Chapter 8

"What the hell is that?!" Nobara Kugisaki recoiled in fright, slamming painfully into the back of her chair. "How can anything be that disgusting?!"

Watching her deformed self on the screen tear off her own furry ears with a mouth full of leaves and grass, Nobara Kugisaki felt her sanity plummeting. She couldn't help touching her own intact ears, chilled to the bone.

Come on, even the most terrifying cursed spirit wouldn't do that. Compared with the "Nightmare Bubble," that patchwork-faced cursed spirit might actually count as kind.

Yuji Itadori jumped in fright, then felt anger burn through him. "Why? Why would something like this happen?!"

Even Ryomen Sukuna offered a rare comment. "Tch. What a sick sense of humor." Killing was killing. He had never deigned to play games like these.

Megumi Fushiguro instinctively covered his mouth, fighting the nausea rising from his stomach. Seeing himself practically turned into half a monkey made it especially hard not to feel horrified and disgusted.

Maki Zenin frowned and looked away in revulsion, but couldn't help touching her eyes. Her onscreen self had gouged them out while still alive and eaten them... Tch. Utterly disgusting.

"Spicy cod roe!!" Toge Inumaki was so frightened that he instinctively edged closer to Panda. They clung to each other, trembling.

Aoi Todo brushed nonexistent dust off his gleaming muscles and, for once, fell silent.

Yuta Okkotsu stood straight up in anger. "Why would anyone do this? Is this what that so-called god is?!"

"Aaaaaah, that's disgusting! This great detective is going blind!" Ranpo Edogawa nearly leaped out of his seat. Compared with a bloody crime scene, this was an entirely different kind of unbearable.

Yukichi Fukuzawa indulgently shielded Ranpo's view, but his gaze toward the screen was icy.

Atsushi Nakajima trembled. "That's terrifying. That's just too much..." He didn't even know what he was saying anymore. Kyoka Izumi patted him reassuringly, but she was trembling too, and the two huddled together.

Osamu Dazai covered his eyes. "That's an assault on the eyes." Beneath his hand, his gaze was cold. A "god," huh?

Every hair on Chūya Nakahara's body stood on end. "What the hell is that? It's disgusting!" But it wasn't merely disgusting. This was an act of utter evil that trampled every human value, grotesque and absurd, instilling an instinctive chill.

Satoru Gojo laughed aloud.

Masamichi Yaga was startled by the killing intent erupting from Satoru Gojo. "Satoru, this isn't your fault!"

"What do you mean? I'm the so-called host, aren't I?" Satoru Gojo's smile twisted. "Didn't you hear that guy on the screen? Unless I'm killed, the 'Bubble Calamity' won't end."

"But I agree that the me on the screen deserves to die. Not only did he fail to protect his students, he dragged them into this."

"Of course, the one who deserves to die even more-" The killing intent around Satoru Gojo froze into ice. "Is that 'god.'"

Whatever it was, if it dared hurt his precious students and toy with their lives, he would kill it.

The footage continued, and Satoru Gojo's smile grew even more unhinged. Let me see, then. Just what is this so-called "god"?!

"Indeed, a 'Bubble Calamity' is a natural disaster, a despair beyond the reach of human power."

"Even if those afflicted by the 'Nightmare Bubble' hate the so-called 'god' beyond measure, there is still nothing they can do."

"'God' exists at the bottom of humanity's sea of consciousness. No one can reach that place, let alone take revenge."

"Even if humanity went extinct, it might never wake, simply continuing to sleep."

"Damn it!" Doppo Kunikida snapped his pen. "Isn't there any way to stop it?! Those people are innocent!"

Yes, many people infected by the "Bubble Calamity" had never done anything evil. A little pain, a few cracks in their hearts, and the "god's nightmare" infected them. Moreover, most of those killed in the fallout were innocent bystanders dragged into it.

The others looked equally grave, because they knew they truly had no means of stopping it.

Even Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna furrowed their brows. The sea of consciousness-so far, no jujutsu could reach it.

"Then, sir, could you be infected by the 'Nightmare Bubble'?"

An Xinyi's long bangs hid his eyes and expression. His voice remained unhurried, gentle to the core. "As long as I don't want it to, even the 'god's nightmare' can't infect me."

"But..." An Xinyi opened his palm. Four crescent-shaped bloody marks told him he was not nearly as indifferent as he had imagined.

"I did try."

"To deliberately infect myself with the 'Nightmare Bubble.'"

"What a lunatic..." Panda wiped his face. Even he couldn't understand what this man was thinking. It was so dangerous. Remembering those sanity-draining images, every hair on Panda's body stood on end.

Why show a panda this stuff? Don't you know you're supposed to care for pandas?!

"Salmon, salmon." Inumaki was utterly deflated.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot!" Ranpo Edogawa seemed incapable of saying anything else. The great detective was practically dying of anger!

Atsushi Nakajima pressed his lips together. It's too sad. It's really too sad, Mr. An Xinyi. Why? Why go this far?

Nikolai Gogol leaned toward the screen, grinning. "This clown likes his madness. If he'd abandon his ideals, he'd surely be the freest person of all."

Fyodor applauded. "Remarkable. Even I have to admit that."

Osamu Dazai shot the demon a cold look. "We don't need to hear that from you."

"...Sir?" Even the artificial intelligence was frightened by that decision.

"Ah, don't be surprised. I did willingly approach that power. To make humanity immortal, we have to escape 'god's' influence. How could we fight that power without ever having seen it?"

"Then your 'Bubble Calamity'..."

"Was 'The Little Prince.'"

Many people thought he was strange.

Of course, he was different from all of them.

He was the little prince who had come from a distant place, who did not belong here.

His rose, his tiny home-after this long voyage, he could never return to them.

He was destined to die on this distant planet. Even gazing up at the stars, he could no longer find the one that belonged to him.

"The Little Prince?" Osamu Dazai was momentarily speechless, while Ranpo Edogawa also looked surprised.

"What's wrong, Dazai?" Atsushi Nakajima was stunned too. It was rare to see expressions like that on Osamu Dazai and Ranpo Edogawa, who always seemed to have everything under control.

Ayatsuji Yukito also looked thoughtful.

"Because we guessed wrong." Surprisingly, it was Fyodor who answered Atsushi Nakajima's question. He gave a rueful laugh. "'The Little Prince,' huh... I'd assumed it would be 'The Happy Prince.'"

Wasn't the Happy Prince the one who constantly sacrificed himself, constantly hurt himself, to bring happiness to others?

The only one who grieved was the swallow forced to take everything from the Happy Prince.

So the Happy Prince had chosen DD, who would never truly feel sorrow.

But it was actually "The Little Prince"?

"The little prince from a distant star... We still know too little about him." Fyodor accepted it. An Xinyi was undoubtedly the most complex person he had encountered in his life. With so much information missing, a mistaken judgment was hardly surprising.

"So?" A hint of mockery entered Ayatsuji Yukito's voice. "Even if there are countless identical roses on Earth, none of them is that unique rose he loves so deeply?"

"He tamed the fox, yet still refused to take him along." Ranpo Edogawa closed his eyes.

Osamu Dazai leaned back in his chair, his eyes vacant. What was this? As the friend who helped him, as someone whose meeting with him would come only once in a lifetime, could he only watch him die from a snakebite, then console himself that he had successfully returned to his distant home?

What was that about how, when you laugh, it will feel as though the whole starry sky is full of your smiling faces... Liar.

In that oppressive atmosphere, even someone as stubborn as Ryunosuke Akutagawa cautiously kept his mouth shut.

Of course, this brainstorming belonged to the Bungo Stray Dogs group. As for the Jujutsu Kaisen group...

Everyone wore an expression that said, We'll just sit quietly and watch you. All we need to do is wait for the answer.

"The Little Prince..." This had caught DD by surprise as well.

"Then, sir, would you acquire a 'Fragment'?"

An afterimage of the "Nightmare Bubble," a powerful yet tragic fragment.

An Xinyi grew thoughtful. "The fragment ability I acquired... Hmm, it was called 'The Distant Star I Can Never Reach Again.'"

"It could take me to any place I wanted to reach, in theory."

"It could also banish any existence I rejected to the farthest place I could conceive of."

Sadly, although this power transcended all space and every distance in the world, it could never reach the home he truly wished to return to.

Just like the little prince who had died on this planet, never to return to his B-612.

Even DD was astonished. Was this the strongest spatial ability of all?

"Then, sir, given your determination to make full use of everything, why haven't you tried acquiring that 'Fragment' again?"

"Are you complimenting me or taking a jab at me?" An Xinyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I can't. Yes, this fragment is incredibly powerful.

"In theory, I could even reach 'god's' dwelling, a place forever beyond humanity's reach.

"I could even try banishing 'god' into the distant reaches of the universe, where it could never return to Earth.

"But I can't.

"Because the instant I acquired this fragment, I would inevitably and irreversibly become the most terrifying Heretic."

Because the little prince had already died on that distant planet. The fairy tale's ending was already determined.

"This... means the original An Xinyi, right?" Chūya Nakahara couldn't help asking. "So why on earth did he go that far?!"

He couldn't understand.

"According to that fragment's description, this is just a planet unrelated to him, not his home."

Even Chūya Nakahara, whom Osamu Dazai had called a true human being, could not understand An Xinyi's actions now.

His humanity was so profound that it had reached an inhuman degree.

Why? Why love and sacrifice so much for a place that had nothing to do with him?!

"Perhaps..." Ayatsuji Yukito murmured, "There are still roses here that, while not the one he deeply loves, are beautiful all the same."

"And a fox he tamed, even if he didn't take him along." Ranpo Edogawa picked up where Ayatsuji Yukito left off.

Osamu Dazai's smile was distant. "And... his friend. A friend who witnessed his death, yet still held on to hope."

"That's just..." Chūya Nakahara hesitated. "That's just..." He didn't even know how to put the warm yet aching fullness in his chest into words.

Finally, Satoru Gojo reached a conclusion.

"Being loved by him must be both the best and the worst thing in the world."

Tch. Just as I thought.

His Six Eyes were cold.

Love is the most twisted curse of all.

Only Mori Ougai was focused on something entirely different.

Fuck! Mori Ougai propped up his chin. I want it so badly.

Even if that power is so dangerous, I still want it.

No matter how one looked at it, that power was far too strong. It could even be called invincible. Mori Ougai was sorely tempted.

Thinking this, he let out another deep sigh. He truly had to agree with the demon's assessment.

Remarkable. To give up a power that could be called invincible, just like that. Even after becoming expendable himself, he still refuses to hurt innocent people? I honestly can't tell whether that's kindness or stupidity.

Osamu Dazai keenly sensed Mori Ougai's emotions and immediately looked disgusted, smiling maliciously. "Forget it, Mori. You don't deserve it."

Mori Ougai didn't possess even a shred of the sincerity needed to move the little prince, yet he wanted to hold that distant star in his palm. He would have better luck dreaming.

Chūya Nakahara tugged down the brim of his hat and, for once, did not call Osamu Dazai out for his disrespect.

Koyo Ozaki smiled and pretended she hadn't seen it either.

Mori Ougai: ...Hey, what's with those reactions? I'm the boss, you know. Do you really have to show me so little respect?

The Bungo Stray Dogs group: Heh.