Emi took to the stand as all eyes in the courtroom focused on her. Tired out from the stress of everything that had happened, she rubbed her eyes and yawned as she turned to Hisao and prepared to take her oath. In her mind, she thought to herself, "I should tell the truth, but if I do… My father is going to… I don't even want to think about what he would do!"

Hisao turned to Emi and instructed her, "Raise your right hand." Upon her doing so, he asked her, "Mochizuki Emi, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth under penalty of law in this courtroom?"

"Yes, Presiding Judge."

"You may sit." Once Emi took her seat, Hisao began to ask her questions. "May you state your name, age, and relation to both Inadama-san and Mochizuki-san to the court?"

"My name is Mochizuki Emi," she replied. "I am sixteen years old, the daughter of Count Mochizuki Kyosuke, and…"

She stopped her sentence when she realized her father was glaring at her, trying to intimidate her into answering the judge's questions in favor of the prosecution's case despite the fact that doing so would be perjury. As she paused, James looked on and thought to himself as he looked at Kyosuke, "She stopped… She must be afraid of her father."

"Mochizuki-san," Hisao then instructed her. "Finish the answer to my question, please."

"My apologies, Presiding Judge," she replied in apology. "To finish my answer, I am a friend of Inadama-san."

Her answer seemed to satisfy neither Kaigaku nor Kyosuke, as both of them sighed and looked on in annoyance. Kaigaku whispered to himself, "Please, don't fuck this up…" Meanwhile, Kyosuke was annoyed that Emi had answered that she still considered Kaigaku a friend.

Hisao continued on, asking Emi, "How long have you known Inadama-san?"

"Since early February."

"Please describe to the court how you two met."

"So," Emi then began as she explained the unusual circumstances of their first meeting. "I was kidnapped by demons, and, um…" She paused as she began to recall in her mind what had happened to her when A. P. Hill and his men had kidnapped her. "My apologies. It was a difficult time for me."

"Go on."

"I was kidnapped, and he was part of the team that rescued me."

Hisao, curious about what she had described, asked her, "What did Inadama-san do during this… Demon kidnapping?"

"He helped kill the demons who had taken me away. Without him and the others, I would be dead. I owe my life to him and the Demon Slayer Corps." She looked over and saw her father silently fuming next to the prosecutor, and realized that she had crossed onto his bad side with this particular answer.

"Were there any attempts made to contact the police instead of Inadama-san and the so-called 'Demon Slayer Corps' over this crime?"

"I don't know," Emi replied. "In my opinion, the police would not have been able to help."

"I see," Hisao replied. He thought to himself as he looked over his notes, "I can't find any information about the Demon Slayer Corps aside from what's been mentioned in the courtroom so far. It's as if they operate outside of the bounds of the law." He then asked Emi, "How would you describe your relationship with Inadama-san up to the event that resulted in his arrest?"

Emi felt a weight fall onto her shoulders with this specific question, knowing that if she answered truthfully, her father's case would be put in grave jeopardy, as would possibly her own life and safety. She also knew that if she lied, she would be opening herself up to being jailed for perjury or worse, sending Kaigaku off to be executed. "He, um… Uh…"

"Please answer the question," Hisao instructed her.

Kyosuke glared at Emi, thinking to herself, "Answer this question the right way. You shouldn't be enamored by him! You belong to… To… No, I can't. I can't let myself fall into that trap again."

"She's afraid," James thought to himself. "Her father doesn't want her to tell the truth. I can see her tremblin' in her seat."

"Mochizuki-san," Hisao then warned her. "Answer the question or you could be held in contempt of court."

Emi then took a deep breath and answered, still shaking from fear as she did. "Me and Inadama-san we- were very close. H- H- He was always nice to me, and I trusted him with my life."

Many of the spectators in the courtroom silently expressed surprise at her answer, while Kyosuke curled up his hands into fists in quiet anger. Zenitsu said to himself in the stands, "That won't do the prosecution any good…"

"Presiding Judge," the prosecutor then said as he stood up. "If I may, I would like to interject for a mome-"

"Not yet," Hisao shot him down with. "You and Counsel will get a chance to speak after Mochizuki-san is finished with her testimony." He then turned back to Emi and asked her, "Going to the night of the incident, what were you doing that night prior to it?"

"I was in my bedroom. I was not asleep, since I like to watch the rain, and it was raining that night." Emi then took a deep breath before continuing her testimony. "He came to my bedroom window, and I let him in." She looked over at her father and saw him getting angrier and angrier with each sentence of her testimony, intimidating her. "We began talking."

"And can you describe what you two talked about?

"Presiding Judge," then again said the prosecutor. "If I may, I believe this line of questioning is causing Mochizuki-san emotional distress."

Hisao, annoyed at being interrupted once more, turned to Emi and asked her, "Is the Empire correct? Are these questions causing you undue emotional distress?"

"No," Emi replied, staring at the prosecutor with contempt for trying to stop her testimony. "I can answer them just fine. Can you repeat the question?"

"Can you describe to the court what you and Inadama-san talked about?"

"We talked about us," Emi replied, now telling nothing but the truth. "I must admit that I have grown fond of him. He noticed a textbook on… Certain activities that I had in the room."

"What was in that textbook? You must be more specific about its contents for the court."

"It was a Dutch textbook that went into detail regarding, um… Sexual and anatomical matters from a scientific standpoint."

Several gasps echoed through the courtroom, prompting Hisao to demand from the spectators, "Quiet in the courtroom!"

"If I may, Presiding Judge," the prosecutor objected again. "What is the relevance of this question? Does the court need to know the details of this anatomical textbook?"

"Prosecutor," Hisao replied to him. "I believe the contents of this textbook are indeed relevant to this case, as this case involves the sexual activity apparently described in it." He then turned back to Emi and asked her, "I see… Before I go any further, do you have this textbook in your possession for the court to see?"

"I do," she replied as she revealed the textbook, which she had hidden in her clothes. "This is that textbook, right here." She then handed the textbook to Hisao.

"Let it be known that I am entering into evidence this textbook," Hisao then proclaimed to the court. "The textbook is named 'Een Uitgebreide Gids voor Menselijke Seksuele Anatomie, Biologie en Gedrag'." He then set the book down on his desk and continued with questioning. "Mochizuki-san, how did you attain this textbook?"

"My family has several textbooks on science and history throughout our house," Emi explained. "Many are kept in my room so I can study. I don't know exactly how my family attained them, however."

"Very well," Hisao replied. "What did Inadama-san say to you as you two read the textbook?"

"He asked if I ever thought about those sorts of things."

"And what was your response?"

The prosecutor then interrupted with, "Presiding Judge, if I may, this line of questioning sounds inappropriate for an adolescent girl to answer."

"These questions are incredibly relevant to the case," Hisao replied, shooting down his objection. He then warned the prosecutor, "I will not hesitate to hold you in contempt if you keep interrupting me like this. Just because you represent the Empire does not mean you are immune to criticism."

"Yes, Presiding Judge…" As the prosecutor sat down, he told Kyosuke in a whisper, "I'm trying. I really am."

"Stop this bullshit," Kyosuke demanded of him in an angered whisper. "Stop it now!"

"I'm trying!"

"Silence in the court," Hisao then warned both of them as he turned his head towards them. "Let Mochizuki-san continue her testimony!" He then turned back to Emi and asked her, "What was your response to Inadama-san's question?"

"I said… I said I thought about him," Emi admitted. "Like I said, I had grown fond of him."

Hisao pondered her response as the spectators all began to quietly converse among themselves, all of them realizing that her testimony was poking major holes in the prosecution's case. "What happened next? You do not have to go into full detail if you do not feel comfortable. Answer truthfully, though."

"We…" Emi looked over at her father, and then at Kaigaku, as she mentally prepared herself to tell the truth. "We… We had sex, and I consented to having sex with him."

The whole courtroom filled with the shocked gasps of the audience as James smiled, saying to himself, "And there it is."

Hisao, wanting silence in the courtroom once more, yelled out, "Silence in the court!" Once everyone stopped talking among themselves, he asked Emi, "At any point did Inadama-san make you feel uncomfortable?"

"No," Emi replied, now feeling more confident in her answers.

"Did he force you to do anything you did not want to do?"

"Not at all."

"Did he hurt you physically at all?"

"No."

Hisao looked down at his notes and crossed off several questions on them with a pen. He took a deep breath as he looked out over the courtroom before then focusing in on Kyosuke and the prosecutor, giving both of them a look of annoyance. He then turned to Emi and told her, "No further questions from me."

"Thank you," Emi replied as she got up and bowed to the judge. As she walked off the stand, she locked eyes with her father and gave him a look of hatred and contempt that caused him to shudder in his seat. She thought to herself, "He's lucky I didn't tell the court about what he tried to do to me."

Hisao then turned to the prosecution and said to them, "Now, you have a chance to speak to the court and interpret the testimony of Mochizuki-san."

Kyosuke told the prosecutor as he got up, "Don't fuck this up."

The prosecutor cleared his throat and then turned back to Kyosuke as he pondered what he would do. His entire case had just had a giant hole poked in it by Emi not only saying Kaigaku did not force her into sex, but that she openly wanted it. He thought to himself, "How could I possibly argue this case when the 'victim' said it's bullshit? Hell, how can I even call her a victim at this point? I know I told Count Mochizuki that I would make sure Inadama-san would die, but upon hearing all of that… I can't bring myself to do it."

"Prosecutor," Hisao then asked him. "Does the Empire have anything to say in regards to Mochizuki-san's testimony?"

"No, Presiding Judge," the prosecutor said.

"Counsel, do you have anything to say in regards to Mochizuki-san's testimony?"

"Yes, Presidin' Judge," James then replied as he stood up. He then began to address the court, feeling confident with Emi's testimony supporting his argument. "Let it be known that the alleged victim of this case has just told the entire courtroom that this sexual encounter was, in fact, consensual. She has expressed that she has held romantic feelin's for Inadama-san for quite some time, and she has sworn under oath that everythin' she just said is true. The prosecution cannot even make an argument for statutory rape, given that Mochizuki Emi is sixteen years old and Inadama Kaigaku is only a year older than her at seventeen, nor can they make an argument regardin' adultery given that neither of the two were married or promised to be wed to another. It is perhaps no wonder that the prosecution has not made any arguments after her testimony. The prosecution's case simply does not have solid ground to stand on anymore." He then turned back to Hisao and told him, "Counsel rests, Presidin' Judge."

"Prosecution," Hisao then asked the other side once more. "Do you have any counter-argument to Counsel?"

"Yes," said the prosecutor as he stood up, still trying to salvage the case in any way possible. "I would like to ask the court to consider the possibility of Mochizuki-san lying to the court about the encounter."

"So you're suggesting that Mochizuki Emi committed perjury?"

"Yes, I am."

Emi immediately interrupted their conversation by standing up and angrily announcing, "I did not!"

Hisao replied to her interruption with, "Silence in the courtroom!" He then looked back to the prosecutor and asked him, "If it assuages your concerns, may I call Mochizuki Emi back to the stand?"

"Yes, Presiding Judge," replied the prosecutor as he sat back down.

"The Empire calls Mochizuki Emi back to the stand," Hisao then said, prompting Emi to walk back to the stand and take a seat besides the judge once more. "Now," he then asked her. "I'm going to ask you once and once only, Mochizuki-san. Did you, at any point in your testimony, lie to this court?"

"Not at all," Emi adamantly replied to him.

"Did anyone intimidate or convince you to give this testimony?"

"No."

"No further questions from me." Emi then got up and walked back to the stands behind the court. Hisao turned to Kaigaku and said to him, "The court calls Inadama Kaigaku to the stand."

Kaigaku then got up, albeit with some difficulty, and shuffled over to the stand, whispering to himself in pain from his injuries, "Agh… Agh…"

Hisao, noticing this, asked him, "Inadama-san, do you need any assistance?"

"No," he insisted as he slowly and carefully got up onto the stand and sat down.

"Very well." Hisao then turned to him and showed him the textbook. "Can you describe for me the contents of this textbook?"

"It had depictions of sexual activity and human bodies," Kaigaku replied to him, still in pain from walking over to the stand.

"Can you read the Dutch language?"

"No."

"Are you able to interpret the illustrations inside this textbook even without the ability to read the Dutch language?"

"Yes."

"Is this the textbook that you and Mochizuki-san read together?"

"Yes." Kaigaku thought to himself, "For fuck's sake, wrap it up already. This is ridiculous!"

"No further questions," Hisao concluded, much to Kaigaku's relief as he then shuffled off of the stand, still in pain as he slowly walked back to his seat next to James. Hisao meanwhile then asked both sides of the case, "Counselor, Prosecutor, do either of you have anything to add involving Inadama-san's testimony?"

The prosecutor knew in his mind that his case had effectively been destroyed. He thought to himself as he looked through his notes and Kyosuke stared at him in growing contempt, "Fuck me, I don't have a case anymore! This is an embarrassment to my profession! Count Mochizuki might have my head for this, but I can't demean myself any longer!"

James meanwhile thought to himself, "The prosecutor's gettin' worried. They know they don't have a case anymore. He could drop it, or he could fight to continue it and risk a not guilty verdict. What will he do?"

The prosecutor then stood up and declared with a worried voice, "Presiding Judge, in light of the testimony of Mochizuki-san and Inadama-san, as well as the new evidence entered into the case, I would like to make a motion to drop the case on the grounds of insufficient evidence for the Empire's case!"

Gasps echoed through the courtroom when the prosecutor said those words. Almost immediately, Kyosuke, finally losing his temper, got up from his seat and yelled, "How dare you! I told you to win this case and put Inadama-san to death, and you have nothing to say?!"

Hisao yelled back at Kyosuke, "Sit down, Count Mochizuki! I will not tolerate an outburst in the courtroom!"

"I am a count," Kyosuke yelled back at him. "I am nobility! I have power over the commons, and you do not have power over me!"

"This courtroom does not recognize nobles as being superior to commoners in criminal and civil cases," Hisao retorted. He then turned to his bailiff and told him, "Take Count Mochizuki out of the courtroom immediately!"

"Come with me," said the bailiff to Kyosuke as he grabbed him by the arm and attempted to handcuff him. "Come on!"

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" Kyosuke attempted to resist arrest, but his physical efforts were in vain as the bailiff tightened his grip on his arms and then proceeded to basically drag him out of the courtroom. "You can't do this to me! I can't be wrong!"

As he was dragged out, Zenitsu looked on and thought to himself, "Just like that, the case was dropped… Even so, this entire experience must have changed Kaigaku. I can only imagine what happened to him in jail before this."

James turned to Kaigaku and patted him on the shoulder, telling him with a smile, "Alright, looks like we save yo-"

"Get the fuck off of me," Kaigaku coldly said to him, turning away as stood up and took a deep breath. "Just… Go…"

Hisao then addressed the courtroom to bring order to it once more, exclaiming, "Quiet in court! Quiet in court! Let it be known that the case of the Empire of Japan versus Inadama Kaigaku has been dismissed per the request of the Empire!" With those words, the court case officially came to an end, and everyone on Kaigaku's side breathed a sigh of relief, while those that Kyosuke had tried to get to support his case became worried with regard to how their master would act in the aftermath of this decision given his outburst.

…

March 18, 1914

The prosecutor in the case, who was sitting in his office and going over his paperwork, sighed as he read over the recently-delivered paperwork regarding the case against Kaigaku. "God damn it," he muttered to himself. "I can't believe I embarrassed myself with this. I had accepted the Count's case, but now, I wish I never had." He then looked at a portrait of the Emperor of Japan at the time on his wall and sighed, telling the portrait as if he was talking to the Emperor himself, "How am I gonna recover from this? My job could very well be in jeopardy now."

The prosecutor then heard a knock at the door to his office, after which a voice on the other end replied, "Anyone in there?" Confused, the prosecutor hesitated at first. The visitor then knocked again. "Hello?"

"Yes?"

The door then suddenly flew open, followed by the sounds of several gunshots ringing throughout the air before a masked man fled from the doorway and the prosecutor lay dead in his seat. The mysterious assassin, cloaked all in black, disappeared as quickly as he appeared, but it soon became clear who had sent him.

…

March 20, 1914

"So he'll be recovering for a while?"

"I'm afraid so," Shinobu explained to Emi at the Butterfly Estate. "The guards at the jail severely hurt him. He'll need to rest for at least a month if not longer."

Emi sighed, feeling horrible for what Kaigaku had gone through. "I'm amazed he sat through everything after the beatings."

"I'm amazed he was able to walk at all when he came here," Shinobu admitted.

The two of them then looked into the room that Kaigaku was being kept in, to which he turned to them and asked in a somewhat annoyed tone, "What are you guys looking at?"

"We're just concerned for you, Inadama-san," Shinobu replied to him. "You've been through Hell."

"I'm fine," he insisted.

Shinobu and Emi then turned away as the latter told the former, "He's been acting totally different since the trial. What the Hell happened to him in jail?"

"I know they beat him and deprived him of sleep," Shinobu explained as she showed Emi a chart of information she had taken of Kaigaku's medical conditions. "He gave me permission to show you this, by the way."

Emi looked over the chart and sighed, taking in the information presented on it. "My God…"

"Colby-san remarked that whenever he came into court, he looked more and more disheveled and tired. Again, I'm amazed he was able to stand and walk in any capacity without treatment. He's a tough guy, I'll give him that."

"I feel like this is all my fault…" Emi then wiped her eyes, feeling tears form in them as sadness washed over her. "If… Maybe if we hadn't gotten close, he wouldn't be like this…"

"No, no, no," Shinobu assured her. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself for this."

"But… This is all because we…" Emi then began to cry, burying her face in her hands. "It's because of me…"

"Come, come," Shinobu said as she led her down the hallway to another room. "We'll talk privately." She maintained a soft grip on her shoulder to comfort her as they walked down the hall and rounded a corner, disappearing from sight.

Meanwhile, down the hall, Rinji and Chiyo were looking at Shinobu and Emi conversing with each other, overhearing some of what they had to say. "Man, this sucks," Chiyo remarked. "Kaigaku-san isn't taking this well."

"Mochizuki-san must be heartbroken," Rinji added. "That poor girl is blaming herself hard."

"Yeah…" Chiyo then turned to Rinji and asked him, "Can I talk to you privately?"

"Where?"

"Not here. Follow me." As the two walked down the hallway to leave the Butterfly Estate, Chiyo's heart was racing with worry and anticipation. She thought to herself, "I need to get this off my chest. I need to tell him the truth."

…

"What the fuck?!"

"Yeah," Zenitsu replied to James as the two of them and Nezuko talked among themselves while walking down a road together. "They found the prosecutor dead of a bullet wound in his office. They don't know who did it, but they're looking at suspects."

"And I presume that includes the Count," James inferred. "They'd be stupid not to look at him as a potential suspect."

"I don't know for sure, but I agree with you."

Nezuko then said to the other two, "Do you guys think the Count did it himself, or did he hire someone else?"

"He absolutely hired someone else," James replied to her. "Given he's under house arrest due to his outburst in the courtroom, he wouldn't wanna risk goin' out and doin' it himself. My guess is he hired a professional assassin to do it."

"A professional assassin, huh?" Nezuko thought about the idea for a few seconds before she came to a terrifying realization. "Wait, Colby-san!"

"Huh?"

"What if we're next?!"

Zenitsu immediately understood where Nezuko was coming from. "You're right. If he killed the prosecutor, it would only make sense that he'd go after us next."

"That is a possibility," James admitted. "But unlike the prosecutor, we all have combat experience. I'd say we're all more trained and equipped to deal with an ambush than that prosecutor. Besides, any assassin that tries that shit against us is gon' immediately invite the entire Demon Slayer Corps to hunt 'em down, even if they're human."

A worried Nezuko replied, "You have a point, but still…"

"If ya ask me, the next person I'm worried about is the judge. He's the one who called Mochizuki Emi up to the stand and asked her the questions that brought the case down. Normally, I'd doubt it, given that killin' a judge would invite the law to come down hard on him, but given he's brazen enough to kill a prosecutor, there's no tellin' what the Count will do or how far he'll go, and unlike us, the judge probably ain't a military man or a hunter of any kind. He's more vulnerable."

…

Back at the Butterfly Estate, Kanao, who had a noticeable but still small baby bump by this point, was getting a flower vase ready for Tanjiro's room. As she did, Aoi walked by, but something she was carrying on her belt immediately caught Kanao's attention. "Wait, Aoi…"

Aoi, hearing her name, turned around in the hallway and walked into the room Kanao was in. "Did you call for me?"

"Is that…" Kanao looked at her waist and noticed a shape protruding from her white medical smock on her left. "Is that a sword?"

"Oh, this?" Aoi then pulled up the smock a bit to reveal that, indeed, she was carrying a sword with her. "Yeah, it's a spare sword from the Butterfly Estate armory."

Confused, Kanao asked her, "Why are you carrying that?"

"I've been trying to get more comfortable with carrying and using swords," she explained to her. "I practiced with Inosuke-kun a while ago, and… Something happened during it, and I've been thinking about it a lot ever since."

"You got scared again, didn't you?"

"I freaked out, yes," she admitted with a nod. "Ever since what Uzui-sama said about me when he was going to Yoshiwara, I've been practicing with swords and even naginata." She took a deep breath and looked down at the sword on her belt. "Kanao, I'm sick and tired of being too afraid to hunt demons. I'm done with being afraid of the tool that's meant to protect me and others. Not to get too vulgar, but I don't want to be stuck here being forced to watch as my friends get the shit beaten out of them every fucking day while I sit here with the training to help them." She was clearly determined and a bit emotional with her words, and nothing would deter her from her goal.

Kanao was stunned to hear Aoi's words. She had been so used to Aoi not being online as a slayer and staying purely in the medical support role within the corps that the idea of Aoi actively hunting demons was foreign to her. "So, you… Want to go online as a demon slayer?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"You know it's dangerous, right?" Kanao was worried that Aoi would get herself hurt if she went through with this.

"I went through the Final Selection. I know how dangerous it can get."

Kanao then picked up the base and replied, "I see. Just… Don't get yourself killed, please." She then walked out of the room to give the vase to Tanjiro. As she did, she thought to herself, "I get why she wants to do this. Uzui-sama's words must have stung, but still… Shinobu-oneesan would be devastated if she lost either of us. She didn't even want me to be a demon slayer, but I did it anyway. How will she react to Aoi-oneesan going through with it?"

When she opened the door to Tanjiro's room, she took only a few steps in when she noticed something with him that caused her to gasp and drop the vase onto the floor, shattering into pieces and spilling the water and flowers before her feet. To her shock, Tanjiro's eyes were open, and as she stared in a state of shock, he remarked to himself, "It was… A dream… Am I… Alive?"

She immediately rushed to Tanjiro's side as a wave of emotions hit her, saying to him, "Are you okay?! You've been in a coma for two months ever since Yoshiwara!"

"Two months? Huh…" Tanjiro turned to Kanao and gave her a faint smile. "I see…"

"Thank God…" Kanao also smiled at him as tears of joy filled her eyes. "We all thought you'd…"

"You thought I'd be dead?"

"Yes," Kanao admitted as she held his hand. "We weren't sure if you'd wake up. I'm so glad you did."

Tanjiro then sniffed the air, and upon doing so, he noticed something. "Kanao… Do you have something you want to tell me?"

"Huh?"

"What's going on?"

Kanao then looked down at her body and held a hand up to her abdomen, taking a deep breath as she realized she had to tell him the news. "Tanjiro… Dear… There's something you need to know."

Tanjiro began to realize what she meant given her body language. "You…"

"Tanjiro, you're going to be a father. I'm pregnant."