The ruins around them were, of course, the result of Gardevoir and Rika Orimoto fighting. Even though Akira had already planned ahead and moved the fight outdoors, he still underestimated the destructive ceiling of a Cursed Spirit. A school building with nearly a hundred years of history collapsed under the shockwaves of their clash.
"Uh, can you explain what that is supposed to be?" Panda asked. "Salmon roe mayonnaise." Toge Inumaki spoke at the same time, pointing toward the other side of the ruins.
There, Rika Orimoto, now reduced to the size of a normal person, sat on the ground and let Gardevoir pat her head. "Sha~ sha~ sha~ sha~" "Oh~ oh~ oh~ oh~"
Even though neither of them was speaking human language, anyone could tell the two non-humans were getting along extremely well. Just minutes ago, they had been fighting with lethal force. One had been beaten until she lost arms and legs, while the other had been blasted away multiple times, leaving her beloved host unable to lift one arm even now.
Could it be that the harder Akira fought, the better their relationship became? "Don't ask me, I don't know either. I'm not a woman," Satoru Gojo said, spreading his hands and looking at Maki Zenin. Maki Zenin rolled her eyes. "I don't understand women either. Hey, stop grinning and explain."
The grinning "hey" was naturally Akira. Even though he had not remained completely unharmed, his mood was more than ten times better than before the fight. The upward curve of his lips had not stopped once, and if it continued, his face might cramp.
"Explain what?" "Why are Little Sha and Rika Orimoto getting along so well? Doesn't she hate Cursed Spirit the most?"
"Because Rika Orimoto isn't an ordinary Cursed Spirit. What drives her isn't hatred, it's love." Maki Zenin gasped exaggeratedly. "Love? Love can turn someone into that?" "Overexpressed love is still love. You could call it yandere," Akira said, accidentally revealing his true nature.
Luckily, the atmosphere at Tokyo Jujutsu High was healthy, and no one looked down on people with niche hobbies. The concentration of that kind of interest was even higher in Satoru Gojo. "That's about right. When you put it that way, I get it. There's no curse more twisted than love. Oh, that line scores very high in Satoru Gojo's heart."
Setting aside this oddly styled teacher, their analysis of Rika Orimoto was correct. To normal people, this kind of love was far too heavy to bear. But for Gardevoir, it was not a problem at all.
Gardevoir was also extreme at her core. The Pokémon index clearly stated that when her trainer is in danger, she will risk her own life and unleash her strongest psychic power to save them. What Rika Orimoto did for Yuta Okkotsu resonated with her from the bottom of her heart, especially that devotion to caring for only one person for life and death alike.
So at the end of the battle, when Akira was about to follow the plan and call in Satoru Gojo to control the field and forcibly end things, Gardevoir raised a rare objection. She said she had a way to calm Rika Orimoto. After that, she floated over and carried out a rapid "sha sha sha" encrypted conversation, and Rika Orimoto quickly settled down.
Then Rika Orimoto said, "Rika Orimoto likes you. Let's be friends." After receiving Gardevoir's confirmation, the scene turned into the two of them leaning together and rubbing against each other in a strange but friendly way.
Of course, this also had to do with Rika Orimoto's childlike mindset and her tendency not to hold grudges. Anyone with eyes could tell that neither side had killing intent in the earlier clash. From start to finish, Rika Orimoto had treated it like a game.
There was no helping it, because Rika Orimoto's scale of existence was simply too large. Large enough that even Satoru Gojo was not confident he could completely exorcise her. Akira did not even need to think to imagine the fight: invincible defense versus overwhelming toughness, Rika Orimoto unable to touch Satoru Gojo, and Satoru Gojo having trouble emptying Rika Orimoto's health bar.
That was why the attacks from Akira and Gardevoir only looked fierce. Compared to that absurdly long health bar, the actual damage was limited. Being able to deal real damage at all and move beyond light scratches was already proof of great strength.
It had to be said that Special Grade was the rank with the widest gap. Some Special Grade had just barely reached that level, while others were only labeled Special Grade because the evaluation system could not go any higher. Satoru Gojo among Jujutsu Sorcerer and Rika Orimoto among Cursed Spirit were both examples of this.
Akira and Gardevoir still had a long road ahead. Yuta Okkotsu did as well.
"Do you know what you need to do now?" "Yes," Yuta Okkotsu replied, because he was actually very smart.
Watching Gardevoir and Rika Orimoto get along peacefully, he realized he had fallen into a misunderstanding. Because he had witnessed his childhood friend turning into a Cursed Spirit and because that form looked frightening, Yuta had always resisted Rika Orimoto's existence. He saw her as the source of his misfortune and his greatest problem, and he had never truly accepted her.
Gardevoir showed him through her actions that no matter how the appearance changed, Rika Orimoto was still Rika Orimoto. She could communicate, could be reasoned with, and there was no need to fear her hurting others.
"Akira, please teach me what I should do." "Don't worry, don't worry. Even if you didn't want to learn, I'd still teach you," Akira said, patting Yuta Okkotsu on the shoulder.
It was not that he was addicted to teaching or liked taking everything on himself. "It's because you're my Same-Type Stand User."
"Same-Type Stand User?" Yuta Okkotsu's pupils shrank.
Because of Rika Orimoto's existence, most of Yuta Okkotsu's youth had been spent withdrawn. Afraid that Rika Orimoto might hurt others, he either deliberately kept his distance or tried to appear harmless. The former left him without friends, while the latter, combined with his thin build, made him a favorite target for bullies.
The serious incident where four people were stuffed into lockers happened because they tried to bully Yuta and enraged Rika Orimoto. It eventually alerted the Jujutsu World and led to Satoru Gojo discovering him. Unable to connect with reality, he turned to fiction as his best way to pass the time.
JOJO was something he naturally did not miss. He especially admired the unwavering will that ran through the series, shared by heroes and villains alike. That was exactly what he lacked.
Looks like it's not just the Stand type that's the same, Akira thought with a smile. He twisted his body and struck a JOJO pose. Yuta Okkotsu followed instinctively and did the same.
They looked at each other and called out at the same time. "Gardevoir!" "Rika Orimoto!"
The two appeared behind them in response, just like Stands. Satoru Gojo watched with open envy, striking his own JOJO pose as he shouted, "Unforgivable. I want a Stand too. Ari, do you have any other Pokemon? Lend me one."
"Even if I did, I wouldn't lend it to you. Stop trying to take advantage of me."
Akira and Yuta Okkotsu were posing like Joseph, while Satoru Gojo was posing like Jonathan. Damn it.