Chapter Summaries

Nanami led Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro through the abandoned steel factory, where they found signs that a human had entered. As they followed the trail, Rihito admitted that Mahito’s experiments had given him his cursed technique, and the group reached their destination.

• Nanami, Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro entered the abandoned steel factory and noticed signs of recent human activity.
• Fushiguro spotted a damaged patch of cobwebs, and Rihito explained why it suggested a person had passed through rather than a transfigured human.
• Nanami decided the group would stay together and follow the suspicious passage, while a shadowy figure watched them from behind.
• Nanami asked Rihito how he knew so much about Mahito, and Rihito said Mahito had experimented on him and awakened his cursed technique.
• Nanami, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro accepted Rihito’s explanation, and the group continued down the passage until Nanami announced they had arrived.

Nanami led Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro into a workshop, where they fought a group of faceless cursed spirits. After several spirits escaped into an abandoned passage, Nanami ordered the team to pursue them.

• Nanami kicked open the iron door and revealed a workshop filled with faceless cursed spirits.
• Nanami, Kugisaki, Fushiguro, and Rihito attacked the spirits, and Rihito used cursed-energy-infused punches, Heat Blast, and Freeze to defeat several.
• The remaining spirits unleashed a piercing sonic attack, and Nanami told the others to protect their ears with cursed energy.
• Three cursed spirits escaped into an abandoned passage, and Nanami ordered the team to follow them.

Rihito and the others discovered Mahito’s laboratory, where transfigured students were being held and experimented on. Rihito recognized one victim as Kaori, and Nanami revealed that all the victims came from Rihito’s former school, Ritsu High School.

• Nanami ordered the group to split up and search the laboratory, where they found mutilated corpses and imprisoned transfigured humans.
• Rihito recognized a shrunken transfigured human as Kaori, the girl who had once confessed her feelings to him.
• Fushiguro found a bloodstained student ID bearing the name Haitani.
• Nanami told Rihito that the transfigured humans in the laboratory had all attended Ritsu High School.

Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro found Rihito’s classmate Tanaka strapped to a chair and transformed by Mahito. As Tanaka attacked them, Kugisaki helped Rihito overcome his guilt, and he resolved to end Tanaka’s suffering and exorcise Mahito.

• Nanami sent Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro down the left passage to investigate a crash while he went the other way.
• The three found Tanaka strapped to a chair, alive but badly transformed, and he warned them to run.
• Tanaka broke free and attacked Rihito with bone spikes as Fushiguro’s Divine Dogs and Kugisaki’s nails failed to stop him.
• Fushiguro recognized Tanaka’s bone growth as a cursed technique and suspected Mahito had used him as an experiment.
• Kugisaki told Rihito that the cursed spirits were to blame, and Rihito resolved to put Tanaka out of his misery and exorcise Mahito.

Rihito and his classmates fought Tanaka while waiting for Nanami, but the battle left Kugisaki and Fushiguro badly injured. As Tanaka charged again, Rihito grasped a new way to wield his cursed energy and began expanding his domain.

• Rihito and his classmates attacked Tanaka, but his bone spikes wounded Kugisaki, Fushiguro, and Rihito.
• Rihito refused to use his unstable Domain Expansion because it could endanger his friends, then struck Tanaka with Withering and was nearly killed.
• Kugisaki saved Rihito with a nail, and the three decided to keep fighting rather than wait for Nanami.
• Tanaka overwhelmed Fushiguro and Kugisaki, but Rihito used Heat Blast to free Kugisaki and began applying what he had learned from Gojo.
• Nanami arrived and recognized Gojo's influence in Rihito's fighting stance as Rihito declared that he could do it too and invoked Domain Expansion: Static Universe.

Rihito controlled his domain to freeze Tanaka and apologized for failing to help him in the past, while Nanami, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro left the laboratory with him. Mahito watched them from the shadows and grew interested in Rihito’s developing domain.

• Rihito confined his domain around Tanaka, apologized for ignoring him when he fell, and froze him as Tanaka silently accepted his apology.
• After the domain dissipated, Rihito thanked Kugisaki for saving him, and he gave Fushiguro pain-relief spray.
• Nanami led the group out of the laboratory and told Rihito to report its contents while leaving him to decide what else to disclose.
• Kugisaki lamented that the Goodwill Event and Gojo-sensei’s training would prevent them from resting.
• Mahito emerged from the shadows, laughed, and remarked that Rihito could now control his domain.

After the steelworks mission, Rihito returned to Jujutsu High and learned that every first-year would take part in the upcoming Goodwill Event. He considered the dangers ahead and resolved to train hard and seek Satoru Gojo’s instruction, leaving the story with training set to begin tomorrow.

• On the ride back to Jujutsu High, Nanami and Fushiguro explained that all four first-years would attend the Goodwill Event and warned that Aoi Todo was too strong to fight head-on.
• Kugisaki went to the infirmary, Fushiguro headed for the underground training ground, and Rihito returned to the dorm and tidied Itadori’s empty bed.
• Rihito reflected on his injuries and the powerful sorcerers and cursed spirits he might face, including Mahito, the Zenin Clan, and Ryomen Sukuna.
• Rihito decided to master a finishing move with his Cursed Technique within two months and to persuade Satoru Gojo to teach him.
• Rihito settled down to sense the cursed energy in his body and fell asleep, determined to begin training the next day.

Rihito improved his fighting skills under Maki, then Satoru Gojo took him to the woods to teach him how to use his Cursed Technique. The chapter ended as Rihito prepared to face a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit while Gojo watched.

• Rihito trained with Maki and used better footwork and defense to withstand her attacks and land a shoulder strike.
• Satoru Gojo arrived and told Rihito it was time to learn how to truly use his Cursed Technique.
• Satoru Gojo brought Rihito to a remote stretch of woods and revealed that a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit was hiding there.
• Satoru Gojo handed Rihito the mission and instructed him to face the Cursed Spirit while he watched from a distance.
• The Cursed Spirit growled and stirred the ground as Rihito took his fighting stance.

Rihito fought a powerful cursed spirit whose pulsing core disrupted his heartbeat and whose regeneration countered his attacks. After identifying the technique’s limited range and linking its pulses to the spirit’s movements, he realized Zero Coffin might work through a temperature difference and prepared to try a new approach.

• A cursed spirit emerged from the woods, and Rihito’s Zero Coffin and Heat Blast attacks only affected its surface before it struck him back.
• The spirit’s pulsing core caused Rihito’s heart and cursed energy to falter whenever he came within about ten meters.
• Rihito retreated beyond the technique’s range and observed that the core pulsed before the spirit moved.
• The spirit fired corrosive nails at Rihito, who dodged them and reconsidered how Zero Coffin could be applied.
• Rihito concluded that combining the technique’s opposing temperature effects might create a temperature difference, then closed his eyes as the spirit advanced faster.

Rihito realized Zero Coffin was about controlling heat and combined extreme cold and heat at one point to create a new technique. He used Zero Coffin: Disintegration to destroy the cursed spirit, then named the move to Satoru Gojo.

• Rihito recalled how his ice had failed against Tanaka and Mahito because it froze from the outside in while they regenerated from within.
• Rihito concluded he could combine freezing and Heat Blast by making extreme cold and heat collide at the same point.
• Rihito formed a marble-sized sphere of intertwined frost and flame as the cursed spirit charged him.
• Rihito fired Zero Coffin: Disintegration into the cursed spirit's core, and its torso disintegrated before its remains crumbled to powder.
• Satoru Gojo asked Rihito what to call the move, and Rihito named it Zero Coffin: Disintegration.

After sparring with Kugisaki, Rihito saw her spirits fall after she received a letter from home. Suspecting a cursed spirit incident in her hometown and possible involvement by Mahito, he decided not to let her return alone.

• Rihito sparred with Kugisaki and used an opening to drive her back with a shoulder strike.
• Kiyotaka Ijichi brought Kugisaki a letter, and her mood fell after she read it.
• Rihito remembered that Kugisaki had a grandmother in her hometown and wondered whether something had happened to her family.
• Rihito suspected Mahito might be involved in a cursed spirit incident and decided to go with Kugisaki to protect her.

Kugisaki requested leave to return to her hometown, and Rihito insisted on going with her after noticing how heavily she had packed for a possible fight. Satoru Gojo approved leave for both of them, and they prepared to leave together.

• Kugisaki asked Satoru Gojo for a few days of leave to handle something at home.
• Rihito arrived and told Kugisaki he would go with her, arguing that her packed bag of nails suggested danger.
• Rihito reminded Kugisaki how she had supported him at the Steel Factory, and Satoru Gojo approved their leave as a two-person mission.
• Kugisaki agreed to let Rihito come on the condition that he follow her instructions and return if nothing serious was happening.
• Satoru Gojo arranged their tickets, and Kugisaki told Rihito to meet her at the school gate in twenty minutes.
• Satoru Gojo reminded Rihito that they were teammates, and Rihito left determined to help Kugisaki in return.

Kugisaki told Rihito how Saori’s expulsion from Scorpion Village drove her to seek a life in Tokyo. When they reached the village, they found her wounded grandmother, who warned them that a curse user had attacked her.

• As they walked toward Scorpion Village, Kugisaki told Rihito that villagers had driven Saori away for being an outsider and that Saori had urged her to go to Tokyo and live as she wished.
• Kugisaki and Rihito entered the eerily silent village and found her grandmother badly wounded inside her home.
• Kugisaki checked her grandmother’s pulse, confirmed she was alive, and asked who had hurt her.
• Kugisaki’s grandmother saw Rihito, grabbed Kugisaki’s sleeve, warned her to run, and identified the attacker as a curse user.

Kugisaki learned that her father Toru died sixteen years earlier fighting Niezaki, who had tried to open the Scorpion Mound, and that Niezaki had returned to exploit the weakening seal. After her grandmother revealed Niezaki was on the mountain behind the village, Rihito stopped Kugisaki from going after him alone, and she stayed with him.

• Rihito and Kugisaki treated her grandmother's poisoned wounds, and Kugisaki asked her grandmother to talk.
• Kugisaki's grandmother explained that Toru had died sixteen years ago fighting Niezaki, who wanted the Scorpion Mound to save his life.
• Her grandmother revealed that the seal had begun weakening two months earlier and that Niezaki had returned to wait for a Kugisaki to approach it.
• Kugisaki's grandmother said Niezaki was on the mountain behind the village, and Kugisaki started for the door with cursed energy flaring at her fingertips.
• Rihito held Kugisaki back and reminded her that her father had died facing Niezaki alone, then told her he would not let a comrade go alone to her death.
• Kugisaki's anger settled, and she sat down rather than leaving for the mountain alone.

Rihito and Kugisaki confronted Nizaki in the Shrine, where he threatened the villagers unless Kugisaki undid the seal. After the two gained the upper hand in battle, Nizaki seized a little girl and forced them to choose between undoing the seal and letting the villagers die.

• Rihito and Kugisaki found Nizaki waiting in the Shrine with the villagers trapped behind him.
• Nizaki admitted he had attacked Kugisaki’s grandmother to make her write a letter and demanded that Kugisaki undo the seal.
• Kugisaki attacked Nizaki with nails, and Rihito joined her with Cursed Energy-enhanced punches.
• Rihito and Kugisaki pressed Nizaki back until his weakened body began to fail.
• Nizaki grabbed a little girl and demanded that Kugisaki choose between undoing the seal and letting the villagers die.

Kugisaki and Rihito tried to save a little girl and stop Niezaki as he opened the Scorpion Mound. Niezaki swallowed the Cursed Womb inside, transforming into a powerful monster as Kugisaki and Rihito prepared to face it.

• Kugisaki opened the Scorpion Mound while Rihito gave her a strip of Niezaki's Cursed Residue to use with her technique.
• Kugisaki struck Niezaki with Resonance, allowing Rihito to rescue the girl, but Niezaki released poisonous mist that poisoned her.
• Kugisaki and Rihito confronted Niezaki, intending to kill him to end the poison threatening the girl and Kugisaki's grandmother.
• Niezaki lunged for the stone niche, retrieved a Cursed Womb shaped like a cicada pupa, and swallowed it.
• Niezaki's body transformed as the Cursed Womb's energy surged, and Kugisaki and Rihito stood together to face the emerging monster.

Rihito and Kugisaki fought Niezaki as his cursed energy surged and his body regenerated faster than they could damage him. Just as Niezaki began to expand his domain, Kugisaki interrupted him, giving Rihito the opening to unleash Zero Coffin: Disintegration.

• Kugisaki and Rihito attacked Niezaki, but his cursed energy shielded him from their blows.
• Kugisaki struck Niezaki with Resonance using a straw doll soaked in his blood, but he hit her and sent her flying.
• Rihito used Withering on Niezaki, whose arm decayed but quickly regenerated, then told Kugisaki to take the girl to safety.
• Rihito confronted Niezaki and began forming a powerful attack as Niezaki prepared to use Domain Expansion.
• Kugisaki struck the straw doll again, disrupting Niezaki's domain and telling Rihito they were companions.
• Rihito aimed his fingertips at Niezaki and used Zero Coffin: Disintegration.

Rihito and Kugisaki returned to the shrine after killing Niezaki, only to learn that the rescued girl Hua had lost her sight. After Rihito defended Kugisaki from the villagers’ blame, she said goodbye to her grandmother, and the two left Scorpion Village for Tono City.

• Niezaki died, ending the poison that threatened Hua and Kugisaki’s grandmother.
• Kugisaki carried Hua back to the shrine, where Hua woke and revealed she could no longer see.
• The villagers blamed Kugisaki, but Rihito reminded them that she had saved them and that her family had suffered for their sake.
• Kugisaki left the shrine with Rihito and returned to her grandmother, who confirmed that the Scorpion Mound was gone.
• Kugisaki told her grandmother she was leaving, then thanked Rihito as they walked out of Scorpion Village toward Tono City.

After returning from their mission, Rihito and Kugisaki learned that the injured girl’s recovery was uncertain, and Kugisaki explained the mission to Fushiguro over breakfast. Gojo summoned Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro for an extra lesson and revealed that Yuji would be away for a while.

• Rihito and Kugisaki returned to Jujutsu High and learned Shoko was away in Kyoto, so the assistant supervisor promised to pass on news of Kugisaki’s sudden blindness during the mission.
• Rihito handed in his report and met Maki in the cafeteria, where Inumaki also greeted him.
• Kugisaki told Rihito and Maki that the old woman could walk again and that the poisoned girl had been transferred to a hospital, though her eyesight might not recover.
• Fushiguro asked why Kugisaki had not told him about the mission, and she recounted the curse user’s attack, the villagers’ accusations, and the girl’s poisoning.
• Gojo summoned Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro to his office for an extra lesson and told them Yuji would not be coming back for a while.

Satoru Gojo told Rihito, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro that the higher-ups were considering confining Itadori and announced intensified training before the Goodwill Event. Rihito warned Gojo that Mahito might attack Jujutsu High while its fighters were away, and the students left together to prepare for training.

• Satoru Gojo said the higher-ups had changed their plan for Itadori from secret execution to confinement, but assured Kugisaki and Fushiguro that Itadori was safe with him for now.
• Satoru Gojo outlined intensified training for the students, including combat and teamwork practice plus tailored sessions for their cursed techniques.
• Satoru Gojo assigned Kugisaki practice acquiring a medium during combat, promised Fushiguro a special opponent, and set Rihito the goal of shortening Zero Coffin's activation time.
• Rihito warned Satoru Gojo that Mahito might attack Jujutsu High during the Goodwill Event, when most fighters would be away, and pointed out that Sukuna's Finger remained there.
• Rihito offered to help with Itadori, then rejoined Kugisaki and Fushiguro, and the three headed off together to get food before training.