Chapter 19

Young Fish and Reverse Punishment (と) is the nineteenth chapter of Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen.

Summary
Three deformed corpses are found at Kinema Cinema in Kawasaki City. Accompanied by Kento Nanami, a very straightforward man, Yuji investigates the supernatural crime scene. Meanwhile, the only known witness decides to confront the murderer to learn the ways of cursed spirits.

Plot Details
A young boy named Junpei Yoshino believes he could never press a button that would kill someone he disliked. However, if it were to kill someone that didn't like him, Junpei wouldn't hesitate to press it.

Junpei goes to see a movie at Kinema Cinema, where some of his rude classmates are also attending the film. They cause a disturbance until their bodies are disturbed and morphed until they're unrecognizable, seemingly killing them.

Junpei noticed the blue-haired man with a patchwork-face who killed the loud moviegoers and follows him into an alleyway outside. He surmises this man must not be human and gets notice while they're in the alley. The cursed spirit asks Junpei if those people were important to him, but the human surprises him by asking if he could learn to kill people like that.

Kento Nanami, a grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer, takes Yuji with him to investigate the disturbance at the movie theater. He shows Yuji how to track the residual of cursed energy left behind from a cursed technique. Yuji initially struggles to understand but Nanami tells him to focus harder on sensing before seeing. The student notices the tracks and asks for encouragement, but Nanami claims he's only there to uphold the law, not to insult or praise Yuji.

They both move to follow the trace but Satoru shows up to poke fun at Nanami, calling him an office worker dropout. Satoru adds that Nanami actually used to work in an office and is far more trustworthy than a lot of other sorcerers.

Nanami claims he only works as a sorcerer because its less idiotic than office work. He even says that despite trusting Satoru, he can't respect him because of how jujutsu society works. For that same reason, Nanami can't recognize Yuji as a jujutsu sorcerer. He asks the young man to prove his usefulness despite having Sukuna within him. Yuji has heard a lot recently that he's weak and useless, so he asks Nanami to have patience with him on his path to becoming stronger.

There was no recording of the incident, so the sorcerers must question the only remaining witness at the scene. While checking out the roof, Nanami and Yuji run into two curses. Yuji asks Nanami not to underestimate him but the latter believes it is simply an adult duty to protect children. Despite multiple near-death experiences, Yuji is not an adult. While drawing his weapon to prepare for battle, Nanami states that it's the little losses that are what build people into adults.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Junpei Yoshino
 * Mahito
 * Kento Nanami
 * Yuji Itadori
 * Satoru Gojo

Locations

 * Kawasaki City
 * Kinema Cinema

Battles and Events

 * Yuji Itadori & Kento Nanami vs. Transfigured Humans (Started)

Jujutsu
Mahito's Techniques
 * Idle Transfiguration