───

     "GREETINGS, LADY HIMARI. WE HAVE come to retrieve you by the orders of master hotaru", one of the many samurais bowed.

      "WOAHHH!! father must've really spent a fortune on this carriage! thanks buddy", himari exclaimed, as she quickly hopped on the ride with rumi and sukuna.

      "b-buddy? did lady himari just call me buddy?", the man whispered, to which the other guards were a bit skeptical of the woman's new attitude too.

     "are we leaving or what?", himari asked, sticking her head out the window, as the guards nodded.

     "y-yes, miss!"

     himari then sighed as she felt the bumpy ride begin, wondering what the hell her "father" looked like.

     "say, rumi, does my dad have red hair too?", himari asked, forcing sukuna to lie down on her lap as she entangled her fingers through his pinkish-coral-colored hair.

     sukuna didn't understand why he was being demanded to do so, but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't quite soothing.

"I-I mean...it's just because I haven't seen him in months and y-you know...I can't remember if it was red or...brown?"

"oh no. master hotaru actually has dark brown hair and the same color eyes", rumi responded.

"oh. so I inherited all my genes from my mom".

     "indeed!", rumi smiled.

     himari sighed. "by the way, what age do boys become samurais?"

     "around fourteen to fifteen, why?"

     'because I want to see my baby yūji and megumi, but—WAIT! since it's the 1500s, does that mean women aren't allowed to become samurais? shit! what was the history behind this again??'

"umm...himari?"

"o-oh! I was just thinking because I was hoping to meet some new samurais this year...I think..."

himari then suddenly realized that she knew nothing about the ages of the characters and which characters are even present.

"whatever the case is, I hope tōji's still alive", himari muttered, to which sukuna's eyes had immediately snapped open as he sat upright.

"i-is something the matter?", rumi asked, to which the carriage had instantly stopped, with silence being the only answer.

"damn. are we really about to get robbed right now?", himari sighed, to which rumi had immediately clutched onto the woman's hands.

"i-it's okay h-h-himari!! I-I'll protect you, n-n-no matter what!", rumi determinedly assured, although her voice shook more than her entire body.

     "it's okay, rumi. we've got suku—I-I mean ryō with us. he'll protect us, isn't that right?", himari asked, to which the demon king had scoffed.

     "stay in here unless I tell you to get out", the man gruffly commanded as he hopped out the carriage, leaving the two girls by themselves.

     "DON'T KILL THEM!! I WANT TO SEE THEM ALIVE", himari yelled, to which she had started hearing some grunts and usage of real swords.

     "if only I had my camera. I'm sure this would've been a cool action scene", himari sighed, making rumi confused.

     "himari, what's a camera?"

     "huh? oh, it's this technological device that can record sounds and moving images. then you can replay it back...ya feel?"

     rumi hesitantly nodded, having no understanding of the woman whatsoever.

     the two suddenly flinched as they saw sukuna aggressively open the door to the carriage, to which his other hand was clearly holding someone in a chokehold, though both women couldn't exactly see.

"the other samurais are dead. you sure you want to come out?", sukuna asked.

"yeah, why not", himari shrugged, though rumi still clung onto the woman's sleeve.

"you can stay in here if you'd like, rumi. I'll be back, no worries", himari smiled as she patted the girl's hands, signaling for her to let go.

himari then hopped out of the carriage with no help from sukuna.

glancing at the man — that was still in a chokehold — with a nice build and coal black hair, himari suddenly slapped her hands over her entire face.

"oi! do you want me to kill him or what? he's got quite the guts too...being the only one here in attempt to assassinate you", sukuna snorted.

"yeah, just hurry up and kill me already", the man added on, to which himari was on the verge of having a panic attack.

"are you okay? why the hell aren't you saying anything? oi!!"

"shut the fuck up, ryō! I'm having a moment here. I can't believe I got to personally see the dilf of the century!", himari fake sobbed, unsheathing her face as she peeked at fushiguro tōji once more.

     "huh? what the fuck's a dilf? is that a new term for best assassinate?", tōji asked, to which himari had just nodded.

     "yeah sure. anyways, it's nice to meet you mr. fushiguro!! or...I'll just call you tōji, since I might meet your son later on..."

     "my who?"

     "NOTHING!! so what brings me the honor of being on your murder list?", himari asked, bashfully batting her eye lashes as sukuna and tōji wondered what the hell was with her reaction.

     "don't flatter yourself. I'm only doing this because of money", tōji bluntly answered.

     "oh...is it that misogynistic asshole, zen'in naoya?"

     tōji raised a brow.

     "how'd you know? and I heard from rumors that you professed your undying love for him multiple times".

     himari facepalmed herself.

     'past himari, just what the fuck did you see in that man?!'

     "I'll pay you monthly and give you a place to stay if you promise to just stay by my side", himari suddenly offered.

     "how much? and do what?", tōji skeptically asked, as he did want to get out of the zen'in household.

"uhhh..."

"hah? I thought you were going to let me kill him", sukuna huffed, sighing as he didn't even get to dirty his hands.

"mm...how about 256.50 mon per month?", himari offered.

'that's like approximately ¥534,478.26 per month...not too bad right? I'm sure father can make it work or something...'

"and just like...I don't know...be my friend or something?"

     "friend? I'm pretty sure I'm twice your age".

     "okay, and?! age is just a number! and plus, he's a demon, and I'm still like...friends...with him?", himari unsurely rebutted.

     tōji hummed.

     it wasn't a bad deal, considering the woman seemed quite dense. and if he ever got tired, he'd just take the money and leave anyways.

     "alright sure", the dark-haired man answered, to which himari had to contain her squeal.

     "okay, ryō, you can let him go now. today's one of the best days ever!!", himari exclaimed, hopping back into the carriage as she motioned for the two men to do the same.

     "ah, by the way...can't you use some of your demon magic or something to make the horses move? or revive all the samurais or something?", himari asked, making sukuna roll his eyes.

     "you're the most troublesome woman I've ever met, and I've lived a damn long time!"

     "hehe, thanks~"