Chapter 10 : See You Tomorrow
Yes, that's right. This house indeed has a ghost, and it's a somewhat familiar ghost (Jiang Lai is unilaterally familiar with him).
Having read the "Jujutsu Kaisen" manga, he naturally recognizes who this person (ghost) with drooping sea urchin hair and a scar at the corner of his mouth is.
Fushiguro Toji, the father of protagonist team member Fushiguro Megumi, originally named Zenin Toji. Because he had no cursed energy, he was discriminated against by Zenin family people. Later Toji left the Zenin family, working solo as a bounty hunter.
Famous Heavenly Restriction bearer. Though lacking cursed energy, he's formidably strong and strategic. Back during the Star Plasma Vessel mission, he thoroughly defeated Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru during their high school period.
In the original work, he finally died at the hands of Gojo Satoru after awakening the Reverse Cursed Technique, over ten years ago.
Don't know if this new series also has the same background.
The television broadcasts late-night gambling boxing channels. Even if underground black boxing isn't live, you can still feel that killing atmosphere and gamblers' excited behavior.
Fushiguro Toji's hobby is gambling-related (though his luck is terrible, he still enjoys it tirelessly). Seems his entertainment life after death remains unchanged.
When Jiang Lai came out of the house earlier, Fushiguro Toji glanced over. Though he looked somewhat surprised, his attention quickly returned to the television.
When Jiang Lai manipulated the circuit breaker, even during his later remote comments, he showed no reaction, until Jiang Lai spoke his name.
Because this proved Jiang Lai wasn't randomly talking to air, but truly saw him.
At this moment, the two look at each other across half the living room distance. Television screen light illuminates a small square of space.
Spirit form Fushiguro Toji raises an eyebrow, making eye contact with Jiang Lai. He hooks his lips, nodding slightly. His first words are actually: "Not bad lock-picking speed."
"Thank you." Jiang Lai's response is also natural. He replies frankly: "Originally wanted to ask how you locked the door, but considering the current television situation, you probably have some control ability over non-living objects."
Incidentally, from this point you can see that jujutsu world ghosts have stronger power than Detective Conan world ones.
Fushiguro Toji maintains a lazy attitude, neither confirming nor denying Jiang Lai's judgment.
He slightly narrows his eyes, drawing out his tone, turning the topic: "After all this time, someone can still recognize me... Is my reputation that big?" Like an ordinary question, yet seemingly containing unclear probing.
His words don't mention time. But Jiang Lai judges in his heart, probably like the original work, Fushiguro Toji's death date should be over ten years ago.
Jiang Lai smiles, and just like Fushiguro Toji never directly answered his questions, he also doesn't directly respond to anything, only saying: "Since that's the case, reciprocally, do I need to introduce myself too?"
Jiang Lai asks this question for a reason. When he was wandering around the house during the day, he never saw any spirit form figure.
Don't know where exactly Fushiguro Toji appeared from. He wants to use this question to simply judge the ghost Fushiguro Toji's appearance times.
When viewing the house during the day, agency personnel called him "Jiang Lai-san." If Fushiguro Toji was also there during the day, he definitely heard this name.
At the beginning at the airport, to escape the passerby situation, Jiang Lai used the name 'Gojo Lai,' but he knows that to avoid trouble, daily life naturally shouldn't casually use the Gojo family name, so he still uses the more familiar 'Jiang Lai' from his original documents.
Moreover, this kind of name switching also gives manga audiences more speculation space, just right for him to think about how to act later.
Facing Jiang Lai's proactive self-introduction gesture, Fushiguro Toji doesn't reply yes or no. He changes position, shrugs, smiling casually:
"Doesn't matter. If you want to, go ahead." A leisurely attitude, not revealing anything in his words.
They each extend feelers, then withdraw again.
Logically, what should appear most in this kind of scene, one side shocked there's a ghost and one side surprised someone can actually see him, such dialogue doesn't unfold at this moment.
Both people facing this incident are very calm and cautious (at least on the surface).
"..." Jiang Lai maintains his unchanged smile. He doesn't rush for quick success here, exploring more. For a first meeting, this level of exchange with another "tenant" is sufficient.
More invisible bargaining chip weighing and trading can be left for later. He believes they'll have more time.
Jiang Lai slightly lowers his eyes, lightly yawning: "A bit sleepy. Please keep the television down. Other things, let's chat in detail tomorrow."
"Oh, sure." Fushiguro Toji's eyebrows lift lightly, seeming to agree, yet the latter half turns: "But I don't think you'll live here long, no need for detailed chat either."
Somewhat like an eviction order, also like probing for information.
Jiang Lai's eyes curve with smiles: "Whether to live long or not, that's a topic to discuss with the landlord."
Pointing out that the ghost before him isn't the house's real owner.
Two seconds of air silence.
The two seem like wild beasts accidentally meeting in the jungle, very wary of each other. Seemingly casual conversation, yet all watertight and slightly sharp, neither relaxing first.
Gazes meet, then separate. The atmosphere after a moment returns to normal again.
Jiang Lai yawns, stepping toward the bedroom.
Fushiguro Toji looks away, continuing to watch television.
On the television screen, a new round of gambling is about to begin. Player information is being displayed one by one. The commentator calls enthusiastically for the general public to place bets and vote.
The semi-transparent lonely soul re-immersed in this fervent atmosphere unconsciously taps his knee with his fingers, seemingly pondering.
But of course he has no way to bet and participate.
"Tonight, perhaps I can place a bet for you."
The sudden voice from the side-rear makes Fushiguro Toji's body pause slightly. He turns his head, gaze staring directly at the black-haired youth who already has his hand on the bedroom door handle.
Jiang Lai at the bedroom door shows his profile, smiling lightly: "See you tomorrow."
"..." Fushiguro Toji's eyes lift, his scarred mouth corner moves. His eyeballs turn, raising his lips with unclear meaning: "...See you tomorrow."
Bedroom.
Jiang Lai, lying in bed again, silently exhales, staring at the ceiling overhead, not falling asleep.
Not because he's worried Fushiguro Toji might come assassinate him in the middle of the night.
Though spirit form Toji now seemingly can control non-living objects to some degree, as a bounty hunter, he generally doesn't do this kind of 'meaningless' work without payment.
This point is somewhat similar to Jiang Lai's previous little lamb disguise in the Detective Conan world.
He's a rare person who can see spirit forms. Fushiguro Toji understands this. This means he might be a channel for the other party to contact this world, so the other party won't easily harm him.
Most importantly, though the two now instinctively guard against each other, essentially they have no conflicts of interest, naturally no worries about crossed swords.
So Jiang Lai's current reason for not rushing to sleep is just habitually wanting to replay the recent experience in his mind, seeing if there are any inappropriate performances.
Jiang Lai quickly reviews the recent conversation and attitude. Overall quite satisfied.
The final exchange about bets and seeing each other tomorrow, though neither clearly specified anything, this actually counts as the beginning of preliminary trade negotiations for tomorrow.
Specific details will be slowly discussed later.
According to what agency personnel said about long-standing continuous haunting rumors here, Fushiguro Toji should have stayed here for a long time. Does he not want to leave, or can't leave?
Because he once lived here, he became this house's earthbound spirit? Or is he influenced by some factor, attached to an object in the house?
Jiang Lai's warm brown eyes blink lightly in the darkness.
... Speaking of which, don't know why Fushiguro Toji's soul would linger in the world. But according to his personality, this form of [immortality] might not be his own wish.
After getting familiar, perhaps he can ask about some details from back then. Jiang Lai thinks. Maybe there's something different that led to the current result.
Currently this new series hasn't revealed the reason for power imbalance between cursed spirits and humans. Jiang Lai feels that maybe the key to completing the manga lies in this.
And digging up those hidden secrets naturally requires gradually starting from small differences.
In any case, during the day, first use his hacking skills to search for Toji-related materials on the dark and surface web, seeing if he can find some useful information.
Several rounds of thoughts flow through his mind. After thinking, drowsiness surges like tide again. Jiang Lai doesn't waste energy staying up late. Resting well gives him energy for tomorrow.
He follows his instincts, pulling the blanket to cover more securely, changing to a more comfortable position, continuing to sleep peacefully.
Living room.
Another boxing match on the television channel ends. Cheers and curses from the lively audience around the screen weave together, creating an extremely lively atmosphere.
In front of the television, Fushiguro Toji watches with a calm expression.
As a spirit form, he can freely construct clothing on his body. Therefore, he always maintains wearing summer black short-sleeve tight shirt with loose outer pants.
This was his most frequent combination when alive. After death, he still habitually dresses this way.
Only one thing differs from his past habits, his left hand is wrapped with several layers of bandages from beginning to end, covering his palm and extending to his wrist.
For a ghost with no meaning of bleeding or injury, the bandages' existence seems rather strange.
"..." Fushiguro Toji half-lowers his eyes. In the dim environment, his expression is unclear. After a moment, he loosens his self-constructed bandages somewhat, then raises his hand.
The bandages belonging to the spirit form's illusion disappear when detached. At this time, on the completely exposed semi-transparent back of his hand, you can see a black and white marking.
It's a beautiful iris flower pattern.