Chapter 8

## Big Brother

**Big Brother** (兄 (にい) ちゃん, *Nīchan*?) is the eighth chapter of Koyoharu Gotoge's Kimetsu no Yaiba.

## Summary

As Tanjiro lunges forward to kill the morphed demon, it suddenly remembers experiencing the same feeling when he was defeated by Sakonji Urokodaki. His blade cuts through its thick neck, defeating it.

As the demon's head falls to the ground and its body begins to disintegrate to ash, it curses Tanjiro for killing him. Unable to turn its head away, it laments that it will witness the face of a disgusted Demon Slayer as the final thing it would ever see. To its surprise, Tanjiro looks at him with a sad expression on his face. Seeing it reminds him of when he was once a scared boy who always asked for his brother's hand, before remembering that it had eaten him becoming a demon.

The demon's body grows a hand extended to Tanjiro, who smells the scent of sadness from within it. He gently holds it and prays that during reincarnation, this demon would no longer become one, as the severed head begins to cry. In the afterlife, the demon is turned into a young boy holding his older brother's hand. In the forests of Mount Sagiri, the souls of Sakonji's fallen students disappear in the mist, finally put to rest. Despite this, Tanjiro believes that if he had died, his soul would be with Nezuko's and Sakonji's.

After seven days, the survivors of Final Selection meet at the mountain peak's shrine again. Tanjiro is shocked to find only four of them have lived, since there were nearly 20 of them in the beginning, and he laments not seeing the applicant he had saved previously. The twins who welcomed them to the selection congratulate the survivors. One boy laments his survival as he believed he would die during it, while another boy asks for his katana. A girl among them quietly admires a butterfly instead.

The twins inform the survivors that they will be issued a uniform and have their ranks engraved, of which there are ten: Mizunoto, Mizunoe, Kanoto, Kanoe, Tsuchinoto, Tsuchinoe, Hinoto, Hinoe, Kinoto, and Kinoe. All survivors are given the rank of Mizunoto. The boy of earlier asks for his katana again, to which the twins respond that they will instead choose their ore now but the blades are to be completed two weeks later. They are then assigned a Kasugai Crow for communication, though the scared boy has a sparrow instead.

Angered, the quarrelsome survivor swats away his crow and grabs one of the twins by the hair, demanding his sword now. Tanjiro grabs his arm and demands he let go, threatening to break it. When the boy implores him to try, Tanjiro tightens his grip, hurting him into pulling away. After, they are presented with the ores of their blades.

At an unknown location, a man is informed by a Kasugai Crow that five have survived Final Selection. He wonders what kind of swordsmen they may become.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Hand Demon
* Tanjiro Kamado
* Sakonji Urokodaki
* Sabito
* Makomo
* Zenitsu Agatsuma
* Kanao Tsuyuri
* Genya Shinazugawa
* Kagaya Ubuyashiki
* Kiriya Ubuyashiki
* Kanata Ubuyashiki
* Matsuemon Tennoji
* Ukogi

## Events

* Tanjiro kills the Hand Demon.
* Tanjiro survives Final Selection.
* There are five survivors of the selection, though one is not seen.