Inside the Competition Venue.
The sky had turned a warm orange-red, but an ominous silence shrouded the forest where Jujutsu High stood.
The birds were silent, the insects had stopped chirping, and even the wind seemed to have stalled.
Madara stood on a rise at the forest's edge, hands in his pockets, gazing calmly into the distance.
There, an enormous "Curtain," like an upturned bowl, enclosed a vast stretch of the forest's center.
An oppressive presence radiated from its surface, enough to make one's heart tremble.
"Oh?" Madara raised an eyebrow slightly, his lips curving into something between a smile and a smirk. "So you came after all."
Hanami.
A special grade cursed spirit that resonated with plants and the earth, possessing tremendous defenses and vitality.
In the original "plot," Hanami would appear during the Goodwill Event and attack the Competition Venue alongside Mahito, Haruta Shigemo, and that strange man.
Now Mahito was dead, Jogo was dead, and Madara had just dealt with Uraume as well.
But Hanami had still come.
It seemed Kenjaku had not completely abandoned his plan despite the consecutive losses.
Or... was Hanami's appearance itself part of the plan? A probe?
Or perhaps...
Madara's train of thought paused briefly.
(Uraume is dead now, but Kenjaku probably doesn't know yet.)
(After all, Uraume was acting alone and might not have been in real-time contact with Hanami's group. Besides, I cleaned things up thoroughly just now. They shouldn't discover it so soon.)
(Then Hanami is very likely following the original plan, unaware that Uraume is dead and that a massive hole has already opened in their scheme.)
(In other words-)
Madara's gaze sharpened.
*(-this attack has essentially already failed. Hanami has ventured deep into enemy territory alone, with no reinforcements, no one to provide support, and no chance