The Evil Eye

For two centuries the Kito bloodline fed living offerings to the Tsuchinoko, building Jiji's home atop the very altar where it nests. Under the worm's mind-warping waves, Momo and Okarun lurch toward killing themselves, and only Jiji's frantic interference, plus a startled Turbo Granny, keeps them alive. Cornered outside, Jiji turns to find the floating specter that has shadowed him, a yokai called the Evil Eye whose own death-luring power happens to cancel the worm's. As the episode closes, the boy's grief opens a door, and the spirit pours itself into Jiji's body to wage war on humanity.

Turbo Granny explains that the Tsuchinoko broadcasts the suicidal compulsion gripping the household, which finally lets Jiji understand why his parents broke down. Okarun briefly takes his cursed form to behead the worm, but it simply grows the head back. Locking gazes with Jiji, the Evil Eye replays its origin: a sacrificed child caged for years, watching family after family be offered up beneath the worm. Moved by that suffering, Jiji refuses to let Momo tear the spirit loose and instead apologizes and agrees to keep it company, an invitation the yokai uses to seize him. Now wearing Jiji's body, the Evil Eye shields the trio in a dome built from the resentment of the dead, then molds the house into a sphere and hurls it at the Tsuchinoko, driving the creature back underground.

Seiko had already flagged Jiji's unusual spiritual strength when he first arrived at her home, the same quality that makes him a perfect host for the Evil Eye. The chapter source spans Chapters 38 through 41 of the manga. The installment belongs to the Cursed House Arc and pins down why the boy alone resisted the worm's pull. It ends with Okarun stepping between the possessed Jiji and Momo, furious at the harm done to her.