Chapter 156

Twinkling Stars (きらきら) is the one hundred and fifty-sixth chapter of Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen.

Summary
Megumi and Panda want to convince Kirara they're not enemies so that negotiations with Hakari go smoothly However, Kirara refuses to believe Megumi and Panda aren't spies for Jujutsu High and resists them. In order to bring this scuffle to an end so a real dialogue can begin, Megumi must first navigate a way past Kirara's complex cursed technique.

Plot Details
Megumi uses Rabbit Escape to summon a large swarm of rabbit shikigami on the roof of the fight club. He notices that each of the rabbits are marked with a symbol saying "★Acrux". None of the rabbits can get near the monitor room, where Megumi notices the symbol "★Gacrux" has been placed on the door.

The mass of rabbit shikigami spread all across the roof so Megumi can see where they can and can't approach. Kirara repels them and wonders what's the point of conjuring up so many rabbits. Kirara's innate cursed technique marks cursed energy, registering shikigami the same as sorcerers Kirara believes Megumi will attract all the rabbits and suffocate, but he suddenly dispels them all.

Megumi asks Panda how Rabbit Escape was only for his senpai to comment on its cuteness. Annoyed, Megumi clarifies that he meant what areas of the roof did Panda notice the rabbits could and couldn't approach. Panda confirms the shikigami were attracted to him and the second floor, but they couldn't reach Kirara or the monitor room door. Panda has been marked with the symbol "★Imai" and Megumi has been marked with ★Acrux. Megumi isnt sure what's going on but he knows that Kirara's cursed technique is very likely based on a constellation of stars.

Kirara notices that Megumi is getting closer to figuring out how their technique works and puts their attention on him. Megumi makes eye contact with Kirara and says it might be based on the Southern Cross constellation. Kirara is surprised that he guessed correctly and Megumi is also surprised that he did. They both gave it away with their reactions, frustrating Kirara. Kirara now knows Megumi wasn't sure if the cursed technique's motif was the Southern Cross, but Kirara's reaction confirmed it for him. They know that if Megumi continues to figure out how the technique works then he'll eventually reach the monitor room. Kirara resolves to hold him off and prevent that no matter what.

Megumi silently thanks Tsumiki for teaching him about the southern cross but he still doesn't know much about it. He's also confused because the southern cross should have four points. Megumi and Panda are able to get close to one another and use the opportunity to discuss Kirara's cursed technique. Megumi initially thought that it assigned them each a point on the southern cross to maintain distance between each point. However, this can't be the case because Kirara can approach the door and Megumi can approach Panda. Megumi realizes that it's more likely the cursed technique has a determined route where there is a sequential order for who can go near what depending on what point they've been marked with.

Panda considers that the technique doesn't affect the user but Megumi debunks this because Divine Dog: Totality couldn't approach Kirara earlier. If Kirara and the door both had stars that repel Megumi and Panda, then Kirara could simply flee inside the monitor room. They're staying outside to ensure that Megumi and Panda don't satisfy the conditions of the technique. Megumi and Panda surmise this must mean the southern cross has five or more points. If there were only four stars, one of them should be able to approach Kirara. Since that isn't the case, there must be a fifth star between them that they must go through in order to reach Kirara and the door.

Panda asks what they should do if there are six or seven points but Megumi says five is already too many to make sense for a cross. Knowing that they might be foiled soon, Kirara goes on the offensive. They ferociously jump on the hood of the car and mark it with ★Imai, sending it up at Panda. The car flips into Panda but he barely catches it and assures Megumi he's okay and to go on and search for the other star. While Megumi runs away, Panda tosses the car away from him. Concerned, Megumi reminds Panda not to throw the car or else the ★Imai mark will simply attract it back to him. This is exactly what happens, as the car comes right back to Panda and hits him in the head.

Megumi surmises that contact needs to be made by the user to place a star. Kirara marked Megumi by marking his cursed energy through Divine Dog. In order to mark more objects like the monitor room door or the car, they need to be charged beforehand with someone else's cursed energy. Megumi focuses on seeing the cursed energy residuals on the car and finds some from someone other than Kirara. Continuing with his theory, Megumi assumes the technique doesn't have a lot more range and looks around for more residuals. He eventually finds a parking stop marked with the fifth star "★Mimosa".

Megumi quickly touches the parking stop and doesn't notice any more residuals. He knows Kirara's cursed energy is already marked with a star, so he thinks Kirara can't use their cursed energy to mark another object with ★Acrux and attract more of them to him. However, to Megumi's shock, a bunch of objects marked with ★Acrux are already headed straight for him.

Kirara's innate cursed technique is called Love Rendezvous. It marks five stars with a southern cross motif to target cursed energy. For one star to approach another, it must follow a determined order, or else one of the targets with the same star will attract it. The order follows the stars from nearest to furthest. Constellations look flat on a diagram, but there is depth in space and each star is a different distance from the Earth. Megumi was marked with ★Acrux, so he must travel through ★Mimosa (parking stop) and ★Ginan (Kirara) in order to reach the ★Gacrux (monitor room door).

While Panda is incapacitated, Kirara admits they're impressed Megumi figured out how Love Rendezvous works. That being said, Kirara believes Megumi was too quick to conclude more objects couldn't be thrown at him. While Kirara can't mark their cursed energy with more than one star, they can simply remove ★Ginan on their cursed energy and mark other things with ★Acrux instead.

Suddenly, Kirara is the one caught off guard when Divine Dog reappears behind them. Divine Dog quickly immobilizes Kirara, confusing them until they realize that Megumi never dispelled this shikigami. Megumi was able to guess which of them with the same star would attract the other and maneuvered so there was a wall between them. He waited until Kirara was directly between them and then unjammed Divine Dog from the wall so it could take advantage of the fact that Kirara was now approachable.

With Divine Dog taking Kirara directly to Megumi, they're forced to cancel Love Rendezvous. Megumi restrains Kirara against the ground with Divine Dog watching over them, but he simply asks for Kirara to listen to what he has to say.

Character in Order of Appearances

 * Megumi Fushiguro
 * Panda
 * Kirara Hoshi
 * Tsumiki Fushiguro (Mentioned)

Locations

 * Gachinko Fight Club

Battles & Events

 * Megumi & Panda vs. Kirara Hoshi (Concluded)

Jujutsu
Kirara Hoshi's Techniques
 * Love Rendezvous

Megumi Fushiguro's Techniques
 * Ten Shadows Technique
 * Divine Dog: Totality
 * Rabbit Escape