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Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen

⚠️ SPOILER HEAVY ⚠️

Major Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Full tags/warnings on Chapter links post

Major Characters: Original Character, Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Ieiri Shoko, Yaga Masamichi, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu, Tsukumo Yuki, Choso

‎‧₊˚✧ Chapter 76 ✧˚₊‧

The air exploded with motion as Boe and Rin surged forward toward the stage, two blurs of gold and fury, but they were met by resistance before they even reached the pavilion.

Male sorcerers, disguised as guests of the festival—their faces serene and empty—grabbed at them from the shadows like puppets caught in a spell. Their eyes glowed faintly with foxfire, their minds clouded by Tamamo-no-Mae’s charm.

“Get off me!” Rin snarled, her claws ripping through silk and skin as she vaulted forward, her cursed energy flaring like a flame. Her hair whipped out, razor sharp and glowing gold, carving a path through the enthralled crowd. The women, also disguised sorcerers, sprung into action as well, forcing the men back with anything they had and restraining them just as planned.

Boe didn’t slow either. Her daggers—forged of her now enchanted blood, solid gold and red—flashed in the light as she cut through a tangle of enchanted limbs. She ducked, spun, then stabbed a sigil into the ground and kicked off it, vaulting onto the stage and yanking Rin up behind her in one motion.

They landed, crouched and ready—but the stage was crowded now.

Tamamo-no-Mae sat in Haibara’s lap like a queen in her throne, serene, almost smug. Her fingers trailed lazily down his cheek again, and he didn’t even flinch. His eyes were vacant, his cursed energy a storm trapped behind glass.

And flanking her now was Nanami, Suguru, and Satoru. Their expressions were calm, but focused.

“What the hell,” Boe hissed.

“They’re still under it?” Rin growled, clawed fingers twitching.

“They shouldn't be,” Boe said, eyes narrowing. “Something’s off.”

Rin looked again at the three boys surrounding the fox spirit and her expression hardened. “They’re not charmed by her anymore…” she whispered, “Haibara's song is reinforcing it.”

Boe’s eyes widened. “She just let him keep the emotions going?!”

Tamamo-no-Mae smiled, still caressing Haibara’s face. “Don’t you see? He doesn’t want to be saved. He wants to be seen.”

Then, with a flick of her wrist—“Destroy them.”

It was immediate.

Suguru’s hand rose and curses rained from the sky. Writhing and fanged, a hundred grotesque specters surged toward Boe and Rin, shrieking with warped bloodlust.

Satoru blurred. One second on the stage. The next, directly in front of them. His sunglasses dipped as he smiled at them. “Can’t let you get any closer,” he said, almost kindly.

Then it hit.

The force of Satoru’s strike woud've shattered Rin's ribs—but Sarah took it instantly instead while Rin only had to brace from the force. The hit landed, and her entire body cracked with golden light as the blow translated into her healing circuit.

She staggered, blood in her mouth, but still stood.

Behind her, Utahime was muttering a mantra, cursed energy spinning in torrents.

“NOW!” Shoko shouted, slamming her hands onto Sarah’s shoulders and sending reverse cursed energy straight into her bloodstream, repairing crushed ribs as fast as they were being broken.

Satoru struck again. Sarah coughed blood, but still held.

Suguru’s curses descended, but Rin’s claws carved barriers into the stage, the golden symbols glowing as they held. Boe dove beneath a mouth full of teeth, slicing a cursed worm in half and hurling a dagger at Suguru, just enough to distract him.

The air thrummed with cursed energy so thick it rattled in everyone's bones. In the center of it all: Rin and Boe, shoulder to shoulder, sweat running down their faces, hearts hammering as they faced down impossible odds.

Nanami stepped forward first—blade gleaming, his Ratio Technique already charged.

“Split left,” Boe breathed, and Rin nodded.

They moved.

Rin dove low and fast, claws extended, feet scraping sparks against the polished wood of the stage. Boe launched herself upward with a twist, golden daggers spinning in her hands like pinwheels.

Nanami was fast and brutally efficient, but he was predictable. They coordinated flawlessly, flipping past his first strike and landing behind him, moving like wolves on the hunt.

Suguru’s curses descended again, and this time, they weren’t just monsters. They were coordinated. Binding limbs and stomping feet reaching and racing to them. One coiled around Rin’s ankle. Another exploded into a cloud of teeth and wires just as Boe twisted to throw.

Boe’s dagger veered wide and in that moment’s delay—CRACK.

Nanami’s blade caught her square in the ribs.

She flew across the stage, coughing blood, only to slam into Sarah’s open arms. Golden light flashed as Sarah took the blow with a sickening crunch, skin cracking with cursed force, but she remained standing.

“Keep going!” Sarah shouted through bloodied lips.

But they couldn’t get near him, not with Satoru and Suguru flanking them.

Suguru was toying with them. Every curse that Boe cut down only seemed to spawn two more. One wrapped around her leg—then vanished, replaced by a blade-wielding shadow that slashed for her throat.

Rin intercepted it, but even her claws were dulled by sheer exhaustion. “We can’t—” she gasped, landing beside Boe again. “We can’t keep this up!”

And then Satoru moved again.

His yukata caught the wind, and in an instant he was in front of them—not even using his full speed, just walking—and each footstep felt like the approach of death itself.

He lashed out. Boe barely ducked. Rin raised her arms and blocked with her cursed hair, but it tore on contact.

Sarah was there again. Satoru’s palm hit her full in the chest, and her back arched from the blow. Gold blood spurted from her mouth—but she didn’t fall.

Shoko called from the edge of the stage, reaching for Sarah.

“Sarah!” Boe shouted, scrambling to her side and giving her a shove towards Shoko.

“Thanks,” Sarah hissed as her hand touched Shoko's fingertips and her healing technique hit her, reinforcing her own.

Boe and Rin backed off again, but Suguru flicked a hand, summoning a twisting wave of curses that rose like a tsunami. Rin flipped over them. Boe cut through, but they were slowing.

“Get back!” Sarah shouted again, taking a hit from Nanami’s blade that shattered her arm.

Her golden blood soaked the boards as Shoko dropped to her knees from the exertion of healing her again. Utahime shouted something, too winded to cast another boost.

And still Sarah stood, hunched, trembling, and unrelenting.

“You can’t hold out,” Satoru said gently, voice almost pitying.

“She’s going to take him,” Suguru added. “Just give up.”

Rin’s claws shook. Boe’s breath came in gasps.

And then—Rin met Boe’s eyes. A silent decision was made.

“On three,” Rin said.

“Three,” Boe said, and moved.

They didn’t need to speak anymore. Not after what they’d been through. Boe ran straight toward Nanami, reckless and fast.

He turned, ready to meet her—only for Rin to catch his arm from the side, claws flaring with golden light.

BANG.

Nanami staggered, dazed just long enough. Boe twisted, sliding under his legs and stabbing her blood-dagger into the stage itself—releasing a sizzling seal of cursed energy

The stage cracked open like the surface of a volcano—a pulse of searing firey light erupting from the stage, blasting the air with a force that knocked everyone within ten meters to the ground.

Even Tamamo-no-Mae faltered, her expression shifting from amused curiosity to something far older.

A howl echoed out—not animal, not human, but somewhere between. And from the heart of the glowing seal, a figure began to emerge, wrapped in cursed mist that curled like burning silk.

Rin staggered back, shielding her face from the heat. Boe grabbed her shoulder, eyes wide.

Out of the light stepped a tall man in ornate, scorched armor—once regal, now twisted and charred by hatred. His long black hair was scorched at the ends, his once-proud helmet now cracked down the center. His eyes burned the deepest red.

Tamamo-no-Mae’s smile faltered completely.

“You,” she said, voice dropping low. “I burned you to ash.”

Abe no Yasuchika had once been one of the most brilliant onmyoji of the Heian court. Brilliant, beloved—and obsessed with Tamamo-no-Mae. His adoration had once bordered on worship. But when she turned on him, using his own incantations to betray him and cast him into a cursed fire that consumed him alive, he died cursing her name.

He raised a hand and pointed a blackened finger at her, voice like iron dragged over coals:

“Tamamo…"

Cursed flame rippled across his arm, taking the form of a long-bladed staff wrapped in foxfire and paper talismans. Around him, the air shimmered with bound shikigami—charred, broken, but powerful.

Tamamo-no-Mae’s illusion faltered entirely now. The lacquered perfection of her kimono peeled into ethereal tails, her golden eyes glinting with fury and fear. “You dare bring him here?”

“Figured you’d like a blast from the past,” Boe said, breathless.

From the seal, Abe no Yasuchika snarled, and with a flick of his weapon, chains of cursed prayer shot forward, aiming straight for Tamamo-no-Mae.

She dodged—barely—vanishing into smoke and reappearing on a rooftop, her grin now twisted and full of teeth.

“Fine,” she hissed. “Then let us dance again.”

And with that, the festival-turned-battlefield ignited with a second round of chaos— Only this time, the one hunting her was someone she’d once loved.

Satsuki moved like smoke—silent, deliberate, forgotten by all but the ones who needed to remember. Her steps didn’t echo as she crossed the scarred stage where Haibara sat, still singing softly, his fingers lazily strumming the air as though the strings of his instrument had become part of his nerves.

She reached into her back, pulling out a gray cube. Her voice was a whisper and a command, ancient and binding:

“Prison Realm: Gate… Open.”

The cursed tool bloomed open like an ominous lotus—dark and humming, the eye in the center opening slowly to reveal its seal. Then, with the force of an earthquake wrapped in silk, she intoned:

“Look at the eye… for one minute.”

And Haibara did. Without flinching and without question. His gaze locked, his soul beginning to tether to the gate.

But the surge of energy did not go unnoticed.

Satoru’s eyes snapped toward it first, the brilliant light of the Six Eyes blazing to life. Suguru turned with him, the scent of a cursed tool slapping their senses awake.

“No.” Satoru moved instantly.

Boe and Rin leapt forward, intercepting them mid-dash. Boe’s daggers flashed with fresh blood, and Rin’s hair extended like blades—but they were nothing more than speed bumps.

Satoru blinked through space, Suguru summoned a wave of shrieking curses—and they tore through Boe and Rin, knocking them hard to the stage floor.

Then came Nanami. Now freed from Tamamo-no-Mae’s influence, his face was bloodied but determined. Satoru snapped a casual strike forward, a blow of compressed air and raw cursed energy slamming Nanami across the stage.

But before Satoru could reach Haibara—

CLAP.

Todo appeared mid-air, slamming both hands onto Satoru and Suguru with all the force of his technique. In a blink, they were gone.

Satoru caught Todo by the throat as though he’d only blinked.

Todo coughed but managed to slap Satoru’s arm, disappearing in another flash—leaving behind nothing but a single small feather spinning down in his place.

Satoru growled, gone again in a breath.

Back to the stage.

It had been less than twenty seconds.

Boe coughed as she pushed herself up. Rin staggered beside her. “Too fast…”

“He’s not even using his techniques…” Boe wheezed.

“Thank whatever god is listening,” Rin gasped.

And then—Sarah stood. Stumbling. Shaking. Her clothes stained with blood, her hair half-loose, golden light flickering across her arms like molten veins.

She dragged herself in front of the Prison Realm, her voice cracked but firm.

“Satoru,” she said.

Satoru paused. Just for a fraction of a second. Just long enough.

Behind him, the air split open. A rift, shining like the dawn.

Sarah’s hands glowed white-hot as she reached through his Infinity—her positive energy ripping through the barrier. His eyes widened, for just a moment, and she shoved up against him as hard as she could.

He slid, just a step.

Boe and Rin grabbed each of his arms. With a combined cry and sheer force of will, they heaved—

And Satoru Gojo was sent tumbling through the portal.

The last thing they saw was his shocked expression—confused and betrayed—as the golden gate closed behind him with a sound like thunder breaking on heaven’s doorstep.

Tamamo-no-Mae’s serene smile faltered for the first time.

The battlefield stilled for half a breath.

Suguru froze mid-summon, the curses around him faltering like puppets with cut strings. Nanami dragged himself upright, bruised and gasping, eyes wild. Shoko collapsed next to Sarah, stabilizing her even her skin paled dangerously, the toll of her technique nearly too much.

Tamamo-no-Mae’s smile returned—wider, more wolfish now. “Clever,” she purred. “But not clever enough.”

Then her gaze flicked behind her. Haibara. Still seated, still dazed. Still staring into the eye of the Prison Realm.

But the minute… it had passed.

There was a low grinding sound, ancient and terrible, like the earth itself gnashing its teeth.

The Prison Realm snapped shut.

The stone cube hummed in Satsuki’s hands and she made a break for it.

Tamamo-no-Mae’s eyes narrowed. For the first time, she looked… angry.

“Very clever.”

And then the air trembled.

Haibara's domain shattered like glass, the incense dispersing in a rush of cold wind. The golden glow vanished. The festival torches flickered and dimmed. The glamour faded.

Tamamo-no-Mae stood alone now—no longer a goddess at a feast, but a curse in her true form. Nine tails bristled behind her, eyes glowing like lanterns, fangs gleaming. She hissed low, her voice echoing like thunder.

“You will regret taking him from me.”

Rin staggered back to Boe’s side, gripping her clawed arm. Boe wiped blood from her mouth. Behind them, Sarah slowly straightened up, held up by Shoko and Utahime, her arms glowing again.

The air cracked as Suguru surged forward, finally free—no incense in his lungs, no song in his ears. Just raw, seething cursed energy and a singular purpose: end this.

Tamamo-no-Mae whirled to meet him, claws blooming into spears of white flame, tails flaring behind her like a celestial war fan. Their cursed energies clashed in an earth-shaking shockwave, the ground fracturing beneath their feet. She struck like lightning, but Suguru was faster. His curses tore through the air like vipers, biting into her divine form, making her snarl in outrage.

The girls scattered—fast.

Sarah stumbled into Boe’s arms, who caught her, half-dragging her back as the ground continued to tremble.

Satsuki slid into place beside them, breathless, the Prison Realm glowing faintly in her arms. “The final seal is ready. We just need to move—now!”

Shoko, barely conscious, nodded to them and limped away with Nanami and the crowd of injured sorcerers, making sure the wounded were safe. Utahime was already sprinting with Rin and Boe toward Tsukumo’s signal flare—a streak of blue fire high in the night sky.

“This way!” Tsukumo barked as they arrived, pointing to a rocky ridge beyond the shrine. There, inscribed on the ground, was the trap: a massive ceremonial array, drawn with sacred ash and cursed ink. The scent of chrysanthemum and divine sandalwood hung in the air—a mirrored lure of Tamamo-no-Mae’s own domain.

Utahime placed her hands at the corners of the seal and began the incantation. Rin and Boe knelt, pressing their blood-soaked charms into the nodes. The whole trap began to thrum, waiting.

Back near the stage, Sarah raised her arms. The Elysium portal bloomed open again and out stepped Satoru. His yukata hung open at the top, singed slightly at the hem. He stretched with a grin, cracked his neck and looked to Sarah.

“Well done,” he said, and patted her head affectionately. “Knew you had it in you.”

“Hurry up,” she muttered, "We don't have a ton of—"

He reached down and clipped the little froggy hairpin in her hair, her words dying in her throat. Then, like a meteor wrapped in silk, he vanished from her side, reappearing mid-air above Tamamo-no-Mae and Suguru, who had locked in a furious clash. His foot slammed down into the fray with a shockwave that tore through the battlefield and kicked up a storm of dust and cursed energy.

Suguru didn’t even flinch. He grinned as Satoru landed beside him.

“Took you long enough.”

Tamamo-no-Mae snarled. Her form was flickering now—one tail half-shorn by Suguru, her eye bloodied.

She threw her arms wide—and the sky darkened.

A titanic fox-shaped aura exploded outward, her divine spirit clawing at the air.

But she was right where they needed her to be.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Tamamo-no-Mae paced like a queen dethroned, yet still too divine to kneel. Her nine tails flicked in irritation, golden eyes scanning the ash-ringed trap like she could burn her way out with a glare. Beside her, the spectral form of her long-dead lover—the infamous Abe no Yasuchika, stood silent and watchful, bound in place just as she was.

The air around them shimmered with power and fury. She stopped walking and turned her gaze on the gathered group, daring them with a poisonous smile.

No one spoke.

So, naturally, Satoru did.

“Well,” he said with a casual flourish, brushing dirt off his Yukata, “I’d just like to say… this whole thing? The festival, the fight, the flowers? Ten outta ten. Rin, you crushed it.”

Rin threw her arm in the air weakly from where she sat. “I know I did, but thanks.”

Sarah collapsed flat on the ground beside her, her clothes streaked in blood, her arms trembling from overuse of her technique. She groaned, “At least it's over.”

Boe dropped onto the ground beside them as well, kicking dust into the trap’s edge and muttering, “It better be."

Inside the seal, Tamamo-no-Mae raised a perfectly sculpted brow. She tilted her head, her lips curling into that infuriatingly perfect smile. She wasn’t throwing spells anymore—but her most dangerous technique was already in motion.

“You've gone to such trouble,” she purred, voice liquid and silk. “And so much pain. I’m impressed. Truly. But you haven’t told me what this is for. What is it you desire from me?”

Her gaze flicked across the group, tail tips twitching—assessing, seducing, provoking. “Do you want my power? My secrets? My body?Perhaps… a wish?”

Suguru said nothing, his arms crossed. Haibara stepped slightly behind him, still clearly shaken. Nanami's jaw tightened but he remained silent, his blade sheathed and eyes locked on her.

But Satoru stepped forward, grinning.

“What we want,” he said, “isn't exactly simple.”

He turned and gestured behind him—to Sarah, to Rin, to Boe, to Shoko resting against Utahime’s shoulder. To the tired sorcerers, the battered fighters, the ones who'd stood through it all.

“We have a little job to take care of and we want your help.”

Suguru added, “But we will need a binding vow from you. Preferably without any manipulation.”

Tamamo-no-Mae laughed softly. “Oh, darling boy… you call it manipulation. I call it persuasion.” She leaned forward, voice soft and dangerous. “You wouldn’t be the first men to try to trap me for the sake of the world. And yet here I still am.”

Sarah was sitting up now, tired but resolute. “We're not planning to keep you permanently.”

Tamamo-no-Mae stared at her, gaze narrowing slightly, but the smile on her lips remained. Faintly amused but now faintly curious as well.

"I know well when someone means to cage me and when someone is lying," she said silkily, "So tell me—what exactly is your plan, little Glowbug?”

Sarah rose to her feet slowly, cracking her shoulders, her expression soft but steady. The last golden wisps of healing energy shimmered at her palms, glowing faint against the twilight haze of the battlefield. Her knees wobbled, but her voice was calm.

"I swear we're being honest,” she said. "We're here to strike a deal.”

Tamamo-no-Mae tilted her head. Her former lover, Abe no Yasuchika’s ghostly form, simply watched in unreadable silence.

Sarah gestured to the swirling energy around the trap the subtle gleam of the spellwork, the carefully etched symbols at each cardinal point, the threads of gold and salt mingling with the curse marks of Yasuchika’s presence. “Your power is ancient—one of the strongest anchors we’ve found to a specific period. It resonates with Heian-era cursed energy, with spirits from that time and with you. We need that connection. You’re our anchor.”

“For what?” Tamamo-no-Mae’s smile curled dangerously.

“To go back,” Sarah said. “To the Heian Era.”

Tamamo-no-Mae’s smile faltered—just for a second.

Satoru stepped forward now, arms crossed, standing next to Suguru. “It’s not a trick. We already know how to do it."

Sarah stepped beside the fox spirit’s trap and knelt, letting golden energy drip from her fingertips again. “My technique responds to cursed energy, especially when it causes harm. And when I die… the positive energy rebounds. You know what happens.”

Tamamo-no-Mae’s gaze sharpened. “You would risk sacrificing yourself?”

Sarah nodded. “If my ashes are used at the point of a ritual—especially with a spiritual anchor like you—then I can act as a kind of bridge. My soul can carry others, we've done it a few times now.”

Tamamo-no-Mae circled slowly inside the trap, now intrigued despite herself. “And you would use my energy as the compass.”

“Yes,” Sarah said. “Your presence fixes the destination. My body would be the vessel.”

“And what happens to me should you fail?” she asked, voice soft, almost a whisper. “Do I burn with you? Or do you leave me here to rot?”

“You would be safe,” Suguru said. “Sealed—but alive. We are not taking any unnecessary risks with your life. We need your connection to that era. Without it, we’re just souls tumbling through time.”

“Until we are done,” Rin added, "And then you're free to go.

Tamamo-no-Mae laughed. It was not kind. It was not gentle. It was like silk tearing—beautiful and menacing.

“You are children playing with bones,” she said. “This trip of yours was worth this effort?”

“Don't you worry about us,” Satoru said, tipping his head back smugly, “We have it all under control.”

Tamamo-no-Mae looked at him and then at Sarah again. “And you, Resonate? You’ll risk dying for this plan?”

Sarah’s eyes didn’t waver. “Gladly.”

For a moment, the world was quiet—just the wind, and the glow of the spell, and the stillness of something ancient considering her place in a new order.

Then Tamamo-no-Mae’s eyes gleamed with interest. “Fine.”

Everyone tensed—waiting.

“I’ll go,” she said, stepping to the edge of the trap, tails lifting like sails. “But I want something in return.”

“Of course," Sarah said, "As long as your demand is reasonable, we'll accommodate to the best of our ability."

Tamamo-no-Mae’s golden eyes glinted like coins catching the last light of a fire. Her tails swayed behind her in rhythm, too deliberate to be casual, too graceful to be still. She stood just inches from the edge of the seal, but the barrier between her and Sarah may as well have been a thread—fragile and humming with tension.

“Have you ever equalized a cursed spirit as powerful as me before, little spark?” Tamamo-no-Mae asked, one manicured brow arching.

Sarah squared her shoulders despite the weariness still clinging to her bones. “Not completely,” she admitted. “But I’ve purified a pretty nasty one before?”

Tamamo-no-Mae let out a short, dismissive huff. “Of course not." She glanced toward the others, her expression painted in disdain. “I should have known. The Resonates that survived must have been poorly bred. The ones good at hiding were always the weakest.”

Sarah’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean by 'Resonates’?”

Tamamo-no-Mae tilted her head, a smile curling her crimson lips. “Has even your name been lost to time? Tsk.”

She began to pace again, the barrier shimmering faintly with her proximity.

“You. You who can walk the line between life and death, using curses to power your blessings. Resonate. Purifier. Soul Binder. Sanctifier. Just as Sorcerers have their many names and lineages, so did your kind once. Until we wiped them all out.”

A beat passed.

Sarah’s breath caught slightly, and she glanced back toward the others. Rin’s brow was furrowed deeply, Boe looked alarmed. Even Satoru and Suguru had stepped closer, tension visible in their stances. Shoko blinked slowly, uncertain. Utahime looked like she wanted to interrupt—but didn’t.

Sarah’s voice was quiet, but steady. “Why?”

Tamamo-no-Mae laughed again, a soft, cruel melody. “Because you were dangerous. You were not cursed users. Where sorcerers channel their violence outward, you absorbed it. You stole our power, inverted it, erased us withput even a whisper. Entire domains of malevolent spirits were unraveled because one of you walked through them.”

Sarah swallowed and her hands trembled slightly at her sides.

“Will you tell me more?” she asked, finally. “About them? About… us?”

Tamamo-no-Mae stepped fully to the edge of the circle, her eyes locked with Sarah’s. Her voice turned low, nearly reverent.

“You’ll know everything you need… when you equalize me. The act will burn away everything false, but it will leave behind the truth. You will see my memories. My despair, rage, joy, all of it. You will carry my story—and in doing so, understand your own.”

Sarah took a slow breath, the golden light of her energy rippling faintly across her skin like sunlight on water.

“And what if it kills you?”

Tamamo-no-Mae smirked. “You silly firefly. It won’t.”

Sarah frowned. “Why not?”

Tamamo turned her chin up with theatrical offense. “Haven’t you been taught to equalize?”

“No,” Sarah admitted. “My training was with sorcerers. No one taught me anything like that.”

Tamamo-no-Mae clicked her tongue in disapproval, like a noblewoman annoyed at discovering a stain on a silk robe.

“Then go learn how to do your job properly,” she said. “Come back when you know how to balance a soul without destroying it. Only then can you walk through my heart without turning it to ash.”

Sarah took a shaky breath, and gave a small nod. “Then I’ll learn. And when I do…”

Tamamo-no-Mae stepped back with a graceful twirl of her sleeves, turning toward the ghost of Abe no Yasuchika. “Then we will speak again, little phoenix.”

And for a moment, Tamamo-no-Mae looked almost… wistful.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Sarah stormed up the flowering hill, golden light flaring in her wake. The wisteria vines parted before her like they recognized the fire in her steps, purple petals shedding as she shoved them aside with both hands. The sky above Elysium swirled with pinks and radiant golds, deeper than sunset, richer than dawn—an atmosphere that buzzed with the memory of souls too old to have names.

“Masami!” she shouted. “Masami, I need you!”

The others followed quickly through the glowing portal behind her. Rin blinked up at the treetop blossoms in awe, Boe twirled one of the fallen petals between her fingers. Haibara kept his eyes on Sarah's back, but couldn't resist running his finger through the tall grass. Even Suguru paused to take in the surreal stillness of the place, the way the light danced like water around their ankles.

Tsukumo could barely contain her grin.

From above, two long, impossibly smooth horns extended through the mist—stretching out from the hollow of Masami’s eye sockets as they slowly emerged from the higher ridge, head tilted at an inhuman angle. They moved like smoke folding into a face, and when they spoke, they didn’t use words.

“Something has been remembered.”

The sound entered their minds like silk sliding over glass.

Sarah stepped forward, panting slightly, anger and urgency still racing through her. “That’s exactly why I’m here,” she said. “Tamamo-no-mae remembered me. Or—remembered us. She said my kind were called Resonates. She said curses wiped us out. She said I’m supposed to equalize her, not kill her, and I don’t know how to do that.”

Masami’s face remained impassive, but something about their stillness seemed pleased. Then they said—“Yes. You remember, as we do.”

Satoru stepped up beside Sarah, his presence like the first breeze after still heat. “Does that mean… the more we learn about her—” he nodded toward Sarah, “—the more you remember too?”

Masami slowly inclined their head. Their horns shimmered.

“Yes."

It paused for a moment before turning back to Sarah.

"To equalize is not simply to purify. It is to balance. To understand. To bind what is shattered. That was your purpose.”

Sarah blinked. “But I was never taught. I didn’t even know this was something I could do? How do I equalize her without destroying her?”

Masami turned their head to look directly at her—though their face was unreadable, the pressure in her chest told her she had their full attention now.

“You must not burn away the curse. You must carry it. Mirror it and reflect it back to her, not to undo her—but to show her herself.”

“That sounds… wildly unhelpful and poetic,” Satoru muttered behind her.

“Her soul is fractured by grief. Not rage. You cannot fight her into balance. You must hold her woe, as she said. Let her curse resonate in you and you in her.”

Sarah shook her head, processing. “So I can’t just pour positive energy into her. I have to… sync with her soul and walk through her memories.”

Masami finally moved. One long, many-jointed arm raised to point toward a lake that shimmered like a memory on the edge of waking.

“Go there. We will train your Equalization."

Satoru took half a step forward when Masami's long branch-like fingers blocked him.

"Only the Resonator."

Satoru scoffed, but Sarah put her hand on his forearm. "Gojo I—"

"I told you last time that I was going to understand your technique," he said softly, "I know you don't remember that, but… if this works then wouldn't you be able to?"

"I could remember when you said that?" Sarah clarified, her brow furrowing.

"Yeah," Satoru nodded, "You would… y'know, you'd remember everything. I could show you everything that we've been through… together, right?"

Satoru looked down at Sarah, the shifting light of Elysium catching in the corners of his eyes—so pale and bright they almost glowed. He had that smile again. The one she’d seen before—half-lifted lips, a hopeful curl, but strained like it was trying to hold together the frayed threads of something fragile.

It wasn’t just about now, she realized. It never was with him. That smile had the weight of lifetimes.

Her heart stammered. Something in her wanted to reach out—ask him what he remembered, what he saw when he looked at her that made him need this moment so badly. But she didn’t get the chance.

Because Haibara stepped forward.

His hand clamped onto her shoulder like a vice. “Absolutely not,” he said, voice low but sharp enough to cut through the dreamy haze of Elysium.

She winced at the sudden pressure and turned to him, startled. Haibara didn’t look at her—he was glaring directly at Satoru, jaw tight, eyes burning with something unflinching.

Satoru’s hopeful expression crumpled in an instant, replaced by a colder stare. He glared back, his fists flexing at his sides, but not raising. Not yet. They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to. Something passed between them.

The silence stretched like a drawn wire.

Sarah opened her mouth, unsure whether to defuse or demand answers—but Satoru exhaled, long and quiet and then, with an almost imperceptible nod, he stepped back.

He let go of whatever thread he’d been clinging to. His arms dropped to his sides, his expression softer now—nothing but the faint whisper of a sigh in the strange golden air. He didn’t meet her eyes again. Just turned slightly, enough to make it clear:

Go. Go with him.

Haibara’s grip softened but didn’t leave her shoulder. She walked forward with him, feeling Satoru’s gaze vanish behind her like the light of a setting sun.

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