Before we begin, I need to remind you that everything here is a work of fiction and any resemblance to real-life events is entirely coincidental. Also, because media literacy is deader than disco, let me remind you that I do not condone racism, sexism, sexual violence, homophobia, transphobia, abuse of any kind, or genocide against anyone.

Yeah, people actually thought I condoned those things because they get featured at some point in this story.

I don't get it either.

Let bad people in fiction be bad people in fiction. Let bad things happen in fiction. This isn't a fucking modern Disney movie where villains either don't exist, are sanitized, or are poorly written. If you subscribe to purity culture, how the fuck did you make it this far, first off, and second, you should stop reading now if you haven't already.

…

"So it escalated to that, huh?"

"Yeah."

Rinji sighed as he looked over at the flowing water in the creek beside him and Chiyo. "Shit… I can only imagine how Inadama-san is taking all of this."

"My fear is that he's going to do something really stupid," Chiyo admitted. "When I saw him after Zenitsu and Nezuko-chan left, he looked as if the wind had been knocked out of him. It was like his manhood had been ripped away, even. I fear what he will do to cope with it."

"It sounds like he can't take a loss very well," Rinji observed.

"Not to Agatsuma-san. Truth be told, he always saw him as lesser than him. He never believed he would amount to much in the corps, but now… Now he's been defeated by him, and that… That must have hit him pretty hard."

"How stupid could Inadama get?"

Chiyo shuddered at that question. "He isn't stupid, but… He can be rash. I fear how rash his decision-making could be when he's like this." She then sighed and looked Rinji right in the eye, confessing to him, "The truth is that I've had these feelings of sorts for him for a while, but…"

Somewhat surprised, Rinji asked her, "So you're saying you love him? Be honest."

"We had been trained by Kuwajima-san for years together. It only made sense that eventually, I would want to be his woman. However, I knew that the odds of him feeling the same way were low. I had accepted that I probably didn't have a chance with him, so I committed myself to helping him as a fellow demon slayer. I thought that maybe, if I stuck by his side, I could change his mind, no matter how long it took or how frustrating it was. But then…" She thought back to the battle between Zenitsu and Kaigaku, recalling how Kaigaku had acted upon his defeat. "When Agatsuma-san defeated him, I realized something I should have known before then. As I looked at him and talked to him, I realized that there hadn't been a place for me by Inadama-san's side for a long, long time. As Agatsuma-san walked away hand-in-hand with Nezuko-chan, I realized my dream was dead."

Rinji felt horrible for Chiyo, saddened to hear the pain in her voice as she described what had happened. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Sotozaki-san."

"Now, I can only worry about what will come next." She then got closer to Rinji and rested her head on his shoulder. "It hurts when the person you love not only doesn't love you back, but thinks so little of you." Rinji blushed slightly upon Chiyo getting so close to him, but became serious once more when Chiyo removed her eye patch and wiped the empty eye socket that had been underneath it as well as her remaining eye of some tears. "I, um… I don't show people what's under the eye patch too often, you know."

"How does it feel to be missing an eye?"

"I'm so used to it that it feels normal at this point," Chiyo explained to him. "The only thing now is that on the side I'm missing, I may not be able to see as far to the side, but… I can hear things very well on that side." She then looked away from him, doing her best to keep it all together emotionally.

Rinji, worried that he was bothering her, asked her, "Am I bothering you?"

Chiyo assured him, "No, it's fine. Keep me talking. It helps, Rinji-san. It keeps my mind off of… All of this."

"Oh, well, uh…"

"What else is on your mind, Rinji-san?"

"Me and my sister had a pretty rough mission the night before," Rinji explained, changing the subject to keep Chiyo's mind off of Kaigaku as she had requested. "We found a demon eating an old man's corpse after we got word of an attack at a village nearby. After we killed the demon, we found the old man's wife dead in another room on the floor, but she hadn't been touched by the demon."

"How did she die?"

"We think she died of shock from seeing what the demon did. They both had been dead for at least a few days when we got there. That demon was camping out in their house the whole time, and the only things left of the old man were his head and part of his torso."

"Holy shit…" Chiyo remarked in disgust, "It's the shit like that that'll get to you."

"My sister wasn't feeling too well after that. Keep in mind, we're demons ourselves, and I'll be the first to admit I've eaten human flesh when I was with Rui, but… There was just something about what we saw that was just so fucked up. I couldn't stop thinking about it."

"It means you care," Chiyo explained. "It means you haven't fully lost your humanity from before you became a demon, Rinji-san."

Rinji chuckled. "Maybe you're right."

Then, both of them were interrupted by a crow cawing at them from above and looked up into the early morning sky to find a bird circling ahead. Chiyo asked him, "Is that your crow?"

"No. The crow my sister and I share is back in the house sleeping. Is it your's?"

"No. Mine's back at the Wisteria Crest house I'm staying at for now."

The crow then flew down and told both of them, clearly tired from flying a long distance at high speeds, "Caaw! Caaw! Inadama Kaigaku has been arrested! He has been arrested!"

Shocked, Chiyo exclaimed, "What the fuck?! Arrested?!"

"Caaw! My master has been arrested for the crime of rape! He was caught sleeping with the daughter of Count Mochizuki!"

"No way," Chiyo said in disbelief. "He didn't… There's no way he'd rape a girl…"

Kaigaku's crow explained, "He didn't! His message to you is to tell others of his innocence! He is being falsely imprisoned!"

Rinji asked the crow in a concerned tone of voice, "Does anyone else know?"

"Caaw! No! Just you two!"

…

In a dimly lit jail cell inside of a police station, Kaigaku, dressed in plain clothing, was chained to a wall alongside several other prisoners as a police officer on the other side of the bars kept watch. Alongside him were two local drunks that had been arrested the night before as well as a man who had committed theft, none of whom were chained to the wall like he was. Having gotten no sleep since he had been caught, he attempted to doze off by closing his eyes, but the police officer keeping watch noticed this and yelled at him, "Hey, asshole! Don't go to sleep! I'm under strict orders to keep you awake as long as I can!"

Kaigaku replied to the officer, "Who… Who told you that?"

"Who do you think?" The officer was clearly referring to Kyosuke, who himself was talking to another police officer nearby. "If you do that shit again, I'll come in there and rip you apart!"

One of the local drunks was asleep despite the yelling, while the other was awake and yelled at the officer, "Hey, uh… Keep it down, man!"

"You can sleep if you want," said the officer to the drunk. "It's just that rapist we got chained to the wall we can't let sleep."

Meanwhile, Kyosuke said to the other officer keeping watch, "I'm terribly sorry to waste your time with him."

"It's fine, Count Mochizuki," the other officer, who was a sergeant, replied to him. "I appreciate your contributions to us as well."

"You're welcome," Kyosuke replied before passing along a 100 yen note to him. "Just make sure he suffers."

The police sergeant replied to him, "Absolutely. He's a sick man for violating your daughter, and we'll make sure he gets the appropriate punishment." He then turned to the officer keeping watch and told him, "Keep him awake for a full twenty-four hours, and if he tries to sleep, drag his ass out and discipline him with your any of the other prisoners want to rough him up, look the other way."

"Yes, sergeant," replied the officer keeping watch. He then told Kaigaku through the bars, "You hear that? You're gonna stay awake for another twenty-four hours. You can't sleep until seven in the morning tomorrow. Pray we don't extend it further, rapist." He then told the other three prisoners, "If this rapist gives you any trouble, you can deal with it among yourselves. I won't look."

The thief looked at Kaigaku and told him, "Man, these cops hate you."

"They're paid to hate me."

"You're a fucking moron, you know that? I mean, why would you rape a noble's daughter? Don't you know how much power they have? They'll make your life a living Hell, or at least, what's left of it."

Annoyed and at his breaking point, Kaigaku yelled out, "Shut the fuck up about that 'rape' shit, okay?! I didn't force her to have sex with me! She wanted it, and that's the truth!"

"We've heard the excuses enough times," yelled back the officer keeping watch. "Just admit you did it already!"

"I didn't!"

In response, the officer keeping watch unlocked the door to the jail cell, opened it, walked in, and pulled out his nightstick before hitting Kaigaku in the abdomen as hard as he could, causing him to scream in pain. Kaigaku instinctively tried to kick back at the officer, prompting him to then whack him between his legs, causing Kaigaku intense pain. As he screamed at the top of his lungs, the officer told him, "Keep denying you did it, and there will be more where that came from. We'll make sure you can't violate any girl ever again."

As the officer walked out and locked the jail cell door again, the thief chuckled and remarked, "Holy fucking shit. When you have the money to back it up, you can get the police to do anything, huh? I've never seen you guys act this way."

"Watch it," said the officer in return. "We're only doing it to that guy. We don't mind the rest of you."

The awake local drunk then suddenly puked, much of his vomit landing on and staining a still hurting Kaigaku, before falling over and passing out. The thief laughed in response and remarked to him, "Today just isn't your day, huh?"

Now covered in filth and crouched over in pain, Kaigaku thought to himself, "This… This is all his fault… If it weren't for that stupid duel he wanted, I wouldn't be here! This is all that idiot Zenitsu's fault!"

…

March 6, 1914

James met with Zenitsu, Nezuko, and Chiyo privately at the Rengoku Estate to discuss what had happened with Kaigaku and what they all knew. "I don't doubt for a second that your friend's bein' set up," he said to the three of them. "But right now, there ain't a whole lot we can do besides find out when he goes to trial and testify on his behalf. It's up to the justice system at this point."

"And that's what I'm afraid of," Zenitsu replied to him. "The courts may side with the Count because of his status."

"That's why I wanted to break him out," Chiyo explained. "I don't expect his trial to be fair."

"I get it," James replied. "Believe me, I've had run-ins with corrupt judges and sheriffs in America. Even so, if we just go out there and break him outta jail, we'd be paintin' a big target on the backs of the Demon Slayer Corps for the police here, and that's the last thing we need. We need to save that option as an absolute last resort if all else fails. I ain't sayin' it's out of the question, but we can't do that without exhaustin' our other options first."

"He's right," Nezuko said to the others. "We need to do this carefully. The police in cities and larger towns harass us enough for carrying weapons without permits. The only police that don't are in the rural towns and villages who actually believe in demons, if not have seen what they can do. I'd rather not turn them against us, too."

"It's just frustrating," Zenitsu expressed. "Just sitting here and not being able to even see him pisses me off."

"I'm gonna make a trip of my own out to where the Mochizuki Estate is," James explained. "And I'm gonna find out what the deal is with the trial. I'll handle it alone, and when I come back, we'll go from there."

…

March 9, 1914

At the local courthouse near the Mochizuki Estate, the same building that housed the jail that held Kaigaku, James walked into the largely empty front lobby, startling the clerk at the front desk, who did not expect to see a foreigner so far removed from any major cities. The clerk asked him in simple Japanese, "Do you need anything?"

"I'd like to inquire about a court case comin' up," he replied, which surprised the clerk. "Do you have any records about an individual named Inadama Kaigaku?"

"Inadama Kaigaku…" The clerk then got up from the front desk and told James, "I'll be right back."

As James waited for the clerk to come back, he looked around the lobby and saw that he was the only person present aside from the clerk. "It must be a slow day…" He then looked at the wall and saw two posters advertising wanted criminals in the area and rewards for their capture. He chuckled, reminded of his bounty-hunting days in his homeland.

The clerk then returned with a folder in his hands, telling James, "I have word that Inadama-san's trial will begin on March 16. Do you intend on being present?"

"Yes," he replied. "Who would I meet with to potentially testify in this case?"

"Hmmmm… That, I do not know," the clerk replied as he checked the folder. "Inadama-san does not have a lawyer of his own, so he will have to defend himself. The public prosecutor in charge of the case may get you set up, but he's not in today."

"I'm not here to testify against him," James explained. "I'm here to testify on his behalf."

"In that case, you'd have to talk to Inadama-san himself, and he's not available for visitors at all until the day of the trial."

Annoyed, James replied, "Oh, really? Under whose orders?"

"The orders of the police sergeant in charge of the jail."

…

In the jail itself, Kaigaku was being dragged into an interrogation room by two police officers as Kyosuke watched from a chair at a table. The two officers then forced Kaigaku to sit down on a chair opposite of Kyosuke and chained him to it to restrain him. One of the two officers told Kyosuke, "Count Mochizuki, do whatever you want to him."

"Thank you," he replied as the two officers left the room and shut the door. Once he was alone in the room with Kaigaku, he stared at him with nothing but contempt in his eyes. "You know, of all the things that have happened in my life… Including all the betrayals…" He then slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "This is the worst betrayal of all! I can't believe you would seduce my daughter, especially considering your social class, you fucking freak!" When Kaigaku had nothing to say to him in return, he inched closer to his face and asked him, "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

"She was curious," Kaigaku told him. "I helped satiate her curiosity. Couldn't you tell how she felt about me from how we interacted?"

"You reek of filth," then commented Kyosuke, noting the stench coming off of Kaigaku from what he had been through in jail. "But that's exactly what I wanted. I made sure they would let you sleep as little as possible, let the other inmates do whatever they wanted to you, and even give you a few beatings here and there. I made sure they keep you just barely alive while depriving you of a true life, Inadama. Given you defiled my own daughter… My beautiful, beautiful daughter, whom I would trade anything else in the world for… It seems fitting. Every time I look at her, I'm reminded of her mother, especially once she became a woman, and to think that a former thief and a killer like you would do such horrid things to her… It disgusts me. It makes me want to vomit, knowing that you defiled the only connection to my wife I have left." He then slapped Kaigaku across the face as hard as he could, the reverb from the hit echoing throughout the room. "You've ruined her, and I have every right to be angry beca-"

"Because you want her for yourself," Kaigaku then interrupted him with. "Admit it."

Shocked that he would imply such a thing, Kyosuke replied back, "I… What?"

"Let's think about what you just said. Your daughter reminds you of her mother, and you mentioned how it got stronger after she grew up. Besides, given she's sixteen, I was surprised to hear she wasn't betrothed to someone already. Isn't that what a lot of nobles do?" Kaigaku chuckled and told him with a defiant smile, "That sounds like a man who wants to fuck his own daughter to me."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Kyosuke then punched Kaigaku twice in the face, breaking his nose and spilling his blood onto the table. "How dare you accuse me of such incestious desires! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Kaigaku spat out two teeth that had been ripped off by one of the punches before telling Kyosuke in a smug tone of voice, "Punch me all you want, you rich asshole. I still fucked your daughter, and you can't change anything about that, especially given how she's practically in love with m-"

"SHUT UP!" Kyosuke got up and pushed the chair holding Kaigaku over, causing him to fall to the ground. He then kicked him twice in the side, causing Kaigaku to wince in pain but not scream. "I've had enough of this bullshit!" He then stormed out of the interrogation room, and as soon as he left, he slammed the door shut and told the two officers standing outside, "Make him suffer more. I'll make sure he's found guilty when he goes to trial."

"Yes, Count Mochizuki," replied both officers as Kyosuke walked away, angered by Kaigaku's accusations.

…

Later that day, Kyosuke was conferring with a servant outside of Emi's room. "Has she calmed down since you've given her the medicine?"

"Yes," replied the servant with a bow. "She cried a lot beforehand, but now, she's serene."

"Excellent." He then ordered the servant. "Have everyone avoid her room for the day. Also, I want no such rumors of her consenting to sexual activity with that young man who was here to spread. Beyond these walls, everyone is to believe she was raped. We cannot allow her honor to be brought down further than it already has been. Being the victim of such a crime will dishonor her in the eyes of many already, but if word gets out she willingly let a young man of almost untouchable status have his way with her, it would shame all of us even more."

"I understand," replied the servant before he walked away.

Kyosuke then entered the room and closed the door behind him, finding Emi sleeping peacefully in her bed. He sat down on the bed beside her and thought to himself as he gently brushed aside her hair, "With every year that passes, you really do start to look like your mother, Emi. To think, this was the body that Inadama defiled…" As he continued to look at her, memories of his wife, Emi's mother, filled his mind. However, other thoughts also began to creep their way in, and he soon found himself pulling the covers down to look closer at her body. "She really does remind me of my wife," he thought to herself.

Just as he was about to reach out and touch Emi, she awoke to find her father looking over her with a disturbingly lustful expression. The two of them locked eyes, after which Emi grew fearful and said, "Dad, what are you…?"

"I-"

"No!" Emi then quickly got up from the bed, but as she did, part of her dress fell, exposing her body above her abdomen. "What are you doing?!"

"Emi, listen to me, I-"

She yelled, "Why were you looking at me like that?!"

Kyosuke got up from the bed and walked over to her, prompting her to back away. "Come on, why are you backing away?"

"Get away from me!" Emi then realized she had exposed herself to her father and quickly pulled up her dress, disgusted by what she had seen. "Go!"

"Come back here!" Kyosuke then grabbed a frightened Emi by the hand and pulled her in against him.

In desperation, Emi called out, "Kaigaku, help me!"

At that moment, Kyosuke stopped what he was doing. He took one more look at his daughter and then let her go, slowly realizing what he had done and what he was about to do. "Oh… Oh my God… What…"

Emi then grew angry at him, picking up a book from the ground and yelling as she threw it at him, "Get out!"

As the book hit Kyosuke, he ran out of the room, horrified at himself as he came to his senses. When he shut the door, he thought to himself as he breathed heavily, "What have I done?! What the Hell have I done?! Was Inadama right this whole time?! No, he couldn't have! He… Oh my God… He was right…" In disgust at his own actions, he slumped down to the floor and buried his face in his hands and legs, saying to himself, "Oh my God, what have I done…?"

Back in the room, Emi sat down on the bed and began to cry, wanting so badly for Kaigaku to come in and rescue her from her plight. "Kaigaku," she said to herself. "Get me out of here. I can't be here anymore…"

…

March 16, 1914

Outside the local courthouse, James, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Chiyo all conversed with each other, preparing for the trial that would soon begin. "Let's all hope for the best," James said to the other three. "I pray to God that the judge won't be swayed by the noble title of Mochizuki."

"Me too," Chiyo replied. "I wonder how Inadama-san has been doing."

"I never thought it would all come to this," Zenitsu said, feeling bad for Kaigaku. "If I had known… Maybe I would have done some things differently…"

"Don't blame yourself," Nezuko assured him with a pat on the shoulder. "That's the last thing we need right now. We need to focus on supporting Kaigaku-san and making sure he doesn't go to prison for a crime he didn't commit."

"Well," James then said as he checked a pocket watch he had. "We can't just stay out here the whole time. Let's head on in and see what happens."

As the four of them walked in together, Zenitsu thought to himself, "If things go wrong, they could sentence Kaigaku to death. The last thing I want is to see him killed for something he didn't do. I know Nezuko-chan says otherwise, but I can't shake the feeling this is my fault. If I hadn't challenged him to that duel, maybe… Maybe he wouldn't be in this situation. Maybe he'd be safe instead of locked up in jail facing death at the hands of an executioner."

Inside the courtroom, a tired but determined Kaigaku sat at a table facing a judge, with the local public prosecutor opposing him from another table next to his. He would have no lawyer representing him, as he was obviously unable to afford or contact one while in jail due to the conditions he was subjected to at the request of Kyosuke. He was dressed in a formal business suit akin to those worn in the West, which had been supplied to him by the court the day before. He knew the odds were completely stacked against him due to Kyosuke's corruption of the local courts and police, but he was not willing to give up just yet. "I'm gonna fight to the very end by myself," he thought to himself. "I won't need anyone else to win. Once I'm free, I'll prove Zenitsu wrong and defeat him in a proper sword duel, and then… Then, I will take my rightful place as the Thunder Pillar, and perhaps go beyond!"

…

And that wraps up Season 3 of Hunter From America!

I know it's taken a lot longer than anticipated, but this year was very busy between work, writing my own original stories, and several conventions I attended this year, such as Anime Boston, Saratoga Comic Con, Fandom Fest Schenectady, and Anime NYC. I appreciate your patience and continued support.

Expect Season 4 to be out soon following a short break. I look forward to writing it. Additionally, I also look forward to the premiere of the next arc of the anime. For the anime-onlys, you guys are not ready for what comes next.

Special thanks to the Breath of Fiction podcast, which I am a part of, for their continued support as well.

Happy New Year to all!