Chapter 23 : Meeting 5t5
At first, Jiang Lai didn't react. He just widened his eyes slightly, looking at the floating ghost in front of him, and repeated the last sentence: "......happened twice?"
"To be precise, this day and the past period of time have all happened twice." Fushiguro Toji showed a leisurely, contemplative expression as he spread his hands. "However, I'm not clear on the specific timeframe either, since my sleeping time limited some information acquisition."
Jiang Lai rapidly processed the information just received in his mind and pointed out: "So you mean, December 24, 2017, the world restarted? Time flowed back to some day in the past, and then everything developed again?"
The Ghost Gentleman by the window nodded slightly, indicating that Jiang Lai understood correctly.
"......How do you know the world restarted?" Jiang Lai looked at the floating spirit before him.
Fushiguro Toji crossed his arms over his chest, lifted his eyes, and said lazily: "As a wandering soul that doesn't belong to this world, naturally I wouldn't be put into the restarted river of time, so my memories remain."
He turned his face and began narrating from the beginning.
"My death was probably in 2006, but when my consciousness awakened, it was already December 1, 2017."
"Oh, the reason I remember the date so clearly is because on the day I awakened, while watching gambling races on TV in this room, I won a bet, it's a pity that as a spirit I can't actually place real bets, I could only simulate it mentally, otherwise I definitely could have made quite a profit."
Jiang Lai: "......" Watching gambling on the first day of regaining consciousness, truly worthy of you, Daddy! (Solemnly respectful)
No wonder he could remember the date so clearly. After all, rarely winning at gambling, and it being an opening victory, was definitely a memorable anniversary worth remembering.
"Since I couldn't leave the pendant very far, I stayed in the room afterwards, watching gambling every night until December 24."
Fushiguro Toji narrowed his eyes and continued.
"At that time, something seemed to happen outside. The gambling channel wasn't on that night. The TV was broadcasting evacuation reports for crowds in Tokyo's Shinjuku and Kyoto, supposedly due to terrorist attacks or something."
This was the original timeline's plot. Jiang Lai's thoughts swayed as he recalled.
After Geto Suguru's advance warning, on Christmas Eve 2017, he released thousands of cursed spirits in Tokyo's Shinjuku and Kyoto, initiating the "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons."
"Of course, the terrorist bombing attack was probably just an explanation for the general public. The real cause of all this should have been cursed spirit or curse user activities."
The Ghost Gentleman shrugged.
"But I wasn't interested in understanding such things deeply. Since there was nothing good to watch on TV, I returned to rest in the locust wood pendant, preparing to come out again the next evening."
"But this rest was different from before. I could sense that I slept for a very long time. When I awakened again and emerged from the pendant," Fushiguro Toji paused slightly, "the time on TV had returned to December 1, 2017."
"?!" Jiang Lai was slightly startled, then concentrated in thought.
He calmly analyzed in his mind, combining the content of the ghost's words with what he previously knew, organizing it into a relatively clear timeline.
That is to say:
2006, Fushiguro Toji's physical body died, became a spirit but had no consciousness.
2017 December 1, spirit Fushiguro Toji's consciousness recovered, rarely won at gambling.
December 24, 2017, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons began, same or similar to the original, TV broadcast related news.
(Something extraordinary seemed to happen on this day, causing the world to restart and the timeline to regress)
Second playthrough - XXXX year, unknown second playthrough regression restart point.
Second playthrough - December 1, 2017, spirit Fushiguro Toji regained consciousness again, noticing the repetition of time.
Second playthrough - December 24, 2017, an ordinary Christmas Eve, nothing happened.
The following year, due to the presence of spirit Fushiguro Toji here, the house constantly had haunting rumors.
Second playthrough - December 2018, he rented this room.
After completing the timeline brainstorm, Jiang Lai pondered: "So, although it's uncertain what caused the world restart, besides you, there must be someone still alive in reality who started a second playthrough of a certain time period with their memories intact."
"Precisely because of this, under the unintentional influence of butterfly wings or intentional changes, December 24, 2017 passed without incident this time."
Even affecting 2018's events. Jiang Lai thought. Brain Flower's plan was probably disrupted, so the original Shibuya Incident of autumn 2018 didn't happen either.
Fushiguro Toji nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping past the buildings outside the window, locking onto the iris flower logo on top of a distant high-rise building in the distance. Then he said: "......As long as the person who restarted with memories isn't from in there, it should be fine."
Jiang Lai followed his gaze out the window, thought for a moment, and replied: "Probably not."
He knew what was originally supposed to happen that day in the original work.
Geto Suguru, who held the belief of "killing all non-sorcerers," initiated the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons to increase the possibility of achieving this goal, wanting to obtain the special-grade vengeful cursed spirit on Okkotsu Yuta "Cursed Queen" Kimoto Rika.
But this plan didn't succeed. Geto Suguru was defeated by the pure love warrior Okkotsu, and met his former close friend Gojo Satoru in an alley.
At the final moment, the two confided their feelings and exchanged final words. In the very end, Gojo Satoru personally executed his close friend, the curse named Geto was exorcised.
Although Geto Suguru's past experiences were different in the new series, based on what Fushiguro Toji just said, the first playthrough's situation most likely still progressed to the "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons" step.
So, Jiang Lai speculated in his mind, the time regression that occurred on this day was very likely related to Geto Suguru or Gojo Satoru, and the one with memories might be one of them, or both.
At the very least, it was someone from Geto's faction or Gojo's faction who caused the time regression.
Jiang Lai withdrew his gaze and noticed that Fushiguro Toji's spirit form was much dimmer than before: "You......"
"I don't have much time to stay conscious now, let me focus on the important points." Fushiguro Toji crossed his arms over his chest, speaking faster, "If you trust me, try to stay as far away as possible from any activities, task assignments, and transactions related to the Regulatory Committee unless you want to get more involved and are confident you can outplay them."
Jiang Lai blinked lightly.
"The Regulatory Committee's true purpose differs from what's publicly announced on the surface. While seeming to provide benefits, it's just a facade."
"At least what I know is that part of their secret goals involve using ordinary people and jujutsu sorcerers selected by certain standards for some kind of......possibly experiments."
"A large portion of the missing population in society is related to them, although the truth has never been known by anyone, and no one believes it."
The Ghost Gentleman snorted at this point, with ambiguous meaning: "......Or perhaps those who know either became one of them or returned to death."
"I was also one of the targeted individuals marked by them, but maintaining my current spirit state was an accident." Fushiguro Toji's voice was hoarse, "It might be related to my zero cursed energy body."
The Ghost Gentleman's spirit color had become very faint, and he no longer floated by the window but returned to beside the locust wood pendant on the table.
Jiang Lai looked at him and said steadily: "Is this the message you want me to relay to the Six Eyes?"
Fushiguro Toji lifted his dark green eyes, seemingly suddenly changing the topic: "I suddenly remember our nighttime transaction conversation from before."
This sentence seemed a bit abrupt, but Jiang Lai only needed a second to understand his meaning. So Toji's transaction payment was ultimately entrusted to himself?
(However, he didn't directly answer the previous question, perhaps not revealing the message he wanted conveyed, just sharing more intelligence.)
"Mmm......I thought you didn't trust me." Jiang Lai smiled.
"Because it's hard to say whether you'd inform on me or even become one of them. As I mentioned before, those who come into contact with that level either die or become one of them."
Fushiguro Toji shrugged and chuckled lightly, "But now, since you have your own private interests and goals, you probably won't truly join their ranks."
"I'll tell you more details when I'm conscious next time." He restrained some of his lazy casualness, releasing the fierce beast-like momentum from his eyes, pointing remotely toward that entrenched organization, "Finally, if you really want to participate, win."
"Of course." Jiang Lai's gaze was steady and calm, "I will win."
They looked at each other, just like when they first met. The difference was that this time, their eyes no longer held the high walls of wariness.
The floating spirit curled the corners of his mouth, the scar moving slightly, and he said nothing more.
Fushiguro Toji half-closed his eyes and gradually disappeared from view.
The Ghost Gentleman fell asleep again in that locust wood pendant.
The room returned to quiet. A breeze followed the window cracks to billow the curtains on one side, then smoothed out the wrinkles.
"......" Jiang Lai lowered his head to stare at the pendant on the table. After a moment, he reached out to pick it up.
Now the room had returned to just him alone.
Jiang Lai exhaled, knowing that the upcoming plot development would depend on his own efforts.
Fortunately, he now possessed a technique and had sufficient strength to conduct some deeper exploration.
Jiang Lai spaced out for a while, put down the pendant, then opened his phone.
It was also at this time that he noticed the manga update.
Jiang Lai straightened his back, quickly logged onto the website to read the update, then went to the forum to read some analysts' comments. Soon after, in the group chat, he skimmed through the content of the physical version supplementary intelligence booklet that Kurosawa Akira had sent.
Additionally, his phone email received an analysis email from Kudo Shinichi regarding the content.
After browsing through all the content from the forum, group chat, and email, Jiang Lai fell into a brief cosmic universal thinking transcendence.
Jiang Lai (falling into a daze): ......There's, too much intelligence!
After letting his mind go blank for several or dozens of minutes, he numbly got up and went to make a meal to comfort himself (also opened a bottle of drink from the refrigerator).
After eating and drinking his fill, Jiang Lai's mental state improved considerably.
After simple rest and recovery from the bewildered state caused by information overload, Jiang Lai felt his brain was much clearer now and could continue calm analysis.
So he sat back in front of the sofa, staring at the cold-resistant potted plant placed in front of him, hands naturally crossed, beginning to organize the information obtained from this incident in his mind.
First, regarding the Regulatory Committee's intelligence, Toji had informed him the most.
Jiang Lai planned to currently designate this organization as a target to watch, but wouldn't rush to actively explore deeply until his strength accumulation was sufficient.
Second, regarding speculation about the supplementary intelligence booklet content, the forum analysts had summarized it relatively comprehensively.
This was also the most shocking and enlightening part for Jiang Lai. He thought about those speculations regarding Gojo Satoru's second playthrough.
After the world restarted, was Gojo Satoru the one with memories? Connecting this with what Toji told him and the timeline he organized, the possibility of this part being true seemed quite high.
Now the question was, how did the world restart......it couldn't be related to himself, right?
He lowered his eyes, his mind echoing with the forum's speculation about the word [Clock].
Universal Control had time techniques, but affecting the entire world with fluctuations seemed a bit......unrealistic.
Jiang Lai jokingly thought to himself. Unless combined with Gojo Satoru's Six Eyes power, plus the setting that he wasn't human but a world save point, it might just work.
However, regardless, if it was related to himself, it meant there should have been his participation in some part of the past.
He just didn't know in what way that past would unfold......Jiang Lai leaned back, resting against the soft sofa.
Would his mind suddenly have some non-existent memories? Or would he need to actually participate once, ultimately forming a Möbius time loop?
Forget it, he'll see when the time comes. Jiang Lai kept it in mind.
Finally, regarding this alley incident, Kudo Shinichi mentioned it most in his email.
The email said that the strange liquid fox cursed spirit had no trace in the original work and was a new series existence.
This guy's ability seemed to be conducting some kind of targeted (selecting target humans or cursed spirits) mental attacks in fog, causing unconsciousness and dream effects.
However, it currently seemed this move had no lethality or perhaps it didn't use harsh methods on Fushiguro Megumi and the child present.
Jiang Lai's thoughts diverged for a moment, associating it with things like [one-second sleep to cure insomnia].
Additionally, Kudo Shinichi also analyzed: This cursed spirit seemed to have a good relationship with Geto Suguru (regardless of whether it was the real or fake Geto), but they most likely weren't in a master-servant relationship. If it were a master-servant relationship, Geto Suguru could directly sense and summon commands instead of coming to find it personally.
A good relationship? Jiang Lai rested one hand on his chin. If it's not a master-servant relationship, then a cooperative relationship?
Honestly, if this Gojo was second playthrough, then Geto Suguru should be the real one.
But the person he met that day still looked like a curse user after defection.
However, according to speculation by a certain analyst in the forum, perhaps Geto Suguru was defecting on the surface but secretly still had contact with Gojo and Ieiri, and the two were cooperating to complete some plan. Jiang Lai rubbed his chin.
......Now it should be Gojo Satoru who convinced Geto Suguru, not Geto Suguru who convinced Gojo Satoru. Jiang Lai was silent for a moment.
If both chose to "build a world with only jujutsu sorcerers," then there'd be no need for schemes. The two combined strongest would have already destroyed the world (.).
After roughly organizing the intelligence from all three sources, Jiang Lai deeply exhaled and collapsed on the sofa.
Having the plot develop to this point all at once, while yielding rich rewards, was also very exhausting.
Take it slowly going forward. he thought.
…
To be able to know immediately when Toji awakened in the future, and for the pendant's safety, Jiang Lai decided to carry it with him.
Conveniently, the locust wood pendant had a hole for threading rope, so he bought a red string to thread it through, making it into an ornament tied at his waist.
In the following week, without the Ghost Gentleman's nightly must-watch gambling participation, Jiang Lai resumed a normal schedule, going to bed early and rising early for good health.
However, correspondingly, the path to making money by betting opposite to gambling was cut off, therefore, Jiang Lai used his hacking skills again to start taking jobs on the dark web to make money daily.
Speaking of which, there was also the manga "Detective Conan" in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, with quite considerable sales, considered a household name shonen manga.
When he noticed this point at the time, he silently complained: The Jujutsu Kaisen and Detective Conan worlds belong to the type that don't know about each other's existence but observe each other mutually.
One day, Jiang Lai even had a sudden inspiration and opened a light novel-style fanfiction online, with the pen name [Phone Stand] and the title "After Being Bound to a Grim Filter, I Reverse-Sprint to Become the Hidden Boss of the Black Organization."
He wasn't worried about these being livestreamed to the neighboring Detective Conan world. After all, under the influence of world consciousness, the original inhabitants wouldn't realize their world was being observed and turned into manga/novels.
During this period, Jiang Lai also went upstairs to clean once.
When using the bronze key to open the Geto family's front door, Jiang Lai instinctively tensed for a moment, his mind flashing through various dangerous possibilities, but ultimately nothing happened.
After opening the door, he saw an ordinary home, just that the house's owner hadn't returned for a long time.
Jiang Lai didn't change the indoor furnishings. He just simply swept and mopped the floor, wiping some furniture with a damp cloth.
On the Geto family's old-fashioned TV, there was still a standing photo frame containing a color family portrait.
The young boy with a topknot smiled at the camera, with his parents on either side.
Due to the passage of years, it was covered with a thin layer of dust.
"......" Jiang Lai lowered his eyes, paused, then picked up this photo frame to wipe it as well, removing the dust on it.
During this time, the Jujutsu Kaisen new series manga on the website continued updating. From it, Jiang Lai saw that Fushiguro Megumi and the child were ultimately safe and sound, feeling relieved in his heart.
Both of them sustained minor injuries but recovered quickly without any aftereffects.
In the panels, Gojo Satoru brought Itadori Yuji and Kugisaki Nobara, swaggering into the medical room to cheerfully make a ruckus with Fushiguro Megumi, causing the recently conscious Fushiguro Megumi to show a brief speechless expression, thinking internally that he might as well lie down a bit longer.
Finally, Ieiri Shoko knocked on the wall beside her and said flatly: "Alright, if you're going to keep making noise, get out." Thus stopping the chaos in the medical room.
Only then could Fushiguro Megumi finally straighten his expression and discuss serious matters. He lifted his dark blue eyes, speaking urgently yet steadily: "Gojo-sensei, in this incident I encountered…"
"I know." The white-haired teacher in front of him raised a finger, replying before Fushiguro Megumi could finish.
He still had that smiling expression: "He even called us at the time, you know? After telling us the address, we found you so quickly."
"......" Hearing this, Fushiguro Megumi was slightly stunned, obviously surprised by that mysterious figure's actions. He hadn't expected that person would also actively notify Jujutsu High people to come support him!
However, immediately after, he recalled that person's timely rescue in the alley, it was also help he hadn't expected. Why would that person help him?
Fushiguro Megumi was silent for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth: "......Gojo-sensei, do you know that person?"
Beside them, Itadori Yuji and Kugisaki Nobara also quieted down upon hearing this, both lifting their faces.
The medical room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Ieiri Shoko calmly lit a cigarette.
For a moment, everyone's gaze fell on the certain white-haired teacher standing in place.
Gojo Satoru's black eyepatch covered half his face, the remaining corner of his mouth curved in a just-right arc. From outward appearance, nothing was revealed.
Hearing Fushiguro Megumi's question, he tilted his head slightly, then suddenly knocked his right palm with his left hand, having a sudden realization:
"Ah, shoot! I only remembered to send you here, forgot to get my specially ordered sugar-level Kikufuku that I'd reserved long ago!!"
Itadori & Fushiguro & Kugisaki (in unison): "Hey! That topic change was way too perfunctory!"
When Jiang Lai saw this part at the time, he couldn't help but picture the gif [a crow cawing as it flies by, followed by three periods] in his mind.
Honestly, although he was one of the parties involved, he really wanted to know what was going on with this Gojo in front of him, and whether he actually recognized himself......
Since the alley incident ended that day, Jiang Lai had been tensed up, ready at any moment for Gojo Satoru to come find him.
But a week passed with still no sign of Teacher Gojo appearing. Jiang Lai's tense string gradually loosened and returned to normal.
It seemed like, probably, this Teacher Gojo really had no particular interest in himself. he thought. Just as Fushiguro Toji once said, since he neither threatened his students nor was enthusiastic about joining, he was a neutral party that didn't need special interaction.
Jiang Lai's thoughts swayed in his mind as he carried a dessert shopping bag while climbing the stairs.
Today was December 25, his birthday, so Jiang Lai had specially bought a small chocolate cake from the downstairs dessert shop, planning to eat it as a post-meal dessert later.
The weather was very good today. Jiang Lai pushed open his front door, and brilliant golden sunlight came flooding toward him. He couldn't help but lower his head and squint, adjusting to such enthusiastic daylight.
It was also at this moment that he noticed the black shadow cast and extending to his feet.
"......" Jiang Lai paused for 0.something seconds, then silently looked up.
In front of him, a chair faced directly toward the door's position, with the person sitting on it casually and arrogantly spreading his two long legs. His white hair seemed plated with shining golden edges in the light, his slender hands overlapped together as he gazed forward.
The unexpected visitor's posture was more natural than the actual owner of this room.
Today's Gojo Satoru wasn't wearing a black eyepatch, his perfect face tilted slightly upward. Although backlit, those transparent glass-bead blue eyes remained crystal clear.
The world's one and only divine Six Eyes, in the blue floated infinitely extending ultimate sky, carrying deep bottomless billions of tons of deep sea.
When he lifted his eyes, icebergs and hidden rivers surged and galloped, high cliffs and white snow swept and flew, all things in the world concentrated and condensed in an instant, tilting toward him in the narrow rental room.