Chapter 24 : [Yesterday's Past Days]
Seeing this uninvited guest entering his home, Jiang Lai's brain went blank for a moment, and the hand gripping the dessert bag unconsciously tightened slightly.
But his face still maintained a calm, unruffled expression as he coolly lifted his eyes to meet those world-unique Six Eyes.
Warm brown and deep blue intersected, the heavy earth carrying all things and the vast firmament above the clouds meeting at a point on the distant horizon.
......What kind of relationship do we have? Did you and I know each other in the past? What are you trying to convey in this brief eye contact?
The questions that had lingered for so long inevitably surfaced, and answers would be found at the moment of their meeting.
The sunlight streaming through the window grew increasingly bright, like a rolling sun gradually expanding to occupy the entire field of vision, exaggerated to an unbelievable degree, everything before his eyes becoming invisible intense white light…
Jiang Lai instinctively squinted and raised his hand to block it slightly.
When he lowered his hand again, the scene before him had completely changed.
Layer upon layer of trees converged into a vast green ocean, lush and full of upward-growing vitality. Gentle sunlight streamed through forest gaps in dappled patterns, like golden sand leaking from the horizon. Everything was incredibly quiet and magnificent.
"?" Jiang Lai looked bewildered.
Wait, how did the map change with just a blink?? And shouldn't it be winter now?
Time-space travel? He instinctively sensed his own technique, but that vertical time technique part was still in an unlocked, semi-blocked state.
From this perspective, what caused this scene wasn't his own technique. Jiang Lai analyzed calmly in his mind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Skillfully logging onto the official website, he saw a prominent line clearly marked:
【Warmly celebrate the opening of the next chapter of the new series [Yesterday's Past Days]! Enter past events and reveal previous foreshadowing!】
Jiang Lai: "..."
Jiang Lai was silent for two seconds before finally reacting.
Indeed, this sudden magical crossing was the work of world consciousness!!
This was very reasonable, though. Gojo Satoru's attitude and conversation with himself after their meeting would definitely depend on the past. So the past had to be told first before the future could be shown.
It seemed this time wasn't about adding non-existent memories, but actually returning to experience and participate. Jiang Lai settled his thoughts in his mind.
He just didn't know what year it was now, or where this was. He lifted his eyes to look at the vast, boundless forest sea.
Jiang Lai: What kind of wilderness opening is this.jpg
In any case, before everything began, he first checked his current supplies and equipment:
The modern winter clothes on his body had been replaced in parallel with simple, elegant navy and summer-autumn kimono with no markings.
The chocolate cake he'd been carrying was gone.
The locust wood pendant strung with red cord still hung at his waist.
The necklace was worn around his neck, the feather pendant cool as jade. But it no longer had the function of changing transparency.
His phone was still there and miraculously had full bars without dropping (no need to charge). The phone body flickered with the outline of a nameless ancient book, presumably in others' eyes they couldn't see the phone itself but only a small book.
Jiang Lai tested it, now his phone could also miraculously access the internet, but could only log into websites and group chat software for reporting safety to the 3D world and contacting the Detective Conan world. The Jujutsu Kaisen world's internet couldn't be accessed.
If this was completing the past, then the future Jujutsu Kaisen should currently be in a time-stopped state. Jiang Lai thought. Not being able to connect was reasonable.
He looked down and browsed the official website. The information wasn't much, just explaining the shift to past chapters, but no details or additional intelligence revealed.
So Jiang Lai immediately logged into the new series forum, planning to see if the forum analysts had made any special discoveries.
【# [Yesterday's Past Days] Chapter Latest Intelligence Concentrated Discussion Thread # (hot)】
【Family! The official is starting to reveal the past!! (Healthily starting to do radio calisthenics on the spot.gif)】
【This wave really continues the tradition from when Jujutsu Kaisen was originally serialized, haha, mixing past chapters into the main narrative, just like the Hidden Inventory and Premature Death chapters back then.】
【I'm so scared......jjxx isn't preparing to stab us, right? Before the one-eyed cat comrade stabs, he gives everyone a flashback (crying) My Gojo-Geto PTSD is acting up again】
【Seriously, the brain matter thing made me understand that if you don't cremate the body, there's still the risk of others taking it and using it......I used to only know there was that kind of saucy risk of corpse×】
【Wait, the second half of that sentence? What kind of inappropriate words are you saying, upstairs! The forum isn't lawless territory, you can't just display your fetishes randomly!】
【Rational discussion, this new series so far hasn't had anyone die, and those who had problems in the original (like Fushiguro Tsumiki) are fine now, saved by Gojo Satoru.
I feel that analysis big shot from before analyzed it very correctly, Teacher Gojo either read the script or participated in "Returning to High School" or "Back to XX Years Old" type plot haha.
Regardless, if it's second playthrough, 5t5 can definitely avoid all the stabs! Believe in the strongest Teacher Gojo!】
【Although, but, if Teacher Gojo really is the second playthrough that everyone speculates, then how did he start the second playthrough? (Lost in thought) I always feel this chapter is going to explain this reason.】
【Add one, I agree with the upstairs opinion. I wonder if everyone noticed, the new chapter name is [Yesterday's Past Days], these two words together are very strange, they shouldn't be used like this normally.
"Yesterday" originally means [the day before today], if analyzed according to the second playthrough Gojo line of thought, this "yesterday" here seems to be understood as [the day before the second playthrough restart point]. "Yesterday's Past Days" overall refers to [past events before the second playthrough restart event occurred].
Also there's that Gojo Lai, he must know 5t5, they should at least talk about the past.】
【Wow, analyzing it this way seems very reasonable!!]
【Right, right, in this [Yesterday's Past Days] chapter, the newly appeared Gojo Lai should appear, right? I feel this might reveal the [Clock] foreshadowing from before, can't wait already!】
【Heh heh heh anyway, official please update quickly! You opened a new chapter, why not celebrate with more updates!】
......
Jiang Lai didn't continue reading the content below. He withdrew his thoughts and focused attention on several key points just discussed.
The internal meaning of the [Yesterday's Past Days] chapter name, combined with the timeline issues he learned from Toji, one of the building's analyses sounded quite reasonable, narrating past stories while revealing the reason for the restart.
However, since Toji as a fixed point already existed, Fushiguro Toji's death there probably couldn't be reversed. Jiang Lai thought. The real restart loop point should be after the Star Plasma Vessel incident, if Toji died there.
He withdrew his thoughts.
Speaking of which, his current age and appearance hadn't changed. Jiang Lai felt himself. If this was completing the past timeline, he should have shrunk to the corresponding age, right? But he hadn't.
Maybe he was age-frozen......or simply not human. He jokingly thought internally.
Next, Jiang Lai switched to the group chat, first told his family about his current situation so they wouldn't worry. Only then did he put away his phone and prepare to explore the situation here.
He gazed into the distance, tree shadows overlapped, the forest was quiet.
Jiang Lai: Starting in this deep mountain forest, this isn't some random drop, is it......what kind of luck is this.
Fortunately, his technique had been trained quite well by now. Although he couldn't hover temporarily, using it as stepping stones for short jumps was possible.
Jiang Lai selected a tall tree with thicker branches, lightly flicked his fingertips to create fixed points, and after several consecutive jumps, gracefully landed on top, looking into the distance from the top of the tall tree.
This seemed to be a low mountain range with dense vegetation. Jiang Lai squinted and scanned around, noticing what appeared to be building silhouettes in the distance.
Buildings? People? Jiang Lai was slightly pleased but didn't let his guard down. After all, this was the Jujutsu Kaisen world. a building appearing in a deep mountain forest wasn't necessarily a good family.
Better not approach too conspicuously. he thought.
So Jiang Lai abandoned his original plan of jumping over through the forest branches using short-term code platforms. that would be too eye-catching and showy.
After memorizing the direction, he jumped back to the ground in three moves, planning to carefully sneak over from ground level.
All the way there was no one, only tree shadows for company, even bird calls were sparse. It seemed there weren't many animals here.
Passing through the lush vegetation, when he got close, the building's full view finally appeared before Jiang Lai, this was a solemn and dignified shrine.
The shrine's overall structure was very grand, perfectly integrated with the surrounding vegetation environment, standing before him with a natural divine quality. From its appearance, it seemed to have a long history but was maintained very well, showing the level of attention it received.
There were symbols (family crests?) outside the shrine, but Jiang Lai couldn't recognize what they were.
Forget it, let's go in and look. Maybe there are some clues. he thought.
Jiang Lai didn't sense any cursed energy fluctuations around, nor did he see any guard figures.
But to be cautious, he still manipulated code to carry a few fallen branches floating in front to sweep back and forth several times, confirming there were no traps in the vicinity before stepping forward.
Jiang Lai: Also, they shouldn't set traps in front of a shrine, or they might accidentally harm people coming to worship, which would be very bad karma.jpg
The path along the way was relatively clean and tidy, apparently regularly cleaned and maintained by someone. Jiang Lai's gaze swept over, unconsciously analyzing with a Detective Conan investigative attitude.
He walked all the way and entered through the main gate.
The shrine interior also had a solemn and dignified atmosphere, with all items placed very orderly. At the most central and largest worship position, the wooden plaques had many decorative prefixes. Jiang Lai focused his gaze to lock onto the name among them…
[Sugawara no Michizane].
This name... Jiang Lai was stunned for a few seconds, digging up relevant Jujutsu Kaisen intelligence from the depths of his mind, this seemed to be an ancestor of the Gojo family!
Immediately after, his gaze swept around, and the text on other worship plaques around also gave him the answer, it was indeed the Gojo family.
This was the Gojo family shrine!
As this conclusion leaped into his mind, a cold, childish voice also came from behind.
"Who are you?"
Hearing the voice, Jiang Lai instantly activated brainstorm mode, but he showed nothing on the surface, just turned around calmly as usual to look at the small white-haired figure standing not far away.
It was young Gojo Satoru.
Very good, the timeline was confirmed. Jiang Lai paused in his heart. He hadn't expected they knew each other this early?
The current scene was distantly similar to that future moment, Gojo Satoru stood in a backlit position, his glass-bead blue eyes looking up sharply. They made eye contact, blue and warm brown meeting.
This kind of cold, arrogant face would rarely be seen in the future, so cherish it while you can. Jiang Lai jokingly thought in his heart.
Gojo Satoru's outward daily personality and demeanor seemed to go against the flow, from childhood's mature coldness all the way to adulthood's carefree unreliability.
Jiang Lai didn't directly answer anything. He curved the corners of his mouth, showing a light smile: "What do you think I am?"
He didn't say [Who do you think I am], but asked back from another more interesting angle.
Obviously, young Gojo Satoru heard this layer of meaning. He furrowed his brows slightly, stared at the black-haired figure in front of him for a few seconds, then said: "......There's fog."
"?" Jiang Lai blinked, feeling somewhat surprised by this answer. But he didn't say much, just maintained his smile.
Young Gojo Satoru was silent for a few seconds, seemingly somewhat frustrated by the Six Eyes' result. He turned his head slightly, then looked back with barely detectable curiosity.
Finally, he admitted calmly with a cold tone: "I can't tell what you are, blocked by a cloud of mist. I can only roughly discern that there's something......special at your heart."
Mist? Could it be the blurring effect of the feather necklace? Jiang Lai thought. Although it couldn't adjust transparency to change identity now, the blurring and shielding effect was still there?
Also, that thing at the heart... Jiang Lai's first reaction was the term revealed in his vertical technique.
As thoughts flowed through his mind, Jiang Lai still had that squinting, smiling expression: "If so, if you can't see through it, aren't you afraid?"
"Doesn't matter, you can't beat me anyway." Young Gojo Satoru lifted his eyes.
Jiang Lai: "..." The familiar super confidence appeared!
Jiang Lai thought silently in his heart. But indeed, he had the capital for confidence, the invincible Six Eyes were basically invincible from childhood.
In the original work, the Six Eyes that shocked the world had high bounties placed on them from birth. But all kinds of assassins were completely unsuccessful before this child, many people just being glanced at by him from afar were shocked speechless by the power contained within.
But Jiang Lai still said leisurely: "That's not necessarily true."
The white-haired child in front tilted his head: "At least you can't hurt me."
The air was quiet for a moment. The breeze outside the shrine carried the fragrance of grass and trees, circling three times around the beams before drifting in, brushing past clothing hems and temple hair.
Jiang Lai blinked lightly, breaking the silence first. He raised a finger and said: "How about this, let's play a game, you ask I answer, I ask you answer, taking turns one at a time. How about it?"
Young Gojo Satoru: "Boring."
"Ah, don't be like that. We're idle anyway, meeting is fate." Jiang Lai's eyes curved, "Aren't you curious?"
The observational and analytical skills honed in the Detective Conan world allowed Jiang Lai to discover information from micro-expressions and body language.
Although young Gojo Satoru's expression was cold and indifferent, when faced with an existence that the Six Eyes couldn't completely see through, he still had the simple curiosity belonging to a child.
What the Gojo family daily taught and showed young Gojo Satoru were all kinds of boring principles and rules. In such an environment, rarely encountering a seemingly novel existence, he would naturally want to understand more.
The white-haired child in front lifted his clear glass-bead blue eyes, expressionless, saying nothing.
Jiang Lai tilted his head slightly and smiled: "Alright, then consider it me being curious. Keep me company, okay?" He proactively offered a way out.
Hearing this, the white-haired child with his little adult demeanor finally nodded slightly, indicating agreement.
"Then I'll ask first, why are you here?" Jiang Lai first threw out a simple question as the conversation starter.
"They're too noisy and annoying." The white-haired child pouted, "The shrine area is quiet."
They? Jiang Lai reacted for a moment, then understood.
Probably referring to those servants who followed every step, or elders who occasionally came over to say a few words to show their seniority, for Gojo Satoru, even in childhood form, he could easily shake off those people.
Next, young Gojo Satoru looked up and asked: "Who are you?"
This question was very simple, but also not easy to answer. At least currently, Jiang Lai wasn't sure of his identity at this time.
So he said in a very casual tone: "Lai."
"Lai?" Young Gojo Satoru understood that the other person was telling him a name, "Gojo Lai?" he added.
"You can call me whatever you like." Jiang Lai replied ambiguously, neither confirming nor denying. He smiled, "Alright, that counts as you asking twice, it's my turn."
Young Gojo Satoru pressed his lips and glared over with his ice-snow blue eyes.
"That Gojo Lai question should count as a question too......fine, it doesn't count." Jiang Lai coughed once and asked: "How old are you now?"
Young Gojo Satoru's eyebrows raised slightly upon hearing this, but he still answered simply: "Seven years old."
This way, he could determine the precise timeline. Jiang Lai quickly calculated in his mind. Gojo Satoru was born in December 1989, if this seven years old was the kind before his birthday, then it should be 1996 now.
No wonder the phone had to disguise as a book. After all, in this era, Japan was still in the flip phone period. To fit the atmosphere of the times, Phone-kun also needed to change costumes.
Young Gojo Satoru stared at the person in front of him. His snow-white eyelashes fluttered as he asked calmly: "What are you?"
"Hm?" Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised. He didn't quite understand this sudden question from Gojo Satoru, "Sorry, what do you mean......"
To this, young Gojo Satoru actually elaborated, explaining in a flat tone: "This is the back mountain of the Gojo family. The perimeter of Gojo family territory has guards and barriers only Gojo family members and approved outsiders can enter."
"And the shrine area here has even stricter screening barriers. Usually only I, the family head, and the elder council can enter. Others need to wear tokens or wait for festival days when access is opened before they can come here."
No wonder there were no guards here. Jiang Lai thought. So there were barriers, eliminating the need for additional personnel.
......But strangely, this barrier didn't stop his entry? Why?
"Since you don't know my age, you're definitely not a permanent resident of the Gojo family and don't have an access token." Young Gojo Satoru continued his calm analysis, "But you were able to enter here, you're not human, and not a cursed spirit either. So what are you?"
What am I? Jiang Lai opened his mouth but didn't immediately reply.
He could feel some extraordinary power lurking behind this question, perhaps his answer would influence his own setting.
From current appearances, he had a mysterious [Clock] title; his age and appearance remained unchanged in both past and future; he could freely enter and exit places that originally had barriers…
These were all very strange.
Jiang Lai knew that of course he could also reply "I'm human" right now, and world consciousness would probably complete the setting according to human logic, like adding elements in the technique aspect.
But if he answered something else......wouldn't there be more possibilities?
Human identity would have limitations. If he opened up more possibilities, he might have broader space for free development, this would be better than letting world consciousness decide early on.
Thoughts surged through his mind as Jiang Lai's warm brown eyes focused intently.
A strong wind suddenly rose in the forest, causing rows of leaves to rustle, wandering from outside the shrine all the way into the shrine interior, stirring the hanging hemp ropes and copper bells, sending distant, muffled chiming sounds.
Several thick, heavy clouds drifted across the sky, slowly obscuring the dazzling sunlight. The surrounding scenery was filtered through different lenses repeatedly, and the short grass swayed low toward the earth.
The white-haired child stood steadily in place, his penetrating blue eyes still fixed on the black-haired figure in front of him. Seemingly because he hadn't heard a reply for so long, he furrowed his brows slightly, then repeated with a cold expression:
"What are you?"
Jiang Lai lifted his eyes slightly, all his thoughts having already wandered through his mind.
He decided to try something big first, establish his presence, then gradually narrow the scope until he confirmed what was reasonable.
So Jiang Lai coughed once and said: "I am the Green Mountain Sun Moon Snap of Fingers Like Shuttle Original Lord God."
Young Gojo Satoru: "?"
Jiang Lai said seriously: "That is to say, I'm a deity."
Young Gojo Satoru: "......"