───

     AFTER ANOTHER DAY OR TWO OF resting and finally getting the holy sword a scabbard, the group was back on the road with some information about the sea stone.

"perhaps it's buried deep within a large body of water...maybe lake biwa? but that's only from the rumors that I've heard after working here for so many years", the innkeeper informed.

hence why now the group was heading towards lake biwa, which was going to take a while, since they were currently in (present day) nagoya with no cars nor plane.

"lady himari, I've been wondering, but what are you going to do after we find the three stones?", itadori suddenly asked, as the woman was leaning against tōji once again, ruffling sukuna's baby pink fur.

     "mm...ask the shogunate to allow girls to start going to school...let girls become samurais and get more job opportunities too? then the economy will be more productive overall", himari stated.

     "oh! and start my own clothing store, because women wear so many damn layers, it feels like I'm drowning", himari exaggerated.

"h-huh? there's other styles other than kimonos and jūnihitoes?", rumi questioned, making himari grin.

"of course!! I'll draw it out for you sometime soon or something. just wait until you learn about sweatpants!", himari smiled, making rumi just nod, as once again, she didn't know what the woman was babbling about.

"S-STOP!! HELP!! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!", a feminine scream shouted, making itadori, gojō, and getō perk up as himari waved for them to go.

     "you go too, tōji! I'll stay here with rumi and ryō", himari stated, to which the dark-haired male had sighed, leisurely sliding off the horse as he scratched the back of his head, leaving.

himari carried sukuna with one hand, as the demon was still dozing off, despite the woman's scream.

"himari, should we tie the horses to the trees first then?", rumi asked, to which himari had nodded, nearly tripping when getting off of marengo.

the two girls then secured the reins to a nearby tree as they heard distanced grunting and the usage of weaponry.

"do you think that they'll be okay?", rumi worried, to which himari had scoffed.

"for sure! gojō's hallow purple be mad craz—"

"I'd worry less about them and more about yourself", a voice suddenly interrupted, to which before himari or rumi could counter, they had already passed out.

poor sukuna was still in his bunny form, to which the male couldn't escape or even help those two, as he was being crushed by himari when she fell forwards onto the ground.

without another spare moment, the two were gone, leaving only the horses, as the rest of the group came back alarmed.

"where are they?"

"RUMI!! LADY HIMARI?!"

"maybe they left to go gather branches for a fire?", itadori suggested.

"unlikely. the sky's still bright out, and they would've waited for us first", getō logically stated.

tōji squatted down as he covered his face, groaning.

     "why does this woman get herself into so much unnecessary shit?"

     "AH! WHAT IF THAT WAS JUST A PLOY TO GET US TO LEAVE?! WHAT IF SOMEBODY KIDNAPPED THEM?!", itadori shouted, suddenly coming to a realization.

     "that's probably the case", gojō nodded in agreement.

     "WHY ARE YOU ALL SO CALM ABOUT IT?! WHAT IF THEY—"

     "no worries, that demon's still with them", tōji interrupted.

     "also, we need to find out where they went, since the kidnapper did a pretty good job on covering their tracks", getō stated.

     "then I suppose we should start with the crying lady and bandits from just now, right?"

     himari softly clicked her tongue as her eyelids slowly fluttered open, wincing in pain as she massaged her sore neck.

skimming around the room, she witnessed that she was laying on top of a stack of hay with rumi, who was still passed out.

bunny sukuna was also beside himari, seemingly unconscious as well, as his fur was also quite dirtied.

with her ankles and wrists bind together and a cloth tightly covering her mouth, the woman rolled her eyes as she nudged the demon bunny.

"HMMM!! MMMMM!!!"

sukuna's nonexistent bunny brows furrowed, as he stirred awake, along with rumi, who had flinched in horror once she realized the situation that she was in.

himari shook her head, signaling for rumi to not make too much noise as she scooted over towards the brown-haired girl, facing her back at her maid, showcasing her tied hands.

rumi immediately understood, as she started detangling the ropes, trying her best as bunny sukuna bit the ones that bounded the woman's feet.

     once himari was free, she helped rumi, meanwhile asking why sukuna didn't turn back to his human form.

     "I think it has something to do with the smell of this room...it makes me feel very drowsy...", sukuna tiredly replied, to which himari had aggressively sniffed the air.

     "huh? but I don't smell anything...do you, rumi?"

     the brown-haired girl then shook her head.

     "hey ryō, are you sure that you—"

     if himari didn't know that sukuna was the king of demons, she would've thought that he was a dead bunny.

     not only did his ears droop, but his eyes were shut and he was all curled up beside himari.

     "what the fuck?"

     "maybe it's an incense that only demons can smell?", rumi questionably stated, making himari slightly concerned.

     "if we can't smell it, then how do we find it?"

     rumi simply gave an apologetic shrug, as the woman suddenly came to a realization.

     "that means that our kidnapper knows us quite a bit, and it might not just be some random hobo...ugh! they didn't even let me bring my holy sword!", the woman quietly complained, making rumi sweat drop.

     "I think that's the point, himari".

     the auburn-haired woman then sighed as she rubbed her temples.

     "say, rumi, do you know anyone who might hold a grudge against me?"

     "mm...well other than the owners of the shops that you once complained about, the servants, and young master naoya...I'm not sure who else", rumi honestly replied.

     himari bit her tongue as she cursed the original owner of this body internally.

     "what if they sangwoo our ankles? we need to get out of here asap!!"

     "h-huh?"

     "I-I mean, we need to leave like right no—"

     "stay where you are!", a male voice suddenly intruded, making the two flinch, as sukuna was still dead asleep.

     himari squinted her eyes, as she felt that the man in front of her looked awfully familiar, yet she couldn't exactly recall who he was.

     "I'm sorry sir, but who are you?"

     the dark-haired male — that had his hair tied up into a spiky ponytail — gritted his teeth as he pointed his sword at the two females.

     "muta kōkichi, your executioner!"

     himari paused for a moment.

     'bitch, who?!'