───

     HIMARI HATED WET HAIR. the woman dangled it above the fire, as she made sure not to burn the ends of her curls.

     "suguru, can you help me cut some bangs now? I think it's like eighty percent dry", himari stated.

"himari, are you sure you want bangs? if you don't like them, it'll take a long while for them to grow back", rumi cautioned.

"yeahhh! I'm thinking of going for a slightly new look", himari smiled, to which tōji had pulled out a pair of scissors from his demon purs—I mean weapon holder.

     getō wiped the scissors down as he sighed.

     "are you sure you want me to cut them? I've never done hair before", the man honestly said.

"sure you have! look at how nice your hair is", himari smiled.

"maintaining hair and cutting hair are completely different things", gojō scoffed, causing himari to stick her tongue out at the man.

"I mean...sukuna could probably use his powers to grow it back if you don't like it, right?", itadori suggested, to which everyone's attention was now on the demon.

     "like I'd use my powers for some petty shi—"

sukuna ended up regrowing himari's bangs at least six times, as getō needed the practice.

     "okay! I think it looks pretty good now", getō proudly smiled, letting rumi hold up a pocket mirror that she always carried around.

     "WOW!! YOU DID GREAT, SUGURU! THANK YOU!!", the woman exclaimed, lumping onto the dark-haired male as he just lightly chuckled, patting himari's back.

     "tch! you should be thanking me! I regrew your hair SIX times, you ungrateful woman!", sukuna huffed, crossing his arms as himari smiled.

     "hai hai~ thank you so much, my oh-so-mighty demon king!"

     sukuna grumbled something beneath his breath as he laid on on his mattress, meanwhile himari admired her newly cut bangs.

"so can we go to bed now?", tōji asked, to which himari had happily nodded.

     "yep! goodnight everyone!!"

     "goodnight himari", a few replied, meanwhile sukuna diminished the fire with a snap of his fingers.

     it wasn't until midnight had stuck, that himari had woken up to do her usual practicing routine.

     the woman yawned as she had an internal conflict with herself every time she did this.

     'should I just skip a night and go back to bed? but I need to get stronger...but I'm also very tired...'

     softly whining, himari stood up and grabbed her holy sword, trudging a bit further away from their campsite so that she didn't wake anyone up.

     yawning and stretching her muscles first, himari unsheathed her sword as she started with her basic swinging technique.

     with getō's assistance, himari did indeed improve on listening to her surroundings, hence why the woman suddenly halted in her practice, sharply glancing around.

     a sudden weeping was heard, making himari grimace, as she knew that this was some horror movie shit and that she shouldn't go towards it.

about to turn back to the campsite, himari immediately paused as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

     "oh hell no...", the woman quietly muttered, stiffening up as she very slowly turned her head around, finding an old woman who had very dry white hair — probably because she didn't shampoo and condition it.

     "u-umm...may I help you?", himari stuttered out.

     the old woman sniffled a bit, clenching onto her ragged kimono.

"I-I lost my grandson...have you seen him?! I've been looking through these mountains all day...and...and I've yet to find him...please...please help me...", the old granny sobbed, making himari very skeptical.

"u-umm...okay!! but let me get my friends to help, because they're all very strong and—"

"NO!! I-I mean...it shouldn't take more than you to help me find him. I wouldn't want to bother your friends...", the old lady kindly rejected.

     himari then started awkwardly laughing.

     "now you're getting really sketchy...so I'm just gonna run for it!"

as himari booked it, she occasionally glanced back to see the old woman still standing there, until a red beady eye suddenly met her panicked gaze, causing her to scream.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, HUMAN?! YOU'RE MY LATE NIGHT SNACK!!", the old woman madly giggled, chasing after himari at an insane speed.

"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING SO DAMN FAST?! CHILLE! YOU LOOK AT LEAST EIGHTY", himari screamed, panting, as she was starting to get confused with where she was, considering all trees looked the exact same.

"YOU RUDE CHILD! I WILL SKIN YOU LIVE AND THEN BOIL YOU!!", the old woman screeched, making himari stop running as she raised her holy sword up.

     "I won't hesitate, bitch!"

     the yama-uba — a cannibalistic demon that had the appearance of an old woman — bared her broken teeth at the auburn-haired woman, creating a hissing sound.

     her long, crusty nails tinkered in midair, as she boldly took a step closer.

himari then dropped her sword, covering her mouth as her eyes widened in terror.

     the yama-uba confusingly stared at himari for a good second before turning around, to which she had saw nothing until her wrinkly face had turned back around.

     "YOU—"

     a sword had briskly penetrated her stomach, meanwhile himari held a proud grin on her face, pushing the sword in deeper, as blood trickled down the old woman's dry lips.

     "one should never turn their backs on their enemy", himari stated, pulling her sword out, as the demon's body instantly fell onto the leafy ground.

     the woman extended her hand towards himari, choking on her own blood as her wound simply didn't help.

himari boldly stabbed the old lady a few more times, just to make sure that she was completely dead, before sighing a breath of relief.

an abrupt clapping was heard, causing himari to stumble backwards in fear of another demon.

"I can't believe you actually killed her. I thought you wouldn't have the guts to", a teasing voice chuckled, making himari slightly knit her brows at where the sound was coming from.

"up here!", gojō waved, jumping off the base of the bamboo.

landing right in front of the baffled woman, he grinned as he wiped a few drops of blood off himari's under eye, making her squint.

"you were here the entire time and you didn't even bother to help?!"

"well I wanted to see if you improved from that night or not", gojō slyly replied, making himari huff.

"of course I did! I've been working hard!", the woman proudly admitted.

"hm...good job", gojō muttered, sticking his arms in the opposite sleeves of his nighttime kimono.

"huh? what was that?", himari questioned.

"I said...good j—HEY! YOU TOTALLY HEARD IT THE FIRST TIME!"

himari softly chuckled as she shrugged.

"I just wanted to hear you say it again".

"why? want my approval that bad?", gojō smirked.

"pft, no! it's just that you're kinda strong...so hearing it from you makes me feel at least somewhat accomplished...", himari mumbled, glaring at the white-haired daimyo as gojō's playful grin had dropped.

"well I mean what I said", the male stated, making himari awkwardly shuffle her feet as she scratched the back of her head.

"we should go now...it's getting late", himari grumbled, to which gojō had nodded in agreement.

getō hurried back towards the campsite with impeccable speed as he unconsciously sighed, making himself confused.

     "why am I sighing? I should be happy that they're starting to get along", the man mumbled to himself, cracking a weak smile.