The barrier in Sapporo stood firm against the northern sky, its guardian light a beacon in the growing dusk. Around it, the ground was scorched, cratered, littered with the dissolving remains of Cursed Spirits—all that remained of the wave that had crashed against this shore.
Tsukumo Yuki stood at the barrier's edge, her black tank top streaked with dust and something that might have been blood. She had handled the swarm herself. Kamo Itsuki's clone had offered to help; she had waved him off.
"I needed the exercise," she had said.
Now, with the immediate threat cleared, they stood together, watching the horizon where the sun was beginning to set.
"Do you remember," Tsukumo said, her voice softer than usual, "when we used to fantasize about the future of the jujutsu world? All of us together?"
Kamo's clone gazed at the distant forest, its dark silhouette sharp against the fading light. "Of course. You said you wanted a world without Cursed Spirits."
"I said a lot of things." Tsukumo's laugh was short, self-deprecating. "At first, I thought about eliminating all of humanity's cursed energy. Cut it off at the source. No cursed energy, no Cursed Spirits."
"But you changed your mind."
"After you explained why it wouldn't work." She glanced at him. "Even animals have emotions. You can't just turn it off like a faucet."
"So you chose the harder path. Help humanity learn to control their cursed energy instead of suppressing it."
"I was young. I thought I could change the world." Tsukumo's lips twisted. "I even hired Fushiguro Toji—paid him a fortune to help me test some theories."
Kamo's clone raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"And I founded Cursed Shadow not long after." She sighed. "What do you think?"
"That it didn't work." His voice was not unkind. "I told you it wouldn't."
"I wasn't ready to listen." Tsukumo's jaw tightened. "I spent all that money, and for what? A failed experiment and a organization full of reformed Curse Users who still don't know how to control their own power."
She looked at the barrier, at the unconscious civilians within, at the clone beside her.
"Whether it's Suguru Geto or you, the second plan seems to have failed too."
Kamo's clone was quiet for a moment. Then: "I haven't given up."
Tsukumo turned to stare at him. "The super barrier was destroyed the moment it formed. Even if you deal with Kenjaku, even if you fix everything, do you really think the higher-ups will support another plan of this scale?"
"Who said the super barrier was my final plan?"
Tsukumo's eyes widened. "You have a backup?"
Kamo's clone smiled—a thin, knowing expression. "Not a backup. The real plan."
He turned to face her fully, the fading light catching his features.
"Whether we eliminate cursed energy or teach humanity to control it, we always think about the problem from the perspective of ordinary people. But they don't understand anything. They can't. They've never seen a Cursed Spirit. They don't know what's coming for them."
"So what's your solution?"
"Combine the two plans."
Tsukumo frowned. "That doesn't make sense. They're opposites."
"Only if you think of them as separate." Kamo's clone raised a hand, gesturing at the barrier, at the unconscious civilians, at the world beyond. "We want a world without Cursed Spirits. That's the goal. Plans are just the means to achieve it. If ordinary people can't do it themselves..."
He let the sentence hang.
"What are you saying?" Tsukumo's voice had gone quiet.
"I'm saying—"
The earth erupted.
Spikes of stone—sharp as spears, dark as night—shot from the ground directly beneath them. Kamo's clone vanished, reappearing several meters away, his expression unchanged. Tsukumo moved faster, her body flowing around the attack like water around a stone.
Before either could land, shadows struck from both flanks. Tree roots—thick as serpents, black with cursed energy—lashed out, attempting to bind them.
Tsukumo twisted in midair, avoiding the grasp. Kamo's clone simply stepped aside, as if the roots were moving in slow motion.
The attacks ceased.
From the forest's edge, a figure emerged.
She was tall, powerfully built, her body a sculpture of muscle and bark. Where eyes should have been, two twisted branches grew instead, their leaves rustling in a wind that touched nothing else. Her left arm was wrapped in dark fabric, concealing whatever lay beneath.
Hanami. Special Grade Cursed Spirit. Born from humanity's endless hatred and fear of forests.
She did not speak. She did not need to. Her presence said everything.
You are not welcome here.
Kamo's clone retreated toward the barrier, his role shifting from conversationalist to observer. Tsukumo stepped forward, rolling her shoulders, cracking her neck.
"Finally," she said. "Something worth hitting."
*「星の怒り」
Star Rage. *
Cursed energy exploded from her body. The ground beneath her feet cracked. The air around her shimmered.
She raised her hand, and from the light, a shape materialized—a Cursed Tool, transformed into a Shikigami, coiled around her arm like a living serpent.
*「迦楼羅」
Garuda. *
The creature opened its eyes. Tsukumo smiled.
Hanami's roots struck first.
Tsukumo Yuki's hand closed around Garuda's head, and the Cursed Tool-Shikigami responded like an extension of her will. It elongated, shifted, became a bone whip of impossible length—each segment articulated, each joint a weapon. She swung, and the air screamed.
The tree roots that had sought to bind her exploded into splinters.
Hanami did not flinch. Around her, wooden spheres materialized—Tree Marbles, dense with cursed energy, their surfaces pulsing with malevolent light. From each sphere, thick roots erupted like serpents from their dens, streaking toward Tsukumo with the speed of arrows.
Tsukumo's wrist flicked. Garuda danced.
The bone whip carved arcs through the air, intercepting each root before it could reach her, shredding them into fragments that fell like dark rain. But Hanami was relentless. More roots surged from the ground, more from the Tree Marbles, a tide of vegetation that threatened to overwhelm through sheer volume.
'She has cursed energy to burn,' Tsukumo realized. 'Kenjaku's plan. The fear of forests, amplified across Japan. She's been feeding.'
She changed tactics.
Garuda contracted, shifting from whip to sphere—a dense, impossibly heavy orb that she hurled forward like a cannonball. It carved a path through the root-tide, crushing everything in its path, clearing a corridor straight to Hanami.
Tsukumo moved.
She was through the gap before the roots could close, her body enhanced by Star Rage's imaginary mass, each step cracking the earth beneath her. Hanami's eyes widened—just for a moment—and then she was there, meeting Tsukumo head-on.
Their fists collided.
The shockwave flattened vegetation for a hundred meters. Trees that had stood for centuries splintered. The ground beneath them cratered.
Hanami's body was steel wrapped in bark, each blow carrying the weight of the forest's hatred. Tsukumo's body was steel wrapped in will, each strike carrying the mass of her conviction. They traded blows like thunder exchanging with lightning—no hesitation, no retreat, no mercy.
Left hook. Right cross. Elbow strike. Knee to the ribs.
Hanami absorbed the hits, gave them back, absorbed again. Her right arm was a blur of counterattacks. But her left arm—wrapped in dark fabric—remained still. Unused.
'Why isn't she using it?'
Tsukumo pressed harder. Her fist connected with Hanami's jaw, snapping the Cursed Spirit's head to the side. Hanami's leg swept out, forcing Tsukumo to leap back.
The pause lasted a heartbeat.
Hanami's left arm unfurled.
The fabric tore apart, revealing skin the color of deep shadow—a stark, impossible contrast to her pale body. On her shoulder, a red flower budded, its petals not yet open, its presence radiating an aura that made Tsukumo's instincts scream.
'Something dangerous. Something she's been saving.'
Hanami's lips—or where lips should have been—curved into something that might have been a smile.
"You're strong," she said. Her voice was the rustle of dead leaves, the groan of ancient trees. "I've enjoyed this."
She raised her left arm. The red flower on her shoulder began to open.
Tsukumo's grip tightened on Garuda. "I'm just getting started."
Hanami's branch-eyes fixed on her. "So am I."
The flower bloomed.