Chapter Summaries

The narrator, Toji, and Megumi moved into a small house near the hospital, but Toji’s refusal to pack and his retreat to the floor worried the narrator. Sharing the book containing a photograph of Yuanyin let the narrator and Toji grieve together, and they fell asleep holding each other.

• The narrator and Toji searched for a new home while the narrator comforted Megumi when his muddled memories made him call her Lili.
• The family signed a lease for a small house in the West District and packed to leave their old home.
• Toji delayed packing and chose to take nothing, so the narrator made beds for him downstairs when he refused to sleep in his room.
• The narrator gave Toji the book containing Yuanyin’s photograph and admitted how much she missed her.
• Toji held the narrator as they cried together and resolved to help each other through their grief.

The narrator went furniture shopping with Toji and Megumi, and Toji comforted her when a dress reminded her of Yuanli. Back at home, she discovered that Toji and Megumi had spent their budgets on thoughtful gifts, and watching the Moscow film with them helped her feel that Toji was no longer tied to her memories of Ayako.

• The narrator took Toji and Megumi to the department store and assigned them budgets to choose furniture for their new home.
• The narrator was overwhelmed by memories of Yuanli while looking at a gold dress, and Toji bought it and carried her away.
• Toji and Megumi used their furniture budgets to buy a projector and film of Ayako, a dishwasher, and a tea set for the narrator.
• The narrator hugged Toji and Megumi, then watched the Moscow film with them from a couch made of cardboard boxes.
• Toji called the film lousy, and the narrator felt relieved that he no longer reminded her of Ayako.

Yuanli secretly tried to secure money for her family by investigating a criminal group, while Toji followed her and grew uneasy about her behavior. The chapter ended with Toji finding blood on one of Yuanli’s torn clothes.

• Yuanli recalled how poverty had driven her and Lili to rely on killing for money across their past lives.
• Yuanli broke into a criminal group's office, examined its records, and took the company's and leader's seals without stealing money.
• Yuanli returned home and resolved to keep Toji and Megumi safe from the violence and poverty she had known.
• Toji noticed Yuanli had left home and followed the scent on his jacket to find her shopping for food, clothes, and health supplements.
• Toji found a bloodstained child's garment with a long tear in its back hem at the bottom of the washing machine.

Yuanli realized that Toji’s prolonged absence and Megumi’s hidden past meant neither of them truly saw her as family. She gave Megumi money and decided to leave home to find the reason.

• Yuanli recalled the knife wound she had received during the organization’s leadership conflict and lied to Toji about how she had been hurt.
• Toji had been gone for four days, and Megumi told Yuanli that he would not return when she tried calling him.
• Yuanli understood that Megumi had his own family and regarded Toji as an enemy, while she herself was only a temporary companion.
• Yuanli gave Megumi bank cards containing two billion and told him to split the money with Toji if he came back.
• Yuanli said goodbye to Megumi and decided to leave the house and district to find the reason.

Megumi Fushiguro realized he had treated Yuanli as family and chased after her after she gave him a billion yen and left. At Yuanyin’s grave, Yuanli confessed her fear of abandonment and her inability to feel love, then fired Quasar beneath her chin.

• Megumi Fushiguro recognized Yuanli as family and ran after her, hoping to refuse the money and ask for another chance.
• Yuanli climbed the mountain to Yuanyin’s grave, reflecting on her place between Yuanyin and the family she could no longer hold together.
• Yuanli confessed to Yuanyin that she feared being abandoned and believed she could only feel safe when someone needed her.
• Yuanli admitted she could not feel friendship, romantic love, or certainty about familial love, though she longed for it.
• Yuanli pressed Quasar beneath her chin and pulled the trigger.

After Megumi Fushiguro rescued Yuanli from the brink of suicide, they returned together and discussed whether to give Toji another chance. At the hospital, Yuanli questioned what love meant and overheard news about a terrorist linked to the Mad Tiger Gang.

• Megumi Fushiguro took Quasar from Yuanli and apologized, and Yuanli hugged him instead of telling him it was all right.
• Megumi covered Yuanli's wound and asked her to go home with him.
• On the bus and at a vending machine, Yuanli told Megumi that Toji avoided responsibility, while Megumi described Toji Fushiguro's past actions and urged her to leave him alone.
• Yuanli asked Megumi to give Toji another chance, and Megumi nodded.
• At the hospital, Yuanli questioned what love meant after watching a television drama and overheard that a terrorist with a scar at the corner of his mouth was connected to the Mad Tiger Gang.

Yuanli learned that Shiu Kong had arranged the job to kill her and that Toji had taken it after discovering she was the target, but Shiu Kong could not explain where Toji had gone. As Yuanli continued searching, Auntie Komatsu called about the house in the East District and revealed that someone had moved into it.

• Yuanli found Ikeda Kazumi, who collapsed after seeing her, and then confronted Shiu Kong in the hospital.
• Shiu Kong explained how he became Toji Zenin’s middleman and described accepting a two-billion job to kill a child he was told was a monster.
• Shiu Kong said Toji accepted the job after learning the target had been stabbed in the lower back, then demanded to know who had hired him.
• Yuanli revealed that she was Toji’s daughter and the supposed monster, then left Shiu Kong injured and called for a nurse.
• Yuanli and Megumi left the hospital without learning where Toji had gone, and Auntie Komatsu called to ask her to stop letting people move into the East District house.

Yuanli confronted Toji after finding him drunk and unresponsive, but Toji finally admitted that he believed his existence was a mistake. The chapter then revealed Toji’s grief at Yuanyin’s grave and his despair over believing he had cursed his daughter through their bloodline.

• Yuanli and Megumi entered Toji’s apartment and found it dark, filthy, and strewn with liquor bottles, while Toji slept on the sofa.
• Yuanli fired three shots into the ceiling to wake Toji, then promised Megumi he would take him away if Toji refused to come home.
• Yuanli overturned the sofa and asked Toji why he would not come home, fearing Toji avoided him because he was a monster.
• Yuanli hugged Toji and thanked him for giving him fatherly love, prompting Toji to say that his existence was a mistake.
• Toji visited Yuanyin’s grave and recalled how his world had narrowed after his Heavenly Restriction, then centered on the family he had built with her.
• Toji blamed himself for harming his daughter and believed his bloodline had cursed her just as he had been cursed.

After learning about Heavenly Restriction and the Zenin Clan’s cruelty, the narrator decided to visit the clan to understand Toji’s childhood suffering. A Zenin man appeared and tried to take Megumi, giving the narrator a reason to go there.

• The narrator chose not to ask Toji about Heavenly Restriction, then learned about jujutsu and the Zenin Clan from Megumi.
• The narrator recalled a trip to Sicily when she felt the despair of a woman whose story she had heard after seeing locals leer at Yuanyin.
• The narrator decided to visit the Zenin Clan in Kyoto and experience the place where Toji had grown up.
• While shopping with Megumi, the narrator encountered a man who identified Megumi as Toji’s son and demanded to take him to the Zenin Clan.
• The narrator drew the Eight-Star Gun and decided to use the man as a guide to the Zenin household.

Yuanli and Megumi faced the Zenin Clan’s misogyny as they visited Toji’s former room. There, Yuanli dreamed of Toji’s childhood and the moment his heavenly restriction shattered his hopes, and woke in tears.

• At the Zenin Clan, Yuanli refused to bow, and a woman told her that girls were unworthy before attacking her with a cursed-tool whip, which Yuanli destroyed.
• Yuanli took Megumi to Toji’s former residence, comforting him as he felt the clan’s treatment of her.
• Yuanli settled Megumi into the cold, cramped room and fell asleep beside him.
• In a dream, Yuanli witnessed Toji being raised on the Zenin Clan’s teachings and wishing to become a powerful jujutsu sorcerer.
• Yuanli dreamed that Toji learned he had a heavenly restriction and later accepted the clan’s insults, then woke with tears held behind closed eyes.

The narrator protected Maki and Mai from a bullying game, then interrogated Naoya Zenin, Zenin Jie, and Zenin Zongren to uncover the Zenin Clan’s past abuse of Toji. The chapter ended with Toji arriving as Zenin Zongren began to reveal what Toji himself believed about people with heavenly restrictions.

• The narrator stopped the Zenin children from attacking her, Maki Zenin, and Mai Zenin, then knocked out Naoya Zenin and took him and the ringleader away.
• The narrator used threats and electric shocks to make Naoya apologize and question the clan’s treatment of women.
• Zenin Jie told the narrator that Zenin Zongren had mentioned a game called the Beast Arena involving someone with a heavenly restriction.
• The narrator found Zenin Zongren in the west courtyard and had Naoya help drag him away for questioning.
• Zenin Zongren admitted that the clan had locked thirteen-year-old Toji in a room with more than twenty Grade 2 cursed spirits.
• Toji covered the narrator’s ears as Zenin Zongren began saying that Toji believed people with heavenly restrictions deserved their abuse.

Toji relived the childhood abuse that had left him convinced he was guilty and unworthy, then Yuanli stopped him from leaving and helped him reclaim his dignity. The family left the Zenin Clan together, with Yuanli reminding Toji that he was not alone.

• Toji froze after hearing Yuanli question the Zenin Clan member, overwhelmed by guilt that she had learned about his past.
• Toji recalled how, at thirteen, the Zenin children deceived him into entering a cursed room for five minutes, then locked him inside and mocked him until he cut his mouth to stay silent.
• As Toji tried to leave Yuanli, she caught him, handcuffed them together, and declared that neither of them was guilty for having a heavenly restriction.
• Yuanli hugged Toji and drew out the story of his childhood, telling him that surviving had not been wrong and that he had been brave.
• Toji repeated Yuanli's reminder that he had two children and was not alone, then left with Yuanli and his son.

The narrator sought a bloodless way to dismantle the Zenin Clan and chose Ryu Zenin as an opening. After taking a hidden potion before his grading assessment, Ryu slaughtered a man and was arrested as the mayor’s murderer.

• The narrator used a stun gun to force Naoya Zenin to apologize to Toji, then left him drugged in a room.
• The narrator spoke with Shiu Kong and found Ryu Zenin’s name in the Zenin Clan genealogy as a possible way into the clan.
• After being abused and denied fair treatment, Ryu received a mistaken text about a potion hidden in the Forbidden Vault and took it.
• Ryu drank the potion before his assessment and experienced the world as lines he could cut apart with his sword.
• Ryu came to in an office with his katana embedded in a dismembered man, and people restrained him as the mayor’s murderer.

Naobito Zenin and the clan elders dismissed the danger after a tip-off, but police raided the Zenin Clan over drug offenses and arrested its leaders. As the clan emptied, Naoya Zenin sought comfort from the girl who had orchestrated the events, and she knocked him unconscious after telling him to forget everything.

• Naobito Zenin reassured Zuojiang Qianmen and the clan elders that the Zenin Clan would not be implicated, while Naoya Zenin overheard their meeting.
• Naoya Zenin confronted the girl, who frightened him into revealing what he had heard; afterward, he pierced his ear and dreamed of being humiliated by her.
• Ogi Zenin attacked Officer Miura during a police raid, and Naobito Zenin learned the officers were investigating clan members for drug use and illegal drug production and sales.
• Naobito Zenin and Ogi Zenin were ordered to accompany the police, leaving Naoya Zenin among the women and children remaining at the clan grounds.
• Naoya Zenin asked the girl whether she would leave and tried to ask her to take him with her, but she knocked him out and told him to forget everything.

Yuanli explained to Megumi how she identified and framed the Zenin Clan’s political backer, then revealed why she had spared Naoya. When the Zenin estate was confiscated, Toji returned to find it empty, and Yuanli welcomed him home as her father.

• Yuanli injected Naoya with a memory-blurring drug and wished he would forget her.
• Yuanli guided Megumi through how she traced the Zenin Clan’s backer to Miura Yasukimi and chose Ryu Zenin to trigger the arrests.
• Yuanli told Megumi that the confiscation would soon end the Zenin Clan’s control of its estate and explained that she had spared Naoya because his feelings had affected her.
• A day later, government workers seized the Zenin estate, and the Zenin women were either arrested or left the grounds.
• Toji returned from the racecourse, searched the deserted estate with Megumi and Yuanli, then broke down and embraced Yuanli.
• Yuanli hugged Toji and welcomed him home as her father.

At the Racecourse, Yuanli realized Fushiguro Tomomi was connected to Megumi’s traumatic past and suspected Toji was getting close to her. Yuanli exposed Tomomi’s abuse and called the police, while Megumi identified where she had hidden someone.

• Yuanli and Megumi watched horse number four win, then found Toji talking with Fushiguro Tomomi at the ticket counter.
• Megumi panicked at the sight of Toji and Tomomi, reliving memories of the Zenin Clan and fearing that Toji would abandon Yuanli and him.
• Yuanli confronted Toji at the counter and provoked Tomomi into revealing her threatening, abusive nature.
• Tomomi grabbed Yuanli’s wrist and dug in her nails, so Yuanli restrained her, broke her hand, and demanded the address.
• Megumi named the red house across from Fudodo Park in Hachijo Town as the place Tomomi had hidden someone.

The narrator investigated Fushiguro Tomomi’s abduction of three men and uncovered how her obsession with Toji drove her to imprison people. After confronting Tomomi and leaving Tsumiki a professional contact, the narrator unknowingly changed Tsumiki Fushiguro’s fate in the original timeline.

• The narrator found that Fushiguro Tomomi had been born Wagatsuma Tomomi and discovered that she and the executed Yuno Gasai had been adopted as sisters.
• The narrator searched the Wagatsumas’ former home, took their iron cage, and went to Tomomi’s apartment after learning she had been released on bail.
• The narrator subdued Tomomi and reassured the frightened Tsumiki that she had come to treat her mother.
• The narrator used the iron cage to force Tomomi back into her nightmare and learned that Tomomi had planned to trap Toji by using their daughters as bait.
• The narrator stunned Tomomi, left Tsumiki a business card for a licensed professional, and departed without realizing she had changed Tsumiki’s fate.

After Toji waited for Yuanli through the night, she sat beside him and broke down over her fear that she had caused him to blame himself. Toji held her and promised he would not leave, and she let him carry her while imagining a fresh start.

• Toji waited nearly five hours at the Hotel for Yuanli, smoking as he prepared to apologize and explain himself.
• Yuanli sat beside Toji and realized that her suspicions and actions at the Racecourse had made him seem at fault.
• Yuanli blamed herself and feared Toji would grow disappointed in her and abandon her.
• Yuanli lost control and scratched the back of her neck while apologizing and promising to become more perfect.
• Toji held Yuanli, and through his sobs he promised he would not leave her.
• Yuanli leaned into Toji's arms as he lifted her, and she silently repeated the poster's words welcoming her to Hawaii.

Yuanli took Toji and Megumi to Hawaii, hoping to leave the past behind, but a spiritual therapy class brought her more distress instead. The chapter ended with Mr. Furuya rushing to respond to an urgent situation involving someone’s family.

• Yuanli flew with Toji and Megumi to Hawaii, where Megumi covered her ears during turbulence and she covered his eyes in return.
• Yuanli arranged for a guide and interpreter, then chose to stay with Megumi while Toji went out with Mr. Furuya.
• Yuanli and Megumi attended a Hawaiian spiritual therapy class, where the guide refused to help Yuanli and told her to get out.
• Yuanli filed a complaint against the guide and tipped the bellhop to ensure it reached the manager.
• Back in their room, Yuanli told Megumi what the guide had said, then heard Mr. Furuya urgently say he was contacting someone’s family.

Yuanli learned that Toji had been injured protecting Yusaku Kudo, then struggled with her anger and fear as the family’s troubles continued in Hawaii. After Megumi suffered cursed energy dysregulation, she decided they should face their worries together as equals.

• Yuanli discovered Toji’s bomb wound was not serious and learned from Shinichi Kudo and Yusaku Kudo that Toji had protected Yusaku when he saved Shinichi from a real bomb.
• Yuanli stayed outside while the Kudos visited Toji, then gave him a painkiller injection and traveled back to Oahu with him and the others.
• A death at their hotel made it a crime scene, so Yuanli took Megumi to the beach while Toji disappeared and the Kudos spoke with police.
• Megumi began coughing up blood, and Yuanli gave him medicine as he explained that he was experiencing cursed energy dysregulation.
• Yuanli reflected on how each of them was trying to escape their troubles and decided to share her worries with Megumi and ask him to share his in turn.