Tokyo: Proving one's position from behind the scenes

There was no light source deep inside the pipe. Nobuko Yoshida walked in the darkness, her footsteps making a soft, shaky sound as they sank into the thin layer of water at the bottom of the concrete pipe, the water splashing back and forth against the pipe's circular walls.

She no longer needed light to find her way; the wisp of gray-red magic power in her dantian was like another pair of eyes, reflecting the direction, branches, and elevation differences of the pipes in her consciousness.

Upon stepping onto a drier spot, the [Beak Fire] magic instantly dried the water off her body.

Her base was located in an abandoned combined sewer pipe underground in Arakawa Ward.

This pipe is not marked on the underground sewer map. It is a branch line that was cut off and abandoned during the reconstruction decades ago. It is less than two meters in diameter and has longitudinal lines left on its surface by long-term water erosion.

At the end of the pipe, she built a low wall about half a person's height using several pieces of concrete she had taken from the ground. Behind the wall were two old blankets she had picked up from a garbage dump; she used one as a mat and folded the other as a pillow.

When she wasn't using the Demon Slayer sword, she would hold it close. The dark red luster on the sword seemed to breathe slowly in the darkness, serving as the only source of light in this underground stronghold.

Nobuko Yoshida climbed over the low wall and sat down, her back against the pipe wall. The coolness of the pipe wall seeped into her skin through the fabric of her sweatshirt, but she didn't care. With her left hand, she took out the withered finger from her pocket and held it up where the dark red light of the demon-slaying device could reach.

Dark brown skin, yellowish nails, and uneven fingernail cuts.

She clenched her fingers back into her palm and closed her eyes.

Her consciousness sank into her dantian, and crimson magical power slowly circulated through her meridians. The circulation route of the Vajra Wrathful Mantra clearly appeared in her consciousness, with flames from the Vajra image erupting from its body, burning away all impurities. She had walked this circulation route countless times, so much so that she didn't need deliberate guidance; the magical power would automatically complete its cycle, like water flowing downhill.

The gray-white sky unfolded once more.

Human bones were scattered everywhere, and the grayish-white bone fragments made a faint whistling sound in the wind.

On the throne made of human bones, the figure with four arms and two faces still sat there. The face in front wore a nonchalant smile, a satisfied smile, like the one that appears when you see your pet cat bring home its first sparrow.

He raised his right hand off the armrest and beckoned to Nobuko Yoshida with his index finger.

Nobuko Yoshida walked forward and stopped five steps in front of the throne. Her right hand held the tip of her demon-slaying sword against the bone fragment, while her left hand gripped the severed finger. She raised her left hand, fingers pointing upwards, so the demon on the throne could see what was in her palm.

Ryomen Sukuna's smile widened, the curve of his lips shifting from satisfaction to undisguised pleasure.

His right hand reached out, his palm directly opposite Nobuko Yoshida's left hand, which was clenching its fingers. He didn't touch the finger; his palm hovered about an inch above it, as if sensing some kind of aura emanating from the finger's surface that only he could perceive.

Several arms retracted from the throne armrests, and the smile on the face in front remained unchanged.

His voice came from all directions.

"It's faster than I expected. The old monk's seal and that earth spider were both more troublesome than I anticipated. It's good that you got it."

Nobuko Yoshida clenched the severed finger back into her palm.

"There are seventeen left."

Both sides of Su Nuo laughed out loud.

"You don't need to look for them. My fingers are scattered in every corner of this land. Some are sealed, some are enshrined, some are buried underground, and some are submerged in water. If you search alone, you'll never find them all even if you die."

His four arms moved simultaneously; the top two rose from the armrests, and the bottom two spread out in front of his chest. His four palms were outstretched in the air, facing upwards, as if displaying something that only he could see.

"Someone is collecting them for me."

The sounds of the two-faced Su Nuo slowed down.

"You and I weren't the only ones who made a deal. For thousands of years, your brother wasn't the only one who took revenge with his fingers, and that earth spider wasn't the only demon who devoured demonic power with his fingers. Everyone who has touched my fingers will see me in their dreams. Some of them, like you, chose to make a deal."

He raised his right index finger, pointing at Nobuko Yoshida.

"They will bring their fingers to you; you don't need to go to them, they will come to you."

Nobuko Yoshida's pupils contracted slightly.

The two-faced Su Nuo slowly retracted their four arms, resting them on the armrests and crossing them in front of their chests.

His voice converged from all directions, coalescing into a deep and clear tone that landed directly in the depths of Yoshida Nobuko's consciousness.

Nobuko Yoshida opened her eyes.

The darkness deep within the pipe enveloped her once more. The Demon Slayer lay beside her, its dark red glow casting small, flowing spots of light on the pipe wall beside her. Her left hand still clutched the severed finger; she could feel the shrunken lines on the surface of her finger on the skin of her palm, and a faint, almost imperceptible coolness seeping from deep within her fingers.

She stuck her fingers into a crack deep in the low wall, plugged the opening with a piece of concrete, then pulled a blanket over herself and closed her eyes.

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Conference room, Special Operations Division, Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters.

Several printed photos taken from highway surveillance footage were spread out on the long table. The photos were of poor quality; in the black and white night mode, a dark red streak of light ran from left to right across the image, leaving a thin, still-burning trail of fire on the asphalt. Other photos showed the damage to the truck's cab: the front was dented, the hood flipped up, and the windshield shattered into a spiderweb pattern. A photo of the rear cargo door was placed separately; the lock had been severed by high-temperature cutting marks, and the broken metal showed a gradient of oxidation from dark red to grayish-blue.

Naoya Taniguchi stood in front of the whiteboard, holding a marker in his hand. Several lines of text had already been written on the whiteboard: "Nobuko Yoshida—the third finger—purpose unknown," followed by a question mark.

The core members of the Operations Section sat on either side of the long table. Murai sat near the whiteboard, with the silver-gray testing device beside him, its casing still covered in mud from the highway shoulder. He was the only one present who had witnessed Yoshida Nobuko snatching his finger up close, and he hadn't said a word since returning to headquarters.

Naoya Taniguchi marked the whiteboard with his marker where the question mark read "Purpose unknown".

"She had the ability to seriously injure the driver and the accompanying officers. You all saw the extent of the damage to the truck's cab on the highway. But she didn't kill anyone. The driver was seriously injured, the officer in the passenger seat suffered a mild concussion, and the two colleagues in the back didn't even break the skin."

He put down the marker and turned to face the long table.

"She's not here to kill anyone, she's here to take something. She'll take it and leave."

A few seconds of silence filled the conference room. Director Yamazaki sat at the other end of the long table, the classified file about Ryoumen Sukuna's fingers spread out in front of him, the cover stamped with a red "Top Secret" seal. He had barely spoken since the meeting began, only listening.

The discussion is ongoing, but it seems unlikely that a conclusion will be reached at this point.