Chapter 27

If (もしも) is the twenty-seventh chapter of Akutami Gege's Jujutsu Kaisen.

Summary
Junpei could have been an ally to Yuji and a member of Jujutsu High. That was not to be, as Mahito sacrifices Junpei in order to further his own agenda, making contact with Sukuna. In response to the death of his friend, Yuji unleashes a dark rage he's never known before.

Plot Details
Yuji notices Mahito walking down the stairs closer to him and Junpei. He hesitates, believing Mahito might be human before the Cursed Spirit reveals his nature and pins Yuji to the wall using a large deformed arm. He says it's nice to meet Sukuna's vessel and Junpei tries to get Mahito to stop. Angry with himself for hesitating, Yuji realizes that Mahito is exactly the curse that Nanami described.

Yuji tries to plead with Junepi to run, but the latter stills believes he's friends with Mahito. Junpei begins to say that Mahito isn't a bad person, but he recalls all the cruel experiments he did to other people. Mahito puts his hand on Junpei's shoulder and tells him directly in his ear that he should have been smarter than this.

All those people Junpei looked down on for being imbeciles, Mahito states that he's just as stupid as they are. With twisted and sinister words, Mahito adds that this is the reason Junpei will die.

Using Idle Transfiguration, Mahito mutates Junpei's body into a monster, horrifying Yuji. Unable to control his actions, Junpei attacks and Mahito declares this to be the second round of their fight. Yuji begs Sukuna to help Junpei but the King of Curses refuses.

Sukuna knows that Yuji has forgotten about their binding vow and decides to taunt him, confusing Mahito. Mahito knows Sukuna has the ability to heal Junpei using a Reverse Cursed Technique, but questions if Yuji made a Binding Vow at all.

Either way, the conditions remain in Mahito's favor. He decides to join Sukuna in laughing at Yuji while he tries to stop his fallen friend. In a state of rage and despair, Yuji reminds himself that creatures like Sukuna and Mahito will always be nothing but evil curses.

Junpei suddenly asks Yuji why this had to happen and dies. Mahito admits he transfigured him aggressively, making a joke of his death. Fed up with Mahito's existence, Yuji lands a powerful right and that sends Mahito crashing into the stairs. Mahito quickly recovers and while he admits Yuji's attack is interesting, he still believes it won't work.

However, Mahito's nose begins bleeding and he realizes that Yuji's attack had an effect after all. This makes Mahito realize that due to the nature of his own soul sharing a body with Sukuna, Yuji has naturally learned how to perceive the contours of the soul.

Before, Yuji never wanted to put himself in a situation to kill. In this moment however, Yuji is prepared to annihilate Mahito with all the power of his rage. Yuji states that he's going to kill Mahito, and the Cursed Spirit corrects him, claiming that Shamans should say "exorcise".