Chapter Summaries

Toshiro Hijikata struggled to maintain the Kondo Dojo’s respectable image while Isao Kondo and Sogo Doma kept undermining his efforts. As Otae prepared to attack Kondo, Katsura Kotaro admitted he wanted Kondo’s dojo to remain as a rival, leaving his motives exposed.

• Toshiro Hijikata grew increasingly frustrated as Isao Kondo complained about being called a gorilla and spoke about Otae seeing him as one.
• Sogo Doma warned Kondo that Otae was intent on killing him and told him to accept that he was the gorilla she was targeting.
• Sogo Doma asked Katsura Kotaro whether he would still let Otae kill Kondo despite wanting intelligence from him.
• Katsura Kotaro argued that Kondo’s dojo had to survive because it was his dojo’s competitor, then tried to cover up his admission.

Kotaro Katsura explained why Sogo Doma had become a hostage and assessed the threat posed by Otae and Toshiro Hijikata. He remained convinced Otae could not have knocked out Isao Kondo with one punch, while describing the uneasy balance between himself and the Kondo Group.

• Kotaro Katsura claimed he had blocked the female spy's punch as a joke, then admitted he had underestimated her strength.
• Kotaro Katsura said Sogo Doma had become a hostage because Otae and Toshiro Hijikata would be difficult to handle together.
• Sogo Doma suggested Isao Kondo had amnesia, but Toshiro Hijikata pointed out that Sogo was bluffing about how Kondo had been defeated.
• Kotaro Katsura argued that Otae was not strong enough to knock Kondo unconscious with one punch and said he could defeat her in about ten moves.
• Kotaro Katsura explained that he and the Kondo Group avoided open conflict because their combined strengths and heavy weapons made direct confrontation dangerous.

Sogo Doma and the others discussed why Kotaro Katsura could not defeat the Kondo Group, while Katsura remained convinced Otae could not have knocked out Kondo Isao. The conversation left everyone stunned when Sogo accused Katsura of being the one who only hit people in the face.

• The chapter explained that Katsura could not afford to lose against the Kondo Group, whose backing from the Doma Family made it too powerful to bring down.
• Katsura insisted Otae could not have knocked out Kondo Isao with one punch, and Toshiro Hijikata and the others realized Katsura had missed the truth.
• Sogo Doma agreed with Katsura and joked that Kondo's battered face looked like it had received plastic surgery.
• Katsura remarked that Kondo looked more like a person than before, making Kondo Isao burst into tears.
• Sogo Doma abruptly accused Katsura of being the one who hit people only in the face, leaving Katsura and the others bewildered.

After Katsura saw his soot-blackened face and argued that changing hairstyles was like cutting off his head, Sogo used the conversation to explain that Kondo had lost his memory and the Great Demon King was not powerful enough to knock him unconscious with one punch. The chapter ended with Sogo trying to steer Katsura into analyzing the enemy in front of Hijikata, while Hijikata silently protested Sogo’s increasingly strange scheme.

• Sogo pointed out that Katsura’s soot-blackened face made him look as though he had been hit in the face, and Katsura smashed the mirror Elisaki gave him after seeing his reflection.
• Katsura insisted he had never changed his hairstyle, and Sogo teased him about having an afro and about samurai topknots.
• Sogo explained that Kondo had lost his memory and that the Great Demon King was not strong enough to knock Kondo unconscious with one punch.
• Katsura began assessing the Great Demon King’s power, then suddenly questioned why he was analyzing it in front of Hijikata.
• Sogo claimed Katsura could turn Hijikata to their side by discussing the enemy’s weaknesses, while he and Hijikata exchanged silent complaints about the plan.

Toshiro Hijikata recalled considering disbanding the Kondo Group after Sogo Doma left, believing the public would never accept a violent organization. Hearing locals praise the group for making their neighborhood safer changed his view, while Sogo’s investigation into the Sanzenin Family’s kidnappings revealed the political and criminal forces behind them.

• Toshiro Hijikata considered disbanding the Kondo Group after Sogo Doma departed, worrying that the group’s reputation would prevent its members from living normal lives.
• Sogo Doma had left because Keiryu Doma sent him to Totsuki, where he planned to pursue an education and cook for Umaru.
• Hijikata heard residents praise the Kondo Group for protecting shops and making it safer to go out at night, which challenged his assumptions about the group’s effect on the public.
• Sogo investigated the Sanzenin Family’s young lady’s repeated kidnappings and learned that branch-family descendants were trying to seize control of the family.
• The Sanzenin heiress strengthened her position by growing eighty trillion in capital into one hundred trillion, while her notarized will blocked the branch family from inheriting the family.

Toshiro Hijikata reflected on why the Kondo Group’s safe zone mattered to its residents and struggled with the stigma of leading a violent organization. Sogo Doma had promised to make the group legitimate while preserving the safe zone, but he still hoped Hijikata would one day recognize what they had built together.

• The narration explained why the Sanzenin heiress and other wealthy heirs were protected despite attracting dangerous attention.
• Residents in Kondo Group territory praised the safe streets, prompting Toshiro Hijikata to preserve and tighten the group’s rules.
• Hijikata told Umaru that he could handle the threats Sogo Doma faced, though Sogo doubted he would make a decisive move.
• Hijikata’s discomfort with the Kondo Group’s violent reputation grew as he dealt with Isao Kondo’s antics and outsiders’ judgment.
• Sogo Doma promised Hijikata that he would make the Kondo Group legitimate while keeping its safe zone intact.

Sogo Doma reassured Toshiro Hijikata that Shizuka Hiratsuka and the others did not care about his ties to the Kondo Group, while contrasting the group’s public presence with the secretive Sala Twin Trees. The chapter left Sogo’s ruthless approach to opposing forces clear: he targeted their leaders and smiled as he threatened them.

• Sogo Doma told Toshiro Hijikata that Shizuka Hiratsuka already knew about his connection to the Kondo Group and was not troubled by it.
• Toshiro Hijikata reflected on how little he knew about Sala Twin Trees and how dangerous its ninja members could be.
• Sogo Doma criticized the convention of sparing enemy leaders and said he preferred to eliminate opponents from the top down.
• Sogo Doma explained that the Kondo Group under his leadership would kill anyone who refused to submit, smiling as he threatened them.

The chapter contrasted the Kondo Group’s relatively respectable public image under Hijikata with the fearsome Sala Twin Trees, which secretly targeted rival gang leaders. It ended by hinting that the rumor about Hijikata being able to stop children from crying had another explanation.

• The Kondo Group’s enemies repeatedly replaced their leaders as the Sala Twin Trees assassinated them and left the message, “The bells of the Sala Twin Trees toll...”
• The Yama-x Group and x-Dragon Association blamed the Sala Twin Trees for their losses, while the Doma Family kept its connection to them officially unacknowledged.
• Hijikata negotiated with rival groups and maintained the Kondo Group’s rules against bullying merchants, collecting management fees, and accepting improper benefits.
• The Kondo Group encouraged rival groups leaving its territory to open milk tea shops, which offered better profits than collecting management fees.
• The chapter ended by beginning to explain the rumor that the Demon Vice-Chief could stop children from crying.

Sogo Doma explained how the Kondo Group had made its territory safer by keeping yakuza and delinquents in check, even as he criticized the inequality of Japanese society. Toshiro Hijikata mistakenly believed ordinary people feared the Kondo Group, though they mostly trusted it and wanted to befriend its members.

• Sogo Doma described how tattoos and yakuza once frightened ordinary people, while the Kondo Group's influence let residents safely confront tattooed thugs.
• Sogo Doma argued that schools offered only a limited, superficial sense of fairness, citing Kaguya Shinomiya, Yukino Yukinoshita, Utaha Kasumigaoka, and Eriri as people who had faced bullying despite their backgrounds or abilities.
• Sogo Doma said the Kondo Group avoided harming ordinary people, refused to deal drugs, and pressured delinquent students to transfer or change their ways.
• Teacher Matsuzaki and the Oolong Tea Research Club were not afraid of the Kondo Group and wanted to befriend its members.
• Toshiro Hijikata mistakenly thought ordinary people feared the Kondo Group and its Demon Vice-Chief title.

The chapter explained how Sogo Doma’s attacks carried out in Toshiro Hijikata’s name created the Demon Vice-Chief’s fearsome reputation among the underworld. It contrasted that reputation with ordinary people’s limited knowledge of the Kondo Group, leaving Utaha Kasumigaoka unsure what the group really was.

• Sogo Doma sent a threat to the Yama-x Group in Toshiro Hijikata’s name and attacked their branch before they could respond.
• Sogo explained that he treated the few minutes after delivering the message as enough time for the Yama-x Group to have refused their month-long deadline, while Toshiro Hijikata objected.
• The underworld began calling Toshiro Hijikata the Demon Vice-Chief and feared him after Sogo’s attacks and assassination training strengthened his reputation.
• The chapter explained that ordinary people knew little about the Kondo Group and were not afraid of it because it did not harm them and could protect them.
• Utaha Kasumigaoka remained unfamiliar with the Kondo Group and had only inferred what she could from conversations with Shizuka Hiratsuka, Toshiro Hijikata, Otae, and Sogo.

The chapter explained how Sogo Doma shaped the Kondo Group into a feared organization that collected modest management fees while driving rival syndicates from its territory. It ended with the Yama-x Group’s successive leaders being killed after challenging the Kondo Group, leaving its fifth leader afraid to seek revenge or make peace.

• Sogo Doma persuaded Toshiro Hijikata and Isao Kondo that collecting management fees would reassure merchants and keep the Kondo Group’s members from feeling owed.
• The Kondo Group drove the Yama-x Group, x-Dragon Society, and other rivals from its territory while leaving their legitimate businesses untouched.
• Sogo used recordings, electronic tracking, and direct attacks on rival leaders to crush outlaws who opposed the Kondo Group.
• The Yama-x Group’s first four leaders were killed after taking office and threatening revenge against the Kondo Group.
• The fifth Yama-x Group leader proposed making peace, but his followers accused him of being afraid and demanded revenge.

The Yamaguchi-gumi stopped daring to challenge the Kondo Group after repeated leaders were killed and assassination attempts against the Doma Family brought devastating reprisals. Sogo Doma recalled how he had made Ayame Sarutobi and Sala Twin Trees fear betraying him, leaving their loyalty secured by both the wealth he gave them and the threat of destroying it.

• The Yamaguchi-gumi watched more than a dozen leaders die, and its members became afraid to take the position or attack the Kondo Group.
• The underworld learned that assassins who targeted the Kondo Group or Doma Family disappeared, and that the Doma Family was too dangerous to provoke.
• Sogo Doma wondered how Miyuki Shirogane had rescued Kaguya Shinomiya's scarf despite the Shinomiya family's bodyguards, and contrasted their inaction with Sala Twin Trees' protection of Umaru.
• Sogo Doma recalled that Sala Twin Trees' Oniwabanshu earned money through his arrangements and worked at Ninja Pizza Shop, but understood that their wealth depended on him.
• When Ayame Sarutobi tried to test Sogo Doma at his bed, he tied her up and warned her that betrayal would destroy Sala Twin Trees and the Oniwabanshu.

Sogo Doma handed Sala Twin Trees to Ayame Sarutobi to keep her occupied, and her leadership helped the Oniwabanshu submit to the Doma Family. After Sogo left, the Kondo Group abandoned assassination for protection and patrols, while Toshiro Hijikata struggled to hold its territory against emerging gangs.

• Ayame Sarutobi repeatedly pursued Sogo Doma, so he put her in charge of Sala Twin Trees to keep her busy.
• Ayame imagined Sogo had entrusted Sala Twin Trees to her because he cared for her and resolved to manage the Oniwabanshu well.
• The Oniwabanshu accepted the Doma Family's authority with Ayame leading Sala Twin Trees, and their assassinations helped the Kondo Group drive violent groups away.
• After Sogo left, Toshiro Hijikata and Kondo Gorilla ended the assassination strategy and shifted Sala Twin Trees toward protection and patrols.
• New gangs challenged the Kondo Group, while Hijikata's harsh response earned him the fearsome reputation of the Demon Vice-Chief.

Sogo Doma reflected on how Toshiro Hijikata’s attempts to change the Kondo Group’s methods and clean up its image had made the group more visible while emboldening rival organizations. He tried to show Hijikata that ordinary people like Utaha Kasumigaoka and Shizuka Hiratsuka barely knew what the Kondo Group was, but Hijikata’s anxious cover-ups only made him look foolish.

• Hijikata’s softer approach let some violent organizations begin probing the Kondo Group, even as the group retained a good reputation among people who knew it.
• Sogo recognized that Utaha knew little about the Kondo Group or the God's Tongue, while Shizuka already understood its connection to the Doma Family.
• Sogo openly admitted his connection to the Kondo Group to make Hijikata realize that ordinary people were unlikely to fear a group they barely knew.
• Hijikata’s clumsy attempts to conceal the Kondo Group’s identity made Utaha suspect what kind of organization it was and left both women puzzled by his behavior.
• Sogo recalled that the Kondo Group had once remained a mystery to ordinary people and that its enemies had feared it, unlike the newly emboldened groups testing Hijikata’s leadership.

Toshiro Hijikata tried to convince Sogo Doma that the Kondo Group’s improving reputation proved its approach was better than the Sala Twin Trees’ methods. He learned that the cold stares he and Kondo Isao received came from taking a gorilla out in public, and his explanation only made the others more uncomfortable.

• Toshiro Hijikata reflected on how he and Kondo Isao had improved the Kondo Group’s reputation by handling the Aki Family’s relocation through negotiation.
• Hijikata compared the Kondo Group’s methods with the Sala Twin Trees and argued that their organization was not so shameful by comparison.
• Hijikata asked Sogo Doma why people had been giving him and Kondo Isao contemptuous looks.
• Sogo Doma explained that people looked down on Hijikata for going out with a gorilla.
• Hijikata insisted that outsiders saw Kondo Isao as a gorilla and could not consider his naked behavior perverted, leaving the others stunned.

Toshiro Hijikata tried to defend Isao Kondo from being called a gorilla, but Sogo Doma, Kotaro Katsura, and Otae only made Kondo more certain that everyone saw him as one. Sogo then reframed Hijikata’s supposed betrayal as discomfort with being led by a gorilla, leaving Katsura to consider whether Hijikata could be persuaded back.

• Toshiro Hijikata denied betraying the group because he thought Isao Kondo was a gorilla, but Kondo believed Hijikata had confirmed what everyone thought of him.
• Sogo Doma and Kotaro Katsura argued that calling Kondo a gorilla was simply the truth, while Hijikata tried to stop them from hurting Kondo’s feelings.
• Otae said she had complained to the Animal Protection Association for mistaking Kondo, whom she considered a precious gorilla specimen, for a human.
• Kondo cheered at Otae’s praise, and Hijikata regretted speaking up for him as Sogo suggested convincing Katsura and Otae to leave.
• Katsura insisted Hijikata had betrayed them because Kondo was a gorilla, and Sogo argued that Hijikata might only find it hard to be led by one.

Sogo Doma spun Kotaro Katsura a bizarre plan based on Momotaro to send him after Toshiro Hijikata, whom they joked was an evil demon. Katsura took the tale seriously and began questioning the plan’s details, leaving everyone exasperated.

• Kotaro Katsura speculated that Toshiro Hijikata might be an evil demon, and Sogo Doma agreed, prompting Hijikata to protest.
• Sogo Doma told Kotaro Katsura to wash clothes by the river so he could find a peach and defeat Hijikata like Momotaro.
• Elisaki reminded Kotaro Katsura of the Momotaro story, and Katsura concluded that Sogo had planned for him to become Momotaro.
• Sogo Doma told Kotaro Katsura to hire an old woman to wash clothes by the river, and Katsura questioned whether it was fair to ask an elderly person to do so.

Sogo Doma manipulated Kotaro Katsura into believing that hiring old women to do laundry was necessary to find and raise Momotaro. The chapter ended with Hijikata, Katsura, and the others united in disbelief at Sogo’s absurd reasoning.

• Sogo Doma argued that Katsura should hire old women to do laundry by the river, while Katsura insisted elderly people should be enjoying retirement.
• Hijikata challenged Sogo’s claim that old women would have to be sacrificed, and Sogo claimed they would fight over the peach.
• Sogo persuaded Katsura that he needed to mobilize all the old women in the country because the strongest one would raise Momotaro.
• Sogo argued that the old man and old woman, rather than Momotaro himself, were responsible for defeating the ogres.
• Hijikata, Katsura, and the others protested Sogo’s reasoning, but Sogo insisted he had only told Katsura to hire an old woman to do laundry.

Sogo Doma manipulated Kotaro Katsura into agreeing to find an old granny to raise him as a hero who could defeat the Great Demon King. The chapter ended with Katsura correcting everyone that his name was Katsura Taro, not Momotaro.

• Sogo Doma persuaded Kotaro Katsura to see helping widowed grannies as a noble mission, while the others reacted with disbelief.
• Sogo Doma framed Katsura as humanity's savior and urged him to find the strongest old granny before the Great Demon King could defeat them.
• Kotaro Katsura challenged Sogo Doma's plan because a Momotaro would take time to raise, and Sogo proposed having the grannies raise Katsura instead.
• Kotaro Katsura corrected Sogo Doma and Hijikata, insisting that he was Katsura Taro, not Momotaro.

Sogo Doma teased Isao Kondo and Tae Shimura by comparing them to characters from the Momotaro legend, prompting Kotaro Katsura to call Tae the Strongest Granny. The chapter ended with Tae launching a furious, immensely powerful punch at Katsura.

• Sogo Doma suggested that Kondo could be recruited with Tae Shimura’s millet dumplings, and Kondo eagerly agreed to become Doma’s subordinate for a bite.
• Kotaro Katsura concluded that Tae was the legendary old woman and called her the Strongest Granny.
• Tae punched Katsura, forcing him half a step back despite his injured arms.
• After Katsura praised her strength, Tae abruptly attacked him again with a punch powerful enough to split the grass with its force.