Zenitsu woke to a young woman with bright red hair healing him.
"Well hello there sleepy head." Rei said. "You shouldn't move much. You just had a strenuous Reikohaidan Surgery."
She walked over and placed a tray in his lap. It was laden with soup and bread and lemonade.
"W-Who are you? You...resemble somehow...a goddess..." Zenitsu said.
He couldn't explain it, but the girl seemed to be a spiritual being. She beamed at him.
"I see. You must be having trouble, seeing a double image like that. I trust you, Slayer-chan, so I'll let you see the truth." Rei said, and in a swirl of gold light, her human self dissolved, revealing a kitsune spirit.
Reiko was a tall woman with long red hair with white strands spread throughout, orange fox ears, sharp vulpine features, golden eyes, whiskers, and six orange tails.
"Hikawa Shrine is a sanctuary for people like me." Rei explained. "This is my true form; I'm a kitsune spirit that was injured significantly and forced to share a soul with an infant, this Rei girl. Kuri is the miko who makes this all possible, this safety."
"Didn't she just threaten us?" Zenitsu said.
"A long time ago a group of twelve highly powerful slayers called Yokai Taijiya stole something from her, and she's never quite gotten over it. Kuri confronted them, and they tried to use it—her own soul—against her. But instead they destroyed themselves. In her words, with the battle between Good and Evil—" Rei said.
"At least you know what you are dying for." Kuri said. "The Firestarter is waking up. We have trouble."
Xxx
Kuri knelt next to Tanjiro. "Please calm down. I am not your enemy."
"Then why am I tied down?!" Tanjiro demanded.
"You attacked in your sleep." Kuri responded. "It has been a long time since I've been this close to a Firestarter...although the last one I encountered was an Archai."
"What are you talking about! I'm a Demon Slayer! We all are! Where's Ne—Where's my box?" Tanjiro said.
Kuri sat quietly for a moment. "Do you remember burning a hole in the air?"
There was a silence.
"H-How did you...?" Tanjiro said desperately.
"You are so much more than a Demon Slayer. You are an Archai." Kuri said.