The Owner of the Kozuka Knives

The History and Culture Research Club tracks Koki to work out which teacher near her might be the perpetrator. Kinta lists Queen, Adachi, and Sanjome as the staff who have approached her, and notes that Sanjome once probed Koki about uncovered secrets. Momo grows wary, and Okarun recalls being asked something similar. Kinta cautions against rushing to brand the odd Sanjome as guilty, since he never raised knives or powers. Aira wants to study the feed from Kinta's glasses, and while handling them she watches their shape shift, learning they are nanoskin reacting to whatever she pictures. Mortified, she admits the image was of Okarun's glasses and tells Momo not to read into it.

Elsewhere, Murakami spots Adachi coming back to school and asks where she went; she explains she stepped out to tend her ailing mother. He invites her to a staff singles mixer, which she politely turns down, and once alone she checks a message sent to the orchestrator while a jiangshi accompanies her, marking her as the puppeteer behind the corpses. Meanwhile Hase tries flirting with two girls, only to find them swooning over Okarun on a phone screen; his grabbing and name calling drives them off and earns him stares. Stewing over losing to Okarun in gym, he produces an Asura knife given to him by a mysterious voice that promised power and revenge. Doubtful, he tests it by slicing his hand, feels nothing, and decides he was tricked, just as an elderly figure materializes behind him.

Released January 7, 2025 in Volume 21, this chapter falls under the Kozuka Knives Arc of the Ultimate Yokai Saga. It confirms Adachi as the jiangshi's owner and sets Hase on the path to gaining the Jumping Crone's abilities. Queen, Sanjome, and the blackmailer appear in mentions, while the orchestrator is heard as a voice.