Chapter 25

## Believe in Yourself

**Believe in Yourself** (己 (おのれ) を鼓 (こ) 舞 (ぶ) せよ, *Onore o Kobu Seyo*?) is the twenty-fifth chapter of Koyoharu Gotoge's Kimetsu no Yaiba.

## Summary

Despite his injured state, Tanjiro tries to motivate himself to continue fighting. Nonetheless, Kyogai's attacks continue to nearly kill him at every moment, forcing him to think of a strategy. As he beats his drums, the demon remembers when someone had admonished his writing for being poorly written, criticizing his work and claiming he should give up. Insulting him for never going outside and always playing indoors, they step on Kyogai's sheet music while walking away. Angered and hiding that he was a demon, Kyogai unleashes his slashes and cuts the man to pieces.

After recalling this memory, Kyogai is furious and increasing his tempo faster than ever. Tanjiro has trouble dodging all of his attacks and notices the number of slashes had increased to five per attack. The movement of the room causes some of Kyogai's writings to fall on the ground which Tanjiro notices, but he avoids stepping on them which surprises Kyogai.

The Demon Slayer sees that short breathes allows him to gain strength without injuring himself and begins to smell a mold-like scent before incoming attacks, making more fluid and calculated movements as he uses **Water Breathing, Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent** to decrease the distance between the two. He detects the Opening Thread: right before he decapitates Kyogai, Tanjiro tells him his Blood Demon Art is amazing, before finally striking the demon.

Tanjiro accidentally breathes heavily after defeating the demon, hurting him greatly, but he continues telling himself that he is the eldest son and must pull through somehow. Kyogai's disintegrating head asks him if he really thought his Blood Demon Art was good, and Tanjiro reassures that he did, though he adds that he cannot be forgiven for killing humans. He then takes out a syringe-like knife developed by Yushiro and extracts the blood from Kyogai's body, giving it to a cat wearing a talisman for Tamayo's research. Kyogai's head, as he disintegrates to ash, cries about how Tanjiro saw the value in both his writing and drumming, at peace that someone had admired them.

While making his way through the corridor, Tanjiro opens the door to where he left Teruko and Kiyoshi and is greeted by a mass of objects thrown at him. The siblings apologize; they mentioned how they were scared since the drum had disappeared and didn't have a way to defend themselves in case of an attack. The trio make their way out of the house, but just as they make it to the entrance, Tanjiro smells blood. He runs out to see a crying Shoichi as the masked Demon Slayer beats a wounded Zenitsu, crouching over Nezuko's box after he stated it was more important that his life.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Tanjiro Kamado
* Kyogai
* Chachamaru
* Teruko
* Kiyoshi
* Inosuke Hashibira
* Zenitsu Agatsuma
* Shoichi

## Events

* Tanjiro Kamado vs Kyogai.
* Tanjiro adapts to Kyogai's drumming and defeats him.
* Tanjiro collects the blood of a former Twelve Kizuki for Tamayo.
* The masked Demon Slayer attacks Zenitsu as he protects Tanjiro's box.