When Tanjiro woke up, he was lying down on the ground in the middle of the field. The sun was high up in the sky at this point. Muichiro, Genya, and Kotetsu were there with him, as well as someone else, who Tanjiro recognized from the hashira meeting. It was the Ice Hashira, Kimi Kazuyuki.
"What happened?" Tanjiro asked, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Did- did we-"
"We won," Muichiro said. "Upper rank 4 is gone."
"How?" Tanjiro asked. "How did we-"
"It was Kazuyuki-san," Muichiro said. "When you collapsed from exhaustion, he managed to decapitate the main body. The villagers are safe."
"Kazuyuki-dono... thank you..." Tanjiro trailed off.
"I'm just doing my job," Kimi said. "There's really no need to thank me."
Tanjiro looked around, but Nezuko was nowhere to be seen.
"What about Nezuko?" Tanjiro asked, although he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Silence.
"Tanjiro," Genya said. "I'm really sorry, but... she's gone."
Tanjiro broke down into tears. He remembered how Nezuko had been burnt by the sun and had sacrificed herself to save the villagers. Tanjiro already knew what had happened to her, but it was so much more demoralizing to hear someone else say it.
"Tanjiro, I wanted to thank you," Muichiro said. "Thanks to you, I finally managed to recover something very important to me."
"But... I didn't do anything," Tanjiro said.
"No," Muichiro said. "Thank you, truly."
Author's note: The next episode is the last episode of this rewrite's Swordsmith Village Arc. It will be released on February 8th, and more information will follow on the same day concerning the release of the Hashira Training Arc episodes.