"Then what? What should I do next? Where's my sword?"
Upon hearing the two children, a young man with a dark pompadour and a scar extending from his right cheek to the tip of his nose impatiently asked them.
The two children ignored him and continued to address the surviving swordsmen, "The organization will first prepare your Demon Slayer Corps uniforms. After your measurements are taken, your rank will be embroidered on the uniform.
There are ten ranks within the Corps: Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoe, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, Tsuchinoto, Kanoe, Kanoto, Mizunoe, and Mizunoto. All of you are currently at the lowest rank, Mizunoto."
"What about the sword?" the pompadour-haired young man asked again.
"The organization will allow you to personally select your preferred steel today. After ten to fifteen days, your swords will be forged," the white-haired child replied.
He then continued, "Additionally, we will immediately arrange your personal Kasugai Crows."
After the white-haired child finished speaking, a flock of crows cawed as they flew down from the sky, landing on the arms of the swordsmen. Chiba Yo received his own Kasugai Crow.
However, there was one exception: Zenitsu received a sparrow.
Looking at the small sparrow in his hand, Zenitsu was dumbfounded. He turned to the white-haired child, disbelievingly complaining, "Huh? Did you say crow? This is clearly a sparrow."
"Chirp!"
The sparrow in Zenitsu's hand chirped, seemingly displeased.
"Kasugai Crows are primarily crows used to deliver messages," the black-haired child continued to explain to the swordsmen.
Messenger crows, huh?
Chiba Yo looked at the crow perched on his arm and was quite satisfied.
While practicing his swordsmanship, he had also seen Kyoujurou's Kasugai Crow and knew that these crows could speak and were very intelligent, making them very convenient for delivering messages.
However, not everyone was satisfied. The pompadour-haired young man directly slapped his own Kasugai Crow away, and the struck Kasugai Crow let out a painful "Caw! Caw!"
The pompadour-haired young man then yelled at the two children with extreme displeasure, "I don't care about some lousy crow!"
"I want my sword! My sword, do you understand?!" the pompadour-haired young man said, punching towards the white-haired child.
"Thwack!"
Chiba Yo noticed his movement and grabbed his wrist.
"It's already been made clear, hasn't it? Your sword will be forged in ten to fifteen days," Chiba Yo said, looking at the pompadour-haired young man.
He strongly disliked such bullying behavior.
"What does this have to do with you? Let go of me!" the pompadour-haired young man shouted loudly, his expression looking extremely furious.
Chiba Yo flung his hand away, then stood in front of the two children. The pompadour-haired young man was thrown back a few steps by the immense force.
"I advise you to calm down," Chiba Yo said, counseling the young man.
He had not seen this person before. To have survived these seven days through his own strength suggested he had some ability, but that was no reason for him to be so arrogant and overbearing. If he still intended to fight, Chiba Yo wouldn't mind letting him suffer a bit.
"Attacking a child is too pathetic, isn't it?"
"Exactly, they already explained it very clearly to him."
...
At this moment, the other surrounding swordsmen gradually gathered, condemning the pompadour-haired young man. Almost all of them had received help from Chiba Yo and his two companions during the Final Selection. Zenitsu, meanwhile, caught the crow that had just been slapped away by the pompadour-haired young man, carefully comforting it.
"Tch!" Seeing that almost everyone was displeased with him, the pompadour-haired young man stopped saying anything more, turning his head away from Chiba Yo and his companions.
"Thank you," the white-haired child said, thanking Chiba Yo. Chiba Yo waved his hand, indicating it was no big deal.
"Everyone, please select the steel that will be used to forge your own swords."
At this point, the black-haired child spoke to the swordsmen. On a table next to her, many pieces of steel of various shapes and sizes were displayed.
Chiba Yo looked at the steel on the table and noticed that these pieces of steel contained a light like the sun within them.
This must be the Scarlet Ore that Master Rengoku mentioned. Does it absorb the sun's energy from prolonged exposure to sunlight?
Chiba Yo thought as he approached the table, then selected the piece of ore with the most intense light contained within it.
In a short while, all the swordsmen had made their selections. Although more than half of the swordsmen survived, there were still only a dozen or so.
The swordsmen began to leave one after another, but most of them came to thank Chiba Yo and his two companions before departing.
"Are you two leaving too?" Chiba Yo asked Zenitsu and Tanjirou.
"Yes, I'm returning to Mr. Urokodaki's place," Tanjirou replied with a smile.
During their seven days together, Chiba Yo learned that Mr. Urokodaki was Tanjirou's trainer.
"I'm also going back to Sangjima Grandpa's place. I'll definitely have to go on demon-slaying missions alone after this. Who knows, I might die soon, so this might be our eternal farewell!" Zenitsu cried, speaking to Chiba Yo and Tanjirou, his whole body expressing fear and dread.
"That won't happen, Zenitsu, you're very strong," Tanjirou comforted Zenitsu.
"No way!!! I'm pitifully weak! The only reason I passed this Final Selection was because I was lucky enough to meet Yo, otherwise I would have died long ago! I'll definitely be killed by a demon immediately when I have to go on missions alone!"
Instead of being reassured by Tanjirou's comfort, Zenitsu became even more frightened, screaming and jumping wildly on the ground.
Chiba Yo felt very helpless watching this scene. From his observation, this guy's strength was clearly among the top few swordsmen who participated in this Final Selection, but for some reason, he was always so timid.
The three chatted for a few more moments, then bid each other farewell and departed.
Tsuyuri has already left, it seems I'll have to go back alone.
After parting ways with Tanjirou and Zenitsu, Chiba Yo noticed that Kanao, who had come with him, had already left. So, he also headed back along the path he had taken...
At the Ubuyashiki Estate, Oyakata-sama, sitting on the steps, listened to the Kasugai Crow's report on this Final Selection.
"Thirteen people survived, huh? Kyoujurou's successor is quite excellent. It seems the Demon Slayer Corps will gain another Hashira soon, I truly look forward to it…"
After listening to the Kasugai Crow's report, Oyakata-sama murmured to himself, sighing a few times.
Upon returning to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, Chiba Yo immediately sought out Kyoujurou to share the good news. Fortunately, Kyoujurou had not yet departed for a mission at that time.
"Master Rengoku, I passed the Final Selection!" Chiba Yo happily pushed open the door of the Demon Slayer Corps cafeteria and shouted, the sight before him making him pause.
The dining table was piled high with bowls. Kyoujurou sat amidst them, chopsticks in hand, intently eating the rice bowl in front of him, shouting loudly as he ate, "Umami! Umami!"
Next to the table, a girl with twin pigtails and a Kochou hair clip was bringing more food to the table. Even so, she was already sweating profusely from the effort.