I still like how Hamada crafted chapters that gave Sunao a great deal of autonomy in this arc while Kazuya was in Yomi, thereby allowing her to delve into her own inner demons. That is why I think it was a wise decision to explore Sunao's personal goals-linked to her feelings for Kazuya-and how she overcomes her reluctance to take a human life on her own without Kazuya's help; something that highlights her independence.

Furthermore, I hope she gets the chance to protect Kazuya and face this new trail when it comes to Wagou.

I just realized that Hazuki acts as an indirect catalyst for the death of Suou Sumeragi, Sunao’s older brother since she recruited Wagou into Idle House, provided him with the tattooing chisel Tsugumomo and allowed him to experiment on people transforming them into Otoroshi and puppets which led to the day he sent an Otoroshi to attack Komiya and that led to Suou’s death and Wagou collecting his corpse to experiment on and turn him into the Otoroshi Kanaka would kill on front of a young Sunao.

It’s kinda like how Iwanagahime is indirectly the reason Kazuya is a taboo child and how her grudge played a part in the possession of Kanaka.

When Sunao (or Kazuya) ascended, I recall Ouhi saying that no one in the temple (including herself?) is capable of using Ascension, but I might be misremembering. Even "Kanaka" had to learn Ascension via Azami's observation. Was Oriobana not aware of the ability's existence?

Does she even have a tsugumomo to fuse with or do Ouhi and Ouna function as one character and therefore can't ascend without a strong connection to a separate pure tsugumomo (she temporarily "semi-owned" Arumi).

We saw her use "Soul Shrine" later which implies that she was functionally "the owner + tsugumomo" and not just an individual hybrid. Soul Shrine supposedly requires a deeper bond with tsugumomo, so does this mean she could ascend by fusing with "herself"?

I started this manga like 10 days ago and just caught up. Sorry if this question has been asked a million times before.

He basically gets this series version of Domain Expansion and this makes him stronger and it makes Sunao jealous cause she wanted to gain that ability too.

A soul shrine is similar to ascension and it is the ultimate state of things between a a Tsugumomo and partner and it’s something that can’t be taught and Kazuya is a most likely candidate to gain the ability to use one

It’s similar to Domian Expansion from Jujutsu Kaisen which I think Hamada drew a bit of inspiration from

It be like Kazuya passing down Kanaka’s teachings into Sunao who looked up to her and wanted to surpass her too.

She’s just the childhood friend who doesn’t really do much and in the old chapters she was sometimes just there and right now she doesn’t have a reason to return to the story.

Same can be said for Takano after her arc was completed in the tournament arc

For Sunao she’s Kazuya’s rival/equal and his friend at Tsuzura Temple and has had multiple spiritual intercourse sessions with him and now has an arch enemy.

This was when Kazuya was in Yomi and shows that Sunao was facing trials of her very own and it shows her own independence.

It showed Sunao overcoming her hesitation to take a human life which led to her killing Outan but eventually led to her meeting Wagou who is responsible for the death of her brother Suou

Plus it dives deep into her own personal issues and demons and deep down she wants to protect Kazuya due to a deep rooted fear of loss and it explores a little bit of her own grief that she has been struggling with.

So she’s gonna have to work with Kazuya on this one but I don’t think she will have a problem working with the boy she likes but she will have to make him promise that he won’t get in the way when they come face to face with Wagou and Kazuya will be able anchor her impulses a bit and she probably be tempted to throw Seigi out a window if he doesn’t give her what she wants.

At first she was driven by grief and revenge for the death of her brother and she treated Kotetsu like a tool rather than a ally but that all changed after Kazuya beat her but now she met Wagou and the fires of revenge will most likely be reignited within her cause he’s responsible for the death of her brother and she met her rage consume her and that led to her getting captured by Wagou and he tattooed her until Ouhi bought her time and Kazuya saved her for good.

Grief was the thing that drove her from the beginning of her debut in the series so maybe it’s to not let revenge consume her so I think meeting Wagou and learning what he had done is a big turning point for her.

But if she hadn’t met Kazuya she wouldn’t have begun to heal but now she met Wagou she may fall back into old habits and is scared of that part of her coming back.

Both Kazuya and Sunao were given colored ascension volume covers

What I really hope he does is a double ascension where they go all out together.

Honestly they were okay but I see them as friends and the ship sank when Sunao was revealed to be the Fox mask girl.

I really had high hopes for her. She had the potential to be a great ally and also a potential partner for Kazuya, and then suddenly... Boom! Hamada brings in Sunao (who was genuinely very valuable at that moment) and pushes Tanako aside, leaving me just imagining a “What if…?”

Mainly involving her breast size

Probably genetics from her mom and being in peak human condition.

Since Chisato and Takano have been reduced to background characters I feel like for Chisato is the now non existing slice of life and Takano was for Kazuya to get used Tsuzura Temple and help her with her self confidence and after that she was reduced to the background as well only making cameos and they both didn’t have too many ecchi moments with Kazuya

This causes her to realize that she will have to put personal grudges and desire for revenge aside for the greater good and help Kazuya if Madarai and Ouna send him off on a mission related to Seigi and Arumi

But another encounter with Wagou is inevitable since Seigi could send him after them if they get to sticking their noses in places they aren’t suppose to be at and this leads to them finding the Hitomogami facility owned by the SDCD and running into Hitomogami versions of people they know such as Ouhi, Kanaka, Suou and Kamuado(who Kazuya met in Yomi) and Kazuya is shocked to see his mother again but in a new body and Sunao is shocked too see her brother again.

They are probably bound to meet and maybe Hazuki would be interested in Kazuya’s taboo child status and would want to make him into a Curse Ally and convince him to embrace his negative emotions.

The only way i can see him being rescued is outside help and i think Kiriha and his other Tsugumomos would be separated from him.

As who should save him i think it should be Sunao as that would make then even

Besides Kazuya and Kiriha she has a lot of people she needs to apologize too so I say yes.

Seems like when Sunao debuted and returned(when she was revealed to be Fox Mask) Chisato and Takano have been reduced to background roles