Episode 36

What Are You? (何者？) is the 36th episode of the Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime series, and the 10th episode of its second season.

Synopsis
To gather information, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke have infiltrated each of the Houses where Uzui’s wives are working. Rumors about Makio make Inosuke suspicious, and he charges into her room. Meanwhile, hearing a young girl crying, Zenitsu rushes to the source of the sobs, only to find the distressed girl in a room in shocking disarray. Behind him, a shadow creeps ever closer...

Plot
During the Edo era, in a brothel in Yoshiwara, an attendant confronts an Oiran as she puts on her makeup, accusing her for multiple disappearances within the house. The attendant enters the room and closes the door, only for the prostitute to exit moments later, the attendant vanishing without a trace. In the Ogimoto House, a captured Makio is questioned on who the letters are for, the demon calling her by name. Sensing something, Inosuke investigates. In the Kyogoku House, Zenitsu ponders that since entering the house, he has not heard a word about Hinatsuru despite remaining vigilant. The recent death of the house's owner also hampers his mission as everyone is tight-lipped and afraid.

Deciding to try again, he hones his hearing and detects multiple voices throughout the house. He suddenly hears someone crying and deduces it is a young girl. Back in the Ogimoto House, the demon detects someone approaching, becoming annoyed at the house's busyness. Makio tries to think of a way to inform Tengen but the demon's sashes rapidly twist and constrict her torso tightly. The demon threatens to crush her organs should she make a commotion.

Inosuke looks at the quiet room with food left out for Makio, feeling a creepy vibe emanating from it as he thinks of a plan. Suddenly, he mutters than sitting and thinking without action is not who he is and he barges into Makio's room. Upon seeing it, he becomes shocked at its destroyed and disheveled appearance, with papers and pillows torn and slash marks throughout the walls. He notices the debris floating about despite the windows closed and no wind entering, then hurls a ramen bowl at the attic and angrily shouts he is onto the demon.

The ceiling begins to shake and the demon leaves the room, with Inosuke running through the halls in pursuit. He crashes through multiple walls in an attempt to follow it, even punching a client for entering his path, leaving a large hole in the wall. Using his Beast Breathing, Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness, he senses the demon fleeing downstairs, running to the bottom of the house. With the kimono hampering his senses, he loses track of it, angrily saying its escape was because of the people in his way.

In the Kyogoku House, Zenitsu enters the room he sensed had a young girl crying inside. Shocked by its destroyed appearance, he loudly questions the girl, asking if she had been in a fight. Shaken, the young girl cries harder, causing Zenitsu to calm down and ask if she is okay. He quietly tells her he is not angry, simply asking if she if in trouble. All of the sudden, he senses a demon behind him, the demon angrily asking what he is doing inside her room. Terrified, he notices she only appeared when she started to speak to him, believing the demon might be an Upper Rank. The demon, revealed to be Kyogoku House's Oiran Warabihime, is told by two young girls that "Zenko" only arrived two days ago. Warabihime ignores their words, frightening the girls.

Zenitsu apologizes for intruding but Warabihime only mocks him for "her" ugly appearance and yellow hair. She approaches the young girl assigned to clean the room, then grabs her ear harshly, ignoring her screams of pain. The girl cries and says she will clean up, begging for forgiveness as her ear starts to bleed. Instantly, Zenitsu grabs Warabihime's arm and demands she stop. In the Tokito House, Tanjiro continues to do chores quickly and diligently. The house's madam becomes stunned at his want to do chores, having run out of tasks for him to do. In the Ogimoto house, the chaperone and two attendants witness the giant hole in the wall recently made by Inosuke. She decides to confront "Inoko" for the vandalism, only to be surprised seeing Inosuke, focused and with his legs over his head, trying to sense the demon.

Zenitsu repeats his words, demanding Warabihime let go of the young girl. Infuriated, she lets go of her and rips her hand from Zenitsu's grasp. Suddenly, she swings her fist back and strikes him in the face. Two days before the mission to Yoshiwara, Kyogoku House's owner, Omitsu, confronts Warabihime, demanding she stop causing girls to get hurt, commit Ashinuke and even commit suicide, saying she bullied them to death. Warabihime appears ignorant at the accusations, asking Omitsu if she'd taken consideration the girls had simple should not have annoyed her, then scathingly reminds her most of the house's earnings were through her as an Oiran.

Omitsu relays a story she was told when she was young by an older woman, about certain Oirans, incredibly beautiful but incredibly twisted. The woman had seen such Oirans when she was young and later when she was middle-aged; the Oirans had "hime" at the end of their name and would cock their heads to the side and glare angrily if something annoyed them. Seeing Warabihime doing just that, Omitsu, armed with a knife, angrily confronts her for what she is, questioning if she is even human.

In a flash, Warabihime grabs her in her sashes and takes to the sky. Dangling the helpless woman over the ground, she mockingly tells her she should have kept quiet the moment she senses something. Now undisguised, her eyes reveals her true identity as Upper Rank Six of the Twelve Kizuki. She tells her not to be afraid, as she hates the taste of old, ugly or dirty people, before mercilessly dropping Omitsu to her death below.

As people on the street happen upon her corpse, Warabihime returns to her room, only to see Muzan Kibutsuji inside. Addressing him as Master Muzan, she kneels down before him, as he commends her for eating numerous people and gaining more strength. Muzan advises her to remain vigilant as she gets stronger, as any skilled Demon Slayer can immediately tell demons from humans. Calling her by her demon name, Daki, Muzan compliments her for her beauty and strength, as she had previously killed seven Hashira, before telling her she is an extraordinary demon. Zenitsu gets flung through several walls and is knocked unconscious, Daki angrily demanding she isn't touched. The house's master appears, calming asking she forgive Zenko and reminding her that customers will soon appear to the house. Daki smiles and calmly states she was perhaps too merciless, asking they treat her wounds. She tells the master she should be apologizing, as things had left her irritated. The master quickly demands the mess cleaned up and nothing to be done that displeases "Warabihime".

Daki realizes the blow to Zenitsu hasn't damaged him severely and he had quickly went on the defensive, deducing him to be a Demon Slayer but not a Hashira. As she puts on her makeup, she mutters to herself that "you did a good job bringing him in", declaring she would happily devour them all. Tanjiro, still doing chores, suddenly detects a murky scent in the air, a scent that has only appeared at night.

Zenitsu wakes up and sees the three young girls glad "Zenko" now awake. They tell him he was punched and was knocked unconscious, offering him food and a towel for the mark on his cheek. Hearing the pain in his voice as he tends to his injury, the girl he protected sadly tells him pain is what he got for defending her from Warabihime.

Zenitsu dissuades her words, telling her "Any man would rescue a damsel in distress. That's a given", though he doubles down on his words and tells them he is the eldest daughter and he can't stand when a younger girl cries. The girls bid him good will and leave him to rest. As he quietly admires their kind attitude by himself, Daki abducts him without warning.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Makio
 * Daki
 * Inosuke Hashibira
 * Zenitsu Agatsuma
 * Tanjiro Kamado
 * Omitsu
 * Muzan Kibutsuji

Anime Notes

 * There is an anime-original scene involving Daki getting confronted by an attendant during the Edo era.
 * This episode animates two pages from the Volume 9 extras, namely of Inosuke stretching with his legs over his head and Tanjiro being very proactive in doing chores.
 * Zenitsu getting abducted by Daki's sashes while recovering in a room does not appear in the manga.