them. Zenitsu grumbles about how grueling the regimen is, while Tanjiro, still healing in bed, looks forward to growing stronger. A crow delivers Tanjiro a letter as the wider training rotation is described, moving through stamina, flexibility, speed, swordsmanship, endurance, and strength under each Hashira.

Only Giyu refuses to take part. Tanjiro lets himself into Giyu's home and asks for lessons, but is turned away. Giyu admits he is angry that Tanjiro never mastered Water Breathing, then flatly denies being the Water Hashira at all and orders him out. Recalling that Kagaya asked him to persuade Giyu, Tanjiro persists relentlessly, following him for days.

After four days, Giyu relents and reveals he never completed Final Selection on Mount Fujikasane. He recounts meeting Sabito, a boy who had also lost his family, and how Sabito killed nearly every demon on the mountain singlehandedly before dying, having sent the wounded Giyu to safety. Believing he survived only by being saved, Giyu insists he is unworthy of his rank and urges Tanjiro to learn from a true Hashira.

Hashira Training gets underway across all the Hashira's specialized stages.

Tanjiro confronts the withdrawn Giyu on Kagaya's behalf and refuses to give up.

Giyu reveals the source of his self-doubt, including Sabito's sacrifice at Final Selection.

The chapter deepens Giyu's backstory and ties it directly to Tanjiro's own training origins under Urokodaki. It frames the survivor's guilt that defines Giyu's character and sets up his reconciliation in the following chapter.