Episode 29

Premature Death (玉折) is the twenty-ninth episode of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime adaptation and the fifth episode of the second season.

Summary
One year later, Satoru distinguishes himself as the lone strongest while Suguru suffers in silence. Following a number of events after he met Yuki Tsukumo, Suguru chooses his path for the future. This forces Satoru to realize that his strength alone may not be enough to save everyone and he begins investing in the future.

Plot Details
It's August 2007, one year after the failed escort mission. Suguru and Shoko are helping Satoru display the progress he's made using the Limitless. He has automated the Infinity, he can run reverse cursed technique continuously, and he is on his way to mastering domain expansion. Satoru has undoubtedly distinguished himself as the lone strongest while Suguru has visibly worn himself out. Satoru even asks him if he's lost weight but Suguru assures him things are fine.

Satoru can take care of missions on his own and Shoko never went out on dangerous assignments in the first place. This leaves Suguru alone on his missions during a busy summer where cursed spirits were swarming one after another. He feels trapped in a mentally taxing cycle of constant exorcism and consumption of cursed spirits. This is an experience he likens to eating a dirty rag. He tries to escape the filth in the shower but is plagued with thoughts he's unable to wash away. For a year Suguru has been trying to convince himself to remain on the righteous path and be a jujutsu sorcerer that saves people. However, Suguru can't get the clapping of the children of the star from that incident out of his head. It blends with the rapidly falling water until Suguru cracks just slightly, muttering "monkeys" to himself.

Aftward, Suguru sits in a longue with a vending machine by himself. Yu Haibara walks down the hallway and notices Suguru sitting along an decides to join him. He enthusiastically tells Suguru about his upcoming mission and his upperclassman asks him about being a sorcerer. Suguru asks Yu if being a sorcerer is okay with him and if it's not too difficult. Yu replies that he isn't the type to think about it too hard and he wants to continue doing his best in whatever he can actually do well.

A woman abruptly enters the room and asks what kind of women the boys like. Yu proudly responds that his ideal woman is one with a healthy appetite. Suguru is surprised Yu answered but the underclassman assures him that he can tell this woman is a good person. Yu gives Suguru and the woman the room. She introduces herself as Yuki Tsukumo, special grade sorcerer.

Suguru recognizes Yuki's name as the sorcerer infamous for ignoring missions and bumming around overseas. At first, Yuki pouts as a joke and claims she hates Jujutsu High. In reality, Yuki feels as if Jujutsu Headquarters is only treating the symptoms of cursed spirits instead of curing the disease. She wants to create a world without cursed spirits and asks Suguru to indulge her in a conversation about achieving that end. Two ways for this to happen are if humanity breaks away from cursed energy so that nobody has it, or optimizes cursed energy so everyone can control it. Toji Zenin was an ideal case for the former, as the only known person in the world with absolutely zero cursed energy. With his death, Yuki has to look into the ladder option. She explains that sorcerers don't produce cursed spirits because they can control cursed energy and Suguru responds with the radical solution of killing all non-sorcerers. As Yuki goes through the logistics of doing so, Suguru begins to hear the clapping in his head overlapping with the rain outside.

Yuki asks Suguru if he hates non-sorcerers but he can't give a clear answer. There's a part of him that devalues and hates non-sorcerers because he can't distinguish their admirability from their ugliness. Another part of him wants to reject that and walk the path of a righteous sorcerer. Yuki believes neither of those two sides are Suguru's true feelings quite yet. She advises him to make a choice that will shape how he truly feels about non-sorcerers. Yuki leaves after this conversation only slightly disappointed she didn't meet with Satoru. Before driving off on her motorcycle, Yuki tells Suguru that Tengen is stable due to another Star Plasma Vessel appearing.

Nanami returns early from his mission with Yu after it goes horribly wrong. Upset and throwing things across the morgue, Nanami expresses how they were misinformed about their target. The cursed spirit they were meant to exorcise was supposed to be grade 2 but it was a local deity that killed Yu. Suguru tells Nanami to get some rest but he too is shaken up. He compares working as a jujutsu sorcerer to a marathon with only a body of his comrade's corpses awaiting him at the end. During a mission of his own, Suguru exorcises a curse disturbing a village only for its misdeeds to be blamed on two young sorcerers. They are young girls that have been beaten and locked inside a cage. Suguru tries to explain that he dealt with the cause of the disturbances but the villagers are convinced the girls are behind everything. Seeing the two girls are sorcerers like him and unable to defend themselves, Suguru makes his choice about non-sorcerers.

Suguru murders all the villagers, over a hundred people in an incident investigated by Jujutsu High. Suguru is expelled and sentenced to death, a report that quickly reaches Masamichi Yaga. He tries to explain everything that happened to Satoru, including that Suguru murdered his own non-sorcerer parents as well. However, Satoru can't believe any of this is happening and rejects it out of distraught. Satoru is furious and confused but Masamichi can't rationalize with him and admits he doesn't know whats going on either.

In Shinjuku, Shoko attempts to smoke on a street corner but she doesn't have a lighter. Suguru finds her and offers a light, starting a friendly conversation despite all that's happened. Shoko asks Suguru is the reports are true and he admits to them. He explains he's going to create a world without non-sorcerers but Shoko says his reasoning is childish. She calls Satoru and he comes to the city to confront Suguru himself. Satoru demands an explanation while Suguru is walking away from him in the crowded streets. Suguru stops and says what he heard from Shoko is true and feels he doesn't need to elaborate. Satoru claims that culling all non-sorcerers is impossible but Suguru believes that Satoru himself could do so, making it entirely possible.

Satoru learns what happened from Masamichi Yaga and can't believe it. Suguru murdered non-sorcerers including his own parents, and has been sentenced to death by headquarters. Satoru is furious but Yaga admits that he doesn't know what's going on anymore either. In Shinjuku, Suguru finds Shoko trying to light a cigarette and they have a friendly exchange. Suguru admits he committed the crimes in order to create a world without non-sorcerers and Shoko calls Satoru. He asks Satoru if he's the strongest because he's Satoru Gojo or if being the strongest makes Satoru Gojo. Frustrated, Satoru dismisses the question and demands Suguru come to his senses. Suguru expresses that he's chosen how to live his life and walks away, declaring that all that's left is doing his best to achieve his goals. His last words to Satoru are to kill him if he must because there is a purpose in that action as well. Satoru takes aim with Hollow Technique: Purple, but he can't go through with murdering his best friend.

Satoru returns to school and somberly sits on the steps alone. Masamichi finds him and they discuss what happened. Satoru realizes that his strength is only good enough to save those already prepared to be rescued. Meanwhile, Suguru uses his might to take over the remnants of the Time Vessel Association by making an example of Shigeru Sonoda. Suguru kills Shiguru, wipes the blood from his face, and mentally declares that he hates "monkeys", fully committing to that feeling.

Sometime later on, Satoru finds a young Megumi Fushiguro and greets him with a comically disgusted face due to his resemblance to Toji. Satoru starts to tell Megumi about his father and their relationship to the Zenin clan. He almost admits that he killed Toji but Megumi interrupts Satoru and says that he doesn't care about his father because he abandoned them. Megumi adds that Tsumiki's mother disappeared as well and he believes the adults left the two step-siblings alone.

Satoru is surprised such an intuitive person is only a first grader and assures Megumi they can talk about his father if he ever wants to. He asks Megumi if he wants to go to the Zenin clan and the boy asks if Tsumiki will be happy there. Assured she won't, Satoru is honest with Megumi and tells him that Tsumiki absolutely won't be happy there. This irritates Megumi but Satoru pats Megumi on the head and assures him everything will be fine. Satoru only asks that Megumi become strong enough to keep up with him.

A decade later, Satoru wakes up to the sound of his three students, one of them being non-other than a teenage Megumi. While Yuji and Nobara bicker over the chair Satoru was sleeping in, Megumi notices him smiling and asks what that's about. Delighted and proud to see how Megumi has grown, Satoru gleefully assures him it's nothing.

Locations

 * Tokyo Jujutsu High
 * Shinjuku
 * House of the Children of the Star

Jujutsu
Satoru Gojo's Techniques
 * Limitless
 * Infinity
 * Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue (Mentioned)
 * Cursed Technique Reversal: Red (Mentioned)
 * Reverse Cursed Technique (Mentioned)

Suguru Geto's Techniques
 * Cursed Spirit Manipulation