His consciousness seemed submerged in deep water, floating up little by little.
The first thing Kogi Rin felt was pain, as though a truck had run her over, then reversed and run her over again. Her back rested against something-a tree, its rough bark digging painfully into her spine. Her head hung against her chest, her loose hair covering half her face.
She forced her eyelids open.
At first, all she saw was a blurry halo of light-the golden kind that filtered through the canopy, dust drifting through it. She blinked, her eyelashes sweeping across her vision a few times. The blur gradually faded, replaced by-
Ruins.
No, not ruins. A forest. But the once lush Primeval Forest, whose trees had blotted out the sky, had become a devastated wasteland. Trees lay toppled, branches snapped, roots exposed. The earth had been churned up, and broken stones littered the ground.
The tree she leaned against had survived not because it was particularly sturdy, but because it happened to stand outside the range of that attack.
Kogi Rin's head still felt foggy, as though someone had stuffed it full of cotton. She shook it hard, trying to clear her thoughts, but that only made her dizzier.
What the hell happened?
She remembered-she remembered running. A tremendous crash had come from Mahiru's direction, and they had picked up the pace, hoping to exorcise as many cursed spirits as possible before the people from Tokyo Jujutsu High caught up. Then-
Then she had sensed something. An instinctive unease, pricking the back of her neck like a needle. She had looked up and seen a blue point of light. It had drawn closer and closer, growing larger and brighter. She had shouted, "Get down!" and lunged at Yuko.
And then there had been nothing.
"Well,