There was no way Inosuke was going to listen to Tanjiro.
Right now, in his eyes, Aoyama was a rare opponent. He had to settle who was stronger.
Aoyama, who had just finished fighting, didn't mind warming up a bit more.
With a wild leap, Inosuke pounced onto Aoyama's shoulders. Aoyama instinctively reached to grab his clothes for an over-the-shoulder throw—
Only to realize—
This idiot wasn't wearing a shirt.
He froze for half a second.
In that half-second, Inosuke's fist came flying toward his face.
Aoyama calmly raised a hand and caught the punch in his palm.
"Hah! Interesting!"
Aoyama smirked. "What's interesting is yet to come."
One hand gripping Inosuke's fist, the other grabbing his waistband, Aoyama exerted force with both arms at once—
He yanked Inosuke clean off his shoulders—
And hurled him five meters away.
Thud.
Watching from the side, Zenitsu muttered in awe,
"Incredible… Even with broken ribs, he's still moving that fast."
Then he whispered to Tanjiro,
"Hey… doesn't that mean Senior Aoyama is breaking the Corps rules too?"
Tanjiro scratched his head awkwardly.
Well… technically… maybe?
Shoichi kindly used a handkerchief to wipe the blood dripping from Zenitsu's nose.
Aoyama stepped forward and delivered a flying kick square into Inosuke's shoulder, knocking him flat again. Without turning his head, he called out,
"This doesn't count as breaking the rules~ We're just sparring!"
"Sparring?!"
"Sparring?"
Tanjiro and Zenitsu echoed in unison.
That explanation… actually worked?
Amazing, Senior Brother Aoyama…
Amazing, Senior Aoyama…
Both silently gave him a thumbs-up in their hearts.
Seeing that the fight wouldn't end anytime soon, Tanjiro led the children and Zenitsu to bury the unfortunate boy who had died outside.
Meanwhile—
Aoyama suddenly stopped fighting.
Inosuke clearly just wanted to compete. But even if Aoyama had energy to spare, he had no intention of wasting it playing with a wild boar.
"Hey," Aoyama called out. "See Tanjiro burying the dead? Let's change the competition."
Inosuke skidded to a halt, carving two lines into the dirt with his feet.
"What kind of competition?"
Hook, line, and sinker.
Aoyama smiled faintly.
"There are still many victims inside the house. Let's compete to see who buries more bodies. Whoever buries more wins."
Inosuke, who grew up in the mountains, saw no meaning in burying the dead. To him, it was just putting remains in the ground.
He hesitated.
Aoyama immediately turned away.
"What? Not interested? Fine. You've already lost anyway. I won't compete. Go play somewhere else."
Hands behind his head, he strolled off casually.
Lost?
How could he lose?!
Inosuke roared,
"Wait! I'll win! However many bodies are in there, I'll bury them all! You're the one who's going to lose!"
He dashed into the house, hoisted a corpse over his shoulder, dug a pit, filled it, covered it with soil, placed a stone—
Smooth. Efficient. Done.
"Hahaha! See that? That's one! I'm already ahead!"
And off he went again.
Meanwhile—
Aoyama sat beneath a tree, Nezuko's wooden box resting beside him.
He didn't move.
"Senior Brother… aren't you going to…?" Tanjiro couldn't help asking.
You proposed the competition.
Why are you resting?
"Don't just stand there staring," Aoyama said lazily. "Rest if you need to. Do whatever."
It was daytime. Nezuko couldn't come out.
So Aoyama simply closed his eyes and relaxed while Inosuke ran back and forth like a tireless beast, digging grave after grave—
All while loudly mocking Aoyama for "losing."
The others sat in a circle under the tree, staring at one another in confusion.
Aoyama suddenly opened one eye.
"What, you want to gamble or something? Mahjong? Dice?"
Everyone immediately shook their heads.
Never mind.
As the sun slowly sank toward the horizon—
Inosuke finally finished burying the last body.
He planted his hands on his hips and threw his head back in triumph.
"Hahahaha! I win! I win! I'm the strongest! You lost! You lost!"
Zenitsu blinked.
Did… this victory even mean anything?
Aoyama stood, dusting himself off. He walked over and patted Inosuke on the shoulder.
"Congratulations. You buried so many people. Impressive."
Inosuke froze.
He had expected overwhelming satisfaction.
Instead—
He felt… nothing.
Something was wrong.
"Hey! Say it again! Say 'I lost' again!"
He grabbed Aoyama to stop him from walking away.
Aoyama nodded generously.
"Congratulations, Hashibira Inosuke. In this burial competition, you won brilliantly."
Inosuke's fuzzy boar ears twitched.
Still…
No thrill. No excitement.
Tanjiro sighed softly.
Senior Brother had played him from the start.
Inosuke had been tricked into doing all the work willingly—and still thought he'd won.
Was that innocence?
Or was that just… stupidity?
The sun dipped fully below the horizon.
And somewhere in the fading light—
A certain boar-headed boy began, very faintly, to question his life choices.
To Read advanced Chapters, head over to P@treon
patreon.com/DarkVerse146