As Obanai and Mitsuri entered their hotel room together, having quietly gotten changed into sleeping clothes separately one at a time, the two remained stone-faced as they sat across from each other. Then, Mitsuri broke the silence. "Iguro Obanai," she began. "I have held this in ever since we began working together, but I cannot hold it in anymore." She then held his hands and took a deep breath. "I love you, Obanai, and I want us to be more than just friends. I've seen how you act around me, and I know for a fact that you feel the same way, so why do you keep hiding it from me?"

The fact that she went right for those words from the very start startled Obanai, who was expecting more build-up to a love confession. "Well… I know you won't like what you're gonna hear, but I am obligated to tell you why I've held back for so long." He then took his bandages off and revealed his scars to her, something he only ever did when he was eating prior to that night. "I'm a monster. My family were monsters. My family were thieves who struck a deal with a demon to steal the belongings of the humans she murdered and ate, and… And we fed many of our newborns to her to compensate her…"

Mitsuri was shocked to hear such words. "No… That's… There's no way that's possible. You gotta be telling me some sick joke, Obanai-kun…"

"I was the first boy born into the family in generations," Obanai continued. "And since I was heterochromatic, I was set aside by the demon, who was named Hebiko and had the lower body of a snake. She wanted me to grow older to savor me. All the while, my family continued to feed sisters, cousins, and so on to the demon, all while stealing from her other victims. We were fucked. We were so fucked. We were greedy, and we cared not one bit for who we hurt."

"Then Rengoku-san's father saved you," Mitsuri added for him, knowing that part of his story. "And killed her."

"He did," he confirmed with a nod. "But not before she murdered fifty of my relatives because I escaped. One of my cousins blamed me for what happened, and though she made little sense, she struck a nerve with me." He closed his eyes as Kaburamaru wrapped around him. "The only friend I had was Kaburamaru, who wandered into the cage I was locked in one night and kept me safe."

"I got one question," Mitsuri then asked him. "How does any of that have to do with you hating yourself?"

"Because I'm cursed by my family," Obanai explained to her. "And since I've been disfigured. They cut my face like this so I could look more like Hebiko before I was going to be eaten. I'm unclean, and someone like me is good for almost nothing. For the longest time, I wanted to die in combat… Die a hero so I could repent for what my ancestors did, and then one day live a normal life after I had been reborn. As for why I never told you anything about how I felt, well, that's why. I thought that maybe in another life, we'd be husband and wife." He then looked down, depressed by his own reasoning.

Mitsuri was horrified to hear his reasoning, and angered. She immediately raised her right hand and delivered a loud slap across Obanai's face as tears flowed down her face. The slap was so powerful that it left a red mark on the side of his face, and stung intensely as he held the spot where he had been hit. "How could you think that way?! I don't care about what your family did in the past, and I certainly don't give a fuck about your disfigurement, Obanai! I love you for you, and only you! You may want to wait for a rebirth that may not even happen, but I can't! What's to prevent us from being reborn in circumstances that prevent us from meeting?! What's there to prove that there even is an afterlife?! I can't wait for the next life to love you! My heart won't allow it! Obanai, you're the man I've searched for for so long! If you died, I'd never love anyone again!"

It was then and there that Obanai had an epiphany. In his head, he realized, "James… You were right…"

"Now that I've gotten it out of my system," Mitsuri concluded as she wiped away tears. "Perhaps I owe you a chance to strike back." She then carefully turned her head and closed her eyes, preparing to get hit back.

"I could never," Obanai thought to himself. "I may have deserved that slap that one time, but now… No… I know what I must do!" He then grabbed Mitsuri by her shoulders and closed his eyes before placing his lips on her's. His kiss came as a shock to Mitsuri, whose eyes remained open for several seconds before she closed them and returned his affection for her. "I've long dreamt of this very moment, and now it's come true…"

Once the two split from their kiss, Mitsuri asked him, "Please, no more secrets, okay?"

"Okay," Obanai replied. "Kanroji Mitsuri, I love you." The two then kissed again, this time also reaching into each other's yukatas, indicating their desire to go beyond merely kissing one another. "Mitsuri-chan, I need to go further."

"I agree," she eagerly replied with a seductive smile. "I've never done this with anyone before, not even when I was engaged before it was broken off."

"Neither have I," Obanai replied as he untied his yukata and then Mitsuri's.

"I need you," Mitsuri then begged of him. "Please, don't hold back."

…

June 14, 1913

As Sanemi and Véronique walked along a path in the Butterfly Estate, talking about their future training schedule together, they saw Obanai and Mitsuri walk in from the front entrance. "Those two look happy," Véronique noted to Sanemi. Indeed, Mitsuri had a wide grin on her face and was practically skipping along the path, while Obanai was similarly joyful even with his bandages covering his smile.

Sanemi was surprised, and asked the two, "Welcome back. How was your mission? You two look happy."

"Indeed we are," Mitsuri gushed to Sanemi. "And we have good reason to be, Shinazugawa-san!"

"The two of us are together," Obanai explained to him and his student as the two held hands in front of them. "As more than just friends or partners in combat."

Sanemi blinked several times in disbelief. "I'm sorry, what the fuck did you just say?" He was shocked. For all the years he knew both of them, he knew Obanai loved Mitsuri, but thought he would never tell her.

Mitsuri giggled. "It's the truth!"

Véro, missing out on what was so shocking, asked Sanemi, "Shinazugawa-sensei, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that we've all known that you two were madly in love with each other for years," Sanemi told all three of them. "But we never thought either of you would have the balls to tell each other."

"I don't have balls," Mitsuri replied, stating the obvious. "But I get your point."

Meanwhile, Shinobu stared at the couple from afar, smiling on the outside but in disbelief on the inside. "I'm happy for those two," she said to herself. "If only everyone could be as honest with romance and sex as they are." She thought to herself, "Especially a certain Water Pillar."

…

7 Years Prior, 1906

"Welcome to my humble abode," Sakonji Urokodaki, the former Water Pillar of the Demon Slayer Cops, told Gyomei as he entered. "So, how was the trip?"

"It was alright," he replied as he took a seat across from Sakonji. Despite being blind, he was incredibly strong in all of his other senses. "We slayed two newer demons."

"We?"

"Yeah," Gyomei replied with a nod. "Those two girls I rescued are slayers now." He then turned his head to where approximately the front door was and called out, "Shinobu! Kanae! You guys can come in! You don't have to stand outside! Urokodaki-san doesn't bite!" Giyu, who was then 14, looked on with interest from beside Sakonji.

Two young girls, aged 11 and 14, then slowly walked in. The older one, Kanae, bowed and introduced herself and her sister. "Good afternoon, Urokodaki-sama. My name is Kocho Kanae, and this is my younger sister, Kocho Shinobu."

A rather small Shinobu also bowed, but was a bit more nervous. "Pl-pleased to meet you, Urokodaki-sama!" As she looked up, she accidentally locked eyes with Giyu, causing him to quickly dart his eyes away from her with a slight blush.

"You two look about the same age as my most recent apprentice here," Sakonji noted to both of the girls. "Giyu, say hello to them."

Giyu then stood up and bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you two. I am Tomioka Giyu."

Shinobu looked at his mismatched haori, one half being red and the other half being green and gold, with curiosity. As Gyomei and Sakonji continued their conversation, the brand new slayer approached Giyu and asked him, "Tomioka-san, why is your haori mismatched?"

That question sent shivers down Giyu's spine. He was still reeling from Sabito's death the year prior, and the question was out of the blue for him. "Well, uh… It was for a good friend of mine who died. His was gold and green, so I stitched everything together to honor him."

"I'm sorry to hear about that," Shinobu replied, feeling bad for asking the question. "It looks a lot prettier than mine. Mine is just a simple white coat. My older sister's is so much prettier." Giyu and Shinobu then looked to Kanae's haori, which would later become Shinobu's after she died. "The two of us are fascinated by insects, especially by butterflies, so Kanae-oneesan made it. After our parents were murdered, the two of us made it together. It helped keep us sane after what we had been through."

"The other half of my haori was my original one," Giyu further told her. "It was from my sister. She… She isn't alive, either."

Shinobu could not help but be enticed by his looks for some reason. "He's cute," she thought to herself. "That I can say for sure. Maybe my sister would be interested in him one day… Or maybe even me..." She then shook her head, confiding Giyu. "No, no, no. There's no way he'd go for me. Kanae-oneesan is the prettier one. I'm basically a runt. I always have been." She then told Giyu, "I'm sorry to hear that. You must care about them deeply."

"Of course," he nodded. "But enough of that. What kind of breathing style do you use? I use the Breath of Water."

"I use the Breath of Water, too," Shinobu replied. "My sister does, too, but she's learning a new style."

This piqued Giyu's interest. "A new style?"

"The Breath of the Flower," Shinobu explained intently. "It goes along with the whole butterfly theming she has since they and other insects interact with flowers a lot. It's a pretty advanced subset of the Breath of Water, and most people generally take a year to learn if, but she's learning it super fast." She was clearly proud of Kanae based on her tone of voice. "Maybe one day I can do the same thing, or even invent my own breath style…"