Big Brother

Lunging at the transformed Hand Demon, Tanjiro recalls the same sensation he felt when Sakonji Urokodaki bested him, and his blade severs the creature's thick neck. As the head falls and the body crumbles to ash, the demon curses Tanjiro, dreading that his final sight will be a disgusted slayer. Instead, Tanjiro looks down with sorrow, which stirs the demon's memory of being a frightened child who once reached for his older brother's hand before devouring him as a monster.

A hand forms from the dissolving body and reaches toward Tanjiro, who catches the scent of grief within it. He gently takes it and prays that in another life the demon will not become what he was, and the severed head weeps. In the afterlife the demon returns to a small boy holding his brother's hand. On Mount Sagiri, the spirits of Sakonji's lost students fade into the mist, finally at peace.

Seven days later the survivors reunite at the mountain shrine. Tanjiro is stunned that only four remain of nearly twenty, and he mourns the applicant he had rescued. The Ubuyashiki twins congratulate the survivors and explain the ten ranks of the Corps, the lowest of which, Mizunoto, is assigned to all of them. They will choose ore for their blades now, with the finished swords arriving two weeks later, and each receives a Kasugai Crow for communication, though one nervous boy is paired with a sparrow.

The chapter concludes the Final Selection arc with Tanjiro slaying the Hand Demon and earning his place in the Corps. Quietly introduced among the survivors are future allies, including a blonde boy, a quarrelsome boy, and a girl admiring a butterfly. When the angry survivor seizes a twin by the hair demanding his sword, Tanjiro forces him to back down. Elsewhere, a man learns from a crow that five recruits passed and wonders what kind of swordsmen they will become.