Chapter 165

Beyond his courtroom brilliance, Hiromi Higuruma proves to be a born sorcerer as well. Pitted against so formidable an enemy, Yuji has to claw past long odds even though his cursed energy is no longer usable.

At thirty-six, Higuruma belongs to the Iwate Bar Association and has cleared every major hurdle in his path, from law school admissions to the bar exam, treating each as simply a matter of putting in the right effort to gain the needed knowledge. His colleagues always pegged him a genius, yet something now sets him apart even more sharply than that reputation. Pressing his assault, Higuruma slams the gavel down at Yuji; Yuji leaps clear, but the lawyer conjures the gavel into his other hand to strike again instantly, switching it hand to hand while hammering rapidly. Yuji barely evades and tries an elbow counter, only for Higuruma to bend the weapon into a pliable hook shape, snag Yuji's inner elbow, fling him off, and revert it. What truly distinguishes Higuruma is not his legal genius but his gift as a sorcerer.

By studying the Domain Expansion that arrived by default when he awakened, Higuruma reverse-engineered the basics of barrier techniques and developed an instinct for armoring himself using cursed energy. Inside twelve days of awakening, he had grown into a fighter on par with a grade 1 sorcerer, exorcising several cursed spirits prior to setting foot in Tokyo No. 1 Colony, where he has since removed at least twenty players. Before renewing his attack, Higuruma asks whether Yuji has any command over his cursed energy at all. Baffled, since Higuruma is the cause, Yuji learns that the confiscation penalty strips away the use of cursed techniques; lacking an innate technique, Yuji instead lost the ability to wield cursed energy at all. That Yuji has survived regardless troubles Higuruma, who guesses it owes to sheer physical might. Normally confiscation merely weakens an opponent's control by removing their technique, yet Yuji fights on under the harsher loss, so Higuruma treats him as a real threat and stays guarded against missteps.

Bent on crushing Yuji outright, Higuruma turns the gavel into a staff and unleashes a flurry of swings. Yuji dodges and grabs its middle, but the lawyer makes the staff vanish before it can be wrenched free. Springing back, Yuji boots the tub Higuruma had earlier been resting in; the lawyer shatters it with the gavel, sending water and splintered fragments surging outward, and bursts out from behind the spray. He enlarges the gavel to enormous size and brings it down on Yuji, who barely withstands the weight without being crushed. Impressed, Higuruma likens the experience to battling an indestructible doll, while Yuji knows he cannot hold out much longer beneath it. Reasoning that so powerful a technique must carry a compensating flaw, Yuji races back through his mental notes on the trial-based cursed technique, calls out Higuruma's name before being crushed, and demands a retrial, instantly pulling them both into the domain. Since no violence occurs there, Yuji is spared and breathes relief. Higuruma sees Yuji is grasping the technique: once Judgeman has convicted and sentenced him, Yuji can request a retrial that cannot be denied so long as he does not confess outright. In the new trial Judgeman announces Yuji is charged with mass murder, the crime traced to Shibuya, dated October 31, 2018. Recognizing the charge as the carnage Sukuna unleashed amid the Shibuya Incident, a shocked Yuji listens as Higuruma receives evidence, but before the lawyer can even speak, Yuji admits guilt at once, refusing to lie or deny what happened, stunning him. Bleeding from its eyes in fury, the enraged Judgeman declares Yuji guilty and adds confiscation atop a death penalty.

Counted as installment 165 in the Gege Akutami manga, this nineteen-page Culling Game Arc entry runs in Volume 19 and was adapted as anime Episode 56. It fills in Higuruma's background and the mechanics of the retrial, while Shibuya appears only as a mentioned location.