Man, it's freezing.
How long are they going at it today? Jeez...
I haven't eaten anything since this morning. I'm starving.
What should I eat when I get home?
Huh? But I told you bigger was better.
If we're going to make it fight, heavier is the best choice.
Oh, then go find it and call back later.
Hmm? He's gone?
Did he go somewhere?
Man, what a pain. Bathroom break?
Hey, look!
Think it eats fish sausage?
Wait, that thing was in the tournament, wasn't it?
Here you go. It's fish sausage.
Come on, pandas don't meat, you know.
It's tasty.
It's bamboo. They eat bamboo.
I'll take the fish sausage.
No cameras on the emergency stairs!
Yo!
Panda-senpai, are you really sure?
This could cause you trouble later.
It's fine, it's fine!
Let's secure the area near the door.
Gah! Kirara!
Why isn't Kirara with Hakari?!
Panda-chan?
And... that spiky-haired kid.
If Panda-chan helped him sneak in here, that means...
he's with Jujutsu High?
That means Yu-chan is with Jujutsu High, too!
Kin-chan's in danger!
Boss, I need to—
Demon Dogs: Totality!
Hop!
Fushiguro?!
My Demon Dog was thrown back?!
No, judging from what Panda-senpai said, it couldn't get close!
I've already marked Panda-chan.
The monitor room!
Kirara's planning to head back to Hakari!
Wait, Kirara!
We're not your enemies!
We just want to ask Hakari for a favor!
I don't believe you!
I'm disappointed in you, Panda-chan!
Oh, I can't get close to you, either!
Ow!
So Kirara-san can't get close to us, either?
Fushiguro?!
It's more than just being unable to approach Kirara-san.
I can't separate from Demon Dogs, either?!
What kind of cursed technique is this?!
Listen to me!
No way!
My passion's gone cold now!
JUJUTSU KAISEN
The Culling Game Part 1
Episode 53 Cog
We're in a stalemate.
Perfect.
Kirara-san!
We're not actually with Jujutsu High right now!
You know what Tokyo is like now, don't you?
The barriers that sprung up in each region are related, too.
It was an unprecedented attack of jujutsu terrorism!
We need Hakari-san's help!
You all are the ones who excluded us first.
You reap what you sow.
I told you, we're not with Jujutsu High!
What happened between you and the higher-ups?
They fought with the conservatives.
Their idea of "conservative" goes beyond just their policy toward the regulations.
They have set ideas of what jujutsu should be.
Kugisaki's technique is a good example.
That's the kind of classic jujutsu the conservatives like.
Not stuff like the cursed videos that were popular a while back.
As time goes on, even jujutsu incorporates more new technologies.
But when even techniques start doing that,
the conservatives get fussy.
Kin-chan's technique is a perfect example.
Those stupid higher-ups lost because they're like that.
But you all can always have Satoru Gojo wipe your asses, can't you?
I don't understand why you need to rely on us.
So obviously I'd assume that means you're lying about relying on us,
and you're here for some other reason, right?
Gojo-sensei was sealed.
That's why we lost.
They don't believe us!
Well, I can understand that.
But this person is the one closest to Hakari-san!
Fleeing Hares!
Bunnies?
If we can convince them,
negotiations with Hakari-san will go more smoothly!
Acrux?!
Gacrux?!
What an incredible amount.
What is he up to?
My technique marks cursed energy,
so it treats sorcerers and their shikigami as one in the same.
At this rate, they'll just be drawn to him like that doggy was,
and he'll be crushed under his own shikigami until he suffocates.
Panda-senpai!
How was Fleeing Hares?!
They were second to me in cuteness!
I'm asking you what they were and weren't able to approach!
Oh.
They were able to come to me and that second floor no problem!
They couldn't get near Kirara and the door to the monitor room!
Panda-senpai, do you have a star and a name somewhere on your body?
Huh?
Oh!
I-M-A-I?
One should be somewhere on me...
Ima? Ima? Imai?
There!
It says "Imai"!
It's "Acrux," like on the Fleeing Hares!
It's probably on Demon Dogs, too.
I still don't know anything about it, but I should...
I got it!
This technique is based on a constellation!
People familiar with them could figure that out.
The constellation it's based on is...
the Southern Cross!
Shit!
We both let it show on our faces!
Seriously?
His look said, "Seriously?!"
He wasn't certain my technique was based on the Southern Cross!
But I also gave him the same look!
I confirmed it for him!
If he figures out any more of my technique,
he'll be able to enter the monitor room!
I have to stop him here!
Back in a stalemate again?
Still, it really was the Southern Cross?
I'm grateful to Tsumiki.
I don't know anything else, though.
Also, wasn't the Southern Cross a four-star constellation?
Fushiguro!
I really can get close to Panda-senpai.
Senpai, the Southern Cross has four stars, right?
Huh?
Well, it is a cross.
Yeah, I guess so.
Kirara-san's technique applies one of the stars in the Southern Cross to each of us,
and I thought it might use that to force us to maintain a certain distance.
But Kirara-san can approach the door,
and you and I can approach each other.
Maybe it's just that Kirara and the door's stars are repelling ours?
"Cross Theory"
If that were true,
it would make more sense for Kirara-san to flee into the monitor room.
Oh, true.
If they hugged the inside of the door, we'd be stuck.
Then what about this?
Star A is able to approach Star B, but B can't approach A.
Each Star has one they're compatible with,
and they can only approach that one.
"Rock-Paper-Scissors Theory"
Like in rock-paper-scissors.
But you and I can approach each other and move freely.
So that's not it, then.
I think it's like a stamp rally,
where you have to follow a set route and approach each one in order.
And things with the same star get drawn together.
"Stamp Rally Theory"
I see.
But what if the sorcerer isn't counted as a target?
That can't be the case.
They were forced to stay away from Demon Dogs, too.
Right now, Kirara-san is wary
of us fulfilling some kind of condition
out of their sight that's needed to enter the monitor room.
Then there are five or more stars.
Right.
If my stamp rally theory is correct,
then we should be able to approach Kirara-san if there are only four stars.
So there has to be a fifth star
that we have to pass through in order to reach Kirara-san and the door.
What if there are six or seven stars?
I'd like to believe that's not the case.
It's already confusing that there would be five stars in a cross.
If they've figured it out,
then I have to attack!
Panda-senpai!
I'm okay!
Don't worry about me!
Fushiguro! Find the star!
Hey! You can't throw it!
Huh?
They put the same Imai star on that car!
If you throw it, it'll just come back
or pull you toward it like Demon Dogs did to me!
They probably have to touch the target to plant a star.
But Kirara-san hasn't touched me or Fleeing Hares.
She only touched Demon Dogs.
Meaning Kirara-san is tagging cursed energy, not objects!
In order to tag doors and cars,
they should need someone to imbue cursed energy into them ahead of time.
I knew it!
The car has residual cursed energy from someone else!
If the technique doesn't cover a wide range,
then traces of the other star should be...
There!
The fifth star!
I don't see any more residuals from someone other than us.
Kirara-san's already marked their own cursed energy,
so they can't use their own cursed energy
to mark objects with the same Acrux star they gave me.
Meaning they can't launch things at me like they did with that car!
Once I touch that, I can approach Kirara-san!
Fushiguro's hypothesis was correct.
Kirara's cursed technique, Love Rendezvous,
apportions five stars to targets' cursed energy with the Southern Cross as a base.
For one star to approach another,
it must follow a predetermined order,
and things marked with the same star attract each other.
You're incredible.
You actually figured out my technique.
Panda-senpai!
That order was nearest to the farthest star.
Constellations may look flat, but they do, of course, have depth,
and each star has a different distance from Earth.
But since you're too smart,
you decided I could no longer throw objects at you, didn't you?
I can just lift the Ginan star placed on my own cursed energy
and mark things with the same Acrux star that's on you!
What?!
How?! Where did it come from?!
No, that's it! That boy...
never dismissed his doggy shikigami!
Did he figure out which of
the same tagged objects would be drawn to the other?!
Then he put a wall between himself and the shikigami
so the shikigami would be drawn into the wall,
and unleashed the doggy when I was in a line between them!
Love Rendezvous, cancel!
Please hear us out.
JUJUTSU KAISEN
Did you really set that up on purpose?
You couldn't have known if you or the doggy would get pulled toward the other.
I took a gamble, but now I'm certain.
The one with greater cursed energy pulls the other toward it, right?
The first time, I was pulled into Demon Dogs,
but when I strengthened my cursed energy to guard against your attack,
the opposite happened.
Are you really a first-year?
You really aren't cute at all.
Please. We don't have time.
Please hear us out.
Fine.
Itadori?!
Fushiguro, Panda-senpai...
Stay out of this!
Underestimating me, huh?
Straight to the face!
This brat! He's not...
even trying to dodge!
You're crazy.
This isn't like the fight in Shibuya.
This is basically a ritual to make Hakari-senpai
acknowledge me.
I won't dodge anymore.
I won't fight back.
Not until he caves.
Interesting! I'll listen to you...
for as long as you remain standing!
Kin-chan!
These kids just want your help!
Hear them out!
I just said I would!
So, Itadori, why me?
This is the first time we've met, right?
So why rely on me?
Because my senpai
all said you're strong.
Figures.
Whenever a sorcerer asks another sorcerer for help,
it's understood they're asking him to risk his life with them!
So you have to show me you have passion worth risking my life for!
Right here and now!
Yet you're telling me you came here on orders without that?
What the hell was old man Yaga thinking?!
He should be weeding out losers like you!
I don't have any passion.
Huh?
I'm a cog.
A cog in the machine that sorcerers need to keep exorcising curses.
Wait, wait, wait. Are you for real?
That's super disappointing.
This is bad! Itadori, that's enough!
Hurts, doesn't it?
According to Gojo-san,
my cursed energy's coarser and grittier than that of others.
You dead?
Hey, Panda!
Sea Urchin Head!
Take Itadori and get lost already. Don't come ba—
Huh?!
He took three unguarded blows!
And I punched him a bunch before then, too!
What are you made of?
I'm a cog.
Cogs have a function, you know.
My function is to keep exorcising curses.
If you're necessary to achieve that,
then I'll play along until you agree to it.
Senpai.
What is your function?
This kid...
So this is a cog's passion?
Fine. I'll keep punching—
Kin-chan.
He's gotten you heated up, hasn't he?
Passion never lies.
Get down here, you three.
Huh?
Let's cut a deal.
Huh? It's resolved?
Did you just convince him?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Don't mention it.
We may hate the upper brass,
but Kin-chan always burned hottest when he was helping others at Jujutsu High.
Ow!
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong!
What?!
A Player has added a new rule to the Culling Game!
Rule 9: Players shall be able to view the following information on other players:
name, points, number of rules added, current Colony.
8: Players who do not show a change in points within 19 days of joining or acquiring points shall be stripped of their technique.
9: Players shall be able to view the following information on other players: name, points, number of rules added, current Colony.
You have gained five points.
Damn right. I killed him.
Every one of these guys is too weak.
It was better 400 years ago.
Where are you, Sukuna?
You have exceeded 200 points.
Would you like to consume 100 points to add a rule to the Culling Game?
Right, the rules.
If I knew their names, and points would demonstrate their strength...
Oh, but points go down when adding a rule.
So I'd need the number of rules they added, too.
And also which colony they're in.
Kogane.
Add a rule.
Reveal that information for every player.
Culling Game Player Hajime Kashimo
You're in the space between dreams and reality.
It's a curse.
How do you know my name?
I'm not like Itadori.
Once you step inside, you, too, become a Player!
...and make them add a rule to let Tsumiki escape the Culling Game!
Next Episode Tokyo Colony No. 1