───

RUMI WAS ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED and baffled at the same time. she wasn't sure whether she should be happy that there's suddenly vegetation outside the house, or concerned that there was a strange man following her lady.

     "ah, I met him outside. he looked all sad and lonely so I picked him up", himari casually informed, making it seem as if sukuna was like some abandoned puppy or something.

     "o-oh...I see...umm...how may I address you, mister?", rumi kindly asked.

"suku—"

"ryō! his name is ryō. cute, right?", himari butted in, making sukuna click his tongue as he simply crossed his two human arms.

"o-oh! okay! ryō-san, would you like the spare room next to the stairs? I can clean it up and—"

"nah! he'll just share one with me. I have questions about this worl—I mean about my future, since you know, I'm going to be here for a while anyways".

     "hm? what do you mean, lady himari? you've already been here for nearly five months. there's only two more weeks before your father will escort us back", rumi smiled, to which himari shouldn't even be surprised anymore.

     after all, she just did swap souls with some random body, and who even knew what wack timeline this was.

     "ah, okay okay. um...is...is my father nice?", himari questioned, making sukuna give the woman a weird look.

"I-IT'S JUST THAT I HAVEN'T SEEN HIM IN SO LONG SO...."

rumi nodded.

"master hotaru is very nice and exceptionally caring towards all his subordinates and especially you, my lady! however, he's also strict with his samurais, so it all depends on perspective I suppose", rumi smiled.

himari then hummed as she started wriggling her brows at rumi, making the maid slightly uncomfortable.

     "say, rumi, do you fancy my fathe—"

     "L-LADY HIMARI, P-PLEASE!! THAT'S FORBIDDEN AND PLEASE STOP TEASING ME!", rumi choked out, making sukuna lowly chuckle as himari shrugged.

     "ah it's okay rumi. I was just messing with you. and you can just call me himari. after all, calling me lady is lowkey weird".

     "l-lowkey?"

     "you know what? I think it's time for bed", himari awkwardly laughed, pulling sukuna out the kitchen as rumi tilted her head to the side.

"this early?"

     "okay, so it's 1554, which means that it's the warring period...so oda nobunaga's twenty..."

     "what the hell are your murmuring about? and what's your ultimate goal? I can't just keep doing what you ask without compensation!"

     "you compensation is my soul; we've already established that. and my goal...I've got two", himari decided.

     "oh? is it to wreck havoc and rule all of japan? do you wish to release me on tangent and murder all those that have wronged you?", sukuna grinned, starting to get excited at the thought of blood smeared across his hands.

     "sir, please stop projecting. that sounds like YOUR goal, not mine", himari huffed, writing down all the events that have happened so far, so that she doesn't forget anything.

     "ugh, you're so boring! usually humans wants money, women or men, and/or a mansion. why can't you just be easy like them", sukuna groaned, plopping onto the futon, as himari rubbed her temples.

     "anyways, my first goal is to meet all my favorite jujutsu kaisen characters. there's a lot so..."

     "jujutsu...what now?"

     himari didn't even bother explaining as she went onto her second goal.

     "second, I want to take revenge on naoya just for fun! I wonder who he married. should I be offended?"

     "hah? for fun? why don't you just ask me to murder him and rip out his guts or something?"

     "ryō, just because you like the thrill in the moment, doesn't mean I do, okay? I want to see him get steppe—I mean, I want him to suffer and have maki, my queen, be the head of the zen'in clan", himari daydreamed.

     "who's maki? sounds like a woman, but you know that women can't inherit clans right?", sukuna questioned, leaning his face against the palm of his hand.

     himari then dropped her brush and skipped over towards the futon, snuggling under the blankets as she had no fear sleeping beside sukuna.

     after all, why would she?

     the red-haired woman then grinned as she booped sukuna's nose.

     "and that's where you come in, mister king of demons. if my amazing persuading skills don't work, then brute force it is!"

     himari then sighed as she suddenly remembered something else.

     "oh, and this is a prerequisite, but you have to protect me at all times, because I want to see people before I die", himari instructed, to which sukuna had scoffed.

     "please, with me guarding you, no being will be able to get pass me", sukuna boasted.

'mm...there might be one or two, but okay'.

"yeah okay. well, goodnight", himari yawned.

"isn't it like eight?"

"I've had a long day. you wouldn't understand, so just shhhhh and yeah..."

himari would've loved to hug sukuna to sleep, but she was sure that the king of demons would've broken her limb for doing so.

after all, he's still innately a demon.

sukuna just observed as the woman's fiery red locks sprawled all across her pillow, meanwhile her face was relaxed, showing that she was comfortable around him.

     it was surely odd.

     everyone feared him to no ends, yet himari didn't seem the least bit frightened. however, sukuna didn't really mind, as he was going to devour her soul after their contract anyways.

     himari shuffled around as she suddenly faced sukuna, who had laid his head down right beside the sleeping woman.

     "what a weird woman you are", the king of demons muttered, turning around as with a snap of his fingers, the candles in the room had diminished.

     'speak for yourself, demon king'.