Chapter 2

The Stranger (らぬか) is the second chapter of Koyoharu Gotōge's Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Summary
Following Tomioka Giyu's advice, Tanjiro buys a bamboo basket and covers it with a cloth so that he will be able to travel with Nezuko under the sun. The basket proves to be too small to fit the teenage Nezuko, however, Tanjiro persuades her to use her Demon blood to turn her body smaller so as to fit into the basket. After asking for directions, Tanjiro heads off to Narrow Mist Mountain with the basket containing Nezuko on his back.

As night falls, they both find a small temple hut in the woods and decided to seek shelter for the night. As they neared the hut, Tanjiro smelled blood. Thinking that there might be some people hurt from travelling the mountains, Tanjiro rushed into the hut to find a Demon feasting upon three dead travellers who were also taking refuge for the night. The Demon shot them a glance and warned them that this was his feasting grounds.

Upon seeing the bloodied bodies, Nezuko starts to salivate. On the other hand, Tanjiro is in a state of shock as this is the first time he is seeing a human-eating Demon.

It was then that the Demon realizes that Tanjiro is human and subsequently goes for the kill. Tanjiro uses his axe to slash the Demon by the neck, but the Demon's wound had already started to heal. The Demon proceeds to strangle Tanjiro to the ground with his agility and strength, but Nezuko kicks the Demon's head clean off from his neck. Even so, Tanjiro laments that he did not intend to kill the demon but he had to because it was a demon.

Although its head was removed, the Demon's body continued to attack Tanjiro. This caused Nezuko to give the headless body another kick. The Demon's head yelled at Tanjiro, asking why would a Demon and human travel together, then commanded its body to start attacking Nezuko.

While Nezuko was occupied, the Demon grew a pair of arms from its head and charged at Tanjiro. Tanjiro headbutted him (the Head Demon even acknowledged that Tanjiro's head was tough) and pinned the head onto a nearby tree with his axe handle. As the headless body continued to kick Nezuko, Tanjiro tackled the body, not knowing that they were beside a cliff. Thankfully, Nezuko grabbed onto Tanjiro as the headless body fell splat onto the ground below. Although it cause the Head Demon great pain, it did not kill him.

After the siblings return to the Demon's head by the tree, Tanjiro brings out a small knife, intending to end the Demon's life. Even so, he hesitates to kill it.

All of a sudden, a person wearing a strange mask approaches him from behind and tells Tanjiro that the knife that he is holding can't kill the Head Demon.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Kamado Tanjiro
 * Kamado Nezuko
 * Head Demon
 * Urokodaki Sakonji

Events

 * Tanjiro and Nezuko's first fight with a Demon
 * Tanjiro and Nezuko's first encounter with Urokodaki Sakonji

Trivia

 * The Head Demon is the first character in the manga to comment about Tanjiro's hard head.

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