───

     HIMARI DESERVED AN OSCAR. not only did she scream as loud as she could when tōji had appeared, but she even teared up a little, as if she were truly being sacrificed to sukuna.

     "oh no....I'm going to die soon~", himari weeped, as getō confusingly gripped tightly onto the woman's forearm.

"what in carnation is—"

the four were currently still in the woods — the deeper part of the forest — where an old shrine resided.

after two and a half days of camping outside in the forest, getō and gojō were quite exhausted, considering how many random demons had tried to attack them — well, attack himari, because there was a said bounty on her head.

     and who put the bounty on her head?

     our one and only dilf: fushiguro tōji.

     as soon as the three arrived at the outer rim of some abandoned shrine, with sukuna and maki still observing from afar, gojō had deactivated his limitless momentarily, as it was quite draining.

     and not to himari's surprise, a katana had pierced through gojō's torso, leaving the two men surprised, as himari feigned distress.

"why're you—"

"hand her over", tōji plainly stated, now making gojō and getō doubt the man's intentions since the very beginning.

     it was possible that tōji only stayed close to himari for her wealth, but now that his plans have changed, perhaps he had wanted to assassinate her.

     "suguru, take her and run!", gojō commanded, to which the dark-haired male had nodded, meanwhile himari was carried away bridal style.

     tōji clicked his tongue as getō had sent a giant hookworm demon his way, only for it to be sliced and diced up.

     gojō apparently wasn't affected much, as the man had activated his technique lapse: blue.

     however, tōji's speed and reflexes were beyond humane. although the man didn't possess any powers, his physical prowess made up for it.

     not only was tōji able to avoid gojō's attack, but he was able to cover enough ground to appear behind the white-haired male.

     meanwhile gojō and tōji were fighting it out, himari was still in getō's arms, swiftly swishing by the copious amount of trees.

"what the hell's going on?! why's he suddenly after you", getō sternly asked, stopping in the middle of the forest to catch a break.

"I don't know man...I just picked him up off the roads and now he's just wanting to murder me I guess", himari sniffled, wiping away her nearly nonexistent tears, as getō's spine suddenly felt shivers down itself.

     a jagged weapon was then shot towards the duo, to which getō had successfully pulled himari into safety, as tōji stood there with a proud grin.

"where's satoru?!"

"passed out, now hand over her", tōji stated, outstretching his arm, as getō ushered himari to go hide behind one of the trees.

maki couldn't believe what she had saw, as it was indeed possible for someone without powers to overturn their own fate and succeed in taking down one with powers.

"not until you—"

"OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH!! thank you for your hard work, you two. also, I'm pretty sure gojō's fine, but we should go get him before he like dies or some shit", himari chuckled, making both men confused, as sukuna and maki immediately appeared.

     "huh? what the hell is goin—", tōji momentarily paused as he suddenly realized it was all himari's plan all along.

     they were getting played.

     "you bitc—"

     "mah, mah~ don't be so uptight. so, what do you think, maki?", himari smiled, wringing her arm around the girl, who had awkwardly cleared her throat.

"I...i-it seems that I was wrong...sorry, tōji-sensei", maki bowed, to which the dark-haired male had just shrugged.

"yeah whatever kid", the man gruffly replied.

"you on the other hand, were—"

"outta pocket? yes, I know, I know. I'm sorry I have wasted your time and effort. in return, I'll up your monthly payment by one zero", himari interrupted, making tōji huff in content.

"also, we should really go get gojō. I'm almost worried for that man, almost", himari stated, about to start heading back until the said male had appeared with blood dripping down his body.

"you're telling me...that I got stabbed...just for all this to be a joke?"

himari suddenly felt herself back up towards getō, as gojō's sky blue eyes suddenly looked very, very threatening.

"w-well...it...it was all for maki to stay!! SO IT WASN'T ALL FOR NOTHING....technically....", himari mumbled with a weak smile, hiding behind getō, as gojō cracked his neck and fingers.

"himari-chan, say, have you ever been stabbed before?"

"HIMARI!! YOU'RE BACK! I WAS SO WORR—"

rumi halted in the middle of her sentence as she saw the female passed out in tōji's arms.

"what...what happened to her? is she alright?"

tōji snorted.

"yeah, she just passed out because that white-haired daimyo tried to stab her while she was pinned down by his friend or whatever", tōji explained, making rumi even more concerned.

     "why would gojō-sama try to stab her?"

     tōji laid himari down on her futon as sukuna just lowly chuckled.

     "because she played with them and probably wounded his all mighty ego", the demon replied.

     rumi's brows furrowed even more as she just meekly nodded, kneeling beside the unconscious woman, who's scattered red hair was beyond organized.

     "anyways, I'm going to go sleep now. I can't believe I wasted all my energy for all this shit", tōji grumbled, exiting himari's room, as sukuna had promptly done the same.

     as soon as the shoji had closed, one of himari's eyes had peeked open, making rumi gasp.

     "himari! you—"

     "shhhhh!! if I didn't pretend to pass out, who knows whether gojō would've actually stabbed me or not...that crazy son of a b—"

     "himari! you have no idea how worried you made me!! could you at least tell me the next time you pull something like this?!"

     himari awkwardly chuckled as she ruffled rumi's brown hair.

     "gomen, gomen!! this won't happen again, I promise", the woman smiled, making rumi sigh, as even though she was younger, she was obviously the more responsible one.

     "anyways, tomorrow's the day that we have to head into the palace. should I prepare some snacks, since last time you said that you weren't full even after dessert?", rumi asked.

     "YES MA'A—I mean, yes please! also, I think I'm going to bring in my squad and show lord yoshiaki how swag they are! ugh, I'm so big brain, it almost hurts", himari self-praised, making rumi giggle.

     "sure you are, himari".