ayame's flower realm . JUJUTSU KAISEN

thirty six . blood

ayame and yasuhiro sprinted around the park in hopes of detecting the cursed spirit - it had been 20 minutes already and yet no sign of anything other than faint traces of cursed energy that didn't seem like they lead anywhere. the two were now standing around beneath a street lamp, stumped on their search.

thankfully, it didn't take long for ayame's curded technique, the three freesia flower drones, to return to her. as soon as they entered their sights, the two students perked up and went to welcome them back.

"how is it? did you find anything?" ayame asked as she reached out a hand. a freesia drone landed gently onto her palm, while the other two swirled around her head.

"...! ....!!"

"yes, i can see that... anything else?"

"...!" the flower squeaked before it began to jump around in the air. "!!!"

"no... well alright, thanks. how about you two, what did you see?"

yasuhiro silently watched the exchange between human language and squeaks that were similar to a mouse's, his head turning back and forth from ayame to the flower spirits. he worked hard to piece together the conversation in his head with ayame's responses, though in the end he gave up and decided to wait for ayame's explanation.

ayame hummed to herself before turning to yasuhiro. "senpai, from what i got, there are three possible spots."

yasuhiro blinked. "'possible' spots, you say..."

"ah, well..." ayame rubbed her neck as she lowered her head. "these three, they're... not the best in communication. even i have trouble making sense of what they're saying."

'well, i didn't understand a thing they said, so i think that's better than nothing,' yasuhiro thought. then, he said,"okay. where are they?"

the two made their way to the nearest spot first, which was near a fountain that was in the park. they glanced around the surroundings as best as they could in the dimly lit night.

ayame glanced into the water, her own reflection staring back. a gust of wind suddenly flew past, blowing through her short brown hair. she squinted her eyes to protect them from the cold wind, but -

khhhk -

a shadow loomed behind her in the reflection of the water. a low sigh right beside her ear caused her to snap around -

nothing.

ayame raised a brow.

the female scanned her surroundings carefully as the wind bit through her skin. with the aide of the flickering street light, she slowly walked around the fountain, her eyes glued into the water. after completing a lap, ayame sighed a puff of white breath.

however, the sigh transitioned into a hitched gasp. the now wide brown eyes darted around the place and -

nothing.

yasuhiro is gone.

"takayuki-senpai?!" ayame called out.

the air had somehow become heavy and colder than before - ayame's shoulders tensed as she snatched up her phone. she  began scrolling through her contacts, her mouth drying up.

'takayuki - takayuki.... ah, there - '

ayame's finger froze over the call button.

she blinked, once, before tilting her head up from the screen.

the smell of blood entered her senses. her eyebrows pressed together as her mouth subtly tugged downwards. she began to step forward, though not before finally pressing down the call button to call yasuhiro. pressing her phone to her ear, ayame carefully followed the smell as she listened to the buzzing of the phone.

the smell of blood was somehow strong, to the point where it led her to one of the other two spots she had mentioned to yasuhiro. along the way, she had tried to reach yasuhiro's phone thrice, all of them leading her to his voicemail.

her face was numb by the time she arrived. her fingers were slightly trembling - she didn't know if it was from the freezing cold or the anxiety that was swirling in her heart. ayame had to pinch herself to make sure this was all real, and not one of those absurdly vivid dreams she's been having these days - dreams of her grandmother, dreams of fire swiping through a village, dreams of -

a beating heart.

two.

ayame gulped, her throat suddenly scratchy. she didn't want to clear her throat, afraid of alerting whatever it was that was messing with her mind.

the smell of blood grows stronger than ever, wrapping around her like a thick blanket, suffocating her mind into a hazy fog.

thump.

ayame's footsteps halted right before a stone bench - she was currently in the part of the park where there are supposed to be flowers blooming in their colourful glory, and yet now somehow it feels empty as if she was the only living being here. her breath caught in her throat as her hand instinctively reached out.

thump. thump.

two people, eyes closed with serenity painted over their faces as if they were in deep sleep, laid down on the ground surrounded by neat bushes and withered flowers. their faces carry a semblance to ayame's own, and ayame hesitantly stepped over the stone bench.

"mom? dad?"

on the other side of the park.

a phone's ringtone echoed through the deserted night.

the screen of the phone was cracked, and on it was a name as well as a profile picture of a girl. the phone rang a few times, before silencing itself once again. on the notification bar, the words 'shinju - 6 missed calls' and 'ohashi ayame - 4 missed calls' was displayed.