Tokyo No. 1 Colony, Part 2

Yuji wraps up the brawl that greeted him on entering the colony, then bumps into a former acquaintance from his hometown. Even after being split apart, he and Megumi keep hunting for Hiromi Higuruma, each pulling location intel out of a fellow player. The catch is that one of those two informants is lying.

The clash with Hanyu's partner Haba opens when Yuji whips a cursed-energy-loaded stone, which the spinning propeller shreds. Closing fast across a rooftop, Yuji springs up, seizes Haba's leg, and yanks him into the side of a tower, smashing through the exterior and making his enemy acknowledge the raw physical strength on display. Yuji notices Haba never exploits the high ground and only relies on his blades, so he draws him indoors. Reasoning that Hanyu fell easily because her hair technique left her body unshielded by cursed energy, Yuji decides the head is still the weak point on any opponent. As Haba drills toward him slicing the corridor apart, Yuji lands a punch straight to the top of the skull, halting him cold and drawing blood. Despite a broken rotator and head trauma, Haba stays upright and taunts Yuji over his cut knuckles, but a kick puts him out for good.

A young man named Rin Amai surfaces behind Yuji, offering knowledge of Higuruma and reminding Yuji that he once went by the Tiger of West Junior High, a nickname tying both of them to Sendai. In a parallel scene, Megumi walks alongside Remi, who explains that everyone trapped inside the colony has endured the Culling Game for nearly two weeks and that most players now fight purely to stay alive rather than for any cause. Megumi realizes past sorcerers nudged the modern ones into combat, meaning his earlier read of the situation was wrong. Both Rin and Remi then name a hiding spot for Higuruma at the same moment, but they give two different places: Rin says Ikebukuro, Remi says Shinjuku.

One of the two guides is steering their charge toward a shadowy figure who is collecting receipt papers and growing impatient for his underling to deliver a fresh victim. The chapter introduces Reggie Star, glimpsed waiting in the dark. It debuts the cover pairing of Yuji and Haba, falls within the Culling Game Arc, and corresponds to anime Episode 54 and the opening of Episode 55.