May 22, 1913

Kyojuro, James, and Susamaru were on a boat that was sailing to an island off the coast. There, they would embark on their first mission: Defeat what was believed to be a small gang of demons that was harassing the island's villagers and had killed ten people recently, out of a population of about 600. They had decided to send a Pillar and two Tsuguko to the island, since the village did not have any demon slayers of its own.

As the boat sailed towards the island in the evening, Susamaru watched over the front of the ship, staring out into the water. As she did, she pondered to herself about how she felt about James. "He saved my life," she thought, considering what he had done. "He's treated me as an equal in combat, and we make a great team. Even so… I don't feel like he'd be willing to court me. I can't imagine trying to love again after what he's been through."

Then, a commotion behind him snapped her out of her inner thoughts as she turned around to see what was going on. "James just fell overboard," Kyojuro shouted. "Get a life raft!"

"I'm fine," James shouted from the water. "I can swim!" He had tripped and fallen over the edge into the water, and as the boat stopped in the water, James quickly swam towards it. "Don't worry, nothin' ain't lost! I still got my shit! All my weapons were stored away!"

Susamaru laughed quietly, finding the situation hilarious. "Well, that's good."

…

As the boat landed on the island, they were met by the head of the village on the beach. He waved to the three of them and called out, "Welcome to our humble little island! Thank you for coming to help us!"

"It's our duty," Kyojuro affirmed with a smile. "I presume you're Mayor Tanaka?"

"Indeed," he replied. "Tanaka Go, the mayor of Minamihama. It looks like you've brought he-" The man, who bore graying hair, then stopped himself as he looked at James and Susamaru. He had been intimately familiar with demons in the past, and their looks seemed off. "Who are these two, and how are they standing in the sun without dying?"

James remarked to himself in English, "Well, that was fast." He then switched back to Japanese, explaining, "We're demon slayers, Mayor Tanaka. We've made our alignment with humanity very clear, and we have already slayed many demons."

"As for why we're able to be out in the sun," Susamaru explained to him. "My partner is from America, where the demons have evolved to be able to walk in sunlight, albeit at the cost of some of their abilities and much of their inhuman strength when they're out during the day. I was given some of his blood, and I have since evolved into having the same ability."

"I know it's shocking," Kyojuro calmed the now-worried mayor. "And I was resistant to it at first, too, but these two are under my own personal training, and if you won't believe them, believe me when I say that they can be trusted." He then leaned in and whispered into the mayor's ear, being so quiet that neither James nor Susamaru could hear them. "And if they betray me, I can kill them both easily."

"Alright, alright," the mayor nodded. He then bowed to both James and Susamaru. "My apologies. It's not every day you see demons who side against their own and with us."

"Understandable," James assured him. "Believe me, I'd be skeptical too."

"Anyway," the mayor continued from before. "We're at our wits' end here, Rengoku-san. This group of demons has murdered ten of my villagers, and they don't seem to discriminate. They've killed a baby and an elderly man. We aren't sure how many there are, but people here have seen at least five demons running around, and the government won't help us!" His frustration with the lack of help so far was clear. "It's like they don't give a fuck about us unless we live in one of the cities like Tokyo, Nagoya, or Osaka!"

"We know exactly how you feel," Kyojuro nodded. "We've been ignored and even sometimes persecuted by the government, too, despite siding with the Emperor in the Boshin War against the Shogunate. They call us too radical or something, like we're going to corrupt the youth or the women of Japan."

"As long as you keep killing these monsters," the mayor assured Kyojuro. "You guys will always have my support!"

…

Later that night, the three demon slayers were out on patrol together as they scoured the area for the gang of demons. "Reports say there's at least ten," Kyojuro explained to both of them. "So we got our work cut out for us. Now, to cover more ground, we're gonna split up. If you come into contact with demons, send your Kasugai crows to me or each other for help."

James, Susamaru, and their crows all nodded. James told him, "Don't worry, Rengoku-san, we won't let you down."

"I wouldn't expect you to," he affirmed as he marched in one direction away from them. As James and Susamaru then split off, he thought to himself, "Slowly, I've grown to trust these two. Still, I have to be vigilant in case they betray us. I wish I could shake that feeling of distrust off, but I can't, not after the shit I've seen, and I despise the fact I can't. A man once said one of his relatives was a different demon years ago, and that relative fucking ate him. Granted, with the way they are in America, perhaps it's easier for them to blend in, and maybe even genuinely side with humanity."

As he walked along an unlit dark path into the forest, he remained alert, his sword out and ready to go in case trouble reared its ugly head. Then, behind him, he heard what he thought were footsteps, and quickly turned around, ready to strike. However, upon doing so, all he saw was pitch black. Nothing was behind him, and nothing he saw could have made those quiet footsteps. The feeling of being watched had begun to set in, and it made even an experienced slayer like him nervous. As he continued his walk, he heard the footsteps once more and turned around again.

"Who's there?!"

Nothing.

"Fucking hell," Kyojuro sighed to himself as he continued. Then, as he thought the mysterious noises had finally ceased, he felt a tug on his coat and immediately ripped away from it. "Fuck!" He slashed into the darkness, causing the arm of an unseen demon to fall off from the attack and said demon to scream in pain. "Who's there?!"

Then, in an instant, he blacked out with the thud of a club against his head. As his body dropped to the ground, three demons stood over him as three more carried a long wooden pole with ropes tied to it. The leader of the group told the others, "Tie him up and let's haul his ass out! We're gonna spit roast him like a pig! Onabara-sama will be really pleased by this meal! It's not every day you get to eat a Pillar!"

…

Meanwhile, James was alone in another section of the dense forest on the island that surrounded the beach. As he walked around, his rifle slung on his back, his revolver holstered, and his sword out and ready to go, he said to himself, "Fuckin' creepy out here. I could cut the tension with a knife if it was visible to the naked eye."

As he walked along his path, he peered all around him, looking for any sign of the gang. However, as he stared at what he thought was an odd shape nearby to his right side, he failed to look to the area right in front of him, which allowed him to run right into someone else with a loud thud as he quickly turned his head and fell. As he did, he suddenly locked lips with a woman, and his hand fell right on her chest.

To his horror, he realized he had accidentally kissed and groped Susamaru. As they both split from their accidental kiss, they coughed and turned away as they both blushed intensely. "Fuckin' hell, Susamaru!"

"I'm so sorry!" Susamaru was worried she had hurt him when she smacked right into him. "Are you hurt?!"

"No, I'm fine," he assured her as he dusted his shirt off. "I'm sorry for that. I should have looked where I was goin'."

"No, I should have been," she replied, trying to take the blame. She thought to herself, "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK, we kissed. We kissed. We fucking kissed. WE FUCKING KISSED! WHY DID MY FIRST KISS WITH A MAN HAVE TO BE AN ACCIDENT?!" She tried to be calm on the outside, but on the inside, she was clearly panicking.

"That felt… Good," James thought to himself with confusion. "It felt right, but… I swore I couldn't fall in love again, but… Somethin' just felt so right about that." He told her, "Susamaru, look, that was… I…"

"It felt good," she admitted to him. "Even for something so unexpected, it felt really good."

"I'm inclined to agree," James replied with a deep blush. "Susamaru, I haven't felt somethin' like that in a long ti-" Suddenly, he was once again surprised by a kiss, but not an accidental one.

Rather, Susamaru practically dragged him in by his collar with both of her hands and kissed him as she shut her eyes, deciding to go for it rather than wait any longer. "I can't hide it anymore," she thought to herself as her passionate kiss continued. "I can't keep these feelings in my heart buried forever." After she split from the kiss, she confessed how she felt about him. "James, there's something I need to tell you. I… I'm deeply in love with you, and I have been ever since you saved me. Every day, I've kept how I felt from you, but I can't anymore." As she cupped his face in her hands, she smiled. "You're the shining star in my life, James, and I would give anything to spend an eternity with you."

James took her words in and tried to process a response. He had been told similar words twice before, and both times, it had ended in tragedy. He thought he had sworn off love after the death of Julia, but now, he was no longer so sure. "I see you feel that way," he told her. "Look, I told myself I couldn't do this to myself, but now that this, I ain't so sure about tha-" Then, suddenly, James stopped himself and drew his revolver, firing twice at a target right behind Susamaru. "Demon! Demon!"

Susamaru quickly got up as a demon charged at them. She quickly took a deep breath, readied her swords, and attacked him, declaring, "Breath of Flames First Form, Unknowing Fire!" In two slashes, she decapitated the demon with her two swords, quickly dispatching it from life. "Looks like they know we're here! We'll have to delay our confession, James. Let's go!"