Obanai and Haiji declared their attacks and struck against a now giant Billy Quantrill, with Obanai using the Fourth Form of the Breath of the Snake, known as Twin-Headed Reptile, and Haiji using the First Form of the Breath of Water, known as Water Surface Slash. As Haiji slashed at his legs, Billy tried to kick him, but Haiji managed to dodge it. Billy yelled at him, "You fucker! That hurt!"
Obanai then slashed upwards on his right arm, severely damaging it and causing him much pain. "Take that!" He hoped his attack would at least distract him.
"Shit! My arm!" Billy then grabbed Obanai with his left arm and hand and held him as he tried to squirm free. "You're gonna pay dearly for that, you bastard!" Obanai could feel himself being squeezed tightly by Billy, and feared that if he was held any longer, he would get seriously injured.
"Iguro-san!" Haiji then jumped up and declared, "Breath of Water, Third Form: Flowing Dance!" He then moved wildly in several directions, managing to land a direct hit on Billy's hand and slice it off, freeing Obanai and allowing him to fall to the ground, with Haiji and Hiroko both catching him in their arms. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Obanai told both of them. "Thanks for that. Hiroko, how is Colby-san?!"
"He's doing better," she replied. "I stabilized his wounds. He won't be able to join the fi-"
They then heard several blasts of a rifle behind them. As it turns out, James had also brought his sawed-off rifle with him, and was now using it to fire at Billy. "Yeah, take that, motherfucker! I may not be able to use my sword, but I still got this thing! How many bullets can ya take?!"
"Nevermind," Hiroko told the two of them. "While he shoots at this guy, attack him."
"On it," Haiji replied as Obanai reloaded his revolver with a speedloader and cocked it. "When are they gonna give us guns?"
"Hopefully soon," he replied before handing his gun to Haiji. "Shoot at him while I go for his neck. Be careful not to hit me." He hoped that Haiji would not miss and accidentally shoot him instead.
"Alright," James yelled out as he fired one last shot from the ground. "That's the last of my rifle ammo! You guys got this! Slice that son of a bitch's head off!"
Billy yelled back, "You will try! Y'all certainly will try, but ya won't fuckin' succeed!"
As Haiji emptied the revolver into Billy with six shots to the abdomen, Obanai jumped up and aimed directly for his neck. "Here we go! Third Form: Coil Choke!" Obanai then effortlessly circled around his neck, slicing right through it and finally decapitating Billy Quantrill, ending his reign of terror as the leader of his now-defeated band of raiders.
As his head fell to the ground, his body fell to its knees and collapsed, shaking the ground and trees below, before it began to disintegrate. Obanai and Haiji quickly ran to James and helped him up as two local villagers ran to their aid. One of them asked the group, "Is he hurt?! How badly?!"
"I just need to lay down until nighttime," James told them as he was carried by the three of them. "Then I'll be fine."
"We can help carry him," the other villager offered as they both helped the others.
Obanai asked James, "How do you feel?"
"Still in a lot of fuckin' pain," James confirmed. "But hey, that's a Hell of a lot better than no pain, because if I felt that, I'd be dyin'."
…
Later that night, as James had finally healed from his injuries, Muichiro was once again training in his dreams with Yoriichi. As Muichiro concentrated on his breathing in an attempt to learn the Breath of the Sun, closing his eyes and meditating outside, Yoriichi thought to himself, "To think he's been through so much at his age, and still has more to go… He's taking all this really well, and yet… I feel like he's missing something, like a part of him that should be there just isn't."
Muichiro then opened his eyes and asked Yoriichi, "You're thinking about something serious, aren't you?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I can sense it," he replied. "What's going on, Tsugikuni-sama?"
"Muichiro," Yoriichi decided to ask him. "Are you missing something in your life?"
"Missing something…" Muichiro pondered the question for several seconds before asking Yoriichi, "What makes you say that?"
"Because I got this feeling you are," he told him. "It's like there's this hole in your history or memories."
"A hole in my memories… Well… For some reason, I can't recall much of my life before I began my training as a slayer." Muichiro then stood up and stretched. "It just comes to me in flashes, usually."
"I see…" Yoriichi pondered to himself for a moment. Then, he asked him, "Muichiro, did you have a twin brother?"
Those words seemed to impact him greatly, as he immediately took a deep breath as his eyes widened in shock. "Wait…"
"The Tsugikuni-Tokito line has had a tendency to have at least one set of twin brothers per generation," Yoriichi explained. "I was wondering if maybe that still applied."
Muichiro immediately attempted to answer him with 'no,' but felt something stopping him from answering. "I… I… I- I- I-…"
"Are you okay?"
Suddenly, Muichiro woke up in bed next to Mukago, taking several deep breaths as he quickly rose up. He looked around and thought to himself, "Why did I wake up? I wasn't killed in the dream by Yoriichi-sama. I shouldn't have woken up at all. Besides that, though… Did I have a twin brother at one point?"
…
October 6, 1913
Kanao heard Tanjiro crying to himself in his room late at night. The separate rooms the three had allowed him to collect his thoughts and recover in private, but it also led to him becoming rather lonely ever since Kyojuro had died and Kanao had gone on her rampage. She stared down at the coin she had always used up to then, ready to flip it once more. However, just as she was about to, she heard a voice in her head.
"This! This flip will decide if you listen to the voice in your heart from now on, with yes being heads!"
"The voice in my heart," Kanao thought to herself. "I need to listen to my heart and stop using this damn coin." She then took a deep breath and put the coin away. "I'm gonna do what the voice in my heart says." She then slowly opened the door, asking him, "Tanjiro, are you… okay?"
"Kanao?" He then wiped his eyes and looked at her from his bed. "What are you doing here so late?"
"I… I felt like you needed me," she replied, herself unsure as to why she woke up at such a late hour when there was not a mission to go do. "Look, it's been about a week since we talked, and um… I want to make you feel better."
Tanjiro nodded. "I see. I could use some company."
"I've already told you how I feel," Kanao said. "And yet nothing's changed. Am I not good enough, Tanjiro-kun?"
The young man immediately shook his head and told her, "Of course not! Kanao, you're amazing! It's just… I'm still hurt by what happened. I don't know how to make any of it better."
Kanao then blushed before she leaned in and closed her eyes. "I… I want to do this…" Tanjiro was initially confused as to what she was trying to do, prompting Kanao to open one of her eyes and look at him in confusion. She then sighed and gently wrapped an arm around his neck to pull him in for a kiss, the first they had shared since Kanao had come home. Once they split, Kanao told him, "I need you."
Tanjiro began to realize what she was truly after as she laid down on the bed next to him. "I need you, too, Kanao." The two then kissed again as they wrapped their arms around each other, not letting go for anything. As they split, Tanjiro humorously asked Kanao, "Were you nightcrawling?"
"Nightcrawling?"
"My mom and dad did that with each other a lot before they got married," Tanjiro explained to her. "It's more of a thing people out in the countryside did."
Kanao blushed as she realized what it meant. "I've never heard of that… But… I guess I am…"
Tanjiro let out a much-needed laugh in response. "I needed that laugh, Kanao… I really needed that. Anyway… If you really are doing that, I accept."
Kanao then took a deep breath and told herself quietly, "This is happening…" The two then kissed again as they began to slowly undo each other's clothes in bed. "Have me, Tanjiro."
…
That same night, as Vèro, Genya, and Gyomei all went on a trek together to hunt down demons, the three merrily talked among each other, with Vèro recounting a story from her childhood in Québec. "So as me and my father are trying to eye out this deer," Vèro continued the story. "This bear came out of nowhere and nearly caught us. That shit was really scary, but thankfully, me and my dad were able to get to our guns in time. I landed the decisive shot in the head and killed the bear, while my dad hit him a few times in the chest and legs. It took about six shots to do the bear in. And yes, we also shot that deer soon after. We ate pretty good for a week after."
Genya, intrigued by the hunting story, replied, "That's pretty cool actually. How old were you again?"
"I was 11," Vèro replied. "So yeah, I was a lot younger."
"Thank the gods you turned out fine," Gyomei replied to her. "Bears can be very dangerou-" He then shushed them as he suddenly heard footsteps behind them. "Shhh!"
As Vèro and Genya looked around, with Genya drawing his shotgun and Vèro drawing her sword, the latter thought to himself, "Himejima-san must have sensed something, but what?"
Gyomei then suddenly declared as he attacked something behind the two slayers, "Breath of Stone, First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar!" As his flail and axe struck something, they both turned to see what it was, finding that a demon had been stalking the three of them. "A demon!"
Vèro asked the others, "Was this guy stalking us?!"
"You fuckers," the demon shouted at them as he ripped the flail and axe from his body. "I stalked you bastards for a full kilometer!"
"Well you won't anymore," Genya replied before firing both rounds of his shotgun at the demon as he tried to run up to Vèro, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. "Take that!"
"It'll take more than that to kill me!"
"Breath of Wind," Vèro declared as she attacked the demon when he tried to swing at her. "Second Form: Claws-Purifying Wind!" She then delivered four slashes to the demon, decapitating and killing it. As the demon's body and head fell to the ground and disintegrated, Vèro said to herself in French, "Saint-siboire de tabarnak, c'était trop près…"
"Are you alright, Vèro?" Genya quickly ran to her side. "That demon got way too close to us."
"You aren't kidding," she replied as she put her sword away. "I'm fine, though. Close call. Too fucking close if you ask me." She then turned to Gyomei. "Thank God for your good hearing, Himejima-san! That demon could have ambushed us!"
"You're welcome," he replied with a faint smile, happy that they got the demon but also concerned and disturbed that he had hunted them for such a long distance. "I can't believe he stalked us for so long, though…"
