September 15, 1883

Kensuke was checking two men into the brothel at the start of a seemingly uneventful and steady night. "Okay, you two should be all set. Do you know which girls you two plan to see?"

"We're going to see the same girl," one of the men replied. "Thank you."

"Sure thing," Kensuke replied. "Have fun and stay safe." As the two men headed to the reception desk to check in and select the girl they wanted, Kensuke thought to himself, "We're busier than usual tonight. Hopefully, I don't have to throw anyone out."

Another man then came up to him. "Hello there," said the man, who appeared to be in his late sixties and seemed to have a somewhat unkempt appearance. "I would like to check in here for your services."

"Sure thing," he replied, taking a mental note of his apparent age. "Do you have any weapons on you?"

"No," he replied as Kensuke began to check him and pat him down for any weapons he might have carried.

"Okay, you're all set on that. Do you know if you currently have any venereal diseases?"

"Not that I know of," said the older man.

"Do you intend on seeing one girl or multiple girls?"

"One girl."

"And one last question: Do you intend to have sex with your girl or not?"

"Hell yeah," he replied in an excited tone. "I'll show my girl a good time."

"Okay, come on in." Kensuke then led him to the reception desk. "I got another one for you, but this one wants sex."

"Sounds good to me," said the girl at the reception desk.

As the girl at the desk handled the older man, Kensuke thought to himself, "Something feels off about that guy. Is it his age? His appearance? His behavior so far in the past minute or so I've known him? Whatever it is, it's not sitting completely right with me. Then again, I can't act on suspicion alone. I'll have to wait and see if he tries to start some shit upstairs."

Another one of the girls then asked him out of concern, "Kensuke-san, did you get bad vibes off of that old guy, too?"

Snapping out of his inner thoughts, Kensuke turned to her and replied, "Me? Oh, yeah, I kinda did. Did you?"

"Yep. Something just doesn't seem right with him. I don't know exactly what it is, though." The girl shrugged. "It's just a feeling I got."

"I can head up and keep an eye on him if you want."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea."

The girl at the reception desk then told Kensuke, "That's fine if you want. We can hold our own down here for now. If we need help, we'll call for you."

"Then it's settled." Kensuke then headed upstairs. "I'll be back down in a few minutes!" Upstairs, he passed by the two clients from earlier and walked around to try to find the older man somewhere in the building. As he rounded a corner, he thought to himself, "Where the Hell did this guy go? Did he already get into a room?"

A muffled voice that Kensuke recognized as Daki then yelled, "Hey, what are you doing in here?! You didn't pay for me! Get out of here!"

"Oh fuck," Kensuke muttered to himself as he rushed for Daki's room, fearing something bad had happened. He then called out, "Hang on, I'm coming! What's going on?!"

He then reached her room and flung open the door as fast as he could to see Daki push away the same older man from before, who yelled at her, "Don't be so feisty with me! I paid! I paid!"

Daki yelled back at him, "Not for me, asshole! Get the fuck out!"

Kensuke then grabbed the man by his shoulder and told him, "That's it! You're coming with me! You're fucking done, you hear me! You're done!"

"Get the fuck off of me!" The old man then punched Kensuke in the upper chest and then attempted to swing a second time, but Kensuke caught the fist and twisted his arm, causing him to scream, "Aaaagh, aaaagh fuck!"

As Kensuke let go of his arm, he pushed him into the wall and pinned him against it as he tried to kick his way free. "Stop resisting! You're gonna leave if it's the last fucking thing I do, but before I kick your ass out, you're gonna tell me what the fuck you were doing in this room right now!"

"I paid for sex!"

"Not from this girl! You paid for someone else, so why the fuck did you come here?!"

The older man tried to feign forgetfulness and senility despite clearly being of at least somewhat sound mind. "I'm sixty-three! I'm confused! I'm fucking confused!"

Kensuke punched him in the shoulder, causing him to yell in pain, before then asking him, "Now, what the fuck were you doing in this room?!"

The old man then attempted to draw a knife. "I can't hide it anymore! I'm gonna kill that wicked woman if it's the last thing I do!" He then slashed Kensuke across the stomach, breaking free from his grip. "Die, you evil bitch!"

Kensuke screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, "Agh, fuck!"

Daki, deciding not to use her powers to as to not reveal her true form in front of the others, quickly grabbed a mirror and threw it at the old man, causing it to shatter and cut him up due to the many glass shards that filled the room. "Who the fuck are you?!"

"You can't kill me that easily!" The old man then tried to get up, but found that he was bleeding from numerous cuts to his body from the shards of glass. "Agh, no… Fuck…"

Daki then looked into his eyes and recognized him. "Wait… You… I know you!"

"I was your old boss! I know exactly who you were!"

Daki quickly grabbed her own knife from a small cupboard in the room and ran to the man. "I won't let you attack me again!"

"I know your true name! This brother isn't your first, either! I knew you when you were calle-"

Daki then stabbed the man three times in the back and once in the throat, killing him before he had the chance to finish his sentence. "There we go…" She then dropped the knife and took a deep breath, the old man no longer a threat to her. She then looked to her right and realized Kensuke had been badly hurt. "Oh shit! Kensuke-san!"

"Shiraume…"

Daki quickly took off her kimono and tore parts of it off to control the bleeding, not caring that it completely ruined the beautiful and extravagant kimono she once had on. "Hang on, I got you!" As several other girls ran in to see what was going on, Daki told them, "Don't just stand there! Do something, for fuck's sake! Get a doctor! Kensuke-san got hurt with a knife!" She then turned back to Kensuke as the other girls ran to get help and told him, "Help's on the way, okay?"

"Th-… Thank you…"

Internally, Daki was resisting the urge to devour Kensuke due to the smell of his flesh and blood being enticing to her. She thought to herself in frustration, "Ugh, why do my urges to feed come out now? I don't want to eat Kensuke-san yet, and the thing is, I may not want to eat him at all. Why can't these urges go away, damn it?!" She then looked away from him for a few seconds, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath to collect herself and her inner thoughts. "Okay… Okay… Okay…"

Kensuke, concerned for her, asked her, "Hey, are you okay? You seem upset about something…"

"Don't be concerned about me," Daki told him. "You're the one who's hurt badly here. Just relax and wait here with me, okay?"

Kensuke sighed and said as Daki applied more pieces of her torn kimono to control more of his bleeding, "Okay, fine…"

September 18, 1883

Kensuke came home from the hospital after healing from his injuries today. He looked at the brothel from the street as the midday sun shone on the surroundings and said to himself, "I'm finally back."

Upon walking into the brothel, several of the younger girls immediately went up and hugged him, telling him excitedly, "Kensuke-oniichan! You're home!"

Kensuke smiled and told them, "Thanks, guys. I'm just glad to be alive."

Kaori smiled and told him, "It's glad to have you back."

"It's nice to see all of you again," he replied. "So, what have I missed?"

"Thankfully we didn't have any major fights when you were gone," Kaori said to him. "How are you feeling?"

"I still hurt a bit," he admitted. "But it's not as bad as it was when I went to the hospital. I'm just glad I didn't get a nasty infection while I was there. Is Sakurahime-oiran around at all?"

"She's upstairs in her dark room," Kaori told him as she pointed at the stairs. "She shouldn't be too busy right now if you wanna go in there and say hi."

"Alright," Kensuke replied as he walked up the stairs to see Daki. He thought to himself as he took a deep breath, "It still stings a bit to take a deep breath, but I should still be able to do my job. I wanna see how she's been doing since I got hurt."

When he got to the door, he knocked on it to let his presence be known. Daki immediately answered out of annoyance, "Ugh, who the Hell is it? I'm busy!"

"It's me."

Daki quickly replied, "Wait, what? You're out of the hospital, Kensuke-san?!"

"Yeah."

Daki was then heard getting up and telling him, "Come in, but don't leave the door open long. I like it dark in here." Of course, the aesthetic and atmosphere were not the only reasons Daki preferred the darkness of her windowless room during the day. As Kensuke stepped in and closed the door, Daki asked him, "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better," he said. "I'm just glad the hospital stay wasn't too bad. I was thinking about you the whole time while I was there."

"You were?" Daki then walked over to him. "Well, I was thinking about you, too."

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that guy sooner. I should have acted on my suspicions long before he got to you. I fucked up."

Daki assured him, "No, no, no, it's fine. Nobody saw that coming. Nobody."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, Kensuke-san."

Kensuke then sighed and asked her, "I don't know why I couldn't stop thinking about you. I guess I was just worried after what happened to you."

"Maybe… What did you think about when you thought about me?"

"I was worried about how you felt after that. I mean… I also thought about what we did together." Kensuke blushed slightly as he recalled his own thoughts about when he and Daki had sex. "I couldn't help it."

"I understand completely. I was thinking… Do you wanna do that again?"

"I was gonna ask the same thing, actually." Kensuke then took a deep breath. "Anything to get my mind off of what happened." He then began to take his clothes off, revealing the bandages he still had around his wounds. "I won't be staying in these bandages much longer."

"That's fine," Daki assured him. "I can work around them. Just relax and I can take care of you. You won't have to do any work." She then walked up and gave him a long kiss, surprising him before he closed his eyes a few seconds into the kiss. When she split from his lips, she told him, "Now that is how you kiss a woman, Kensuke-san."

"I see…" He then returned the kiss, albeit holding on for a shorter time than Daki had with him. "How was that?"

Daki chuckled. "It could use some work. Let me help you a bit more…"

September 26, 1883

Daki was busy checking over financial records for the brothel inside her dark room when she heard Gyutaro emerge from her back. "Hey, Daki, I gotta talk to you."

"What is it, oniichan?"

As Gyutaro stood up and turned around to face her, he told Daki, "It's about that Kensuke guy you keep fucking."

Daki sighed. "What about him?"

"I'm concerned with how close you're getting to him," Gyutaro explained to her. "You know how our master is with that kind of shit, man. If you keep this up, he might not be happy with you."

Daki chuckled and told him, "Oniichan, listen, I know I'm growing more fond of him, but that doesn't change my loyalty towards our master or demonkind. We've faithfully served him for how long, after all?"

"You know and I know that years of service don't always protect you. Just ask the plethora of Lower Moons he's purged for one reason or another."

"Yeah, but we're Upper Moons, oniichan. All those Lower Moon idiots can't compare to us."

Gyutaro nodded. "I know, I know. I'm just saying that you shouldn't let that guy get in the way of your loyalty to our master or our missions. We'll both be fucked if you do."

"You need to relax, oniichan," Daki assured him. "Nothing is gonna happen."

"Whatever you say… Do you think you like him beyond just sex?"

Daki shot him a glare and told him, "What gives you that impression?"

"I can see how you think about him inside your mind. I sense some form of attachment."

"Look, he's a nice guy, he cares about me, and he did help me with that old brothel owner who tried to kill me, but still… That doesn't mean anything." Daki's time of voice gave off that she was trying to deny that she was indeed growing attached to him emotionally. "I swear, oniichan, it doesn't mean a damn thing. If anything, I just wanna show him what he's gonna do when he finds a woman later on he wants to marry or something, you know?"

Gyutaro shook his head and chuckled. "You are so bad at lying sometimes."

"I am not lying!"

"Whatever, man." He then began to step back into her body and merge with it. "Wake me up if some asshole we used to know comes back again to try and kill you, okay?"

"I can take care of myself," Daki assured him as he slipped fully back into her body. "Trust me."

September 29, 1883

As Daki and Kensuke began to take their clothes off to begin having sex again, Daki told him, "You're getting better and better at this every time we do it."

Kensuke smiled and said, "Why thank you."

"Let's see if you've gotten a bit rusty in your skills in the past five days." The two then shared a quick kiss before splitting from each other. "When you marry some nice girl one day, you'll be all set to make her a very happy wife." Daki then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is there anyone in your life like that?"

"Well… I don't know…"

"You can tell me."

Kensuke then admitted to Daki, "The only girl I can think about when I have those thoughts is you."

Instantly, both of them stopped what they were doing and stared at each other in shock. Kensuke was surprised that he had let slip his own feelings, and Daki was surprised that Kensuke felt that way about her. "You… What?"

He then took a deep breath. "Shiraume-san, I can't stop thinking about you."

Daki sighed and told him, "You must be mistaken. I think you're just confused because sex feels good, Kensuke-san. Look, we may use fancy titles and whatnot here, but it doesn't change the fact that most of us fuck other men for money, myself included. I'm not a girl who gets married and lives a happy life with one man."

Kensuke then took her by her right hand and told her, "Do you think I care?"

"No, not really."

"Exactly."

"Look, you don't have to just sleep with me. There are other girls here. Don't ever feel like you have to limit yourself to me. I'm sure there's other girls here you find attractive, and many of them wouldn't mind being with you. I wouldn't mind at all if you had sex with someone else. It doesn't bother me." Daki's tone of voice in the last two sentences gave Kensuke a slight hint that she was at least partially lying to herself and to him.

"I do think the other girls here are attractive," Kensuke admitted. "But you're the only one I want to sleep with now that Kinako-san is gone. I didn't sleep with anyone else but her when she was around, too. Shiraume-san, the truth is that I've been alone for much of my life, and being here gives me a sense of belonging I haven't felt since I was a young child. For a long time, I really only just had myself."

Daki nodded and thought to herself, "At least I had my brother when I had nothing else. Kensuke-san had nobody…" She then told him, "If you're going to tell me you love me, please… Save it for another girl. Love is a strong word."

"I wasn't going to say that. I know love is a strong word, Shiraume-san. It's just that I don't want to do this with anyone but you. I'm being honest with you."

Daki smiled and told him, "If that's so, then show me…"

Kensuke nodded and said, "Okay." The two then shared a kiss, followed quickly by a second that was far longer and more passionate as they began to finish taking each other's clothes off in preparation for sex.

Meanwhile, Gyutaro was summoned separately from Daki to the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, surprising him and making him wonder why Daki did not come with him to Muzan's headquarters. He looked around, finding no one else on the platform he had been summoned to. "What the… What the fuck… What happened?"

"Gyutaro!" Muzan then appeared before him in a flash of light, startling him. "I've summoned you and you only. Don't be alarmed by my presence."

"Muzan-sama…" Gyutaro then bowed down to him as a sign of respect and fear.

"This is concerning your sister," he explained. "Specifically that boy she has been having sex with. I am concerned by how close those two have gotten recently."

"I am, too…"

"I see… The thing is, I don't feel like intervening just yet." Muzan then knelt down and looked Gyutaro in the eye. "I will observe those two, and I'll see how it goes. If this relationship progresses too far, I will take action to correct this, and you better go along with it if you value you and your sister's lives."

"Yes, Muzan-sama." Gyutaro was now deeply worried about what Muzan would do to him and Daki.

"Do not tell your sister about this meeting at all. If you do, you'll both be dead."

"Yes, Muzan-sama."

"Now get the Hell out of here. I got more important shit to do than deal with this." Muzan then snapped his fingers to send Gyutaro away from the Dimensional Infinity Fortress. "For fuck's sake, Daki, what are you getting yourself into?"