ayame's flower realm . JUJUTSU KAISEN

nineteen . centipede

just because this thing looks like an ape, doesn't mean it's an ape. an ape needs a head to live, but a spirit doesn't necessarily need one.

and in that moment, ayame noticed something.

the body itself... didn't seem to be made out of cursed energy - well, it did, but the volume of the cursed energy in the body didn't seem normal, it felt too faint to be able to exist on its own.

she couldn't be too sure, but there seemed to be something in it. something that was... controlling the body. kind of like the thing you'd see in mecha shows, the ape-like body being the host.

-

as the ape swung its arms towards her in great speed, ayame dropped into a squat, dodging the hit with ease. then, she swiped her leg underneath the ape, making it stumble onto the ground face first - well, not really, since it doesn't have a face anymore, but you get the gist.

wasting no time, ayame slammed her palms onto the ground and -

"Blossoming Technique, Black Moon Sunflower."

a whisper, and through the ground, a gigantic sunflower emerged. the spirit that tried to get onto its feet was pinned down by the sunflower's leaves and stem. black liquid dripped onto the spirit's body, and passed through it like acid.

seeing how eager the flower was to melt the spirit, ayame halted it, holding a hand up. "himawari, i'll take the last blow."

in response, the flower directed its 'head' upwards, making sure its acid didn't drip onto the spirit. ayame stepped onto the spirit's body and kneeled down. she placed a hand on its chest.

obviously there was no heartbeat. however, that wasn't ayame's intention. the girl slightly lifted up her right hand and

STAB.

pierced through its chest.

she rummaged around for a bit, eyes narrowed in focus. thankfully she had rolled up her sleeves before stabbing her hand in, so nothing would get on her shirt. her whole arm up until her elbow was now inside the spirit's chest.

the sensation of the sticky blood and soft organs felt terrifyingly real around ayame's arms. it was like she had stuffed her whole hand into a bucket full of slime, except this was a chest, and there were blood and actual body organs. the stench of it caused ayame to scrunch up her nose.

'disgusting. i can't believe i'm actually doing this.'

and why is it taking so long?!

at times like this, ayame wished she had eyes like gojou. the six eyes to be exact - however, that gift was only unique to the members of the gojou clan. the best ayame could do is try to sense the cursed energy of the 'thing' by using her own ways. closing her eyes, listening for the flow of the energy, or even smelling it. it was weird, but it worked for her.

of course, she's never attempted to taste any cursed energy. that would be a death wish.

ayame had began to lose hope when her fingers brushed against something that felt... cursed. the girl reached even further, gripping the object firmly and ripped it out of the spirit's chest. purple blood spewed out of the hole, though that wasn't her main concern.

in her bloodstained hand, ayame held up an abnormally sized centipede. it was the perfect size for a pillow you'd hug, except it wasn't a pillow.

the centipede was the parasyte that was controlling the ape's body. it was clear now, how the ape felt strangely hollow - void of cursed energy - as soon as ayame had touched it.

ayame tossed the centipede onto the ground without much care, and instructed himawari to hold it down.

right when the centipede left the ape's body, ayame noticed that the ape began to disappear into ashes, like how any spirit was supposed to react upon exorcised. which was great.

ayame placed her fist onto the middle of the centipede's body. she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.

'let's hope this works.'

after a moment of stillness, ayame's eyes snapped open. she reeled her fist back, and struck the spirit with force enough to crack the ground.

she watched as the spirit crumbled into thin air, and how himawari's leaves relaxed, returning to their original places.

"..."

ayame stares at her hands and her body. after a while, she slumped and sat on the ground.

"i don't feel any different... using physical attacks were a waste of time, i could've just burned them all down." she buried her face into her hands. himawari patted the girl's back with her leaves as if it was comforting her. "is achieving black flash impossible for me, after all...?"

black flash.

a technique that once a sorcerer had unlocked, they would enter a whole new level of power that couldn't be achieved so easily - both in the aspects of physical and jujutsu. ever since ayame had heard about the technique from gojou, she had attempted everything to achieve it - and one of the criterias was through physical attacks.

ayame scratched her head, messing up her short brown hair in the process. "but thing is, i hate fighting close combat...! i just wanna sit there and watch everything... die. but," ayame sighed, hands dropping to her sides,"it would be really cool if i could use black flash..."

in midst of ayame's ranting, nitta ran towards her. "ohashi-chan! ohashi-chan! are you okay?! - woah, what a huge flower!" the older woman, ignoring the gigantic sunflower, kneeled beside ayame who was now staring in the distance. "are you hurt? you're hurt! we'll get you treatment! oh god, i'm so glad you're alive - i didn't know what to do..."

"..." ayame dismissed himawari, before meet her eyes with nitta's. "i failed."

"huh - ?"

"nitta-san... i'm a failure."

"huh...? um, - " not knowing how to react, nitta patted ayame's shoulders awkwardly. "you're not...? uh, ohashi-chan, you exorcised everything here, right? you're not a failure. now let's go and get you treated."

without much word, the two went back towards the car after confirming that the place was in fact, fully wiped of any cursed spirits wondering around.

ayame stopped by a bathroom first, though, claiming that she had to wash her arms and hair because of a 'surgery' she did before. nitta of course allowed her, and waited so that they could go and treat her wounds which were just minor scratches.

and watchful eyes from afar, observed in silence.

"...ohashi."