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(Tanjiro's POV)

'Wow...there's so many people here..'

As I admired the wisteria, a sudden chill went up my spine

[Just as I was about to say hi...sorry to disturb but you're kind of blocking my way right now.]

I moved out of the way for the boy behind me

"Wow, there's a lot of strong people here, I could hardly breath in his presence..." 

I reminded myself that I needed to keep moving so that I could make it to the final selection 

Upon arrival, I noticed there were so many people there, even the guy I saw earlier 

'He looks so serious...For Nezuko, I have to do my best too!'

(Kumagawa's POV)

'I'm here! I'm here! I'm here, it's was getting so boring...finally, something interesting'

(3rd POV)

Finally, the final selection has begun!

During the first day, Tanjiro has nothing but staying alive in mind, as he runs around the forest. 

He heads east to ensure he can reach sunlight but quickly detects a scent. Unsure of the location of the demon, he is answered when it leaps high above the forest and slams down into the ground, the impact forcing him back. 

Another demon emerges and clashes with Tanjiro, who manages to parry its claws but is launched back by the attack's force. The two demons argue over who gets to kill and devour Tanjiro first, causing both of them to attack him at once. 

They knock Tanjiro back but he quickly regains his composure and begins to breathe deeply.

Tanjiro: "Water breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide." He calls out his attack upon finding the opening thread, successfully killing the two demons in one slash

As he prays momentarily, he scrunches his nose, disgusted by the sudden rotting scent in the air. 

He hears another applicant screaming in terror and yelling of his regret in joining; Tanjiro sees the commotion but becomes horrified at the sight of an immense, grotesque looking demon.

The applicants shocked at the unannounced appearance of a morphed demon in the Final Selection. 

The giant demon, made up of several green hands, has a dead applicant in his grasp, before opening his mouth and dropping the young man inside to devour.

As the applicant and Tanjiro watch in horror, another watches from a tree with a horrifying smile on his face, seemingly amused by the situation while the demon gains strength and grows larger. When the applicant attempts to run, the demon joins his arms into long appendages and grabs the escaping boy. 

Before he can be devoured, Tanjiro composes himself from his initial fear and runs forward to save him.

Tanjiro: "Unlike last time...I'm not powerless anymore..I can do this! Water breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!" cutting off the demon's arms.

The demon sees his fox mask and becomes delighted that "another little fox has come to me". When Tanjiro wonders what it means by another, the demon asks what year of the Meiji era it is now. 

When Tanjiro answers it is now the Taisho era, the morphed demon becomes infuriated and scratches himself in frustration, grumbling that time has now passed into a new period whilst he remains imprisoned. 

When he screams Sakonji's name in anger, Tanjiro asks how he knows his trainer; the demon answers by saying that it was Sakonji who had imprisoned him on Mount Fujikasane 47 years ago. Tanjiro is surprised to learn it had lived for so long, while the applicant he had saved claims that no demon in Final Selection is that old. 

To this, the morphed demon states that while trapped in the forest, he has eaten 50 applicants of Final Selection, adding that he has personally devoured 13 students of Sakonji.

As Tanjiro hears this in shock, the demon gloats about two in particular: one was a boy of strange hair color and was the most powerful of the ones he had faced, and another was a petite girl who lacked strength but was extremely agile. Horrified to learn that Sabito and Makomo were killed by this demon, Tanjiro reminisces that on his time training, as he saw and spoke to them. 

The demon goes on by saying that he recognized the texture of the fox masks as the ones on Sakonji's own. Mocking the trainer's warding masks, he gloats about saying that they never worked and that Sakonji might as well have killed his students himself. 

As Tanjiro listens, the morphed demon adds that when he told Makomo this, she flew into a rage and lost control of her emotions, leading him to rip her apart.

Filled with rage, Tanjiro attacks head-on driven by intense emotion. Sabito, sensing that Tanjiro is attacking without thinking, tells him to calm down and even out his breathing. When he attempts to slice directly in front of the demon, an arm punches him from the side, sending Tanjiro hurtling hard into a tree and breaking his warding mask. 

Seeing the unconscious Tanjiro about to be eaten, the applicant he has saved decides to move on and and flees. As the morphed demon moves in to eat him, he gloats about how Sakonji must feel that another student of his isn't returning.

Before Tanjiro can be grabbed, he is suddenly visited by a vision of one of his brother ,begging him to wake up. He regains consciousness in time and narrowly avoids getting taken, to the demon's shock. 

Claiming he can now have some fun in battle, it grows multiple arms and attempts to grab Tanjiro, who runs throughout the forest and slices them off. Tanjiro realizes they grow back quickly, while the demon tells him that cutting his neck is the only way to kill him, remembering that even Sabito had failed to do so and was killed

Stopping in his tracks, he declares that to prevent more lives being sacrificed, he needs to kill the morphed demon. Tanjiro charges head-on once more; he detects a scent from underground and leaps upwards, while arms sprout from the ground to grab him. 

Seeing him in mid air, the demon morphs its arms into one long appendage to grab Tanjiro.

Using his forehead, he head butts the arm away, surprising the demon. As he runs down its arm towards its head, Tanjiro breathes in and empowers him for an attack. When more arms sprout to get him, he slices them all and lunges forward. 

Believing he will fail, the demon isn't frightened and believes that his neck is too tough to slice, preparing to kill him. Tanjiro uses his Water Breathing and successfully decapitates the demon with 

Tanjiro: "First Form: Water Surface Slash."

The minus watching him from above is amused by the entire interaction, which is shown by his smile widening. Unexpectedly Tanjiro almost collapses, the minus watching jumps down to catch him

[We can't just let you die like this.] with an even more widened smile, while trying to thank him, Tanjiro loses consciousness 

He awakens on the second day, and the guy he first interacted with is introduced to him as Kumagawa Misogi, and they come to a decision to accompany one another. 

With the two teaming up, surviving the final selection becomes significantly easier and with that,  the final selection has ended

He is shocked to see only five of them have survived after the seven days, including one ; he also laments not being able to see the applicant he had saved from earlier, believing he was killed because he was unconscious. The blonde boy next to Tanjiro is obviously scared that he survived, as he laments that he would die anyway.

The survivors of Final Selection.

The twins who welcomed them to the mountain appear again, congratulated the four on their success. The black haired boy rejects their applause and asks what becomes of their situation now, demanding his sword. They state that they will first be given their uniform and are assigned the rank of Mizunoto, the lowest of ten ranks in the Demon Slayer Corps. 

They will then choose the ore of their swords but are told they will actually receive it at a later date. At the signal of one of the twins, birds descend to meet the five. 

The survivors are given to assign them with new mission and for communication; the blond boy notices that he isn't given a crow but a sparrow instead, while Kumagawa was given a Budgie

He seemed confused but nonetheless smiled at it, greeting his new partner 

Kumagawa: [Nothing truly changes, because this one talks too.]

But the blonde boy didn't seem as pleased

Enraged, the black haired boy grabs the hair of one of the twins, to the shock of Tanjiro and the blond boy, demanding he be given a Nichirin Sword. Tanjiro intervenes and grabs his arm, threatening to break it if he doesn't release his hold. 

When he implores him to try, Tanjiro tightens his grip, hurting the boy into releasing his hand. After the small scuffle, the four are presented with various ores for their sword to be made with. 

They are confused as they don't know what to look for in choosing an ore, but it is Tanjiro who makes the first choice by sniffing a sample and selecting it while Kumagawa simply picks one seemingly very sure of his choice, not even giving it a second thought.

As Kumagawa and Tanjiro return to Tanjiro's abode as Kumagawa supports him as he walks. Tanjiro remembers that none of the demons he asked responded to his question and instead tried to kill him, without leaving him an answer to return back into a human. 

As night falls, Tanjiro and Kumagawa finally reaches Mount Sagiri. Unexpectedly, the door is kicked down and Nezuko walks outside. Relieved to see her, he tries to run but collapses in exhaustion. 

When he tries to get up, Nezuko runs to her brother and pulls him into a hug. Embracing his younger sister, Tanjiro cries and asks why she had suddenly slept for so long. 

Upon seeing the siblings, Sakonji warmly embraces them and is relieved that Tanjiro has returned alive, as tears fall from his mask, not even noticing the boy Tanjiro had come back with.

Kumagawa: [Wow, I feel left out..]

Tanjiro proceeds to introduce Kumagawa to the two, seeming impressed with the exploits of the two. Kumagawa agrees to return in a few days to get his sword and start their journey.

(Kumagawa's POV)

As I returned to the place I have called home for the past three years, as my ritual, I offered a prayer to the ancestor who had provided for me all this time despite me having never met them 

(Flashback: 3 Years Ago)

When I first arrived at this world with nothing, I accidentally stumbled across this house, which was filled with dust

After living there for two years, while searching for alternatives to manga, I found a book with breathing techniques and studied it all day

If it was hidden so securely, then it was obviously important. The book was filled with the experiences of the ancestor. He was someone who loved his brother dearly and envied his strength  just as much as he loved him

Then it hit me! This ancestor was just like me! A pathetic loser who knew he was only headed for failure yet still wouldn't give up

[Ew, I sound like Medaka...]

Day and night, I trained and studied, maybe because I felt a kin relationship with the unknown ancestor, and because I was bored. I even started to grow out my hair, because the ancestor talked of his long hair

The final gift given to me by the ancestor was a star key necklace and a pair of earrings 

By the necklace was a writing, 'when all six reach the gate of heaven, eternity will be destroyed'

I truly find this all, [so amusing]

(Flashback ended)

As I was arriving at Tanjiro's place, I remembered something, it was because of those earrings that I had first interacted with him.

To me, it reminded me of the people I knew

[Seems like something Zenkichi would wear.]

(3rd POV)

Several days later after Kumagawa had arrived at Mount Sagiri, a swordsmith appears and makes his way to Sakonji's hut. 

He introduces himself as and states that he has forged the sword for Tanjiro Kamado and Kumagawa Misogi. When Tanjiro informs him that they are the two recipients, the swordsmith ignores him and talks about the sword instead. 

When offered tea inside, he instead talks about the materials for a Nichirin sword, Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Scarlet Crimson Ore. He explains that the materials absorb sunlight and that they are found on a mountain that is bathed in sunlight all day long. 

Inside his hut, Sakonji hears the three and becomes annoyed that Haganezuka is once again ignoring others to talk about his swords.

He turns to see Tanjiro, shocking the Demon Slayer with his mask. Haganezuka calls Tanjiro a 'child of brightness'; and refers to Kumagawa as being as 'dark as the evening moon'  confused, Tanjiro is told he is referring to his eye and hair color and Kumagawa's empty smile, believing that Tamjiro's family must work with fire and calling it lucky and cause for celebration. 

Tanjiro is surprised to learn about this fact, while Haganezuka believes that the sword will turn red for him.

Inside, Tanjiro is provided with his Nichirin Sword, while Haganezuka mentions that they are also known as 'Color Changing Swords', as they change color according to the user. Upon unsheathing his new weapon, the blade turns black. 

The result surprises both Haganezuka and Sakonji; Tanjiro becomes worried that it is a bad omen but Sakonji calms his concern by stating that black blades are simply uncommon. On the other hand, Haganezuka becomes infuriated since he hoped to see a bright red sword blade; he tackles Tanjiro and locks him in his legs, while Tanjiro becomes confused at his strange antics.

Reminding him that there is still Kumagawa remaining, upon unsheathing his own blade, it turns Light Purple, infuriating Haganezuka even more, due to his ignorance of the colour of the blade

At that moment, Tanjiro's Kasugai Crow and Kumagawa's Budgie arrives and provides them with details for their mission. They must make their way to a town in the northwest, where young girls are reported to have disappeared. 

In the town, the newest has just been taken; a girl taken from her fiancé in the middle of the night unexpectedly. Receiving the information, Tanjiro and Kumagawa prepare themselves  for their first mission as Demon Slayers.