Kinji Hakari vs. Charles Bernard is a battle fought by Tokyo Jujutsu High third-year student, Kinji Hakari against aspiring mangaka turned awakened sorcerer Charles Bernard. It occurred in the Tokyo No. 2 Colony during the Culling Game.
Prologue
Hakari agrees to ride a ferris wheel with Charles in a depressed state.
Kinji Hakari is seperated from Panda upon entering the barrier to the Tokyo No. 2 Colony. He ends in up an amusement park with a functioning ferries wheel where he agrees to ride the attraction with Charles Bernard. Charles is an aspiring manga creator with a bleak outlook on the future due to the Culling Game's influence on civilian life. Charles asks Hakari if he knows what it means to be a manga creator, to which he responds with "nope!".
While Hakari has a more optimistic outlook on the future, believing he could take a girl back to this amusement park, Charles needs a reason to fight. He wants to have a positive reason to hurt someone the same way manga characters do and asks Hakari to make him hate him so bad he would want to kill him. Hakari obliges by insulting Charles and his manga aspirations while provoking a fight. These words strike a cord within Charles and he sheds tears and asks why Hakari would say such hurtful words before attacking.[1]
Battle
Charles attacks Hakari for insulting his passion.
Charles summons G Warstaff and attacks Hakari while they're still in one of the cars on the ferris wheel. Hakari avoids it and casually gets on top of a different car with his hands still in his pockets. Charles lunges at him with G Warstaff and rapidly thrusts the spear at Hakari's head. Hakari effortlessly moves his head out of the way of each thrust while Charles recites a "poem" written by Katsura Hoshino. Hakari jumps down to a small building away from the ferris wheel and Charles follows him down. Hakari throws a kick that Charles blocks with the pole section of his spear but the impact sends Charles sliding backward.
Charles using G Warstaff to see into Hakari's future.
Charles expresses that his reality has been overtaken by jujutsu and it's trusted him into despair. He channels this feeling into cursed energy and uses it to fuel his next spear thrust. The pen-like tip of the spear grazes Hakari's cheek and draws blood. This fills G Warstaff's condition for drawing ink from Charles's opponent and activates its true ability. Charles creates a small square on Hakari's chest, a manga panel that allows Charles to peer one second into his future. Hakari throws a flying kick but Charles is able to avoid it, ducking under the attack and countering perfectly. As a swipe of G Warstaff knocks Hakari off the small building, he realizes something is amiss and retreats back several paces.
Charles points out that Hakari has taken his hands out of his pockets in order to taunt him and then explains how his cursed technique works. The more blood drawn into G Warstaff's tip, the further into the future Charles can see. Hakari tests the authenticity of Charles's claims by rushing him directly. Charles ducks under Hakari's proceeding right hook and notes that Hakari's speed would have overpowered him if not for G Warstaff's foresight. After avoiding the punch, Charles counterattacks with a spinning strike and hits Hakari's head with the flat side of his spear.
Hakari attacks Charles's blindspots as a counter to his foresight.
Hakari confirms that Charles can actually see the future and immediately implements countermeasures, disappearing from his opponent's line of sight. Hakari suddenly delivers a right straight punch directly into Charles's back, knocking him forward. Confused, Charles mentally notes the pain from Hakari's punch before turning around to face his opponent. However, Hakari turns around with him to keep out of Charles's line of sight. Hakari states that Charles likely needs to see his opponent in order to see their future and can counter this by remaining in his blindspots and pressuring him from them. Charles turns around to swing G Warstaff at his opponent, but Hakari throws himself backward while tucking his legs upward to remain under the attack. Hakari extends his legs and delivers a powerful upward handstand kick that forces back. Charles blocks part of the attack with his forearm and notes that it's Hakari's rough cursed energy that's hurting him.
"I have to utterly... break you!"
Charles attempts to outmaneuver Hakari by attacking his own blindspots in advance but the more seasoned sorcerer has already taken this into consideration. Hakari grabs Charles's spear as he stabs it behind him and then punches Charles in his back again. Frustrated, Charles quickly turns around but Hakari has already blitzed him and delivers a punch to the lower abdomen. Hakari could go easier on Charles, but he knows he would just find another reason to attack people and has decided to utterly break the otaku. The punch sends Charles back again and Hakari quickly circles around behind his opponent. Charles swipes G Warstaff's tip across Hakari's forehead, drawing more blood and increasing the time Charles can see into the future. Charles boasts that he can see two seconds into Hakari's future now and will be waiting in his blind spot. Unsatisfied with Hakari's response to this taunt, Charles questions why his opponent is posing. Hakari forms the requisite hand sign to expand his domain: Idle Death Gamble. The guaranteed-hit effect of Hakari's domain expansion appraises his opponent of the rules of Idle Death Gamble: Private Pure Love Train ver. 1/239.[2]
Hakari fighting Charles inside his domain.
Charles is forcibly given a tutorial of the rules of the pachinko-based domain where Hakari's main goal is to line up three of the same symbols and hit the jackpot. Charles expresses that he doesn't appreciate the info dump as both fighters enter the starting stage. Hakari opens with effect indicator attacks, flicking a green ball that bounces off G Warstaff while Charles is guarding. Then he creates red train doors that appear at waist level on both sides of Charles. Charles jumps over the closing doors and Hakari moves onto riichi mode. They enter the low-chance transit card riichi scenario and Charles uses the moment to take in and experience the flow of the game. Hakari misses the jackpot and they're returned to the starting stage, where Charles accepts that the game will continue until he defeats Hakari or a jackpot is hit and Charles loses.
"If it was a game of skill instead of luck you might have won."
After expressing his displeasure with Idle Death Gamble's appropriation of Candy Nakamura's romantic comedy manga, Private Pure Love Train, Charles attacks by rapidly thrusting G Warstaff at Hakari. Charles taunts Hakari for believing that victory is attainable with only 1/239 odds while he can still see the future. Hakari avoids all of Charles's spear attacks and then conjures gold train doors to block him off. Charles is shocked by the sight of high indicating gold and Hakari slides around the doors into Charles' blindspot to deliver another powerful right hook. Hakari's attack leads them right into riichi mode where Charles blocks the hit and finds himself in the high-chance final train riichi scenario.
Hakari hits the jackpot and defeats Charles in one blow.
Hakari stays on the offensive with a strong elbow that Charles narrowly blocks with his polearm. As the visualization of the riichi scenario plays out, Hakari keeps the pressure on Charles with more punches. As the final train arrives, Hakari throws an axe kick that Charles blocks again, but the relentless pace of the attacks keeps him from focusing on the future.
The final train leaves and Yume appears to have taken it, indicating a missed jackpot. Energized by this assumption, Charles uses a forward thrust to slice into the side of Hakari's lower abdomen. Seriously injured, Hakari falls to his knees and Charles taunts him by claiming the Jujutsu High student could have won if his abilities were grounded in skill instead of luck. Suddenly, Yume reappears and confirms she missed the final train, indicating a successful jackpot. Hakari is given a bonus of infinite cursed energy and kicks directly through Charles's defenses, breaking G Warstaff and defeating the aspiring manga creator in one blow.[3]
Aftermath
Immediately after defeating Charles, Hakari finds Panda and rescues him from Hajime Kashimo.[4] After his fight with Kashimo, Hakari returned to Charles and asked if he felt better after venting his frustrations through a fight. Charles usually learns everything important from manga, but he agrees with Hakari that the way of killing can also be the way of healing. Hakari offers to buy and read Charles' manga but is surprised to learn that Charles hasn't published anything yet. Annoyed, Hakari kicks Charles and tells him not to worry like an established manga creator and to continue drawing like his life depends on it because the Culling Game will be over soon.[5]
References
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 181 (p. 17=23).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 182 (p. 1-19).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 183 (p. 1-19).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 185 (p. 18-19).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 190 (p. 8-13).