September 24, 1913

Every remaining Pillar, including Muichiro, who had just returned to Japan several days prior, was lined up in front of a coffin containing Kyojuro's body in the public square of the town where the Rengoku Estate had been for hundreds of years. A crowd of over 2,000 mourners from all over Japan came to pay their final respects to him as they lined both sides of the street heading towards his house. The funeral arrangements, which had been partially organized by James, were different from many previous corps funerals, and was more paramilitary in its organization.

After everyone had paid their respects to him by praying at the side of his coffin, James spoke to those present from beside it. "It's never easy to say goodbye to a fellow soldier. I know that for a fact, as a veteran of the United States Army myself. It's… It's particularly difficult when it's someone who mentored you and became your friend. I've heard all about Rengoku-san's exploits as a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, and seein' him in action only confirmed what I had heard about him. He joined the corps because he wanted to help people. Who knows how many people are still with us because Rengoku-san was there? He gave his life for his country and for all of us. We'll never forget you, Rengoku Kyojuro, and we're better for havin' known you."

Senjuro smiled, appreciating the kind words James has for his brother. He quietly mouthed to him, "Thank you."

James saw him do so and nodded, conducting his whole speech on the verge of tears. "I will make you one promise, and it's one you told me to do. We will continue fightin', and we will set our hearts ablaze. We will not let your death strike fear into us, because you were the bravest of the brave. You told me something that Himejima-san once said to you at the funeral of Kocho Kanae as you lay dyin'. It was that we should not mourn the warriors who died, but instead thank God that they lived. Today, I will be as brave as you, by not mournin' your loss, but by celebratin' your life like you wanted us to, and I implore you all to do the same as best as ya can, even if this is a somber event. Where I am from, we would clap our hands in applause to celebrate, and I was wonderin' if we could do the same here."

Suddenly, he heard several claps in the audience, followed by Shinobu and Tanjiro doing the same. Within a few seconds, most of the crowd began to clap, and thus, James joined in, surprised the crowd accepted it. Tanjiro gave him a faint smile, thinking to himself, "He did a wonderful job. He told me he was concerned before the speech, but I knew he could do it."

Soon after a few more speeches, James stood at attention in front of his coffin before shouting, "Honor Guard, Fall In!" Immediately, Zenitsu, Sanemi, Mitsuri, and Kanao all stepped forward and lined up around the coffin at four different points. They all then picked up his coffin, which was draped with the Japanese flag, at the same time and held it in the air. "Honor Guard, Left Turn!" They then rotated the coffin to the left to line it up with a horse-drawn carriage. "Honor Guard, Forward March!" As he proceeded forward with the coffin trailing behind him, the slayers among the crowd saluted as the coffin passed them, as did several local police officers and army soldiers in the town.

There was hardly a dry eye in the crowd as the coffin came to a stop at the carriage. Mitsuri led the guard as they loaded it on, telling them, "One, two, three!" They then all carefully hoisted the coffin up and into the carriage.

"Honor Guard, Forward March!" The procession to the Rengoku Family Graveyard started with a group of slayers that flew the traditional flag of the corps as well as the Japanese flag, followed by traditional priests from the corps, followed by Shinjuro and Senjuro, followed by the carriage and the Honor Guard. Hundreds of people lined up in unison and saluted his body as it went past them.

When it finally reached the family graveyard, the carriage stopped in front of the grave already dug for him. Once the Honor Guard lowered the coffin down, they all picked up four different corners of the flag and held it up above the coffin. Kagaya thought in his head of the proceedings, "I was a bit skeptical at first, but these rituals are actually really beautiful. This should be how we conduct funerals for the corps from now on."

Seven slayers then marched forward with rifles loaded with blank rounds. James instructed them with, "Load!" All seven then loaded their rifles and aimed in the same direction at a 45-degree angle. "Ready, Aim, Fire!" One volley. "Ready, Aim, Fire!" Two volleys. "Ready, Aim, Fire!" Three volleys. "Cease Firing! Present Arms!" Immediately, every slayer in attendance minus the Honor Guard holding the flag rendered a salute.

As they did, the Honor Guard began folding and rolling the flag together, and once it was complete, Mitsuri walked over and presented it to Shinjuro and Senjuro. "Here… Y- You deserve i- it…" She could barely hold in her tears as she handed the flag to them, and once it left her hands, she buried her face in her hands and cried. Kanao, Zenitsu, and Sanemi all helped her back up and walked with her, comforting her along the way.

…

September 25, 1913

The day after the funeral, James was rummaging through the books in the Rengoku Estate, hoping to find the original version of the History of the Breath of Flames book he had painstakingly translated into English some time ago. As he searched, Shinjuro approached him from behind and told him, "Hey, Colby."

"Yes?"

As James turned around, Shinjuro told him, "You know, Kyojuro… He was a fool of a son in many ways."

James' blood ran cold as he heard Kyojuro's own father trash his son's memory. "What…"

"People's destinies are decided the moment they're born," Shinjuro told him, clearly under the influence of alcohol. "A small fraction of people have talent. The rest are just fucking garbage."

James got up in Shinjuro's face and asked him, "If you keep sayin' that shit about my mentor, you'll fuckin' regret it. I don't care if you're his father."

"You're searching for the book, aren't you? I heard that that boy Kyojuro was with had hanafuda earrings…" He then chuckled. "That means he's a Breath of the Sun user, and he doesn't even fucking know it. Every breath is just a weaker and shittier copy of it. It's almost a shame I ripped that book to shreds, right?"

James immediately drew his revolver and aimed it at Shinjuro's head, threatening him with, "How 'bout I do y'all a fuckin' favor and show ya what color your brain is, you ungrateful asshole?"

"You wouldn't dare," Shinjuro told him before he tackled James to the floor, a single gunshot going off in the air before he restrained and disarmed him. "How ya like that?!"

Senjuro and Tanjiro quickly ran in, separating the two as James yelled out, "SAY THAT SHIT ABOUT MY MENTOR AGAIN, AND I WON'T FUCKIN' HESITATE, YOU SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YOU INSULT YOUR OWN SON! YOU DIDN'T DESERVE TO HAVE HIM AS YOUR OWN!"

"Break it up," Senjuro yelled at both of them. "Break it up now! I'm tired of the fighting, I'm tired of being sad, and I'm sick and fucking tired of seeing my family break apart!"

Senjuro's words caused both parties to start calming down as they looked at each other and Tanjiro. James then turned to Tanjiro and told him, "We have to talk about that book."

…

"The book got destroyed?!"

"I'm afraid so," James told Tanjiro in another room. "Shinjuro destroyed it. We'll have to retranslate my book back to Japanese from English, but I'm afraid things might get lost along the way. Translation isn't as simple as ya think, especially between languages as different as Japanese and English."

"Damn it," Tanjiro muttered.

"However," James then told him. "I do have some good news."

"You do?"

"Remember how I mentioned the Breath of the Sun a while back?"

Tanjiro thought to himself for a few seconds before he replied, "Yeah, what about it?"

"I can confirm that your Dance of the Fire God is indeed just the Breath of the Sun renamed," James said. "That bastard told me himself as we fought. He also told me every other breath is derived from it, like how Kanroji's Breath of Love is derived from the Breath of Flames, or how the Breath of Flower comes from the Breath of Water."

"I see," Tanjiro nodded. "So I should be saying Breath of the Sun when I fight instead of Dance of the Fire God… Do you know what the forms are?"

"I'll have to look into the book," James replied. "I store all of that at the Butterfly Estate, since I also have a book on poisons and all of my journals there."

"Hey," Senjuro then said as he entered the room with Kyojuro's now-cleaned haori and his sword guard. "Can I join you guys for a minute? I… I want to tell you guys something."

"Come on in, son," James replied as Senjuro took a seat. "What is it?"

"James-san," Senjuro then told him. "I… I want you to know that you will have to become my brother's successor. Originally, I was going to be, but… No matter how hard I tried, my sword never changed color. I kept trying and trying and trying, but I failed every time, so I gave up…"

"There's something your brother wanted me to tell you," Tanjiro then said to Senjuro as he began to cry. "Kyojuro… Kyojuro wanted you to follow your heart, wherever it may take you, even if it means you won't be a swordsman. If anyone badmouths you for it, fuck them. I'll even headbutt them for you if you want."

"You don't have to do that," Senjuro assured him. "But… But thank you. Those words mean a lot…"

James then hugged Senjuro, telling him, "Your brother wouldn't want it any other way. I'm sorry we couldn't save him."

As the two split, Senjuro assured him, "I'm not angry at any of you. You all did the best you could. With you and Susamaru-san, I knew my brother was in good hands." He then presented the haori and sword guard to him. "Before I go, I want you to have these. I don't know what you'll do with the sword guard, but you definitely will need his haori. I've cleaned the blood off of it, so it looks just as good as when my brother put it on for the last time. You may not be related to us by blood, but as far as I'm concerned, you're part of the Rengoku Family, James-niisan."

James smiled and took the haori, telling Senjuro, "Thank you." As he put it on properly, he could feel Kyojuro's energy surge through him.

Senjuro commented with a chuckle, "You actually look really good in that." All three then shared a much-needed laugh.

"Tanjiro," James then told him. "Take his sword guard. If you ever need a new one, use it."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," James assured him.

…

Meanwhile, in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, an angry Thaddeus Jackson ransacked a storage room in rage. "God fuckin' damn it! The entire operation was a failure! We didn't succeed at all! We got our asses kicked, for fuck's sake!"

Once he was done throwing things, Bloody Bill carefully approached the room. "Um, sir… I'm here for my next assignment."

After Thaddeus calmed himself down by taking several deep breaths, he turned around. "Right… Sorry you had to see me this way, William. I'm just a bit frustrated is all. It ain't about you, don't worry. Y'all are doin' a good job."

"Thank you, sir," he replied.

"Anyway," Thaddeus told him. "I have your next two targets in this envelope." He then pulled out an untouched envelope from the wreckage within the room. "Aha! Here it is!" As he handed it to him, he said, "And by the way, tell your buddy Bill Quantrill that effective today, he's the Fourth Knight. The envelope contains the insignia for it as well. Strike the first target on the 27th, and the second on October 3rd."

"Thank you, sir. It will be done."