───

    "BITCH, WHERE THE FUCK IS THE DAMN cave?!", himari groaned, laying her back against tōji's chest, as getō and gojō each had their own horses that trotted near the duo.

     "I'm sure it's close by...", getō replied, watching as himari scratched the back of her head, wishing that there was a plane and a gps.

     "if only I had my phone...", himari sighed, making tōji hum.

"what's a phone?"

"it's this technological device where you can take pictures, take videos, call other people, message other people, and do a lot of other things like reading manga..."

     "what's manga?", itadori asked, as rumi was also intrigued.

     "it's like...a book full of pictures that tells a story", himari vaguely explained.

     "so basically a picture book for children", tōji snorted, making himari raise a brow.

     "uHM, no?! it's not just for kids, but teenagers, and adults: men and women, so excuse you!", himari huffed.

     "really?! what stories are there?", itadori asked, making himari smile.

     "well there's many genres, but my favorite is yao—I-I mean shōnen", himari replied, clearing her throat.

"what's shōnen?"

"want an example?", himari grinned, making itadori immediately nod.

"jujutsu kaisen. it's about this cute boy who has to eat this curse's nasty ass fingers and save people from the other curses, but he also meets other people along the way that helps him. one of them is this tall ass motherfucker who's handsome as hell but apparently can't stay committed, but that's besides the point, um—anyways, there's a lot of characters that I simp for", himari explained.

     itadori's face contorted into utter confusion, as getō wondered if the woman was mad.

     "why would the boy eat the curse's fingers though?", itadori asked, making himari blink twice.

     "ya know, I've asked myself that multiple times too. surprisingly, he hasn't died from any viruses yet", the red-haired woman stated.

"so who's your favorite character?", gojō asked, making himari scrunch up her brows.

"ugh, you can't just ask me that!! there's too many to choose from!!", himari whined, making gojō scoff.

"I bet they're not even all that pretty", the white-haired male insulted.

"say that to the mirror, you hoe", himari muttered, to which is bunnies could laugh, sukuna would.

     "ah, look!! the cave!", rumi pointed, making himari loudly gasp.

     "HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS EASY! it's probably ✨main character thingz✨", himari grinned.

     "and that's on periodt! thank you, yūji! your plot armor's gonna get us through this journey without any injuries", himari sighed, thanking gege that nanami and yoshino didn't tag along, as she'd cry if they had met mahito.

"huh??"

"nothing~ anyways, let's just walk in and find the stone or something", himari smiled, waiting for tōji to get off the horse first, as she needed help since she was a bit short.

as bunny sukuna hopped off himari's shoulder, the man had suddenly turned back to his normal appearance, to which gojō and getō had swiftly learned that he was the demon king based on their deduction skills.

tōji grabbed onto himari's waist, as the girl planted her hands on top of the dark-haired male's shoulders, allowing him to help her off the horse, as she got to secretly embrace him for point two seconds.

     "awesome!! so we'll just walk in and—"

     himari was about to touch the shimenawa — a thickly intertwined white rope that acted as a seal — before sukuna had slapped the girl's hands away.

     "are you dumb? this shit can fry you", sukuna warned, making himari raise a brow.

     "are you sure? back when I toured the museum, I just lifted the rope and—"

     itadori decided to touch the rope, to which the boy was quickly repelled back, making rumi gasp as she helped the boy sit up from his spot.

     "oh my gege, yūji, are you oka—"

     "who dares to disturb me?", a calm voice interrupted, to which everyone had snapped their heads towards the ghost-like appearance of the sun goddess.

everyone immediately kneeled and pressed their foreheads against the ground, except for sukuna and himari — who was too stunned to say or do anything.

"human, why do you not kneel before your goddess?", amaterasu questioned, to which himari had flinched as she immediately complied, feeling the air around her force her to kneel.

     "u-umm...s-sorry ma'am", himari muttered, making the pale woman hum.

     "you may all rise. now tell me, what are five humans and a demon doing outside my cave?", the dark-haired woman questioned, making himari sweat.

"umm...w-we wanted to enjoy the vie—"

"get the sun stone", itadori bluntly answered, making himari facepalm as she glared at the pink-haired boy.

amaterasu lightly chuckled, seeming to inch closer to itadori, as it made rumi shake with fear.

     "I do prefer honesty. however, I cannot allow you to do so", the woman stated.

     "huh? w-why not?", himari asked, making amaterasu turn towards the red-haired woman.

     "because humans are greedy, and I cannot just trust those that stumble upon this place", amaterasu replied.

"but we're very trustworthy!! I mean...look at us!", himari exclaimed, to which she had then retracted her statement.

"okay, well, don't look too closely, but come on! my lord said that if I collected all three stones, he'll empower women and men equality! and I'm sure you understand, since you're such a beautiful and kind goddess", himari sweetly explained, batting her eyelashes as the goddess didn't exactly seem amused.

     "flattery doesn't work on me, my dear. though since you're so persistent, I suppose I could give you a single chance", amaterasu said, making himari sit up like an excited puppy.

"REALLY?! I-I mean, thank you, miss amaterasu!"

the goddess suddenly slowly shook her head.

"don't get too excited. there's three conditions: only two people get to enter, and one of them has to be you, since you're the one that desires the stone".

     "oh...so can I pick who I go with?", himari asked, as majority of their group was pretty overpowered.

"of course! however, the third and last condition is that only one will make it out with the stone — that is, if you can even retrieve it", amaterasu explained, making himari's smile drop from her face.

"like...two people inside but only one comes out alive?", the woman asked, making amaterasu nod her head.

himari then glanced at her group in disbelief, to which itadori had voluntarily stepped forward.

     "lady hima—"

     "I'll go", gojō interrupted, making himari slightly flinch.

"I wish to accompany himari-chan".