July 10, 1913

At the Butterfly Estate, Nezuko completed another round of blood injections from James in the basement, this time alongside Zenitsu, who could not help but stare at her. "Aaaah, Nezuko-chan… If this treatment works, I want to take you out to see the flowers blooming in the sun so badly…"

James was amused by his remarks as he put away a needle and told Nezuko, "Okay, that completes this round of injections. Do ya wanna take the muzzle off?"

Nezuko nodded and untied the back of her muzzle to let it fall to the table she sat before. "Aaah… Talking."

"Good, good," James replied. "Zenitsu, can y'all open up that one window near the stairs?"

"Sure thing," Zenitsu replied as he got up. "Do you want me to move the mirrors when you're ready?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Okay, Nezuko, we're gon' see how your skin reacts to a bit of sunlight. If it's promisin', we can upgrade to a larger mirror."

"Okay," Nezuko replied with a happy nod. "Okay."

"Open 'er up," James instructed Zenitsu. As he did, the light bounced off of a mirror and onto a specific point on Nezuko's exposed arm. "Okay, lookin' good so far… Any pain, Nezuko?"

"No," she replied as she shook her head. "No. This is good."

After a full minute of exposure, James told Zenitsu. "Shut it. We got a good result."

"It was nice," Nezuko told both of them. "It was nice. Very nice. Sun was very nice."

"Holy shit," Zenitsu muttered to himself. "She… She's resistant to the sun now?!"

"Only partially like me," James explained. "I'm resistant to sunlight, but I can't heal in the sun and I can't really use my Blood Demon Art in the sun either." He then turned to Nezuko. "Now, I need you to understand that the same applies to you. You need to pretend that you're still human, and that you'll die if you get hurt real bad, okay? Also, I don't think y'all can use your Explodin' Blood attack durin' the day, either."

"Yes," Nezuko agreed, nodding her head. "Yes. Yes."

"Also," James added. "You may experience growin' pains for the next month or so as your body adjusts to match your chronological age. Since you're only two years older than when you turned into a demon, it should not be too much, but I'm not entirely sure since 12 to 14 might be a big jump due to puberty."

"You mean," Zenitsu then replied. "Nezuko-chan will grow into a young woman?!"

"Correct."

As Zenitsu practically passed out from elation, Nezuko giggled in amusement. "Funny boy. He's funny." She then turned back to James. "I see."

"If you feel like the pain's too much," James then told her. "You can always come to me or Pillar Kocho, and we'll get you some pain medication."

"Okay."

"With all that said," he concluded. "You should be able to walk in the sun now, but I'd wait until tomorrow to try it to let the blood I gave ya settle in."

"Nezuko," Tanjiro then called out to her from the stairs as he walked down. "Nezuko, how are you?"

"Oniichan," Nezuko then called out, now able to properly say the term for older brother in Japanese without slurring it or mispronouncing it. "Oniichan!"

As Nezuko hugged a stunned Tanjiro, James explained to him, "We'll do the ultimate test tomorrow in the sunlight. If it works, she can become as normal as one can be while still being a demon for now."

"Nezuko…" Tanjiro tightly gripped his sister. "Thank God… Nezuko, you're…" He thought to himself, "Even if she can't go back to being human for some reason, she can at least be normal again. I haven't been this happy since before our family was murdered."

Nezuko smiled and told him as she returned the hug, "Oniichan, I love you." As the two split, she then turned to Zenitsu and hugged him as well. "You are a good dandelion, Zenitsu."

The blond young man could barely contain his excitement and joy at being hugged by Nezuko as his face lit up. "Yes! Yes! I'm a good dandelion!"

"My, oh my," Shinobu said as she and Kanao then came downstairs to see what was going on. "What's happening he-" She stopped when she saw Nezuko without her muzzle, hugging Zenitsu. "Uh…"

"Pillar Kocho," James then told her as he stood up from a table. "I'm happy to report that Nezuko should have Limited Sunlight Resistance by tomorrow. We will conduct a test close to the house in case anything goes wrong. As you can see, she has also regained her ability to speak, and is making a lot of progress."

"I see," Shinobu replied. "I will let the Oyakata-sama know of this development."

…

Meanwhile on the ship, Vijay, Muichiro, Mukago, Rinji, and a few British soldiers met in a small library and discussed what had occurred the night before. "I suppose you are all owed an explanation as to why I can transform into a beast," Vijay told them all in English, with the same Scottish soldier from before translating for those who could not speak it. "Well, among the Indian demons, we can call upon our True Forms, which will turn us into the beast you saw kill the other half of the pair of Japanese demons who attacked us. Humans, especially in Sri Lanka, usually think of us as possessing only these forms, because we tend to blend in well with humans when we aren't in those forms."

Through the Scottish soldier, Mukago asked him, "What about other demons? Can they do the same thing?"

"No," Vijay shook his head. "Imperfect demons like Muzan cannot possess a True Form. However, a remnant of this ability to transform is seen in the fact that demons can change parts of their bodies at will. I assume your horns, markings, and skin and eye colors are all part of this transformation ability?"

"Correct," the Scottish soldier said in place of Mukago. "When I first became a demon, I looked very different, and was more similar to my appearance as a human."

"What I want to know," then said a British Army officer. "Is why the bloody Hell those men murdered my soldiers.

"They were merely in the way," Vijay explained. "Those two were really after our friends from Japan here, especially the brother and sister pair of demons."

Rinji then asked through the Scottish soldier, "How is my sister? Is she alright?"

"She's doing better," Vijay replied with a nod. "But she's still very shaken up. Shiro, on the other hand… His condition is getting wor-"

"Sir," then said a soldier as he ran in before rendering a salute to the officer. "Private Chapel reporting, sir."

"At ease," the officer replied. "What do you have to report?"

"The Japanese man who was shot," he replied. "He died of his wounds."

Vijay was horrified. "Shiro is dead?" He immediately jumped up from his seat and ran for the ship infirmary. "No, no, no! This can't be!"

Muichiro, Mukago, and Rinji immediately followed him. Muichiro thought to himself, "Nagamine-san?! It can't be!"

…

Meanwhile, in the servant quarters, two men in uniforms were talking together in the bunks. "So the brothers are dead," one of them said to the other in Japanese. "Well, that sets us back, and per Muzan, it makes us the new Lower Moons 2 and 3, Heizo."

"Osamu," Heizo replied. "We need to wait for the ship to dock. You saw what happened to those brothers, right? On here, we're at a disadvantage as long as we are at sea. Those two may have been powerful, but they were reckless. It was only a matter of time before they were caught."

"You have a point," Osamu nodded. "Our idea of disguising ourselves as servants was a good one. Those traitors and that Mist Pillar won't know what's coming when we do strike."

"Excuse me," then asked a regular human servant in English. "I need some help with the infirmary. Are you guys available?"

"Sure thing, Charlie," Osamu replied in a fake Chinese English accent. "Me and Chun Fung will be right there."

"Thank you," he replied. "Ho Yuen, if you don't mind, can you also bring up a box to the infirmary too? It's labeled Fragile and has medical supplies in it, so be careful."

"Absolutely," Osamu replied. The two had disguised themselves as Chinese servants from Hong Kong, and had adopted names to do so. Osamu had become Lee Ho Yuen, and Heizo had become Chan Chun Fung. Due to earlier treatments from the Jackson Brothers involving direct injection into the bloodstream as opposed to failed attempts with ingestion, both had become the very first demons ever created by Muzan to possess Limited Sunlight Resistance. Ichiro and Hiro may have been Lower Moon 2 and 3, but Muzan had told them that while they were their students, they would immediately take their places in the New Lower Moons if they died, which Muzan suspected they would due to their inability to control their depravity and blend in.

As the two left to do their work, Heizo thought to himself, "Our plans have worked! There's no way we can be stopped!"

…

Later that night, as Muichiro slept, he was once again placed in front of Yoriichi's house in his dreams. "I'm here again, huh?"

As he looked around, Yoriichi stepped out and waved to him. "Muichiro, you've returned!"

"I'm not sure how," Muichiro replied. "But that's not the concern. The Kakushi we were with… He died…"

"I see," Yoriichi replied, feeling sorry for him. "Did you defeat those two demons on the ship?"

"Yeah, they're both dead now, but… They… They found that one girl demon…"

"The spider ones?"

"Yeah, and they… Violated her." Muichiro felt sick to his stomach while describing Ichiro and Hiro's rape of Reiko. "They said those two would injure her, let her wounds heal, and then force themselves upon her while injuring her again. She's barely talking to any of us."

"I'm sorry for you all," Yoriichi replied with a sigh. "Especially her and for Nagamine-san's family." He then brandished his sword. "Have you used the sword from my brother that I gave you yet?"

"I used it in the battle against the brothers," Muichiro confirmed. "I felt… I felt a presence when I did, like someone was guiding me into making my cuts and slashes."

"Good," he replied. "Now that you're here, we can practice. Now, remember, in the dream world, if I die, I just wake up back in my home. If you die, you wake up back in your bed."

"Wait, you're saying I can kill you?"

"Yeah, exactly. Don't hold back in our practices, Muichiro." Yoriichi was adamant in his demand. "Don't be afraid to fatally injure me. Nothing that you do to me will affect my body permanently, and the same applies to you and your body." Yoriichi then swung at him, causing Muichiro to quickly dodge and block his attack. "You were barely prepared! Do not lower your defenses!" The two then sparred again, with Yoriichi landing a slash on Muichiro's shoulder.

"Agh, fuck!" Muichiro then blocked another hit from Yoriichi as he was driven further back into the surrounding forest. "Fucking Hell!"

"If you fight Kokushibo," Yoriichi told him as they continued to spar. "Or any other traitors to the Demon Slayer Corps, you'll have to contend with this! They'll already be powerful due to Muzan's blood, but they'll be at an even greater advantage due to their corps training!" Then, Muichiro landed a blow on Yoriichi, but he barely flinched as his arm was slashed into by his opponent. "Not bad, agh… But you'll have to do better than that!"

Just as Muichiro was backed up against a tree, Yoriichi managed to slice his right hand completely off, causing him to scream in pain. "My hand! You chopped off my fucking hand!" Yoriichi then stabbed Muichiro in the stomach, impaling him on his sword and slicing through his abdomen. "Aaah… Dead…"

"This was merely a pre-test," Yoriichi told him. "I will train you when you next fall asleep for a while, and when you're ready, we will fight again. When we do, you will strike me down instead." As Muichiro's vision faded and the pain slowly went away, Yoriichi smiled and told him, "You actually did kinda better than I was expecting, not gonna lie. I wish you luck when we next meet, Muichiro. No hard feelings, by the way."

When Muichiro woke up, he did so in a cold sweat next to Mukago. As he was already mostly naked in bed, he checked his stomach and arms to see if his wounds were real. To his relief, they were not present in the real world. "Oh… Thank God…"

"Mui," Mukago then tiredly asked him as she stirred awake beside him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied to her before giving her a kiss on the cheek. "It was just a dream, is all. Nothing to be concerned over." He then rested his head against the pillow and closed his eyes. "Everything's fine, Mukago." He thought to himself, "Yoriichi-san really is taking this seriously. The fact he killed me in the dream was enough of a shock."