Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Shrill air-tearing sounds exploded through the forest.
"Don't you dare die, you two penniless idiots!"
Even though hunger made Inosuke dizzy and weak, his body still moved on instinct—fast beyond reason.
He slipped through the gaps in the threads like a slick loach, darting wildly between death lines.
Clang!
Tanjiro swung his Nichirin blade—already broken by a section—barely blocking an attack. The recoil split his palms open, blood spilling freely.
"Inosuke-kun! The threads are too hard! And there are too many—there's no way to cut them all!"
"If you can't cut them, don't brute-force it! Are you rocks-for-brains?!"
Inosuke kicked Tanjiro hard in the backside, knocking him just out of the path of another fatal strike.
"Use your head!"
At this moment, Inosuke looked both battered and arrogant.
The backlash from demonization left his once-refined face pale, his stomach still protesting with poorly timed gurgle gurgle sounds—
yet the twin iron fans in his hands moved like an airtight storm.
"Sleeping pill! Get up and work!"
Inosuke roared at Zenitsu, who was cowering behind a tree.
"How long are you gonna sleep?! You think you don't have to pay back the three million you owe me?!"
"Hoo… hhoo…"
Zenitsu drooped forward, a snot bubble hanging from his nose—clearly scared unconscious.
But the very next second—
Crackle crackle—
Golden lightning erupted around him.
Thunder Breathing · First Form · Thunderclap and Flash!
Swish!
Zenitsu turned into a bolt of golden lightning—but instead of cutting threads,
he was smacked on the butt by Inosuke's fan, forcibly changing his trajectory.
He spun like a top around Tanjiro, lightning flaring outward and blasting away the first wave of low-flying threads.
"Nice job, sleeping pig!"
Inosuke landed, wiped his sweat, and grinned wildly.
High above, Rui watched the three humans coordinating so seamlessly.
The fury on his pale face slowly twisted into something darker—jealousy.
"Why…?!"
Rui's fingers trembled as more blood-red threads poured from his palms.
"You're obviously weak! You're all about to die!
Then why… why can you still work together?!
Is this what they call companions?!
Fake! It's all fake!"
"If you like cooperating so much…"
Rui's eyes turned completely blood-red, demonic aura erupting like a volcano.
"Then I'll sew you together—so you'll never be separated again!"
Blood Demon Art · Etched Line Rotation · Thousand Needles!
BOOM!
This time, it wasn't dozens of threads—
It was thousands.
Fine as cow hair, hard as steel needles, the crimson threads poured down like a torrential rain, attacking from every angle—no blind spots.
"Crap!"
Tanjiro's face went white. At this density, dodging was impossible.
"Nezuko!"
He instinctively turned toward the box.
"Don't move, Gonpachiro!"
A thunderous shout stopped him.
Inosuke stepped in front of Tanjiro.
He didn't retreat. He didn't dodge.
He knew—his body was in a weakened state now. He couldn't withstand this kind of ultimate move.
But he was the boss.
And a boss doesn't let his underlings get beaten in front of him.
"Damn it… this time I'm losing big!"
Inosuke grit his teeth, plunging a hand into his clothes and gripping his iron fans.
Then—he did something no one expected.
He snapped both fans open at once, coating their surfaces with mirror-smooth ice using his Ice Spirit physique.
Total Concentration · Ice Breathing · Secret Art
Twin Fans in Chaos · Absolute Slipway!
"Get the hell—off of us!!!"
Spinning at extreme speed, Inosuke formed his two fans into a tilted, cone-shaped shield.
The countless steel-hard needles didn't collide head-on—
Instead, the angle of the fans and their extreme slickness redirected every single attack outward.
Ding ding ding ding ding!
A storm of crisp impacts rang out like rain on banana leaves.
Every strike was deflected into the surrounding forest, blasting deep craters into the ground.
Only the small patch of earth where they stood remained untouched.
"Hah… hah…"
When the barrage ended, Inosuke's legs gave out and he dropped to one knee.
He'd blocked it—but the vertigo from spinning and the sheer exhaustion made his vision darken.
"Inosuke-kun!"
Tanjiro rushed to support him, tears welling up.
"You're bleeding! Why… why are you pushing yourself this hard?!"
"Shut up!"
Inosuke looked up. Despite the sweat and dirt smeared across his face, the same arrogant expression—so reminiscent of Doma—remained.
He poked Tanjiro in the forehead with a blood-stained finger.
"Put it on the tab.
This life-saving fee… five million. Miss even one coin—
and I'll sell you to Yoshiwara as an oiran."
Tanjiro froze, then burst out laughing through his tears and nodded hard.
"Okay! I'll pay it back—no matter what!"
Inosuke turned away huffily and looked back up at Rui.
"Hey, spider-head.
Is that all you've got?
Looks like in these two years, you didn't grow taller—or smarter."
Rui stared at the three of them, unscathed.
His mind completely shattered.
Again.
Just like two years ago, this human brat had dismantled his Blood Demon Art with ridiculous, incomprehensible methods.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!! I'LL KILL YOU FOR SURE!!!"
Rui leapt down from the tree.
He abandoned ranged attacks entirely, coating his entire body in hardened red threads and charging straight at Inosuke.
If long-range didn't work—then close combat!
"Perfect."
Inosuke's lips curled into a crazed smile.
His arms and legs were weak—melee combat was impossible for him now.
But he still had one last trump card.
One he'd forced Tanjiro to practice on the road.
"Tanjiro."
Inosuke spoke low and fast.
"Remember that dance I made you perform?"
Tanjiro blinked.
"Hinokami Kagura?"
"Yeah."
Inosuke's eyes flashed as Rui closed in.
"My body's too weak to use it now.
But… you can."
He shoved his serrated Nichirin blades into Tanjiro's hands.
"Use my blade.
It's wrapped in this brat's threads—maximum friction.
The edge is designed to tear.
Combine it with your fire dance—
and saw his damn head off!"
Tanjiro gripped the heavy blade.
He felt it—not just the weight, but the trust Inosuke was placing in him.
"I understand!"
Tanjiro took a deep breath.
In his mind, he saw his father dancing in the snow…
and heard Inosuke's nonstop, sharp-tongued guidance along the journey.
Total Concentration · Breathing
Hinokami Kagura—
At that instant, Rui was already upon them, claws less than a centimeter from Inosuke's throat.
"DIE!!!"
"Circular Dance!!!"
BOOM!
The serrated blade in Tanjiro's hands burst into roaring flames—
But unlike the original timeline, this blade belonged to Inosuke, saturated with icy breath.
When the fire ignited, the cold instantly vaporized—
Steam exploded outward.
HISS—BOOM!
The serrated blade, wrapped in fire and steam, slammed into Rui's neck.
"What?!"
Rui watched in disbelief as that familiar blade sliced through his defenses—
And through his neck.
Crack.
His head flew.
The battle ended.
The forest fell silent.
Tanjiro collapsed to his knees, utterly spent. The serrated blade slipped from his hands and clattered to the ground.
"Did… did we win…?"
"Win my ass."
Inosuke walked over, picked up his beloved blade, and gently blew dust off it with a pained expression.
"The edge is chipped. That's gonna cost you."
He crouched before Rui's fading head. Rui's eyes were hollow, lips still trembling.
"Why… why did I lose…"
Inosuke didn't mock him. Didn't finish him off.
He simply took out his iron fans and waved away the bloody stench.
"Because you were alone," he said calmly.
"And we… are a debt-collecting group made of two poor idiots."
"For the sake of paying back debts…
their lives are stubbornly hard."
Rui stared at him.
In that moment, in this obnoxious boy, he glimpsed something he'd always longed for—
The shadow of a real family.
"Next life…"
A single tear slid from Rui's eye as his body turned to ash.
"If I get reincarnated…
I want to try… owing someone money too…"
Inosuke: "..."
Tanjiro: "..."
Zenitsu: "Huh?! Why is his last wish about owing money?! Boss, what kind of twisted values did you teach him?!"
Inosuke stared at the ashes, conflicted.
He hadn't wanted to kill Rui.
In the original story, Rui was a pitiful child.
If not for Muzan's probing years ago… perhaps they really could have become friends.
...
Just then—
A bone-chilling presence swept through the forest.
Not a demon.
A Pillar.
Inosuke whipped his head around.
A man wearing a half-and-half haori stood on a nearby branch, expressionless.
At the same time, a beautiful butterfly fluttered down—lightly landing on Inosuke's shoulder.
A gentle voice, sweet enough to make one's spine go cold, whispered by his ear:
"Ara~
So you're the legendary child who carries fans, wields serrated dual blades, and calls himself the Young Master of the Paradise Faith?"
Insect Hashira · Shinobu Kocho
She appeared behind Inosuke with a smile, violet eyes glinting dangerously.
"Well then, little brother.
You did just kill a Lower Moon…"
"But… would you mind explaining your outfit—and your father's name?"
Inosuke froze.
Crap.
He'd forgotten—this was still a high-risk double-agent route.
Surrounded by two Hashira, especially with Shinobu's thin blade already at his neck,
Inosuke's brain spun at full speed—then made a decision.
His eyes rolled back. His body went limp.
"Ah… I fainted…
Starved… don't kill me… I have an eighty-year-old mother above me… and below me…"
Thud.
He collapsed stiffly onto the ground, playing dead.
Shinobu blinked—then smiled even wider.
"Pretending to faint? That won't work on me, you know."
She reached out to poke his face—
Suddenly, a strange humming sound slipped from Inosuke's mouth.
It was a deeply buried memory, dragged out by extreme stress—
A song Kotoha used to sing every night when he was little.
Originally, the song was "Pinky Promise", with lyrics like:
"Pinky swear, liars must swallow a thousand needles."
A simple children's rhyme.
But Kotoha was a lovable airhead—she always forgot the lyrics, went off-key, and eventually turned it into her own version…
Eyes shut, Inosuke mumbled off-tune:
"Tanuki-san… tanuki-san…
If you lie…
Your tummy will go…
Boom boom boom… explode~…"
"Pinky promise… means you have to…
Buy… buy tanuki… tempura…"
Shinobu's hand froze midair.
Even Giyu's stone-cold expression cracked—just a little.
The forest fell into dead silence.
Only Inosuke's catastrophically off-key lullaby echoed through the trees.
"Pfft—"
Shinobu covered her mouth, shoulders shaking.
She'd thought this young master was some unfathomable villain—
Turns out he was just a kid raised by an idiot mom,
with nothing in his head but tempura.
"Honestly…"
She withdrew her blade. The killing intent in her eyes faded, replaced by helpless amusement.
"Who on earth taught him that song…?"
And in his dream—
Inosuke sat in the back mountains of the Paradise Faith, watching Kotoha clap her hands and sing this very off-key tanuki song,
while beside her sat a helpless Doma, forced to keep time with an exasperated face.
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