The ruins around them were naturally the result of Gardevoir and Rika Orimoto's battle.
Akira had already expected the fight to cause considerable damage, which was why he had deliberately moved the battlefield outdoors. Unfortunately, he had still underestimated just how destructive a powerful Cursed Spirit could be.
A school building that had stood for nearly a hundred years had collapsed under the shockwaves of their clash.
Looking at the wreckage, Panda couldn't help asking, "Uh, can someone explain what that is supposed to be?"
"Salmon roe mayonnaise."
Toge Inumaki spoke almost at the same time, raising his hand to point toward the other side of the ruins.
Everyone followed his finger and fell silent.
There, Rika Orimoto had shrunk back to the size of an ordinary person. She was sitting obediently on the ground, allowing Gardevoir to gently pat her head.
"Sha~ sha~ sha~ sha~"
"Oh~ oh~ oh~ oh~"
The two continued making strange sounds at each other, occasionally tilting their heads as though they were having a perfectly normal conversation.
Although neither of them was speaking a human language, anyone watching could tell they were getting along extremely well.
The problem was that just a few minutes ago, these two had been fighting fiercely enough to bring down an entire building.
One had been beaten until she lost her arms and legs. The other had been sent flying multiple times, and even her beloved trainer had suffered enough damage that he still couldn't properly lift one arm.
And now?
They were sitting together like two girls who had just become best friends.
Could it be that the harder Akira fought someone, the better their relationship became afterward?
"Don't look at me. I don't understand it either." Satoru Gojo spread his hands innocently before turning toward Maki Zenin. "I'm not a woman, after all."
Maki immediately rolled her eyes.
"Don't ask me. I don't understand women either."
After saying that, she turned toward the person who had been grinning ever since the battle ended.
"Hey, you! Stop smiling and explain what's going on!"
The person she was calling was naturally Akira.
Although he hadn't come out of the battle completely unharmed, his mood was at least ten times better than before.
Ever since the fight ended, the corners of his mouth had remained raised. At this rate, he might actually end up giving himself a facial cramp.
"Hm? Explain what?" Akira asked, looking perfectly innocent.
"What else? Why are Little Sha and Rika Orimoto suddenly getting along so well?" Maki pointed toward the two. "Didn't Little Sha hate Cursed Spirits more than anything?"
"Oh, that."
Akira glanced at Gardevoir and Rika Orimoto before answering.
"Because Rika Orimoto isn't an ordinary Cursed Spirit. What drives her isn't hatred. It's love."
"Love?"
Maki stared at him before letting out an exaggerated gasp.
"You're telling me love can turn someone into something like that?"
"Of course. Love can become pretty terrifying when it goes too far." Akira shrugged. "You could call her a yandere."
The moment those words left his mouth, Akira realized he had accidentally revealed something about his own interests.
Fortunately, Tokyo Jujutsu High had a very accepting atmosphere. Nobody here was going to look down on someone just because they had a few unusual hobbies.
Especially when a certain white-haired teacher was standing right beside them.
In fact, if anyone here had an even greater concentration of those interests, it was probably Satoru Gojo.
"Oh! That actually makes sense!"
Gojo nodded enthusiastically, looking as though he had just discovered something interesting.
"After all, there's no curse more twisted than love."
He paused for a moment, seemingly admiring his own words.
"Not bad, not bad. That line scores pretty high in Satoru Gojo's heart."
Everyone decided to ignore this strange teacher for the time being.
Still, Akira and Gojo's explanation wasn't wrong.
For ordinary people, Rika Orimoto's love was simply too heavy. Her attachment had already reached a point where anyone receiving it would have trouble bearing the consequences.
Gardevoir, however, had no problem understanding those feelings.
Because deep down, Gardevoir herself was also quite extreme.
According to the Pokédex, when her trainer was in danger, Gardevoir would willingly risk her own life and unleash her strongest psychic power to protect them.
For Gardevoir, protecting her trainer was something worth sacrificing everything for.
In that respect, she and Rika Orimoto were surprisingly similar.
Rika Orimoto was willing to do anything for Yuta Okkotsu, just as Gardevoir was willing to do anything for Akira.
Especially when it came to the idea of caring for one person, remaining by their side through life and death, and protecting them regardless of the cost.
Gardevoir could understand those feelings better than anyone.
That was also why something unexpected had happened near the end of the battle.
At the time, Akira had already been preparing to follow his original plan. Since continuing the fight wouldn't accomplish much, he intended to ask Satoru Gojo to step in, control the situation, and forcibly bring everything to an end.
However, Gardevoir suddenly raised an objection.
This was quite rare for her.
She told Akira that she had a way to calm Rika Orimoto down and wanted to try it herself.
Since Gardevoir rarely made such requests, Akira naturally agreed.
Then, under everyone's confused gazes, Gardevoir floated toward Rika Orimoto and began speaking.
"Sha sha sha~"
"Oh oh oh~"
"Sha sha!"
"Oh~!"
Neither Akira nor the others could understand what they were saying.
It was practically an encrypted conversation between two non-human beings.
Yet after only a short exchange, Rika Orimoto's violent mood gradually disappeared.
The terrifying Cursed Spirit who had been rampaging moments earlier suddenly became obedient.
Then she looked at Gardevoir and spoke in her childish voice.
"Rika Orimoto likes you. Let's be friends."
Gardevoir nodded happily.
And just like that, the two became friends.
What followed was the strange scene everyone was witnessing now, with Gardevoir and Rika Orimoto leaning against each other, rubbing their heads together, and behaving as though they had known each other for years.
Of course, there was another reason things had gone so smoothly.
Rika Orimoto still had the mind of a child.
Her emotions were simple, and she didn't hold grudges the way ordinary people might.
More importantly, anyone who had watched the earlier battle carefully would have noticed that neither side had shown any real killing intent.
From beginning to end, Rika Orimoto had treated the entire confrontation as a game.
Even when she was attacking with enough force to destroy buildings and tear apart her opponents, she had never considered it a life-or-death struggle.
There was no helping it.
Her existence was simply on a completely different scale.
Rika Orimoto was so powerful that even Satoru Gojo wasn't confident he could completely exorcise her.
Akira could already imagine what a battle between those two would look like.
On one side was Satoru Gojo, whose Infinity made him practically untouchable.
On the other was Rika Orimoto, whose toughness and enormous reserves of Cursed Energy allowed her to endure an absurd amount of punishment.
Rika Orimoto wouldn't be able to touch Gojo.
Meanwhile, Gojo would have a difficult time completely emptying Rika Orimoto's ridiculous health bar.
Just imagining that kind of fight was enough to give Akira a headache.
Compared to those two monsters, the attacks Akira and Gardevoir had used earlier weren't nearly as devastating as they appeared.
Their battle might have looked fierce, with limbs being torn off and buildings collapsing around them, but the actual damage inflicted on Rika Orimoto was quite limited.
With such an absurdly long health bar, even injuries that would have killed an ordinary Cursed Spirit several times over amounted to only a fraction of her total endurance.
The fact that Akira and Gardevoir could inflict genuine damage at all, moving beyond mere scratches, was already proof of their strength.
It also made Akira understand something.
The gap between different Special Grades was far greater than the ranking suggested.
Some Cursed Spirits had only barely reached the requirements for Special Grade.
Others were classified as Special Grade simply because the evaluation system had no higher rank available.
Among Jujutsu Sorcerers, Satoru Gojo was a perfect example of the latter.
Among Cursed Spirits, Rika Orimoto belonged to the same category.
The difference between these monsters and ordinary Special Grades was simply too large.
Akira and Gardevoir still had a long way to go.
And the same was true for Yuta Okkotsu.
Thinking of this, Akira turned toward the boy who had been quietly watching Gardevoir and Rika Orimoto.
"Yuta, do you know what you need to do now?"
Yuta Okkotsu remained silent for a moment before nodding.
"Yes."
He wasn't stupid.
In fact, Yuta was quite intelligent. He simply had a habit of letting fear and guilt control his decisions.
But after witnessing what had just happened, he finally began to understand something he had overlooked all these years.
Ever since Rika Orimoto had turned into a Cursed Spirit, Yuta had been afraid of her.
He had personally witnessed his childhood friend transform into that terrifying existence, and the sight had left a deep impression on him.
Because of her appearance and the frightening things she could do, he had gradually started treating her existence as a problem.
To Yuta, Rika Orimoto had become the source of his misfortune.
She was the reason he couldn't live an ordinary life, the reason people around him kept getting hurt, and the greatest problem he believed he needed to solve.
As a result, he had spent years resisting her presence.
He had never truly tried to accept what she had become.
Yet the scene in front of him had completely changed his understanding.
Gardevoir was sitting beside Rika Orimoto, gently stroking her head while the terrifying Cursed Spirit happily responded.
They were communicating.
They were getting along.
Rika Orimoto could listen to someone else, understand their intentions, and even make friends.
If Gardevoir could do all that, why couldn't he?
No matter how much her appearance had changed, the girl in front of him was still Rika Orimoto.
She was still the childhood friend who had always wanted to remain by his side.
There was no need to keep fearing her or assuming she would hurt everyone around him.
What he needed was to learn how to communicate with her properly.
After thinking it through, Yuta turned toward Akira.
"Akira, please teach me what I should do."
His expression was unusually serious.
Akira looked at him for a moment before smiling and patting him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Even if you didn't want to learn, I'd still teach you."
Naturally, Akira wasn't saying this because he had suddenly developed an addiction to teaching people.
Nor was he the sort of person who enjoyed taking every problem onto his own shoulders.
He had a much simpler reason.
"After all, Yuta..."
Akira's smile grew wider.
"You're my Same-Type Stand User."
"Same-Type Stand User?"
Yuta Okkotsu's pupils suddenly shrank.
For a moment, he could only stare at Akira in disbelief.
There was a reason he reacted so strongly to those words.
Because of Rika Orimoto, Yuta had spent most of his youth living a withdrawn life.
He was afraid that Rika might hurt anyone who got too close to him, so he had deliberately kept his distance from other people.
When he couldn't avoid interacting with others, he tried his best to appear harmless.
Unfortunately, his thin build and timid behavior only made him an easy target for bullies.
The incident where four boys had been stuffed into a storage locker was a perfect example.
Those boys had tried to bully Yuta, only to enrage Rika Orimoto.
By the time everything was over, the four of them had been severely injured and crammed into a locker that normally couldn't even fit two people comfortably.
The incident was serious enough to attract the attention of the Jujutsu World.
That was how Satoru Gojo eventually discovered Yuta Okkotsu.
With his daily life constantly affected by Rika Orimoto, Yuta had found it difficult to make friends or connect with the world around him.
Naturally, he needed something to pass the time.
And for someone in his situation, fictional worlds were the perfect escape.
Manga, anime, novels, games.
As long as they allowed him to forget his problems for a while, he was willing to give them a try.
Of course, there was one particular series he couldn't possibly have missed.
JOJO.
Yuta was especially fond of the unwavering determination displayed by the characters in the series.
Whether they were heroes or villains, many of them possessed a strength of will that allowed them to keep moving forward no matter what stood in their way.
That was something Yuta admired deeply.
Because it was exactly what he believed he lacked.
And now, Akira had suddenly brought up one of the most famous lines from that very series.
How could Yuta possibly remain calm?
Seeing his reaction, Akira immediately understood.
*Looks like it isn't just our Stand types that are the same.*
A knowing smile appeared on his face.
Without another word, Akira twisted his body, shifted his weight, and struck a familiar JOJO pose.
Yuta's eyes widened.
Then, almost instinctively, he adjusted his own posture and followed suit.
The two looked at each other.
There was no need to explain anything.
They both knew exactly what came next.
"Gardevoir!"
"Rika Orimoto!"
The two shouted at the same time.
Hearing their calls, Gardevoir and Rika Orimoto immediately turned their heads.
In the next moment, both appeared behind their respective partners.
Gardevoir floated quietly behind Akira, while Rika Orimoto loomed behind Yuta Okkotsu.
With Akira and Yuta holding their poses, the two powerful beings behind them looked exactly like Stands.
The resemblance was almost perfect.
For a brief moment, the scene looked as though it had been taken straight out of JOJO.
Satoru Gojo watched from the side.
His expression gradually changed.
First came surprise.
Then realization.
And finally, undisguised envy.
"Unforgivable!"
Gojo suddenly shouted.
He immediately twisted his body into a JOJO pose of his own, refusing to be left out.
"I want a Stand too! Ari, don't you have any other Pokémon? Lend me one!"
Akira turned his head and gave him a look.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't lend it to you. Stop trying to take advantage of me."
"Come on! Don't be so stingy!"
Gojo continued holding his pose, completely ignoring Akira's refusal.
Akira couldn't be bothered to argue with him anymore.
He turned back toward Yuta, and the two continued posing with their respective partners standing behind them.
There was only one problem.
Akira and Yuta Okkotsu were both doing Joseph Joestar's pose.
Meanwhile, Satoru Gojo had chosen Jonathan Joestar's pose.
Damn it.