Kagami and Tanjiro screamed in agony at the constant squawking of the Kasugai crows, begging for them to calm down and at least give them some time to rest! They were still wounded terribly by the fight between the Temari and Arrow Demon. Miss Tamayo did her best to treat their wounds but nothing could mend broken bones better than resting and relaxing, but the two of them couldn't afford to do that. Their job as Demon Slayers couldn't wait.

That was until they heard uncontrollable sobbing and screaming from in front of them down the dirt road.

They paused and watched uncomfortably as a boy with yellow and orange hair, chopped at different lengths, with gold eyes, wearing a white-triangled pattern, yellow and orange gradient haori over… a black Demon Slayer uniform cry on an innocent girl's kimono? He's a Demon Slayer like Kagami and Tanjiro? But how? He was acting… nothing like a Demon Slayer!

A tiny sparrow frantically flew up to them and landed on Tanjiro's outstretched hands.

It was squeaking and chirping nonstop, sweat beading down its body, wings flapping everywhere in exaggeration, all the while the boy in yellow cried like a baby on the poor girl who wanted nothing more than to get away from him.

"Come on, I'm begging you! There's no one else! You're the only hope that I have left!" the boy continued screaming in the background, as Tanjiro nodded his head down at the frantic sparrow… as if he understood it?

Kagami looked from him to the sparrow, retorting, "Wait, you can understand it?"

Tanjiro nodded his head at her, speaking, "Of course I can." Then, he looked down at the sparrow, determinedly, and said, "All right! We'll try to help!"

The sparrow seemed to have smiled and brought its wings up in relief, eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Kagami made a face and looked over at the boy, already regretting leaving Miss Tamayo's home.

The closer they walked to the boy, and the girl who was actively pushing him off of her as hard as she could, the louder and more annoying his sobs, cries, and whining became. Waterfalls of tears poured out of his eyes, snot dribbled down his nose, and sweat creased his forehead. He didn't seem to have noticed either Kagami or Tanjiro approaching him from behind.

Tanjiro grabbed the back of his haori and yanked him off the poor girl, screaming, "Why are you making such a big scene in the middle of the road?! She's clearly not interested in you! Also, you're stressing your sparrow out!"

The boy, for the moment, had stopped crying.

His eyes landed on Tanjiro's clothing, gasping, "That uniform! You're that guy from Final Selection!"

Kagami stepped in front of him, scoffing, "Don't go pretending like you know him, because he doesn't! We don't know anyone like you, so stop pretending like we all know each other!"

The boy's eyes landed on Kagami and she swore she thought she saw pink hearts replace his golden irises.

She yelped when he wrapped his arms around her legs, his sobbing and whining continuing, burying his face in her black uniform, screaming, "But we have met, remember?! We've met before! Don't get angry at me when you're the one with the terrible memory! You're so beautiful and so mean at the same time! What kind of cruel world is this?! Can someone please just marry me?!"

"Get off me, weirdo!" she screamed trying to kick him.

Though, Kagami knew he was telling the truth. She remembered seeing the blank but fear-filled look in his eyes at the end of Final Selection. It felt weird running into someone who took the same test as her sometime later, but she wasn't expecting that!

As Kagami tried shoving the boy off of her legs, his face burying deeper into her hakama pants, Tanjiro stepped up to the girl, speaking kindly, "All right, you're all set to head home again. Do you need help with anything else?"

The girl smiled appreciatively at him, answering, "No. Thank you very much," bowing her head.

The boy immediately let go of Kagami's legs, sending her toppling to the ground, as he angrily stepped up to Tanjiro. He screamed with tear-filled eyes and snot running out of his nose, "Hang on! Stay out of my way! That girl is going to marry me! She is madly in love with me, and the two of us were going to get married-!"

Kagami and Tanjiro watched with wide eyes as the girl launched herself at the boy and began to slap him around! The boy crouched on the ground, crying as he held his head, letting the girl slap and hit him over, over, and over again. Small grunts of anger left her mouth and the boy begged her to stop but she wouldn't!

"Should… Should we stop this?" Kagami mumbled to Tanjiro.

Tanjiro gasped, "Of course we do!" before launching himself forward.

He wrapped his arms up and under the girl's armpits, pulling her back and off of the boy, screaming, "Hey! Calm down!"

The girl, shaking and trembling with frustration, pointed her finger at the still-screaming boy, yelling, "When did I ever say that I loved you?! You were crouched on the side of the road looking ill, all I did was make sure you were okay!"

"So, you're telling me you didn't reach out to me because you were worried about me out of love?!"

"Considering that I already have a fiancé, that's exactly what I've been trying to tell you! Well, you seem to be perfectly fine now so goodbye!" the girl finished, huffing and turning away with her chin held high.

Good for her.

The boy still wouldn't take no for an answer.

He crawled towards her, crying and screaming at the top of his lungs, but Kagami stepped in front of him. She huffed down, "She already said no, so cut it out!"

The boy suddenly turned his angry eyes on Kagami and Tanjiro. He looked at them as if the girl walking away was somehow their fault! "Why'd you get in my way? This has nothing to do with you!"

Kagami and Tanjiro stood there and gave the boy a look of repulsion.

"What's with that look on your faces?!"

They didn't move. They only looked at him like he was a pathetic human being for groveling at the ground of a girl who clearly didn't want him, and allowed himself to behave that way.

"Stop that!" he screamed hysterically, sobbing once again. "Why are you staring at me like I'm some sort of pitiful creature or something?! Listen here, you! Take responsibility! It's all your fault that I missed out on marriage!"

The look on their faces only worsened and deepened.

"Say something, would ya?! I'm going to die soon! During my next job! I'm horribly weak, okay? No exaggeration! You'd better protect me until I manage to get married, mister and miss!"

Tanjiro slapped his hand on his chest, scoffing, "I am not mister. My name is Tanjiro Kamado! This is Kagami Yamato! And you are?"

"Tanjiro! Kagami! That's good to know!" he yelled crawling and shuffling towards them on his knees. He once again wrapped his arms around Kagami's legs, burying his face in her hakama pants, sobbing loudly. "I'm Zenitsu Agatsuma! Please save me, Tanjiro! Please marry me, Kagami! I don't wanna die! Not here, not now! I just want to get married before I'm killed by a demon!"

Tanjiro placed a hand on Zenitsu's shoulder, forcing his head out of Kagami's pants, asking, "Aren't you being a bit dramatic? Why did you even become a swordmen? You're acting utterly pathetic right now!"

Zenitsu gasped unappreciatively. "That's a harsh way to put it!" Taking in a deep breath, Kagami preparing herself for more loud sobbing, he cried, "I got swindled by a woman and racked up all this debt! The old geezer who took it over for me turned out to be a tough-as-nails trainer! He made me train to the bone every day! It was so hellish I just wanted to die! I was hoping it would happen during Final Selection! But since I survived, this nightmare continues to haunt me! I'm so scared! Terrified! Frightened! I just know that I'm gonna get devoured and killed soon by a demon! My brains are gonna get sucked through my ears while I'm still alive! NOO! Please save me!"

Kagami gasped and pushed him off, screaming, "You got snot all over my clothes!"

Zenitsu rubbed his nose and tearfully looked up at her, speaking softly, "Oh, I… I'm s-sorry."

She stiffened slightly, hearing his frail and apologetic tone towards her. She took in a deep breath and crossed her arms, looking away.

After a couple of minutes walking down the dirt road, taking in the scenery of the large crop fields, the clear blue sky, and the soft wind softly blowing through their hair, Zenitsu seemed to have finally calmed down. While she hoped it would've taken him a shorter amount of time, the snot and tears finally stopped flowing from his face. He, instead, looked down in pain and fear for his upcoming assignment.

"Feeling better?" Tanjiro asked him with a smile.

Zenitsu sniffed and softly answered, "A bit. Now that I've calmed down, I'm getting hungry."

"You don't have any food?"

"No…"

Kagami, who still had her arms crossed, relented into her sympathetic feelings. She reached inside her shimmering red and yellow glittering haori and wrapped her hands around a small package covered in paper. She pulled it out and offered it to Zenitsu, without saying anything or looking in his direction.

"You mean it?" she heard him ask her, surprised.

When Kagami didn't answer, Tanjiro chuckled, "Kagami is just a little upset right now, but she really does mean it. Take it."

When she felt him take it from her hand, she watched him from the corner of her eye unwrap the package to reveal a triangular-shaped rice ball. He took a small bite out of it, grinning slightly in delight, but stopped when he noticed Kagami and Tanjiro didn't have any in their hands.

"Aren't you gonna eat anything?" he asked the both of them.

Kagami dropped her crossed arms, sighing, "That was all we had left."

It was quiet for a moment, the three of them continuing walking down the road, when Zenitsu offered them little bits of the rice ball. Kagami's eyes widened at her offered piece and looked down at the one in his hand. He had cut the rice ball in three parts so each of them could share it equally. She grabbed it, nodded her head at him appreciatively, before eating her piece, Tanjiro smiling and thanking Zenitsu for his generosity.

A long time they had walked in complete silence.

Neither Kagami, Tanjiro, and Zenitsu spoke to one another as they ventured south-east toward their next assignment.

Zenitsu had begun to trail behind them, walking slower as they walked closer to their destination, when Tanjiro spoke, "I know what you mean when you say you're scared of demons, but you should try not to worry your sparrow."

"Huh?" Zenitsu mumbled catching up with them. "You're saying it was upset?"

"The poor thing was chirping frantically—not that I knew what it was saying," Kagami informed him.

"Oh, well, how could you tell?"

Tanjiro lifted up a hand and began to count off. "Let's see. Well, it says you're always whining about not wanting to go to work, you're always hitting on girls, and you snore so loud that it's had enough! Yup, that covers it." He lifted up his hand and revealed the tiny sparrow, who chirped in confirmation.

Zenitsu took a few steps back in disbelief. "It said all that? You can understand bird language?"

"Yeah."

Kagami and Zenitsu raised their eyebrows at Tanjiro. He didn't look like he was kidding or joking with them, he was actually being serious!

"You're lying! You're just trying to trick me!" Zenitsu accused him.

Kagami bonked Zenitsu on his head, forcing him to scream and hold it in pain, as she huffed, "Don't call him a liar. Tanjiro isn't one who would lie about anything."

CAW! CAW!

"Start running! Start running!" Kagami's Kasugai crow began to scream from the sky up above. "Kagami, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, run! The three of you need to head over to your next location! Run, Kagami! Run, Tanjiro! Run, Zenitsu!"

Immediately, Zenitsu flopped on the ground, sobbing, "The crow is talking to us!"

"Come on!" Tanjiro yelled taking off down the road.

Kagami forced Zenitsu on his feet before following Tanjiro. The open land and clear blue sky shifted into a dark, musty forest with the sun hiding behind the thick branches of the tall trees around them. They kept running, panting, looking for any sign of what could be a powerful demon. The Kasugai crow wouldn't have pushed them to go faster if it was for a small demon who didn't have any supernatural abilities.

The deeper they walked into the forest, the thicker the aura of a demon became to Kagami. It was more powerful than the Temari and Arrow Demon. Those two weren't the Twelve Kizuki but they were powerful enough as it was. She couldn't discern which demons could be part of that group, or whose aura was just so radiant and thick it could be any kind of demon.

Brushing past low hanging branches, Kagami and Tanjiro gasped seeing a house ahead of them.

A house in the middle of the forest?

They approached it and stood a few feet away from the opened doors of the building. It was eerie, dark, and she couldn't hear or see any movement within it. It looked vacant and abandoned. A perfect place for a demon to cower in. Finding it in such a large building would be tenuous but through her aura detection and Tanjiro's powerful sense of smell, they could find it quickly.

"I can smell blood," Tanjiro mumbled out staring daggers at the house. "But, there's something…"

Zenitsu looked at him curiously. "You can smell something here?"

"Tanjiro's sense of smell is like none other," Kagami spoke. "But I can definitely detect a powerful demon in there. Their aura is sharp, strong, and violent. It's unlike anything I've felt before."

Zenitsu placed a hand against his ear, cupping it, speaking, "I don't know about both of those, but do you hear that sound? Also, are we supposed to work together on this?"

"Sound?" Kagami and Tanjiro asked, confused.

When they turned their heads to Zenitsu, they noticed a couple of kids cowering by the edge of the clearing leading to the building. It was a young girl and a slightly older boy. They held each other and watched the three of them with fear, trembling and whimpering in their spots. But it wasn't them they were afraid of; they were looking behind them at the house that sat eerily quiet.

"K-Kids?" Zenitsu stuttered.

"They look scared," Tanjiro mumbled.

Tanjiro slowly walked towards the kids. They flinched as he got closer, but he asked, with a large smile and friendly voice, "Hey there. What are you two doing here?"

They held each other tighter, more whimpers flying out of their mouths. Kagami could see absolute terror in their eyes.

"They're terrified," Kagami whispered to him.

Tanjiro smiled brighter and knelt on one knee in front of them. "Guess what? I've got something really cool here. Wanna see?" he asked cheerfully. He pulled out his hand and revealed Zenitsu's sparrow. "Ta-da! It's a friendly sparrow! I pulled it out of thin air!"

The sparrow chirped and flapped its wings at the two kids happily.

"See? Isn't it cute?" Tanjiro chuckled.

The two kids immediately stopped being afraid of them, the fear in their eyes dimming softly, but they began to well up with tears. They collapsed on the ground to their knees and wiped away their stray tears, still trembling and weeping quietly to themselves. Even when Tanjiro tried to cheer them up, it did almost nothing to still the fear in them.

"What's wrong?" Kagami softly asked them kneeling by Tanjiro's side. "Is this your home?"

The older boy shook his head and held the younger girl close to his chest. He quickly shook his head, answering, "No, no it's not. This… This house is… It belongs… It belongs to a m-monster." Just speaking about the house made the boy tremble even harder. "Our big brother got taken away. When we were walking at night, this monster we'd never seen before showed up. It didn't even give us a glance. Just our brother."

"And they're inside that house now?" Tanjiro asked them.

"Yeah."

"You two followed them here? That's real brave! Great job!" Tanjiro smiled at them but their tears only kept flowing out of their eyes.

The brother cried, "We followed the traces of his blood. He's injured!"

Kagami and Tanjiro gave each other a knowing look. That demon was or already had feasted on the brother, but they weren't going to tell the kids that. They needed to hope and be brave for each other's sake. If their brother was dead, they needed to be able to take care of themselves without her, Tanjiro, and Zenitsu.

Well… if Zenitsu could take care of them.

"Don't worry," Kagami smiled. "We're going to defeat the bad guy and rescue your brother!"

The young girl gasped and looked at the both of them, wide-eyed. Her eyes spelled hopeful. "Really? You really will?"

"Yes, we will," Tanjiro confidently spoke standing to his feet.

Kagami did the same, nodding her head.

I won't let another child die by the hands of a foul demon.

"Uh, Kagami? Tanjiro?" Zenitsu called for them, trembling violently. "What is that strange sound I am hearing? This sound is creepy and really unnerving. It never stops. It sounds like a drum. I think a tsuzumi."

Kagami and Tanjiro cocked their heads in confusion. "We don't hear any drums."

All of a sudden, a note began to play throughout the air.

They all stiffened, hearing the dum of a tsuzumi echo and vibrate through the air. The dum played multiple times, never letting up, with each sound louder than the rest. Sometimes, the note would change pitch. It would be high, low, but the slight pause between each beat remained consistently the same. There would be the slightest pause and the dum would return to drum fear through their bodies. What kind of demon would use a tsuzumi as a weapon? Or, better yet, how could a demon be using a tsuzumi as its weapon?

The dum beat suddenly began to go faster, faster, and faster until-.

"Don't look!" Kagami screamed placing her body in front of the two kids, arms stretched out.

A body, a small bloody body of a boy, had flown out of the top floor window and smacked into the ground, creating a giant bloody pool underneath them. The two kids screamed in horror covering their faces within each other, Kagami quickly covering her mouth at the horrid sight, Zenitsu freezing up and whimpering in his spot, while Tanjiro raced to the boy's side. The boy wasn't moving and his eyes were staring nearly lifelessly right at Kagami.

"Are you alright?!" Tanjiro screamed lifting the boy up.

Tanjiro was trembling, in either fear or anger, or both, as he carried the boy in his arms. The boy's body was limp; his arms, legs, and head hanging off the side of Tanjiro's arms. Tanjiro looked over him, trying to see what he could do to help the boy, to see if there was even a chance at closing the wound, stopping the bleeding, and saving his life, but Kagami knew it was too late. The boy was going to die.

Holding his body and crying as the light left his eyes, Tanjiro let out a small whimper. "I'm sorry you had to suffer like that," she heard him mutter under his breath.

Kagami bowed her head in respect as Zenitsu walked up.

"Tanjiro, would the boy so happened to be these kids'-?" Zenitsu had begun to ask but was abruptly cut off .

The world suddenly vibrated violently underneath their feet, the large and ear-deafening waves of sound poured out from the building in the front of them, as they all gasped in both fear and confusion. The building shook as the dums of the beating tsuzumi's took over their entire senses. The beating was loud, frantic, and uncontrolled. It had so sense of rhythm or beat, it was as if the demon was pounding the tsuzumis' all at once. Kagami quickly wrapped her arms around the crying kids, glaring into the darkened building that was taunting them and the death of the child sitting a couple feet away.

With the shaking kids underneath her, feeling their fear pour off in waves, Kagami determinedly looked at the house and set her resolve.

It was just another foul demon she will have to kill.

Just you wait. I will defeat you!