May 10, 1913

George McCloud flew into Muichiro's house early in the morning to see Ginko. By now, Mukago was able to walk in the sun thanks to James' blood, and she was sitting along the front porch when George flew in. "Hello there, McCloud-san!"

"Good afternoon, Mukago," he replied in mostly correct Japanese. "Is Ginko here?"

"Wow," Mukago replied with excitement. "You're speaking Japanese, and it's mostly correct!"

"Hello?" Ginko then squawked at George in English. "Mr. McCloud, is that you? I heard your Japanese."

"Yeah," he replied, also in English, somewhat embarrassed. "I guess it wasn't too good, huh?"

"It was good for someone who's never spoken it before," Ginko replied with a happy tone. "With some more practice, you'll be great at it!"

George's eyes widened as he flew up into the sky, overjoyed by her response. "I did it! I did it! I impressed her!"

Mukago looked up to the crow and asked Ginko in Japanese, "What's he doing?"

"He's really excited for some reason," Ginko replied, also unsure why he was celebrating.

…

A few minutes later, Mukago and Muichiro sat together on the porch, talking to each other as they enjoyed the late spring sun in the afternoon. "So," Muichiro asked her. "What do you see in the clouds above you?"

"I see a bird," Mukago pointed out to him. "I haven't seen clouds in a long time, Muichiro-san. These past two days being out in the sun have really opened my eyes in ways I never thought possible."

Muichiro sighed and then turned to her, looking her right in the eye when he asked her, "Can I ask you something? Be truthful with me, Mukago-san. What do you think of me?"

The former Lower Moon 4 paused as she collected her thoughts to answer him. "Well… I think you're an important person. You freed me from Muzan's grasp instead of killing me, and you and Rengoku-san believed in me. Muichiro, you're the closest friend I have."

Muichiro smiled, a rare sight for the normally distracted and somewhat awkward Mist Pillar. "I'm glad to hear that. Of course, with us, we're a bit different."

"I know, I know," Mukago nodded, acknowledging that their friends with benefits relationship was highly unusual. "Look, I know I said we were going to have sex with no strings attached, but… Listen, if you ever feel like you're starting to like me as more than just a sex friend, you can tell me. I won't mind."

Muichiro blushed deeply in response. "I, well, um… I need to think about that. I just… It hasn't been too long for us. I want to keep having sex with you, but I don't feel like I'm ready to say I love you yet. With a little bit of time, though…"

"I understand why," the demon nodded. "And I agree. I want to keep going with what we have right now, though. On that note, you are gonna have to come clean to the rest of your friends. We can't stay a secret forever, Muichiro-san." The Mist Pillar sighed, realizing she was right as they both looked down away from each other.

…

May 11, 1913

On that day, the Rengoku Estate received two masked visitors, both of whom presented swords. As Kyojuro opened the door, he smiled and said to both visitors, "Ah, welcome to the Rengoku Estate! Haganezuka-san, Kanamori-san, please come in."

"Pleasure to see you once again," the second man, named Kozo Kanamori, replied to him. He carried two swords with him, with the words "SUSAMARU" written on the paper coverings used to enclose them until they were delivered. "I must say, I've never made swords for a dual-wielder, much less two at the same time."

"Who's the other one?"

"That Hashibira Inosuke kid," he replied to him. "One of the three skaters at the Butterfly Estate for rehabilitation and therapy. Don't mention the one with the birthmark on his forehead around Haganezuka-san, since he's pissed at him."

"That fucker destroyed the sword I created for him," Hotaru Haganezuka spat out, angry at Tanjiro. "I'll be sure to give Kamado Tanjiro a piece of my damn mind when I see him next!" He then took a deep breath to calm himself down. "But enough of that. I have a sword for James Colby-san, and Haganezuka-san here has two swords for Susamaru-san."

"I must say," Kozo told Kyojuro as they walked in. "We were very skeptical when we heard we were forging swords for demons, but upon reading the report given to us about their status, I think this could be a new opportunity for the Corps to defeat Muzan in this century."

"You guys must be the swordsmiths," James then introduced himself to both of them with a bow. "I'm James. Susamaru is out back training. I'm glad to see you two visited us personally."

…

A few minutes later, Hotaru presented James' sword to him. "This is a Nichirin sword, forged all by myself with metal from the mountain closest to the sun. With Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Scarlet Crimson Ore, we can absorb the sunlight to make this blade strong against demons. Mount Yoko, the source of our metal, is bathed in sunlight almost all day. Now, I hear that your Blood Demon Art does something similar, right?"

"Correct," James replied with a nod. "My Blood Demon Art allows me to turn my blood into metal objects that have the same sunlight-absorbing properties of Nichirin."

"Now," Hotaru told him as he presented the sheathed sword. "Draw it and see what color it changes into. I'm going to guess that it will be red since you've been learning the Breath of Flames."

"Sounds about right,": Kyojuro inferred. "All of my family's swords were red."

Curious, Susamaru asked, "What about me?"

"Probably the same thing," Hotaru replied in joy. "I'll get to see three bright red swords today, which is always a treat."

James then unsheathed his sword. Sure enough, as soon as he held it up, it turned red. "Holy shit, that's amazin'... Well, come on now, Susamaru, show us your swords!" His sword came with a white star-shaped guard, similar to the American flag.

"Here you go," Kozo told her as he handed her both of her swords. "It was a pleasure to craft these for you."

As Susamaru held both of her swords, they also turned red, making her beam with happiness. "Woah, they're the same color as your sword, James!" Both swords had simple circular guards, nothing too fancy.

"You two must be getting good at the Breath of Flames already," Hotaru replied, impressed by the colors their swords presented. "Why don't you two demonstrate outside?"

"Sure thing," James replied as they all got up and walked outside. Kyojuro especially was eager to see them use their new swords with the Breath of Flames.

Once outside, the two stood opposite two wooden dummies as Susamaru once again took her orange haori off. James inhaled and exhaled slowly before starting off first, quietly telling himself, "Breath of Flames…" He then charged forward, ready to strike as he announced the form he was using. "Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun!" With a powerful upward slash, he chopped the wooden dummy in half vertically, moving so fast he even caused the wooden remains of the dummy to smoke due to the friction.

Hotaru, Kozo, and Kyojuro all clapped, impressed by his demonstration. "Now," Kyojuro told Susamaru. "Your turn."

She took a deep breath in and out before announcing her form. "Breath of Flames…" As she charged forward, she called out, "First Form: Unknowing Fire!" She then used both of her blades to decapitate the wooden dummy in two directions, her blades passing each other by mere centimeters as the head of the dummy flew into the air and then landed at her feet. She smiled and said to the others, "How about that?"

"Excellent," Hotaru exclaimed. "Marvelous! Wonderful! Seeing beautiful blades like those in the hands of people who are learning so fast always makes me incredibly happy!"

"I don't mean to interrupt," Shinjuro then told everyone as he walked towards them with a wooden box. "But I just got a package for James and Susamaru. I think it's your uniforms."

"No kiddin'," James replied as he and Susamaru sheathed their swords before walking over. James then pulled out a knife from his pocket and used it to open the box carefully. Once they both looked in, James said, "You're right, Rengoku-san. It is our uniforms!" James pulled his uniform out first. His had the standard uniform jacket and shirt, but instead of the standard pants, he requested jeans and told them he did not need boots as he had his own. "This is amazin', and it's even got that special request on the side." On the right shoulder, his uniform had an American flag patch stitched in reverse, similar to military uniforms, as if to show the flag flying in the wind.

Susamaru was similarly impressed by her uniform, which was also custom due to her unique abilities. "I love what they did with this." Her uniform jacket and shirt were mostly normal, but had special snap-on/snap-off buttons instead of the normal buttons since she needed to be able to rip them off quickly if she had to spawn her extra arms in a fight. She also received a skirt, modesty shorts, and boots as part of her uniform. "I'm glad I was very specific when detailing this."

"Yeah," Kyojuro remarked. "I was there when Kocho-san and Tsuyuri-san once got the same uniforms as Kanroji-san. They both burned their jackets and shirts and told the Kakushi who made them to get them ones that didn't expose so much of their chest."

"Exactly why we made our instructions so specific," James replied. "I'm surprised she kept it."

"She initially just kept it because she assumed she had to," Kyojuro replied as he reminisced about his former Tsuguko. "But even after she found out she didn't, she kept it anyway. I asked her about it once, and she told me that for a long time, she was incredibly insecure about her body due to her strength since she had been told it was unfeminine, but she had learned to drop a lot of her insecurities." He chuckled, fondly remembering the times he had trained her. "Of my two Tsuguko prior to you two, she was perhaps my best."

"I hate it when someone says women shouldn't be physically strong," James expressed. "One of the reasons I was attracted to Julia was because she was strong. She liked to wrestle and box, and she was still a good wife and excellent mother. I ain't got no doubts Kanroji-san would be, too."

…

May 15, 1913

James and Susamaru were both at the Butterfly Estate this time, both wearing their uniforms. "They look so cool," Tanjiro remarked to both of them as he, Zenitsu's and an unmasked Inosuke all stared at them with curious intent. "I really like the flag on your shoulder, James!"

"Why thank you," he replied. "So, Zenitsu, Inosuke, what do you think?"

Zenitsu, enamored by Susamaru's uniform, replied, "I think she looks so beautiful wearing her uniform under her haori! You're a lucky guy getting to work with someone like her." As usual, he was distracted by seeing a girl.

"They look cool, I guess," Inosuke remarked. "It's still not as cool as mine."

"Inosuke," Tanjiro replied. "You don't have a uniform."

"Exactly," Inosuke proudly declared. "My body is my uniform!"

"Ah," Shinobu then interrupted as she and Mitsuri walked in. "I see you two have uniforms now! How wonderful!"

"Wow," Mitsuri gushed. "You two look so good in them! Hang on a second…" She then fished a small Kodak Brownie camera out of a bag she was carrying. "Let me get a picture of this. I just got this camera a week ago and I've been taking a lot of pictures with it."

James and Susamaru quickly posed next to each other, resting their arms on their sword sheaths on their sides, as Mitsuri snapped a photo of them. Once it was finished, James asked her, "How much did it cost you? I have a Brownie, too, and it cost me about 2 dollars."

"I don't know how many yen it is to American dollars," Mitsuri replied. "But this cost me 6 yen and 50 sen. It's worth every coin and banknote, though. I already have pictures of all the other Pillars, the Oyakata-sama, and myself."

"I suppose Mitsuri-chan is doing this so that all of us have pictures of us in life in case something happens," Shinobu told all five of them. "After all, it wasn't common for the average person in Japan to get photographed, at least not until we started getting Kodak cameras like in America."

Susamaru asked, "How many photos did you take?"

"I've gone through three rolls of 117 film," Mitsuri inferred. "So I'd say a little over 36, since I'm on my fourth roll now."

James, Zenitsu, and Susamaru all replied in exasperation, "Fourth roll in a week?!"

"Uh," Inosuke asked everyone, unsure of what was going on. "What the fuck is a camera?"

As Mitsuri and Shinobu tried to hold in their laughter, Zenitsu turned around to him, in utter disbelief he did not know what a camera was, and told him, "You can't be fucking serious."

"I think I can explain," Tanjiro then spoke up, trying to help Inosuke. "A camera is a special box that can create lifelike paintings in an instant. I think there's a spirit inside the box that paints the picture really fast."

"Oh my God," Zenitsu facepalmed as he realized neither Tanjiro nor Inosuke knew what a camera was. "No, there's no damn spirit inside the box, Tanjiro! You got the painting thing somewhat right, but it's not really a painting, either!"

"A camera uses a thin film and lighting to burn an image of whatever you see into said film," James explained to both of them. "The reason it's so lifelike is because it doesn't have to use paint or any other drawing materials. You then have to have the film developed to see the pictures."

"I have the first roll developed," Mitsuri then added. "The second roll and third roll are being developed now."

…

Later on, Susamaru and Mitsuri were talking among themselves, the two quickly bonding over their shared strength. "I once lifted a 4-kan stone when I was only a year old."

"4 kan?!" Susamaru could not believe it. "No fucking way. I'm calling bullshit."

"No bullshit," she happily replied as she fished a small picture out from under her clothes. "Here's a photo of me doing it again to prove it. My dad was a photographer, and gave me this picture when I was older. We lived in a rural village, and he was the only photographer around for many miles, so he often traveled far for work."

"You have black hair in that picture," Susamaru noted. "Did you dye your hair to what it is now?"

"No," she shook her head. "My hair changed to this. They think it was all the sakura mochi I ate, but nobody knows for sure." She sighed. "It's… Not been easy living with this strength and hair color."

"Rengoku-sama mentioned that you were once picked on for it," Susamaru told her. "Is that true?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "I was even rejected for an arranged marriage once because the guy I was going to be engaged to saw me as a freak. That… Yeah, that doesn't help you in terms of confidence."

Susamaru was shocked anyone would reject her. "I don't believe that either. Why would any man reject you?! You'd be a perfect wife to any man."

"I don't know," she solemnly shook her head. "I just don't know. I've looked for a man that accepts me for who I am in full for a while, but I just haven't found him yet." She then looked back at Susamaru and smiled. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna give up so soon! Anyway, do you have anyone in mind? I'm not too sure how demons work and all, but do they feel stuff like that, too?"

"Love and lust? Of course," Susamaru nodded, confirming her suspicions to be true while also trying to avoid the first part of her question. "Kibutsuji has had several sexual partners. He's had sex with both recent female member of the Upper and Lower Moons, as well as I'm sure a few more demons. He's also had sex with human women before."

"How about you?"

"Well, uh," Susamaru blushed as she tried to dodge the question again. "You see.. Well…"

"Come on," Mitsuri lightly prodded her. "Don't you have even a little bit of interest in James? I would in your position."

"Look," she told her. "I guess… I guess you could say I hold him in high regard, but… I think he's trying to avoid any feelings of his own towards me. If you don't know, he's had a rough love life, given he lost both of his previous romantic partners and has lost children before." Susamaru at this point was trying to make up excuses as to why she would not be with him. "He's probably afraid that if we're together as boyfriend and girlfriend, he'll lose me, too."

Mitsuri was saddened to hear of what James had gone through. "I'm so sorry. He told us a little bit about his human wife and his kids with her being killed, but I had no idea he had a lover before then. I can see why he'd be afraid."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I… I wish he wasn't like that, but…"