Time rewinds to fifteen minutes earlier.
"Is there nothing left to do now?"
Fushiguro Megumi rested the Ten Reverse Spear on his shoulder and, feeling bored, kicked the head of Jujutsu Kaisen's Geto Suguru, which had rolled to his feet after he had knocked it off.
Geto Suguru looked awkwardly at his own head, now at his feet, feeling speechless at Fushiguro Megumi's actions.
Walking past his own severed head, Geto Suguru came to Kenjaku's corpse and started searching it. Eventually, he pulled out a bloody, fleshy block.
"What's that?"
Fushiguro Toji noticed the thing in his hand. Several tightly shut eyes were on its surface.
"Prison Realm. Gojo is sealed inside this," Geto explained.
He turned his head toward Fushiguro—or more precisely, toward the strange short blade resting on his shoulder. "That special-grade cursed tool of yours can break through any technique, right?"
"If you use your blade to destroy the Inverted Spear of Heaven, it should break the seal and free Gojo."
"Got it."
Fushiguro Toji walked up to Geto Suguru, took the Prison Realm from him, and stared at the cursed object that held Gojo Satoru for a few seconds.
Then he spun his blade in a flourish and threw the Prison Realm into the air.
It spun and fell, landing right on the tip of the Inverted Spear of Heaven, which pierced through it.
The fleshy block, now missing a chunk, hit the ground. Both men stared at it closely.
A moment later, the Prison Realm began to shake violently.
With a loud bang, the special-grade cursed object shattered into pieces. A man with white hair appeared out of thin air and entered their view without warning.
The moment Gojo Satoru escaped the seal, his eyes locked on a familiar figure.
The six eyes, marked with strange patterns, took in everything—confirming that the black-haired man in front of him really was Geto Suguru.
But this time, things were different from their last encounter with Kenjaku.
Gojo Satoru was sure of it now—the man in front of him was the real Geto Suguru.
Even though he had already suspected it, facing a close friend who had died in front of him, only to be revived like this, still left him speechless.
"So after all this time, that's the look you give me? Really, Satoru?"
Geto raised his eyebrows and smiled lightly.
"I mean… I had a feeling you'd come back…"
Gojo Satoru scratched the back of his head. The corners of his mouth curled into a wide, casual grin. Then he glanced over at Geto's old, headless corpse lying nearby. His eyes were filled with complicated emotions.
"What? Not even a hug to celebrate?" A voice, both familiar and unfamiliar, came from the side.
Gojo turned and immediately frowned in disgust.
"What kind of face is that?" Fushiguro Toji said, clearly annoyed. "If it weren't for me, you'd still be stuck in that block, spoiled brat of the Gojo clan."
"Can't argue with that." Gojo smiled a little, his mood lightened by the interruption. "Still, looking at your face reminds me of Megumi."
"Megumi, huh… Sounds like my son's been in good hands," Toji said, scratching his head, still not fully used to the two separate timelines. "Anyway, we're done here, right? Time to go."
"You're not actually trying to be a good dad over there, are you?"
Gojo caught the awkward shift in Toji's expression and exaggerated a shocked look.
"None of your damn business."
"Huh?"
Sensing the tension suddenly rising between the two, Geto Suguru sighed and stepped in. "Alright, Toji's right. We should leave. Things aren't over yet."
"Before he died, Kenjaku used Master Tengen's barrier to trigger a ritual called the Culling Game. The outside world should be in chaos right now."
"Tch. That bastard couldn't even die quietly, huh?"
The three of them left the Tomb of the Star.
Tokyo, Ginza.
Ryoumen Sukuna was dead. By the time he died, he had already swallowed eighteen of his fingers. One was forced out by Hayashizaki, and one was still missing, never found.
But compared to the eighteen fingers inside Sukuna, the two that weren't swallowed seemed too few to make a real difference.
Thanks to the resonance, Sukuna—who had all eighteen fingers—was the main body, and now he was gone. The remaining two fingers, which were special-grade cursed objects that couldn't be destroyed by normal means, vanished along with him because of that same resonance.
That saved the higher-ups at Jujutsu High a lot of trouble.
Otherwise, they would've had to make Itadori Yuji swallow the last two fingers, kill him, and then completely erase the curse known as Ryoumen Sukuna that way.
Soft black hair swayed gently as a light figure slowly landed beside Hayashizaki. Before he even turned around, a faint and pleasant scent drifted to his nose.
"It's over?"
Yukinoshita Yukino asked in a quiet voice.
From what she could sense, Ryoumen Sukuna's cursed energy had vanished. All that was left behind were scattered traces of lingering energy.
"Yeah, it's over…"
Just as Hayashizaki turned around and began to answer, small golden particles of light appeared in the air and gathered into a golden bug.
"I'm Little Gold Bug, Death Game 0842-905 transfer: The administrator of the Return Flow, you have become a swimmer!?"
Interrupted mid-sentence, the black-haired young man reached out and grabbed the golden bug in his hand. It kept flapping its thin golden wings like crazy.
"What the hell is this thing?"
"I'm Little—chirp chirp chirp!!!"
The golden bug struggled hard.
Then it got crushed.
Watching the purple blood splatter onto his face, only to be blocked by the Limitless Technique's barrier, Yukinoshita Yukino looked disgusted. "What's with that golden bug?"
"It's probably from the barrier ritual that just activated," Hayashizaki explained.
Before he crushed it, he could feel a weak connection between himself and the thing. Even breaking it directly wouldn't cause any real problems.
"You should have one too," he said, pointing upward. "You saw that flashing barrier earlier. We were inside it too. I guess we've become these 'swimmers' or whatever."
Yukinoshita Yukino nodded, understanding. Then, with a thought, she summoned a golden bug just like the one Hayashizaki crushed earlier.
The little golden bug flew a short distance away from the black-haired man before starting to read out the rules of the Death Game again.
"Is this thing important?" Yukinoshita Yukino asked while listening to the bug talk.
"Not really. If we want to end this Death Game thing, we just need to destroy the barrier," Hayashizaki replied.
Hearing that, the little bug froze mid-sentence.
The next second, it was cut cleanly in half by an invisible slash.
After killing the little golden bug, the black-haired girl took out her phone and checked the time—less than an hour left before midnight.
"Then let's hurry and destroy the barrier."
Just as Yukinoshita Yukino finished speaking, she sensed three familiar cursed energy signals rapidly approaching.
Soon, three figures appeared in the sky. Leading them was Gojo Satoru, who had just been freed from the Prison Realm.
"It's already over?"
Gojo Satoru slowly landed in front of them with Fushiguro Toji and Geto Suguru.
After leaving the Prison Realm, he had immediately sensed three strong cursed energies clashing. He quickly realized that it was Hayashizaki and Yukinoshita Yukino fighting Ryoumen Sukuna.
So, he rushed over with the other two.
But before they could arrive, Sukuna's cursed energy had already vanished.
"You're late, Gojo Satoru," Hayashizaki said with a grin.
"That's a shame."
Though he said that, the smirk on Gojo Satoru's face clearly showed he didn't actually feel that way. In fact, he looked a bit relieved—less effort for him.
"So, what's going on now?" asked a confused Fushiguro Toji, pointing at the unconscious, spiky-haired boy lying on the ground. "Why is my son passed out here?"
"Sukuna took over his body," Hayashizaki explained. "But it's fine now. He just hasn't woken up yet."
As he spoke, Hayashizaki picked up Fushiguro Megumi from the ground, used a reverse cursed technique to heal some of his injuries, then shook him by the collar.
Seeing that he still wasn't waking up, Hayashizaki gave him two light slaps on the face.
"...Ugh?"
Fushiguro Megumi frowned with his eyes still shut. His long eyelashes trembled slightly before he slowly opened his eyes.
The spiky-haired boy looked completely lost. He had just woken up and hadn't figured out what was happening yet—all he felt was a stinging pain on his face.
"Hayashizaki... sensei?"
"All good. Here you go."
Hayashizaki casually tossed the newly-awakened Fushiguro Megumi to Fushiguro Toji.
Still dazed, Megumi was suddenly thrown into the air and then caught by someone else.
When he saw the face of the big man who had caught him, he blanked out for a second and mumbled instinctively, "...Dad?"
Fushiguro Toji looked at him with a complicated expression and joked, "Yo, looks like you're still full of energy."
Megumi snapped out of it and struggled to get down from his father's arms. "What the hell is going on?"
"Don't ask me, I'm just as clueless right now," Toji said, waving his hand. Then he pointed at Hayashizaki. "Ask him. Isn't he your teacher?"
A slightly awkward but relaxed mood spread through the group.
Yukinoshita Yukino frowned slightly and cut in, "Save the small talk for later. Shouldn't we be focusing on that weird barrier ritual the enemy started?"
Keep chatting, and the day's going to be over.
With a strange sense of ritual and stubbornness, the girl began pushing everyone to take action.
"This young lady is right," Geto Suguru agreed. "The barrier ritual Kenjaku started is called the Culling Game. Its goal is to make the sorcerers inside fight each other. Then, by collecting the cursed energy that leaks out from the dead, he plans to create a huge cursed spirit."
"A giant cursed spirit, huh? That guy really doesn't hold back," Hayashizaki raised an eyebrow, impressed by the wild idea of an enemy he hadn't even met yet. "We just need to destroy the barrier, right?"
"In theory, yes. The Culling Game works by using Master Tengen's empty barriers spread across Japan. If we destroy the barrier, the ritual should stop. After that, it's just a matter of dealing with the thousand evil reincarnated sorcerers."
Geto Suguru paused, as if he had more to say.
"But… Master Tengen's empty barrier is way too complex. My skills with barrier techniques aren't strong enough to handle that," he admitted.
"Unfortunately, my barrier skills aren't that advanced either," Gojo Satoru added.
"Don't look at me. I'm just a monkey without cursed energy," Fushiguro Toji shrugged with a blank look.
Yukinoshita Yukino stayed quiet.
Everyone turned their heads toward the black-haired young man in a pure white kimono.
Hayashizaki blinked, then grinned. "Can I just break it by force?"
…
Toward a brighter tomorrow:
"These cursed spirits just went wild all of a sudden!"
Zenin shouted to her teammates while fighting the cursed spirit in front of her.
The spirits that had clear goals before suddenly went berserk, running around causing chaos, with their movements turning violent and out of control.
"Saying that doesn't help!"
"Salmon!"
Panda and Inumaki Toge managed to shout back while dealing with their own battles.
The area they were in wasn't too bad, but the reason things still felt tough was because a Grade 1 sorcerer was leading their group.
"Most likely, the spirit control technique got out of hand, which is why the cursed spirits went wild," Kusakabe Atsuya said, resting on his katana. "Still, now that their movements are simpler and easier to guess, it should be easier to fight them."
"Easy for you to say—why don't you start fighting too?!"
Zenin yelled while swinging the special grade cursed tool Yuyun in her hands, slashing the cursed spirit in front of her into pieces.
Kusakabe Atsuya, caught slacking off, froze for a moment. He awkwardly stood up straight, drew his katana, and sliced the spirit charging at him clean in half.
Scenes like this were happening all over Tokyo. The Jujutsu High sorcerers split into teams of three students and one Grade 1 leader, sweeping through the city to eliminate the cursed spirits released by Kenjaku.
Thanks to the experience they gained from the last "Shibuya Night Parade of a Hundred Demons," the sorcerers were working much faster this time. And with far fewer cursed spirits released than before, the chaos across the city was quickly brought under control.
Meanwhile, Hayashizaki Hayato had made his way underground to the Tombs of the Star Corridor beneath Jujutsu High.
"How is it? Can you break it?"
Yukinoshita Yukino looked at the black-haired young man, who had fallen into deep thought, and asked with concern.
"It's actually simpler than I expected," Hayashizaki said thoughtfully. "That guy Kenjaku had broken and repaired the barrier's core once. I can use the marks he left behind to break it again."
The black-haired girl let out a breath of relief.
Soon after, the barrier that had been glowing in the skies over Japan shattered, turning into little white lights that drifted down like snow.
"It should be fine now," Hayashizaki said.
He and Yukinoshita Yukino returned to the surface together.
The two of them looked up at the night sky. As the deep darkness spread above, the clouds slowly parted, revealing a bright, full moon. The barrier had shattered, and the scattered magical energy turned into countless white lights, drifting down from the sky like snow.
The girl glanced down at the time.
Now that the intense battle was over, a strange and hard-to-name feeling slowly crept into her heart, like spring water seeping through cracks in stone.
Everything was over. It was finally done.
She had so many things she wanted to say to him, but she didn't know how to start.
Even during the most intense battle a thousand years ago, she hadn't felt this nervous—but now, her palms were sweaty.
She took a deep breath. In a place where Hayashizaki couldn't see, Yukinoshita Yukino's eyes suddenly turned serious.
Her pale, slender fingers twitched slightly. After a small hesitation, her hand moved toward his—but the moment the back of her hand brushed his, she pulled away quickly, like a startled little animal.
Yukinoshita Yukino opened her mouth. "Haya—…"
Hayashizaki turned to look at her, smiling as he waited for her to continue.
But the girl with black hair didn't go on. She just kept her head down, hiding the flush rising on her cheeks.
She bit her soft pink lips tightly. Then, after clenching her small hand for a moment, she started to move again. Her pinky gently hooked around the finger of the black-haired young man beside her.
A second later, a larger hand quietly took hers.
A warm, almost burning heat spread from her palm. Yukinoshita Yukino's eyes flew wide open, and she let out a small surprised sound. "Eh!?"
The shape of her ear, peeking out from her sleek black hair, quickly turned a soft shade of red.
For a moment, the girl panicked. But right after that came a wave of peace from deep within, as if courage was quietly blooming in her heart like the buds of early spring.
In the end, it all became a powerful rush of emotion, swelling and crashing back and forth in her chest.
Yukinoshita Yukino gripped his hand tightly in return.
She took another deep breath.
Then she raised her head. Her deep blue eyes locked onto Hayashizaki's bright, ruby-colored eyes. Her lips curved into a beautiful smile.
"Merry Christmas, Hayashizaki."
"And… welcome back."
…
The Ginza attack incident had come to an end. All that remained was cleaning up the city and dealing with some complicated follow-up tasks—like locating the one thousand reincarnated bodies.
Although the Culling Game had been forcefully ended after Hayashizaki destroyed Tengen's Void Barrier, the sorcerers altered by Kenjaku's technique and the awakened vessels didn't disappear along with it.
The higher-ups would have to find them one by one—either exorcising them or trying to bring them in.
But none of that had anything to do with Hayashizaki and Yukinoshita Yukino anymore.
After all, they were the ones who defeated Ryoumen Sukuna, basically the final boss. Asking them to take on more time-consuming cleanup work? Even if Hayashizaki agreed, Yukinoshita Yukino would definitely flip out.
Today was December 25th. Christmas.
Yukinoshita Yukino stood there with a deadpan expression, watching the short-haired woman in front of her tightly clinging to Hayashizaki's arm.
The soft curves pressing against Hayashizaki's arm were a major shock to the girl's eyes.
"Big sister…" Yukinoshita Yukino's voice was cold, her sharp gaze fixed on her older sister. "Why are you here?"
"Why can't I be here?" Yukinoshita Haruno said playfully.
Her slightly raised eyebrows, narrowed eyes, and faint smirk made her look just like a sly, seductive fox.
"Because today is me and Hayashizaki-kun's—"
Before Yukinoshita Yukino could finish, Haruno cut her off: "A date with Hayashizaki-kun?"
A light blush instantly spread across her pale cheeks, and a flustered expression appeared on her face.
But only for a moment. The black-haired girl quickly pulled herself together and said, "Yeah, so what? Since you already know, you *really* shouldn't be here bothering us!"
"Is that so?" Haruno smiled faintly, clearly teasing her. "Then who was it at the dinner table who said she didn't like Hayashizaki-kun?"
The moment those words came out, Yukinoshita Yukino's face froze.
…
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You can read 10 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu