After Ubuyashiki announced the complete dissolution of the Demon Slayer Corps, everyone returned to truly peaceful lives.
First was Tanjiro's family. Although they did want to return to Mount Kumotori, they ultimately settled in the river valley because of the new bonds they had formed. Only Tanjiro and Takeo went back to Mount Kumotori to retrieve Tanjuro's remains. While the family continued making charcoal, they also began doing handwoven crafts.
Yuichiro and Muichiro also fully separated from Yukinashi's residence, but the brothers no longer made a living by cutting wood. Instead, they began learning farming from Yukinashi.
Yet Yukinashi never imagined that his beloved disciple Muichiro was a pure plant killer. Whatever he planted died. No matter how desperately Yukinashi tried to save them afterward, he could not keep up, and his hair fell out in handfuls from the stress.
Hiru, who also lived nearby, had the time of his life watching the spectacle. In the end, though, he still dragged Muichiro away and started teaching his own child how to make crafts with flowers and plants. The result was that one more person lost his mind.
It was worth mentioning that Yoriichi, unexpectedly, was very good at farming. But the sight of him with mud on his pant legs and a hoe over his shoulder left everyone who knew his strength feeling deeply disillusioned. To put it plainly, his idol aura shattered all over the ground.
The Kocho sisters, who also lived nearby, opened a clinic in town and returned to their family's original line of work. During that time, there were also men who saw how beautiful the sisters were and tried to act improperly toward them. First, Shinobu drugged them behind Kanae's back, and then Sanemi, who had a crush on Kanae, went door to door with a sword in hand.
Later, Giyu, who was currently being pursued by Shinobu, also found out about it and went to find each of them in the middle of the night. After that round of intimidation from the group, those thugs were not merely too scared to harass beautiful women anymore. They nearly packed up overnight and fled the city.
Yes, you heard that right. Giyu was the one being pursued by Shinobu.
Because of this, Sabito privately complained to Makomo more than once that Giyu was an idiot who did not understand a girl's heart at all.
Makomo said the two of them were equally hopeless in that regard, so neither of them had any right to criticize the other.
But compared to these foolish couples who made people want to shove them together, Obanai and Mitsuri's relationship progressed very smoothly.
It was just that when Mitsuri brought him home to meet her parents, Obanai grew nervous when asked about his work and blurted out, "animal keeper." He even held up his pet snake, Kaburamaru, whom he always kept close, for Mitsuri's family to see, successfully frightening his future mother-in-law into fainting.
Kyojuro established a dojo at the Rengoku estate and continued to carry out his own swordsmanship. Later, he went on a matchmaking date with a young lady of suitable family background, married smoothly, and became the earliest Hashira after Uzui to start a family.
As for Uzui, he let himself go even more. After retiring, he spent his time traveling through mountains and rivers with his wives, darting around the various homes of former Demon Slayer Corps members looking for amusement.
Gyomei returned to the temple as well, continuing to train and refine himself as a warrior monk. It was worth mentioning that the little girl he had saved back then actually lived nearby, and she went to the temple every week to pray. When she saw Gyomei, she cried so hard she could barely speak and kept apologizing for what happened years ago.
If anyone said Ubuyashiki had not arranged this somehow, Hiru would not believe it even if he were beaten to death. But what surprised Hiru the most was still the romances among Tanjiro's group of juniors.
Leaving aside how that wild boar managed to marry a wife, the fact that Zenitsu managed to win Nezuko over under Takeo's strict defense made Hiru feel as though reality had gone strange.
When he went to ask out of curiosity and learned that it had been Tanjiro's idea, Hiru could not help asking a few more questions. As a result, Tanjiro smiled with a face full of gentleness.
"Zenitsu's personality may be a little unusual, but he isn't a bad person. And if anything really does happen, I'll be there."
Hiru clearly saw Zenitsu, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, drop everything he was holding. The look on his face was practically as terrified as when he first discovered that Hiru was a demon.
That made Hiru especially curious about what Zenitsu's bizarre hearing had actually picked up. But Zenitsu kept his mouth shut tight and refused to reveal even half a word. After that, though, Zenitsu treated Nezuko even better, so well that even Nezuko started feeling a little guilty for enjoying it.
Time passed in this way. Aside from returning each year to the former site of the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters to pay respects to Tamayo-san, and occasionally going to find Sanemi whenever he had a craving, Hiru felt that this final stage of life was rather peaceful.
The only thing especially irritating was how his body declined along with the medicine's effects.
One year after the war, Muichiro successfully mastered how to open and close the Slayer Marks and could control them skillfully.
Two years after the war, Hiru had no choice but to travel around because everyone was getting married one after another. Obanai, however, did not seem particularly happy about him attending his wedding.
Three years after the war, Uzui was still brooding over Hiru calling him junk food. At last, he successfully overpowered Hiru and fed him his blood, then insisted that Hiru rank him properly. Naturally, Hiru cursed him out again. This was also the first time Hiru realized his strength had begun to decline.
Four years after the war, after hearing that Hiru's strength was declining, Sabito and the others started thinking about challenging Yoriichi again. Then every last one of them was taught a lesson by Yoriichi, and they successfully learned one truth: your ancestor will always be your ancestor.
On New Year's Eve of the fifth year after the war, Hiru discovered that although his appearance remained young, his hair had turned completely white overnight. He understood that his time was nearly up. After writing letters to inform everyone one by one, he began preparing for the New Year in earnest.
To Hiru's surprise, after learning the news, the first person to arrive was actually Ubuyashiki.
Ubuyashiki's body had gradually begun to recover after Muzan's death. However, the scars on his face and his already necrotic left eye could not be restored. Because his body had been severely eroded, his lifespan was still far shorter than that of an ordinary person. The doctor had even declared that he would not live past fifty.
But Ubuyashiki remained in good spirits. He even had the mood to joke with everyone, saying that the doctors had once declared he would not live past twenty-two, yet now he was already thirty. He also said he would work hard to live until sixty and show everyone.
It left everyone both amused and helpless.
After Ubuyashiki, the others arrived one after another. But because of Hiru's letters, even with the New Year approaching, everyone's mood was not very high. Muichiro, in particular, clung to Hiru's back for the first time in a long while, even though at his current age and height, doing so no longer seemed very appropriate.
But that gloomy mood lasted only until Hiru brought out his homemade black cuisine and strongly demanded that everyone eat one bite. After all, those tangyuan looked normal, but when eaten, there was no telling what flavor the next bite would be. They were simply far too bizarre.
Uzui even received VIP treatment. An entire bowl of bizarre tangyuan. When he tried to escape, Yoriichi pressed him straight back into his seat.
And when Uzui turned back to look at Yoriichi in disbelief, Yoriichi still wore his usual gentle smile.
"Sorry, Uzui. Hiru has been holding a grudge ever since you forced him to drink your blood last time... I checked before he made them. At worst, eating too many will only give you diarrhea for a few days. No one will die."
Uzui could only turn back and force himself to face that full bowl of tangyuan.
Hopefully, the poison resistance he had trained since childhood would be useful.