Working in tandem, Takeshi and Gō conjure up a massive wall of flame big enough to distract one of Claw's mooks just in time for him to meet Teru's right hook and join the rest of his crew on the floor for some well-deserved shut-eye. After having met Shimazaki, however, Team Reigen Ground is in far worse shape.
Ritsu and Shou finally reach the base of Seasoning City's Cultural Tower. Shimazaki is there already lying in wait. The two boys reach an understanding before Shou goes on ahead to put down his dad's plans; Ritsu stays behind to keep the teleporting ikemen occupied and to test his own mettle...
Meanwhile, Claw's sacking of his hometown works its way under Mob's skin. In his disquiet, he encounters a little band of Claw weasels pillaging a convenience store he used to frequent with his little brother. The fuming teenager takes the opportunity to teach them a lesson when they turn on him; Minegishi joins the fray just as Mob's ire cracks the concrete under his feet. It takes all of them to hold this child off.
Shimazaki is also offering lessons; but Ritsu is quite the recalcitrant student. He manages to keep the blind man tied up long enough for Team Reigen Air to arrive and catch him flat-footed. Koyama draws first blood. Surely Shimazaki will reach his limits with this many espers to keep track of?
Seeing Mob defend himself against Minegishi and the soldiers, Matsuo lends a helping yōkai or three. The lavender-haired florist just spears the hungry ghosts and laughs. In the ensuing scuffle, Mogami—untamed, ravenous—breaks free and drains the lives of all the soldiers nearby. Minegishi fights back, but in vain: the restless wraith seizes control of the roots coming at him and proceeds to crush the plant user with their own tools. Mob talks him, reluctantly, into sparing them. Mogami leaves the child with some good advice before moving on to parts unknown.
Shou gets the shock of his life as he quickly comes to terms with what his father truly is. The elder Suzuki wastes no time in cruelly flexing his abilities on Shou, as Serizawa stands watch.
The entire 7th Division descends on Shimazaki, but they can't leave another scratch on him—except for Sakurai's unexpected bullet. Ritsu and Teru share an idea; but just as Teru gives voice to it, Shimazaki decides to resume playing hacky-sack with the child's body. Unfortunately, Teru can now predict his attacks. The situation soon forces Shimazaki to use his ultimate weapon on everyone present to regain the upper hand.
An overpowering energy signature coming his way startles the blind ikemen. A temporarily-blind Teru can guess what it might be... his friend, newly awakened. Shimazaki is excited now: finally, a truly worthy opponent. When he gets caught off guard again, he yields. He is no match for this boy... or for an esper who can hide his aura. When a still-seething Mob quietly calls him out for taking part in this bullshit, he teleports away for dear life.
Ritsu and his brother reunite; he reveals to Mob that their parents are safe. As Teru, Ritsu, and the 7th Division prime themselves for more fighting, Mob flatly refuses their help—seeing how badly they've been hurt—and goes after Suzuki alone.
Tropes appearing in this episode include:
- The Bait: Ritsu offers himself up to slow down Shimazaki, draw in the rest of Claw's former 7th Division to help fight him, and allow Shou to challenge his father unimpeded. While Shimazaki claims not to enjoy 'beating up on weaklings' he appears to be having the time of his life literally pounding a child into the dirt. Ritsu's sacrifice of sorts has exactly the intended effect.
- Hoist By Their Own Petard: Narrowly subverted. Minegishi, whose green thumb backfires when Mogami absorbs their plants' energy. The vengeful spirit
spins up a whole skeleton, then a body of roots and branches around himself to crush them with. Mob manages to talk Mogami down before he ends the florist. - It Amused Me: Shimazaki. Oh, Shimazaki. Apparently his only reason for getting involved with Claw, following Suzuki's orders to kidnap Japan's prime minister, and dropkicking children through buildings. Shimazaki absolutely feels the fury in Mob's voice and vanishes.Reigen: What happened to taking over the world?
Shimazaki: Oh, the only one serious about that is the boss. I don't really care, as long as I get to have fun.
Mob: As long as you get to have fun? You disrupted the lives of so many people just for that? You can't be serious. - Mistaken for Badass: Not the first time this has happened with Reigen. When Shimazaki uses his Mind's Eye technique to scan his surroundings for other espers, Reigen—an absolute Muggle—completely escapes his notice. When the man sidles up and knocks the taste out of his mouth, Shimazaki assumes the phony psychic can hide his aura.
- Plunder: Mob catches some baby Claws in the act of breaking into an unmanned convenience store for snacks.
- Pressure Point: Part of Shimazaki's ultimate last-resort weapon: he hits pressure points on his victims' bodies to disrupt their neural impulses and drain their physical strength. This renders Teru unable to see at one point.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: A Claw soldier smashes Matsuo's most prized possession. The last emotion the man experiences is shock and perhaps regret as his vacated body hits the pavement, followed soon after by more soldiers. Mogami was hungry.
- Squishy Wizard: Hatori. While his psy-jacking abilities are peerless, the man himself is easily overpowered by a teenager; Shou just backflip-suplexes him without blinking and keeps running up the tower stairs.
- Teleport Spam / Would Hurt a Child: Shimazaki teleports multiple times to cheat inertia while pounding Teru through several buildings and hundreds of feet of air... until the teen reveals he can predict the man's attacks.
- Villain Respect: The only person whose life Mogami considers worthy of sparing after he breaks free of his bottle-prison is Mob. He hears the child out, respects his wishes, and advises him to be hard on people when kindness won't change their hearts before departing.
