Chapter 162

Descending toward the Underground Special Exhibitions Vault and JAA chairman Sei Asaki, Sakamoto recalls Lu Wutang's theory that the Rion side of Slur is a case of dissociative identity, an alternate self formed to survive prolonged, severe stress or trauma. The scene cuts to the confrontation among Nagumo, Asaki, and the Rion-driven Slur.

Nagumo struggles to understand how Slur can act like Rion and know things only Rion should, while Asaki commands him to kill her and demands to know what she is doing inside Kei. His words make plain that he views this figure as Rion and confirm he witnessed her death long ago. Sakamoto then bursts through the ceiling, but lands on Asaki by mistake rather than Slur.

The Rion personality explains she exists to protect Slur and therefore cannot end his life herself, which is why she placed the bounty on Sakamoto, counting on him to find and kill Slur. She never anticipated his retirement and doubts he can manage the deed now. Nagumo, she adds, was a fallback who failed because Slur's heart sits on the wrong side of his chest. As ceiling extinguishers spray gas, the trio escape through Sakamoto's entry hole, and he suggests she simply stay Rion forever. The chapter closes on a door whose handle has been cleanly sliced away by a sword.

A flashback frames Rion as a trauma-born second personality within Slur. Asaki orders her killed and confirms he saw Rion die years earlier. Sakamoto drops in and accidentally flattens Asaki, then learns that Rion herself arranged Sakamoto's bounty to have Slur hunted down, since she cannot kill her host. Her backup plan through Nagumo failed due to Slur's displaced heart, and Sakamoto proposes she remain Rion permanently. A cleanly cut door hints at Takamura's presence.

Under the title Familiar Faces, this is the one hundred and sixty-second chapter of Sakamoto Days and part of the Assassin Exhibition of the Century Arc. It ran in the twentieth 2024 issue on April 15, 2024, and covers nineteen pages, opening Volume 19. Sakamoto appears alone on the cover. Lu Wutang features in flashback, Hana and Aoi are referenced, and the severed door implies Takamura.