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"why the fuck are we here?"
"because it's the day of the kenmari competition. come on, it'll be fun", kiyo smiled, having her hair in a high bun with the hairpin of course, and still in her usual attire.
"tch. what about our promised date?", sukuna bitterly muttered, crossing his two arms as he heard the priestess lightly chuckle.
"I didn't forget. I've got an idea in mind but again, it's a surprise, so I can't tell you", kiyo replied, to which sukuna had rolled his eyes as the two arrived at the empty field, where all the students and staff were gathered, making conversation amongst themselves.
"what's your type of women?", tōdō asked, pointing at fushiguro, as the dark-haired male had made a confused expression, wondering if he actually had to answer.
"I swear to god, fushiguro...", kugisaki warned, to which fushiguro made an unpleased expression as he was reminded of his sister and kiyo's words.
"I don't...have a preference. as long as the person's compassionate, I don't need anything else", fushiguro honestly answered, to which kugisaki had proudly given him a thumbs up.
tōdō made an uninterested expression.
"how boring".
fushiguro's brows furrowed with perplexity as kiyo had chuckled, joining the students as tōdō had questioned yoshino and itadori's type.
"u-umm...similar to fushiguro, someone who's compassionate", yoshino mumbled, to which tōdō had groaned.
"what is with you lot?!", the buff male complained.
"and what about you?", tōdō asked, pointing at itadori as the pink-haired boy hummed a bit, rubbing his chin as he answered with a straight face.
"a tall woman with a big ass".
everyone snapped their heads towards itadori as kugisaki smacked the back of itadori's head.
"OW! WHAT THE HELL, KUGISAKI?!"
"AT LEAST PRETEND TO BE A GENTLEMAN!", the girl shouted back, chasing itadori around the field as tōdō started sobbing, making kiyo a bit concerned as sukuna just snorted.
"MY BESTO FRIENDO!", tōdō shouted as he too ran after itadori, making fushiguro even more baffled as kamo had approached him.
"HUH? BUT YOU JUST LEARNED MY NAME", itadori yelled back, having to exceed in running as he was faster than tōdō and kugisaki combined.
"how cute", kiyo lightly chuckled, to which sukuna had only hummed as he glanced at the girl.
just as sukuna was about to tap on kiyo's shoulder, satoru had appeared as he encased kiyo from behind, wrapping her with his arms as he laid his chin on top of his sister's head.
"KIYOOOOOO~"
"satoru, no need to shout. I'm right here", the girl sighed, staying stuck as sukuna had put on the fakest smile he could muster.
"oi shaman, let go", sukuna demanded, pulling on kiyo's hand as satoru only held onto his sister tighter.
"huh? why should I? kiyo's my precious sister", satoru hummed, grinning as sukuna only scowled.
kiyo, sensing the tension, just awkwardly chuckled as she detached herself from satoru's arms and sukuna's harsh grip.
"you two have fun staring at each other. I'm going to go find junpei", kiyo waved as she sped off meanwhile still maintaining her elegant posture.
the two men watched the priestess leave as they glanced back at each other, huffing.
"want to make a bet?", satoru challenged.
"tch. what bet?"
"a game of kenmari; winner gets to hold kiyo's hand whenever", satoru offered.
sukuna crossed his arms as he just nodded in agreement. after all, it wasn't going to stop him from holding the miko's hand even if he lost.
but he didn't plan on losing.
"junpei! why're you sitting out here and not with the others?", kiyo asked, taking a seat beside the downcast boy, who was on a nearby bench.
"a-ah, it's nothing really...", yoshino awkwardly scratched his head.
"is something wrong? do you not like it here?", kiyo asked.
"no, no!! that's not it!! I just...", yoshino sighed, glancing up at everyone.
"I just feel that...I'm extremely behind. I know I just started, but...sometimes I feel like I don't fit in because of how weak I am", yoshino quietly admitted, to which kiyo had just ruffled the boy's hair.
"of course you're behind, but that's because you started later than everyone else. most of them that you see here are from famous clans that have been around for over a hundred centuries. they were born to fight, so don't compare yourself to them.
matter of fact, compare your current self to your past self. I think you've improved majorly by even daring to throw a punch at the king of demons.
courage is probably one of the most important qualities a shaman needs to have, and you've definitely got it, don't you think?", kiyo asked.
yoshino mindlessly nodded as he soaked in all the encouraging words said by the priestess, to which he had felt immensely better.
"and plus, you're not alone. look", kiyo said, to which itadori had barely sweated after running nearly ten laps around the field.
"OI JUNPEI!! COME ON, WE'VE GOT A GAME TO PLAY!!", itadori shouted, to which yoshino had perked up, making kiyo usher the boy towards the group.
"go on now", kiyo smiled, to which yoshino had let out a bashful smile as he ran towards itadori and the rest.
nagi then took a seat beside kiyo — on the bench — with the two kitsunes as she thanked the miko.
"I was worried he'd have trouble settling in", nagi stated, as hakaku sat on the right meanwhile nozomi sat on the left of the priestess.
"it's only natural for a mother to worry about their children", kiyo smiled, to which nagi had chuckled.
"you sound like a mother yourself", nagi teased, to which kiyo had only laughed.
"well, I've got these two with me, don't I?", kiyo hummed, patting both hakaku and nozomi's heads as they awkwardly enjoyed the warm caring hand.
"miss kiyo, can I play too?", hakaku asked, seeing as everyone had brought out the tether ball and gathered in a oval-like formation.
"I don't see why not. why don't you go tell satoru that you'll be joining the game", kiyo said as hakaku had hopped off the bench, running over as nozomi just wanted to watch.
"huh?! I'm not joining those heiankyo brats!", sukuna defied.
"then how are we supposed to compete? I have to stay with my students because I am their instructor", satoru reasoned, feigning distress.
"I don't know and neither do I care. I refuse to side with those brats", sukuna snarled.
"MISTER SATORU!!", hakaku shouted, successfully catching everyone's attention as some were surprised that a half-demon was present.
"oh? hakaku was it?", the white-haired male questioned, making the small boy nod.
"can I join you guys?", hakaku asked, to which before satoru could respond, mai had chimed in.
"absolutely not! this is the deciding factor between heiankyo and edo. we can't allow a little—"
"so you're scared that you're going to lose to a kid. pft! I truly didn't think you brats from heiankyo could get even more pathetic", sukuna mocked, stretching his arms by putting his hands behind his head as mai had furrowed her brows.
"fine! then let's begin", mai huffed, to which the rules were quite simple.
"you can't touch the ball with your hands or arms, but you must keep it in the air", satoru instructed.
"and whoever drops the ball gains a point for the opposing team", iori said, glaring at satoru as hakaku had just nodded in understanding.
"okay, let's start with itadori from team edo", nanami stated, throwing the ball towards the pink-haired boy as nanami was the judge.
itadori then kicked the ball as tōdō had kicked it back towards kugisaki, who continued the chain by kicking it towards kamo, then fushiguro, then miwa, then so on and some forth.
finally, hakaku was given a chance as the ball flew towards him, to which he had smacked it with his tail, making it fly quite low as he was a short kid.
the ball then landed on the ground as none of the heiankyo students expected that.
"HEY! THAT'S CHEATING!!", mai shouted. "HE JUST USED HIS TAIL!"
"it's not cheating if he didn't use his arms or hands", sukuna grinned, to which hakaku had slightly hid behind the demon king's leg as mai seemed a bit feral to him.
"yeah yeah! we won this round fair and square!", itadori chimed in.
"if my brother says that it's fair, then it is", tōdō agreed.
"why're you siding with them?!", mai huffed in disbelief.
"now now, it's true that we never said that he couldn't use his tail, so let's just move on", iori announced.
sukuna then whispered something in hakaku's ear, to which he had nodded as once round two started, sukuna had swiftly picked the fox demon up, letting him smack the ball with his feet as the heiankyo students had expected the ball to be low to the ground.
"IORI-SENSEI!"
"technically he still didn't break the rules", sukuna shrugged, placing hakaku down as he blew raspberries at mai, meanwhile clutching onto sukuna's leg.
mai would've knocked the kid out if it weren't for iori calming her student.
"well, I suppose this concludes the edo versus heiankyo tournament", satoru chirped.
"WE WIN!!", hakaku cheered, running over to kiyo and his sister, who greeted him with a proud hug.
"good job, hakaku", kiyo praised with a smile.