April 22, 1913

A second Pillar Meeting began at the Ubuyashiki Estate, due to the first meeting being taken up by James and Susamaru's appearances. As all the Pillars bowed, Kagaya once more addressed all of them with a kind and warm smile. "Good afternoon once again," he told them all. "Since we were preoccupied with other matters on the 11th, we shall now discuss our regular matters today. The first topic is what happened at the Battle of Mount Natagumo. We are preparing a report regarding our losses at the battle, which represent our highest loss since the Boshin War."

"This battle clearly represents the decrease in quality of recent recruits," Obanai began. "I don't mean to insult the slayers we've lost, but it feels like our training isn't doing enough to protect and prepare our lower ranks. With this and the disaster that was the 1st District's 1st Quarter Final Selection, 1913 is shaping up to be a bad year for us."

"I have to agree with Iguro-san," Kyojuro then spoke up. "Losing just one slayed is one too many, but to lose so many so soon is incredibly troubling, especially with our recruitment problems. It seems like the only people joining are people who have already been hurt by demons or come from backgrounds where they've always known about us. Of course, there's also a significant difference between the number of our personnel who are from rural areas and those who are from urban areas."

"People just don't believe demons exist anymore," Gyomei then added. "Muzan must have some policy of sticking to rural areas, because I almost never hear about him striking urban population centers like Nagoya, Tokyo, or Osaka. We can't just recruit families and survivors forever. It's unsustainable. Also, I don't mean to knock on our rural recruits, especially since I myself came from pretty much the middle of nowhere, but there is a noticeable knowledge gap. We need to keep abreast of how rapidly Japan is modernizing, especially when it comes to communication and weaponry, but we're limited when some of our recruits may not even know what modern firearms or railroads are."

Shinobu sighed as she spoke up next, dropping her normal smile. "It infuriates me to no end to know that our government continues to ignore us and even secretly label us as insurrectionist radicals despite us helping them defeat the Shogunate, all because we refuse to treat women or religious minorities any different from men or the majority. Constantly, we are harassed by police officers for carrying swords, and that's just the start of our issues. Oyakata-sama, your family has done wonders for us for many centuries, but you know as well as I do that the Demon Slayer Corps cannot survive as a private entity forever with no official support. I know we pride ourselves in being unofficial and hidden, but with these incidents, is it really the best thing to be proud of?"

Kagaya nodded. "Everything you said is true. With these recent incidents, I have begun making plans to speak with the government, Shinobu. At the very least, I am asking for compensation for injured slayers and the families of disabled or dead slayers, as well as an exemption to anti-weapons laws that will allow us to carry swords and guns in public without fear of harassment. Also, in regards to weaponry, the use of firearms by the hunter from America has piqued my interest. Shinobu, as the resident poisoning expert, I am giving you the task of researching ways to incorporate poisoned ammunition into our corps. We may be able to make hunting demons easier than it ever has before. After all, the adage is 'work smarter, not harder.'"

"Speaking of him," Mitsuri then spoke up. "How are he and that other demon doing at Mount Fujikasane?"

"I have no idea, unfortunately," Kagaya replied. "They said they wanted no intrusion when they went in, so we'll have no idea what's going on until the 28th."

April 28, 1913

The day everyone had been waiting for was finally upon them: The day that James and Susamaru's were expected to come out of the forest of Mount Fujikasane. Aside from Kanata and Kiriya, Kyojuro also stood at the entrance, awaiting their exit. "They said that they would be back around 8 in the morning," he thought to himself. "It's 7:55 now. Perhaps they got killed in the forest."

Then, in the distance, all three of them heard shouting. "Hey, fuckers! Guess who survived all fourteen days?!"

As Kyojuro looked on, a weary but confident James and Susamaru walked to the entrance of the forest. They had clearly fought long and hard inside the forest. Susamaru also waved and called out, "We did! We survived! I don't know how, but we did!"

"Well, no shit," Kyojuro remarked to himself. He then smiled and waved. "Congratulations on making it. With this, you're both officially demon slayers!"

"For reference," James then exclaimed. "I killed twenty-seven demons and she killed thirteen!"

"Forty?!" Kyojuro found the number to be unbelievable, as most prospective demon slayers usually killed maybe three or four each in their weeklong Final Selection. "No way!"

"Congratulations," Kanata and Kiriya said to the graduates in unison. "You are officially now members of the Demon Slayer Corps. Kanata then spoke alone next. "You will soon be measured to receive uniforms. Due to your unique circumstances, you two can choose to customize them to a limited extent."

"For now," Kiriya then added. "You will choose the ores that will be used to forge your new swords. The swords will take approximately ten to fifteen days to make. We have ten ores for you to choose from. Do either of you have any special requests?"

James immediately raised his hand. "If I may," he asked. "May I get a sword infused with wisteria like Pillar Kocho, but strong enough to also decapitate a demon? I want to be able to do both to keep my options open in battle."

"Very well," Kanata replied, bowing. "How about you, Susamaru-san?"

"I wish to be a double-wielder," she replied with a bow. "That is my only request. My swords will otherwise be normal."

"That can certainly be arranged," Kiriya affirmed to her. "Now, before you choose your ores, we have one last gift." He then snapped his fingers, and as soon as he did, two crows flew down and perched themselves on James and Susamaru's shoulders. "These are your Kasugai Crows, Now, James, you might recognize your's."

"Holy shit," James said to his crow in English as he realized who it had belonged to. "You're Paul's crow! George, what are you doing here?!"

"Indeed," the crow, named George McCloud, replied back in English as well. "Mr. McCloud sent me here. Unfortunately, he was killed in February, and before he died, he sent me here to join you. I came into contact with the Japanese Demon Slayer Corps and was able to be assigned to you."

James was shocked to hear of Paul McCloud's death. "What?! Who killed him?!"

"The Fifth Knight of the Moon," George cawed back. "Bloody Bill Anderson of the Confederate Partisan Rangers! He shot him several times and left him for dead in an ambush!"

"God fuckin' damn it," James angrily yelled up into the sky in rage. "That son of a bitch just don't know when to quit, don't he?!" He then took a deep breath and began speaking again in Japanese, explaining to the rest of the group what he was talking about. "Paul McCloud was a human friend of mine who hunted demons. Apparently, one of the Jackson Brothers' Twenty-Four Knights of the Moon, their equivalent of the Twelve Demon Moons here, killed him, and he sent his crow here to work with me before he died."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kyojuro told him in sympathy. "It's stuff like this that gives us the reasons for which we fight, James. As my Tsuguko, you and Susamaru will become some of the finest warriors around. I'm sure of it."

Susamaru told Kyojuro, "We won't make you regret taking us in, Rengoku-san."

Kanata and Kiriya then spoke once more in unison. "Now, you will be assigned ranks. James Colby, as someone who already has experience, you will be assigned the rank of Mizunoe, while Susamaru will be assigned the rank of Mizunoto. These are the two lowest ranks in the corps, but expect to be moved up soon." Both then bowed together. "Now, pick your ores."

As James and Susamaru walked up to the ore table, which had ten different ores laid out on it, James thought to himself, "Hmmm… They didn't tell us which one is which. Let's see…" He then took a deep breath and picked a nichirin ore at random, followed closely by Susamaru. He then told the two Ubuyashiki children, "We pick these two ores!"

"Very well," Kanata then told James. "Expect to get your new swords in two weeks' time."

TAISHO SECRET #1

INFORMATION ABOUT THE KNIGHTS OF THE MOON:

The KM consist of twenty-four demons, led by both Jackson brothers, who share the ideology they hold: White/Japanese demonic supremacy over all humans and non-white/non-Japanese demons. Being fervent believers in slavery, both George and Thaddeus were veterans of the Confederacy, and after the war, supported the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. They also, both during and after the war, turned Confederate military leaders that are believed to have been dead by the general public into demons, with most of them ending up in the Knights of the Moon. Currently, not a single KM has been killed since 1874.

KM1: James Ewell Brown "J.E.B." Stuart

KM2: Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

KM3: Jubal Early

KM4: Patrick Cleburne

KM5: William "Bloody Bill" Anderson

KM6: Thomas Green

KM7: Ambrose Power "A.P." Hill

KM8: John Hunt Morgan

KM9: John Hanson McNeill

KM10: Alcibiades DeBlanc

KM11: George Washington Gordon

KM12: Frederick Nash Ogden

KM13: Thomas Eaves (Non-CSA)

KM14: James Jessup Lee (Non-CSA)

KM15: Thomas Horace (Non-CSA)

KM16: Robert Lee Berry (Non-CSA)

KM17: David Lee (Non-CSA)

KM18: Jerome Tyrell Lee (Non-CSA)

KM19: David Baker

KM20: George Beauregard Hall (Non-CSA)

KM21: Horace Sherill

KM22: Calvin Hodgeson (Non-CSA)

KM23: Vernon Hill

KM24: Jonathan Hill

These Knights of the Moon represent a dangerous threat to the demon hunters that roam the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as those in the Caribbean. They also persecute non-white demons, often subjugating them and bringing them alongside captured nonwhite humans to illegal slave plantations owned by the Jackson Network in lawless areas of Mexico and the Caribbean, where they harvest crops and are often subject to abuse, neglect, and live human/demon experimentation by the Jackson Brothers. They are committed to the causes of white supremacy, racism, slavery, and the subjugation of undesirables, and are condemned by all those who have honor, decency, and respect for others. They are not to be honored, but to be reviled, for committing treason against the United States, waging war on humanity, and attacking those of their own kind they view as inferior.

Likewise, Muzan Kibutsuji is not to be celebrated, but to be condemned, for committing treason against the Empire of Japan, murdering innocent people by the thousands, and oppressing his own kind by crushing any and all dissent or pro-peace sentiments brutally and with extreme prejudice. He is a monster, and he is directly responsible for the murders of far too many people to count. He is an unrepentant killer, a madman, and a coward.

The names of these demons will forever be associated with the ideology of demonic supremacy and all those who were mercilessly killed in its wake.