Moving was, without question, a hassle. But Akiyama Ren wasn't one to sweat the small stuff.
Instead of doing it himself, he casually dialed a moving service, entrusted them with the entire relocation process, and went to settle things with the landlord. Once the key was handed back and the contract officially terminated, Ren turned to the next priority—taking his girls out to a nearby mall to shop for daily essentials.
Hours slipped by as they wandered the glowing aisles. Kurahashi Kyoko browsed with casual precision, Kyonshi Ani clung to an oversized plushie, and Hotarugusa pointed out almost everything with wide-eyed wonder. Even the ever-serious Sakura, who rarely indulged in frivolities, found herself picking out décor with quiet interest.
By the time the sun dipped low behind the city skyline, the girls had accumulated a small mountain of shopping bags. Luckily, with Ren's spatial storage they didn't need to worry about carrying anything.
At around five-thirty, Ren's phone buzzed. The movers had finished transferring everything to the new place. Without hesitation, he transferred the payment with a swipe. A small cost for convenience—not even a ripple in the sea of resources he'd accumulated through missions.
They finished the evening with a meal in the mall's food court. Kyonshi Ani devoured takoyaki like he hadn't eaten in weeks, while Hotarugusa nibbled on sweet crepes, her feet swinging from the booth seat. Conversation flowed freely—teasing, laughter, the occasional complaint from Kyoko about Ren's tendency to vanish without a word.
Finally, with the stars twinkling high above, they returned to the villa.
And the reactions were immediate.
Hotarugusa, Kyonshi Ani, and even the stoic Kyonshi Imouto burst into cheers as they crossed the threshold. The scale of the place was beyond their expectations—a modern fortress nestled on a quiet hilltop overlooking Chiba City. Gleaming wood floors, wide-open living spaces, and more rooms than they could count.
"This place is enormous!" Hotarugusa's voice echoed through the entrance hall.
"Master, did you buy an entire temple?" Kyonshi Ani asked in awe.
Kurahashi Kyoko and Sakurag, the more reserved of the group, promptly laid claim to the rooms adjacent to Ren's. Hotarugusa's face fell the moment she realized the best spots were taken.
"Too slow," Kyoko said with a smirk, disappearing into her room with a victorious glance.
Ren simply chuckled. "There's enough space for everyone. If you want a better room next time, you'll need to be faster."
From his storage, Ren summoned all the daily necessities and food ingredients they had picked out earlier.
The group worked together to sort and organize the supplies. Bedding and toiletries were distributed, clothes folded and tucked into wardrobes, and all perishables stocked into the kitchen's massive double-door fridge.
Finally, with things settling down, Ren plopped down on the plush living room sofa and powered up the villa's crown jewel—a 120-inch ultra-HD TV mounted to the wall. He tossed the remote to Hotarugusa.
"Pick a channel," he said. "Something cute. No horror tonight."
The three youngest boy and girls settled in front of the screen, eyes glued to an animated series filled with magic academies and over-the-top transformation sequences. Giggles filled the room.
Meanwhile, Kyoko and Sakura were busy decorating their rooms. Ren had no doubt that Kyoko was organizing her collection of spirit charms, while Sakura was probably constructing a miniature shrine to enhance her barrier weaving. Both would be at it for hours.
Ren stretched with a yawn, heading toward the bathroom. After a quick shower, steam still trailing behind him, he stood before the tall mirror, wiping condensation from its surface.
He felt… restless.
He had slept most of the morning. His mind, instead of unwinding, buzzed with energy. That familiar itch beneath his skin—the urge to fight, to grow.
"Guess I'll find something to do," he muttered, slipping into his usual combat gear. He wasn't wearing a uniform from Jujutsu High, but rather an outfit of his own design—layered fabrics etched with sigils from both Exorcist lineages and forbidden Onmyoji tomes, fused by his innate technique.
Among his Ten Shadows, seven shikigami remained untamed. Each one a key to expanding his sorcery arsenal. He decided it was time to challenge another.
In a flash of blue light, Ren vanished from the villa.
When he reappeared, it was deep in a forested mountain range outside Chiba City. The place was isolated, untouched by city noise. Cold wind brushed through the pines.
He raised his hand and began weaving hand signs, infused with a hybrid flow of Onmyojutsu and Jujutsu. With a final snap of his fingers, a shimmering veil enveloped the area—a Curtain, layered with misdirection wards and cursed deterrents. No mortal or wandering spirit would dare stumble into what came next.
"Alright," Ren whispered to himself, rolling his shoulders. "Let's begin."
He knelt, drawing an intricate summoning circle into the frozen earth, his Cursed Energy pulsing through the symbols like blood through veins. Snow began to fall—thin, silent flakes drifting lazily downward, though the sky had been clear just moments before.
The temperature plummeted.
From the heart of the circle, a vortex of icy wind spiraled upward, snow whirling into a humanoid shape. Slowly, it crystallized into a slender feminine figure.
And then, she opened her eyes.
She hovered just above the ground, her kimono fluttering gently in the blizzard she brought with her. She was beautiful—elegant in a haunting, ethereal way. Long silver hair cascaded down her back, her eyes a piercing icy blue. She wore white from head to toe, save for black thigh-high stockings that contrasted starkly with the rest of her appearance.
Ren frowned.
"White would've matched better," he muttered. "But who am I to question fashion choices of a yuki-onna?"
The Shikigami stared down at him with cool detachment.
"You are the summoner," she said, her voice calm and crisp like frost. "Then come. If you wish to wield my strength, prove yourself."
A smile tugged at the corners of Ren's lips. "Confident, aren't you? Let's see if you're still so composed after a few hits."
His eyes turned a radiant, sky-blue—this was none other than the Six Eyes, the legendary ocular technique Akiyama Ren had assimilated from Gojo Satoru. Originally designed to grant a flawless, 360-degree perception of cursed energy and manipulate it on a microscopic scale, Ren's version went far beyond.
His innate technique, The Alpha-Omega Codex, didn't just replicate abilities—it evolved them. Empowered by divine energy and a Campione's physique, the Six Eyes now allowed Ren to perceive and control divine power as precisely as a Jujutsu master handles cursed energy.
Facing Yuki-Onna, Ren saw no need to unleash Authority-class spells or invoke forbidden rites. This was an opportunity to hone his Jujutsu in a live battle—his preferred testing ground.
As the ethereal girl hovered above the snow-covered battlefield conjured within the Curtain, her cold gaze narrowed at the sudden glint in Ren's eyes.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished.
"—?!"
Yuki-Onna's expression barely changed, but her eyes widened ever so slightly. She instinctively raised both arms and conjured an Ice Ward, a crystalline shield forged from spiritual frost.
But Ren's counterattack came like a thunderclap.
His form materialized behind her mid-air, and with a swift whip kick, he shattered the ice shield like glass. The impact thundered through the sky and sent Yuki-Onna crashing into the ground like a comet, trailing snow and shards of frozen air behind her.
Before she could recover, a pulse of cursed energy exploded above her.
"Reversal: Red!"
A massive orb of red, pulsating repulsion tore through the air, surging toward her position like a gravitational missile. Yuki-Onna barely managed to rise, extending her arms and summoning a blizzard vortex—a chaotic tornado of razor-sharp snowflakes and cursed frost—to intercept the incoming energy.
The two forces clashed with a roar that made the entire barrier quake.
From above, Ren observed with interest.
"Not bad," he murmured, hands tucked into the sleeves of his exorcist's overcoat. "She'd definitely be classified as Special Grade back in Tokyo Jujutsu High."
He wasn't exaggerating. For a Shikigami classified as SR in summoning hierarchy, Yuki-Onna's output exceeded expectations. Her cursed technique manipulation and innate domain adaptation showed raw potential on par with elite human sorcerers. If she were a student, Principal Yaga would've assigned her a handler on Day One.
That begged the question—how strong would his SSR-ranked summons be? The Demon Blade Princess, the mythic spirit of slaughtered onmyoji, or Takiyashahime, the exorcist-turned-curse goddess—both of them could easily rival Mahoraga, the final Shikigami of the original Ten Shadows Technique.
But strength was never Ren's only criteria.
Power could be forged. Evolutions were possible. Even a Shikigami could grow, like Maki Zenin's cursed tool techniques—especially under Ren's tutelage. But poor aesthetics? That was harder to fix.
He briefly considered whether Hakuro or Ubume would manifest in beast or human form when summoned.
"Let's hope they're not too... feral," he muttered with a dry smirk, shaking the thought away.
Below, Yuki-Onna's resistance continued, her storm keeping the repulsion sphere at bay—but only barely. Frost crackled across the landscape, and her spiritual reserves were thinning.
Ren raised one hand, channeling divine-tinged cursed energy, and invoked another technique.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
A sapphire-hued orb of gravitational pull surged into existence beside the still-active Red. With a subtle twist of his fingers, he began aligning them. In Gojo's version, the fusion of Blue and Red—opposing energies—was a feat requiring precise pre-casting.
Ren didn't bother with pre-cast rituals.
He forced them to combine after activation.
The world shuddered as Blue and Red spiraled into each other. The swirling spheres merged, collapsing and expanding simultaneously, until—
"Hollow Purple."
The ultimate annihilation technique, a destructive current of energy that erased anything it touched, came to life in his palm. The glowing, pulsating orb of violet hung in the sky like a falling star.
Yuki-Onna's pupils shrank.
That... wasn't part of the original taming trial, was it?
"…I surrender!"
The blizzard scattered instantly.
She dropped her hands and knelt with surprising grace on a crystalline patch of snow, bowing her head as if in courtly etiquette.
Ren blinked.
"That fast?"
"You weren't playing fair," she replied, her voice retaining its frosty elegance despite her resignation. "That wasn't just sorcery. You mixed... divinity into Jujutsu. No wild Shikigami can contest that."
Ren dispelled the Hollow Purple with a flick of his fingers. The spiritual pressure lifted, and the snowy battlefield gradually began to dissipate.
He descended to the ground, offering a hand.
"Welcome to the family."
She hesitated only for a second before taking it. The binding ritual flared to life—ice-blue sigils circling her wrist and his like snowflakes in motion.
The Fourth Shikigami, Yuki-Onna, was now under his command.