Crack!
'Eh?'
'What is that cursed energy???'
Ren spun around fast, but it was already too late.
Someone had stepped inside the black barrier. Mei Mei slowly looked back...
"Unsummon the barrier and RUN!" Ren's voice came out half a scream – then it cut off entirely.
Ren was sent flying.
In the air, time seemed to slow. He watched himself arc toward the glass window, his face inches from the old pane —
His hand shot out. His palm, slick with cursed energy, pressed flat against the glass.
Crack.
It shattered like a spiderweb.
CRACK — BREAK!
Ren had covered his face just in time. He plummeted down outside the building, and the black barrier was gone, vanished without a trace.
He coughed. Pushed himself up. Looked around.
The building's door had been blown clean off its hinges.
'Ugh, what happened?! What was that cursed energy? It was... different. Different for sure… It felt like a special grade. More than that...' He exhaled slowly. ' Looks like Mei Mei did unsummon the barrier. Thank god. But who the hell is—'
"Oi, oi, oi." A voice drifted through the settling dust, relaxed and unhurried. "That was some good reaction speed. You must be Ren Sato, right? You know how long it took me to find you. What the hell were you even doing here?"
A figure emerged from the haze. Coiling around her was a long, white shikigami – a striking creature with a serpent-like body, its segments wrapped in bone-like columns, a bird's bill jutting from its angular head, and two unblinking eyes fixed forward.
Ren's eyes went wide.
'Yuki Tsukumo.' His thoughts scattered. 'What the hell is she doing here? How did she even find me? No — wait — she shouldn't even be here. Where was she at the start of JJK? I don't... I can't remember. Worst of all, this is my worst possible match-up. I need to run. I need to make sure she didn't see anything I was doing with Mei Mei. I can't let anyone find out I was holding cursed users... I don't know what her relationship with Gojo is like, but if she knows — wait. How did she find me?'
'How? HOW?!'
Ren stood frozen, and his nose had begun to drip blood.
In that half-second of stillness, a wave of crows came surging toward Yuki. She grabbed her shikigami by the tail and twisted her wrist sharply, whipping it around herself in a wide arc. The crows dropped.
"Eh?" Yuki's tone shifted to something flat and irritated. "Get out of my way. Let me deal with him first."
She brought the shikigami down hard. The dust swept aside in a violent rush. Mei Mei was nowhere to be seen.
Yuki grunted. She turned back to Ren and ran.
Ren snapped out of it.
"Hey, stop!" He fired a spider thread and twisted his body aside, already moving.
'I need to summon Rika. I can't win against her without Rika. Wait — can I even win against her with Rika? No. No time. I need to sum—'
"Ugh." Yuki's voice came out clipped, annoyed, even as she closed the distance. "You know I hate people who run and scheme." She slowed just slightly. "I would've loved to fight you properly. But because of what you did to Todo..." Her expression hardened. "You've got this coming."
She stopped.
Both hands came together—one cupped open, the other drawn into a fist, nestled inside the first. Deliberate. Quiet.
Then, loud and clear…
"Domain Expansion."
Outside, Mei Mei was already running.
'How the hell did that woman get here??' Her feet hit the ground in a hard, steady rhythm. 'How did she know I was here? I made sure… I made absolutely sure! No one was following us. How did she…' A sharp breath. 'Thank god I closed the barrier before she broke it open. But why is that insane woman here?! Picking a fight with Ren, of all people?! What is going on?'
'Does Ren know her?'
'There's no way. There's no way someone like her would hold a grudge over nothing... unless—' Mei Mei's thoughts lurched to a halt. '—IT'S AN EX-LOVER.'
'No. NO. It's nothing like that. It can't be; that would be too outrageous.' She shook her head sharply. 'So then why? Why is Yuki actually after him? She clearly had a reason. She wanted to deal with him specifically. What is it?...'
She slowed near the edge of the compound.
She could have kept moving. Slipped away cleanly, and even if Yuki had wanted to give chase afterward, there was a good chance she wouldn't have bothered.
But Mei Mei's body had gone oddly, inexplicably calm.
'...Is that a domain?'
She stood still.
'I should run. I should make sure I'm safe and wait for Ren to come back…
He always comes back fine. He always does…'
She pauses for a second...
'Ugh. Since when did I start to rely on him this much? It's... stupid.'
'But I'm going to be stupid…'
Mei Mei didn't run.
In fact —
Mei Mei began to chant.