Nanami walked silently along a country road.
His mind kept rehearsing what might happen next.
After Tomie escaped from the hospital, Nanami had been tracking her whereabouts.
However, the investigation, which had previously stalled, suddenly made a breakthrough yesterday.
They found Tomie's trail at a high school where a student disappearance had occurred.
And they obtained Tomie's whereabouts from a girl named Tsukiko.
Tomie had invited this girl named Tsukiko to a country villa.
Nanami naturally would not allow that.
He let Haibara continue investigating the situation at the high school.
Nanami came alone to the country villa Tomie had mentioned.
'There are many windows. If something happens, it will not be difficult to leave...'
Nanami circled the villa from a distance, taking in every detail.
Then he drew his blade and walked straight into the country villa, which was very likely a trap.
"Oh, is it just you?"
As soon as he entered the hall, Tomie's voice came from above.
"I alone am enough."
'So it is a trap after all...'
Nanami prepared for battle.
"Where are the original occupants of this villa?"
Nanami looked up at Tomie on the second floor.
Tomie leaned one hand on the railing, her expression like a cat toying with its prey.
"Well, what do you think?"
"I actually do not care."
The moment Tomie spoke in that playful tone, Nanami already had the answer in his heart.
What he needed to do next was eliminate Tomie.
"What a pity. I originally wanted to get rid of you and that woman together. Why did you stop her?"
Tomie gently caressed her face with one hand, her tone full of regret.
Her disappointed expression made people want to step forward and comfort her in their arms.
"She is a child. I am an adult, so I have an obligation to take care of her."
Nanami pushed up his glasses.
"You do not need to worry about that, because I will eliminate you here."
Nanami broke into a run, used the wooden table with a vase beside the stairs as a foothold, and jumped to the second floor.
Tomie stood with her arms crossed, watching the serious-faced Nanami with a mocking gaze.
Suddenly, a tentacle like an earthworm extended from below and wrapped around Nanami's ankle.
Nanami frowned, and before the tentacle could slam him to the ground, he bent down and swung his blade, severing it.
After landing, he looked in the direction the tentacle had come from, and what entered his sight was a horrifying abomination.
At the very top of the abomination was a huge head, crooked in an unsettling way.
Its entire face was covered with strange cracks.
Below that was something that could shatter a person's sanity.
Heads of all sizes were connected one after another by earthworm-like tentacles.
Perhaps because they were still growing, those once beautiful faces had become swollen and cracked.
Limbs longer than a normal person's height extended from the heads and dangled limply.
Braids like withered spider plants obscured the twisted body below, which was made of incomplete heads.
This was Tomie's latest work.
She had used her own flesh and blood as materials, repeatedly transplanting them into the daughter of the villa's owner.
Then she controlled that flesh and blood, making it continue to grow.
At first, this experiment did not go smoothly, but after another Tomie received the materials Kenjaku had given her,
the progress of the experiment advanced by leaps and bounds.
Since all Tomies had split from the same individual, they could all see each other's situations.
If there were no external enemies, these Tomies might kill each other out of desire.
However, with a large number of Jujutsu Sorcerers currently pursuing them, the Tomies chose to cooperate.
The materials Kenjaku sent were not profound. They were relatively basic Jujutsu materials.
But they were all things Tomie currently needed, not to mention that they included many twisted experiments Kenjaku had once conducted.
These materials also made Tomie understand why she had not been able to take down Kenjaku.
Because her power was too dispersed.
If all the Tomies were to unite now,
then Tomie's strength would instantly reach the level of a Special Grade powerhouse.
At that time, even against Kenjaku, a Special Grade, Tomie would have a chance to take him down.
But Tomie knew that someone who had fought top powerhouses of the Jujutsu world many times and still managed to escape unscathed could not be kind enough to tell her how to subdue herself.
'He must have some way to ignore my abilities.
Once my complete self appears before him, he will surely take complete possession of me.'
However, this possession might not be the kind of possession Tomie desired.
So Tomie had her own plan as well.
The monster before her was one of Tomie's "plans."
As the saying goes, it is better to rely on yourself than on others.
If she could create sufficiently powerful and controllable battle power through her own traits, that would naturally be for the best.
'Let me see the strength of a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, Nanami.'
At that thought, a hint of anticipation flashed in Tomie's eyes.
In the villa's hall, Nanami was already fighting this three-meter-tall Tomie abomination.
When he pulled away, the earthworm-like tentacles extending from below would attack him with terrifying force.
Once he got close, the slender limbs hanging around its body would punch and kick him without pause.
And the sounds emitted by each head, along with their gazes, constantly stirred the desires deep within Nanami.
Nanami realized that he was gradually losing his will to fight.
Instead, he wanted to possess this monster.
'This thing's ability is stronger than before.'
Nanami bit the tip of his tongue, and the sharp pain brought some clarity back to his mind.
'I need to first figure out this abomination's defenses, and I also need to be wary of other abominations.'
With that in mind, Nanami, whose attack had failed again, leaped backward and widened the distance between them.
Then he placed his short blade behind him, taking a stance similar to iaijutsu.
The next moment, Nanami used Tokyo Jujutsu High's mandatory skill, American Iaijutsu.
Nanami swung one hand fiercely.
However, what Nanami held in his hand was not the short blade Tomie had imagined, but a pistol.
Bang bang bang!
Nanami quickly emptied the magazine.
Bloody flowers bloomed across the abomination's body.
'The main body's defense is not strong. My attacks can cut through it easily. The only troublesome thing is that tentacle, is that it?'
Nanami got his answer.
Upstairs, Tomie frowned for the first time since the battle began.
Nanami's actions seemed strange to her.
Are exorcism methods so up-to-date now?
Tomie, who had encountered several Curse Users, had never seen anyone use a pistol for exorcism.
Then Nanami took out something that left Tomie even more speechless.
(To be continued.)