Chapter 240

Foolish Survivor —Live On— (バカサバイバー！！〜きれ〜) is the two hundred and fortieth chapter of Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen.

Summary
It was decided before the Shinjuku Showdown that Fumihiko Takaba would be the one to attack Kenjaku. However, not even Takaba expected his opponent to openly engage in a clash of wits and comedy.

Plot Details
Before the battle between Satoru Gojo and Sukuna, Angel discusses with the jujutsu sorcerers about attacking Kenjaku, since even if they defeat Sukuna, it wouldn't matter if Kenjaku achieves his goal of merging the Japanese people with Tengen. Kinji Hakari notes that judging from the rules added by Kenjaku, killing all the players participating in the Culling Game might be the condition to end it.

Yuta Okkotsu asks why they should worry about that since he and Hakari are also players, which would prevent Kenjaku from achieving his objective so long as they are fighting Sukuna. Atsuya Kusakabe mentally counters Yuta's statement by suggesting the possibility that defeating Sukuna comes at the cost of all their players' lives, and there are players like Kasumi Miwa who can't participate in the fight, but chooses not to verbally say it so as to not bring down the mood.

Angel suggests the possibility of Kenjaku ambushing them if Satoru loses, which Hakari admits would be disadvantageous for them if they are occupied with fighting Sukuna. Angel adds that even if Kenjaku doesn't ambush them and they achieve a narrow victory against Sukuna but at the cost of Satoru, they would be too weakened to fight Kenjaku.

Kusakabe recommends Maki Zenin to fight Kenjaku, but adds that it would be unwise to divide their forces before fighting Sukuna. Additionally, the fighter they choose would have to be more competent than a grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer in order to be up to the task. Mei Mei jokes that Kusakabe is incompetent since he is a grade 1 sorcerer, much to his annoyance, though she also considers herself unqualified due to having a record of running away from Kenjaku. Angel then nominates Fumihiko Takaba, much to Yuta, Hakari, and Kusakabe's confusion. Angel then asks the sorcerers present to keep quiet about the information she is about to reveal since it could negatively affect Takaba's cursed technique. Angel then proceeds to explain Takaba's technique, though it is cut off as the flashback ends.

Back to the present, Kenjaku struggles to deal damage to Takaba using his cursed spirits. As Takaba manifests an American flag bandanna and a pair of sunglasses on Kenjaku, the ancient sorcerer concludes that his cursed technique is the ability to manifest phenomena, which allows Takaba to create and control things he imagines. The power would render his knowledge of jujutsu he gained across a thousand years pointless if he's not careful. Kenjaku finds Takaba troublesome but is determined to find the weakness of his cursed technique, asking Takaba to identify himself.

Takaba introduces himself as a comedian of Nabe Nabe who made it into the first round of P-1, a tournament to determine the best stand-up comedian in Japan, last year. Kenjaku asks if the P-1 he is speaking of is the tournament notorious for only being funny due to how bad the performances are, much to Takaba's anger. Kenjaku then clarifies that he was joking before revealing that he already predicted Takaba's punch lines to his statement about P-1, annoying the comedian.

Kenjaku then says that he expected Takaba to be affiliated with Pony instead of Nabe Nabe. Takaba says that while everyone assumes that about him, the reason he chose Nabe Nabe is because of a certain comedian he admired due to watching Laughing Dog growing up. As Kenjaku is surprised that Takaba didn't watch VOCABULA, the comedian realizes that Kenjaku is able to understand him and wonders if he also likes comedy.

Takaba then asks Kenjaku why he is making people kill each other and trying to merge them to create a monster. Tired of having to repeat himself, Kenjaku summarizes his motivation as intellectual curiosity. Takaba then asks if Kenjaku would give up his plans if he found something more interesting, which he posits that he may. Takaba then points out that Kenjaku has "make me laugh" written all over his face, much to Kenjaku's chagrin when he realizes the idiom was literal using a mirror.

Takaba prepares to deliver a one-liner, piquing Kenjaku's curiosity. Takaba then says "Don't marry me! I don't want you as my wi-fi!", but it fails to make Kenjaku laugh. Kenjaku accurately guesses that Takaba thought up the joke when his phone automatically connected to a café's slow wi-fi, and points out that the joke would not work well for an audience watching from their TV at home. Kenjaku then properly criticizes Takaba's joke for having no setup, and a dismayed Takaba remembers someone saying "Doing comedy with you is not fun!!" as Kenjaku advises him to craft his jokes with an audience in mind.

Kenjaku finishes his criticism and elbow-strikes Takaba in the abdomen, sending the comedian crashing into the forest. Kenjaku notes that he felt his attack land this time, concluding that confidence and certainty is necessary for Takaba to activate his technique. As Kenjaku pursues Takaba, the latter dismisses his criticism earlier by calling Kenjaku a poseur who's never been on stage, and says that he doesn't care if Kenjaku doesn't laugh at his jokes as long as everyone else does. Kenjaku then questions if Takaba could confidently say that himself, stunning the comedian. Frustrated, Takaba demands to have a staring contest with Kenjaku where whoever laughs first loses. The two sorcerers then make funny faces at the same time with Takaba laughing first, allowing Kenjaku to land a powerful right punch on his face that sends him flying.

Laying on the ground, Takaba begins to wonder if Kenjaku is funnier than him and begins to lose confidence in himself. Remembering his colleague's words, he tries to regain confidence and collect himself, only to see Iori Hazenoki's corpse as he looks up. The scene horrifies Takaba, and as Kenjaku approaches from behind, the comedian realizes that the situation isn't funny and begins to remember why he wanted to become an entertainer.

Character in Order of Appearances

 * Hana Kurusu
 * Angel
 * Yuta Okkotsu
 * Atsuya Kusakabe
 * Mei Mei
 * Kinji Hakari
 * Kenjaku
 * Fumihiko Takaba
 * Iori Hazenoki

Battles & Events

 * Fumihiko Takaba vs. Kenjaku

Locations

 * Lake Gosho Colony, Iwate Prefecture

Jujutsu
Fumihiko Takaba's Techniques
 * Comedian

Kenjaku's Techniques
 * Cursed Spirit Manipulation

Trivia

 * When Takaba manifests
 * Nabe Nabe is possibly a reference to Watanabe Entertainment, a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate.
 * Pony is possibly a reference to Pony Canyon, a Japanese company that publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies, and video games.
 * Laughing Dog is a reference to the Japanese sketch comedy show Laughing Dog (笑う犬) that aired from 1998 to 2010.
 * VOCABULA is a reference to the Japanese sketch comedy show VOCABULA (ボキャブラ天国) that aired from 1992 to 2008.