April 9, 1913

Today was to be an important day for Susamaru. She would step out into the sun for the first time after several days of direct injection of James' blood. In the morning, James stood outside in the front of the house and awaited her presence as she stood in the doorway, contemplating her next actions. "Let's go, Susamaru! You got this!"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Okay… Okay… I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…" She was trembling, having not stepped out into the sun in ten whole years since she had become a demon. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…" She began to take a step, but then retracted her leg.

"Hey," James called to her as he walked to her. "Are you okay?" She shook her head no, still trembling and shaking. "If you're afraid, we can step out together."

As he took her by the hand, she blushed. "I… I suppose we can…" Together, the two of them finally made the first step into the morning sun. Immediately, the warmth of the great star hit her, but it did not burn. In fact, it felt nice. "This feeling," she thought to herself."I haven't felt it in so long… Ten whole years without any sort of this warmth, without seeing the day… No more…" As she looked around, she could not help but begin to cry, overwhelmed by her emotions and the sensation of the daylight. "I had no idea how much I missed this…"

As she fell into his arms, James embraced her, feeling somewhat awkward but understanding why she was emotional. "There, there… It's fine."

Later that day, the two of them had packed as much as they could into two backpacks. They had heard of a place called Mount Natagumo from the locals in Tokyo where many people had mysteriously disappeared if they hiked in the area at night. Many of the elders believed it was demons who were to blame, though others did not believe demons existed. After packing what they needed and with James' forged weapons permits, they traveled to Ueno Station, the closest national railway station to Asakusa, and boarded a train that would take them to the closest station to the mountain about four hours away, which would then be followed by a hike to the mountain.

As the two of them boarded their train, their rifle and shotgun were an odd sight to see for the other commuters and passengers. The two of them sat down in a set of chairs and stowed their backpacks and their guns, minus James' revolver plus a second identical revolver he had brought with him that he had given to Susamaru, which they held onto, concealed in their clothes. Susamaru asked him, "Everythin' packed?"

"Yep," James replied. James was worried about his companion, particularly due to her appearance. Though James looked almost exactly the same as a demon as he did as a human, minus paler skin, Susamaru had odd-colored eyes and unnatural colors in the ends of her hair that could have tipped off some people to who she really was. "Nobody's noticed, right?"

"Us? No," she assured him, though she herself was not entirely sure. "I mean, those who know about us only think we come out at night. They wouldn't expect our kind to be walking around in the daytime."

Four and a half hours later, at 2:45 P.M., James and Susamaru got off the train at a recently-built rural train station. As Susamaru read a map of the area, she pointed out to James where Mount Natagumo was, while also telling him more information about it, having spent the entire train trip sleeping on James' shoulder. "I remember Kibutsuji-san referring to there being a lot of demon activity on Mount Natagumo, but he never gave me or Yahaba, or really anyone of our rank, any specific details."

"Come to think of it," James replied to her as he began to remember something Tanjiro had told him. "I think Tanjiro mentioned that he was going in this general direction. What if he's goin' to the same place we are? I'm sure the Demon Slayer Corps would try to get on top of that shit pretty fast and send some slayers there."

"Makes sense," she remarked as she folded up the map. "Now, let's walk to that one village north of here so we can get a room and stay overnight. Kibutsuji-san did tell me that there were various inns and hotels in the countryside who secretly worked with the Demon Slayers, giving them room and board as they walked from town to town. I think there's one in that village."

"I ain't too sure about that," James slowed her down out of concern. "They may be more familiar with how demons look, and I ain't too sure they'll understand we're supposed to be on the same side. I didn't tell Tanjiro this, but him carryin' Nezuko 'round as an official member of the Demon Slayer Corps is a huge fuckin' risk. Y'all said it yourself, all they see is a demon that needs to be destroyed." He shrugged and also admitted, "Not entirely unreasonable, granted. All I'm sayin' is that since she can't speak for herself, she's in a fuckton of trouble if a slayer tries to do their job and kill her. Hell, I ain't sure if us speakin' for ourselves would convince 'em."

"So," Susamaru concluded and asked him. "Are we on our own, then?"

"For now," James admitted. "Yeah."

James and Susamaru walked into an inn in a small village in the evening around 6:30 P.M., the same one that Susamaru had suggested, reluctantly on James' part. The innkeeper, a short elderly woman, noticed them and welcomed them in with a bow. "Ah, good evening! What can we do for you?"

"Room for two please," James explained politely. "We've been hikin' all day."

"Sounds like fun," she remarked. "Me and my husband hiked a lot when we were much younger. Anyway, just sign in here, and I'll go grab a key." She then left the front desk to grab a room key.

"So, uh," Susamaru asked him with a slight blush. "We're gonna be in the same room?"

"I don't see why that's a problem," James replied, trying to comfort her. "Look, I ain't gonna look or take advantage of you, if that's what you're thinkin'. I hunted rapists, alright? I know how evil it is."

"I know that," she replied. "It's just… It's weird for an unmarried couple to do that."

Then, the old woman came back to them with a key. "The number is right on the key. How long do you guys plan on staying?"

"A single night so far," James replied to her. "If plans change, we'll let you know."

After unpacking, the two of them took a short walk outside, admiring the sights of the inn, which was located in a larger manor. It was a pristine example of architecture from the era before Commodore Perry had arrived in Japan, and certainly dated back many, many decades. As they rounded a corner of a building, they noticed that it had a Wisteria crest on the front of it. "Those signs mean that this is friendly to Demon Slayers," Susamaru pointed out to James.

"Makes sense," he replied. "Wisteria is poisonous to us if we ingest it or get it injected into us, after all."

Suddenly, they heard a voice call out from the same house-like structure, "HOLY SHIT, IT'S NOT EVEN LOCKED?!" The young man's voice was followed by a shushing. Susamaru and James looked to each other, confused as to what was going on. "SOMEBODY HELP ME! AAGH! EVEN YOU'LL DO, INOSUKE! HELP ME!"

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" They then both heard a loud kicking sound.

James pulled his revolver out. "That don't sound good." He then carefully walked up to the front door and stood on the side as he reached out and knocked on it. "Hey, you guys alright in there? We heard screamin' and hollerin'!"

Immediately, the door opened up, and the two of them were met with a man in pajamas wearing a boar's head. All three of them stopped dead in their tracks, all deeply confused about what they were looking at. Susamaru asked the young man, "Uhhh, since you're wearing that boar's head, I'm gonna assume your name's Inosuke…?"

"You're God damn right, it is," Inosuke replied as he crossed his arms. "I'm the one and only Hashbira Inosuke, and in here are my lackeys, Komako Tontaro and Akatsuki Zenikyu!"

"FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME," they both heard a rather familiar voice yell at Inosuke in annoyance. "MY NAME IS KAMADO TANJIRO!"

"Wait a minute," James replied as he holstered his revolver. "Tanjiro, that you?!"

The man himself then ran out to meet him, and as he did, he was surprised to see a confused Susamaru with him. "Holy shit… James Colby, no way! Susamaru, too! You're awake! His blood must have worked!"

"Yeah, uh," Susamaru awkwardly introduced herself, also apologizing to him. "I'm back, and I can walk in the sun now. By the way, um, sorry for trying to kill you and your sister at Tamayo's house… Eheheh…"

Nezuko then ran out past Tanjiro and Inosuke and practically bear-hugged James, telling him, "Mmmm! Mmmm!" He was surprised by the hug, and was equally surprised when she turned to Susamaru and pet her head instead of trying to attack her. "Mmmm…"

"Well," Susamaru remarked. "I guess she sees me as a human instead of a threat, so that's a start."

"Wait a minute," asked the third young man in the group, Zenitsu Agatsuma, who bore blond hair. "Not human?! Who are you two?!"

James sighed, realizing he'd have to explain his situation once more. "Fuck, here we go again…"