Staring at the wings behind Tatsuma for two seconds, Sho decisively chose to follow his heart.
"I'll join."
"Welcome. From now on, you will be the number three general under me."
"Number three general?" Sho frowned, a bad premonition rising in his heart.
"That... I want to ask, what is your organization called?"
"Let me think, let's call it Akatsuki."
"How many people are currently in Akatsuki?"
"Including you, there are three people in total."
"..."
"Don't worry, you'll have subordinates soon."
Tatsuma flicked his fingers, shooting out several threads of demonic power, pulling over Megumu and the others who had just been knocked out.
Sho asked, "You're going to pull them into Akatsuki too?"
Tatsuma nodded. "Yeah, after all, they have some strength. It's acceptable to pull them in to work for me."
Sho asked, "What exactly does this Akatsuki of yours do? You're not planning to conquer the world like that bastard father of mine, are you?"
"That's not it. I'm not that bored."
After healing Megumu and the others, Tatsuma continued, "The mission of Akatsuki is actually very simple, which is to help me capture existences like evil spirits and Cursed Spirits."
Sho asked, "Only these?"
Tatsuma thought for a moment and said, "If you find terrorist organizations like Claw that have a negative impact on society, you can also report them to me."
"Huh?"
Tatsuma continued, "In short, it's to help me find enemies that are generally accepted as needing to be cleaned up. Can you understand it this way?"
Sho nodded. "I understand, but what is the purpose of you doing this?"
Tatsuma said, "For love and peace."
Sho: "?"
Doesn't your conscience hurt when you say that?
Looking at Tatsuma, who woke up Megumu and the others and then half-threatened and half-coaxed them into Akatsuki, Sho scratched his head, not believing a single punctuation mark of Tatsuma's reason.
But...
"Since you are interested in Claw, I can provide you with information."
"Including that bastard father of mine, I know the locations of all the Claw executives."
"I know you're in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry yet."
Handing a postcard to Sho, Tatsuma raised his hand and summoned a magic circle.
"I'll leave the cleanup work here to you. I still have some things to do. See you tomorrow."
"Huh?"
Seeing Tatsuma disappear in a few words, Sho couldn't help but be stunned.
After a moment of silence, he sighed helplessly, his gaze turning to Megumu and the others who were also in a daze.
"Snap out of it, it's time to work."
...
At the same time, in Kuoh Town.
After teleporting back home through the magic circle, Tatsuma found Rias in the bedroom on the second floor.
The other party was currently talking to Sakiko.
Unlike her usual maid outfit, Sakiko was wearing everyday clothes today. A white shirt paired with a light green mid-length skirt, a small brown bag slung over her shoulder, her body exuding a youthful aura.
Seeing Tatsuma return, the two of them immediately stopped their conversation and looked over.
Rias said, "Tatsuma, you're back just in time. Sakiko wants to take leave."
"Take leave? That's rare." Tatsuma raised an eyebrow, a little surprised.
It had been almost two months since she came to work for him as a maid. Thinking back carefully, this seemed to be the first time Sakiko had taken leave.
He asked, "Did you encounter any trouble?"
Sakiko shook her head. "No, it's just that a friend of mine is back, and she messaged me wanting to invite me out for a meal."
"For such a small matter, you can just send me a message next time. There's no need to specially come over to ask for leave."
Tatsuma thought for a moment, took out two tickets from his pocket, and handed them over.
"These are tickets to the aquarium. You and your friend can go have fun after your meal."
"Huh? Is that okay?"
Sakiko was stunned and turned to look at Rias who was sitting beside her.
Tatsuma couldn't predict the future, so he naturally wouldn't have prepared two tickets for her in advance. If nothing unexpected happened, these should have been prepared for him and Rias.
Rias replied, "It's okay, we already have other arrangements this afternoon."
"Then I'll accept them. Thank you."
Sakiko put the two aquarium tickets into her pocket and left after thanking them.
Watching the other party's figure disappear, Rias turned around and looked at the side meaningfully. "Who were those two tickets prepared for?"
Tatsuma said, "Koneko said a few days ago that there was an event at the aquarium and she wanted to go draw for limited edition figures."
"I knew it. Do you need me to get you two new ones?"
"No, I have spares."
Tatsuma took out two more tickets from his pocket.
"Do you want to go together after watching the movie this afternoon? We can also look for someone near the aquarium."
Rias: "?"
Actually, I'm more curious about what kind of situation you considered to buy spare tickets.
Accepting the tickets with a subtle expression, Rias took Tatsuma and headed to the cinema.
"Oh right, Rias."
Just then, Tatsuma's voice sounded again.
"I forgot to tell you something. I've already started recruiting people for Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki?"
"It's the organization I'm using to trick Meredith into coming to work."
"Oh, that one."
Rias blinked. "Didn't you say you were going to stuff in some Devils from the Gremory clan to make it look real? Why did you change your mind?"
Tatsuma said, "When I went out to do a commission just now, I met a few supernatural beings with pretty good strength. I thought they were good and recruited them."
Of course, there were other reasons besides this.
For example, before today, Tatsuma didn't know that Meredith had a dangerous trait like Dark Side.
Previously, his idea was to pretend and fool the other party, and he could explain clearly if he was discovered. But now he can't do that.
Things that could potentially upgrade the Dark Side trait must be avoided as much as possible.
After roughly explaining the matter of Claw, Tatsuma added, "I plan to take some time in the next few days to go to the headquarters of Claw and take everyone out in one swoop."
Rias asked, "Do you have confidence?"
"Unless a god suddenly appears, I can handle them with one hand."
"That's good."
Rias nodded slightly and didn't ask any more questions.
Unlike the last time with Jujutsu High, Claw is essentially a terrorist organization. As long as Tatsuma doesn't cause too much commotion, such as blowing up a city during a battle, even if he kills everyone in Claw, it won't attract condemnation from other forces.
***
New Series: I, Sukuna, Am Inside Kasumigaoka Utaha's Body?
As an unknown soul from the modern world merges with Sukuna, a new Sukuna finds himself in Kasumigaoka Utaha's body.
Compared to the Heian Era, this modern era seems much more interesting with the rise of bizarre beings like devils and evil spirits.
Armed with a Collector system, which grants rewards for each "collection", Sukuna aims to surpass his peak and have fun.
[Detected that the host has successfully collected the anomalous individual "Ghost Devil" and its core concept.]
[Reward issued: Special Ability: Unseen Hands]
[Reward issued: Physique: Devil Body]
[Confirmed recovery of special grade cursed object: Sukuna's Finger]
[Reward: One finger's worth of Cursed Energy]