After hearing the crows speak to them, which confirmed that she and Tanjiro would be traveling together, the first thing that Pinkamena did was put on the official uniform that the members of the Demon Slayer Corps wore, a black buttoned shirt that had a white framed collar, while also having long baggy pants that seemed to reflect their desire to move fast, a white buckled belt, and had the Kanji symbol for 'Destroy' on the back of the shirt. What she learned from Sakonji was that each of the Demon Slayers could choose between wearing something else on top of it, like Tanjiro's haori for example, or they could opt to just wear the uniform and nothing else, and he also informed her that she would be able to get away with wearing her mask, as he had started wearing one sometime after joining the Corps all those years ago. Another thing he revealed to the two of them was a rectangular box, one that someone of Nezuko's size could fit in, not counting the fact that she could use her power to shrink and grow however she wanted, one made of an incredibly light type of wood called 'Mist Cloud Fir' and had a coat of 'Rock Paint' all over it, hardening the outer layer and making it more durable. Since Tanjiro needed to travel during the day, given his new position as a Demon Slayer, this would allow him to carry Nezuko without exposing her to the sun's harmful rays, hence why it had straps that his arms could fit through, where her friend thanked his mentor for his aid, since without him he was sure he wouldn't have gotten this far.
Once both of them were wearing their new uniforms, and found that they did fit perfectly, Pinkamena and Tanjiro slipped their blades into position, as the scabbards were slipped through their belts, before slipping on the haori they had been wearing previously, leading Tanjiro to open the box up, as it was created with a door he or Nezuko could open, and let his sister climb in before closing it and slipping it onto his back.
With that done, and Pinkamena made sure her fox mask rested over her face, she and Tanjiro bid Sakonji farewell, while at the same time thanking him for all the time he spent training them, before heading down the path that brought them to Sagiri Mountain in the first place, even though the last two years had really flown by for them, strengthening them so they could survive the Final Selection. While they walked, however, Pinkamena took a moment to notice that Tanjiro had taken a few moments to remove the bandages that had been over where he hit his head during his battle with the Hand Demon, where the scar on the right side of his forehead seemed to have changed into a flame pattern, even though he insisted it had just been altered by his head hitting that tree. She didn't believe him all that much, rather it looked like a marking of some kind when she stared at it, but she figured that he knew best and let him drop the matter, where she glanced out at the scenery they were passing by and noticed that it was mostly farmland, with some forest areas as well, while the they following the crows that were flying in the air. At this point in time nothing was a shock to her, as there were Demons who ate people, swordsmen who were trained to kill said Demons, and now crows that could speak and communicate with the people they were assigned to, so a scar becoming more like a mark wasn't totally new or strange, in fact the only thing she might be surprised by could be the Blood Demon Arts of the other Demons.
Of course to pass the time she and Tanjiro talked about things, though due to the fact that she learned about his past in the two years they spent training, which meant they discussed the information that they had been told previously, as in what Sakonji told them, and the first thing that Pinkamena had to correct was how Demons were created, as Tanjiro was under the impression that only Muzan could create more of his kind. The truth of the matter was that any Demon could make more of their kind, as she had been told that bathing a wound in Demon blood would cause one to turn in no time, so while Muzan might have created a fair number of Demons she was sure that those Demons could increase the number of them by sharing their blood with others. Sakonji's reason for that, as she thought about it, was to focus Tanjiro's mind on who had killed his family and turned Nezuko into a Demon, which meant that they needed to learn more about the Demon King, his skills and powers, whatever weaknesses he might have, and anything else that might be useful against a powerful Demon like him. Of course that wasn't counting the fact that they had to find and take out the Twelve Kizuki, as they were stronger than normal Demons and would be weaker than Muzan himself, so to prepare for finding the King the two of them would need to challenge the stronger Demons and work their way up to the Kizuki, though she had a feeling that her own power would come into play against Muzan's strongest followers.
Another thing she shared with him was her understanding of the Blood Demon Arts, the spells and techniques that some of the higher ranking Demons possessed, something Sakonji informed her about before both of them tackled the Final Selection, just so he could be ready for whatever the future held for them, even though she knew that experiencing these powers firsthand would allow her to better prepare herself.
They arrived at their destination just before nightfall, meaning people were heading home and likely getting ready for their nightly activities, though based on what Pinkamena could see each building seemed to be two stories, so if one was a shop of some kind the lower floor would be where business was conducted and the upper floor was where the owners slept, or at least it had been that way back in Ponyville. According to the crows this was where young girls were disappearing each and every night, though based on what they were seeing right now it appeared that most of the people were going about their business without a care in the world, but a second glance allowed her to see something interesting, all of them were putting on a show for newcomers, just to make sure they didn't trouble travelers. Her reasoning for that was because one or two of the groups they had passed by seemed to be talking about the various disappearances, where she was sure that the Demon in question was lurking in the shadows of the town, stalking girls whenever it was able to do so, before taking whichever girl it wanted, ate it, and then moved onto stalking the others for the following night. Even Tanjiro noticed it as they walked, even though the ladies who were talking weren't very quiet about it, but since the crows had just told them about this Demon it meant that it had been going on for at least a week or two, enough for someone to link to various disappearances together, but for now they had to track down some information on the Demon, before making a move to take it down.
Fortunately luck seemed to smile on them as they walked by a young man who seemed devastated by something, likely he lost someone to the Demon in question, and some of the ladies mentioned that 'Kazumi', which had to be the boy's name, looked exactly like Pinkamena thought he did, though he was right by a young girl by the name of Sakoto when she was taken by their target, meaning they had a potential lead.
"Kazumi, we would like to ask you about the specifics of this situation." Tanjiro said, having turned around the moment the ladies talked about him and the fact that he had been near one of the girls who suddenly disappeared, where Pinkamena found that the young boy in question paused for a moment and turned back to glance at them for a few seconds, likely not even caring about what was going on right now, "Can we talk about what happened?"
The young man focused on them for a few seconds, taking in the fact that Tanjiro had a box on his back and Pinkamena had a fox mask over her face, no doubt wondering what he had done to deserve this fate, before nodding as he lead both of them away from this part of the town, where Pinkamena noticed that many were glancing at them and the dark brown haired man, but none bothered to step forward as they headed for another part of town. Kazumi had some beatings on his face, like someone had been angry with him, and he explained that he didn't want any charity from them, as the marks had come from his fiancee's father, who was outraged with Sakoto's disappearance and took it out on him once he had a chance to do so, no matter what he said no less. Such a thing reminded them that the Demons didn't care for what might happen to those who were connected to those that were eaten, as some lost friends, others family members, and many shifted the blame to the ones that they felt were responsible for the loss, like how Sakoto's father blamed Kazumi for what happened to his daughter. It also explained some other things, as he was detached since he lost his fiancee and the loss of Sakoto might have damaged his reputation in some way, which meant he might be thinking of moving out or taking his life, especially if people were blaming him for killing his own fiancee, though they remained silent as he brought them to what looked like one of the alleys of the town.
"This is where it happened... where she... disappeared..." Kazumi stated, gesturing to the open section of the fence, which told them that he must have been walking down this way with Sakoto and she had been grabbed by the Demon that they were here to kill, before his emotionless face returned, no doubt not wanting to face the fact that he had lost his fiancee in this place, just last night no less, "You two likely don't believe me..."
"Don't worry. Believe it or not, but we believe you," Pinkamena replied, though at the same time she found that Tanjiro, whose nose was far stronger than hers, since she didn't have the super strong sense of smell that he had, crawled on the ground and started to investigate the area with his nose, no doubt seeking the Demon's scent so they could track it down and put an end to it before another girl was taken.
Kazumi stood there for a moment, no doubt wondering what in the world Tanjiro was up to right now as he thought about all the pain this had brought him earlier that day, while Pinkamena found that the sun was setting, meaning it was only a matter of time until the Demon hunted down whoever it's next target might be, and once the last rays of the sun vanished both she and Tanjiro sensed that something was going on in the town.
"The scent has gotten stronger... the Demon has made it's move!" Tanjiro said, where he rushed down the alley that they were in and followed his nose, while Pinkamena kept pace with him, as this was easy, while Kazumi followed along to the best of his ability, since the Demon had his fiancee, even though it appeared that Tanjiro was more focused on where their target might be as he jumped onto a section of the building to his right and kept going.
Such a thing weirded Kazumi out, as Tanjiro had jumped a good height in no time, far more than normal people did based on what she was seeing, and it wasn't long before they found an area that looked like another alley, where Pinkamena just watched as Tanjiro pulled his blade out and stabbed the ground in front of him, where a mass of darkness surged out of where he struck. Pinkamena heard the sound of someone screeching in pain, maybe the Demon in question, before they found that a black haired girl in a light green kimono emerged from it, who Tanjiro grabbed hold of before jumping back, as the Demon happened to reach out of the dark pool and grabbed onto the attire it's target had been wearing, which did tear a bit of it in the process, before he reached a safe spot to stand in. After that a pale skinned male figure emerged from the dark pool, who had long blue hair with a violet strand on both sides of his face, though he had three horns on his head and part of his right arm was wounded, where Tanjiro had hurt him, something that seemed to enrage him, even though it was more like he was annoyed that his meal had been interrupted by a Demon Slayer. As Tanjiro opened his mouth, so he could ask the Demon some questions about what he had done with the rest of the women he had abducted, even though it was likely that they had been eaten by this point in time, so before he could say a single word the Demon delved back into the dark pool and their foe disappeared as fast as he had appeared earlier.
Because of that fact Tanjiro handed the young girl over to Kazumi, who happened to join him and Pinkamena a couple of seconds before the Demon disappeared, though the foolish thing she discovered was that Tanjiro seemed to be switching to the Fifth Form of Water Breathing, something that was only used when a Demon willingly offered their own neck, so not like what this Demon was doing, causing her to sigh for a moment. The only reason she knew the techniques better than he did was because she finished her boulder test much sooner and had practiced the forms for an entire year, in addition to her own, so it was easy for someone like her to know that this was a foolish movement, especially when the darkness formed in front of him and three Demons burst out of it. At a glance one might assume it was three different Demons, as in the first had called for assistance, though upon taking a moment to look at them Pinkamena could instantly tell that all three of them had the same color hair and the same violet strands, and their attire seemed to match, save for a couple of differences between them, meaning this Demon must have split his mind into three bodies. Such a thing meant that it was likely that they took turns devouring girls, each night being a different body doing the deed while the others continued to watch over whoever their intended targets might be, where Tanjiro noticed that and switched forms instantly, choosing a vertical flowing attack that was best when falling downwards, as it was the Eighth Form of Water Breathing, Waterfall Basin as Sakonji called it.
Sure enough the attack didn't do a lot of damage to the Demon and his other selves, given that he switched forms in the middle of his strike, and due to that fact his foe, which Pinkamena was going to call the Swamp Demon, disappeared into the dark pool he had created, though when another reached for the young girl he turned and shifted into the Water Wheel form, spinning and cutting into another Demon, while she drew her blade as she moved out of the way and severed the arm that reached for her, coming from the three horned body.
"You bastard." the two horned Swamp Demon stated, as that was the one that Tanjiro had struck, while Pinkamena's foe disappeared after losing his left arm to her, while the Single Horn seemed to appear behind where Two Horn happened to be resting, causing them to focus on the body that was speaking right now, while Pinkamena kept an eye out for Three Horn, as while she was calling this overall Demon the 'Swamp Demon' it was easier to keep track of the three bodies while using a makeshift name for them, "Stop getting in my way! That woman will go stale if I don't eat her soon, as she's already sixteen and soon she'll lose her freshness!"
"Do not fret, my duplicate." Single Horn said, his tone revealing that he was the calmest of the three, as Two Horn seemed to be rage or anger personified, leaving Pinkamena to wonder what Three Horn might be since he hadn't said anything yet, but that didn't stop Tanjiro and Kazumi from staring at the pair while they considered the information that they were now being told, causing Single Horn to chuckle for a moment, "Oh well, on night's such as this, I don't actually need to feed on another sixteen year old... in fact, I've eaten plenty of girls of that age from this town, and the meat on every one of them was delicious... I've had my fill, for now."
"Yeah, while I'm not satisfied yet!" Two Horn replied, showing that he was annoyed that the meal had been interrupted, all while the main personality, or who Pinkamena was assuming was the main one of the three, deemed seem to mind what his other body was saying right now, as if this sort of back and forth was common between the three of them, where he glared at Tanjiro and Kazumi for a few seconds as he focused on the girl, "I want to eat more!"
"You monster... give Sakoto back!" Kazumi stated, showing them that he was more interested in finding out what the fate of his fiancee might be, even though Pinkamena was sure that Sakoto, as of this point in time, was dead and her body had been eaten by the Swamp Demon, which one didn't matter since they likely shared a stomach or something, though he was also on the verge of tears, no doubt from fear or something.
"Sakoto? Who are you talking about?" Single Horn asked, though it seemed like he didn't care about Kazumi all that much, given that he was a Demon and Kazumi was Human, but he did raise his right hand for a moment and moved his arm, as if he was showing them something, revealing a collection of hairpins that were resting on the inside of the right half of his attire, and with between ten to twenty hairpins attached to it they had a good count of his victims, "If that girl's hairpin is in this collection, that means I've already eaten her."
Tanjiro, while enraged by this turn of events, found that Three Horn moved over to where he was standing and tried to hit him while he was distracted, to which he moved out of the way and the Demon struck the wall that was near him, though when he swung his blade he found that he missed the neck once more, showing both his inexperience and his foe's speed to Pinkamena, who paused as she sensed something in this town... though as Single Horn and Two Horn joined the battle, and he dodged their attacks, the box opened as Nezuko kicked Two Horn in the face, twisting his neck in the process as all of them paused for a moment.
"...why is a mere Human like you carrying a Demon on your back?" Single Horn asked, his tone revealing that while he was caught off guard by this turn of events, especially since it had been three on two, when he counted Pinkamena, and now it was three on three, he was also interested in why Tanjiro carried a Demon on his back, one who was staring at him and his duplicates right now.
"Because they are family, and they won't let Demons like you get away with your crimes." Pinkamena remarked, though at the same time she knew that Nezuko had been altered a little, as she did catch Sakonji whispering suggestions to Nezuko while she slept, because he wanted to decrease the chance of her attacking Humans, so right now she saw Humanity as her family and Demons as her enemies, especially Demons who hurt Humans, before she felt the odd feeling again as she glanced at another part of the town, "Though it would appear that we have some uninvited guests, Demons no doubt... I'm going to assume they're planning on invading your feeding ground and taking it over. Tanjiro, I'll deal with them while you focus on Single Horn and his duplicates."
Before anyone said anything Pinkamena rushed down the road, leaving Tanjiro and Nezuko to deal with their foes, where it took her no time to find a pair of Demons harassing some people on the same street she had walked down when they entered the town, though neither seemed to be wearing anything over their chests and seemed interested in cutting into those that were around them. In that moment she understood what was going on, the two ashen Demons weren't here to feast on Humans, or invade another Demon's hunting ground after hearing that a pair of Demon Slayers were here to cut down the competition that had set up shop in this town, rather they were here to spread their numbers, just like what had happened when Muzan found her and when he attacked Tanjiro's family. She knew that because each target cut down the Humans they were chasing and would then apply some of their own blood to the downed figure, forcefully twisting them into new Demons, even though the process was slow and painful, and when she arrived at the scene there were at least six more targets for her to take down, where Pinkamena glanced at her crow, who understood the situation, before she readied her blade. Sure enough the Demons, noticing her arrival in their temporary breeding ground, rushed at her once they spotted someone new to attack, at least the newborn Demons thought that way, since they were focused on finding food and nothing else, and sure enough both of her true targets were coming towards her as well, where she took a few seconds to steady herself for what she was about to do.
In the following moment she swung her blade a few times, as if she was attacking someone who was in front of her, only for all of the Demons to find that she was targeting their necks and waists, cutting each of them into three fragments while not even being anywhere near them, allowing her to sheath her blade before walking over to the fallen Demons and the unfortunate Humans who had been brought into this mess. This was the handiwork of another technique she had come up with during her year of training, so named 'Chaos Breathing, First Form: Reality Slash', something that allowed her to attack her target without having to be near them, so it was a long ranged attack and struck exactly what she wanted to hit, such as the enemies that had been rushing towards her. Once she made sure that all of them were dead, and the crow did note the fact that she had taken out eight Demons in no time at all, Pinkamena deposited all of the body parts in her world before heading back to where Tanjiro and Nezuko were fighting the Swamp Demon and his duplicates, figuring that they would still be fighting the Demon when she returned. She also made sure to take a moment to make sure no additional enemies were invading this town, as that was the last thing they needed right now, and her crow confirmed that no more were heading towards the Swamp Demon's domain, allowing her to focus on the task at hand once more, since it was nice to see Tanjiro grow as he encountered more foes to fight.
What she discovered was Nezuko fighting Two Horn, meaning Tanjiro must have been pulled into the swamp with both Single Horn and Three Horn, which she confirmed by feeling a slight vibration in the ground, no doubt from the Sixth Form of Water Breathing, Whirlpool, meaning he must have hacked through the two bodies he was fighting, and sure enough it took him no time to burst out of the pool as his sister's head was scratched, leading to him severing both of the Demon's hands as he fell back onto the ground.
"All three of you have an oily stink that reeks of decay... a putrid odor of evil." Tanjiro stated, once more speaking with his nose and sense of smell leading the way, even though it was pretty obvious that nearly all Demons were evil and only saw Humans as food, with Pinkamena and Nezuko being the only exceptions right now, where he focused on Two Horn once more, who seemed worried about something, "How many people have you killed and eaten?"
"The only ones I killed were all women! If they continue living, they will only become uglier and nastier!" Two Horn said, his words confirming that the other two were dead and that he was the only body left, because if they were still alive he would have said something like 'us' or 'we', all while appearing to be angry over everything that was happening right now, even if he was focused on why he ate young girls, "That is what I ate them! If anything, you should be thanking..."
"Enough." Tanjiro replied, where Pinkamena, for a brief moment, saw the darker side of her friend, the side that disliked all of the evil Demons who didn't repent or didn't feel some shame for their actions, all while swinging his blade to cut a new horizontal gash into Two Horn's face, right through the mouth to be exact, before he pointed the tip of his weapon at their foe as Pinkamena landed nearby, "Let's talk about what you know about Muzan Kibutsuji."
"I... I cannot say..." Two Horn stated, though what they discovered was that he started shaking, which made sense due to the fact that Muzan was the most powerful Demon in existence and he likely struck fear into the hearts of those he made to serve his will, and it wasn't long before he started repeating the phrase over and over again, confirming that Muzan did strike fear into his creations, before he regenerated his arms.
In that moment, as Tanjiro dodged the incoming attack, Pinkamena drew her blade and severed his head, allowing them to eliminate the Swamp Demon at long last, though as they sheathed their weapons Tanjiro sighed, no doubt because they had gained no information on Muzan, before turning towards Kazumi as he handed over the collection of hairpins, giving her a chance to collect another body for later.
"Kazumi... are you alright?" Tanjiro asked, because while he was handing over the collection he found that the young boy was frightened by everything that was going on, not to mention the loss of his fiancee since the Swamp Demon had taken a moment to confirm that he had eaten Sakoto after kidnapping her, though while he did that Pinkamena held an arm out for a time and let one of their crows land on it.
Of course Kazumi wasn't okay, not when he lost his fiancee and there was no way for him to show that someone else had been behind her sudden disappearance, not with her bones lost to the swamp, though Tanjiro told him to stay strong after suffering such a loss, causing the younger male to grab onto him for a moment and question him about loss, where it was easy for Pinkamena to see that Tanjiro just smiled and made sure the collection was passed on. With that done Tanjiro started to walk down the alley, no doubt heading for the edge of this town, to which Pinkamena followed after him, but the pair were stopped as Kazumi called after them, apologizing for how he acted just now, showing them that he understood Tanjiro more than he did when they first encountered each other, to which they stopped and waved goodbye to him, while smiling for his sake, to let him know neither of them were offended. After that, and Kazumi focused on what sort of tale he might tell everyone else, or he might not say anything at all, the two of them continued walking as Tanjiro make sure that his sister was back inside the box, all while their crows flew around her and Tanjiro for a time, no doubt taking note of the deeds they had done so they could report back to whoever lead the Corps. Pinkamena was sure that, in time, they would be brought before whoever was in charge of the Corps, since he or she had to be interested in why a Demon had joined up with them and was fighting against her own kind, so she was eager to prove that she wasn't a problem and was more of an asset to the organization.
"Your next assignment is in Asakusa, in Tokyo Prefecture," Pinkamena's crow said, while at the same time Tanjiro's flew in the air around her friend, who seemed surprised that they were already being sent out to deal with another Demon, not that she was surprised by this since they were supposed to fight Demons until either they died or retired from this sort of life, even though her crow kept it's voice reasonable while Tanjiro's had a habit of being loud, "There are rumors of a Demon hiding there."
Pinkamena had no idea where in the land Asakusa was located, she seriously needed to find a map at some point, but the crows knew where it was and would give them an idea as to where they were going, though it was interesting that this one was a rumor and not a confirmed sighting, meaning it would be up to them to track their target down before dealing with the target they were being told about.