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Like a distress flare in Monster Hunter, the pillar of light was so massive and reached so high into the sky that it wasn't just visible from the mountain—even people as far away as the Keikain estate and downtown Kyoto could see it crystal clear.
Meanwhile, inside a certain tea house on Kyoto's food street—
"What is that?"
"Did a nuke just go off?"
"No way. If a nuke exploded, we'd at least see a plane fly over and drop a bomb, right? Besides, who'd be bored enough to randomly drop a nuke on Kyoto? I'm betting it's fireworks."
"Fireworks can get that big?"
"Still more plausible than your nuke theory."
After yesterday's grueling day-long tour of Kyoto sweets—dragged around by a certain overgrown white-haired sugar addict—Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, and Nobara Kugisaki had made up their minds today: cleanse the system.
They'd been drinking tea at this tea house all morning.
And dragged along with them was the very culprit who'd nearly turned them into the fastest diabetes legends yesterday.
Though operating on the principle of "don't do unto others what you wouldn't want done to you," Yuji and the others hadn't been too cruel—they'd allowed Gojo Satoru to buy sweets from the surrounding food stalls to eat at the tea house, just only for himself.
Like right now—seated at a window booth on the tea house's second floor, Gojo occupied one entire side by himself. Half the table was covered with sweets he'd bought, while the other half held tea for Yuji and the others.
Thus, the scene described above unfolded.
On one side, one man aggressively demolished the sweets before him. On the other side, three people leisurely sipped tea while admiring the heaven-piercing pillar of light rising from the distant mountains through the window.
Their relaxed attitude wasn't entirely surprising. Mainly because since the light pillar had appeared, it hadn't spread or exploded—completely unlike a nuclear detonation where a mushroom cloud rises followed by temperatures in the thousands sweeping across the land.
Finally, after quite a while, Gojo Satoru—who'd been buried in his battle against various sweets—seemed to sense something. He pulled his head from the dessert pile and turned toward the window, a bit of red bean paste still stuck to the corner of his mouth.
"That's..."
"Hmm? You know something, Gojo-sensei?"
Yuji immediately asked.
"Well... how should I put this? I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but that light pillar's direction seems to be where Yasaka Shrine is located here in Kyoto."
Gojo furrowed his brow slightly.
"Plus, that light pillar gives me a weird feeling. I can't shake this sense of foreboding..."
THUD-THUD!
Like war drums being struck, everyone within Kyoto's territory felt their hearts tighten in that moment, the earth beneath their feet seeming to tremble.
The easygoing Yuji Itadori seemed to sense something, making a sound of surprise as he looked back and forth between Megumi and Nobara on either side of him.
"Hey hey, did you guys just feel your heart skip a beat?"
"Yeah... I did. Wait, you felt it too?"
"Yup. What about you, Fushiguro?"
"I felt it. Why?"
"No reason, just asking..."
Listening to the comedy routine-like conversation from the three students on the other side of the table, Gojo—who'd been aggressively eating sweets until just now—uncharacteristically set down the daifuku in his hand. He turned his head away, staring motionlessly at the distant light pillar through his blindfold.
This might sound strange, but he'd definitely felt his heartbeat skip.
What the hell is...
THUD-THUD!
The drumming sound came again. This time it wasn't an illusion. Whether Gojo Satoru, Yuji Itadori, Megumi, or anyone else—everyone's faces showed unusual expressions in that moment.
Once could be coincidence. But twice?
THUD-THUD!
Before the three Jujutsu High students could compare notes a second time, the third drumbeat came again.
This time, Gojo heard it clearly.
That wasn't a drum at all—it was... a heartbeat!?
This... ??
The conclusion was so absurd that even Gojo himself found it hard to believe.
According to science, humans could hear their own heartbeat in quiet environments, sure. But for others to hear your heartbeat, they'd need to press their ear against you or use a stethoscope.
But broadcasting a heartbeat externally for everyone to hear like this... at least humans couldn't do that.
And even if some other creature could manage it, that would require an organism of unimaginably massive proportions.
But where was such a thing now?
Standing abruptly to scan the surroundings and finding nothing, Gojo turned back toward the window, locking onto that massive pillar of light shooting into the sky.
"Uh, Gojo-sensei?"
Yuji was somewhat startled by his teacher's sudden reaction. After all, he'd never seen this laid-back instructor react so dramatically.
"Did you discover something, Gojo-sensei...?"
"Shh."
Gojo didn't answer, only turning his head to signal silence with his profile, then directly removed his blindfold to gaze at that pillar of light with his azure Six Eyes.
"Whoa whoa, is the situation really that bad?"
Seeing this, even Megumi couldn't sit still anymore.
He'd known Gojo Satoru far longer than Yuji, so he was also aware of some of the man's legends.
Like how he only removed his blindfold during Domain Expansion.
But Domain Expansion was basically a Jujutsu Sorcerer's ultimate trump card. Normally, sorcerers could only use Domain Expansion once per day. Using it meant the battle had entered a life-or-death phase.
In other words, Gojo only removed his blindfold when fighting for his life.
Yet now he'd taken it off just to see the light pillar clearly.
Could there be something terrifying in there?
Just as this thought emerged in Megumi's mind, the distant light pillar began gradually converging. Like a Kamehameha wave losing momentum, slowly thinning until it dissipated.
As the pillar retracted bit by bit, a massive silhouette began slowly emerging from within.
First hands, feet, and head. Then legs and arms. Finally, even the torso appeared.
"That's...!!"
In this moment, forget Megumi—even Gojo's mouth fell open.
Without question, what appeared in their vision was humanoid, curled into a ball with cute baby fat—just like a little baby still in mommy's belly.
No, more accurately, it was a baby. Just slightly larger in scale—mountain-sized, floating above Kyoto!
THUD-THUD!
This was already the fourth heartbeat, clearer and louder than the previous three.
As the fourth heartbeat sounded, Yuji suddenly felt a gash open on his face, Sukuna's familiar voice reaching his ears.
"This aura is... Abe no Seimei! It's Abe no Seimei!! Brat, give me control of your body right now! I'm going to kill him!! Abe no Seimei, I'll kill you ahhhhhhhhh!!"
"I don't wanna! And can you please calm down..."
Yuji's mouth twitched. He'd never seen Sukuna in such an explosive state.
Had he gone completely berserk?
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