Nanami walked along the quiet shoreline of a Malaysian beach, the evening sun casting a soft, golden hue across the endless stretch of water before him.
The rhythmic sound of waves gently meeting the shore filled the air, creating a sense of calm that felt almost foreign to him. For once, there were no curses to exorcise, no urgency, no weight pressing down on his shoulders.
Just peace.
The breeze carried the scent of salt and warmth, and for a fleeting moment, he allowed himself to simply exist within that serenity.
In that moment, he was lost to the world and found himself.
His footsteps slowed as his gaze drifted toward the distant horizon, where the sky met the ocean in a seamless blend of fading light. It was there that he noticed a figure standing alone, partially obscured by the glow of the setting sun. Something about that silhouette felt familiar, though it took him a moment to place it.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, focusing.
Recognition came gradually, like a memory resurfacing from deep within.
His eyes trembled at the image. It couldn't possibly be true, right?
"…Haibara!"
The name left his lips quietly, almost uncertainly.
"NANAMI!"
The figure stood there, just as he remembered, calling out to him with the same easy warmth that had never quite faded from Nanami's memory. There was something gentle about it, something that tugged at him in a way he had long since learned to ignore.
"NA-NA-MI!"
Yet now, he found himself walking toward it.
Step by step, he approached, the sound of the waves fading into the background as his attention fixed entirely on the person before him. Haibara continued to call his name, his voice carrying across the space between them, unchanged despite the years that had passed.
Nanami stopped only when he stood directly in front of him. His eyes still couldn't believe he was here. For a brief second, neither of them spoke.
Then Haibara reached out.
His hand grasped Nanami by the side with sudden force, the motion sharp and jarring as he shook him, still calling his name, his voice no longer distant but right beside him.
"NANAMI!"
"Wake up!"
And just like that—
The illusion shattered.
Nanami's eyes snapped open.
The warmth of the sun was gone, replaced by the suffocating heat, discomfort, and the face of the distressed girl in front of him. The calm of the ocean was replaced by the fanatic urgency of the girl in front of him.
Haibara was, of course, gone; in his place stood Maki.
Her hand gripped his shoulder tightly, her body swaying slightly as she struggled to remain standing. Blood seeped through her side, staining her clothes, her breathing uneven from the strain.
For a moment, Nanami couldn't process it. What was happening?
His mind lagged behind reality, still caught between the dream and the present.
Then it all came rushing back.
The Shibuya emergency and the barriers surrounding Shibuya. Gojo being sealed. The newly awakened sorcerer they found in Shibuya Station.
Then them facing two special grade curse spirits one after the next.
It surged through him all at once, no longer suppressed by the fragile illusion his mind had clung to. The left side of his body burned with unbearable intensity, his flesh scorched and raw. His left eye was gone, reduced to nothing, and the absence of it sent a disorienting wave through his senses. His hair on that side had been completely burned away, and his left arm hung uselessly, refusing to respond.
Keeping breathing was a greater issue than remaining standing still.
"NANAMI! Snap out of it." Maki shouted once again through gritted teeth, she had lost too much blood and her body was starting to fail.
'Damn that one-eyed curse got me good,' she internally cursed. She planned to go after the curse or Fushiguro, but her condition was getting worse. That curse spirit definitely pierced something important inside her body.
And then there was Nanami, the older man, half burned as he was, who suddenly got up and started to walk away. If she hadn't caught him in time, gods know where he would have gone in his daze.
Nanami gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain upright despite the agony threatening to bring him to his knees.
He lifted his head, scanning the area.
"What's going on?" he asked.
The special grade curse spirit was gone.
Only Maki stood beside him, injured but conscious, and a body lay a short distance away, unmoving and burned beyond recognition.
Nanami didn't need to ask.
Naobito Zenin. At least the body wasn't that disfigured that he couldn't tell that.
Before he could gather his thoughts, the sound of approaching footsteps broke through the tension. Several figures rushed into view—it was the second-year students from Kyoto, their expressions tense as they took in the scene before them.
It was Momo Nishimiya, Kasumi Miwa, and Mai Zenin.
"Maki." Mai's eyes widened as she rushed towards her big sister.
"What happened here?" one of them asked with horror written into her face.
Nanami remained silent.
Neither did he have a complete answer, nor the strength to give them.
It was Maki who spoke instead, her voice strained but steady as she began to explain.
"A special grade curse spirit attacked us. We took him down with some help, I'll explain later. But there is another. Even stronger," Maki pointed out with urgency.
The Kyoto students and the one manager among them looked at the battered Maki and half-disfigured Nanami with abject horror, even trying to look at the burned corpse a few feet away from them and gulped.
"Where?"
Maki just pointed where both that curse spirit and that boy disappeared, with gritted teeth.
"Fushiguro is handling an enemy without cursed energy, just like mine. He is extremely strong physically. He eliminated the first special grade we encountered.
As for the other, who did this." She pointed at herself, Nanami, and Naobito. And then pointed outside.
"He dragged the special grade away with him," Maki said, this particular line while looking at Nanami.
The others blinked.
Wait! He who? How many people is she talking about? Is Fushiguro Megumi fighting two enemies?
Nanami understood, though.
"The boy?" Nanami muttered with complicated feelings, of course, after knowing that the boy was capable of using a domain and even being capable of taking away their techniques inside his domain, there was no way Nanami was underestimating him. But to fight a special grade curse by himself.
"We have to give him reinforcement. He was just a civilian until now. We can't leave things on him," Nanami said, though he himself was in no condition to do anything.
"That's not possible, Nanami-san, all forces are already being deployed. We could only come here after we got the distress signal and eradicated all the curses from our side," Miwa pointed out.
"Where is Todo?"
"He is looking for Itadori Yuji."
"Tch..."
"We need a plan," Nanami said with a helpless tone.
"I have the plan, we go and help them out," Maki snorted, already forcing her body to move and find that damn boy who didn't even have the decency to tell his name.
"Wait, wait... where are you going? You need healing. You're going back to Shoko's," Mai tried to convince her, but the girl was too stubborn for her own good; she pushed her body on anyway.
At least until she collapsed after two steps. It wasn't the injury itself but the blood loss she had suffered which caused her to fall.
"Idiot, I told you. Come on, we have to take them to Shoko," Mai rushed into action.
Nanami sighed, they were not in condition to join the fight, if they did, they would only be a hindrance in their condition.
"Any news of Satoru Gojo?" he asked.
"None," Nishimiya shook her head.
"Damn it," Maki could only curse to herself.
Her eyes were locked on the broken segment of the station building, glaring outside as if she could reach there just by watching.
"Don't die out there, you idiot."
xXx
A/N : Thought of writing a non-combat chapter in between and explain also what's going on with others. Cause back to back combat was too repetitive.
Also I wished to save Nanami if possible, here is a legimate reason on how he survive this time around, Maki didn't let him wander off in his daze.
A little shady but meh !
And if you guys are cursing me to leave yo at earlier cliffhanger than I totally deserve that. Sorry !
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