The next day.
Tanjiro left the Butterfly Mansion early in the morning after instructing his mother to remain inside the basket in their room.
He told her he would be back by night, so she didn't show any displeasure.
Given how much quality time he had spent with her the previous night, her glowing face was visibly satisfied.
On the other hand, Shinobu finally found Kanae's old clothes in her own room, feeling relieved and confused at the same time.
Dashing under the arriving dawn, a fully uniformed Tanjiro looked over his shoulder at the naked ghost and spoke in his kind voice. "Kanae, you should have just kept the clothes, and Shinobu would have surely gotten over it in a day or two..."
Seeing that she was quiet, he asked further, "Not to be rude, but are you not bothered by your nakedness?"
After listening to his worried and kind voice, a shy look immediately appeared on Kanae's naturally gentle-looking face.
"Mm... It's fine, I suppose. Nobody can see me anyway, except for Tanjiro..." she said softly, feeling unusually sheepish. "Don't worry about me, okay..."
Running constantly without stopping, he nodded. "If you say so."
Flying in the air above them was Shiori. "Tanjiro, stupid! Caw! Talking to himself! Caw!"
Tanjiro clicked his tongue playfully. "A crow's making fun of me now, huh..."
A giggle came out of Kanae's mouth. "Hehe, isn't it your fault for scaring our Shiori?"
'...?'
Eyebrow raised, he could only ask. "What do you mean by 'our'?"
Suddenly, Kanae tilted her head with a wry yet innocent smile. "Aree, did I forget to share that Shiori was my Kasugai crow too? Mm, I guess I did, sorry about that... Tee-hee~"
He felt a bit surprised. "What a coincidence, hm."
The next instant, the same loud voice came from above. "Caw, stop being a weirdo, Tanjiro! We have a demon to finish, caw!"
Kanae burst into laughter. "I must say she really suits you... Hehe."
Not minding them, he said, "Alright, I'm speeding up. No talking now," before elevating his pace by three times.
Kanae adjusted herself accordingly and flew beside him in tandem.
In just a few minutes, he crossed multiple hills and dashed toward the intended location.
....
Two hours later~
Tanjiro easily located the scent of a demon after entering the forest area, which was densely covered by trees that blocked out the sunlight.
A main transportation route ran straight through the middle of the forest, connecting two cities directly.
On that same route, people had been going missing despite traveling in groups.
Last month, a group of twelve people had been heading to the other city for business but vanished midway. A search party was formed, but nothing was found—no bloodstains, no bones. It was as if the forest itself had devoured them.
After that incident, the route was closed temporarily. Once it reopened last week, people began traveling normally again and soon forgot about what had happened.
During the first few days, everything went safely. Nothing occurred, and the lingering fear faded.
However, who would have thought the calm was only the start of another terror.
Two days ago, another group went missing.
A total of twenty-five people!
All that remained was a thick, dry paste of horrifying bloodstains spread across the ground.
The people who went to investigate were so terrified they ran away instantly and fell sick.
Even the senior officials were scared and disgusted by the horrendous scene.
Afterward, the route was immediately blocked. This time, nobody was sure if it would ever reopen.
When the news reached Demon Slayer Corps headquarters that morning, Kagaya could only ask for Tanjiro's help, as the other Hashira were too far away.
As for Shinobu, she was busy with her current work, so she was ruled out.
Since Kagaya trusted him, he was dispatched alone.
Him—a Hashira-level swordsman—on a sudden mission?
The reason was straightforward and simple.
Given the incident's nature, Kagaya feared and believed it was probably the work of one of the Twelve Kizuki. Hence, the responsibility fell to him as one of the strongest people in the organization.
After arriving in the central region, Tanjiro walked normally along the route, his presence completely erased with a single thought.
A bloody smell still permeated the path.
He could only frown as his nose blasted the stench straight into his brain like a vacuum cleaner.
"It's definitely one of Muzan's direct minions... The demon's scent is nothing like the one I killed the other day," he said, staring at the bloodstains.
An emotional Kanae looked around her surroundings slowly, nodding with a look of sadness. "I know you're strong, but... Be careful, okay," she mumbled.
As usual, even though she was dead and now a ghost, she still cared so deeply about others and felt pain for them.
He wanted to say something but didn't bother.
The scene before him was where several people had been killed mercilessly.
Their blood was still there, proof of their suffering.
'Hah...' Tanjiro exhaled slightly as his eyes became serious.
'Looks like one of the Upper Moons went wild here...' he thought, wondering about the identity of the perpetrator.
If there were some bodies left, he would have surely recognized the bastard from analyzing the wounds.
Shiori, seated on his head, cawed, "Caw, stay on your guard, Tanjiro! This is a mess! Caw!"
He hummed softly.
For quite some time, he had smelled the demon's scent but it turned out to be hard to locate its presence. His extrasensory perception was useless over greater distances, so he was left with only one option.
'No choice but to rely on this nose...'
Sniffing continuously despite the bloody stench permeating the air, he began to search for the demon's scent with all his concentration.
A few minutes passed~
"Found it." He declared, rushing toward a certain area deeper into the forest.
"Eh, there's a huge hole at the bottom of the tree over there! Is that where it's hiding? Underground!?" Kanae's eyes flickered intensely.
The hole was too small and it was going deep into the nearby mountain range rather than downward.
What were they supposed to do next?
To her shaky voice, he replied calmly, "Time to set an ambush... I guess. Even if I tried to dig, it won't come out. And we don't know if it has other escape routes too."
Staying quiet for a moment, he added, "We'll have to wait for night... for it to come out."
Suddenly, Shiori pecked his head with her beak. "Idiot! It's not even noon yet! Caw!"
Kanae chimed in. "And that demon has recently eaten so many people or perhaps stored them in the hideout. I don't think it will come out anytime soon..."
Tanjiro knew that too.
'Fuck, what a headache... I have to bait it out somehow.... Wait, there's a way...!'
He picked up Shiori from his head in a single swoop and smiled strangely.
Shiori panicked upon seeing his shrewd-looking smile. "C-Caw, what are you doing!"
Kanae was confused.
Realizing he had scared the poor crow, he chuckled softly and answered, "Good Shiori, why don't you go back to headquarters and bring me some stored Marechi blood from Shinobu... Can you do that for me, please?"
"Ah, that... okay, Caw! Scared me for a second there, Caw!"
He let go, and she flew off into the distance immediately.
Kanae's cheerful voice sounded beside him. "Mm, you're really smart. Even I couldn't think of that."
Jumping onto the branch of a nearby tree, he leaned backward and rested his body. "It's nothing... I still have to wait for a few hours, hah. It will be evening by then... Let's hope Shiori hurries her way back."
....
Patreon.com/ lordazathoth