November 25, 1913
Ambrose, Jun, and Yoshimi were meeting with the demon, or in fact two demons, behind the Chicago Cannibals, also known as the Lake Michigan Murders since they all took place at or near the lakeside and the fact that a few of the bodies were found floating in the lake or on the shore. Yoshimi translated for Jun, who could not speak English, as Ambrose did most of the talking. "So," he said to the two of them. "I find the work you two are doing to be rather beneficial. You've really managed to strike fear into the heart of this entire city."
"I'm glad you approve," said a man named Earl Smith, one of the two Chicago Cannibals, while his partner Wyatt Johnson nodded. "We pride ourselves in the ability to inflict terror in the hearts of an entire community. We've had 57 successful attacks in the past four months, 13 of which the police don't even know about since we tossed the bodies in Lake Michigan and they never found them."
Yoshimi remarked to Earl before he translated for Jun, "How absolutely devious… That's quite an impressive streak of kills."
As Yoshimi then translated for Jun, Ambrose said to the two serial killers as he lit up a cigar with a lighter, "Do you two want a cigar? I got a few more."
"Sure thing," Wyatt replied as he took a cigar from Ambrose's box. "Mind lighting it for me, sir?"
"Absolutely," Ambrose agreed as he reached over and lit his cigar. "Earl, do you want one?"
"I'm fine. I'm trying to cut down on my tobacco intake."
"How about you two?" He then offered his box to Yoshimi and Jun. "They're on me."
"Of course," Yoshimi replied before taking two cigars and offering the second to Jun in Japanese. "Do you want a cigar, Jun-san?"
"Yes," he replied, taking his. Ambrose then lit up both of their cigars, prompting Jun to say in Japanese, "Thank you, Hill-san."
"What did he say, Yoshimi?"
"He said thank you to you, sir."
After Ambrose let out a small puff of smoke from his cigar, he told the whole group, "Of course, we need to take care of those pesky Japanese demon hunters who followed us through the portal. If we fail to kill them, our little journey will be all for nothing, since they'll gain intelligence on how things are going over here in America."
"Wait," Earl then asked him out of surprise. "Someone followed you guys here through the portal?!"
Ambrose realized he had not broken the news to the duo of killers quite yet. "Oh shit… My apologies."
Earl angrily got up and demanded, "What kind of operation are you running over in Japan?! How in God's name did they get through, damn it?! Answer me right fucking now!"
Wyatt held a hand in front of Earl, telling him, "Calm down, calm down, Earl. No need to get so angry."
Earl then took a deep breath and sat back down. "Okay, okay, I'm fine, I'm fine. Who followed you through?"
"Six slayers," Ambrose explained. "Including two of the best in the entire Japanese Demon Slayer Corps."
Earl sighed in frustration and facepalmed. "Are you fucking kidding me? Pardon my coarse language, but this is fucked. Really fucked."
"Look," Yoshimi then told him. "We have experience with the kind of people who are the best in their corps. Together, we can defeat all five of them if we are smart about it."
"Okay, okay," Earl nodded. "So, tell us how we defeat these six slayers."
"I'll tell you what I have in mind…"
…
Meanwhile, Genya and Vèro were walking around Chicago, the two of them trading in their corps uniforms for regular street clothes and heavy jackets to blend in slightly more. As the two walked alongside the shore of the lake, Genya asked Vèro in Japanese, "I have to ask. Why were there some people who looked at you in a weird way?" Earlier, the two had been stared at by several people who had walked past them.
"Well," Vèro explained. "There are people here who don't like me because of my skin color. I may be three-fourths white, but in the eyes of too many people here, I'm inferior because I'm one-fourth black."
"I just don't get it," Genya replied, not understanding the reasoning behind why racism existed. "Why is there so much fear of someone because their skin color is different?"
"I ask that question myself a lot. Trust me when I say I don't think we'll ever truly understand why."
Wanting to move on from such a depressing topic, Genya then asked her, "How did you get into hunting deer and other animals?"
"Me? Well… My father was an avid hunter, and since he only had daughters, he taught all of us how to hunt. I'm the oldest of three daughters."
"Do you miss your other sisters?"
"Absolutely," Vèro replied. "I miss them all every day. Do you and your brother have any other siblings?"
Genya immediately paused and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk as he let out a sigh. "Yes… We did once."
"You did once?"
Genya turned around and told her, "Whatever you do, you are to never tell my brother that I told you this."
"I swear, I won't tell him."
"Good," Genya replied. "As for what happened… My mother was turned into a demon, and she killed all of our other siblings before Sanemi was able to kill her. I was the only other sibling to survive. I had five other siblings aside from him, three brothers and two sisters. I never blamed my mother for what happened. She didn't know any better."
"I assume it's because she was in that mindless state that newly-converted demons are in?"
"Exactly," Genya agreed with a nod. "I saw her… When I looked into her eyes, I did not see the mother that had given birth to me and raised me. I saw a mindless beast."
"So she really did have no control," Vèro replied out of sorrow. "I'm really sorry to hear that."
"After that, my brother hunted demons on his own before he joined the corps. As for me, I joined because… Well, he said I amounted to nothing, even saying he had no brother."
Vèro was shocked to hear about her own mentor saying such things. "What?! What the fuck?! He disowned you?! Why?!"
"I don't know," Genya shrugged. "Ever since then, I've wanted to become as strong as I can and be a great slayer, even if I can't use Breathing Styles like you and my brother. The fact that I'm a Demon Eater shows I can do it."
Angry at her master, Vèro kicked the ground and said, "If I had known Shinazugawa was such an asshole, I would have never tutored under him!"
Genya calmed her down, telling her, "Woah, woah, woah, hey! Calm down. I'm not angry at my brother, Vèro-san. You shouldn't be, either. Don't let my past affect your education under him, please."
"I can't help it," Vèro admitted to him. "I would do anything for my younger sisters, so to hear someone be so unkind and cruel to their younger sibling just gets to me."
Not realizing what he was doing, Genya put a hand on her shoulder and told her, "I understand. I really d-" He then realized he was touching her and blushed, backing off and taking a bow. "Oh, um… I'm sorry!"
"No, no, it's fine," Vèro assured him. Just as she did, they both heard a commotion from a block up the street, which was where the shore of Lake Michigan was. "Huh? Do you hear that?"
A man shouted in English, "Get help here at once! There's someone in the lake! Pull a police box!"
Genya and Vèro both looked at each other before they ran to the scene of the commotion, finding a small crowd of about ten people looking out onto the lake. As they managed to make their way through the crowd, they both saw what had caused such a ruckus, and once they did, Genya remarked to himself, "Holy shit…"
A body had washed up on the shore, albeit missing much of its head and both of its arms. It also appeared to have ripped clothes and large gashes along its abdomen. Bloating on the body from the water as well as decay indicated it had been in the water for at least a few days if not more. Vèro turned to the crowd and told them in English, "If you are of a weak mind, please, look away! Look away, ladies and gentlemen! This is not something for those of a weak mind or heart to see! Stand back to let the police do their job when they get here!"
Genya immediately realized that there was a good chance this body was connected to the Lake Michigan Murders committed by the Chicago Cannibals. "Fuck… This is the work of a demon. It has to be." Disgusted by the state of the body, he looked away for a brief moment and remarked, "This is fucking horrible…"
…
Two hours later, Genya and Vèro were holding a meeting with the rest of the group regarding the discovery of the body in the lake. Edward began the meeting as everyone sat around a large dinner table, eager to hear about what had transpired, with Yasuhiro translating to Japanese in real time for him. "I think we can all but confirm this was the work of the Chicago Cannibals. All the telltale signs are there according to Genya and Vèro."
Then, John walked into the room, having just talked to his contact in the Chicago Police Department over the phone. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's official. The police consider this to be the work of the Chicago Cannibals."
Sanemi asked Edward and John in Japanese, which was quickly translated into English for them by Yasuhiro, "How many killings are you up to now?"
"This is the 44th killing," Edward confirmed to him. "At least, this is the 44th that we know of. There could be more."
"I must ask," Gyomei then said. "Have you ever seen the Cannibals?"
"I have," John replied. "They kidnapped me a few years ago. The two hunters who rescued me died doing so, getting ripped to shreds and presumably devoured.
"Ever since then," Edward explained. "They have been a lot more careful, hence why no hunters have seen them and lived to tell the tale ever since Mr. Glessner was kidnapped."
Gyomei asked further, "Then how will we catch them?"
"Well," John then remembered from his phone call. "The detective I have as my contact in the Chicago Police Department mentioned that they had several witnesses to a break-in and burglary that occurred three days prior, and they gave descriptions that sound similar to how I remember the Cannibals."
Vèro, curious to see if they could find the stomping grounds of the Chicago Cannibals, then asked, "Where was this break-in?"
…
Sanemi, Vèro, and Chiyo were walking around the area of the aforementioned break-in late at night. As they walked the cold and dark streets of a much poorer neighborhood in Chicago's South Side compared to the one the Glessner House belonged to, Sanemi remarked to himself, "Certainly not the worst area I've ever been in. Some parts of Tokyo are a lot worse."
Chiyo added, "Still… This area is different from the area the Glessner House is in. A lot of the people I've seen walking here look like Vèro-chan."
"Many Negroes have moved up to the Northern states recently," Vèro explained. "There's not much opportunity for someone of my race in the South, coupled with the constant violence and segregation down there. Up here, even if people still aren't friendly to you and treat you differently, there's at least plenty of jobs to go around."
"I still don't understand why that's a thing," Chiyo replied. "It really makes me wonder what the deal is. I'm sure Genya-san said the same thing to you at some point, but I don't understand why people like you can't go to certain places by law or get killed if you wander into the wrong areas, and I don't think I ever will. At least me and Genya-san treat you ri-"
Sanemi immediately turned around and told them both with a stern tone, "Don't mention him."
Vèro replied back, "Genya? Why not?"
"Do I have to give you a reason?"
"Actually yes, you do."
Sanemi sighed and told her, "Because I'm your mentor, and he's nobody to me."
Vèro was not happy with his choice of words, immediately gasping in shock. "Shinazugawa Sanemi, how… How could you say that about your own brother?!" Since he refused to reply, all three of them stopped on the sidewalk as Vèro continued to berate him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! I can't believe I once looked up to you as my mentor! I would sacrifice everything for my sisters, and you're telling me you don't give a shit about the only family you have left?!"
Sanemi knew immediately that she had said something she was not supposed to know. "How the fuck did you find out about my family?!"
"Genya told me everything! He told me about how your mother was turned into a demon, how she mindlessly killed the rest of your family before you killed her to protect Genya, how you told him you had no fucking brother, everything!"
Chiyo tried to step in between the two, telling both of them, "Okay, hang on, stop fighting before you two kill yoursel-"
Sanemi interrupted Chiyo by yelling at Vèro, "Enough! Stop talking right the fuck now!" He then unsheathed his sword. "How about we settle this with our swords since words won't work?"
"Fine," Vèro angrily replied as she drew her sword. "If you really want to murder your own God damn apprentice, then do it! Strike me down with all your hatred and anger, Sanemi! It still doesn't change the fact that you're wrong or that you've driven your only fucking family away from you! I could never dream of abandoning my sisters, and I'm sure most normal people would say the same about their siblings! If you keep this up and continue to push others away, you'll die alone with nobody to be there for you!"
Chiyo, shocked by Vèro's rage-filled comments, said to herself, "Damn, that's harsh… Shinazugawa-san can't even respond to it."
Indeed, this comment, instead of enraging Sanemi to the point of attacking, caused him to drop his sword onto the ground after a brief pause. The sound of the sword hitting the ground startled him out of his temporary shock, prompting him to pick up his sword and put it away back in its sheath. Now much more calm then before, he cleared his throat and told Vèro, "We'll talk later. Perhaps… Perhaps something needs to be done about all that."
Vèro, still not letting her guard down, continued to hold her sword out in front of her in a fighting stance and told him, "What changed, huh? Did I hit close to home?"
"Yeah…" Sanemi thought to himself, "Someone told me something very similar a long time ago…"
Chiyo gently held a hand to Vèro's sword, telling her, "Come on. We have a mission to do. You heard Shinazugawa-sama. We'll talk later."
Sanemi admitted in defeat, "Okay, yeah. We do. Let's hurry up and get the Hell on our wa-"
All three of them then heard a commotion inside the small apartment building they were standing in front of, followed by the sound of a woman screaming. "Help! Help me! Help! He's killing me!"
Chiyo said to the others, "That doesn't sound good."
Vèro remarked as she raced up the steps to the first-floor apartment, "What the Hell?" She then banged on the door and yelled in English, "Hey! Hey! Who's in there?! Open the door!"
Sanemi then pushed her aside and kicked the door several times, finally breaking the door down and causing it to fall onto the floor of the hallway that led to the stairs going to the next two apartments above. "Just break down the doors in your way! We don't have time!"
As Sanemi and Chiyo drew their swords, Vèro drew her revolver just in case the commotion was not demon-related. All three then raced up to the second floor as they continued to hear screaming from above, followed by them racing up to the third floor, the source of the screaming being behind the door to the third floor apartment. Vèro yelled through the door, "We're breaking the door down! Stay back!"
However, just as she was about to throw herself against the door, it slammed open rather violently as two men rushed out of the apartment with a trail of blood behind them and raced up the stairs to the roof. Vèro exclaimed in shock, "Agh, fuck!"
Chiyo, noticing that one of the men was holding a severed head, pointed at the two men and yelled, "Look at that!" All three realized at that very moment that it was not their blood they were trailing behind them, as they soon also found the headless body of a man lying motionless on the floor as Chiyo rushed into the apartment to check on the screaming woman. She told the other two, "Chase those two men down! I'll be with you soon! I saw a police box out front, too!"
Vèro commanded her, "Pull that police call box and come back up to meet us when you're finished in the apartment!"
Sanemi replied as he and Vèro gave chase to the two men, "Be quick down here! We'll need help!" As both of them made it up the stairs and forced open the door to the roof, Sanemi yelled out to the two men, "Don't run away from us, cowards! Get the fuck back here!"
Vèro similarly shouted in English, "You have nowhere to run to! Fight us if you aren't cowards, you bastards!"
The two men, who as it turns out were in fact the Chicago Cannibals, simply grinned at both of them as Earl told the two of them, "Actually, you have nowhere to run to. You two have fallen right into our hands!" He then chucked the head of the decapitated man at the two of them with the force of a fastball, which Sanemi deflected with his sword.
"Oh yeah?" Vèro then cocked her revolver and told them, "We'll see about that."
