Jujutsu Kaisen Manga Chapter 153

   

 Summary:

Since being suspended from Jujutsu High, Kinji Hakari has been running an underground war club among wizards. Needing Hakaria's power, Yuji and Megumi infiltrate the tournament to ask for help, but must do so without revealing that they are students from Jujutsu High.

Plot:

Before leaving the Star Tombs, Yuji and Megumi obtained Kinji Hakari's location from Master Tengen. Hakari makes money as a bookie for an underground fight club located in an abandoned garage in Tochigi Prefecture.

Fight Club pits wizards against each other in head-to-head combat. The audience is mostly non-magicians, meaning that Hakari is clearly in violation of Article 8 of the jujutsu regulations regarding secrecy. Tengen believes there will be curse users among the fighters and warns the boys to be careful.

Yuji and Megumi arrive at the garage and take off their Jujutsu High uniforms. Yuji asks why they're changing clothes and Megumi clarifies that Hakari is suspended from Jujutsu High. He doesn't need to associate with them if he realizes that they are also students from Jujutsu High. It's a gray area where Yuji and Megumi's loyalties match, but for Hakari, they might as well be with the higher ups. Yuji wonders if Hakari will help even if they remain undiscovered and Megumi is unsure considering everything their senpais have said about him. Regardless, they need his power for the Culling game and will do their best to recruit him.

Megumi and Yuji walk into the ground entrance of the abandoned garage and meet the manager and bodyguard. The security guards tell the kids to get lost before hitting them, but Megumi refuses to back down. The man throws a powerful right hook and stops just before it hits Megumi's face. His hair moves slightly from the swing, but Megumi's eyes remain determined and she doesn't flinch at all. The security guard lowers his fist and tells Megumi that rule one is that no one is to say anything about the club. He demands to know who told Megumi and threatens to beat him up after he spills the information.

Megumi claims she didn't get the person's name before he killed her. He was a cocky wizard who had disappeared about a month ago. The manager remembers that someone named Kondo disappeared about a month ago, but is unable to verify. Megumi asks to take his place and threatens to put the bodyguard on the ground if they refuse.

Yuji realizes what Megumi is doing and decides to remain silent. The manager receives a message from the boss and gets permission to add another fighter to today's tournament. But only on the condition that Yuji is chosen as a fighter. Megumi claims he has to fight, but he just keeps going. He knows Yuji is perfect for the job. The manager reveals that the boss doesn't like Megumi and refuses to let him fight. Megumi looks into the camera and accepts the condition.

The boys leave together and Yuji tells Megumi that bluffing was risky. Megumi disagrees because a battle club using curse users must have frequent turnover. Regardless, they were able to confirm that Hakari was nearby and watching them via cameras.

The plan is for Yuji to look at Hakari's contact from the inside while Megumi tries to sneak into the garage from the outside. This is risky because the fight club already has their eyes on Megumi and doesn't even trust Yuji if he gets caught. If discovered, the boys can use the Force to come face to face with Hakari, but this is an undesirable last resort. They want to come ask Hakari for help and don't want to do anything that could damage the relationship soon.

The wisest course of action would be for Megumi to stay on alert for the night while Yuji worked inside Hakari. However, Megumi is nervous and doesn't want to waste time with Tsumiki's Culling Game deadline coming up. It is currently 17:00. On November 10, they leave their group for nine days to save Tsumiki from the deadline. It took Yuji and Megumi a while to get to Tochigi as traffic from Tokyo was scarce and they stopped to exorcise cursed spirits along the way.

That evening, Yuji returns to the garage and meets the security since morning. The man prepares Yuji by explaining the details of how the tournament works. There are only two rules; no retreating and no jujutsu. Yuji is fine with people using cursed techniques against him, but non-magicians wouldn't be able to see them. The rule against running away is to ensure that the fight takes place where the spectators can see.

While heading down the stairs towards the arena, Yuji realizes that all the fights are about wowing the audience and asks what the boss is like. The bodyguard says that Yuji can only find out if he meets him and continues to explain more about the fights. There are two types of matches; scripted and unscripted. The boss fixes the former kind by scripting and putting on a show in an unscripted match likely to get his attention.

Yuji arrives at the combat area, a section of the garage where most of the top floor has been removed. This allows viewers to watch the fight from the story above. Yuji is introduced to his adversary, someone who surprises everyone when he is first seen. Gachinko Fight Club announcer John☆Bobby kicks off the tournament by introducing the fighters, rookie Yuji Itadori against none other than Panda!

In a monitoring room somewhere in a multi-story garage, Hakari sits with his companion as the fight is about to begin. He expresses his displeasure as he believes things are starting to cool down. Hakari doesn't believe there's any fun in knowing who will win an unscripted fight. He doesn't think anyone will be able to beat Panda and barely watches. However, his companion focuses his attention on the television, where Yuji proves him wrong.

Together, Yuji and Panda put on a show that entertains everyone watching. John☆Bobby claims it's the best match he's ever called after only working at the club for a few weeks. While exchanging mock blows, Yuji and Panda converse to exchange information. Panda has been allowed into the fight club, but Hakari and another third year student with him actively avoid him. Panda confirms that Yuji is hiding his identity as a student and signals him to end the fight.

Yuji hits a power shot that Panda sells with an overreaction to convince everyone that he's been defeated. John☆Bobby calls the fight and Yuji is declared the winner, leaving the permanence