Redemption

3.

Mayumi took mental notes of the situation.

The boy on the ground before them was one Tanjiro Kamado, who apparently was harboring a demon.

At one point she would have been suspicious as to why, but now, since Koku, whom she snuck out to see regularly, she understood the boy.

Most of the others did not, and just assumed the worst.

Muichiro was a hashira now, Mayumi found herself feeling like a proud parent.

14 years old, and he had actually become the most powerful of all ten of them.

Meanwhile back to the present situation.

"I MUST SAY, HARBORING A DEMON IS QUITE SUSPICIOUS!" Rengoku boomed.

Tanjiro was clearly starting to wake up and tried looking up at them.

"But, but the fact he protected her so fiercely! The bond these two clearly share despite their now difference!" Mitsuri chimed in cheerfully.

"That does not matter! Let us give them both a flamboyant death!" Tengen said with his usual flashiness.

Then the boy was looking up at them, muttering to himself.

Goto, the kakushi pinning him down, looked down at him, like he was furious over something.

"Snap out of it kid! Can't you see you're in the presence of the hashiras?"

Mayumi heard him muttering something along the lines of 'who are they? Are they important?' which signified he had no clue who they were and was afraid for his life.

Goto then allowed him to sit up on his knees.

He also frowned when the boy said nothing.

"Well? Don't you have something to say? Anything?"

He did not.

Mayumi decided it best to break the tension.

"You don't need to fear us, we simply have questions to ask, and you may answer to the best of your ability."

She seemed to calm him down enough for him to shout for his apparent sister, but his jaw hurt, Kanao probably broke it by accident.

Poor boy.

Shinobu approached with a canteen of water and offered it to him.

"Careful, your jaw is still very much broken, so drink slowly."

After he did that, he began to speak.

"It...it started when I got home from town to find my family all dead, and she was the only one with a pulse, so I took her and ran for help. Then, after she regained her control somehow, we met the water hashira, who sent us to Urokodaki-san. After that everything was fine, and I swear she's not bad, Nezuko would never harm a human! She would never!"

Mayumi was inclined to side with the boy, though the rest weren't so sure.

"So? We've all lost someone, you're not special." Obanai said harshly from the tree nearby.

"This is a good story, but a demon is a demon, and our job is to exterminate them with max flamboyance!" Uzui added with, again, his usual flashiness.

The rest were mostly silent.

"And the fact you protect a demon goes against everything and we must not let this stand. I will give you both the flashiest deaths!" Uzui added, beginning to grab his nichrin blades and step forward, but he's stopped by a frowning Mayumi.