November 21, 1913

"I see," said Kagaya as he reviewed a report given by Obanai and Sanemi. "So they intend to send the new Lower Moon Five and this Ambrose Powell Hill gentleman to America via a portal system?"

"Correct," Obanai replied with a nod. "The 14th Knight had some very damning documents on him, which probably explains why two other Japanese demons were with him."

"Once we killed those two Japanese ones," Sanemi remarked. "It was a bit too easy for us to kill the American one. I'm just glad we got everything we needed without getting our hands too dirty or getting hurt too badly." This mission had been his first since his incident with Rantaro Eguchi. "James Jessup Lee was his name, right?"

"Correct," Kagaya confirmed.

"Well," Obanai pointed out. "With the way they intend to go to America, we could get there pretty quickly, far faster than any ship."

"It will be very dangerous, though. You're talking about going right into Muzan's headquarters, even if for just a few minutes at most. Would either of you be available to assemble a team?"

Obanai hesitated. Part of him wanted to go all in, but another part of him wanted to stay with Mitsuri and his unborn child. It was as if two different halves of himself were bickering inside his head about what he should do. "I feel like I should go," he thought to himself. "But another part of me is telling me to stay here for my wife. Damn it, what should I do?" Mitsuri's words echoed through his head, telling him he needed to value his life more and consider the impact he had on others.

"I'll go," Sanemi volunteered. "I'll let Iguro stay here with Kanroji and their child. What day do you want me to go?"

"Well," Kagaya explained as Obanai silently breathed a sigh of relief. "Hill-san has what these letters refer to as a business meeting scheduled on the 24th, which is presumably where he'll be using that portal. I suspect this is merely coded language, of course, and that there really isn't a business meeting."

"As expected," Sanemi remarked. "I'll try to see if Himejima can come with me. Renaud will have to, since she speaks English."

"I see… Try to get your brother to come along, too. You'll need all the help you can get."

Kagaya's mention of Genya coming along threw Sanemi completely off. The two had not been on good terms with each other, but even so, the thought of his brother dying in a foreign land far from his home shook him to his core. "I… I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"I'm sure Gyomei will insist on Genya coming with him."

Sanemi realized that Kagaya had him beat there. "Okay, that's a fair point. If Himejima wishes it, he can come along, but only if he wants him to go."

Kagaya nodded. "Sounds good to me. Also, I'll assign a Kakushi to assist you who can also speak English. That way, Vèronique won't be alone in having to translate."

November 22, 1913

"Genya must go with me at a minimum. That cannot change under any circumstances. I can negotiate anything else, Shinazugawa-san."

Sanemi was expecting such an answer from Gyomei as the two discussed assembling a six-person slayer team to go out to Chicago. "I understand."

"I know you and him don't have the best relationship," Gyomei added. "But you two need to put any differences you may have aside for the duration of this mission. If you let your differences boil over, it could be disastrous for all of us."

Sanemi nodded. "It's not like I have a damn choice in the matter. The tone of that letter sounded pretty desperate, especially if he wants help that he thinks will be months away."

"Anyway," Gyomei then said as he changed the subject matter. "With me, you, Genya, and Vèro, that's four. We need two more."

"Well," Sanemi then remembered. "Vèro did mention a slayer she knew who uses the Breath of Thunder that could be helpful. A mix of different breathing styles would be helpful to us, and the Breath of Thunder in particular can be a useful asset."

"Sotozaki Chiyo," Gyomei correctly guessed. "She's referring to her, isn't she?"

"Correct. But that still only leaves us with five…"

Genya then walked in on the meeting, having overheard most of it from Gyomei's house. "Oh, uh…"

Sanemi looked at him and asked him in a somewhat rude tone, "What the Hell are you doing? Were you spying on us?!"

"No, I… Ugh, damn it."

"It's fine," Gyomei assured the young man. "We were just discussing the mission we have planned. Do you have any suggestions for a sixth member?"

"A sixth member? Hmmm…" Genya then realized who would be perfect for the team. "It's a bit unorthodox, but I know who could work."

"I'm not so sure," Reiko replied to Gyomei and Sanemi as they discussed either one of the twins going out with them in the evening after traveling to their house. They could not bring both along, which was a point of contention for Reiko, still somewhat skittish from her earlier trauma as well as being rather unfamiliar with being separated from her brother for potentially months on end. "The truth is, for my entire life, I've never been separated from Rinji for more than a week. Also, you're talking about going overseas to a place that I have zero familiarity with, and that's not even discounting the extremely dangerous way you plan to get there faster."

"Then I'll go," Rinji then offered. "I'm just as useful as my sister."

"Either one of you is fine," Sanemi assured both of them. "We just can't take both."

"If you wish," Gyomei then politely told them. "We can step out and let you two discuss it among yourselves. We won't intrude on your privacy if we don't absolutely have to."

"No," Rinji insisted. "I'll go in my sister's place." He then turned to her and told her, "Oneechan, you're in good hands with the corps. You'll be fine on your own for however long I'll be gone. Trust me."

Reiko paused for a brief moment to get her bearings straight. She then took a deep breath and nodded. "Well… I guess it can't be helped. Rinji, please, come back to me alive."

Her brother smiled and assured her with a par on her head, "Of course, oneechan."

"Then it's settled," Sanemi replied confidently with a grin. "We'll leave on the 24th to go follow A. P. Hill. Come to the Himejima Estate on the 23rd so we all can go over the plan one last time. Colby will be there too to give us more information about Chicago and the Midwestern United States in general, too."

"He won't be going with us since he has Susamaru to look after," Gyomei added. "But his information will be valuable to have regardless. Without him, we'd be going in blind." Immediately realizing the pun he had just made about himself, he quickly excused himself with, "No pun intended, of course."

At the Butterfly Estate, Chiyo and Vèro were tasked by Shinobu with a side mission in addition to their quest to Chicago, which Gyomei had previously agreed to the day before. "So," Shinobu told the two young women. "I need you two to collect samples of poisons used in America with these needles." Shinobu handed a box of needles to Chiyo as she then told them, "I can only do so much without having actual physical poison to use. If you can get it in jars or something instead and send it back, that's even better."

Vèro asked her, "You figure that demons here in Japan won't be as resistant to poisons from the Americas?"

"Exactly," she replied. "Which is why this poison is going to be reserved for members of the Twelve Demon Moons and the Knights of the Moon. I don't want normal demons here in Japan to get their hands on it and then send it back to Muzan so he can build a resistance to it. Maybe I can even use this poison on the demon who murdered my sister. I have this feeling that that demon was one of the Upper Moons, but I don't know which one."

"I wish you luck on your quest to kill him," Chiyo told Shinobu. "Kocho-sama, we'll be rooting for you the whole way."

"Thank you… Speaking of that." She then handed them a bottle filled with an unknown liquid. "Give this to Colby-san. He'll need it for his future plans. This substance puts people to sleep chemically so he can infiltrate their dreams, so be very careful with it."

"Understood," Chiyo replied, inspecting the bottle with piqued curiosity. "I must say, this certainly sounds very interesting."

"It really is. I used a sample of blood from Lower Moon One to make it. I should have an instruction sheet on how to make more really soon."

Meanwhile, in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, Thaddeus Jackson was incredibly angry at Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson for the death of James Jessup Lee at the hands of Obanai and Sanemi. "Are you fuckin' serious?! I said that he needed more God damn protection, and y'all just let two Jap demons go with him instead of havin' another fuckin' Knight come along as well?! What the fuck were all y'all thinkin'?! Are you mad?! Huh?!"

"Yes, sir," he somewhat timidly replied.

"Now the damn Demon Slayer Corps has got all our information 'bout Ambrose's trip to Chicago! They could send someone after his ass thanks to this fuckin' bullshit!" He then threw his pencil onto the desk in frustration, causing it to snap in half. "Fuckin' thing sucks! This whole fuckin' shit's gonna derail us harder than the failure of Pickett's Charge!" He took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead to calm down his rage. "Ugh, look, we'll have to go through with this anyway. I already gave instructions to Nakime, so we can't go back now."

"Understood, sir," Thomas replied to his leader.

"You're dismissed. Go on, out you go."

"Yes, sir," Thomas replied with a salute before leaving the room, glad to have the rant against him and the other Knights of the Moon finally come to an end.

Thaddeus muttered to himself in frustration once the door to his office was closed, "What the fuck… I hope none of these damn slayers manage to get in here. Muzan's gonna be fuckin' pissed. He's gonna be real fuckin' pissed. I'm sure of it."

"He knows he can't kill you, though," then replied another voice as his brother, George, walked into the office.

"I mean, he can."

"But he won't," George pointed out. "We're way too valuable to him. Besides, even if a few slayers get in here, they'll just get ripped to shreds by all of us in here. Think about it, brother. This is the most secure place in the world for us."

"You really think we'll stop 'em if they get in?"

"Of course. We got hundreds of demons inside the castle at all times doin' all sorts of tasks. Those bastards will get killed in ten minutes at most."

"I like your optimism," Thaddeus nodded. "But we'll have to wait and see how things actually develop."

November 23, 1913

The day had arrived to finally meet and go over the plan before setting out to find Ambrose Powell Hill. All seven members of the team met at the Rengoku Estate to receive more information from James prior to their journey. The team consisted of:

Gyomei Himejima

Sanemi Shinazugawa

Genya Shinazugawa

Vèronique Renaud

Rinji

Chiyo Sotozaki

Yasuhiro Hata (Kakushi attaché assigned as a translator)

"Okay," James told everyone as he laid out a long sheet of paper with notes in English and Japanese about Chicago. "So the meetin' place is at the Glessner House, owned by John Jacob Glessner. He's a businessman specializin' in farmin' equipment with a company called International Harvester who also happens to have a side business runnin' a private demon huntin' agency in Illinois and Wisconsin. Y'all won't miss this place. It's located on the corner of East 18th Street and South Prairie Avenue on the Near South Side of Chicago, so it's very close to the center of the city. My old buddy Eddy, the one who wrote the letter, works outta there, so he should be there, assumin' he's still alive of course."

Sanemi then asked James, "What if he's dead?"

"Glessner-san's aware of you guys," James assured him. "Eddy wouldn't have sent this letter if Glessner-san didn't approve beforehand. He'll be surprised y'all showed up so soon, but it'll be a pleasant surprise for sure, especially when he sees the letter I wrote back. Himejima-san, y'all still got that letter, right?"

"Correct," he nodded. "Genya is carrying it."

"Chicago is a pretty windy and cold city since it's situated right on one of the largest lakes in the world, Lake Michigan," James then further explained. "So dress as warm as y'all can. You won't regret it one bit, but you will if you dress too lightly. Also, please be on the lookout for Vèro, since some people in America don't take too kindly to black folk, even those who are partially white. It ain't as bad up north, of course, but you may still run into racist assholes who hate people like her just for existin' unfortunately."

"It's sadly true," Vèro nodded in confirmation. "I don't really see it too much in Canada, but I've heard too many horror stories from our neighbors down south."

"Exactly," James replied. "If this was in Alabama or Mississippi, two of the really bad states for blacks, I wouldn't have allowed Vèro to go at all."

Genya asked in curiosity, "It's that bad?"

"You ain't got no idea, son," James confirmed with a solemn nod. "It's pretty fuckin' bad down there. Anyway, enough of that topic. We got more pressin' matters to worry about."

November 24, 1913

The day had come for the plan to go into action. Ambrose Powell Hill, a celebrated army officer of the Confederacy and now the 7th Knight of the Moon, stood in front of a seemingly abandoned house as he waited for the last two new Lower Moons that were still alive: Jun and Yoshimi, both of whom were rather plain-looking demons selected for their experience rather than their looks, as well as Yoshimi's ability to speak English, Korean, and Dutch and Jun's ability to speak Chinese. As he stood around out in front of the house, he looked around and then pulled out a pocket watch, telling himself, "They should be here any minute now."

"Mr. Hill! Mr. Hill!" Ambrose turned around to find Yoshimi calling out to him as he and Jun ran up. "Apologies for being a little late, sir!"

"You aren't late," Ambrose assured them. "Nakime should be creating the portals very soon, so you're right on time."

"Excellent," Yoshimi replied. "I look forward to going to America for the first time in person." He then turned to Jun and asked him in Japanese, "You got the weapons, right?"

"I got the four revolvers and a bunch of ammunition," Jun replied to him as he took off a bag he had been carrying on his back and showed it to the others. "See? Right in here."

"Good, good."

Unbeknownst to them all, Sanemi and Gyomei's team was secretly watching them prepare for their journey from inside the abandoned building. Using a spell scroll from James, they had masked their scents in case any of the three were able to pick up on such a thing. None of the group made a sound as they continued to watch the trio talk among themselves to pass the time before Nakime opened the portal that would take them first into the Dimensional Infinity Fortress and lead them to the second portal, which would take them to Chicago.

After a few minutes of talking, all three of them stopped when they saw a flash of light appear from a wall on the house. Within just a few seconds, a portal developed on said wall. Ambrose said to his companions, "Well, we might as well start now."

"Indeed," Yoshimi nodded. "Let's head on in."

Once all three had entered the portal, Sanemi shouted, "Go, go, go!" All seven of them bolted for the portal, racing to get to it before it closed. "Hurry it up! It could close at any moment!" Once Gyomei had gone through, Sanemi ran in just barely in the nick of time as the portal behind him closed. All seven had successfully made it through, but now, they had a new challenge: Survive the Dimensional Infinity Fortress and find the second portal.

Once all seven stumbled into a dark and dimly lit hallway within the fortress, Genya realized that the trio had turned around to find all of them coming in behind them. He locked eyes with Ambrose in particular and awkwardly waved, saying to him in heavily accented English, "Um… Hello?"

Ambrose muttered to himself, "Oh shit, we got followed! Run!" All three then dashed down the hallway as another demon ran towards the intruders armed with a sword, ready to attack.

Gyomei could sense the demon coming after them and waved his axe and flail, calling out, "Breath of Stone, Second Form: Upper Smash!" In one swing of his weapon, he decapitated the demon with ease, splattering his blood all over the wall.

"Fuck," Chiyo then shouted from behind him. "We got two more right behind us! I got this!" She unsheathed her sword and declared, "Breath of Thunder, Third Form: Thunder Swarm!" She then dashed at both demons, who were caught off-guard by her speed as she surrounded them by bouncing off the walls and floor and attacked them from all directions. Within half a minute, both demons fell to the floor once their heads had slid off their bodies.

Sanemi pointed to the trio and yelled, "Don't just stand there! Fucking follow them already!" All seven then dashed down the hallway, trailing right behind the trio as they took a left at a T-intersection in the hallway. "Hurry up before they close the second portal on us!"

As they rounded another corner, Genya pulled his shotgun out and fired two rounds at a demon who jumped out from an opened door, striking him down and sending him to the floor but not killing him. Even so, it was enough for them to get past him, which was all that mattered. Genya shouted at the demon as they ran past him, "How did you like that?!"

"I'll kill him!" Vèro then took a deep breath and declared as she and Rinji were about to run past him, "Breath of Wind, First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!" She dashed forward and swiftly cut the demon's head off just as he was about to get up, soon finding herself right next to Sanemi and Genya up front due to how fast she had moved. "Hey guys! How about that?"

"Not bad," Genya congratulated her.

Rinji and Chiyo were running to catch up to the rest of the gang when the former noticed a window open up in the hallway and pulled Chiyo back from it. "Sotozaki, wait!"

No sooner did he pull her back did a demon jump out and into the hallway. The demon yelled at the two of them, "You guys fucked up by coming here! You'll all get destroyed!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Rinji then spawned a web from his left hand, pulling the demon towards him before he used his wakizashi to decapitate the demon with his right hand. "Are you alright, Sotozaki?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The two then ran and soon caught back up with the group. "Hold on, we're coming! A demon just stopped us for a few seconds is all!"

Sanemi then noticed the portal up ahead just as the trio jumped through it. "There it is! Let's get the fuck out of here before it closes!" He and Gyomei stopped right before it to ensure their comrades got in first. "Hurry up! Get in there!"

Gyomei similarly commanded, "Go on! We need to hurry!"

A demon nearby shouted out, "Don't let them get into Nakime-san's portal! Fuck! Stop them!"

Sanemi yelled back at the demon, "You're too late, asshole!" Once the four other slayers and the Kakushi assigned to them were through the portal, Sanemi and Gyomei jumped through into the unknown, a whole new city in a whole new country that was an ocean away. It would have normally taken them about three months to get to Chicago by ship and then train. This, however, only took them about seven minutes.

Once the portal disappeared, the demon who saw them slammed his fists on the wall where the portal had been and yelled, "Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! We almost fucking had them, God damn it! We're so fucked for letting them get away! We didn't go hard enough on them!"

Another demon nearby yelled out, "Someone's gonna get fucking killed by our master over this, and I sure hope it isn't me or you!"

Yet another demon who was looking around at the aftermath as he inspected physical damage to the hallways caused by the attacks remarked to himself as Eh shook his head, "This is the worst breach we've ever had. Nothing comes close to this in terms of fuckups and mistakes made by our kind. God damn it, today can't get any worse than this… Or can it?"

Getting to Chicago, however, would soon prove to be the easy part for Gyomei and Sanemi's team.

Meanwhile, as this mission began, James was silently praying inside his bedroom for the success of Gyomei and Sanemi's team. He had closed his eyes and was kneeling in silent Christian prayer in front of a crucifix he had placed on a wall of the bedroom. He thought to himself, "God, please, let all of them come home at least alive. Even if they're missin' a limb or two, they can at least still live, right? I know plenty of guys who lost limbs or eyes but didn't let it drag 'em down. At least give them the chance to recover if they get seriously hurt, God. That's all I ask for." Then, he heard the door slide open and turned around to see who it was, finding Susamaru entering the room. "Hey, dear."

"Are you praying for them?" Susamaru knew he was, but just wanted to be sure.

"Yeah," James confirmed with a nod. "Truth be told, those guys are some of the bravest people I've ever met for doin' a mission as dangerous as this. I mean, infiltratin' Muzan's damn headquarters? Now that takes some serious balls, which they all got. Those guys are brave… And a little crazy, I guess."

"Damn right they are," Susamaru replied in agreement as she sat down on the bed nearby. "I'm surprised you didn't offer to go with them. America was where you came from, after all."

"Truth be told," James admitted to her as he also sat down on the bed. "I ain't really got family back there in America or by extension Canada anymore aside from Juliette, and I still have a connection to her in Japan through Vèro. Obviously I ain't got Julia or Henry anymore, and my parents and siblings have been dead since 1884." He then kissed Susamaru on the lips before separating from her to tell her as he gently placed a hand on her stomach, "Everythin' else I need is right here in Japan, and I wouldn't want to trade it for anythin'. I can't abandon you when you're so far along in your pregnancy, my love. It wouldn't be right of me."

Susamaru smiled and told him, "I love you, James. I never thought I would be able to have children as a demon until it happened with you. I'm so glad we can start a family of our own and decide our own future." She then kissed him in return, wrapping her arms around him as the two proceeded to make out on the bed. She told him after taking a deep breath and showing her the ring she had gotten from him, "I've never taken your ring off. It's one of my most prized possessions."

"I'm glad to hear that," James gleefully told her before the two kissed again, with Susamaru lying on top of James. "You're so beautiful, Susamaru… I love you so much…"

"I love you more."

James and Susamaru both laughed at her response. "Let's try not to make it a war over who loves the other more, darlin'. Why don't we do somethin' else we can both enjoy instead?" James' somewhat lustful expression indicated exactly what he wanted.

"I like that idea a lot," Susamaru agreed with a similar expression before the two kissed once more, this time even more passionate than before as small moans escaped their lips, the two of course getting ready to do the obvious. "Let's get our mind off of everything else and have some fun."