(Extra scene in the beginning.)
In the morning, Tanjiro emerged from his box.
"Mmmmm," Tanjiro hummed, seeing Zenitsu stand before him.
"Tanjiro~!" Zenitsu purred.
"Mm?" Tanjiro looked at him, confused.
"Tanjiro~!" Zenitsu continued to purr his name.
"Hmm?" Tanjiro continued to look at him.
"Fufu... fufufu.... Hehehe!" Zenitsu giggled.
Tanjiro smiled with his eyes.
"Hehe... Tanjiro~, I made something for you," Zenitsu holds something behind his back.
Tanjiro cocked his head to the side.
"Tada! It's a flower crown! It matches your eyes, Tanjiro~!" Zenitsu revealed the well made flower crown.
Zenitsu handed it to him, Tanjiro studied the red flower crown and then bowed his head down.
"H-Huh? You want me to put it on?" Zenitsu asked, blushing.
"Mhm," Tanjiro replied.
"H-Hah.. Okay!" Zenitsu replied, taking the crown from Tanjiro's hands.
Zenitsu had to go on his tip-toes, but he fit the crown of flowers under his bun, but snug and tight. Then Zenitsu moved his hand to Tanjiro's head, patting it lightly.
"Mhm." Tanjiro purred.
'WHAT THE HELL!!! HE IS SO ADORABLE!!!' Zenitsu screamed in his thoughts.
Before Zenitsu knew, he was trapped in a hug by Tanjiro.
"H-H-Hah... is this... a thank you?" Zenitsu asked, blushing furiously.
Tanjiro nods his head.
'YESS!!!!!!' Zenitsu continued to scream in his thoughts.
Zenitsu hugged back and buries his face in Tanjiro's chest.
"Hehehehe..." Zenitsu giggled.
"Zenitsu!" Nezuko yelled.
"Ah!" Zenitsu screamed, escaping the hug quickly.
"Mmm..." Tanjiro hugged Zenitsu again.
"H-Hah.." Zenitsu blushed.
"I'm going to kill you..." Nezuko muttered to Zenitsu.
Zenitsu runs away out of fear while Nezuko chases him out of anger.
"Agh! Please stop chasing meeee!!!" Zenitsu screamed.
Outside the room, Inosuke sat outside, staring at the sun. His stomach suddenly growls and he places a hand on his stomach.
"Man, I'm hungry," Inosuke murmured.
"Pardon me, sir," Hisa said.
Hisa squats down and sets a change of clothes for him on the porch.
"These clothes of yours are quite soiled, I see. I'll clean them for you, so please wear these in the meantime. These are pleasant to touch and quite comfortable," Hisa said kindly.
"Ah..." Inosuke sighed.
"How does tempura sound for dinner? You know, something covered with batter and fried," Hisa asked.
"Hoho," Inosuke chuckled.
"GET BACK HERE, ZENITSU, YOU BLONDE BRAT!!!" Nezuko shouted from the other room.
Inosuke hops up and throws the doors open.
"Urah!!" Inosuke exclaimed.
"Ah!" Zenitsu exclaimed.
"Urah!" Inosuke yelled.
Inosuke charged up his leg and kicked Nezuko's back.
"What was that for?!" Nezuko scolded.
"Graaahhhh!" Inosuke shouted.
"Huh?" Zenitsu and Nezuko looked at each other with worry.
Then Inosuke starts to run towards the two, they start running away. They ended up chasing each other in circles.
"Inosuke! Stop chasing us!" Nezuko commanded.
"Nezukooo!" Zenitsu clung onto Nezuko's arm as he ran with her.
After that madness, the doctor came by to check their wounds. The doctor checked them all one by one and concluded that they were all cured.
"You're all fully healed," The doctor said, putting his supplies away.
"Ah..." Nezuko sighed.
Later, Nezuko is watching Zenitsu closely as him and Tanjiro interact. Matsuemon perches on her shoulder.
"Hm?" Nezuko asked.
"North-northeast! North-northeast! Your next mission is north-northeast! The three of you are to go to Mt. Natagumo! Go to Mt. Natagumo!" The crow crowed.
Nezuko nodded.
A little later, everyone the was ready to head out.
"We're heading out now. Thanks for everything," Nezuko bowed to Hisa.
"Now then, for good luck," Hisa said.
Hisa walked forward with a stone and grinder.
"Huh?" Inosuke wondered, wondering if she was going to start a fire.
Hisa strikes the stone against the grinder a few times, letting some sparks fly.
"What do you think you're doing, old hag?!" Inosuke exclaimed.
"What are you, a moron?!" Zenitsu scolded.
"Huh?!" Inosuke whipped his head towards Zenitsu.
"She's striking sparks for good luck! It's a purification ceremony! Because we're gonna go on a dangerous mission!" Zenitsu explained harshly.
"Always live your lives with great pride. I wish you good luck in battle," Hisa said, bowing.
Nezuko and Zenitsu bow back and they walk away to the mountain.
The group run along a path to their next destination.
"Ngh... 'Great pride'? 'Luck in battle'? What does that mean?!" Inosuke wondered.
'Jeez, this guy is clueless,' Zenitsu shook his head.
"Well, yeah, once you mention it, it's kind of difficult to explain. 'With great pride'... I guess I means that you know your place and that you behave properly so that you're never ashamed of yourselves," Nezuko explained.
"Huh?" Inosuke asked.
"And the old lady is also praying for our safety," Nezuko shrugged.
"So, what's this 'place'? What do you mean, 'never ashamed'?" Inosuke questioned.
"Well, it's..." Nezuko was cut off.
"What exactly does it mean to 'behave properly'? Why in hell would that old hag pray for our safety anyways? She has nothing to do with us, so why?" Inosuke questioned.
"Ah..." Nezuko sighs.
"She has no clue of her own place, huh?" Inosuke rolled his eyes under his mask.
"Ngh... Hmph!" Nezuko speeds up her running pace.
"Ah!" Zenitsu and Inosuke gasp.
'She sped up!' Zenitsu thought.
"Ngh!" Inosuke yelled, also speeding up to attempt to match Nezuko's pace.
"Urah! I won't get beat!" Inosuke exclaimed.
"Wait for meee!!" Zenitsu shouted, lagging behind.
During the sunset, the trio arrives at the foot of the mountain.
"H-Hold up! Would you mind waiting a second?" Zenitsu exclaimed, dropping to the ground in the fetal position.
"Jeez... what?" Nezuko asked.
"I'm scared, all right?! Now that we're nearing our destination, I'm so scared!!" Zenitsu cried.
"Why the hell is he sitting? How creepy is that?" Inosuke observed.
"Who are you to talk, Pig Face?! Don't tell me you're not getting any vibes from that mountain!" Zenitsu exclaimed.
Inosuke just shook his head. Inosuke and Nezuko turn to the mountain, but nothing comes to their senses.
"Still, what good will it do to just sit there?" Nezuko turned her head back to Zenitsu, trying to knock some sense into him.
"Told you, he's creepy," Inosuke told Nezuko.
"I'm not creepy in any way! I'm normal! I'm the normal one! You guys are abnormal!!" Zenitsu cried.
"Ah... ah... Ngh..." Nezuko suddenly plugged her nose.
"What's wrong? Hey...?" Zenitsu reached out.
"What's this smell? Ngh..." Nezuko winced, a small wince also came from Tanjiro's box.
Nezuko starts to run towards the mountain path leading to the mountain.
"Nezuko!" Zenitsu called,
"Oh... Heh!" Inosuke started running after her.
"Oh come on! Don't leave me here by myself! Please don't leave me!" Zenitsu cried.
At the foot of the mountain Inosuke catches up to Nezuko. Almost immediately, they see a wounded Demon Slayer. Zenitsu follows behind.
"Ah.." Nezuko looked at the slayer.
"Ngh.. Ugh... Help me..." The male slayer managed to stutter out.
"He has our uniform! He's a Demon Slayer! Something must've happened!" Nezuko exclaimed.
They ran over to the wounded boy.
"Eek, wait!" Zenitsu shouts, staying behind.
"Are you all right?! What happened?" Nezuko asked.
The slayer is suddenly pulled into the air, eventually going out of sight.
"Ah! Ahhh!!!" The slayer screamed.
"Ah!" Nezuko and Inosuke gasped.
"Ahh! They were attached to me, too!!! Help me!!" The slayer screamed.
"Urk!" Zenitsu exclaimed.
Nezuko catches the scent of blood.
"I'm going in further," Nezuko announced.
Inosuke puts his hand on Nezuko's shoulder and walks in front of her.
"I'll go on ahead. You can follow me," Inosuke said, reassuring Nezuko greatly.
"Inosuke..." Nezuko blushed.
"Haha! Let's go!" Inosuke shouted.
Nezuko and Inosuke run into the forest together, leaving Zenitsu behind.
"Ah.. Ah..." Zenitsu gasped.
Inosuke and Nezuko run through the forest, the place was littered with spiders and webs everywhere. Inosuke suddenly stops.
"Ah..." Inosuke looks at his hand.
A spider web had been forming on his hand for a bit now. He immediately shook off the web.
"Huh? What the hell is this?" Inosuke wondered.
"Huh? A spider web?" Nezuko observed.
"Jeez, this place is full of spider webs! What a pain!" Inosuke exclaimed.
"You're right," Nezuko said, "Inosuke?"
"What?" Inosuke asked.
"Thanks," Nezuko smiled, major mood swings, much?
"Huh?" Inosuke asked.
"You said you'd come with me, and I felt encouraged," Nezuko muttered.
"Huh?" Inosuke muttered.
"That twisted, ominous scent I was picking up from the mountain... it made me freeze a little. Thanks." Nezuko said.
"Ah," Inosuke sighed.
"Inosuke!" Nezuko shouted, gaining his attention.
"Ah!" Inosuke exclaimed.
They saw a boy in the distance.
"Let's go," Nezuko said.
Inosuke nodded.
The two reached the boy, Nezuko reached out to him.
"Ngh... ah!" The boy gasps.
"We've come as backup. I'm Nezuko Kamado, Rank Mizunoto," Nezuko introduces.
"Mizunoto? Mizunoto!? Why didn't they send us a Hashira?!" The boy yells.
Nezuko slightly scowled at him.
"No matter how many Mizunoto they send, it won't help! It's pointless!" The boy shouts.
"Ngh!" Inosuke yells.
Inosuke prepped his fist and punched the boy in the face.
"Gah!!" The boy exclaimed.
"As far as pointless goes, your existence itself has no point at all! Now tell us, what's going on?! You spineless bastard!" Inosuke stays on the defensive side.
"T-The crow gave us the order! And ten of us Demon Slayers came here! Not long after we entered the mountain, the slayers... started killing each other!" The boy explained.
"Oh," Nezuko said.
Elsewhere, a man named Kagaya is sitting on a ledge of a house. An exhausted crow was resting in his lap.
"You did well to return. So, most of my children have been slaughtered? We might find the Twelve Kizuki there, then," Kagaya said, "it seems I'll have to send some of my Hashira."
Kagaya pet the crow and said, "Giyuu Tomioka. Shinobu Kocho."
Giyuu Tomioka. A tall man with black hair pulled into a low ponytail. He wears the dark blue Slayer uniform with one side of his haori red while the other is green with yellow hexagon patterns. He is known as the Water Hashira.
Shinobu Kocho. She is a short woman with black hair and purple tips. A butterfly clip on the back of her head serves as a hair tie. She wears the dark purple slayer uniform with a butterfly like haori. It was black on the bottom with pink fading into teal. The haori is mostly white with butterfly creases on their wings. She is known as the Insect Hashira.
"As you wish," The two Hashira bowed.
"If only humans and demons could get along. Don't you agree, Tomokia?" Shinobu asked.
"Impossible... as long as demons eat humans." Giyuu replied, thinking of Nezuko and Tanjiro.
At the foot of the mountain, Zenitsu sits alone.
'I wonder if they hate me. Would you really leave your friend by the roadside? Wouldn't you talk him through it if you were friends? If they both tried to talk me into it, I would've gone, okay? Sure I would. But no, they went off their merry way up that mountain. Poor me, left alone here...' Zenitsu thought.
Zenitsu's sparrow flys down to him.
"Ah.." Zenitsu sighed sadly.
The sparrow continues to chirp, trying to say that sulking won't do anything and that he has to help his friends.
"Haa... lucky you, you don't have a care in the world. You don't understand a thing about humans, do you?" Zenitsu said.
The sparrow bites his hand angrily.
"Ouch! You aren't cute at all! I mean it! Not that side of you! Seriously, you've got zero charm! I mean, look how cute Tanjiro is, and he's a demon! But you're a tiny sparrow and so vicious!" Zenitsu exclaimed, suddenly, realization hit him, "hm? Aahhhh!!! She took Tanjiro with her!!!"
Zenitsu leaped up and started running towards the mountain.
"Why did she have to take my precious Tanjiro with her!!?? Damn you, Nezuko!!! Don't take a hot boy into danger like that!!! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Tanjirrrrooooo!!!" Zenitsu screamed.
Further up the mountain, Nezuko, Inosuke, and the boy they encountered surveyed their surroundings. A loud sound fills Nezuko's ears.
"What's that sound?" Nezuko asked.
"Ah." Insouke sighed.
"There is is again." The boy said.
"Huh?" Nezuko looked at the boy with confusion.
"It's this sound again! I heard this sound, and the next thing I knew, everyone started killing each other!" The boy exclaimed.
"Ah... where's it coming from, though?" Nezuko looked around.
"Ngh! Ah!" The boy exclaimed.
"Ah!" Nezuko exclaimed.
A group of slayers wobble messily towards the group.
"Ngh.." Inosuke looked at the slayers with unease.
"Ah!" The boy exclaimed.
One the the slayers attack messily, not using any breathing style or anything,
"Eek!" The boy screams, jumping back.
He dodges the attack. Inosuke and Nezuko are also attacked, but they dodge the attacks coming their way easily.
"Ah..." Nezuko observed.
"Haha! These guys are all morons! They don't know that it's taboo for us to fight each other!" Inosuke copied Nezuko's words when they last fought.
"No, that's not it. They're not moving correctly! They're being manipulated by something!" Nezuko shouted.
"All right.." Inosuke groaned.
Inosuke unravels a blade on his hip.
"I'm gonna slash them to ribbons!" Inosuke exclaimed.
"You can't do that! They're alive! Some of them are still alive! Besides, we can't harm our teammates!" Nezuko replied.
The slayers push forward with their attacks.
"Ngh!" Inosuke pushes a slayer away, "stop denying me at every turn I get!"
Inosuke turns to Nezuko and kicks her stomach.
"Gah!" Nezuko cries, holding her stomach, 'he really is practicing his kicking, huh?'
A demon slayer attacks the boy they brought along with them.
'Ah! Ah! Ngh! Ah!" He exclaimed.
Another comes behind the boy, but Inosuke jumps on the slayer's back.
"Nghr!" Inosuke grunts.
"Ngh.." Nezuko groans, trying to hold her own.
Nezuko manages to pin a Demon Slayer to the ground by their head with her leg. She noticed something shimmer on the slayer's back. Inosuke keeps the one he pinned earlier down on the ground.
"Ah.." The scent Nezuko got shocked her, 'there's a sweet scent from his back!'
Nezuko slashed above his back and severed spider threads. The slayer then dropped to the ground.
"They're threads! They're being manipulated by threads! Slash the threads!" Nezuko called.
"Haha! All right!" Inosuke laughed.
Inosuke slashes through multiple strings on different slayers in seconds. They all collapse to the ground.
"Ngh! I already knew that before you caught on!" Inosuke shouted.
'Where's the location of the demon controlling the threads?' Nezuko looked around.
Nezuko smelled a terrible scent that corroded her nose.
"Ngh!" Nezuko looked around, 'what's this? What an irritating oder! Though it was for a second!"
"Ah.." Nezuko gasped, looking at her arm.
Two small yellow spiders crawl around her arm.
'What's this?' Nezuko thought.
Elsewhere, the demon controlling the slayers, the Spider Mother, laughed. She sat up on a large rock while controlling her puppets.
"Fufufufu..." The Mother chuckled.
She pulls the threads attached to her fingers.
Nezuko's arm is pulled against her own will.
"Ah!" Nezuko exclaimed.
She cut the threads quickly.
'Spiders! So, the spiders are attaching them to the puppet threads? So that means...' Nezuko thought, realizing what would happen.
The Demon Slayers that everyone cut the threads on were reanimated by the yellow spiders on the ground.
"Fufu... fufufufu! Now then, my sweet little dolls... dance until your arms and legs fall apart!" The Spider Mother laughed.
"It's not good enough to just cut the threads!" Nezuko called.
"Huh?" Inosuke perked to attention.
"The spiders are just gonna stick more threads once we cut them again! So..." Nezuko was cut off by the wind.
The wind blew a nasty stench towards Nezuko. She plugged her nose in disgust.
'Ngh! That smell again! What is it, anyway? It's being carried here by the wind!' Nezuko shouted in her thoughts.
Spiders crawled near Nezuko's foot.
"Ah! Ngh!" Nezuko gasped.
She jumped out of the way.
"So, all we gotta do is kill all the damn spiders, huh?!" Inosuke exclaimed.
"That would be impossible! Those spiders are tiny, and I'm sure there are millions of them! We have to find the demon who's controlling them!" Nezuko commanded.
"Oh!" Inosuke looked at the ground.
He uses his blade to stab at the spiders on the ground.
"Urah! Urahhh! Urah!" Inosuke cackled.
"It's no good, Inosuke! If you have some sort of sense that can pinpoint the demon's location, then help me out! This weird smell is flowing in my nose, causing my nose to not work very well! And also, uhm...?" Nezuko trailed off when trying to say the boy's name.
"It's Murata!" Murata announced.
"Murata! He and I will find a way to deal with the people being controlled! Inosuke, you..." Nezuko looked up to see a demon above her.
The demon was a short kid with spiky white hair, one side of their eyes covered. They had pale white skin and blue eyes with red sclera. They had small red circles on his face. Their kimono was scattered with red and spider webs on the oversized kimono sleeves and bottom. Their name was Rui.
They seemed to be floating.
"Ah..." Nezuko gasped.
"Don't disturb my family's peaceful life." Rui said, loud enough for Nezuko and the others to hear.
'He's floating! No, he's standing on the threads! What did he mean by "family"?' Nezuko thought.
"Mother will kill you all right away." Rui said, looking down on them.
"Mother?" Nezuko spoke to herself.
"Uraahhh!! There!!" Inosuke yelled.
Inosuke uses one of the controlled slayers as a springboard to leap up to Rui.
"Haaahh!" Inosuke exclaimed.
Inosuke unravels his second blade and slashes at Rui. Unfortunately, Inosuke misses and then Rui walks away.
"Damn you! Where the hell do think you're going?! Fight me! Fight..!!" Inosuke exclaimed, falling to the ground.
Inosuke landed on his back.
"Gah!" Inosuke cried out in pain.
"Inosuke!" Nezuko rushed to his side.
"Why did he show up, anyway?" Inosuke hopped up on his feet.
Nezuko sighed with relief, "that kid probably isn't the demon controlling the slayers. So first, let's..."
"Okay, okay, okay! I hear you, all right?! You want me to find the demon's location, right? So shut up, Nezumi!" Inosuke spat.
Inosuke jabbed his blades into the ground and then knelt down.
"Beast Breathing. Seventh Form, Spacial Awareness!" Inosuke said.
Inosuke breathed in deeply. He searched through the forest through his sense of feeling. The sight of a demon appears, Spider Mother.
"Found it. There you are!" Inosuke announced.
Elsewhere, Rui stands on threads.
"I won't let anyone get in our way. The five of us will live in bliss as a family. No one can break out bond." Rui muttered.