"How did it turn into the Hundred and Eight Shadow Techniques?" In the VIP box, Kinji Hakari was astonished.
It actually wasn't anything special. Back then, Mahiru had felt that those Shikigami companions of Fushiguro Maki's weren't very good-looking, so she'd casually designed a few more. To be honest, even Mahiru herself didn't know how many kinds of Shikigami she'd created.
Before she knew it she'd designed too many to count, so she simply left it with no upper limit.
And now, all these Shikigami could be seen by the audience, each with its own appearance, raining down from the sky with a clatter and crashing onto the arena. They were also pouring up out of the shadows on the ground.
At the same time, the shadows had long since crept across the spectator stands, so Shikigami began emerging around the audience too.
—It was just that the Shikigami's initial forms weren't quite what people had pictured.
All sorts of cute little critters wriggled out of the shadows, flopping onto the spectators' laps and mewling.
"So cute!" The people in the stands were all caught off guard.
Every single Shikigami was a super-adorable little pet. Little bunnies, little kittens, little puppies... clambering up onto the spectators' knees one by one, putting on the charm, nuzzling all over them.
Was this the legendary Hundred and Eight Shadow Techniques?
It didn't fit the dark, terrifying image of a jujutsu sorcerer at all.
One bold spectator reached out to pet a Shikigami.
The Shikigami nuzzled against his palm, and as if it had drawn some kind of power from the spectator, it instantly ballooned on the spot, turning into one giant beast after another and surging toward the stage.
"So it turns out contestant Fushiguro can command her Shikigami to draw support from the audience!" Mahiru supplied the commentary right on cue.
Anyway, it was support—don't ask exactly what kind of support.
Probably just a little trick to boost audience engagement.
These Shikigami swelled, transforming into one flashy, head-turning monster after another—some like werewolves, some like mechs—their moves and attacks utterly dazzling as they charged at Yuji and Todo.
Yuji and Todo stood back to back, surrounded by countless Shikigami.
The two of them broke into grins brimming with fighting spirit and rose to meet their foes.
"Black Flash!!—"
The special effects on the punch Yuji threw were fake too, purely meant to put on a show, but they really were spectacularly cool. Todo clapped, keeping the two of them constantly shifting positions within the enemy ranks, nimbly striking back.
Two against one hundred and eight—a battle with such a staggering disparity in numbers—was gradually being handled by the pair with dizzying position-swaps and techniques, the predicament cracked wide open.
The spectators watched, their blood boiling hotter and hotter. CRASH, CRASH!!—
An elephant-like Shikigami came barreling at Yuji, and everyone in the stands held their breath.
"Brother!" "Roar!"
A clap and a swap, another clap and a swap, and Yuji's fist landed a Black Flash, smashing this Shikigami into powder, the ground splitting apart.
The stands erupted into cheers once more.
"Rooooaaarrr—"
"Yuji! You can do it!!—"
"You absolutely have to win!" Because the Shikigami legion was entirely operated remotely by Mahiru and Hanami, the boy and girl didn't need any script. They only had to fight on instinct, while Mahiru would use the Shikigami to direct them and guide their every move.
So their fighting and their movements were actually completely natural.
Fushiguro kept sending ever more fearsome Shikigami to attack Yuji and Todo, who kept dispelling them in ingenious ways, and then Fushiguro would keep summoning even mightier Shikigami—round and round it cycled, going several bouts.
The atmosphere was climbing toward its very peak. So spectacular!
So cool!
This was both a fully loaded extravaganza of special effects and a meticulously directed action blockbuster.
Getting to come watch this match was honestly one of the best decisions of a lifetime! "Phew..." Fushiguro Maki checked the timer, and finding that the agreed-upon moment had arrived, she struck an over-the-top pose once again and chanted another stretch of mumbo-jumbo incantation.
The Shikigami still left on the field grew once more, becoming even more colossal.
In an instant, all the Shikigami linked together, fusing into a single enormous flying dragon that soared into the air above the stadium. Every thrilling, blood-pumping battle must end with a beam-clash. And now, the match was due for its final step too.
The great dragon's wings whipped up a violent gale, and a black mist brewed within its massive maw, as if storing up some dreadful attack.
"I will not lose to you!" the black-haired girl shouted through gritted teeth. "Because I carry the power of all these spectators on my back! What I stand for is righteousness itself!" "I'm terribly sorry, but I have a reason I can't lose either." Facing the great dragon without batting an eye, Yuji stood shoulder to shoulder with Todo, wearing the stone-faced look of a leading man. "Because I'm standing here together with my best friend."
Yuji formed a seal with one hand, and the ground abruptly blazed up with roaring flames.
Fushiguro let out a cold laugh and pointed her finger forward. "You shameless guy, toying with brotherly bonds."
Meanwhile, Todo stood behind Yuji, making the very same gesture. "How rude. What I share with my best friend is pure love..." BOOM! BOOM! A pillar of fire shot up to the heavens. A pillar of black came thundering down. Every sight within the arena was devoured.
It was an earth-shaking display of force that drowned the sight and hearing of every spectator, and with it, their last heartstrings were drawn taut.
"Contestant Fushiguro's [Chimera Dragon's Breath] and contestant Yuji's [Hearth Opening] have collided head-on!" Mahiru cried out. "This is the final blow... and the ultimate victor—who on earth will it be...?"
"...Heh, hahaha." Inside the VIP box, Kinji Hakari chuckled softly a couple of times and, no longer watching the match, sank back into the sofa.
"Kin-chan?" Kirara Hoshi looked at Kinji Hakari in puzzlement. "What's the matter?" Rumble, rumble—
Outside, the explosions still hadn't fully died down, and the girl's commentary was still loudly tugging at the audience's nerves.
A faint tremor carried through the room's walls.
Kinji Hakari rubbed his face, not making a sound for the longest while.
After a long time, once the explosions outside had quieted somewhat, he finally spoke, his tone dazed and wistful. "It feels... like I've just passed through some important stage of my life..."
A certain dream of his hadn't gone smoothly, yet it had, in its own way, come to a smooth close.
At roughly three in the afternoon, the jujutsu sorcerers' combat tournament drew its curtain completely.
The winner was Yuji; Fushiguro lost.
But Mahiru left no regrets for the supporters of either the boy or the girl.
On the awards podium, Yuji announced that his best friend had attained Buddhahood in this very battle, and at the same time, since he didn't need the prize money, he handed it over to Fushiguro so she could pay for her family's medical care.
The fans on both sides were treated to the great reconciliation of the century.
If there was one single blemish, it was probably that Fushiguro Maki's acting was too terrible—she couldn't pull off looking moved to tears.
In the end it took Mahiru playing dirty, wafting an onion under her eyes, to finally make her cry up there on the podium.
"Mmnaah—" By the roadside, Mahiru stretched out in a great big yawn. "Next up, it's time to head back to Tokyo."
Kinji Hakari sat off to one side.
"Then you'd better explain it to me properly—what exactly does Satoru Gojo want my help with?" He tilted his head to look at her. "And what's going to be done with this city afterward?"
"You don't need to worry about this city; people from Jujutsu High will take over here soon enough."
After all, the only ones entrenched here were some low-end combatants, and Jujutsu High's Grade 3 and Grade 2 sorcerers were more than enough to manage the place.
Mahiru stroked her chin. "As for what Satoru Gojo needs help with—we'll talk on the way."
As she spoke, she jerked her chin toward a certain direction. From that direction, a minibus came driving over.
Yuji was waving out through the window.
"Hurry up and get on!" Yuji was in a great mood right now.
After all, he'd completed his teacher's mission.
Of course, this whole mission had been Mahiru doing all the thinking; he'd just followed her lead, which had felt more like playing some kind of game. This half-day had also eased that looming-great-battle pressure in the boy's mind.
But the moment he thought of the great battle, the boy's heart grew heavy once more.
Gojo-sensei going to ask Kinji Hakari for help—forget Kinji Hakari not believing it, even Yuji and Fushiguro didn't believe it. Satoru Gojo, needing someone else's help?
That was simply impossible.
What's more, Gojo-sensei hadn't told them the specifics; everything they currently knew about the mission and the arrangements had come from Mahiru's mouth.
An enemy who could force even Gojo-sensei to treat it with caution—to actively go seeking out helpers, no less—that Sukuna, and those terrorists... just how dangerous had things gotten?
Yuji's heart felt heavy.
He understood, too, that the reason Mahiru and Satoru Gojo hadn't told them everything was to keep them from shouldering too much pressure.
Yet the more he thought about it that way, the more it left a bad taste in the boy's mouth.
Because this meant all the pressure now rested entirely on Satoru Gojo and Mahiru's shoulders.
While he himself didn't seem to have been much help at all.
And just as the boy was thinking this, a flyer suddenly came drifting over from afar and plastered itself across his face.
The boy let out a "Wagh!" and hurriedly peeled the flyer off his face. Seeing what was printed on it, Yuji was stunned, his eyes going wide.
"What... is this??"
It was, plain as day, a search-for-missing-family notice, and the big face pasted on the poster was none other than Yuji's own.
Only now did Yuji recall that Mahiru had mentioned earlier she'd put out a family-search notice for him.
Stirred by a hunch, the boy lifted his head.
At a single glance he spotted something like a hot-air balloon drifting up in the sky, ceaselessly scattering flyers from above—countless big headshots of Yuji fluttering through the air.
"No way..." Yuji's mouth gaped ridiculously wide. "This is, again...
What kind of stunt is this supposed to be now?!"
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan ;) — P@tr3on🔥👻
🔥 New history: DanMachi: But I am a Monster — live on The_Mikudayo
📚 Tired of waiting? Walnut-chan puts you 40 chapters ahead and keeps the translations coming
Help smash these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter (for everyone)