Seaside Flower Shop

Deep in a dark alley.

A young couple huddled protectively around a five- or six-year-old girl, trembling in the corner. Before them, a Grade 2 cursed spirit with three mouths and pus oozing all over its body crept closer step by step.

"D-Don't... come any closer!" The man waved an iron rod he had picked up, but his voice shook terribly.

"Hee hee... hee hee... hee hee..." All three of the cursed spirit's mouths let out piercing laughter at once. Its slimy tongues licked across the ground, leaving corrosive trails behind.

It suddenly pounced, its claws aimed straight for the man's throat.

It was over.

The man closed his eyes in despair.

Yet the searing pain he expected never came.

Smack.

A crisp sound rang through the alley.

There was no earth-shattering spectacle, nor any dramatic entrance by a hero.

The cursed spirit, suspended in midair, suddenly seemed to crash into an invisible wall of air. Then its body began to twist and compress in a bizarre manner.

It was as if an unseen pair of hands were kneading it like dough.

"Eeeek!!!"

The cursed spirit let out a terrified shriek, but its struggle was laughably futile before that absolute force.

Splat.

A few seconds later, the Grade 2 cursed spirit was crushed apart, turning into a puddle of black sludge that splattered across the wall.

Dead silence.

The man opened his eyes and stared blankly at the empty alley before him, then at the stain on the wall that was gradually fading away.

"W-What happened?"

His wife clutched their child tightly, equally bewildered. "Did it... self-destruct?"

"It must have been divine protection! It has to be!" The man fell to his knees excitedly and repeatedly kowtowed toward the empty mouth of the alley. "Thank you, Lord! Thank you!"

Shiyue Shuo stood less than two meters in front of them.

He watched the joy of the family of three surviving disaster, watched the little girl wipe away her tears and smile.

"A god..."

He gave a self-mocking smile.

"I'm not that amazing. I'm just a passing ghost."

He did not linger, turning and melting into the night.

At first, this feeling of leaving after setting things right and hiding his achievements had seemed rather cool. But after doing it too many times, all that remained was a loneliness that seeped into his bones.

Because no matter what he did or whom he saved, no one would ever know his name. His existence was like rain—gone the instant it struck the ground, leaving no trace behind.

"It's... a little lonely."

Shiyue Shuo let out a sigh.

He raised his head and looked north.

"Maki said she opened a flower shop there."

A powerful impulse suddenly surged through Shiyue Shuo's heart.

He wanted to go see it.

Even if he could only watch from afar like he was watching a movie, even if she would ignore him like everyone else did.

At the very least, she was a soul he had personally pulled back from hell. Though he had vanished, she was the only "trace" he had left behind in this world.

"Let's go."

Shiyue Shuo pushed off with the tip of his foot.

The Rabbit Talisman activated. Though he used only one-tenth of its speed, he still became a streak of light, crossing hundreds of meters in an instant as he raced toward the northern land.

Hokkaido, Furano.

Spring arrived later here than it did in Tokyo. Though it was already March, the air still carried a trace of crisp coldness. The Tokachidake Range in the distance remained blanketed in snow, but early-blooming Adonis flowers had already quietly opened in the fields at the foot of the mountains.

Shiyue Shuo walked along the quiet streets of the small town.

There were no howls of cursed spirits here, nor were there any schemes and intrigues of the jujutsu world. Even the shadows of the Culling Game and Demon Descent seemed not to have reached this patch of pure land.

The scent of freshly baked bread drifted from a bakery by the road, while several elementary school students carrying red backpacks ran past with laughter.

Shiyue Shuo greedily breathed in the air here.

He neither needed food nor needed to breathe, but it made him feel as though he was still "alive."

Following the address Maki had described from memory, he turned onto a cobblestone path.

At the end of the path stood a wooden cottage. A thin layer of snow rested on its roof, and a wind chime hung by the door. Through the bright floor-to-ceiling windows, he could see all kinds of fresh flowers arranged inside.

"Skyward Flower Shop."

Shiyue Shuo looked at the graceful lettering on the sign, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously rose.

"Her handwriting's pretty good."

He straightened his collar. Even though no one could see him, he did it instinctively anyway, then gently pushed open the door.

Jingle, jingle—

The wind chime rang brightly.

"Welcome."

A soft voice came from behind the flower racks.

Shiyue Shuo halted.

That voice was familiar to him, yet also somewhat unfamiliar.

It no longer carried the old sharpness that had once bristled with thorns, nor the heaviness of someone always prepared to die. Now, like the fragrance of the flowers filling this room, it was calm and gentle, carrying a tranquil peace.

He walked inside.

The flower shop was warm. The air was filled with the scents of lilies and hyacinths.

At a worktable by the window, a short-haired girl stood with her back to him, holding scissors as she carefully trimmed a bouquet of lisianthus.

She wore an off-white sweater and a dark blue apron. Sunlight spilled through the window onto her, gilding her outline in gold.

Tensho Mai.

Or rather, the former Mai Zenin.

Shiyue Shuo said nothing. He even held his breath, though there was no need to. He simply stood quietly by the door, watching that figure from behind.

Good. Everything I did was worth it.

Shiyue Shuo said this to himself inwardly.

He had still felt a trace of regret and loneliness over his disappearance, but the instant he saw this scene, all his negative emotions vanished like smoke.

He did not want to disturb this tranquility.

Since he was already a ghost, he ought to have the awareness of one.

Shiyue Shuo gave that figure one last long look, then prepared to turn and leave.

Just then.

"Customer? Do you need any flowers?"

Mai seemed to have finished trimming the stems in her hand. She put down the scissors and turned around.

Shiyue Shuo froze.

Instinctively, he wanted to avoid her gaze, because he knew those eyes would pass through his body without focus, just like everyone else's, looking at the empty air behind him.

He had grown used to that feeling of being "ignored," but when it came to Mai, it still made his heart ache.

However.

The next second.

Shiyue Shuo's pupils suddenly contracted.

Mai was not looking elsewhere.

Those beautiful, doe-like eyes were fixed directly and precisely on his face.

There was no confusion in them.

It was a genuine "gaze."

Tap.

A lisianthus stem fell from Mai's hand to the floor.

She froze. Her entire body seemed locked in place as she stared blankly at the boy standing by the door.

At the boy dressed in black combat clothes and wearing a cap, who looked somewhat bedraggled but whose eyes were still clear.

Shiyue Shuo was stunned as well.

He subconsciously looked back over his shoulder, making sure there was no one else at the entrance.

Then he looked down at his own hand.

"You..."

Shiyue Shuo opened his mouth, his voice terribly dry. "You can see me?"

Mai did not answer.

Her eyes reddened at a visible speed. Large tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto her off-white sweater.

Trembling, she reached out a hand, as if trying to confirm whether what stood before her was an illusion.

"How is that possible..."

Shiyue Shuo's mind was a mess.

His Binding Vow was absolute. Even Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes could not observe him, and even the world's law of causality could not capture him. Why? Why could Mai, who had long lost her cursed energy and become an ordinary person, see him?

Was it because of that sword?

Was it because he had once used the power of his soul to remake her life?

Was it because the current Mai was, in a sense, a creation infused with the power of "Shiyue Shuo"?

Within that unobservable cause, Mai had become the only loophole.

She was the only person in this world who shared a "soul connection" with him.

"Idiot..."

Mai finally spoke.

She hastily wiped away her tears, but forced the corners of her mouth upward, revealing an expression mixed with sobs and a smile.

That expression carried both the tsundere pride of the former Mai Zenin and the gentleness of her new life.

She looked at the boy standing at the boundary between light and shadow and softly said:

"Long time no see, Shiyue Shuo."