Jujutsu Kaisen: I Have A Gardevoir

Both Akira, who had gone all out in a berserk state, and Suguru Geto, who had been determined to gamble everything, suddenly froze. Akira frowned and looked at Suguru:

"Is this your doing?"

"It's not me," Suguru shook his head. "The cursed spirit I sent out was exorcised. Your bird—?"

"Still alive, but in bad shape," Akira replied honestly.

Just a moment ago, he had sensed Swablu's cry, and a quick glance at the system panel showed its health was down by half.

His first reaction was, of course, to suspect Suguru, but the expression of confusion and surprise on his opponent's face was clear.

This wasn't a matter of reading expressions but directly sensing the emotional fluctuations—an innate trait of Psychic types, whether Pokémon or humans with psychic abilities.

In the anime, Sabrina also terrified those around her for this reason, eventually closing herself off emotionally until Ash brought along Haunter, a master of mischief.

Because of this, Akira refrained from attacking while Suguru was "stuck."

A misunderstanding would be a small matter—after all, they were already fighting intensely; deepening the grudge wouldn't change much.

The real issue was the interference of a third party attempting to reap the benefits.

Akira hadn't forgotten that they were in Kyoto—the headquarters of the conservative faction.

Given the deviousness of those old-timers, if they had the opportunity, they'd be more than happy to eliminate both Akira and Suguru—two uncontrollable "troubles."

"It seems I'm not the only one interested in your Pokémon," Suguru said, clearly having the same thought.

The snake-like cursed spirit he had sent out was a quasi-Grade 1 cursed spirit, one that neither Hayami nor Swablu could exorcise on their own.

"What do you think we should do?" Suguru asked.

"That depends on you. I've been wanting to leave, but you've been keeping me here, forcing me to fight. While I am concerned about what's happening over there, if you insist on continuing this fight, I'll go all out until the end."

Akira wiped the blood from his face, his eyes clear, showing no hint of fear.

He knew that now more than ever, he couldn't lose his composure.

While Akira could remain carefree, Suguru could not.

Inside a domain, it's a world of its own, with an internal and external divide, making it very difficult for Suguru to receive information from the outside. His "Cursed Spirit Manipulation" also couldn't share visuals the way "Crow Manipulation" could.

He was naturally concerned about potential interference, but to figure out the situation, he'd have to dismantle the domain.

However, if he released the domain, it would be difficult to trap Akira again.

It had taken so much effort to nearly cook the duck—Akira clearly knew the Reverse Cursed Technique, but he wasn't healing himself, opting instead to take damage while maintaining his offensive. Suguru reasonably concluded that Akira was running low on cursed energy, choosing to drain his health rather than waste his cursed energy.

If he let the duck fly now, anyone would be reluctant to let it go.

Sensing Suguru's hesitation, Akira casually raised his sword, smiling, "Can't make up your mind? Then let me help you—charge!"

Darkrai, following orders, instantly launched himself forward, shifting from stillness to motion in an instant.

Suguru instinctively believed Akira was going to attack and commanded all cursed spirits to intercept.

However, in the next moment, he realized that the direction Akira was charging toward was empty—the weakest part of the encirclement.

He's trying to escape?

As soon as the thought emerged, another change occurred.

From the direction Akira was advancing—the edge of the domain, the boundary with the real world—came a cracking sound.

In the blink of an eye, two black-and-white bear paws appeared, followed by a complete black-and-white panda.

The Pangoro, which had slipped away because it couldn't participate in the aerial battle, had returned, breaking through the domain's barrier with brute force.

Seeing this, Suguru smacked his forehead in frustration, realizing he'd made yet another mistake—a mistake borne of experience.

With a move like "Domain Expansion," which had an extremely long cooldown, the priority was always to ensure accuracy, strengthening internal defenses to prevent the target from escaping.

But no one ever really thought about external attacks—it's a domain, after all. Actively entering an enemy's domain is either a masochist's move or just plain foolish.

And so, Pangoro easily broke through the domain barrier from the outside.

In contrast, Akira had to use Black Flash to break out of Tamamo-no-Mae's domain.

Even in a life-and-death struggle, this tricky Akira hadn't forgotten to leave himself an escape route—Pangoro's "withdrawal" had been part of his plan all along.

With the barrier shattered and the inside now connected to the outside, both sorcerers could immediately sense the presence of a strange cursed energy.

Powerful and distinct—something they couldn't ignore.

This discovery ended Suguru's hesitation, and he ordered Shuten-doji to release the domain. Then he turned to Akira, extending an invitation: "Shall we go have a look together?"

"Just what I was thinking." Akira nodded with a smile.

As they spoke, Darkrai returned to the shadows, while Pangoro took over carrying the trainer, moving in the direction of the cursed energy.

At the same time, Suguru also retrieved his three Special Grade cursed spirits, leaving only one as a ride to maintain roughly the same pace as Akira as they advanced.

Soon enough, they saw it.

Swablu had a broken wing, its crest drooping completely.

Hayami sat on the ground, bleeding from the corner of her mouth, her cheek swollen.

And there were also two men and one woman who hadn't been there before.

One man was middle-aged, the other young.

The woman's age was hard to determine—she appeared quite young, around Suguru's age, but she carried a more mature aura, with a certain... sleazy, rogue-like quality.

Yes, rogue—female rogue.

Though her looks and figure were enough to make anyone drool, there was an undeniable sense of mischief about her.

The woman's upper body leaned slightly forward, a sleeveless black top paired with tight-fitting trousers outlining curves even rare in Western actresses. She kept poking her fingers into the young man's face, clearly teasing him.

The young man being teased was also handsome—wearing a blue martial arts uniform, his tall and athletic build paired with dyed blonde hair gave him a bit of a rebellious vibe, the kind that would draw cheers from the Shibuya crowds.

But this "rebellious" guy seemed to be like a submissive kitten under the hands of the female rogue, letting her do as she pleased.

The last man—the middle-aged one—stood by watching, clearly overshadowed by the others. He raised his hands upon seeing Akira riding on Pangoro, bloodied from battle, and offered a French-style military salute: "Uh... I didn't do anything."

Still operating under the Psychic template, Akira could tell he wasn't lying but still glared at him coldly.

This middle-aged man was the head butler and main ally of Akira's estranged mother, the same one Akira had previously struck with a heavy punch.

Leaving his young mistress and coming here alone, there was no way his motives were simple. Perhaps he had even played a role in Suguru finding Akira in the first place—how do you deal with a near Special Grade sorcerer? Simple, find an actual Special Grade.

However, because of the presence of the other two, Akira decided to let the matter rest for now. He looked up at the obvious focal point of the group—the female rogue.

She looked back at Akira and Suguru at the same time, giving them an enchanting smile:

"Nice to meet you, mysterious young man who earned the Pokémon's recognition, Akira-kun. And—it's been a long time, Suguru-kun. Answer me the question I asked back then."

"What type of woman do you like?"