───

    "H-HIMARI, YOUR FATHER'S LOOKING FOR THE LIST!!", rumi warned, coughing as himari hastily handed her maid a cup of water.

"OH SHIT!! QUICK, COVER FOR ME!", himari stated, as she cracked open the window and hopped out, running across the field of their large estate, as sukuna — who was about to go back to himari's room — had raised a brow.

     "oi! where are you goin—"

     "NO TIME LEFT TO EXPLAIN! COME WITH ME", himari shouted as she snatched the demon's wrist, pulling him towards the outskirts of their house.

     "SLOW DOWN! WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE EVEN GOING?!"

     "JUST SHUT UP AND FOLLOW ME!", himari screamed back, as she instantly stopped, making sukuna crash into her.

"THE HELL?! DON'T JUST STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, YOU DIMWIT!"

"chile! you're so fucking heavy, ryō! get off!!", himari retorted, trying to push the demon king off, as himari's back was against the grass.

     "not with that fucking attitude!"

     himari gasped, seeing as sukuna's face was dangerously close to hers.

     "I'm warning you. I will not hesitate to kiss you right here, right now, if you don't fucking move", the woman lowly threatened.

     "huh? are you sick in the head? you would kiss a demon?"

     "yes, yes I am sick in the head. now move", himari stated, making sukuna snort.

     "you're lyi—"

himari hastily grabbed sukuna's face, as she smashed her lips against his, making his eyes widen, as she suddenly pushed the male off.

     "and you were saying?"

     sukuna sat there, stunned.

     either she was mental, or she truly had no qualms of angering the king of demons.

"are you just going to sit on the grass? I've got something to do before dinner time", himari stated, offering her hand, as sukuna scoffed.

"I don't need your help", the demon grunted, as he stood up by himself, making himari shrug.

"damn, we kiss and this is the attitude that you give me? the audacity", himari playfully teased, making sukuna click his tongue in annoyance.

"just shut the fuck up and go do what you have to already!"

"okay okay, someone woke up on the wrong side of bed today", himari snickered, making sukuna debate whether the woman's soul was even worth it or not.

'maybe I should just kill h—'

himari suddenly grabbed sukuna's hand as she dragged the man towards a food stall that was in the market near her house.

     "two senbeis please", himari requested, paying as the stall owner handed the woman two large japanese rice crackers.

     "here. stop being grumpy now, okay?"

     sukuna held the rice cracker as he watched himari happily bite into hers, meanwhile still holding onto his other hand and pulling him towards another stall.

     "good afternoon customer! how may I help you today?", the middle-aged man asked.

     "hey! I need the most talented and handsome men drawn with their name, age, height, weight, and a brief description of them on paper before dinner time", himari stated, making the man utterly baffled.

"that's impossib—"

himari quickly dropped a bag of mon on the stall owner's counter, making the man gawk at the amount of money.

"you've got yourself a deal!"

"where's she?", hotaru asked, sitting at the head of the dinner table, as tōji, itadori, and rumi didn't have an answer.

"p-perhaps lady himari's gone s-shopping...?", itadori replied, hearing the head of the nakajima clan sigh.

     without a doubt, himari suddenly busted through the shoji with sukuna, holding a thick stack of papers.

"father, I have found the list. what a coincidence that it was right under my tea table right?"

the woman then placed the stack of papers beside her father, meanwhile taking a seat beside tōji.

"you all can leave now", hotaru stated, to which himari had internally groaned at tōji and sukuna's departure.

as everyone had cleared out of the dining room, hotaru suddenly spoke once more.

     "himari".

     "yes?", the nervous woman responded, gripping tightly onto her chopsticks as she nearly stabbed the dead yellowtail's eyeball.

     "I actually don't need this list", the man honestly said, making himari cringe at the amount of money that she had wasted today.

"oh".

"however, I do have a concern with the people you're keeping around yourself", hotaru stated.

"okay dad, I swear to gege, ryō and tōji might be a little wack in the head, but I promise that they're actually okay peop—"

"do you have a crush on them?", hotaru interrupted, making himari pause.

     "u-umm...pardon?"

     "I asked if you liked them. himari, I may be old, but I'm not dense. this clearly isn't the same list that lord yoshiaki gave me", hotaru replied, making himari thickly swallow her saliva.

     "oh...", she squeaked out. "so you knew I burned it..."

     hotaru nearly choked.

     "I thought you threw it away! not burn it!!"

     "BURN?! DID I SAY BURN? I-I SAID TURN...into waste", himari lied, making hotaru shake his head in disappointment.

     "anyways, it's about time you get married, himari. after that whole naoya situation, I've been extremely worried that you won't find someone", hotaru stated.

     "married?! but I'm only twenty!"

     "I married your mother when I was eighteen. most girls would've already been married by at least eighteen. you're two years late!"

     "okay, but I'm not ready to settle down yet! I've got dreams to live and places to go", himari smiled.

     "there's war all around us right now. where could you possibly go? and I'm not getting any younger, himari. I need someone to become the next head of the nakajima clan".

     "I told you that I can step in and—"

     "himari, enough of your foolishness. you're not a child anymore. it was my fault for not being stern enough with you in the past, and hence why the naoya situation became the talk of the town. but now that you're back and you've thought over your wrongdoings, I suggest you find a husband soon and settle down".

before himari could protest any more, hotaru had stood up and left the room, leaving himari with her cold rice.

rumi and the others slightly peeked their heads at the stunned woman.

'bitch, what the fuck just happened?!'