June 27, 1913

Obanai was worried as he approached a well-off house in Mitsuri's hometown. Out front was a sign that read the following: "KANROJI RESIDENCE". He asked his girlfriend, "So, this is the place, huh?"

"Yeah," Mitsuri replied. "My dad's work with photography brings a lot in for us, but it does mean that he wasn't around too much, especially when I was younger. Being one of the only ones for a few towns tends to do that." The two then held hands and walked forward to the front door of the residence, Mitsuri happily knocking on the front door. "Okay, while we're here, pretend you're a suitor for marriage."

"Marriage?!" Obanai was shocked. The thought of becoming wed to Mitsuri was long a fantasy of his, but to have it happen so fast was like being in a dream. "Married?! Married?! To Mitsuri?! Me?! Us?! Marriage, a house… Children…"

As Mitsuri's mother, who bore traditional black hair, answered the door, she greeted her daughter first. "Welcome home, Mitsuri! Say, who's this fellow you have with you?"

Mitsuri lightly jabbed Obanai in the arm to remind him. "Ah, right. Kanroji-san's mother, correct?"

"Indeed," she replied with a bow.

"My name is Iguro Obanai," he told her with his own bow. "I believe you are looking for a suitor for your daughter, correct?" He could not believe he was saying such words to Mitsuri's mother, and under his bandages, a blush came across his face.

"Indeed," her mother replied. "Come on in. You must be interested in her to come forward to us first. The first two times, we had to search for a potential suitor, and neither one worked out, I'm afraid."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Obanai replied. In his head, he thought, "I still wonder how any man could reject Mitsuri. She would be the perfect wife for any husband."

"I'm glad to see a man has interest in our daughter," she told him. "Especially one that seems to be from the Demon Slayer Corps like her. My name is Kanroji Shuka, by the way. My husband is Kanroji Masaya. Please, come on in." She then turned to her husband. "Honey, I have some good news about Mitsuri!"

"I heard," he replied as he emerged from a nearby room. "Iguro Obanai, huh? I'm glad you've taken interest in our daughter as your wife." He then turned to Mitsuri. "Your brothers and sisters are all seeing their aunt tonight, so we'll be all set to talk about the details."

That same night, Shinobu was walking alone along the outskirts of a village, investigating reports of a demon who had been stalking travelers walking along the roads at night in the area. As she kept her head on a swivel, peacefully humming to herself and inspecting everything in her path, she suddenly heard a commotion behind her and drew her sword. As she looked to where the noises came from, she said, "Who's there?"

To her shock, she saw two human shapes crash through the trees and onto the ground, followed by a grotesque shape of something that had multiple legs. Then, one of the human shapes pulled on what appeared to be ropes that ran from the trees onto the third shape, and she heard a sickening crunch before the head of the third shape came flying off. "Yeah," a male voice shouted as the head rolled towards Shinobu after it hit the ground. "You got fucked!"

"A demon?" Shinobu saw the head dissipate into dust as it came to rest near her feet. "Then… Who killed it?"

A female voice shouted out to her, "Who's there?" As the two demon killers walked towards her, they both came into view. "Are you here to kill us or kill the demon we took out for you? Either way, your job here is done, so leave."

Shinobu's trademark smile was wiped off of her face when she got a good look at both of them. Both had pale white skin with white hair and red markings on their face. Both also wore white kimonos, with the brother possessing red and blue eyes and the sister possessing white and red eyes. Shinobu, realizing she had seen demons with similar markings before, yelled out, "What the fuck?! We… We killed you!"

"No," the sister explained. "You just killed all of the Spider Family that was left. We escaped the week before you slayers came, and one of our sisters had to pay for helping us with her life."

"Don't bring harm to us," the brother then explained. "Ever since, we've been hunting demons. By escaping the grasp of Lower Moon Five, we've broken free of his control. Kibutsuji-san trusted Rui to the point that he transferred the curses he held on Rui's family to Rui himself, and once we were free of him and he was dead, the curse was broken."

Shinobu then drew her sword. "Are you two trying to repent for all the people you've killed?"

"Absolutely," the sister told her as she drew a sword. "We've hunted demons and human criminals alike. There's a reason thieves have begun to avoid several of the towns and villages around these parts. These swords we took from a highwayman certainly helped."

"Reiko-oneechan," the brother told the sister as he also drew a sword. "We're dealing with a Pillar. I can tell."

"You're very good at perception," Shinobu complimented him, feeling more at ease as she continued to talk to them. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Rinji," he replied.

"Would you two happen to know a demon with rainbow eyes and silver hair, Rinji-san?"

Puzzled, Reiko and Rinji looked to each other first. Then, Reiko asked her, "Do you always ask demons this?"

"The only reason I ask is because my sister was murdered by one such demon," Shinobu explained, lowering her stance. "One day, a slayer came back from a mission, telling me and my sister that there was a demon at a nearby village late at night that he was unable to kill before he was forced to retreat since he had human guards. My sister went out alone to take care of it, but two hours later, I decided to run after her."

"What happened then?"

"I found my sister dead just as the sun was rising," Shinobu continued. "The demon had run off because he didn't have the time to eat her. Before she died, she told me what he looked like, and that he was an Upper Moon."

Rinji sighed and told Shinobu, "I'm afraid we wouldn't know his name then. We were kept in the dark about demon affairs aside from those that concerned Rui himself."

"As I suspected," Shinobu replied. "Anyway, that was four years ago. Since then, I have trained in swordplay and poisoning extensively. When I meet that demon, I will be ready, and before I battle him, I will tell him who I am and what I intend to do." With a tone of confidence, she told them what she intended to tell the demon who had killed Kanae. "Hello. My name is Kocho Shinobu. You killed my sister. Prepare to die."

Reiko sympathized with Shinobu easily, telling her, "I wish you luck on your quest. I hope you get to avenge your sister one day. I assume you've spent the last four years honing your skills and studying swordplay and poisoning."

"Well," Shinobu admitted. "It's more of a pursuit than a study. I still have a job to do as the Insect Pillar. Revenge doesn't pay the bills, after all." She then put her sword away and gave them both a smile. "Anyway, I can see you two are no threat. After all, not once while I monologued to either of you did you guys attack me."

Reiko nodded. "We have never brought harm to a Demon Slayer since we left the mountain. One attacked us after we saved him from a demon, unfortunately, so we've been hesitant to run into most humans."

"I must say," Shinobu replied. "That must have been very rude of them. Anyway…" She then suddenly pulled her sword out again. "How about this? We can engage in a sword battle. I still have to follow Demon Slayer Corps regulations."

Reiko and Rinji looked at each other and nodded. Rinji then told her, "It's only fair. We won't use our Blood Demon Arts. From now until the end of this swordfight, we'll fight fair."

"Very well," Shinobu replied. "I won't use any of the forms of my breathing style. Now, begin!" The three of them then went at it, striking fast at each other. Shinobu deflected their swords quickly before jumping up to dodge a slash from Rinji. "I must say, it's fun to fight demons as skilled in sword usage as me!"

Reiko told her as they traded blows, "Kocho-san, you seem like an honorable woman! I'd hate to have to kill you!"

"You two seem like honorable demons," Shinobu replied. "But I'd hate to have to die!"

As the fight continued, Rinji asked her, "Your sword is very unusual! It looks more like a European fencing sword!"

"I'm the only Pillar that cannot decapitate a demon," Shinobu explained as she dodged an attack from Reiko. "So I stuck to poisoning demons to death! My sword is meant for slashing rather than cutting, and has wisteria infused in it to allow me to poison demons!" She then managed to kick Reiko's sword out of her hand. "Well, go and get it! I won't attack you without your weapon!"

As Reiko quickly ran to grab her sword, Shinobu dodged an attack from Rinji, and eventually found herself trapped, with their swords stuck to each other by the force of their wielders clashing. "Your solution is pretty unique! I'm surprised more slayers don't do it!"

"Alas," Reiko told her as she managed to kick Shinobu's sword out of her hands before slashing her cheek. "It looks like this is the end!"

"Fuck," Shinobu muttered to herself as she was forced to her knees. "You guys got me, I suppose. If you must kill me, do it quickly."

"Hell no," Reiko told her, much to her comfort. "I'd rather insult the emperor of Japan himself in front of his face than kill you. However, we can't have you following us, and the original demon you were sent to kill is already no more, so please, don't take this personally…" She then untied Shinobu's hair, set down her butterfly hair pin, and whacked her across the back of her head with the hilt of her sword, knocking her out cold. "I didn't want to ruin that hair pin of yours. It's too beautiful to be destroyed."

"Let's get out of here before anyone else notices us," Rinji told his sister. "I must say, Kocho-san was particularly good."

"Indeed."

About an hour later, Mitsuri and Obanai were sitting in the front room of the house alongside Mitsuri's parents. Obanai, trying to think of something to make a conversation with, looked for a vase in a shrine in the same room, noting to her parents, "That is a really nice vase you have, though I wonder why it's in that shrine. Isn't that a bit excessive for a vase?"

Shuka, Masaya, and Mitsuri all looked at each other awkwardly. Shuka then explained as Masaya sighed, "Iguro-san, that's not a vase. That's an urn holding the ashes of my mother-in-law."

Horrified, Obanai's jaw dropped. "Oh, uh… I… I am so sorry, I didn't mean to insult her." He felt incredibly guilty for possibly insulting Masaya's mother and Mitsuri's maternal grandmother. "Way to fucking go, Iguro Obanai," Obanai thought to himself. "This night can't possibly get any worse than that."

"No, listen, it's fine," Masaya assured him. "You didn't know. I probably would have said the same thing if I didn't know better." He then got up from his sitting position. "Anyway, why don't we break the tension a little and get a bottle of champagne?"

"Cham-what?" Obanai was confused, having never heard of the drink before.

"It's a French sparkling wine," Mitsuri explained to him. "My father got a large amount of it when he went to a photography convention in Paris four years ago."

"Indeed," Shuka added. "He brought back twenty-four bottles, and we're down to six. It's not often we break them out, so the fact that we are now shows this is a special occasion."

"Okay," Masaya then said to everyone as he emerged once more with a bottle. "I got the bottle."

"I can open it," Obanai insisted suddenly, wanting to make up for his earlier mistake. "It doesn't look too hard."

"If you insist," Masaya replied as he handed him the bottle, much to Mitsuri and Shuka's concern. "Have at it."

Obanai, unfamiliar with how champagne worked, tried to pry the cork off the top with his bare hands, unaware that it was stored under pressure. "Damn it, come on… Come off already…"

"Uh," Masaya replied in confusion. "I have a cork opener, you know."

"I got this," Obanai insisted, wanting to impress Mitsuri with his strength. "There, there, come on! I almost got it!" Then, in an instant, the cork came flying off, propelled into the air by the pressure the champagne was under. "Shit!" The cork then bounced off a wall next to Obanai and came back towards Mitsuri. He quickly moved in front of her and took the full brunt of the cork to his face, barely avoiding spilling the champagne as he did. "Fuck, I got hit!"

"Iguro-san," Shuka asked him. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," he insisted as he rubbed a spot on his cheek where his bandages were. "Ouch… Damn it, that hurt."

"Maybe you should take those bandages off," Shuka asked of him. "I think you may have a bruise."

Obanai protested once more, "I swear, Kanroji-san, I'm fine."

"Take them off," Mitsuri then ordered him as she reached over and began to slowly remove them from his face. As she did, his scars became completely visible to her parents, and so did a small bruise from the cork.

"Oh my," Masaya remarked. "Those scars… They look painful." Both he and Shuka were taken aback by how long and deep they were across his face.

"I… I was afraid you would see them," Obanai explained as he stood up. "Your daughter knows they exist. We've both known each other ever since she joined the Demon Slayer Corps."

Shuka asked, "Does that mean you're one, too?"

"Yes," he replied and bowed. "I am one."

"Mama, Papa," Mitsuri then told both of them as she stood up beside her boyfriend. "There's something I need to tell you. You see, Iguro-san doesn't need to meet me three times, because…" She then sighed. "Because the two of us already love each other."

Shuka and Masaya both looked to each other and began to laugh, confusing the young couple. Masaya then spoke up first, asking them, "So let me guess. You were trying to have him pose as a marriage candidate to hide your relationship?"

"Oh boy," Shuka remarked to her husband. "Where have I heard that before, huh?" The two then laughed again.

"I don't get it," Obanai replied to both of them, deeply confused. "What's going on?"

"Sorry for laughing," Shuka explained. "But my husband, Mitsuri's father, did the same thing with me. When I was 15 and he was 18, we had been sneaking out at night to see each other a lot, and after a while, we decided to make our relationship known to my parents."

"So I posed as a marriage candidate," Masaya continued, a smile on his face as he recalled his youth. "And I was able to arrange the traditional three meetings for an arranged marriage to your mother, Mitsuri. Of course, what we were not expecting was that your mother was already a few months pregnant with you, so when you were born six months later, her parents were concerned."

"They thought you were born premature," Shuka added. "We had to tell them that we had been having sex since way before he met my parents, which was an incredibly awkward conversation."

Mitsuri blushed, remembering her own sexual adventures with Obanai so far. "I see… Uh… So yeah, the two of us love each other."

"I can tell," Masaya replied with a cheerful tone. "I can arrange the three traditional meetings if you want, or we can wait and let the relationship flesh out more. It's up to you guys."

The couple then looked to each other and nodded. Obanai then spoke first. "I want to marry your daughter. That part is completely true. While we may need some time to get things settled until then, I do wish to one day take her as my wife. Ever since I've known her, she has been there for me at my lowest and at my highest. She has gotten me out of emotional slumps and out of bad situations in the field, and without her, I would probably be dead right now. I don't have the best family history at all, given my family was low class and composed of thieves, but I want the chance to create the family I wish I had when I was a child." He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I cannot imagine a life without her in it, and I thank the gods every day that I was able to meet her."

"I know his family history," Mitsuri continued as she held his hand. "And it's not pretty, but I don't care. My heart is dead set on him, no matter what anyone else may have to say about it. One day, we will have a family of our own, and I would love to have you two be part of it."

Shuka and Masaya smiled, proud of their daughter for choosing a man who truly cared for her. They both stood up and bowed, telling them, "We give our blessing."