October 2, 1913

"Welcome," Kagaya began the Pillar Meeting with. "As you all know, we have been down to eight pillars since September 13. That is, until now." He then turned to James, who was kneeling to the side of everyone else. "James Colby, you have successfully killed two of the American Demon Moons as well as assisted in the slaying of a Japanese Lower Moon in your time as an official member of our corps, not to mention your incredibly high kill count before and during your time in our corps. Kyojuro would always tell me how you took to Breath Styles so quickly and had managed to learn the Breath of Flames in such a short time. In addition, you know as well as I do that he saw you as the next Flame Pillar as he was dying. You may stand."

James then stood up as Kagaya walked out to see him. As he approached, he rendered a salute to him. Kagaya smiled and did the same. Once the two ended their salutes, Hinaki and Nichika presented Kyojuro's haori to James, to which he took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. "Thank you, sir." He then put the haori on properly for the first time and once again took a knee.

"Do you swear to keep supporting the Demon Slayer Corps in your capacity as a Pillar?"

"Yes."

"Do you swear to protect and defend Japan from all threats, foreign and domestic, in your capacity as a Pillar?"

"Yes."

"Do you swear to protect and defend the innocent from the attacks of Kibutsuji Muzan and his demons?"

"Yes."

"Then by the power invested in me, Ubuyashiki Kagaya, as the 98th Head of the Demon Slayer Corps, I hereby declare you, James Colby, to be the Flame Pillar until your retirement or death."

The others all looked at him and smiled, with Sanemi telling him, "Well, what the Hell are you waiting for? Get on over here."

James then proudly knelt among the ranks of the Pillars officially for the first time as the Flame Pillar, the very first to not have been a Rengoku. With him among the ranks, Kagaya then prepared for the next order of business. "Okay, now that he has been sworn in, we shall now discu-"

"Oyakata-sama!" A Kakushi named Goto then interrupted him as he ran out from the house onto the stage. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but there's a serious emergency! You have to head into the briefing room now!" He then handed Kagaya a note.

Kagaya looked at the note, turned to Goto, and replied, "Okay. I'll be right there, Goto." He then said to the rest of the pillars, "The meeting is temporarily adjourned. I'll be back soon." He was clearly trying to hold in shock at what he had read on the note.

As he reentered the house, the pillars all wondered what was going on. Shinobu said to the others, "I wonder what that was all about."

"It don't sound good," James replied.

"Tomioka-san," Shinobu then asked her boyfriend. "What do you think?"

"You know," Giyu replied. "You can call me by my first name now, Shinobu."

"I know," she playfully replied. "But it's more fun to say Tomioka-san. Besides…" She then whispered into his ear. "You hear me say your first name in bed quite a lot anyway, Giyu."

As Giyu blushed intensely, Muichiro turned to him and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, Tokito," he insisted.

Meanwhile, Obanai asked Mitsuri, "I've never seen him so shaken up before. This must be serious, Mitsuri-chan."

"Yeah," she replied. "Maybe it has something to do with those attacks on safe houses."

"Oh yeah," Tengen replied, overhearing her. "What's with that? They say that they were done by American demons, and that one of the attacks was in the middle of the day."

"They're takin' a big risk if they're attackin' durin' the day," James explained. "It's called Limited Sunlight Resistance for a reason. Durin' the day, we can be killed just as easily as a human, and we can't even use our own Blood Demon Arts either at all or at their full potential. It's only at night that we gotta be decapitated or poisoned."

…

Inside the briefing room, which contained a variety of maps of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan as well as diagrams and charts, Kagaya rushed in and asked the Kakushi inside as well as his wife, "What's going on?"

"There's an attack at a safe house about 15 kilometers from here," explained Amane. "We got a telephone call from them a few minutes ago, and we're going to get another one momentarily."

Then, the phone in the middle of the room rang, and Kagaya picked it up. "Hello? Who is this?" The phone had a second speaker to allow everyone else in the room to be able to listen to it.

The voice of Bloody Bill shouted in English, "Read the fuckin' paper!"

A shaky and frightened voice in accented English soon followed. "He- Hello… Oyakata-sama…"

"READ IT RIGHT, ASSHOLE!" Bloody Bill was then heard smacking his hostage across the face with a pistol.

"He- He- Hello, you deformed Oriental coolie… Ugh… Ah… How's th- that whore of a wife doing?" Kagaya, who could understand English, was shocked, while most of the others in the room were confused. "Right now, m- me and my partner Billy are killing everyone here… I hope you have all made peace with yourselves, be- because… This is horrible! Why did you write this?!"

Bloody Bill cocked his gun and threatened him with, "Read it correctly or I'll shoot the other testicle!"

"Because when I find you," the hostage finished with despair in his voice. "I'm gonna hang you from a tree, take your wife, and fuck every hole she's got!" As he began to sob, he continued with, "And then I'm gonna keep going and going until she's nothing but a corpse full of blood and my semen… Why… Why did you write this?!"

"Keep going!" Bloody Bill once again slapped him.

"S- So- So Amane, prepare your body to be fucked by my huge American cock… Now… Now pardon me while I blow this retard's brain's ou-" Realizing he was about to die, he switched back to Japanese. "OH NO, DON-"

Bloody Bill laughed as he pulled the trigger and did as the letter stated. He then picked up the receiver on his end and said, "Y'all shoulda seen this! That shit was fuckin' priceless! His face was all scared and shit!" He then cleared his throat as he controlled his laughter. "Anyway, so that's my little message to y'all. A good idea for you guys would be to pray to your fake gods as we come for you, or maybe you can take the easy way out and just kill yourselves! I really don't give a fuck which way y'all die as long as y'all die."

As he hung up, Kagaya and Amane both stared at each other in shock while a Kakushi asked him, "What was he saying?"

"He…" Amane then sighed. "He threatened to kill my husband and then rape me. He also told us to commit suicide."

The Kakushi in the room then gasped at the revelation. "He did what?!"

Amane then stood up and ran out to the still-adjourned pillar meeting. As soon as she appeared, she yelled, "I need two pillars in the briefing room, now!"

"I'll go," James volunteered.

"Me too," Obanai also offered.

As they both joined Amane, Mitsuri called out, "Obanai, be careful!" She then felt her stomach, obviously thinking about the child growing inside of her. "It doesn't sound good. Amane-sama looked disturbed. I hope my husband will be okay."

Shinobu then turned to her and patted her on the shoulder. "He's in good hands. He'll be fine."

…

Two and a half hours later, James and Obanai arrived near a remote safe house, ready to strike in case Bloody Bill and William Quantrill were still there. As they drew their swords, Obanai asked James, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Absolutely," James replied.

"Can I apologize to you?"

Confused, James asked, "Why?"

"I was kind of a dick to you when we had that argument a while back," he admitted before pulling down his bandages. "And… I want to reveal this in better circumstances." He then bore the long and painful scars on his face to James. "I was acting impulsively, and… I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Obanai-kun," he assured him. "Look, I can relate to the belief that you're a monster. I was hesitant to reveal myself to my family for a while after I got turned into a demon."

He smiled as he put his bandages back on, wrapping back around with ease. "I'm glad we're on those terms. I assume you're familiar with honorifics, finally?"

"Yeah," James replied. "How deep was your connection to Kyojuro, by the way?"

Obanai paused and sighed, remembering him. "He was like the brother I never had, and the same applied to his brother Senjuro. The reason I never became that snake bitch Hebiko's prey was because Shinjuro-san saved me from her clutches. He and Ruka-san took me in like I was their third son, and as a result, I spent most of my time from when I was 11 up to now living with the Rengoku family. Kyojuro also introduced me to my wife, so I have him to thank for that. I never usually called him by his first name in official contexts, but whenever we were alone, I called him Kyojuro. He even called me his big brother, as did Senjuro, which I was fine with." He then wiped his eyes, indicating he was beginning to get emotional. "Damn, it's fucking hard to talk about him in the past tense, man. I couldn't believe my own ears when I was told he died."

"He talked fondly of you," James replied, adding his own commentary. "After I told him about our fight, he pulled me aside and explained a whole lot about you to me. He always admired you, but was also always worried about your downer outlook on life. The last thing he wanted was you to die."

"Just like Mitsuri," Obanai nodded. "Yeah… I really was content with committing suicide back then, wasnt I?"

"I don't know if it was just how my culture views suicide or if it was my own experiences with it, but either way, it just didn't sit right with me, either. Look, I've tried to kill myself several times, Obanai-kun. I can tell you that suicide ain't gonna solve any of your issues."

Obanai agreed with him. "At least you got a better chance at surviving an attempt, being a demon and all. I'm glad I never got the chance to actually try, because if I did… Well, I wouldn't be a father now, would I?" Curious about Western culture, he then asked, "How does Christianity view suicide anyway?"

"It's a very grave sin in the Bible," James explained. "It's seen as incredibly selfish and an insult against God, so people who commit suicide go to Hell. Even if it wasn't, you still can't get reborn, since Christianity don't believe in any of that reincarnation stuff Buddhism believes in. Y'all get a single chance at life, and that's it before ya either ascend to Heaven and spend eternity in paradise with God if you're a good person, or descend into Hell and spend an eternity sufferin' with Satan if you're a terrible person."

"How fascinating," Obanai noted. "We have very different ideas of how the afterlife works. I guess we'll have to wait until we die to find out which is the truth."

"Which hopefully won't be for a long time," James added. "Besides, for all we know, we could both be completely wrong." The two then shared a laugh before they heard movement behind them. "Shh!"

Obanai readied himself as he whispered to James, "What was that?"

Suddenly, they heard an almost inhuman howling coming from the woods around them as gunshots rang out. James immediately recognized the howling and panicked, yelling as he tackled Obanai to the ground, "OBANAI, GET DOWN!" The howling sent shivers down James' spine, and as Obanai struggled to get up, not understanding what the howling was, James yelled, "IT'S THE REBEL YELL!"

From the forest, Bloody Bill yelled, "Get 'em, boys! Fuck 'em up real good! Them Jackson Brothers' gon' be enjoyin' a Hell of a feast tonight!"