kimetsu light novel summary

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first of all, my japanese is not very good, so this will only be a brief summary. i'm hoping someone else with more skills will do it more justice in the future.

PLEASE for the love of god take all of this with a grain of salt, i don't wanna be responsible for any misinformation. i'm mostly sure that these things are correct but you know.

chapter 1: the kamaboko gang (tanjiro, nezuko, inosuke and zenitsu) are staying at the wisteria house owned by the old lady (hisa). i'm not sure exactly when this takes place - at first i thought it might be directly after the drum house arc but some things indicate it might be later.
a marriage is happening in a nearby village and the demon slayer kids go to congratulate the couple. on their way back tanjiro thinks about how young the bride looked and he thinks of nezuko and gets a bit emotional.
they run into a pair of sisters around the age of 10 and 7 respectively. the younger sister, akari, wanted to go into the mountains and search for a flower that only grows during the new moon, and that is said to grant happiness to a person if they wear it under their clothes. her sister, akane, doesn't believe in this story and had been trying to get akari to go back home. tanjiro agrees with akane and says that it's dangerous to be in the mountains at night. akari listens to him and she and akane start walking back home.
the boys discuss the story of the flower and inosuke thinks it's bullshit, and zenitsu is like "oh u know, girls love stuff like that", and tanjiro is like "oh do they.. hm... i wonder if nezuko likes that stuff too". he tells zen and ino to go back to the wisteria house bc he has something to do. he runs after the sisters and asks them to tell him more about the flower.
that night zenitsu gets woken up by nezuko who seems upset. he realises tanjiro is missing from his futon and his sword is also gone (DUN DUN DUNN)
meanwhile tanjiro has run into a wild boar with an injured leg and while treating it he fell off a cliff and passed out. he wakes up and the boar is still there. it leads him to a cave and there he sees the flower the girls described.
when he comes back to the wisteria house zenitsu and inosuke are arguing over whether or not they should go looking for tanjiro, and nezuko is hiding in tanjiro's futon. she comes out and tanjiro holds out the flower and says "here, i got you this flower that grants happiness!" but nezuko still looks upset, so he apologises. nezuko then takes the flower and puts it in her hair, and seeing tanjiro's smile, she then puts it in his hair.
tanjiro is like "oh no nezuko, i don't need this" and she frowns at him and he recalls human nezuko scolding him for apologising too much. he realises that nezuko wants him to care about his own happiness and not just hers. they hug and it's very sweet. then inosuke ruins the mood by saying that that's just an ordinary flower that wild boars like to eat because the petals are sweet (ofc he would know, haha). tanjiro feels silly but what was important here is that he was able to understand nezuko's feelings so it's fine.

chapter 2 begins with zenitsu and nezuko picking flowers at night, because he promised to make her a flower crown. he sees a yellow flower and recalls something that happened while he was training under the former thunder pillar (whose name, btw, is jigorou kuwajima. i don't think his name was ever mentioned in the manga?). zen had been hiding from his master as usual when he ran into a crying girl. the girl's name was sayuri and she told him her stepfather had promised her to a demon in exchange for his own life. zenitsu, obviously horrified and also already in love, promised to go in her place and defeat the demon. it was a heat of the moment thing and he regretted it immediately, but what can you do.
he went to the place sayuri was supposed to go to, in drag (yep, red light district was not the first time zenitsu was zenko) and waited, scared out of his mind. the demon appeared, told zen that he was ugly as fuck, but that he was still gonna eat him. zen passed out from fear and we all know what happened next. he woke up, covered in blood, demon slain, tits out (no im jk). he didn't know he was the one who did this, and assumed his master must've saved him. jigorou had been hiding in the bushes and saw everything, and he was like smh.... but didn't reveal himself to zen.
zen went back down to the foot of the mountain, 100% sure sayuri was going to fall in love with him. he picked a yellow flower for her.
but as it turned out, sayuri already had a boyfriend, and zen was heartbroken but didn't tell her so. she apologised for putting him in danger and he was like nah it's fine, go be happy. when she left he broke down in tears, and jigorou comforted him (after calling him a huge idiot). he said that what a strong swordsman needs most of all is a kind heart, and that zen has that.
zenitsu's brought back to the present by nezuko who is waiting for her flower crown, and he apologises, adding that they should make crowns for tanjiro and inosuke too. then he thinks about how he hopes he can live up to the kind heart thing one day. (aw man, zen, u already do have a kind heart...)

chapter 3 takes place after the infinity train arc and opens with the kamaboko gang walking around in a town. i THINK shinobu has sent them to buy some candy for the butterfly girls, with the real goal of making them take a break from training and have some fun. a creepy old hag says that one of them will have poor luck with women (and points at zenitsu). she adds that he should stay away from women altogether because he might die if a woman falls for him. zenitsu freaks out, naturally. inosuke roasts the shit out of zen and tanjiro does it too, though not maliciously. (inosuke says "you'll be fine, since she said you'd only die if a girl likes you" and tanjiro is like "oh i see that makes sense"). zen is like I HAVE FAKE FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!1
they go to a café because zen is losing his mind and tanjiro needs him to chill. tanjiro helps inosuke read the menu and it's really cute. ("this is 'i', as in inosuke" "!!! ORE-SAMA NO 'I'!!")
meanwhile zen thinks every girl who looks at him is going to confess and tanjiro whacks him lightly on the head because he's scaring the staff and customers. zen passes out and tanjiro and inosuke order some ice cream and have a great time. inosuke takes off his mask and gathers a lot of attention due to his bishonen looks.
zen wakes up, mistakenly thinks the attention is focused on him, and runs out of the café screaming. a waitress informs tanjiro that the fortune teller they met is super fake and they go outside to tell him so, but there's a bit of a panic because a horse is running wild outside. the waitress (who, by the way, is named saya and built like a wrestler and i adore her) is about to be stomped by the horse but zenitsu rescues her. inosuke makes the horse calm down by glaring at it. they also see the fortune teller and inosuke runs after her to pluck all her hair out or something hjgjdjghjghdf
as thanks for saving saya, the owner of the café gives them a bunch of chocolate and caramel candy which they eat back at the butterfly estate. there's a really sweet scene where tanjiro offers kanao some chocolate and she just blushes and hides behind aoi. zen curses out tanjiro, who is completely oblivious.

the next chapter is aoi pov!
it open with aoi narrating how she feels about kanao (or used to feel, before the events of this chapter). she doesn't dislike her, but finds her hard to deal with because she's more like a doll than a person. plus aoi has an inferiority complex due to her being unable to fight demons out of fear, while kanao does not have that problem.
after uzui takes the boys to the red light district instead of aoi, she wants to thank kanao for trying to help her. she's just not sure how to do it. shinobu sends aoi and kanao to the town to buy some medicine and bandages, and aoi thinks she'll now have the chance to say thank you.
while in the store, aoi realises she forgot her wallet with the money shinobu gave her. she's very embarrassed, which is made worse when the store owner asks her what the hell a demon slayer even is. aoi gets angry and storms out, then regrets it immediately. she apologises to kanao, who just silently pats her head.
they walk around the town and see an eating contest going on outside a liquor store. aoi, knowing that kanao's parents sold her when she was a child due to poverty, wonders how kanao will react to this gluttonous display. kanao has her usual empty expression, and aoi takes her hand and starts leading her away from the scene. BUT THEN a sumo wrestler starts choking on his food and falls to the ground. aoi rushes to his side and checks his pulse and breathing and realises he will die if she doesn't help him. she asks an onlooker to get a doctor, and then asks kanao to run back to the medicine seller and get a few things. then she remembers kanao's coin thing and is like "oh damn, she's gonna throw a coin about it isn't she" but kanao has already started running.
aoi is suprised but turns back to the wrestler, and a drunk guy starts pestering her, saying that she shouldn't interfere with the contest. aoi tells him to be quiet and he gets mad, but aoi slaps his hand away and tells him that if he doesn't stop interfering with her she will break his arm. after all, aoi went through hellish training and she's not afraid of some random human dude. he backs off, albeit angrily.
after using her nurse skills to save the wrestler, the doctor that appeared at the scene praises her. the store owner gives her a bag of rice and sake as thanks. aoi thinks that she can sell the rice to get money for the medicine. she and kanao start walking again but this time they run into an arguing couple in a poor part of town. the husband has been spending money on gambling and drinking and the wife curses him out while their kids cry in the background. aoi tells them to please stop fighting, and offers them the bag of rice. the family is stunned and asks why, but aoi doesn't know how to answer - it would be arrogant to say that she wanted to save them, wouldn't it? so she just leaves. the eldest son - still a young boy - runs after aoi and kanao and gives them a red pinwheel as thanks. aoi doesn't know how to react, but kanao takes the pinwheel and quietly thanks the boy, who smiles brightly.
as they walk away aoi asks why, and kanao says that if they hadn't accepted the pinwheel, the boy's feelings would be hurt. aoi realises that kanao has changed quite a lot since meeting tanjiro, just like aoi herself has.
kanao takes aoi to a tea house mitsuri frequents, in the hope that they could maybe borrow some money from her. mitsuri isn't there though, but the owner's daughter was saved by her once and he offers aoi and kanao some tea and dango on the house. aoi is really exhausted and gets overwhelmed by gratitude. she cries a little, but they eat and rest for a while.
it's evening by the time they start going back to the butterfly estate - thinking that they'll go buy the medicine first thing tomorrow - but the medicine seller's.. son?? i'm not sure about this part - runs after them and gives them the medicine and bandages they wanted. i think maybe he hadn't recognised the girls before and his mother was like YOU DUMB BITCH THAT WAS SHINOBU'S GIRLS GO GIVE THEM THIS and so he did because his mom is very scary.
so, happy ending! aoi tells shinobu what happened and shinobu praises her for her quick thinking that saved the wrestler. aoi modestly says it was all thanks to kanao but shinobu says that kanao said it was all thanks to aoi. she then adds that all the butterfly girls are her precious family (SHINOBU ;____;) and aoi feels a little more confident now!

the last chapter is set in the school au but i'll make a separate post for that

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