Chapter 171

Sakamoto gazes at the store from the street, recalling Nagumo's warning that being branded X's accomplices leaves them two grim roads: kill Uzuki to prove their innocence, or tear the JAA down entirely, with death waiting either way. Wandering and brooding, he dispatches two assassins who assume he is oblivious, then remembers Rion Akao's billion-yen bounty and decides he needs to speak with Aoi.

Inside, he hovers out of her sight, unsure what to say. Aoi, unaware he is there, remarks that she has something important to discuss. Dreading talk of divorce after quietly downing yet another attacker, he instead hears that money troubles may force the shop to close. Fewer customers, scared off by the constant assassins, and the spread of chain convenience stores have drained their finances. He suggests relocating, but Aoi refuses to abandon the place they built together and all the memories it holds.

A flashback shows a younger Sakamoto, discouraged after a failed interview, walking with Aoi, who insists he belongs somewhere. Discovering his home is a condemned building, she hits on turning it into a neighborhood shop, a place made just for him. Back in the present, Sakamoto thanks her, then rushes to a laptop and searches for franchise chains. He asks Lu Wutang how many branches the JAA runs; the answer is thirty-seven domestic locations plus four overseas, doubling if affiliates count, all set in cities. Set on the idea, Sakamoto declares he will take over the JAA and make his store a national chain, drawing baffled looks from Shin and Heisuke, scorn from Lu Wutang, and interest from Granny Miya. Before he can explain, a broadcast reveals X's organization has hit a JAA weapons factory.

Nagumo's earlier ultimatum frames Sakamoto's dilemma: kill Uzuki or destroy the JAA. Aoi reveals the family store faces closure from lost customers and chain-store competition, and a flashback recounts how she conceived the shop as a place where Sakamoto could belong. Sakamoto lands on an audacious scheme to seize the JAA and franchise his store across Japan. The chapter closes with news that X's organization has attacked a JAA-owned weapons factory.

Titled Belonging (Ibasho), this is the one hundred seventy-first chapter, part of the JAA Jail Arc. It ran in issue 30 of 2024 on June 24, 2024, and opens Volume 20. Nakatsugawa debuts here, while Nagumo, Hana, and Lu Shaotang appear only in flashbacks and several Order members are merely mentioned.