The sun shone brightly, and the weather was perfect.
On a day so well suited to an outing, Yoyogi Park naturally drew plenty of visitors looking to picnic and unwind.
On a patch of grass near the forest, a little girl with pigtails happily chased the boy ahead of her.
Her pink skirt brushed lightly over the grass. The boy turned back with a giggle and reached for her hair tie, utterly unconcerned by the messy tracks his feet left across the lawn...
The clover's stems bent underfoot, lying limply against the ground.
Dandelions crowded among hydrangeas, scattering with a soft rustle when the wind blew...
Above the woods, a gray-green figure swayed in the shadows.
Hanami clung among the thick branches, a wooden body blending almost seamlessly into the dark brown bark.
With cursed energy suppressed to almost nothing and vines hanging all around, even a jujutsu sorcerer standing directly below would have struggled to detect the deadly threat overhead...
"Humans..."
Hanami had no human features, but the fine, leaf-vein patterns on that smooth wooden face tightened slightly, like strings pulled taut.
Hanami's voice was quiet, but quiet did not mean it held no anger.
The humans below were trampling the lives of nature:
The soil, the grass, the wildflowers...
These plants, which Hanami treasured and which strained with all their strength to grow and bloom, had now become "playthings" to be damaged at will...
Hanami felt anger.
But held it back.
Earlier, Jogo's slaughter at the restaurant had already drawn the attention of jujutsu sorcerers and Kenjaku's displeasure.
Now, revealing their existence too soon would clearly be thoughtless and reckless...
Hanami did not want a personal impulse to jeopardize the entire plan for the resurgence of cursed spirits...
That resolve lasted until a piercing cry rang out.
A little boy in black-and-white overalls cried and struggled free of his mother's grasp-
The sea of flowers Hanami had planted personally had caught his attention. Faced with those colorful, carefully cultivated blooms, he reached out his chubby hand without a second thought...
"Waaah-"
The most lush and beautiful hydrangea in the flower bed was forcibly uprooted.
The plant was brutally torn apart, roots and all. Pale purple petals drifted through the air and fell into soil still holding fragments of its roots...
Anger washed through every natural pattern on Hanami's body.
Almost instantly, Hanami moved.
A body of dead wood and gray-green moss stood silently before the boy-
Hanami blocked out the sun above like an insurmountable black wall.
"Huh-?"
As though sensing the sudden sharpness in the air around the plants, the boy looked up, still clutching the flowers...
But he saw nothing.
Hanami stood right before him, pure, undisguised fury radiating from that expressionless wooden face.
It was the pain of ravaged plants, the wrath of desecrated nature.
But the boy could not see it.
Without cursed energy, he had no idea that an invisible Sword of Damocles already hung above his head.
He had no idea what kind of being his utterly disrespectful, merciless actions had enraged...
The August warmth in the air abruptly froze.
The invisible pressure of Hanami's cursed energy spread silently across the entire lawn like an icy tide, sealing off the space around the little boy in particular.
His mother, still at the picnic, keenly felt the ominous chill. She quickly rose and ran toward her child, trying to pull him back to her side...
But Hanami's raised hand and gently curled fingertips had already decided their fate.
The level lawn suddenly split open. Countless sharp, black, barbed branches entwined with poisonous vines burst through the surface, wrapping around the boy's ankles in the blink of an eye.
"It hurts! It hurts-!!!"
Dense poisonous thorns bit viciously into the child's tender flesh. Sharp barbs sliced straight through his skin and sank into the tissue beneath.
As the boy cried out in pain and convulsed, blood instantly soaked his thin trouser cuffs, dripping down his ankles onto the ground and spreading into glaring pools of red.
The hydrangea fell from his hand. His wretched pleas and sobs reached Hanami's ears, yet they carried none of the weight or piercing harshness of those petals falling to the ground.
No longer in the mood to play, Hanami waved a hand. The next instant, the cracks in the ground widened further-
Squelch-!!
The sound of flesh being pierced rang out loud and clear.
By the time his mother reached her own flesh and blood, utterly distraught, her face twisted with terror, all that remained for her was a frail, lifeless corpse with a gaping hole torn through its chest...
"Kukuku-"
Unseen by ordinary people, the branches stained with warm blood swiftly withdrew into the cracks in the ground.
Hanami dusted off both hands and turned away, leaving as casually as after crushing an insect that had dared provoke, utterly ignoring the cries from behind...
The lifeless hydrangea, its roots snapped, rested carefully cupped in Hanami's hands.
Killing a human could not bring it back to life, but at least Hanami had won some "justice" for this land so ravaged by humanity.
"You..."
"You're a cruel one, aren't you?"
Just as Hanami turned and was about to head toward the forest,
A voice and a pulse of cursed energy suddenly appeared from behind, making Hanami whip around-
Before the sea of flowers, Hajime Kashimo stood in his Jujutsu High uniform beside the dead child.
He tilted his head, staring at Hanami's face, his fists clenched. He was clearly angry...
A jujutsu sorcerer? Why is he here?!
When did he arrive?! Why didn't my plants warn me?!!
Shock and confusion kept Hanami from attacking immediately.
Unlike the reckless Jogo, who gave no thought to consequences, Hanami surveyed the surroundings and weighed the risks before choosing to flee.
Revealing special grade strength and intelligence too soon would surely put everyone at Jujutsu High on guard.
To preserve "Kenjaku's" plan as much as possible, avoiding a direct confrontation with any jujutsu sorcerer was the best choice...
But...
Seeing that Hanami intended to flee, Hajime Kashimo did not rush.
He simply raised his leg high and stomped down hard into the sea of flowers Hanami had personally planted and nurtured.
Boom-
Surging lightning cursed energy set the entire flower bed ablaze in an instant.
The acrid smell of scorching plants and the sight of burning petals turning to ash in the air fully ignited Hanami's fury-
Hanami stopped, resentment and rage pouring uncontrollably from that pale body...
"I'll tear you to pieces!!!!"
Before you continue