Let’s Read Kagurabachi: Katanas, Gays, and Generational Trauma

Hm, that's totally not a menacing title at all! Anyways, now back to our two new favorite blorbos. Both Chihiro and Hakuri stand casually inside the hallway filled with corpses, with Hakuri being jazzed that he found Chihiro. Chihiro recognizes that Hakuri is a Sazanami, but he's extremely surprised that:



According to Hakuri, he got kicked out of the family. The Sazanami motto is "honor the Rakuzaichi over all else", and Hakuri… didn't. It also didn't help that while all the Sazanami kids were trained in sorcery so that they'd become someone like Daruma, Hakuri could never quite get the hang of sorcery, being the weakest kid ever born to the family. Thus, he got disowned from the family.

As Hakuri and Chihiro walk down the hall, Hakuri explains a bit more about the specifics of the Rakuzaichi. (And wow, Rakuzaichi is already showing up in my autocorrect.) according to him, aside from being a meet up spot for some of the worst rich criminals in Japan, it's also:



Basically a slave auction. So yeah, it's gotta go.

Chihiro's goal is to get back the Shinuchi, the most dangerous Enchanted Blade. Hakuri's goal is to take down the Rakuzaichi. The Shinuchi is this year's Rakuzaichi headliner, so someone's likely going to pay the biggest amount of money ever for a weapon like that. As such, taking away the Shinuchi is likely to take down the whole Rakuzaichi— so their goals are aligned.

While Hakuri's excited about that, Chihiro's calm as always. Hakuri assumes that Chihiro wants to steal it to use its power for something, but Chihiro reasserts that he isn't that kind of guy. It's still important to him because it's his father's/family's, but now that he's been through the experiences of the last month, he also thinks (knows) that the Enchanted Blades are going to take more innocent lives if left unchecked. And…



That beach there? It's the same one the bodies of the Anti-Cloud Gouger Squad fell into after they got cut up. And yes, Sojo's gonna be haunting the narrative for a bit longer. He's just got that much aura.

Before Chihiro can say anything more, his phone rings. It's a flip phone, remember, we're still in the 80s or 90s of Japan. Shiba's calling from a bloodstained parlor of his own, also standing casually besides some yakuza corpses. Apparently, Azami just told him some classified info from the Kamunabi. Namely, that someone's after Chihiro.

While Chihiro wants to get to base immediately along with his most valuable lead, that being Hakuri, the elevator reaches the bottom floor. And lo and behold, that someone's right there…



Remember that rule about sorcery? That people can harness their body's spirit energy, but not have too much of it or they'll explode? And how Enchanted Blades circumvent that by keeping the spirit energy outside of that body and in a guardian entity?

Well, that's not a trick exclusive to just Enchanted Blade users. Presenting the Kamunabi's best suspect pursuer, and a damn stylish one at that.




Remember when Hokazono said that it was hard for him to draw women? Well, that clearly only applied to generic busty anime waifus, because goddamn is this an entrance.

Hiyuki immediately gives Chihiro an ultimatum. Drop the Blade, and nobody gets hurt. As she's doing this, Hakuri notices what Hiyuki just said, and silently infers that Chihiro's A. An Enchanted Blade wielder, and B. Related to the guy who made the Enchanted Blades. There's only so many Rokuhira's in Japan, after all.

He also notices that all the civilians that were at the entrance of this yakuza front are gone. As he does, Hiyuki's work partner, Tafuku explains his sorcery as well.




Fun fact: Tafuku's character design, similar to how I put some of my characters from my big Quests into other stories of mine, is reused from one of Hokazono's other stories. He shares multiple similarities design-wise with the protagonist of the one shot, "Chain".

Hiyuki and Tafuku together are the perfect pair. One girl with an Enchanted Blade-level weapon, who can create absurd amounts of damage (think about it, right now she's more experienced with her weapon than Sojo) along with a guy who can trap one dude in a place where collateral doesn't matter. Absurd synergy, now Hiyuki can go all out without making the government look bad.

Chihiro says that since Hiyuki's with the Kamunabi/the government, he doesn't want to have any fight with her. But immediately after he says that—



Just like with Sojo, Aka couldn't fully absorb that attack, though it's now stored just in case. Hiyuki is powerful, and what you just saw was basically her basic attack. Not good. She asks Chihiro about Cloud Gouger, and he replies truthfully.

The thing's broken. Not an ounce of power left in it. Hiyuki… doesn't take that well. She activates her second ability, Rikuo's "Ribs", causing spikes to shoot up from the ground.

As she does that, she says to Chihiro that no matter what he's using the Enchanted Blade for, it'll lead to destruction in the end. As long as a weapon as powerful as an Enchanted Blade is in the hands of one individual instead of in the responsible hands of the government, it'll just kill more innocents. And Chihiro knows, on some level, that she's somewhat right.

Hiyuki looks him in the eyes, and reminds him of Kazane. The blonde boy from the Anti-Cloud Gouger squad. Cloud Gouger was out for two weeks and as a direct consequence of trying to stop it that guy lost an arm and all his friends/mentors.



And yes, we're fucking bringing back the exact same Sojo Jumpscare panel. And yes, the Sojo Jumpscare became a popular meme somewhere down the line.

Chihiro hesitates. Hiyuki's got a point. But as he hesitates, and Hiyuki jumps in for the kill, someone else jumps in.



Hakuri couldn't bear to see his samurai on the defensive, so he had to do something. As he takes the hit, he gets sent flying. But as he lands on the floor, he turns towards Chihiro. Even broken and bloodied, Hakuri still finds the strength to speak.

Hakuri doesn't care about if what Hiyuki said was right. According to him, it doesn't matter if Chihiro's wielding Enten selfishly. He doesn't care about Chihiro's circumstances, or whether him being a Rokuhira makes him "worthy" to wield the blade.

Chihiro's already proven himself to him a couple times over already, after all.

Hey guys, wanna guess when the next Kagurabachi chapter comes out? This Sunday? Next Wednesday?

Wrong. Chapter 64 of Kagurabachi comes out January 19th, two Sundays from me posting this.

Anyways, in order to stave off the boredom of Hokazono being on break, the KB community has resorted to the tradition of other manga communities while on break— lobotomy. Or as others call it, brain rot. They're making up arcs now, the community is so cooked 💀. Check out the absolute batshit memes people are coming up with.











Oh, and bonus meme:

Yeah, I'm self-reporting with that title. Let's make this quick, the Sakamoto days anime comes out on Netflix today.


Hakuri confesses that Chihiro saved him, not just recently, but also from the "lightning guy" (Sojo), and that's why he's so inspired by him. However, he also unfortunately says this:



Ah, making art worse on purpose for the joke, my beloved (and also would be probably my trademark if all my art wasn't roughly 10x below that quality). But of course, Hiyuki's gotta get back to being serious. She says her same ultimatum from before. If Chihiro doesn't hand over the EB, he'll die. It belongs to the Kamunabi and nobody else.

It also doesn't help that according to Tafuku, Chihiro and Hakuri literally can't leave his sumo ring sorcery until the "duel" is over. So it's gonna be a fight.

Hiyuki throws down the gauntlet. Chihiro was the man who killed Sojo, but he hadn't nearly shown the skills that let him do that yet. She wants to see that.



Chihiro thinks that Hiyuki's right. The Enchanted Blades do have great potential, and can be absurdly dangerous.

But at the same time, that's exactly why he's can't let his blade fall into the hands of these Kamunabi who he doesn't know at all. He can't let his Enchanted Blade be taken away and neutered, and let people like Sojo walk freely with the Shinuchi. He's gotta at least try to use it for good.


Chihiro charges forward, activating Nishiki and becoming basically a blur. Hiyuki doesn't flinch however. She activates Rikuo's ribs, creating a protective cage of fire around herself. Chihiro's momentum is diverted, and he circles away in order to get a better shot.



Also, by the way, notice what Hiyuki said there. She called out Rikuo (something associated with Flame Bone) before getting the ribs out. Similar to how instead of the Enchanted Blades being a weapon bound to its user and only its user, Hiyuki is bound to the Kamunabi, who need to give her the permission in order to use Flame Bone. Instead of "here's my gun, it's called Enten", it's "Rikuo, give me my gun to uphold justice".

Chihiro uses Nishiki to reposition, before dropping out of it to conserve spirit energy and dashing behind Hiyuki. Behind her, the Ribs aren't spewing out fire, so that'll be his one opening for him to not be fish emo barbecue. Meanwhile, Hiyuki considers her odds. From what she knows, Sojo's Mei killed all of the Anti-Cloud Gouger in seconds. Chihiro's Nishiki is the high speed that killed that high speed, so it's logically on another level. Chihiro tests that speed against her—



And Hiyuki finds it lacking. The opening in the cage of Ribs was a trick. She wanted to force Chihiro into only attacking from one angle. All the speed in the world doesn't mean shit if you don't actually kill with it. And now, with the blade caught in her hands, Chihiro can't use Nishiki, since it requires him to have his Enchanted Blade on him to move around.

Well, that would be the case if Hiyuki had the right blade.



Remember back in Chapter 6, when Chihiro fought the mindfuck sorcerer, who took his blade? And remember how when Enten was taken, Chihiro swapped to using a short sword? Yup, Chihiro used his backup blade from all the way back then as a decoy for Hiyuki to catch in her hands, so that he could use Nishiki one more time to reposition for a clean hit. And all that worked because he knew that Hiyuki would try and catch the Enchanted Blade based off of the few minutes he's spent talking and fighting with her. Chihiro has just outsmarted Hiyuki's trick.

With that, Chihiro uncloaks from Nishiki and goes in for a blow to the head. From his sideline view of the fight Tafuku tells Hiyuki to watch out, but it's not too likely to help now: She only has a second to consider her options; it's do or die with her at swordpoint.

And that's when she puts her own gambit into play.



Hiyuki tanks the Enchanted Blade. Because see that blade? It's not cutting into her flesh. Chihiro was hitting with the blunt end of the Enchanted Blade, to knock her out. Just like how Chihiro read that Hiyuki would try to catch his blade, Hiyuki assumed that from all the "justice" he and Hakuri were talking about that he wouldn't try and go for a lethal blow on somebody working for the Kamunabi. She's outsmarted Chihiro's outsmarting.

And as Tafuku notes, she could have dodged that. As both Tafuku and Chihiro mentally point out, she just straight up tanked that shit to prove a point. Hiyuki flicks her hand, and a fist made of bone comes out from the earth, and creates a huge crater as it comes down. Chihiro dodges it using Nishiki again, but Hiyuki just says that he can't do that forever. He needs to "stop it with the lukewarm crap".



Yeah, I have feelings about this panel but I'm not gonna break ToS.

Tafuku watches over the situation, looking at Chihiro and Hiyuki watching each other like sharks. Chihiro hasn't gone after him, even though Tafuku's sorcery is the one thing keeping him and Hakuri trapped. Remember, Chihiro fights evildoers, that being yakuza and any Hishaku. He doesn't fight what are essentially private detectives with attitude. He's just trying to meet Hiyuki's battle challenge head on, without killing her. Though, Hiyuki's a bit too crazy right now to realize that.

Hiyuki gets angry about Chihiro not showing any killing intent (makes it harder for her to justify killing him) and just says "fuck it". She activates the next layer of Flame Bone/Rikuo's power: the Spinal Cord. She's serious now about putting Chihiro six feet under. But just as the bones are about to manifest—

The alternate dimension created by Tafuku breaks, and Chihiro and Hakuri are able to vanish.



Since Hakuri, one of the "participants" in the battle got "incapacitated", Tafuku's sorcery broke. And now they're back to the real world. Tafuku asks what they should do next. Hiyuki says it's simple. Chihiro and Hakuri are after the Shinuchi. So they have to go after the Shinuchi as well.

We cut to the Shinuchi in question, along with the one man holding it. The most powerful man in the Japanese underworld.



The Shinuchi is… remember Enten when it got Kuro: Shred? Remember Cloud Gouger when Sojo learned that super speed trick with Mei? Shinuchi is better than both of those at base. When translated, its name roughly means "True Self", or "Masterpiece". Very on the nose there Rokuhira.

But there's one problem. The man who wielded it is still alive. The Eternal Contract is still active. So how will it be used?

No matter. It's not to be pondered on just yet. Kyora steps out onto the stage, and as we do, we see the other parties with their eyes on the Rakuzaichi; Hiyuki, Chihiro, and the Shinuchi's Bearer, who seems to be trapped, no, imprisoned somewhere, with pillars and magical seals surrounding him.



Hey, doesn't that guy's hair look awfully familiar?

Today's a more slow-going chapter, but that's ok. We need some calm(-ish) exposition and slice of life every once in a while.


The chapter starts off with Hakuri throwing away what little aura he had left.



Before we get into it, I just gotta say: what kinda face is Shiba making?😭 Bro looks like a new type of emoji. Absolutely NOBODY sane makes that type of face.

Anyways, Hakuri's crying because he just heard Chihiro's backstory. You know, Rokuhira dying, the other five Enchanted Blades being scattered across Japan, the works. Hakuri has NO emotional control. It's like his dump stat. Along with sorcery. And fighting. And crime. He kinda sucks at everything right now, ngl. He says something about Chihiro's destiny being samurai (you know, honorable and also prob doomed by the narrative) before something else happens. There's a knock at the door.



That's right, Char's back! Hinao's been keeping her safe, since the cafe/info center she was running is getting repaired after Sojo fucked it up during the first duel between him and Chihiro. There's currently a huge-ass hole in the wall, so for now Hinao's just helping Char out.

Char has been getting better at healing apparently, so she offers to help return Chihiro's still-partially damaged arm to its original state. Chihiro's glad for the offer, but first says that Hakuri needs help. Everyone turns to Hakuri, and it turns out that he's crying with that tissue because half of his face is swelled up like a balloon from that one hit from Flame Bone earlier. Ouch.

Shiba asks if Chihiro should tell Hakuri, a Sazanami (you know, the family of human traffickers) about the Rokuhira lore, but Chihiro says that Hakuri's a good guy who took a blow for him earlier. That gets both Shiba and Char to change their tune on Hakuri.

Five to ten timeskipped minutes later, Hakuri's healed fully, and explains what the plan is. The Shinuchi is in what the Sazanami family calls the "Storehouse". That's where they put everything that they sell at the Rakuzaichi before the auction proper starts.

Only Hakuri's father, Kyora (the bearded guy we saw at the end of last chapter) knows where the Storehouse is. All Sazanami kids including Hakuri have been there, but they don't know the location.

Before Hakuri can explain this weird oxymoron, we cut to our other group of heroes(?)



After some complaining from Hiyuki about how her head hurts (crazy considering she was the one who decided to take that hit) she and Tafuku take a walk. They walk through a traditional shrine area, and when they say the magic words, they are magically transported to an elevator going deep below Tokyo. (Pictured above)



The Kamunabi and sorcerers in general used to be hidden from most of normal society. Their bases still are.

The Kamunabi higher-up (along with a little man with glasses who's also unnamed) from back in Chapter 19 asks what happened. Hiyuki and Tafuku explain that while they found Chihiro, he got away from the sumo ring thanks to Hakuri fainting and non-lethally ending the duel— something that almost never happens. Now that that's done, Hiyuki's here to make up for it by asking what she can do during the Rakuzaichi. Since Chihiro's also gonna be there, they need to figure out some plan to grab two Blades in one operation.

But the Kamunabi higher-up says that it's really none of Hiyuki's business. After all:



Check out what he said there about the Shinuchi's Bearer. Not "contracted" or "under protection". "Under control". The last time we saw the Shinuchi Bearer in last chapter's cliffhanger, he was looking ragged and nasty. What happened to that bearer specifically? What can that sword do when it meets the bearer? Nothing good, that's for sure.

Back in the present, Hiyuki objects. She unveils a bit of her morality, a more black and white one. In her eyes, if they buy the Shinuchi and give the money for that blade to the Sazanamis, they're encouraging evil and allowing the Rakuzaichi to go on for way longer. If they capture the Shinuchi, they can bust the human trafficking operation forever.

But the small man with glasses offers a different perspective. If the Kamunabi go to war with the Sazanami's, they'll lose a lot of people. And then, that could allow even more crime and evil to run rampant without them to police it, or even allow the Sazanami's to grab the Shinuchi Bearer. It's a shitty situation all around.



As much as both he and Hiyuki hate it, Tafuku mentally admits that the small man is right. After all, while there are fewer Sazanami than Kamunabi, every single Sazanami received sorcery training since they were kids. That makes each and every one of them (except for Hakuri, but Tafuku doesn't know that) elite combatants.

As Tafuku considers the Sazanamis, we cut to one of them. More specifically, the patriarch. Kyora's on a phone call.



We can assume that he might be talking to the Hishaku, since they're the people that broke into Rokuhira's house, but let's focus back on the scene. The unknown voice on the other end of the line guesses that Kyora is plotting something else with the Shinuchi, aside from just using it to make big stacks of cash. Kyora confirms that in the vaguest of terms, and the voice says that "we" won't try and interrupt the Rakuzaichi. However, the voice also warns Kyora of someone that might: the wielder of the seventh blade. Chihiro, though he's not explicitly named.

The voice asks if Kyora is really hubristic enough to believe that he can win a fight against an Enchanted Blade. Kyora says that he's not that dumb to throw hands with somebody like Chihiro or the Shinuchi Bearer. All that he's concerned about is making sure that the Shinuchi stays in his hands.

After that, the car slows to a halt. A huge estate lies sprawled out in front of Kyora, all traditional Japanese architecture. The Sazanami Estate. As he gets out of the car, Kyora… changes. He seems more fatherly, as kids run out to greet him. The servants also seem to like him.



Kyora walks upstairs, and walks down a hall. After a second, he pauses, and slowly walks into a room. He ruminates out loud, saying that the Estate has a forcefield that can only be sensed and passed by Sazanamis.

Which makes it extra worrying that Shiba got in.



This is where Kyora differentiates himself from Sojo, being the yin to Sojo's yang. Sojo would have tried to take the blade and kill Chihiro on the spot. Kyora knows he's outnumbered, and also that Enten is the unknown seventh EB. He thinks before acting.

Of course, that doesn't mean that he can't bite back once he's thought out a plan.

As you can expect by now, this chapter starts out with a hard color page, my god.




Now anyways, now back to the story. Kyora's got his mask on— a more complete version of Hakuri's failed sorcery from a few chapters back. He says the same thing from last chapter. If he tells Chihiro about the Shinuchi, will he and Shiba get the fuck out of his house?

Ok, not exactly, but you get the idea. Chihiro takes out Enten, ready for a fight.



Kyora, as you can imagine, doesn't. Instead, he looks at the sword that's partially pointing at him, and immediately clocks the sword as Enten/the secret seventh blade, and he also infers that Chihiro is prob Rokuhira's son.

Oh yeah, he knows Chihiro's name as well. Only Kamunabi members should know that. Despite him being alone in a room outnumbered and opposed by an Enchanted Blade wielder, Kyora is as calm as can be.

We cut back to the day before Chihiro and Shiba broke into Kyora's office. They're discussing the Storehouse. Only Kyora knows where it is, so you gotta ask him directly to figure it out. Hakuri agrees, but warns them about the estate's one other security measure.



They're dangerous as hell.

…and also Hakuri's older brothers.

Cutting back to the present, Shiba considers the following. Kyora hasn't even considered calling the Tou. Instead, he just looks Chihiro dead in the eye, and says that if he and Shiba want the Shinuchi, they can just go and bid for it during the Rakuzaichi proper. Chihiro begins to disagree as the Shinuchi is his family property, but Kyora shuts him up with this:



Chihiro blinks for a second, remembering how the Shinuchi was the only Enchanted Blade that had ropes around it. Rokuhira put some extra protections on it. Chihiro reaches for it, but—



His hand phases right through. Kyora explains that his sorcery allows him to project the image of things inside the storehouse. Like a hologram. According to him, the Shinuchi is a "masterpiece", with immeasurable value.

To Kyora, every life has a value. Since the Shinuchi took innumerable lives, it is thus extremely highly valuable. And now that Rokuhira's dead, the Shinuchi can now be "valued" as something other than a locked-away weapon.

Chihiro, as you can imagine, is fucking done with this.



Behind the Shinuchi, a black space begins to open, one filled with crossbars and scaffolds. The hologram/picture is being expanded.

According to Kyora, the Storehouse isn't just a storage place, or a place where he takes his kids. It's an alternate dimension, a sort of subspace connected to him. And inside that dimension?

A collection of objects, artifacts, and suffering people.



Kyora lists out his ultimatum. He's not going to ever hand over the Shinuchi, at least not without good bit of cash first. So therefore, Chihiro has free rein to kill him.

…Which would crush not only the Shinuchi, but dozens if not hundreds of captured people.

Kyora can't lose. As Shiba notes, the man really wasn't interested in any head-on combat. But by boldly revealing his secrets and his leverage (true nature of the storehouse, kill me, kill the people), he's safe from Chihiro. Shiba even threatens him with torture, but it's no use. Kyora just shrugs it off, saying that if Shiba tries to rip off Kyora's fingernails, Kyora will just start strangling Storehouse victims one by one for each fingernail he loses. After all, the Storehouse is practically his personal world.

Kyora calls the Storehouse victims/hostages "replaceable". While yes, they might have special value, unlike the Shinuchi their lives can be replaced. It doesn't matter if he's bluffing or not— only Chihiro and Shiba who are bound by the responsibility of not gambling with lives. Kyora can do what he wants and just the possibility of that much collateral stops our heroes in their tracks.

Shiba considers that since Sazanami descendants can get into the Storehouse, Hakuri (who they left behind for safety) could be their only hope. But it's too late for that, it's time to get out of the Sazanami Estate.

Kyora mildly disagrees.




Meanwhile, on the other end of Tokyo, Hakuri is walking through an apartment building. He's useless a combat, so he's just running errands and gathering info for Hinao! Surely, everything will be more peaceful on his end.



Or he could make a face roughly equivalent to whenever a rabbit spots a wolf looking at him.

Well this chapter doesn't start good for our heroes.


CW: depictions of child abuse, familial abuse (applies to the rest of this arc as well)

Case in point, here come Hakuri's siblings, the Tou. Oh dear.



Shiba, "better than the Sojo-hired sorcerers" isn't that high of an estimate. Those guys all died to like, one Nishiki.

Chihiro gets his blade ready, and Kyora does some mental monologuing. Now that the Tou are here, he and them can fight against an Enchanted Blade. He's already willing to incur any losses of the Tou (his own children) if it means he gets Enten. And aside from that, the Tou being here means that there's pretty much no chance that Shiba and Chihiro will be able to get the Shinuchi.

He mocks Shiba and Chihiro. They thought that they were hunting down Kyora, but in reality Kyora and the Tou are the "hunters" here. And now Shiba and Chihiro are stuck in a rat trap.

Shiba encourages a retreat, but Chihiro doesn't agree. Instead, Chihiro locks in, activating Nishiki.

We flash back to the day before, a bit after the two's consultation with Hakuri. Shiba talks about Azami and the Kamunabi. Since the Kamunabi is the country, they basically have infinite budget when it comes to winning the auction, so they'll be able to get the Shinuchi easily.

And that triggers a flashback inside that flashback, back to when Kunishige Rokuhira was still alive.



Kunishige answers Chihiro's question by saying that the Shinuchi is different. As such, it needs more security. Chihiro then asks why if it's so different, then why hasn't Kunishige just handed it over to the Kamunabi?

Kunishige says that he doesn't have time to explain (Chihiro's still young, after all) but says that there's a reason why the Shinuchi is both sealed and hasn't been passed on.



We cut back to the present. Chihiro knows that if left unattended, the Shinuchi will end up with the Kamunabi. And he knows that no matter how responsible anybody is, if the Shinuchi gets out it'll automatically be bad. It's the uber-Enchanted Blade. Just its presence automatically causes chaos. They have to steal the Shinuchi right here and now or else.



That's when Shiba's phone rings, and we cut to somewhere else.

That somewhere else being the apartment building where Hakuri's big brother is. Hakuri's big brother says that he was "looking all over" for Hakuri, and that he "missed him".

Hakuri immediately has a flashback to how bad that is for him.



Hakuri is terrified for a second at just the sight of his big brother. So much so, that immediately after that flashback ends, he turns to the nearest balcony and immediately—



Tries to end it all, just to get away from his big brother. Fortunately (or unfortunately, based on your perspective), his brother catches him by the collar. He says that Hakuri's way too weak (compared to the rest of the Sazanamis), and that he could die doing such dangerous things!

Hakuri just says that he'd rather take the fall and die of his own volition, since his big bro's probably here to kill him for "ruining the merchandise".



Having been pulled back up onto the roof, Soya says that Hakuri must have only ran away because of "that merchandise woman", and now that said woman is dead, he'll come back, right?

At this point, Soya's tone is slowly becoming maniac. There's some sort of desperation in his eyes. He truly wants Hakuri to be a part of the Sazanamis. In case you haven't gotten it by now, this is very bad for Hakuri.

The panel cuts to a woman in white robes, trapped inside a cage. Likely part of the Rakuzaichi "merchandise". It's implied that Hakuri knows her. Just like Chihiro, she's got jet-black hair.

Hakuri begins to say that he's never coming back, with Soya saying that "he was never the type of person to talk back"… but that's when Hinao walks in. It was about to rain, so she came to bring Hakuri an umbrella.

Soya takes one look at Hinao and in an act I can only describe as "Olympic-level mental gymnastics", assumes that Hakuri only ran away from the Sazanamis because of yet another "bad woman" like the one Hakuri remembered earlier. So if he kills Hinao, then there'll be nothing left stopping Hakuri from returning!

Tears of (rage? Misplaced love? Derangement?) begin to run down Soya's face. Hakuri just manages to tell Hinao to run when he's pummeled to the ground in order to stop him.



Hakuri grabs Soya's ankle, begging Soya to leave Hinao out of this. Hakuri says that Soya and the other Sazanamis are the crazy one here, but Soya just seems to brush it off. In Soya's mind, this is simply a normal thing to do for the love of his family and his little brother.

That's when we turn to Hinao again. And— IS THAT SHIBA WITH THE STEEL CHAIR?!




No, I didn't skip any panels there, that was the full two page spread. Shiba just teleported Soya that high into the air. Remember, we saw this man inside a slaughterhouse's worth of corpses earlier in Ch. 20. He's got hands.

Oh, and yes this is gonna be his first on-screen fight. Nice, he's beating the off screen merchant allegations.

Soya's left eye begins to turn black, his sorcery activating as snot and tears run uncontrollably down his face. As Shiba gets ready for a mid-air fight, we cut to down below in the apartment building, where Hinao helps Hakuri up.

She explains that the reason that Shiba's here now is that after the whole Char incident, her and Shiba have a system. If she needs help, all she has to do is call his number and at the sound of her ringtone, Shiba will teleport to her location. During that sequence where Hakuri was getting pummeled to the floor by Soya, Hinao had her flip phone behind her back, silently dialing Shiba's number to bail them both out.

Of course, the consequence of this is that Shiba can only be in one location at once. So since he went away from the Sazanami Estate…



…it's Chihiro's job to solo all three Tou.