Soyo Nagasaki let the Sukuna disguise drop away. The curse-mark patterns that had been crawling over her pale skin faded and vanished.
The black knee-high socks and the brown school loafers—both altered earlier—remained.
After Sakiko Toyokawa tapped Accept, the group-chat subchannel's teleportation function activated, and Soyo arrived inside Wakaba Mutsumi's true Palace.
At the same moment, Shinobu Kocho appeared as well—teleported in via the main chat—landing right beside Sakiko as if the timing had been rehearsed.
Neither girl spoke at once. They simply turned their heads in sync, curious, taking in their surroundings.
Soyo scanned the space, and her gaze finally locked on the familiar girl at Sakiko's side.
She froze. Her pupils widened a fraction.
Then she stepped forward, stopping half a meter away, staring straight into the other girl's eyes—voice tight with urgency.
"Are you… the real Mutsumi?"
Hearing her, Mutsumi slowly turned. Her eyes settled on Soyo.
There wasn't a ripple in them.
A heartbeat ago, when she'd been looking at Sakiko, there had been something like spring ice melting—soft warmth flickering at the edges. But the instant her gaze met Soyo's, that warmth disappeared cleanly, as if it had never existed.
She looked at Soyo, face calm, and nodded—slowly.
Soyo had just opened her mouth to say more when Metis strode up beside her, hands on her hips, lips pursed.
"Hey. Am I invisible or something?"
Soyo sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes flew wide.
She stared at the two Mutsumis—Mutsumi and Metis—standing there together, her gaze bouncing back and forth. The words slipped out in a whisper before she could stop them.
"What… is going on?"
Sakiko stepped forward two paces, positioning herself between Soyo and the two "Mutsumis."
"I'll explain."
Her voice was steady—grounding in a way that smoothed the panic out of the air. Soyo's scattered thoughts snapped back into place, like someone had pressed a reset button.
Sakiko drew a breath and began recounting what had happened.
After splitting up from the others, she'd returned to Mutsumi's house, intending to probe her way alone into the core of Mutsumi's Palace.
At that point, Sakiko paused and glanced at Metis.
"And then I discovered Metis isn't a personality Mutsumi split off."
Soyo's breathing visibly hitched. Her eyes widened bit by bit.
"She's a Shadow."
Sakiko didn't give the shock time to settle.
"But that wasn't all."
She turned to the girl beside her—the one standing there with a blank, indifferent face.
"Mutsumi… isn't actually human, either."
The air went dead.
Soyo stared at Mutsumi's expressionless face, her brain failing to process the sentence. The words came out of her mouth again, disbelieving.
"Not… human?"
"Yes." Sakiko nodded once. "Mutsumi is a Wakaba Mutsumi Shadow—born from other people's expectations, within the collective unconscious."
Soyo swayed. A wave of dizziness rolled through her; she reflexively took a half-step back and stood there, stiff and hollow.
Shinobu, on the other side, froze too—
But her shock wasn't the same kind as Soyo's. A thought flickered across her mind:
A Shadow born from expectations…? I wear a smile every day, and it's really just me imitating my sister…
After her sister died, the Shinobu who used to lose her temper vanished.
She had put on her sister's haori, hid her real self, carved her sister's smile into her own face—working desperately to become what everyone remembered the Flower Hashira to be.
…Am I, too, something "born from expectation" now?
Meanwhile, Soyo finally dragged herself back from the brink of overload.
Once she truly understood what Sakiko had said, the confusion and shock in her eyes evaporated—replaced by a surge of aftershock fear and an angry flare that burned hot under her skin.
Her gaze snapped off Mutsumi and slammed into Sakiko.
Her brows shot up. The gentle softness that usually sat on her features tightened into a hard line.
She marched forward, stopping so close she was practically in Sakiko's space, and stared her down with a severe, unwavering glare.
"Xiao Xiang—how could you come back and test things alone?! What if something happened?!"
Her voice rose sharply. Her shoulders were tense, fists clenched at her sides, her chest heaving with emotion.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! You didn't have a single person with you—what if you ran into someone you couldn't handle?! What if you got trapped and couldn't get out?!"
Her voice trembled on the edge. Her eyes were getting red.
This wasn't simple scolding.
It was fear—pure, violent fear—exploding outward after she'd imagined what could have gone wrong.
Sakiko blinked, caught off guard. But she didn't look annoyed.
She stood still, watching the water shine at the edges of Soyo's eyes, the concern she wasn't even trying to hide.
Sakiko's lips curved into a small, gentle smile.
"Sorry," she said softly. "I worried you, Soyo."
Her voice stayed quiet, almost careful, as she met Soyo's eyes head-on.
"With Omen Premonition, even if there's danger I'll sense it ahead of time. Don't worry. If it's truly unsafe, I'll retreat."
Soyo's shoulders loosened a fraction—but her lips were still pressed tight. The fire in her chest didn't go out; if anything, it turned into a frustrated helplessness, like punching cotton and getting nothing back.
She opened her mouth, ready to argue again—
Footsteps approached from the side.
Mutsumi moved, expression unchanged, and came to Sakiko's side.
Then, to Soyo's stunned eyes, she lifted both hands and gently wrapped them around Sakiko's arm, pressing herself close against Sakiko's shoulder.
After doing it, she turned her head and stared at Soyo with those hollow eyes.
She didn't say a word.
She simply puffed her cheeks a little.
Like a small animal guarding its food—no roar, no teeth, just an unmistakable posture of refusal. As if Soyo speaking too loudly to Sakiko was, in itself, intolerable.
A faint, delicate gunpowder tension hung in the air.
Soyo's first instinct was irritation. Her eyelid twitched. She almost reached out—to yank Sakiko back over to her side.
But then the thought of Mutsumi's origin, her history with Sakiko, crashed into her like a cold wave. The anger she'd been holding—on the verge of bursting—drained out of her almost instantly.
Mutsumi wasn't human. She was a doll-shaped vessel carrying countless expectations.
Right now, as a Shadow, she was simply obeying instinct—clinging to the one thing she couldn't stand to lose.
Soyo's rigid posture softened.
What was the point of getting jealous of a Shadow that depended on Sakiko with absolute devotion?
She let out a helpless sigh, shook her head, turned her face away, and said nothing.
Metis stepped in then, giving Soyo a couple of pats as consolation.
"Pat, pat."
Soyo turned her head.
Metis had drifted over at some point and was standing at her side, wearing an expression that screamed I get you.
When Soyo looked at her, Metis lifted her chin, raised her brows—then patted her own chest.
Thump, thump.
Body language, loud and clear: You've still got me.
Soyo felt tired down to her bones. The corner of her mouth twitched into a painfully resigned smile.
The atmosphere eased slightly.
Shinobu, who had been quietly observing, judged the timing and stepped forward two paces with her usual gentle smile.
"So our next objective is clear," she said to Sakiko. "We break through Mori Minami's Palace, yes?"
Sakiko turned toward her. The moment the topic shifted to business, her eyes sharpened again—focused, serious.
She nodded without hesitation.
Just as the conversation was about to turn fully to the plan, an arm shot straight into the air, cutting through the newly forming seriousness.
Metis raised her hand like an elementary-school kid desperate to answer a question. She stepped out from Soyo's side and pointed a finger directly at Shinobu.
"So—uh—actually, I've been wanting to ask this for a while."
She jabbed the air once.
"Who is she, exactly?"
Soyo slowly lifted her right hand, awkwardly scratching her cheek with her knuckle.
Her eyes started to slide away toward the floor, but her peripheral vision stayed locked on Sakiko. Her tone carried a forced casualness that didn't fool anyone.
"Honestly… I've been curious too."
She glanced sideways, voice probing.
"This lady, and you, Xiao Xiang… what exactly is your relationship?"
The moment those words landed, Mutsumi moved.
Her head tilted slightly, and she understood the subtext instantly—deducing in a heartbeat that Sakiko and this unfamiliar girl were, apparently, not just acquaintances.
Mutsumi tightened her grip around Sakiko's arm and turned her blank face toward Sakiko.
No accusation. No question.
Just silent staring.
Shinobu, meanwhile, found herself in an awkward spot too.
As a friend from another world brought here via the chat, what was she supposed to be to Sakiko's local acquaintances?
Should she hide the existence of other worlds—give only her name and keep her background vague?
Should she fabricate an identity—some "distant relative," perhaps?
Or should she tell the truth about the chat and the multiverse outright?
None of it mattered to Shinobu personally. This wasn't her world. These relationships wouldn't bind her. If she wanted, she could leave at any time.
But she wasn't the one who got to decide how much to reveal.
That choice belonged to Sakiko.
So Shinobu tilted her head slightly, holding a polite smile, saying nothing—only turning her gaze to Sakiko.
Metis stood with hands on hips, curiosity written all over her face.
Soyo looked away, but her attention never left Sakiko—her expression a careful blend of testing and suspicion.
Mutsumi clung to Sakiko's arm and looked up, expressionless.
Four girls.
Eight eyes.
All fixed on Sakiko Toyokawa.
The air congealed into something heavy, pressing down on Sakiko's shoulders.
Sakiko had performed at the Budokan. She was used to thousands of feverish eyes.
But this—
Being pinned in place by four unwavering stares from four directions—
Even she, hardened by stages and spotlights, couldn't stop the shiver that crawled up her spine. It was like tiny insects climbing along her back, cold sweat prickling under her collar.
It was worse than forgetting lyrics onstage.
Her mind raced. Pros, cons, consequences—calculated at breakneck speed.
In the end, she decided to be frank about the existence of other worlds.
To go anywhere beyond this world, you needed the chat.
And even with the chat's help, interaction between worlds was limited—rules differed, power systems didn't transfer freely, and even materials and knowledge weren't universally compatible.
Unless someone was driven by intense curiosity or a desire to broaden their horizons, knowing other worlds existed wouldn't change much.
At worst, it was a strange story.
At the same time, Sakiko decided to tell Soyo part of what had happened to her.
Once she'd settled on it, she turned to Soyo first, voice gentle.
"Earlier, when we didn't understand Mutsumi's condition and things were urgent, I didn't have time to introduce Shinobu to you."
It was a direct explanation—why she hadn't done introductions before.
Soyo and Shinobu both nodded along, accepting that the situation had been too urgent for niceties.
A childhood friend's mind had twisted enough to form a Palace. Her real-world body had shown symptoms like a split psyche.
Anyone would panic.
No one would pause to do polite introductions.
Seeing that they understood, Sakiko continued.
"But now that we've confirmed Mutsumi and Metis won't be in immediate danger, we can properly introduce everyone."
She looked at Shinobu and gestured with the arm that wasn't locked in Mutsumi's embrace, indicating Mutsumi beside her.
"As for Mutsumi and Metis… Shinobu, you already know the situation from what I explained."
Shinobu smiled and nodded.
Then Sakiko extended her hand in Soyo's direction, her gaze carrying a trace of remembered warmth.
"This is my friend," she said clearly, "and a bandmate from before—Soyo Nagasaki."
At the words friend and bandmate, a subtle flicker passed through Soyo's eyes.
She met Shinobu's gaze and nodded politely. Shinobu dipped her head in return.
Finally, Sakiko pointed to Shinobu.
She took a breath—facing the most concentrated attention in the room—and spoke.
"This is Shinobu Kocho."
Her voice didn't waver.
"She's a friend from another world."
The sentence hit like thunder.
Soyo's eyes went wide. Metis's eyes became perfect circles, her mouth forming a stunned "O."
Only Mutsumi, still clinging to Sakiko's arm, remained outwardly calm—no visible change in expression. Yet her hands tightened again, almost imperceptibly.
Sakiko didn't let them linger in shock. Keeping her tone steady, cutting out long and messy details, she summarized what had happened after she encountered the chat.
Metis jumped first, eyes glittering with excitement.
"So there really is something that insane! That explains how you could use that terrifying power in the real world!"
Soyo held a hand over her mouth, took a long time to digest it, then exhaled deeply.
"That's why it's called a 'subchannel'… There's a main channel that can cross worlds."
Then Mutsumi—who had been quiet—pressed her cheek against Sakiko's clothes and spoke softly.
"Xiang. I want to join the subchannel too."
Sakiko paused, looking down at her.
Mutsumi had always thought she was clumsy—both with words and with music.
She believed she couldn't speak properly. Every time she tried to show concern, she made it worse. Her guitar sounded awful. She couldn't pour emotions into the strings.
She thought it was because she couldn't express herself that Sakiko became disappointed.
So she wanted the "group livestream" Sakiko had mentioned.
She wanted to expose everything inside her—everything buried in the unconscious, everything she couldn't get out through her mouth—turn it over, peel it open, and show Sakiko all of it without holding anything back.
Shinobu, standing a few steps away, watched the whole thing.
She could feel the pressure—Mutsumi's gravity, faint but constant. An ordinary person living under that weight might struggle even to breathe.
But Sakiko stood at the center of it without a hint of irritation.
She didn't try to pull her arm free. She only turned her head, looking at Mutsumi with quiet patience.
Then she raised her free hand and gently covered Mutsumi's hand, stroking it with her fingers—like calming an anxious little animal.
Seeing Sakiko soothe Mutsumi under that oppressive weight as if it were nothing, Shinobu's eyes flickered with genuine admiration.
And when Shinobu recalled Sakiko and Soyo's reactions when they reunited—along with the fact that Metis, who had resisted Sakiko before, now showed no resistance at all—
A thought rose, unbidden, in Shinobu's mind.
This friend of mine… is carrying a truly heavy burden of sins.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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