───

    "BITCH, NANI THE FUCK?! WHAT THE HELL am I supposed to do with a yumi that can't be used with any normal arrows?", himari questioned, heading towards the village that was a bit west of lake biwa — for celebration of course.

     originally, himari had thought that she was going to receive another useful weapon with the sea stone embedded on it.

     however, susanoo had apparently created a bow using the sea stone, with the exterior being gold and royal blue, and the string made from the hair of the rarest horse: a galiceño.

"maybe the moon stone is made into an arrow for you to use", rumi suggested, to which himari had just sighed.

"but the issue is that I don't know where the moon stone is, or how to find tsukuyomi. no one even knows what gender they are!"

"maybe they'll just show up on their own??", itadori shrugged.

     "or maybe if you dress up as a bride and offer yourself as compensation again, they'll appear", gojō bitterly grumbled.

himari raised a brow, as she stifled a chuckle.

"someone's more salty than usual~"

"no I'm no—"

"MISS RUMI, IS THAT YOU?!", a loud voice suddenly interrupted, causing the girl herself to slightly flinch.

a teenage boy around the same height as itadori had swiftly strolled towards them, as the group had arrived at the sakedo village.

"w-who is this?", himari asked, watching the blonde boy — who had stunning blue eyes (almost as pretty as gojō's) — kneel before rumi and taking her hands in his.

"he's the boy that we met when you asked us to go get you those supplies. rumi bought him some nikuman when he forgot his money that day", itadori grumbled.

     "oh tea?! so while I was getting beaten up by an eight-headed dragon, you were flirting with some foreign-looking boy, huh?", himari teased, to which rumi's face had combusted into flames.

"N-NO, T-THAT'S NOT IT, HIMARI!!"

     "oh, you must be lady himari! I'm hohaku. it's a pleasure to meet you, considering what I've heard from miss rumi", the boy charmingly smiled.

"oh, nice to meet you too. these are my companions: ryō, tōji, satoru, and suguru", himari introduced.

"nice to meet you all", hohaku bowed.

itadori then quietly muttered something beneath his breath, causing himari to glance over.

"ayo bro, you okay?", himari whispered.

"yeah, I'm—"

"by the way, lady himari, may I take miss rumi out on a date? I thought that asking for your approval would be the best, since she admires you and such", hohaku nicely stated.

     himari hesitated as she stuttered a bit.

"u-umm...whatever rumi wants. I ain't no controlling best friend", himari shrugged, to which rumi had bashfully accepted, as everyone could visibly see hohaku light up.

"thank you for your blessings!! let's go this way, miss rumi!!"

the blonde boy then led rumi away, as itadori just sighed.

"something wrong?", himari asked, heading towards an inn, as she booked it for a few nights.

     after all, she still had to head back to the yamadaku village to go see chīsana and the rest before returning for the mid-autumn moon festival.

"I...well...I have this weird feeling that whenever rumi's with someone else...my heart gets a little sour...", itadori mumbled, scratching the back of his head, as himari had momentarily stopped spreading out the futon and blankets — once they reached their room.

     "ahhh~ yūji-kun's jealous", gojō grinned, wringing his arm around the boy's shoulders, as he ruffled his hair.

     "h-huh? so how do I get rid of it?", itadori asked.

     sukuna merely snorted.

     "the boy didn't even try to deny it; that's a start", the demon lowly chuckled, sitting on a mat with a tea table in front, as getō, tōji, and himari joined him.

     "you can always just kill the boy to end your source of jealousy", tōji suggested.

     "or talk it out with him in a calm manner", getō smiled.

     "or suck it up, because she doesn't belong to you", himari stated, to which everyone's eyes were now on her.

     "what? am I wrong? at least that foreign boy had enough balls to make a move, now how about you, yūji?"

     itadori slightly frowned, as he knew himari was absolutely correct. after all, he's been secretly crushing on her without making any moves, even after all the chances that himari has created for him and rumi.

     "lady himariiiii~ please help meeee", itadori whined, rushing over to the woman's side, as he tugged on her sleeve, rocking her entire body from side to side.

     sukuna hastily grabbed the boy's collar and dragged him to the opposite side of himari, as he himself took a seat beside the auburn-haired woman.

"quit whining and figure it out yourself!", sukuna huffed, to which itadori had only pouted even more.

gojō just chuckled as he patted the teenager's back.

"simple; ask her out and take her on a date. buy her some flowers that she likes, pay for her food, and go on a walk around the village", himari finally answered.

itadori fake sniffled a bit, his eyes wide like a puppy's.

"t-that's it?"

"well the rest is up to you. here's a bag of money. spend it how you will", himari said, dropping a small pouch of mon on the table for the boy to take.

"and then what?", itadori asked.

     "and then you fuc—"

     himari immediately covered sukuna's mouth.

     "and then you confess your feelings for her as best as you can", the woman smiled, clenching tightly onto sukuna's mouth and squishing his irritated face.

     "like after our date?"

     "whenever you feel like it's the right time", himari replied.

     "but when do I know it's the right time?!", itadori stressed, causing himari to sigh, as she had finally let go of the struggling demon king.

     "boy, you're asking me as if I've ever done this before. I don't know man, just wing it", himari shrugged, watching itadori's jaw drop.

     "b-but I thought you were a pro with this stuff? like with young master nao—"

"DON'T", himari interrupted.

"it's a phase that I'd like to pretend that's never happened", the woman calmly smiled, taking a sip of tea, as she let out a serene hum.

itadori awkwardly nodded, as gojō had suggested that they go spy on rumi and hohaku, to which getō was of course dragged along by his best friend.

"no need to wait for us for dinner!", gojō waved, to which himari had just hummed.

"okay, so a round of cards?", himari grinned, holding up a new deck that she had just recently bought.

     tōji and sukuna glanced at each other before returning the cocky smile.

     "you're on".