Demon Slayer: The Water Hashira Is Reborn, and Shinobu Kocho Loses Her Cool

Cold moonlight filtered through the twisted beams of the Infinity Castle, casting broken shadows across Giyu Tomioka's face.

He knelt in a pool of blood, the Nichirin Blade in his hand snapped in two. All around him lay the bodies of his comrades, growing colder by the moment. The eternal fire in Kyojuro Rengoku's eyes had gone out. Muichiro Tokito lay among the rubble, his pale haori stained red with blood. When Gyomei Himejima's massive body crashed to the ground, the earth itself trembled.

But Shinobu Kocho's death hurt him most of all.

Her Wisteria haori had been torn to shreds, yet that familiar, gentle smile still rested on her lips, as if to say, “It's all right, Mr. Tomioka.” But she had stopped breathing, and her body was slowly turning transparent in the moonlight.

“Why...” Giyu's voice rasped like a broken bellows. “Why couldn't I...”

Muzan Kibutsuji's cold laugh rang out from above, as black tendrils surged toward him like a tide. Giyu tried to rise, tried to swing his blade, but his body had reached its limit. In his final moments, he saw not Muzan's hideous face, but Shinobu's question from when they first met on Mount Natagumo:

“Are you going to protect a demon?”

That question had sparked all the misunderstandings and distance between them.

If only he could start over...

If only...

Darkness swallowed everything.