Two more followed in quick succession. Looking closely, he saw Maki Zenin, Panda, Toge Inumaki, and Yuta Okkotsu all present, each carrying fences or wooden poles. Akira asked, "What are you all doing?"
"Helping Megumi catch rabbits," Maki Zenin replied. It turned out that subjugation did not always mean defeating the target in combat. For Escape Rabbits, which were weak individually but strong in numbers and mainly used for scouting and disruption, the requirement was to catch every single one, and Megumi Fushiguro had been stuck at this step for quite a while.
"Are you not worried this counts as outside interference and causes the ritual to fail?" Akira asked. They reassured him that they had tested it before, and as long as they did not enter the area at the start of the ritual or directly attack the targets after it began, it was fine. They were only creating obstacles, which did not count as active attacks.
Understanding this, Akira said, "Then I will help too." He let go of Darkrai and allowed him to fully reveal himself. The innate pressure of the Nightmare God took effect immediately, and just by standing there, the rabbits that had been charging straight ahead suddenly changed direction, unwilling to approach such a terrifying symbol of nightmares.
That single turn gave the pursuers behind them a chance to close the distance. The throwing group kept tossing obstacles, while Megumi Fushiguro focused on catching rabbits with his Shikigami. Dogs grabbed, the snake bit, and a hammer smashed, as Megumi Fushiguro somehow produced a large wooden mallet and whacked rabbits like a game of whack-a-mole.
Before long, every rabbit had been dealt with. The subjugation ritual ended smoothly, and Megumi Fushiguro obtained his fifth Shikigami. He took another step closer to his goals of being a zoo director and a Disney princess.
Truly something to celebrate.
Although many people on the internet in his previous life liked to call Megumi Fushiguro a "Disney Princess", Akira still preferred to think of Megumi Fushiguro as a Pokemon Trainer. Looking at those Ten Shadows Technique alone made the comparison hard to deny. Land, sea, and air were all covered.
There were large, medium, and small bodies, along with styles that ranged from cool to cute to oddly ugly with its own charm. They could serve as tanks, damage dealers, or support, using physical or magical approaches without missing a single role. On top of that, they had to be subdued before use, and some could even evolve at a cost.
Beyond that, rare humanoid forms and godlike beasts among Pokémon also existed within Ten Shadows Technique. Akira believed that if Megumi Fushiguro were dropped into the Pokemon World, he would still do extremely well, though Gary Oak or Green might risk being overshadowed. The thought alone was amusing enough.
Among the "ten Pokémon" that Megumi Fushiguro possessed, the most popular were naturally the Divine Dogs pair, the Divine Dogs. In battle they were ferocious, and in daily life they could become a source of joy, much like clumsy dogs playing in the snow. Their balance of strength and friendliness made them hard not to like.
As for pure cuteness and healing power, that title belonged to Rabbit Escape. Even Akira, who sometimes missed spicy rabbit head dishes, had to admit how adorable they were. After being rendered through Ten Shadows Technique with a light ink wash effect, their charm rose to another level.
As soon as Megumi Fushiguro finished the Exorcism Ritual, Panda urged him to summon the rabbits. Everyone took one into their arms to play, and even the tough, no-nonsense Maki Zenin and Rika Orimoto, who had transformed into a Cursed Spirit, could not resist. Of course, the latter had been warned by Yuta Okkotsu not to damage the rabbits.
This scene once again confirmed Akira's thinking. As long as Yuta Okkotsu set aside his prejudice and sincerely accepted and treated Rika Orimoto well, Rika Orimoto was controllable, at worst a little too strong at times. The overall risk remained manageable.
The only real exception was Panda's second brother, Pancham. Relying on being cuter than everyone else, he bullied other creatures without caring about their level, waving his tiny fists and chasing the remaining rabbits all over the place. The chaos was impressive in its own way.
It was worth noting that the technique was called "Ten Shadows Technique", not ten individual Ten Shadows Technique. It allowed multiple instances to exist at once, and the weaker the individual, the greater the number. Coincidentally, many such examples existed among Pokémon as well.
There was the Kangaskhan that was respectfully called big brother and liked to bring its children along to fights. There were also Dugtrio and Magneton, which evolved straight into a combined form. And then there was Wishiwashi, individually weak, so they simply grouped together and pushed group combat to the extreme.
Megumi Fushiguro, and you still say you are not a Pokemon Trainer? Akira thought to himself, indulging in his rich inner monologue. Megumi Fushiguro knew none of this and instead bowed deeply to Akira.
"Thank you very much, Senior Akira, and welcome back."
Kento Nanami once said that the growth of a Jujutsu Sorcerer was not linear, and people were the same. Some reached adulthood physically but remained children inside, while others matured overnight and crossed from boyhood into manhood. Many Curse User fell into the former category, while Megumi Fushiguro was a clear example of the latter.
Before his sister's accident, he had been full of middle-school bravado, the kind who specialized in putting down troublemakers. He liked to sit on piles of defeated delinquents and deliver artsy speeches about boundaries and dignity. Back then, he would even end with a blunt threat if they crossed the line again.
Now, while he had not reached Kento Nanami's level, he had become mature and dependable. When Akira greeted him with a casual "I'm back," it felt oddly strange. Living in Japan for so long had made such exchanges second nature, but using them with Megumi Fushiguro still felt off.
"Are you here to train today?" Akira asked.
"Yes. I thought of a way to subjugate 'Rabbit Escape', but there were some issues during execution. Thankfully, the seniors helped fix it."
The combat power of Rabbit Escape was negligible, but their numbers and speed were troublesome. Megumi Fushiguro's plan was to confine them in an enclosed room and deal with them one by one. The idea itself was sound.
However, he overestimated the sturdiness of the buildings inside Tokyo Jujutsu High. In order to finish quickly, he summoned Great Serpent and accidentally smashed a hole in the wall, letting more than half of the rabbits escape. Luckily, Panda reacted quickly and prevented the Exorcism Ritual from ending in failure.
A group of humans turned out to be less reliable than a single Panda, leaving Makoto speechless. To make matters worse, this very Panda continued to display crushing emotional intelligence. "I heard from Gojo that you went on a confidential mission. Did it go well?"
"There were some twists, but overall it went fine," Akira replied lightly.
Someone was clearly unwilling to let that pass so easily. A frivolous, unreliable adult male appeared out of nowhere, unusually without a blindfold, dressed in casual clothes and wearing newly customized Sunglasses. He hooked an arm around Akira's shoulder with familiarity, his face full of pride.
"It was not just fine, it was overwhelmingly fine," he said. "Nanami told me everything. Learning 'Black Flash' in one week. As expected of me, my eye for students is excellent."