───

     "GOJŌ-SENSEI!! TŌJI-SENPAI?! GETŌ-SENPAI?! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!", itadori shouted, sighing, as they all became separated after the monstrous snowstorm.

scratching the back of his head, itadori suddenly squinted his eyes, as he saw a burst of fire diminishing and restarting.

trying to be as sneaky as possible, the pink-haired teen shuffled through the snow, hiding behind a few leafless trees, as he was instantly discovered.

     "huh? you're one of her companions aren't you?", the volcanic demon questioned.

     "mt. fuji??"

     the single-eyed demon gritted his dark teeth together, as his fists clenched, to which a small burst of lava had puffed out from his volcano top.

"JŌGO! MY NAME'S JŌGO, YOU BRAT!"

"ohhhhh!! so like gojō, but switched...that's cool! so, what are you doing up here? I thought volcanoes usually resided...ya know...not here?", itadori asked, to which the demon had grinned.

"I was originally looking for gojō satoru, but I suppose you could be a little warmup, if you'll even last that long, that is", jōgo haughtily mocked, immediately sending a line of flames towards itadori, incidentally burning the already barren trees.

     "HEY! I WASN'T READY YET!!", itadori shouted, now running up the hill, as he managed to dodge every line of flame thrown his way.

jōgo manically laughed, sending ember insects towards itadori's way, to which the boy had thought that he was about to get stung, before he felt someone grab onto his wrist and pull him back.

     "G-GOJŌ-SENSEI!!"

     "hey, yūji-kun! hope I wasn't too late", gojō grinned, watching the insects combust into flames, as jōgo didn't take another moment to hastily conjure up his disaster flames, punching it into the white-haired daimyo's stomach.

     a dent of charcoaled snow was left in the path of what used to be gojō and itadori, causing jōgo to celebrate with pride.

"aha! gojō satoru...the strongest? must've just been bluff!!", jōgo grinned, his smirk suddenly dropping as he felt two presences behind him.

immediately creating distance, jōgo's eye widened in shock at gojō standing perfectly unharmed meanwhile carrying itadori in his arm.

"h-how did you two..."

"huh? simple. it's because you're weak", gojō answered.

jōgo's volcanic top exploded into rage, as he conjoined his hands to make a sign.

     "YOU IMBECILE! I'LL KILL YOU!!", jōgo screamed.

     "DOMAIN EXPANSION: COFFIN ON THE IRON MOUNTAIN!"

     the snowy ground was then instantly replaced by a cracked one, with their surroundings bubbling and bursting with lava every so often.

     itadori choked on his saliva, as he looked up to see gojō indifferent.

"himari-chan's right. the best way to get out of a domain expansion is to cast your own", gojō smirked, crossing his fingers, as he calmly muttered his next words.

     "domain expansion: infinite void".

     meanwhile itadori was gazing at how rad gojō's domain expansion is, rumi was running for dear life, as the dry tree branches were moving like threads.

one twig almost caught her ankle, if it weren't for her running into getō and tōji, who had apparently gotten lost together.

"a-ah, getō-san...t-tōji-san..."

"rumi-san, are you okay? we were looking for the others, but it seems that luck is not on our side", getō sighed, helping the girl stabilize herself, as tōji immediately pulled out playful cloud — which he had apparently bought with himari that one time — from his worm.

"y-yeah! but the trees are acting really weird. they were chasing me...I'm worried that there might be some type of demon controlling them", rumi deduced, to which as predicted, a large white demon with a helmet-like head had appeared.

     "where are you running to, human?", it spoke, making rumi hide behind the two men, who were prepared to fight.

     "tōji-san, let's—"

     not even letting getō finish his sentence, the green-eyed male had swiftly started attacking the demon at immense speed.

     with each hit of the playful cloud, the demon spat out a purple-reddish blood.

     getō and rumi observed in amazement as the man sharpened playful cloud, causing an eerie noise, as it could stab through hanami's rough exterior.

     the demon quickly unsheathed the rose perched on top of his left shoulder, as it blossomed into a larger flower, with its roots acting as whips, meanwhile the center of the plant could swallow up an entire human.

     "getō-san, should you go help tōji-san?", rumi asked, as the crimson flower looked quite intimidating.

getō nodded, summoning some of his demons, as he left rumi's side to go aide tōji.

sukuna harshly kicked the snow in front of him, muttering a string of curses, as he was left alone, with no one in sight.

     "fucking hell! that troublesome woman and those extras", sukuna huffed, squinting his eyes, as he suddenly noticed a little wooden house that was just perched at a flat angle of this mountain.

humming to himself, the demon scurried towards the petite building, rudely kicking open the door, as he was greeted with a hug.

"RYŌ!! YOU'RE HERE!!"

     the demon king raised a brow, as he peeled himari away from himself.

     "it's just you here alone?"

     "mhm!! I couldn't find the others, so I thought I'd just wait here and see if anybody comes by", himari sheepishly replied.

     "I see...you didn't catch a cold or anything, did you?", sukuna asked, pinching the woman's cheek, as she chuckled.

     "nope!! healthy as ever", himari replied, holding onto sukuna's warm hand, as hers were as cold as winter itself.

     sukuna took a few more steps inside, as he skimmed the worn down abode.

"say, how do you think we should find the others?", sukuna asked, taking a seat on a futon, as himari proceeded to do the same.

"well...I was thinking of waiting a while longer. if not, maybe we could start a fire and let the smoke reach the sky so that they could see the signal?"

the demon king nodded, as he suddenly sighed, causing himari to perk up.

"is something the matter, ryō?"

"I was just thinking...what if we stayed here instead?"

himari paused for a moment.

"what do you mean?"

"what if we...just stayed here? just us two? for the rest of eternity?", sukuna slightly grinned, caressing the woman's slightly surprised face, as his hand fell onto the crook of himari's neck and shoulder.

"y-you mean...j-just us two...together...forever?", the woman unsurely breathed out, causing sukuna to nod.

"I...yes..."

sukuna's grin widened, as he leaned in close, supporting the woman's neck, as his breath fanned the woman's icy lips.

     with himari believing that sukuna was about to kiss her, her eyes closed, as a small smile had blossomed onto her face.

     however, it quickly dispersed, as sukuna's next words sent shivers down her spine.

"you dare pretend to be her and lie to my face? tell me where she is before I snap your neck this instance".