Chapter Text
"Nnnnn I don't wanna go…" Zenitsu whined, voice muffled by his pillow. He was laying face-down on the bed.
"Well, we have to," Tanjirou slipped on his haori, smoothing down the folds.
"But I just got back!"
"I know."
"Why can't Inosuke go with you instead?"
"All the bones in his left leg are broken, remember?"
"I feel like all my bones are broken."
"Should I ask Shinobu-san to give you some pain medication?"
Zenitsu shook his head.
"I didn't think so. Get up," Tanjirou grabbed his friend's arm and dragged him off the bed. He seemed a little too light. Tanjirou would have to make sure he ate more.
"Where is the mission again?" Zenitsu sniffed, trying very hard not to cry.
"Yokohama."
"I hate Yokohama!" Zenitsu was quickly moving into meltdown mode. "It's so loud and scary and the air is all gross and there are way too many people! Last time I went there I got mugged!"
"To be fair, Zenitsu, you've gotten mugged in most major cities we've been to."
"I don't understand why!"
"Just remember the tips Inosuke gave you this time and maybe people will leave you alone."
Zenitsu muttered something very rude that Tanjirou pretended not to hear.
"C'mon, let's say bye to Inosuke before we leave. Do you have everything?"
The way to Yokohama didn't take very long, but they did get to stop at a few wisteria houses along the way to sleep. It was mid-morning by the time the three of them (counting Nezuko) made it to Yokohama. They weren't in the correct neighbourhood yet, but night was far away and Tanjirou figured it would be nice to see what the city had to offer while trying to gather information at the same time. They were meant to meet with the person who first alerted the Demon Slayer Corp at the docks tonight, so they had a full day ahead of them.
The city was loud and bustling- more so than any city Tanjirou had been in before. Most people wore Western clothing, meaning he and Zenitsu stuck out a little, but the city was so busy it seemed there was no time or space for anyone to notice them. They hid their swords just in case, but it didn't seem to matter.
The city was located right by the ocean, though Tanjirou could barely smell the salt of it over the scent of smog and trash. Zenitsu was right, the air was bad here. He could see the brown haze in the sky where smokestacks belched their poisons into the air.
"I'm going to get a migraine," Zenitsu moaned as they walked past a house that was under construction. Tanjirou patted his shoulder sympathetically. The noise must be just as overwhelming to Zenitsu as the smell was to him.
"Can we stop to eat something?" Zenitsu asked. "Oh! I know what we should have! There is this thing called ice cream, it's really good and you can hardly find it anywhere else in Japan. You have to try some!" Zenitsu started pulling Tanjirou through the crowd towards wherever he remembered the ice cream shop to be. He hadn't let go of Tanjirou's sleeve since they entered the city, probably afraid they would get separated in the sea of people.
Tanjirou looked around the crowd as he was pulled along. He tried to see if he could catch a whiff of a demon, but they either weren't nearby, or the smell of everything else in the city was drowning them out. The people in the crowd looked interesting. Tanjirou had never seen so many different kinds of people. Tall, short, black, white- it was like every kind of person in the world could be found in this city! And if he listened, he could catch snippets of other languages too. He caught a few English words he remembered from his schooling (he was never any good at it), but there were sounds from languages he had never even heard before- some fast and harsh, others slower and rounder, some sounded like rain or like music. This place was overwhelming, but it made Tanjirou feel like he was seeing the whole world at once. Maybe, when all this was over, he and his friends could travel outside Japan someday.
"Here we are. I think…" Zenitsu stopped in front of a couple of buildings. "Okay, yeah, I remembered right, come on!" They entered a little white shop with English lettering written on the sign. It was a quaint little place with a few tables and chairs. A long counter sat at the back of the room and a woman stood at it.
They walked to the counter, Zenitsu still holding Tanjirou's sleeve. Behind the woman was a large metal pail with a lever. A child who greatly resembled the woman was turning a handle on it. The child flashed them a small smile and then went back to work. He reminded Tanjirou of Shigeru due to the determination in his little expression. Shigeru always wanted to help the adults and older kids out with whatever they were doing.
"What can I get you two?" The woman asked them.
"We'll have two ice creams, please," Zenitsu said. Tanjirou found himself wondering what exactly ice cream was. He could imagine it was just a glass of cream with ice in it, but Zenitsu had acted like it was something really special, so it had to be something more.
The woman walked over to the pail the child was turning and used a metal scoop to take two balls of ice cream out and drop them into bowls for the boys. She put a spoon in each bowl and then placed them on the counter. Tanjirou took both the bowls while Zenitsu paid. Then, he handed Zenitsu one bowl and they sat at the table furthest from the counter.
"Take my advice, don't eat it too fast or your chest will hurt," Zenitsu said before taking a bite.
"It can hurt you?"
"It's really cold," Zenitsu said. "I ate mine too fast the first time and I thought I was having a heart attack."
"Ah, I see! I will take it slow, then." Tanjirou lifted a spoonful to his mouth. It smelled sweet, a little like mochi, though fresher. It tasted sweet too, when he tried some. And it was smooth and soft, though cold like Zenitsu warned.
"Is it good?"
"Mhm!" Tanjirou nodded. He swallowed the rest of the bit of ice cream and said, "It's nice for hot days, it will really cool you down. I wish we could bring some to Inosuke, I think he'd like it."
"He'd eat it too fast and hurt himself," Zenitsu said. Tanjirou had to agree.
"When did you try this stuff for the first time?" Tanjirou asked.
"Jiichan needed to travel here for, well, I'm not sure what exactly. I think I spent most of the time freaking out, but we came here so we could get away from the noise and we figured we may as well try it if we're in here already. Jiichan didn't like it, he said it was too sweet. I got to eat his ice cream too." Zenitsu's scent was happy and nostalgic. Tanjirou hoped he could meet his grandpa someday. He seemed like a really good man.
They spent the rest of the day window-shopping. Both of them still kept an eye out (or ears and a nose, rather) for any demon activity, but there was nothing so far. Tanjirou hoped their informant would have some clue to give them so they weren't going into this blindly.
"There's a park somewhere that way if I remember right," Zenitsu gestured down a certain street. "It seemed like a really romantic place for a date."
"I'm not getting Nezuko out, if that's what you're implying."
"I wasn't! It's daylight, obviously I wouldn't take Nezuko-chan on a date in the daylight. I was only commenting that the park is romantic."
Tanjirou rolled his eyes, though it didn't stop him from smiling fondly. Zenitsu really was something. At least his infatuation with Nezuko kept him from flirting with (read: harassing) every girl in sight.
"Do you happen to know where the docks are, so we can find them tonight?" Tanjirou asked. "I haven't seen Matsuemon or Ukogi anywhere since we entered the city. I think they don't like the air."
"The docks should be out that way, I can hear the ocean and the shipyard. Oh, and the birds are still here. Chuntaro is on that statue and Matsuemon is yelling at pigeons a few blocks away from here."
"Wow, you really can hear well! I can hardly smell anything here. It must be because you're so used to cities, huh?"
"I guess so. It's still overwhelming, but I think I get used to it after a little. Hopefully we don't have to stay long enough for you to get used to it too."
They made their way towards the bay as the day moved on. Tanjirou stopped at an udon stand to get the two of them lunch. They ate at the stand in silence, listening to the conversations around them.
"I heard another body was found near the slums last night," a man was saying. He was sitting with a few other men who were obviously on lunch break from work.
"Really?" The stall owner asked, looking his way as he dried a bowl. "Where'd you hear that?"
"Friend of mine's a police officer. I always hear about it before it reaches the print."
"Bullshit," one of the men, who was bald, scoffed, "last time you said that, there wasn't a body at all. You're pulling this shit out of yer ass."
"I swear it's true this time."
"Well if it's true, tell us more," requested the stall owner.
Tanjirou and Zenitsu exchanged looks as they tried to listen more closely. The group of men had all leaned closer and were speaking more quietly now.
"My friend told me he got woken up by some kid pounding on the door of the station screaming about a body. He and a couple of other guys followed the kid out to the wharf. The body was in between two warehouses. The poor sod was hardly recognizable as a human. Get this- he had bites taken out of him."
"What?"
"Yeah, the papers haven't been reporting that part. Don't wanna scare anyone too bad I guess, or maybe it's confidential or something, but all those bodies that keep turning up have been part eaten."
"So what," the bald man said, "is there a bear or something? I thought they were saying it's a serial killer."
"It is a serial killer. A serial killer who's eating his victims."
"That's disgusting," another of the men said. He was taller than the others and had white skin. "I'm trying to eat my lunch here, stop talking about that."
"Fine, if it freaks you out so much," the first man teased.
"Shut up, man. Min-seok's right: you're full of shit."
"I don't know," the stall owner said,"whether Cường is right or not, rumours are still spreading, and it's not good for business. I used to get a lot of couples coming at night but now everyone stays indoors. Hell, I'm too scared to stay out at night."
"I know what you mean," the tall man said. "Most of the guys at the shipyard have been walking places in groups like we're girls or something. Especially after Lars went missing."
"Which Lars?" Min-seok asked.
"Have you been living under a rock?" Cường said. "Lars Groesbeck? Little guy with blond hair? He was drunk off his ass half the time."
"Oh, I know Lars. He owed me money."
"Pfft he owed you money and you didn't even know he was missing?"
The men's conversation changed to joking about work and making inappropriate comments about women by the time Tanjirou and Zenitsu finished their food and handed their bowls back to the stall owner. Tanjirou wanted to ask them a few questions, but Zenitsu steered him away.
"I think we've already heard everything we need to from those guys," he said. "and half of it might be hearsay anyways. Either way, we don't want to talk to them. Dockworkers are kind of known for being brutish and mean."
Tanjirou had gotten that impression of them. He didn't think he had ever heard anyone swear that much in his life.
"It sounds like a pretty standard demon to me," Tanjirou said as they walked down the street, "but I guess one thing stood out."
"The bodies?"
"Yeah, that's odd, isn't it? Demons don't typically leave behind bodies. They only do that if the sun comes out in the middle of eating, or if they're a high power demon who doesn't need to eat a lot to sustain themselves."
"Ugh I hate this!" Zenitsu groaned. "I don't wanna see any demons, much less a high power one!"
"It's okay," Tanjirou tried to calm him down by rubbing his back. He really didn't want Zenitsu to have a meltdown in public, "They wouldn't have sent just the two of us here if we couldn't handle whatever level demon we are up against. Don't worry too much, we haven't even met up with the person who called us yet. They will give us all the information we need to slay them."
"I don't know, Tanjirou, I just have a really bad feeling about this."
"Don't work yourself up, remember, Shinobu-San said it's called anxiety. Come on, let's do that breathing exercise she taught you. In one, two, three… and out one, two, three…" Tanjirou did the exercise with Zenitsu until his breathing finally calmed down. He hugged him when they were done.
"Thanks," Zenitsu mumbled, face flushed. He still wasn't used to how touchy Tanjirou could be.
"No problem! That's what friends are for!"
"I'm sorry," Zenitsu's scent turned citrusy. "I always make things harder for you, you shouldn't have to help me."
"I want to help you, Zenitsu. I care about you a lot. You're like family to me."
Zenitsu yelped and hid his face behind his hand, "Ah! Don't say stuff like that! It's too embarrassing!" Despite his words, the peach smell that Tanjirou came to know as happiness was strong and sweet as ever.
A cool wind blew in from the bay, pushing away the smog of the factories and replacing it with the fresh salt of the sea. The city was loud at night, but the smokestacks stopped their belching when the sun went down and the workers went home. The docks were quieter, as though hidden under a shadow of muted unease. The only sound was the soft pulse of the ocean against the concrete wharf, the creak of heavy rope, the noise of two sets of footsteps that echoed between the grey warehouses that lined the way.
Tanjirou felt Nezuko shift a little in the box. She must be waking up. Zenitsu heard it, and he greeted her with a quiet, "Good morning, Nezuko-chan! Well, it's not morning but you get it!"
Nezuko scratched back some kind of greeting that Tanjirou couldn't decipher. In the same way Tanjirou and Nezuko shared a deep bond so they could understand each other without words, Nezuko and Zenitsu seemed to have established some form of communication that Tanjirou couldn't understand. He figured Zenitsu's enhanced hearing must help somewhat.
" CAW! THIS WAY!" Tanjirou's crow, Matsuemon, flew out of nowhere, startling the two boys badly.
Zenitsu shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air.
"Hey, Matsuemon, stop it!" Tanjiro chided the crow. "I told you to stop being mean to Zenitsu." Matsuemon always made it his mission to scare Zenitsu in one way or another. Tanjirou really couldn't figure out why the crow hated his best friend so much. There was nothing about Zenitsu to hate! (Okay, maybe there were some things but not if you're a bird)
Ukogi landed on Zenitsu's head- his usual resting place- as they followed Matsuemon past brick warehouses and metal fences. This place was the exact opposite of everything Tanjirou found beautiful about nature. It was cold and dirty and artificial. He hoped they wouldn't have to talk to their informant for very long. This place gave Tanjirou the creeps.
It also gave Zenitsu the creeps. This was easy to tell because Zenitsu was literally shaking and was muttering about how scary it was and how they were going to die.
"Breathe, remember?" Tanjirou said, trying to flash his friend the most dazzling reassuring smile he could. It must have worked, Zenitsu calmed a little.
"ALMOST THERE! CAW!" Matsuemon cawed.
They reached the end of the dock, where a large building stood. One of the windows was broken. The moonlight shone off the shards of glass littering the ground. It was not a very welcoming place, but if this was where their informant wanted to meet, they would meet here.
"Hmm, I guess we got here earlier than they did," Tanjirou noticed.
"Do you think it is really safe for them to be travelling here alone at night? Wasn't someone killed near here just last night?" Zenitsu asked. His eyes widened when he realised what he had just said. "Wait, someone was killed here last night! That means the demon has been here! And that means we might die! I don't wanna die!" Zenitsu gripped onto Tanjirou's haori and began to sob with his face pressed against his sleeve. "Tanjirouuuuu!"
The box on Tanjirou's back finally opened. Nezuko slipped out, then grew to her normal size.
"Oh, hey, Nezuko. Hi," Zenitsu quickly straightened up and wiped his face with his sleeve, trying to hide the evidence of his latest freakout. It didn't work very well, his face was still red and his eyes were still puffy and he was audibly sniffing.
Tanjirou snorted, pressing a hand against his face to hide his laugh.
Nezuko waved at the two of them, humming a short greeting. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and handed it to Zenitsu.
"For me?" The boy asked, not even daring to touch it.
Nezuko nodded.
Zenitsu took the handkerchief, holding it like it was the most delicate and expensive thing in the world. "Thank you! I'll cherish it forever!" It seemed he felt it was so precious that he couldn't use it, and instead wiped his snot and tears on his poor haori, which had been abused in a similar way since the day he got it.
"Where did you even get that, Nezuko?" Tanjirou asked.
Nezuko shrugged. Very helpful.
"Are you three the demon slayers I sent for?" A new voice called out. The three teens turned around to face a woman. She wore a white blouse, a long skirt, and a comically large hat with a veil. Every item on her was coloured black.
"Yes ma'am," Tanjirou answered, bowing in her direction. The other two followed.
"Thank God, I wasn't sure when to expect you."
"We weren't sure when we would get here, it rained the other day so it was difficult to tell how well the roads would be."
"Well, thank you for travelling through the rain. My name is Okazaki Mitsuyo."
"I'm Kamado Tanjirou, nice to meet you! This is my sister, Nezuko, and our friend Agatsuma Zenitsu."
"I'm sorry to have us meet here rather than someplace nicer," Okazaki-san apologised. "But I thought perhaps you would find this location helpful, since this is where my son's body was found."
Zenitsu screamed and hid behind Nezuko.
"I'm sorry about your son," Tanjirou said. He wondered why the woman had smelled so sad. "I'm also sorry Zenitsu screamed like that, he didn't mean to."
"It's okay, I understand completely. I was afraid to come back here too, but I want my son to be able to rest in peace, and this was the best I could do."
"So, can you tell us what happened to your son?" Tanjirou asked.
"The last time I saw Hitoshi was on the 7th. He was going out to play with some friends," Okazaki-san said. Her smell turned sad, the scent of faded lavender. "I had heard about all the disappearances and murders, so I told him to stay where the adults could see him and to stick with his friends. I wanted to come and keep an eye on him, but I'm a milliner and I own my own shop, so I can't do that. I told him to come back well before nightfall. He came in briefly for lunch, and then I never saw him again.
"I tried to find out which friends he was with by asking some of the neighbours. When I spoke to his friends, they said they had all stayed out a little late, but as soon as Hitoshi saw that the sun was setting, he said he needed to go home because I told him to be home before sundown. None of his friends went with him since they wanted to stay out longer," Tanjirou noticed that Okazaki-san smelled salty, like she was about to cry. Her voice wavered, too.
"It sounds like Hitoshi was a really good son," Tanjirou tried to comfort her.
"He is- was a very good son. Ever since his father died he tried to help around the house and he never disobeyed anything I said. I was so scared when he didn't come home, and when his friends told me he walked by himself in the dark, I was terrified. He was missing for five days before his body was found here."
"Was he… do you know if he was here all five days or-" Tanjirou started to ask.
"His body was still- he hadn't decomposed when they found him," Okazaki-san said. "The police think someone kidnapped him and killed him shortly before dumping him here. I thought it was the work of a person, but they wouldn't let me see my baby. I ran over here and they tried to drag me away but- I knew right away he was killed by a demon," by now the woman was fully crying, and it was hard to tell what she was saying. "My father was killed by a demon when I was very young. A group of demon slayers killed it before it could do anything more, but my father died from his wounds. It ate him- oh god, I will never forget hiding in a cupboard and watching it start to eat him while he was still alive. And now my baby- my poor poor baby…"
Tanjirou hugged the shaking woman, hoping he could give her some sense of comfort. He knew just how it was to lose family like that. He would never forget the crimson stained snow, the frozen skin of his mother and siblings, the dull eyes that stared, terrified, into nothing.
Nezuko handed her a handkerchief. Where was she getting those from?
"Hitoshi was missing one of his arms, and there were bite marks and blood- blood everywhere. It was horrible!" Okazaki-san cried. Tanjirou kept trying to soothe her until the woman finally cried herself out and left his arms. "I asked the police why they wouldn't let me see, and they said they didn't want everyone to know that there was a cannibal going around and eating people. I asked if that meant the other bodies were eaten too, and they said yes. Apparently, everyone who has gone missing shows up about a week later, usually behind warehouses in the shipyard, though one person was found in an alley behind Kirin Brewery Factory."
"Hmmm…" Tanjirou hummed. "It's odd for a demon to leave evidence. Do you know what power level the demon is?"
"No, I don't know anything about that. I only told a man I know who has a cousin in the Demon Slayer Corps what was happening, and he had a letter sent. I'm not even sure what the letter said."
"Thank you for all the information you gave us, anyways. Do you know anybody else we might be able to talk to who may know more?" Tanjirou asked. "We've listened to some rumours from people around town, but I was hoping you may know someone more credible to talk to."
"Try the police," Okazaki-san suggested. "They're a bit tight-lipped about cases like this, but a few of the younger recruits like to brag about things in the bars in town. If you get them drunk enough, they might tell you something." That didn't sound like a very nice thing to do, but Tanjirou would consider it, though he felt it might be better to try to convince him to tell him when they are sober.
"Here, I have a map with all the places bodies have been found, if you would like to take it," Okazaki-san gave them a folded map.
"Would you like us to escort you home?" Tanjirou asked.
"Yes, please."
"Is it okay if Zenitsu goes with you? I have a really good nose so I can try to find some clues here, that way we don't waste any time!"
"That is fine with me," she said.
"Alright! Bye Okazaki-san! See you soon, Zenitsu!" Tanjirou waved goodbye. Nezuko waved as well.
"Okay, time to search," Tanjirou started closer to the water. He couldn't see as well in the darkness as Nezuko could, so he had her look around at the ground for clues while he tried to smell if something was amiss. There was a lot of broken glass around. He wondered if the glass broke before or after the body was found.
Hmmm… judging by how some of the glass was half-buried under dirt and rubbish, he was going to guess it had been broken for a while.
The part of the dock closest to the ocean smelled like salt water, as was to be expected. If there was any evidence here, the waves must have washed it away. The two siblings moved towards the building this time. There was even more glass on the ground here, and lots of footprints in the dirt. It smelled dusty, and a little like oil.
The warehouse was built of brick. Some of the bricks were washed out while others were dark with grime. A good amount of the mortar between the bricks was gone, and some of the bricks' surfaces were filled with holes or beginning to crumble, especially those closer to the ground. It looked like the building's proximity to the sea was slowly eroding it. The waves and the salt-water air were not nice to the warehouse over the years.
"Mmmhm!" Nezuko called Tanjirou over towards the other side of the building. She pointed towards the ground. Tanjirou kneeled down and saw she was pointing at the frayed end of a rope. It was a piece a little shorter than Tanjirou's index finger, and one end was frayed while the other was clean cut. It also appeared to be newer and was very clean.
"Good job for spotting this, Nezuko!" Tanjirou patted her head. Nezuko hummed a happy sound and grabbed his wrist, nuzzling into the pet.
"Let's see if we can spot anything else."
Tanjirou tried to look through the windows, but it was way too dark. Usually, he was glad breathing forms didn't actually create the elements they were named for, but for once he wished they did, since then he could use Hinokami Kagura to light his sword and use it as a torch. Once again, everything smelled like dust, oil, and metal.
"I think the police must have done a really good job cleaning," Tanjirou spoke to himself. "Have you found anything else yet?" He asked Nezuko.
"Mm-mm," she shook her head.
"We've looked everywhere, so I guess we just have to wait until Zenitsu comes back."
"I am back."
"Ahh! When did that happen?!" Tanjirou spun around to look behind him.
"Only a moment ago," Zenitsu said. "Haha, you should've seen your face!"
"Mhm!" Nezuko agreed, hands covering her face like she usually did when she laughed.
"You got Okazaki-san home safe?" Tanjirou asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes. I didn't see or hear anything on the way there or back. Also, I don't appreciate how you sent me off by myself! She spent the whole walk crying and telling me I look like her son! I didn't know what to do!"
"I'm sorry, I thought we would get things done quicker this way, and you looked like you needed a break from being here."
"I did need a break, but that was not it, Tanjirou! Seriously, how are you supposed to respond to someone saying something like that? I thought I would die!"
"I wouldn't go that far… Anyways, we didn't find anything except for this rope," Tanjirou held the rope up and showed Zenitsu where it had been laying. "It's newer than all the stuff around it, so we thought it might have to do with the crime, although why a demon would need rope I'm not sure…"
"Okazaki-san said there were police trying to stop her from seeing her son. Sometimes police put up barricades using rope, I've seen it before," Zenitsu offered.
"I didn't know they do that. I guess this was left here by the police. That means we didn't find anything at all."
"You didn't smell anything?"
"No, not even blood. Since it's so close to the water, a lot of the evidence gets washed away. It must have happened days ago, so any scent there would've been has worn off by now."
"Ugh, so we've reached a dead end?" Zenitsu sighed.
"Looks like."
Next, they tried to find the dock where the dockworkers from earlier said a body had been found. There were a lot of docks in the city, and the docks were large, so it was going to be difficult.
Fortunately, Ukogi had spent the day scouting out the city. The sparrow cheeped at them in the language only Tanjirou could understand, gesturing for them to follow him.
It wasn't very far of a walk. They passed by crowds of people as they walked. Most of them were loud and unruly men who were inebriated. Zenitsu covered his ears with his hands when they walked by a particularly loud bunch. They were all singing in a foreign language that was guttural and harsh. The three of them walked faster to get away from them.
"Hey!" One of the men shouted at them in English. He slurred out something Tanjirou didn't quite catch. Whatever it was, it made Zenitsu go red in the face. His friend stepped in front of Nezuko, as though shielding her from them, and shouted back at them. It was a very brief shout, and Tanjirou assumed Whatever he said wasn't very nice, because the man who shouted at them stepped forward with deadly intent in his eyes.
"Zenitsu!" Tanjirou squeaked, grasping his friend's shoulder to try and drag him away. The man was way taller than either of them and looked really strong.
Zenitsu yanked his shoulder out of Tanjirou's grasp. He drew his sword and pointed it at the man. The man backed up with his hands in the air, signalling his defeat, and the group hurried away, throwing panicked glances over their shoulders at the teens.
Zenitsu sheathed his sword and dragged the Kamados away back in the direction Ukogi was leading them.
"What was that?" Tanjiro gasped. He couldn't tell what those men said, but it really surprised him that Zenitsu stood his ground. He thought he was about to watch one of his best friends get beaten to a pulp.
"You don't know what those guys said?" Zenitsu asked.
"No, was it bad?"
"It was bad. I'm glad you didn't understand."
"They said something about Nezuko, didn't they?"
Zenitsu nodded, "I hate guys like that. They're disgusting, saying things like that. No one deserves that kind of treatment."
This really gave Tanjirou new insight into Zenitsu's character. He knew from when they first met that he was willing to get his ribs broken to protect Nezuko just because Tanjirou called her more important than his own life, but now he saw that Zenitsu was also ready to fight for the people he loves. Even though he smelled afraid when those men shouted, Zenitsu had yelled back and even threatened them, just to protect Nezuko's honour.
"You really are a good person, Zenitsu. I'm proud of you."
This new, serious Zenitsu melted before Tanjirou's eyes right back to the blushing, flustered Zenitsu that he was more used to, "Ah! You know saying things like that makes me lightheaded! Warn me next time! Repent! Repent!" Zenitsu lightly hit him on the head with each new repent he shouted.
"Okay! Okay! I repent!" Tanjirou batted his hands away. "But seriously, thank you."
"Chu! Chu!" Ukogi chirped.
"Ah, looks like we're here already."