───

HIMARI WAS CLENCHING ONTO THE wooden railing that was attached to the wall, meanwhile tōdō was trying to pry the woman off by tightly gripping onto himari's ankles.

     "BROTHER, WHY ARE YOU RESISTING THE WAY OF BEING A MAN?!", tōdō shouted.

     "OPEN YOUR EYES AND LET GO OF THE BAR SO THAT WE CAN TALK IN THE HOT SPRINGS!"

"I-I'M HONORED!! BUT WHY CAN'T WE JUST TALK OUTSIDE?!", himari screamed back, still shutting her eyes, as everyone gawked at the duo weirdly.

"brother, why are you even closing your eyes? it's an all male hot spring!", tōdō stated.

'EXACTLY!', himari internally cried.

it wasn't until a few moments later that himari had felt a warm embrace, as it felt like she was suddenly being carried.

     the woman's face was covered by an abnormally large hand, to which she could recognize it as tōji's — from the amount of callouses.

     "lad—I-I mean lord hima, are you okay?", itadori asked, to which tōdō had raised a brow at the woman's supposed status.

     "apologies, but our lord has a phobia of taking baths with other men. he's self-conscious, if you know what I mean", gojō whispered, to which himari felt her entire face burn up.

     with tōji carrying the woman bridal style, himari's face dug into the crook of the man's neck; the dark-haired male then walked out with himari meanwhile the rest had awkwardly shuffled into the hot spring.

     "you're such a problematic woman. and to think that you had slayed a snake that was four times your size", tōji scoffed, making himari peek through her fingers, as she showcased a playful yet apologetic smile.

     "well to be fair, I had the help of suzaku...", himari mumbled, slightly pouting.

     "so you're saying that you're completely useless, huh?", tōji asked, making himari gasp.

     "sir, don't come for me like that, even if you're right, okay?! my feelings will get hurt...", himari mumbled, sticking her pointer fingers together as tōji wondered what the hell the woman was doing.

     nevertheless, tōji had patted the woman's head, gently ruffling her hair, surprising himari.

"huh? wha—"

     "you did good today", tōji quietly muttered, passing by the woman as he entered the male's hot springs, leaving himari there to process his words.

     the woman then suddenly snapped out of his trance as she took this opportunity to sneak into the woman's bathing area.

     "soft tōji do be kinda hot doe...", himari snickered.

     "WOAHH!! LADY HIMARI, HOW'D YOU DO THAT WITH RUMI'S HAIR?!", itadori asked, as the brown-haired girl now had two dutch braids that draped onto her shoulders.

himari grinned as she shrugged.

"natural talent I guess~", the woman self-praised, as tōji and gojō watched from the other side of the room, drying their hair with a towel.

"himari, shouldn't you dry your hair? it's getting late, and your hair's pretty long", rumi stated.

     "huh? oh, no worries!! I'll just use the blow dry—"

     the woman suddenly realized that she was back in the ancient times.

     "FUCK! WHYYYY?!", himari whined, covering her face as she fell onto her futon that rumi had helped set up.

     to save on costs, the group decided to rent one room to share, where the men and women's futons were separated by a small, rectangular divider.

"himari, please get up so that I can dry your hair", rumi nagged, making the woman sigh as she sat upright.

"hai~"

"say, lady himari, where do you get all these weird ideas and words? like sometimes I hear you mumbling to yourself and it's kind of creepy...", itadori stated, suddenly flinching as himari glared at him with her red hair all splattered across her face.

"y'all are just uncultured", the woman huffed, crossing her arms.

     "oh yeah? says the woman that didn't know what the stones of the three precious children were", sukuna scoffed.

     himari shook her head.

     "a boomer will always be a boomer".

     "a what?!"

     "exactly", himari matter-of-factly replied, making sukuna's brows furrow.

     "but what do those words even mean? I mean, if no one but you can understand it, doesn't it mean that you're uncultured?", itadori mumbled, making himari snap her head towards the pink-haired boy.

"y-y-yūji-kun, I-I wouldn't—"

himari immediately stood up as rumi watched in horror; the grown woman was chasing the teenage boy who was screaming.

"I'M SORRY LADY HIMARI!! I'M SORRY!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! YOU LOOK REALLY SCARY RIGHT NOW!", itadori squealed, running around the room as himari had somehow managed to grab itadori's collar and pull the boy into a chokehold.

"I treat you so well and this is what I get in return? yūjiiiiiii~ I will haunt you for all of eternityyyyyy~", himari whispered, making itadori scream even louder as the woman suddenly felt somehow pick her up and detach her from the teenage boy.

"please stop scaring him, himari-san. and here's a comb for your hair", getō smiled, making himari snort as itadori sniffled a little.

"for a twenty year-old woman, you sure are childish", sukuna scoffed.

"says the one thousand year-old demon", himari quietly muttered, stopping getō by clenching onto his wrist as the man raised a brow.

"can I brush your hair please?"

"you mean...can I brush your hair?"

himari shook her head.

"I've always wanted to run my hands through your hair and braid it since you die—I-I mean what?! CAN I JUST PLEASE TOUCH YOUR HAIR??", himari aggressively smiled, making the dark-haired male a little weirded out, but nevertheless nod.

     himari excitedly clapped her hands together as she awaited for getō to settle down in front of her, meanwhile she took the comb and started brushing through the man's silky hair.

     'SILKY HAIR, SILKY HAIR, HEAD EMPTY JUST SILKY HAIR!!'

the auburn-haired woman happily started braiding at the center of getō's hairline, going towards the center as she tied the man's hair up into a bun.

"damn, if I'm not talented, I don't know what I am", himari joked to herself, messing up her hard work, as she knew the man slept with his hair down — I mean, who sleeps comfortably with their hair up?

meanwhile everyone else was starting to head to their own futon, himari had entangled her hands through getō's hair once more, unconsciously leaning in a bit as the man could feel the woman's closeness.

"smells nice", himari softly complimented, making getō feel the hair on his neck stand up as he cleared his throat, hastily standing up as he slightly dipped his head.

"thanks for...playing with my hair, lady himari. goodnight", getō curtly stated as himari just shrugged, crawling onto her flat mattress as rumi sighed at the woman's messy hair.

"sleep well, himari".

"you too, rumi!!"