───

     MIWA HESITANTLY ACCEPTED THE BOTTLE of belladonna, as she nervously anticipated himari's next words.

"you'll get hallucinations for a few minutes before you fall into a deep sleep that will make you seem like you're dead. I already gave mechamaru the antidote, so the choice is up to you now", himari explained.

"so when I wake up....if I wake up—"

"you most definitely will. I tried it on myself first", himari assured.

"l-lady himari!! you didn't have to put your life on the line for someone as useless as me!!"

himari gasped.

"miwa kasumi, you are NOT useless in the slightest!! in fact, after you and mechamaru get together, I was hoping you two would join my little squad. it needs to be remodeled a bit and I'm still missing two people, but I assure you that it's worthwhile", himari smiled.

     "m-me?! I've certainly heard about your growing samurai group from naoya-san...so it's true that you're having girls join your team too?!", miwa excitedly asked, causing himari to nod.

     "yep!! and I think that you'd be a great fit! you could use a katana and train alongside all these new people!! I honestly think that you'd have a lot of fun", himari rambled, making miwa crack a small smile.

     for some reason, she felt a great trust between them, as even though it's only been a few minutes, it's as if himari's personality had completely changed for the better.

     "kasumi...kasumi??"

     "h-huh? o-oh, yeah! thank you for the offer, lady himari! I'd be honored...", the girl shyly answered.

     "just call me himari! no need to be so formal. anyways, here's the poison. I'm going to leave before I get caught, so see you later!!", himari said, about to climb out the window before someone had bursted through the door.

     miwa's assigned maids suddenly loudly screamed at the intruder, alerting the entire zen'in household, as himari watched miwa shoo her away.

     "shit!!"

     muta already left, as himari instructed the boy to escape just in case they were exposed.

stumbling onto the grass, himari quickly placed bunny sukuna on the ground, as the zen'in samurais nearly surrounded miwa's entire room.

     "ryō!!! hurry up and get me out of here!", himari whispered, to which the bunny had rolled his eyes, before the demon king had changed back to his human form.

"you troublesome woman! why not just let me kill them al—"

     himari immediately covered sukuna's mouth, as various heavy footsteps were nearing them at an extreme pace.

     "now", himari lowly demanded, to which sukuna had sighed, swooping the auburn-haired woman off her feet, as he hastily jumped from rooftop to rooftop at high speed.

     himari shut her eyes, as she had a fear of falling. even when she used to visit the tokyo tower with her friends, she'd opt to just stay on the first floor.

     sukuna snorted at the woman's scrunched up face, making him purposely "almost" drop the woman, forcing himari to snap open her eyes.

"WHAT THE HELL'S YOUR ISSUE?!"

"yell at me again and I won't hesitate to drop you right here right now", sukuna threatened, immediately making himari smile.

"pshhhh!! I was just jokingggg, my fabulous king!! why so serious?", himari awkwardly chuckled, causing sukuna to halt, as the two had arrived a few minutes away from the gojō estate.

     "quit faking it woman. you're not scared of me in the slightest", sukuna huffed.

himari lightly chuckled.

"why? do you want to be feared?", himari asked, kicking the tiny pebbles around her, as she intertwined her own hands behind her back.

     "obviously. I'm the king of demons for a reason", sukuna stated.

     "why are you the king of demons, by the way? like I know you're powerful and stuff, but were you always a demon?", himari asked, to which sukuna's pointer finger had discreetly recoiled.

     the man quickly grabbed himari's face, squishing her cheeks, as he stared down at her.

      "of course I was! what type of stupid question is that?", the demon scoffed, making himari squirm around as she tried to pry the man's strong grip off.

     "geezzzz!! it was just a question...no need to be so stingy about it", himari pouted, making sukuna hum, as he gently loosened his grasp.

     himari then softly sighed, as her hands were still encasing sukuna's tattooed one.

     "what are you doing?", sukuna asked, squinting his eyes in suspicion, as the woman was always up to something.

"hm? nothing, I just like holding you hand", himari cheekily replied with a genuine smile.

sukuna made a disgusted expression as he used his other hand to cover himari's face entirely.

"HEY!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET YOUR HAND OFF—"

"shut up! your face just looks annoying!", sukuna spat, making himari gasp.

"bitch, just because you're hot doesn't mean you have the rights to insult my face, okay? and for your information, I think I actually look pretty hot!", himari retorted.

sukuna released the woman's face, as he turned around, crossing his arms.

himari then raised a brow at the demon's weird attitude.

peeking to his left, the demon king ever so slightly turned right, avoiding himari's curious gaze.

     "what's with you? you've been acting so sus recently", himari mumbled, making sukuna tilt his head down towards the woman with incertitude.

     "I've been acting what now?"

     himari shook her head, waving it off as she took this opportunity to harshly sandwich sukuna's face with her hands, making him dip his upper body even lower.

     the woman then playfully smacked a kiss on top of the demon's forehead, instantly causing sukuna's eyes to widen as his body involuntarily stepped away from himari.

"you crazy woman! what the fuck was that for?!"

himari snickered as she shrugged.

"it's a special reward to you for doing sooooo much for me all the time! weren't you getting pressed because you didn't receive a gift?"

sukuna lightly gasped.

"I was not! and who said that I wanted your nasty kiss?!"

himari hummed as she took a step forward, making sukuna step back.

"oh come on, ryō!! GIVE ME A KISS BACK!! I DESERVE ONE SINCE I ALWAYS CARRY YOU AROUND!!", himari laughed, chasing the demon around the field, as the demon denied the woman's request.

"AS A BUNNY! I'M NOT EVEN THAT HEAVY!"

"OKAY, BUT A FAT ONE!", himari insulted, making sukuna stop, as the red-haired woman suddenly halted too.

"n-no wait!! I-I might've misspoken a bit!! what I meant was that you're—"

     "say, didn't you want a kiss? come here~", sukuna grinned, his face suddenly flashing himari a crazed expression.

     "a-ahaha...y-you're giving me major killer vibez right now, and I don't fuck with that, so I'll just..."

     "maybe I should just take your soul ahead of time as compensation", sukuna darkly chuckled, chasing after the sweating himari, as the woman started sobbing.

     "WHDKDJDK I ALREADY SAID I'M SORRYYY!!"