Mahito sighed as he looked at Haruta's remains in front of him. He was somewhat curious as to how the insane Blondie's technique would work in a situation of sudden and inevitable death.
In a way, it was impressive. Mahito had felt his soul be squeezed by something unknowingly just before Haruta's death.
It was attempting to pull off some type of miracle and give Mahito the soul equivalent of a heart attack, to interrupt his cursed technique. But it was too ineffective against someone who had full control over his soul.
That small action, coupled with his battle against Utahime, Mai and Kugidaki seemed to have fully deleted his stocked-up miracles.
But it really wasn't enough. Mahito could also repair any wounds to his soul with ease. He was a Special Grade Curse at the end of the day.
And his race was the main reason why the woman and two girls in front of him were watching him with a mix of fear and caution.
"I-It's you again... What do you want this time? Yuji ain't here!" Kugisaki was the first one to speak out, confidently pointing her hammer at Mahito, much to the fear of the other two who stood behind her.
Any Jujutsu Sorcerer with a pair of eyes could tell they were looking at a Special Grade. One that had just killed the human they were struggling to deal with it instantly.
Yet, Nobara spoke out like they were in no danger at all.
'Goddamit, Gojo, what are you teaching these kids?!?' Utahime could feel her heartbeat hasten
"... You do realise that Yuji isn't the only thing in my world, right?" Mahito raised an eyebrow, his head tilting to the side as his dirty blonde hair shifted slightly.
Kugisaki seemed to stop for a second to ponder that information, before swinging her hammer in the air and pointing it back at him with a less than resolute look on her face.
"W-well... I guess? I mean, you only ever appeared in public when he was around, right?"
Mahito rubbed his chin, his patchworked face looking at the confused girl in front of him incredulously.
"Fair enough~ I am interested in all Jujutsu Sorcerers though."
Mahito didn't feel like lying. It was true that he was only interested in Jujutsu Sorcerers, and not regular people.
"... That's somehow creepier? How'd you even manage to sound creepy all the time?" Kugisaki was, much to the shagrin of those behind her, getting a tad too comfortable communicating with the odd curse.
Mahito's smile seemed to bloom on his face upon hearing her. "Well, I am formed from humanity's fear of itself, I guess I am creep incarnate~" He felt nice, being able to carry a conversation with a regular human for once.
Mei Mei was different, as it was all business with her. Kugisaki? Not as much.
He had needed to kill Haruta, as he was a nuisance who would end up disturbing his plans in the future.
Nobara tapped her hammer lightly against her shoulder, eyeing the spot where Mahito had vanished.
"Freak's got a flair for drama, doesn't he?"
Mai kept her gun raised a moment longer. "You shouldn't provoke things like him."
"I wasn't provoking," Nobara smirked. "I was asserting dominance."
Utahime gave her a side glance, lips pressed thin. "That's not how I'd describe it."
"Would you prefer 'tactical bravado'? Sounds cooler."
"You're lucky he found us amusing," Mai muttered.
"I'm lucky because I'm charming," Nobara replied, tossing her hair as she walked past Haruta's remains. She barely looked down. "Besides... I wanted to see what the big deal was. He's approached us before, too, with friendly intentions. He's odd."
"You've seen him now, spoke to him a bit yourself..." Utahime said. "Was he what you expected?"
Nobara paused. Then shrugged.
"Sort of? He's got that gross-uncle energy. Like he'd bring mouldy candy to a funeral just to see who eats it."
Mai choked on a laugh she didn't mean to let out.
Utahime sighed. "We should move. If he's walking around freely, the others might be in worse trouble."
Nobara tightened her grip on her hammer and nodded.
"Then let's find Yuji."
_
_
_
Far across the field, the sky shifted. Not with clouds. But with colour.
Petals spun upward like smoke, pink, red, deep green, carried by invisible winds.
Todo ducked a sweeping vine and kicked off a tree trunk, launching himself back into the fray.
Yuji followed on his heels, fists glowing again with cursed energy.
They struck together, Todo from above, Yuji from the side. But Hanami absorbed the impact, staggering only slightly before retaliating.
She swung her arm, but not before hearing a clap. She ended up hitting the air, as another one of Yuji's fists buried itself into her side.
She was getting overwhelmed. From the side, Nanami also slashed at her wooden horns, her weak spot; she severed one of them, causing her a tremendous amount of pain.
'Aaagh!-'
Her screams echoed in the minds of the sorcerers as a wall of roots erupted from the earth, pushing all of the sorcerers away.
Nanami sliced cleanly through them with one swing of his blade, cursed energy splitting the woven bark like rice paper.
"I don't think she's going down easy," Yuji grunted.
"She's stalling," Todo said.
"Why?"
"Who knows! But I sure as hell don't wanna find out, brother!" Todo had already calculated most possibilities with his 500.000 IQ brain CPU.
And he had some sort of premonition as to what was coming next... Unfortunately, he failed to predict how quickly it would happen.
Then the wind stopped.
The petals froze in the air, suspended.
And the world... shifted. All at once.
The ground softened. The trees leaned in closer. The sky took on a pink hue, as if the sun were blooming rather than burning.
Petals fell gently, but they didn't land.
They hovered, each one humming with cursed energy.
A dome rose in the space around them, invisible and yet undeniable. A pressure in the chest. A silence in the ears.
Hanami took a single step forward.
"Domain Expansion"
Her voice echoed in their minds, as it had before, a whisper flowing as if it were a petal in the wind.
"Shining Sea of Growing Branches!"
The trees bent inward. The petals spun faster. The very air thickened, heavy with life. And a light exploded forward from Hanami's feet.
Yuji's eyes widened. "A Domain-"
Todo clapped once, shifting places with him just as a strangely shining vine stabbed through where he'd stood.
The clapping sorcerer was prepared enough to block the golden vine, kicking it away as he rolled to the side.
Nanami moved to cover them, but even he couldn't mask the tension in his voice.
"This is bad..." He looked around. The world surrounding them had shifted; the forest they were in previously was unrecognisable, all roots and trees were shining gold, and everything looked too beautiful to be real.
It was almost beautiful enough to take away his will to fight... It would have managed to do so, had Todo not moved immediately the moment after.
'Simple Domain-'
Todo sweated heavily as he deployed the domain that his teacher Yuki Tsukumo had taught him.
But even so, they were in a pretty bad situation.
Thankfully for them, Hanami's Domain wasn't one made to kill.
Not immediately.
It was to overwhelm. To bury. To reclaim.
They were trapped in a world where nature had complete control. And Hanami was its god.
_
_
_
Elsewhere, Mahito paused.
His footsteps halted mid-air, one toe still resting on a high branch overlooking the broader Kyoto compound.
He tilted his head.
The cursed energy in the air had shifted.
Not subtly. Not slowly.
Like a stone dropped in a perfectly still lake.
"Ah..."
He smiled.
"Hanami's domain? I guess the situation has strayed too far. Todo and Yuji may actually be in danger..."
For a moment, he stayed still.
Then he closed his eyes, feeling the pulse of Hanami's Domain expand across the landscape like an opening flower.
His own cursed energy coiled instinctively, like a cat arching its back.
"'It's a bit early for a third meeting..." he whispered. Yet, when looking up, the anti-Gojo barrier was still standing strong. "But I guess it's my cue~"
He turned, his back sprouting insect-like wings as he became weightless in the air, and began drifting toward the heartbeat of power.
Faster than the wind. Lighter than mist.
Drawn by curiosity.
And maybe, just maybe, the hope that something interesting was about to happen.