"E-Excuse me! What are your names?"
The nervous survivor—some random participant still trembling from adrenaline—looked up at the pair who'd just slaughtered a monster that could've wiped out the entire field. He hesitated for a moment, then decided to ask anyway.
"Kamado Tanjiro."
"Kamado Chika."
"Siblings?"
"She's the older sister! I'm the younger brother!"
Chika's voice rose sharply as she jabbed her finger toward him, her reaction so fierce it made the poor guy flinch. He hadn't expected such an outburst—and now that he looked closer, he couldn't believe these two monsters of strength were really siblings.
His gaze, unfortunately, began to wander. Starting from Chika's face, it slowly drifted downward—until it stopped where it really shouldn't have.
Her eye twitched.
The moment their gazes met, the man's face went pale. In the next heartbeat, he turned and bolted, half running, half crawling away into the forest.
"So rude," Chika muttered, hand on her hip, clicking her tongue.
Tanjiro stood beside her awkwardly, pretending to study the sky. He remembered… yeah, this was familiar. When their youngest brother, Rokuta, once made a comment about their sister's chest, the ever-gentle Chika had calmly set down her kitchen knife, smiled sweetly—and then attacked his temples with her fingers until he cried for forgiveness. For weeks afterward, Rokuta couldn't even look her in the eye.
Now that the "Hand Demon" was dead, the demons left on Mount Fujikasane had reverted to the usual weaklings fit for the Final Selection.
Technically, they could have left things at that—but Tanjiro was Tanjiro. Seeing people in danger wasn't something he could ignore. As for Chika? She decided to use the remaining weak demons as live training dummies, sharpening her swordsmanship without relying on breathing techniques.
For the next few days, the so-called Final Selection turned into something closer to a demon purge.
By the last few days, the situation had flipped entirely.
Demons hunting humans? No—humans hunting demons.
The moment any demon saw Chika or Tanjiro, it froze, trembled, and ran screaming into the woods.
They hid in caves, buried themselves underground—some even climbed trees and refused to come down. Even with Tanjiro's keen sense of smell, the siblings couldn't be sure they'd actually wiped out every demon on the mountain.
When the week finally ended, the survivors gathered at the exit of Mount Fujikasane. Chika glanced around—there were a few more survivors than in the "original" timeline, but not many.
Seven days was a long time, and too many things could go wrong. Those who survived still looked pale, hollow-eyed. In truth, the weak rarely lived long, even if they passed. Weakness in the Demon Slayer Corps wasn't just useless—it was dangerous.
"Dead… they're all going to die… even if they live now, they'll die eventually…"
A boy with yellow hair muttered to himself, radiating enough negative energy to make a priest cry. Tanjiro glanced at him, sympathy flashing in his eyes.
Chika's attention, however, shifted elsewhere—to the quiet girl in the pink kimono standing apart from the crowd. Her uniform was spotless, her posture unshaken.
Kanao Tsuyuri.
As their eyes met, Kanao tilted her head slightly and offered a small, practiced smile.
Before Chika could reply, the two eerie twins from before—one boy, one girl, both with spiral eyes that looked unsettlingly like an over-designed Sharingan—stepped forward again.
"Congratulations to all who have survived," they said flatly. "From this moment, you are members of the Demon Slayer Corps, rank Mizunoto."
Their palms clapped softly in unison. Overhead, the sound of wings filled the air.
Crows—messenger crows—descended upon the new Slayers.
"These are kasugai crows. They will accompany you from now on, allowing long-distance communication between Demon Slayers. Normally—oh? What's this?"
The twins stopped mid-explanation.
Everyone else had a crow perched neatly on their arm or shoulder. Zenitsu blinked down at his—except his wasn't a crow at all, but a tiny brown sparrow.
That, however, wasn't the strangest sight.
Chika stood there, head tilted back, watching her assigned crow circling in the air above her—refusing to land.
"…It's afraid of me," she muttered flatly.
The twins looked baffled. "This is impossible. Kasugai crows are specifically trained not to fear humans. This is… unprecedented."
Tanjiro peeked at her sidelong. His own crow glanced at Chika, froze, and immediately hopped to his other arm—farther away from her.
The crowd fell silent.
Chika blinked, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and mild offense.Even the birds don't respect me now.
Before anyone could comment, one of the newly minted Slayers—a tall boy with a bad attitude—snorted, waving his hand dismissively.
"Who cares about some stupid crow? Just give me the sword already! The Demon Slayer sword—the color-changing one!"
He marched forward, reaching toward one of the twins as if to grab them by the hair.
Two figures moved simultaneously.
Tanjiro appeared on his right, seizing the boy's wrist before he could touch them.On the left—Chika's hand shot out, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and pulled.
The scene was so absurd the entire clearing froze.
"Calm down," Tanjiro said gently.
"Huh?!"
The boy's eyes bulged. He could feel Tanjiro's grip—strong enough to crack bone if he squeezed. Yet, strangely, that wasn't what terrified him most.
It was the hand in his hair.
He could feel the tension in each strand, the sharp, unspoken warning in Chika's grip. Another few seconds, and he was certain half his scalp would go with her.
"Fine! Fine! I get it! Let go already!"
Both siblings released him at once.
Smiling sweetly, Chika brushed invisible dust from his shoulder.
"Sorry about that. I didn't hurt you, did I?"
The boy just stood there, trembling.
"…"
Even the crows didn't dare make a sound.