Jujutsu Kaisen: I have everything I need now!

Okinawa, 2:40 PM.

The airport exit was stuffy and humid; the air felt like a scalding hot towel stuck to my face. As soon as I stepped out of the terminal on December 1st, the back of my shirt was soaked with sweat.

"December!"

Yuji Itadori waved to them from the side of the parking lot.

Standing next to a dark blue bread truck, wearing a black uniform from a vocational high school, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he still had that carefree smile on his face.

"Kudoshin? What are you doing here?"

"Senior Otsuku sent me to pick you up." Itadori opened the car door. "Kugizaki and Fushiguro are waiting at the scene. I'll take you there first."

On the first day of the twelfth month, he waved his hand, and the "Black Queen" appeared from the void in front of him.

Zhenyi took it and hugged it to her chest, then got into the car with the two of them.

The air conditioning was on in the car, but the air coming out of the vents had a faint musty smell.

Hu Zhang started the car, drove out of the parking lot, and turned onto the coastal road.

Outside the right-hand car window, the sea off Okinawa shimmered with a blinding white light under the afternoon sun. The seawater was a very light color, an almost transparent pale blue, but after staring at that surface for a few seconds, December felt that the color of the seabed was darker than normal.

"How's the situation with Kugizaki?"

"This is not good."

Itachi's tone was unusually serious. He held the steering wheel with one hand and picked up a transparent sealed bag from the center console with the other, handing it over.

The bag contained several grayish-white fragments, each about the size of a fingernail.

On the first day of December, I took it and squeezed it.

hard.

The fragment has extremely fine lines on its cross-section, which faintly reflect a pale blue luster under light.

"Did it fall from those new family members?"

"Yes. Kugizaki said that the previous Familiars turned into water when they died, but starting yesterday, the newly appeared Familiars leave behind these crystals after being killed."

On the first day of December, he held the fragments up to his eyes and examined them closely.

A very faint golden-pink light shone deep within his pupils.

There are residual energy fluctuations inside the fragment.

It was very faint and intermittent, like a light bulb that was about to run out of power making its last flicker.

However, this fluctuation is subtly different from Bazaar's Water Law.

"..."

He didn't speak on the first day of December. He placed the sealed bag on his lap and turned to look out the window.

The road winds its way along the coastline, flanked by low tropical vegetation and the occasional residential area. Everything seems normal—tourists sunbathe on the beach, and cars parked in front of convenience stores.

There were a few bicycles, and an old man in a floral shirt was watering flowers by the roadside.

No one knows what is happening beneath their feet.

"arrive."

Hu Zhang parked the car at the entrance to a blocked street.

Ahead was a yellow warning tape with a sign that read "Road Construction, No Entry". Behind the tape stood two "construction workers" wearing reflective vests, but December Shuo immediately recognized them as auxiliary supervisors from the vocational college.

The three got out of the car and crossed the police line.

They walked about two hundred meters further in.

The buildings on both sides of the street had clearly been damaged—large patches of white spots on the walls were corroded by seawater, most of the glass was broken, and the road surface was full of potholes and covered with a thin layer of salt water.

There was a stuffy smell in the air.

The base smell is of the sea, with a hint of rust, and if you smell it deeper, there is a faint, sweet, rotten scent.

On the first day of December, he wrinkled his nose.

He had smelled that scent before.

In Toyama Bay, when Bazaar summoned the creations of water, a similar scent permeated the air.

It's just that the concentration is much weaker.

"December, you've arrived."

At the end of the street, Fushiguro Megumi leaned against an overturned bus and gestured with her chin toward them.

His uniform was covered in dust, and his left hand was wrapped in bandages, indicating that he had just been in a fight not long ago.

"Where's Kugizaki?"

"there."

Fu Hei tilted his head slightly.

At the street corner, Kugizaki Nobara squatted on the ground, one hand on the pavement, the other holding a phone and taking pictures of something.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up.

"They arrived quite quickly."

She stood up, dusted off her hands, and walked over.

"Did you feel it?"

She said this on the first day of December.

There was no reply on the first day of December.

He crouched down and placed his right palm down on the road.

The rough asphalt surface was scorching hot from the sun, and the heat penetrated through the skin.

Then--

He sensed it.

Extremely faint tremors came from deep underground.

The frequency is very low and very regular.

"Thump."

"Thump."

"Thump."

Each tremor lasts for a very short time, but the force transmitted is very even, unlike the disorderly shaking of an earthquake.

It's more like... something deep underground is doing something at an extremely slow pace.

Breathing? Peristalsis? Growth?

The date of the first day of the twelfth month is uncertain.

But there was one thing he was certain of.

"This is not Basha's family."

Kugizaki raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

On the first day of the twelfth month, he withdrew his hand and wiped the dust from his palm on his trousers.

"Bazaar's retinue was formed by her using the laws of water; they are essentially water. They do not produce this kind of tremor from the earth."

He stood up and glanced at the ground beneath his feet.

"This is a physical entity. A physical entity with mass and volume, operating underground."

"And it's very big."

Fu Hei added a sentence.

"I tried using shadow soldiers to explore, but they stopped going down about thirty meters underground."

Why?

"..."

A shikigami, a near-special-grade sorcerer, or even a soldier from the shadow world, was scared away thirty meters underground.

Maya took the components of the "Black Queen" out of her bag and squatted down by the roadside to assemble it. Her movements were very skilled, and she assembled it into a sniper rifle in less than a minute.

She simply scanned the surroundings through the scope.

"Nothing seems amiss. The ground is very clean."

"The thing is down there," said the first day of December.

He looked up at the distant coastline.

The afternoon sun turned the sea surface a pale white, and the shallow waters near the shore were crystal clear, revealing the outlines of coral reefs and a few tropical fish.

Everything seems normal.

But his senses told him something else.

"Yigu said there is a ley line underneath that connects to the Mariana Trench."

"Yes." Fukuro nodded. "Between the Ryukyu Trench and Okinawa Island, there are three main submarine ley lines. The largest of these passes beneath Cape Kiyata at the southern tip of the island."

"That's the one."

On the first day of the twelfth month, he walked to the center of the street.

He closed his eyes and mobilized the power of the talismans within his body.

Green light patterns appeared and disappeared on his arm, as if liquid green blood was flowing under his skin.

【snake】.

This was a talisman he rarely used. Now, December New Moon had a much deeper understanding of this talisman that had once allowed him to evade the world's detection.

Perception.

He used the "snake" to conceal the interfering phases, leaving only what he wanted to perceive, a method that seemed more effective than the "pig's" thermal perception.

three meters.

Asphalt layer, crushed stone base, clay. Normal road structure, no abnormalities.

ten meters.

The soil is starting to get wet. The moisture content is significantly higher than normal. Soil at this depth shouldn't have this much moisture—unless there's a continuous external water infiltration.

Twenty meters.

There's more moisture now. It's not groundwater; the temperature is too low, and it carries a faint fluctuation of magical energy.

This is Bazaar's water.

Thirty meters.

I sensed what I touched.

On the first day of December, his brows furrowed suddenly.

That's a...shell.

It is thick and hard. The surface is rough and uneven, with a texture like a mixture of coral reef and rock.

It covers the earth's veins like a giant cocoon, enveloping them within.

And inside this shell—

Something is moving.

It undulates slowly and rhythmically.

This is what caused the pulsation on the ground.

He opened his eyes on the first day of the twelfth month.

A fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead, but he wasn't sure if it was from the sweltering heat of Okinawa or from what he had just sensed.

All four people were looking at him.

"Thirty meters underground."

The sound of the first day of the twelfth month is very flat.

"There is a cocoon."

"Cocoon?" Kugizaki repeated.

"It's wrapped around the earth's veins. The material looks like a mixture of coral and rock."

He paused for a moment.

"There are living things inside."

The street was quiet for a few seconds. The only sounds were the distant crashing of waves against the seawall and the buzzing of overhead power lines in the sea breeze.

"Alive?" Itadori's expression froze for a moment. "What, alive?"

"Uncertain. Perception can't penetrate that shell."

On the first day of December, he squatted down and drew a simple cross-section on the dust on the road with his finger.

"The ground is here. Thirty meters below, there's a shell that encloses the earth's veins. Basha's water flows down from the trench along these veins and into this shell."

"The thing inside the shell is absorbing this water. Every time it takes a sip, the ground shakes."

"So the pulsation that Kugizaki felt—"

"That's it eating."

On the first day of the twelfth month, he straightened up.

Zhenyi rested the butt of the "Black Queen" rifle on her shoulder, aimed the scope at the ground beneath her feet, and then put it down.

"Can't hit her. The Black Queen's penetrating power isn't enough."

"No rush," said the first day of December.

He looked at Fu Hei.

"You said the shadow soldier refused to go down from thirty meters away. What was its reaction at that time?"

Fukuro recalled for a moment.

"...He raised his weapon and let out a low growl. Not the kind of growl before an attack, but the kind when encountering a natural enemy. Then he withdrew it on his own."

"Natural enemy".

The word "December 1st" was repeated.

He lowered his head and stared at the ground beneath his feet.

The pulse continues.

Thump. "

three seconds.

"Thump."

three seconds.

"Thump."

It's very stable. It hasn't sped up or slowed down.

No matter how many people are standing on the ground, no matter what they are discussing—the thing underground doesn't care at all.

It was just eating.

Quietly and patiently, it swallows the source of water flowing from the depths of the trench, mouthful by mouthful.

"Don't alert them yet."

On the first day of the twelfth month, he took two steps back.

"Kugizaki, if you use those crystal fragments as a medium, can your resonance technique trace back to this cocoon?"

Kugizaki thought for a moment.

"Theoretically, yes. Those fragments fell from the familiars. If there's a connection between the familiars and this cocoon, the resonance can be traced along that line."

"But the problem is, I'm not sure if there's still any connection between them."

She took a sealed bag out of her fanny pack, poured out a shard, and held it between her fingers.

"As I said before, the new family members are becoming more and more independent, and their shared roots with Bazaar are weakening."

"If this cocoon is something further upstream, the connection might be even weaker."

"It doesn't matter if it's weak," said December 1st. "As long as there's something, even just a single thread, that's enough."

"I don't need you to attack it."

"All I need to know is its exact location and size."

Kugizaki stared at him for two seconds, then threw the fragment back into the bag.

"Okay. But I need to get ready."

"Before that—"

She gestured towards Fu Hei with her lips.

"Let's clear out the remaining strongholds in 3-chome first. I don't want to be attacked from both sides if that cocoon makes a move later."

He nodded on the first day of the twelfth month.

"Go ahead. Zhenyi and I will keep watch here."

Kugizaki turned and walked away, but after taking two steps, he looked back at the first day of December.

"December."

"Um?"

"What exactly is that thing?"

There was a moment of silence on the first day of December.

"I'll tell you once I've figured it out."

Kugizaki pursed his lips, asked no more questions, and strode towards the end of the street. Fushiguro followed. Itadori glanced at the first day of December, then at Kugizaki and the others' backs, and finally chose to follow Kugizaki.

"I'll go help too!"

The sound of the three people's footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Only December 1st and Zhenyi remained on the street.

Zhenyi leaned the "Black Queen" against the overturned bus and walked to the side of December 1st.

Two people stood in the middle of the street, which had been corroded by seawater, with cracked asphalt and shallow puddles beneath their feet.

The sun is very bright.

The sea breeze blew, creating tiny ripples in the water on the road.

"You looked terrible when you were using the snake."

Zhenyi's voice was not loud.

On the first day of December, he turned his head to look at her.

Zhenyi didn't look at him; her gaze was fixed on the distant coastline.

"That cocoon—is it dangerous?"

On the first day of December, he thought for a while, carefully considering his words.

"I'm not sure how to describe it."

He also looked towards the coastline.

"When the snake's senses reached that shell, my first reaction wasn't 'danger'."

"It's 'incorrect'."

"What's wrong?"

On the first day of December, his fingers unconsciously rubbed the seam of his trousers.

"I've seen Bazaar's Water Law before, and I fought in Toyama Bay once. It feels very familiar."

"But the energy fluctuations on the surface of that cocoon are not entirely water."

"There's something else mixed in."

Zhenyi turned her head away.

"What is it?"

He did not answer immediately on the first day of the twelfth month.

He squatted down and put his hands back on the pavement.

The pulse continues.

"Thump."

"Thump."

"Thump."

"soil."

He said.

"Water and soil."

Zhenyi's eyes changed.

"Digui."

On the first day of the twelfth month, he withdrew his hand and stood up.

His expression was calm. But Zhenyi had spent enough time with him to see the tension beneath his calm exterior.

"Di Kui went to Europe to find Xiao Feng, ostensibly to discuss cooperation."

"But perhaps before going—"

"It has buried something in the ley lines of Okinawa."

The sea breeze blew the stray hairs on Mayi's forehead, then they fell back down.

"The laws of the earth form the outer shell, and the laws of water fill it in."

She figured it out.

"Bazaar and Di Kui, those two demons, haven't turned against each other at all."

"They have been working together."

On the first day of the twelfth month, he neither nodded nor shook his head.

He simply stared at the ground beneath his feet, listening to the steady, tireless pulse emanating from thirty meters deep.

"Thump."

"Thump."

"Thump."

It looks like something is hatching.

It patiently waits for the moment it hatches.