Rinji and Chiyo had come out to a small waterfall near the Butterfly Estate to talk privately. As the two stood beside a tree next to the running creek, Rinji asked Chiyo, "What's going on? Why did you drag me out here?"

"I need to tell you something," Chiyo replied, her back turned to him. "It's about Kaigaku-san."

"What about him?"

"I've… I've known him for a long time," Chiyo began as she recalled her past with him, still keeping her back turned to hide her face from him. "And in that time, I truly cared for him. I… I fell in love with him, but… I knew he wouldn't go for me." Her expression was one of despair as she finally admitted to herself and to Rinji that Kaigaku would never be with her.

Rinji, having already suspected such for years, replied, "I had a hunch for a while you felt that way, Chiyo-san."

"No matter what, he would always choose his dreams over me. I just… I can't take it anymore, not after what he did…" Chiyo wiped away tears as the pain from having unrequited love for Kaigaku swept over her. "My heart aches every time I remember he did those things with Mochizuki-san. I realized something when he went into court…"

"And that was…?"

"I realized there hasn't been a place for me by Kaigaku-san's side for a long time. Not even as a comrade or as a friend. I think Zenitsu-san realized the same." Chiyo looked towards the creek, staring into the water as she added, "Kaigaku-san was too focused on his ambitions and himself… And perhaps he didn't even see Zenitsu-san as a brother, even though Zenitsu-san sees him as one. I should have known it sooner, but I was blinded by my attachment to him… But then…" She then turned back to Rinji, allowing him to see her face and her tears. "Along came you…"

Rinji stood back, surprised by her words. "Along came me? What are you saying?!"

"I… You were there for me through all of it." Chiyo stepped closer to him. "You listened to me when no one else would, Rinji."

Realizing what Chiyo was about to say to him, and knowing how he felt about her within him, he sighed and got closer to her as well. "Chiyo-san, there's something you need to know… I do… I care about you a lot… I never told you because I wanted you and Kaigaku-san to work out, but now… Now I know he has no interest in you."

The sounds of the creek filled the air as they both grew silent, contemplating what they would do next with each other. Chiyo thought to herself, "Of all the other people I know besides Kaigaku-san and Zenitsu-san… I grew the closest to you. Hearing those words… It makes me wonder how things could be between us."

"Are you gonna say something?"

Chiyo then said to him, "Be there for me, Rinji. I need you, especially right now."

Rinji decided to go straight to the point, asking her, "Are you saying you love me?"

"I think I'm falling in love with you," Chiyo admitted. "But a piece of my heart keeps telling me I'm betraying Kaigaku-san, even if he shut the door on us being together already." Rinji then hugged Chiyo, surprising her. "Rinji…"

"You aren't," he assured her as he tightened his grip. "You said it yourself. Kaigaku-san shut the door on that possibility. Be honest with yourself… And me."

Chiyo then looked up at him and closed her eyes, prompting Rinji to close his eyes as well and move in for a kiss, which she returned. The two then hugged each other deeply after splitting off from the kiss, with Chiyo telling him, "I think I can get through this with you."

"I know you will," Rinji assured her. "You're a strong woman, Chiyo. Don't put yourself down, okay?" The two then shared another kiss by the waterfall, and when they separated, they held hands and began to walk away. "Come on. Let's go ba-"

Both were then interrupted by the squawking of a crow from above. "Caaw! Caaw!"

Chiyo, blushing with embarrassment at having been seen kissing Rinji by her own crow, grew flustered and said to him, "You know, we were having a moment here!"

"Caaw! This is urgent! This is urgent! Demon attack!"

Rinji, surprised that there was an attack during the day, replied to the crow, "Demon attack? Where?"

"Caaw! Robbery reported at the village of Himekawa! One and a half ri or five miles north of here! An American demon killed a store clerk and ate his arm before leaving with goods and money! He is armed and dangerous, heading south towards us on horseback!"

"Oh shit," Rinji said as he realized the robber would not be too far away from them. "We gotta catch him."

Chiyo then asked the crow as they ran back towards the road from the waterfall, "What did he look like besides being an American?!"

"He had a gray jacket and pants," replied the crow. "Caaw! Gray jacket and pants! Pale skin! He had a gun!" As they emerged from the forest and onto the road, the crow squawked again, "Caaw! This way! This way! We'll run into him!"

"Of all fucking times," Rinji said to himself as they both ran as fast as they could and he pulled out his wakizashi. "Why did it have to happen now?!"

…

Back at the Butterfly Estate, Tanjiro had suspected that something was up with Kanao due to how she held her stomach, but her verbal confirmation still surprised him. "You… You're pregnant?"

"Yes," Kanao said as she held one of his hands. "I meant to tell you sooner, but I only found out after you left for Yoshiwara."

A wave of emotions hit the still weak Tanjiro as he looked at Kanao with tears in his eyes. "A father… I'll be a father…"

Kanao bent down and kissed him, gently caressing his bandaged cheek while the two of them closed their eyes, the world around them seemingly fading away for a brief moment as they shared something that they had not done since January.

Then, they were interrupted by the voice of Goto and the sound of the door opening. "Tsuyuri-sama, I have Tanjiro-san's castella. I'll place it next to his bed, although after a few days, you'll have to take it out since it'll go bad. Feel free to eat it if you wa-" He then stopped when he realized he had been staring at the two lovers, both of whom looked at him.

Kanao was speechless, while Tanjiro, not thinking much of it, replied to Goto, "Oh, thank you."

"He… He woke up?!" Goto immediately set the plate of castella down on a table next to Tanjiro's bed and ran over, shocked that he had awoken from his coma. "Tsuyuri-sama, why the Hell didn't you tell me he woke up?!"

Kanao, scared by his reaction, stammered out, "He- He just did!"

"He just did?!" Goto then looked at Tanjiro and asked him, "Tanjiro-san, when did you wake up?"

"A few minutes ago," he replied. "Listen, it's fine, Goto. Kanao just got startled, that's all."

"I need to tell the others." Goto then ran out of the room to go get help. "Naho-chan, Kiyo-chan, Sumi-chan, Aoi-san! Get in here! Tanjiro-san just woke up!"

Down the hall, Aoi, who had just come in from practicing with a naginata, heard Goto's cries and immediately raced down the hallway, with the three Caterpillar Girls trailing behind her. Her heart pounding with anticipation, she raced into the room and asked the others, "Did he really wake up?!"

"Yeah," Tanjiro weakly replied to her with a smile. "I did…"

Aoi walked over to his bedside, emotional and filled with joy. "Thank God… We thought you'd never wake up, Tanjiro-kun…" She wiped away tears from her eyes as she told Kanao, "Your child won't be without a father now."

"I know," she replied before the two hugged.

Then, the three Caterpillar Girls ran in, albeit covered in a large white sheet they had been tasked with cleaning and folding. Aoi turned to them and asked, "Wait, is that the sheet I gave you guys?!"

All three young girls then escaped from the sheet, with Naho telling Aoi, "We're sorry, Aoi-oneechan! We were in the middle of cleaning this for you when we heard the news!" Kiyo and Sumi meanwhile ran over to Tanjiro as Naho began trying to fix the sheet.

Aoi told Naho, "It's fine. We'll fix the sheet later."

"Thank you!" Naho then ran over to join the other two as all three of them cried out in joy, "Thank goodness!"

Tanjiro chuckled and said to Kanao, "Looks like I'm a little popular around here…"

Kanao smiled and replied, "Maybe…"

He then turned to Aoi and asked her, "Aoi-san, what about the others…? Uzui-san, James-san, Zenitsu and Inosuke… What about them?"

Everyone immediately grew silent upon the mention of Inosuke in particular. Goto looked at Aoi and Kanao before turning back to Tanjiro and beginning to explain what had gone on with the others, letting out a sigh as he realized he would have to deliver some not so great news to him. "I'll start with the best news first, Tanjiro-san. Uzui-sama is fine. His injuries have all healed and he's not permanently disabled, although he's taken a step back from work and he filed for retirement the day before. There's no set date for when he'll retire, but it will come soon. He says he wants to start a family with his wives without worrying about whether or not he'll be killed in action, hence his decision. Truth be told, all of the Kakushi were amazed he came out the least hurt of you all besides Colby-sama."

"Colby-sama is doing missions as well," Aoi explained to him. "Obviously, given his status as a demon, he wasn't too badly hurt at all. I'd say he's living up to Rengoku-san's expectations. He still checks in and sees how you're doing, too. He'll be happy you're awake, Tanjiro-kun."

"I see… And Zenitsu?"

"He's back doing missions again, albeit he didn't want to go at first. He had a Hell of a month in February, but I'm sure he'll give you more details about that soon." Goto thought to himself, "I'd tell him that that kid's also together with his sister now, but I'll let them break that news to him themselves." He then prepared himself to tell Tanjiro the last bit of news. "As for Inosuke… Well…"

Aoi said to Goto, "I'll tell him." She then took a deep breath and told Tanjiro about Inosuke's current condition, or at least what they believed it to be. "Tanjiro-kun… Inosuke got shot during the battle. He was also poisoned heavily." She wiped her eyes of tears as she recalled how badly he was hurt and how poor his health was when he came into the Butterfly Estate. "He almost died several times, and even now, we still don't know how he'll turn out. He took in so much poison that he wasn't able to control his bleeding from the bullet wound well, and as such… He lost a lot of blood." Kanao put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

Tanjiro was devastated, but also confused at Inosuke's supposed condition. "I see… That's terrible… Inosuke…" He closed his eyes for a few seconds to take it all in before looking up at the ceiling to look at what had thrown him off. "If that's the case, I must be hallucinating him."

Confused, Goto asked him as he picked up a glass of water from the table, "Huh?"

"Inosuke," Tanjiro explained. "I must be hallucinating him crawling on the ceiling like a spider."

A perplexed Goto whispered to himself, "What the fuck?" All six of them then looked up at the ceiling and indeed, to their disbelief, Inosuke was clinging to it on all fours. Goto's jaw dropped, followed by the glass of water, which shattered and spilled on the floor.

Inosuke, clad in nothing but his usual pants and boar's head, looked down and remarked with a huff, "What are you looking at?"

All of them either gasped or screamed, with Goto yelling, "How the Hell are you doing that?!"

Inosuke then looked at Tanjiro and asked him, "How did you notice me, Gonpachiro?!"

"It helps that I'm lying down, to be fair," the young man pointed out.

Inosuke then fell from the ceiling and landed on Tanjiro's bed feet-first, straddling his body as he proudly boasted, "I got shot by one of those gun things and I still woke up before you! I took one look at death and told it to fuck off!"

"You sure did… You're cool, Inosuke."

"You're damn right I am! I'm not a weakling like you! Screw you for making us so worried!" Inosuke was, of course, actually happy to see Tanjiro wake up, but expressed it in an unusual way.

"Uh…"

"He's not weak," Naho then said to Inosuke. "You're just different, Inosuke-san. Shinobu-sama said so."

Kiyo then walked over and opened up a textbook for Tanjiro to look at. "Look here, Tanjiro-oniichan. Shinobu-sama said Inosuke-san is like a weasel from the west called a honey badger. Their hide is so thick that even big cats like lions or tigers can't bite through it. They're also poison-proof, so they can eat Venus snakes."

Tanjiro, intrigued by the honey badger, replied, "Huh… How odd… They don't exist in Japan?"

"I'm afraid not," Kiyo replied. "At least not in the wild. There may be a few in zoos."

"I think the honey badger might be smarter than him," Goto commented under his breath before realizing he had said his thoughts out loud. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?"

Aoi sighed and admitted, "He sure is tough…" She then turned to Inosuke and asked him, "Hey, are you gonna get off of Tanjiro-kun's bed anytime soon?"

Inosuke boasted to the others, "So you're saying I can't die? Fuck yeah, that sounds awesome!"

Goto yelled back, "I never said that, dumbass!"

"What did you just call me?!" Inosuke then lunged for Goto, prompting Aoi to grab him and pull him back. "Agh! Hey!"

"Aaah! Let go!"

Aoi yelled at him, "You can resist poison, but you also resist our medicine, you idiot! Get that through your damn head already! Shinobu-sama has told you this several times, and yet you still don't fucking listen!"

As the three of them fought each other, Inosuke yelled in response, "Oh, shut up! I know my limits, Aoi!"

"Bullshit! All you do is recklessly throw yourself at enemies!"

Kanao turned to Tanjiro, but found that he had fallen asleep among the chaos. Because of this, she knew that the others needed to stop fighting, but could not get a word in between all the arguing and shoving. "Uh, guys, I-… Uh… Shu-…" Kiyo was also getting rather scared of the tussle happening before her, and clung onto Kanao for comfort. "Shu-… Shu-…" Having had enough of them, Kanao's frustration finally boiled over as she uncharacteristically yelled at all of them, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! TANJIRO'S ASLEEP!"

All of them immediately stopped fighting, taken aback by how forceful Kanao had been in her request as silence filled the room for a few seconds. Goto whispered under his breath, "Holy crap…"

Inosuke got off the bed, finally listening to Aoi. "So, uh…" He then turned to Tanjiro and panicked, thinking he had slipped back into a coma. "Holy shit! Is he in a coma again?!"

"Please don't say dark shit like that, Inosuke," Aoi chided him. "He's just asleep, anyway!"

Kiyo then turned to Kanao, no longer quivering in fear, and suggested to her, "Hey, why don't we make Tanjiro-oniichan some rice gruel? It'll be good for him when he wakes up."

"Sure," Kanao replied in a more usual speaking voice for her. "Let's do that."

Then, they heard the door slam open once more, followed by the sound of heavy breathing. "Hah… Hah… Hah…" They all turned to find Nezuko standing in the room. "Oniichan… He… He's awake?"

"Nezuko-san," Aoi said to her. "He is. He just fell asleep less than a minute ago, but he's not in a coma anymore."

Upon hearing those words, Nezuko rushed to her brother's bedside and began to sob tears of joy as she hugged him. "Thank God… Oniichan… I'm so glad you're awake…"

Tanjiro, upon hearing this, slowly opened his eyes. "Ah, Nezuko…"

"Oniichan, I thought I lost you…"

Tanjiro did his best to hug her back despite his weakened physical condition and his tiredness. "Nezuko, I can finally see and hear you again…"

"Thank God you're awake now…"

"We'll let him be with his sister," Aoi told the others. "The two deserve it after being separated this long."

"Agreed," Goto nodded. "Let's go."

As they all left, Nezuko turned to Kanao and told her, "No, you can stay."

Kanao asked her, "What?"

"You're a part of my family," Nezuko explained to her. "After all, you're carrying my niece or nephew. You should be by his side, too."