───

THE GROUP WAS NOW UNDERGROUND AFTER finding himari's peacock stuck in a hole that apparently had a pathway built deeper into the ground.

     "you silly peafowl. how did you even fall in here?", himari sighed, to which the peacock had simply ruffled its feathers, turning its head, as himari just clicked her tongue.

"fine. guess we'll just explore without you then", the woman mumbled, heading deeper into the tunnel, as the group followed behind her.

they swiftly climbed down some rough stairs, as they arrived in a room with filthy tiled floors.

in front of them was the sculpted head of a white tiger, spouting out water into the rusted silver bowl in front of it.

with four stilts at each corner, there were also a few other statues of tigers positioned around the room.

     "uhhh...father never told me he had a secret lab", himari commented.

     "I don't think it's hotaru-san's", getō stated.

     "mm...m-maybe we should leave. this place looks kind of dangerous", rumi suggested.

     "nahhhh!! what could possible go wron—"

     immediately, a stone door had shut behind them, trapping them in the room. though luckily, sukuna could use fire, as the man's palms had immediately lit up with flames.

     "h-himari!! what should we do?! what if no one finds us down her—"

"shhhh, it's okay rumi. I'm sure those four can like bust through the door or something", himari assured, ushering for tōji and gojō to break through the stone wall.

it did not work.

"holy shit, umm...who even built this?! LIKE, MISS GIRL?!?!"

"sukuna, could you bring the fire over here please? there's some words carved onto the other door", getō observed, squinting his eyes.

     "hah?! I don't take orders from—"

     "ryō, come 'ere!!", himari demanded, to which the demon king had clicked his tongue, trudging over towards the duo, as rumi nearly slipped from the water that had started seeping out from the tiles, if it weren't for itadori catching her.

     "are you okay?", the boy asked, to which rumi had nodded, stabilizing herself and bashfully holding onto the pink-haired boy's hand.

     "damn...my ship be sailing", himari sniffled, as sukuna gently smacked the back of the woman's head, getting her to focus back on the task at hand.

     "okay so...it says here that we must make five triangles to get past this door", getō read.

     "so there's pieces...FIND THE PIECES GUYS!!", himari shouted, to which sukuna had then stood in the middle of the room, stretching out his arms, as a larger amount of flames had appeared.

getō, gojō, and tōji searched in the statues' mouths, as rumi and itadori had found one in the fountain that the tiger was spitting into.

himari then pulled on gojō's sleeve, as she pointed at the corner of the room, where the top of the stilt had a dark triangle piece stuck in the crevice.

"can you help me get it?", himari asked.

"sure sure~ anything for the birthday girl", gojō answered, jumping up, as he easily snatched the piece and handed it to himari.

in the woman's defense, the room wasn't very tall, hence why gojō was able to get it just by jumping.

"thanks", himari slightly pouted, upset that she was just as short as rumi, who was only a couple of years younger than her.

with getō finding the third piece, no one else could find the fourth or fifth triangle.

"what the hell?", sukuna grunted.

rumi then placed the three triangle pieces in the indented triangle that was split in the middle by the doors.

"count how many triangles there are", rumi said.

"one, two, three...four...five!! you're a genius, rumi-san!!", itadori complimented.

the large doors then parted, as the water was already to their knees.

"oh, you've got to be kidding me!", himari groaned, as another set of stone doors were in front of them.

"it says here that the question is on the left, and the answer's on the right", gojō hummed.

"now which living organism has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?", himari read out.

     "is sukuna an option?", itadori asked, to which the demon king had pulled the boy into a chokehold, nearly causing the boy to pass out if it weren't for gojō helping him.

     "mm...I don't know what animal would fit the criteria...", rumi mumbled.

     "maybe it's a dog", tōji suggested.

     "what, why?"

     "when it's walking it's on four legs. when it's sitting it's on two. and when it's peeing it's on three", the man proudly grinned.

     "it sounds reasonable...but it's talking about morning, afternoon, and night; not sitting, peeing, and walking", himari reasoned.

     "sounds right to me! maybe tōji-senpai's actually correct!!", itadori smiled, pressing the engraving of the dog, as himari's face had suddenly drained of color.

"BRO, NO! THAT AIN'T THE MOVE CHIEF!!!"

"huh? what do you mea—"

immediately, the water level rose higher, as a stone divider had suddenly came down upon them, to which the three men — along with itadori — had instinctually stopped it by lifting their arms up to halt the stone for a moment.

     sukuna, rumi, and himari were now sandwiched between the other three and the wall, as sukuna tried not to burn the auburn-haired woman.

     "I-I'M SORRY LADY HIMARI!!", itadori shouted, to which himari had felt her anxiety increase, as she was struggling to use her brain.

"himari, it says on here that we have one more chance. it's okay!!", rumi whispered, squeezing the woman's hand, as tōji had clicked his tongue.

"hey, if you can't handle it old man, then go on and take a break", gojō teased, even though the man himself was also starting to get sore.

     the daimyo would've used limitless, however, he was slightly worried that the pressure created by the manipulated atoms in between him and the stone might cause the divider to split and crush the others — especially since it seemed like it weighed a ton or two.

"tch! says the one that's starting to let the pressure get to him", tōji retorted.

however, even getō could feel his arms start caving in, as himari had to thoroughly think through all the answer choices.

a sudden thought had smacked her head, as itadori had once suggested sukuna being the answer.

"if not a demon...then it must be a human", the woman brilliantly muttered, hastily smacking the engraving of the human, as the stone stopped trying to press down upon them.

"it worked...", sukuna bluntly stated.

"why human though?", rumi asked.

"when it said morning, afternoon, and night, it symbolized the stages of life.

when a human's born, it crawls on all fours. when they become adults, they walk on two legs. and when they become old, they need a walking cane, which is three", himari explained.

"wow...lady himari's...big...brain?", itadori unsurely complimented.

"yes sir I am!"

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a/n: hey babes!! thank you all so much for the constant support, as every vote/comment/share is much appreciated.

I honestly did not intend for this story to be this long, but here we are.

anyways, here's a picture to show what I meant for the door — because I suck at explaining. (lmao, please don't come for my artistic abilities).

enjoy and I hope to see you all soon!! <3