Chapter 98

The curtain that walled sorcerers out of Shibuya Station is down at last, so the Jujutsu High teams can push the rescue forward. Ino's grievous wounds, however, force Yuji and Megumi apart, sending Yuji into the nest of curses on his own. Over on the platforms, Mei Mei wraps up her fight with Niji Ebina and sets off for the station.

With Awasaka down, the boys destroy the two commissioned curtains he had been carrying, and the barrier dissolves at 10:04 on the expressway. Three cursed objects break in total, though only one had actually anchored the curtain, and the knocked-out old man is in no state to be interrogated. Ino is then hurled off Shibuya Tower; Megumi calls up Nue just in time to keep him from a fatal drop, and Yuji catches him, sickened by his state. Still wearing Toji's shape, the grandson asks Ogami for orders now that the curtain has fallen. She tells him to go on slaughtering sorcerers, but Toji's true self surges up and warns the old hag never to command him.

Shaken, Ogami springs back, unable to grasp what went wrong. The Seance Technique should have called up the body's data alone, leaving the soul untouched, which was the whole point of keeping this nightmare from happening. Toji concludes that his heavenly restricted frame simply swallowed the host's spirit, then chooses to follow the order after all, beginning with the old sorcerer herself. Yuji burns to climb up and avenge Ino, yet Megumi reveals he still lives and pushes Yuji toward Gojo instead. They split, Megumi taking charge of Ino and warning that he will kill Yuji should he die again, while Yuji counts on Mechamaru at his side.

Nanami discovers Ijichi out cold and bleeding by exit 13, gutted to find a friend on the verge of death. Down on the Fukutoshin platform, Mei Mei buries Ebina under her battle axe and recounts her road: long convinced Black Bird Manipulation was feeble, she trained to win without it, then doubled back to master it, which forged the grade 1 sorcerer she now is. As Ebina pleads, she asks Ui Ui what a life's worth measures against, and he answers that it tracks one's usefulness to her. Ebina has no answer of his own, which she names the reason for his defeat before caving in his skull, declaring that service potential is her very life. Kenjaku, watching from the station, marvels at how fast she won, while on Shoto Bunkamura Street, Shigemo crosses paths with Nobara and Akari Nitta, and Nobara steps up to confront him alone.