Chapter 45 : Totem, Suguru's Village Mission
"What did he say?" Jiang Lai asked.
Young little Mai recalled: "He said, wouldn't it be good if useless people gave useful people more living space."
This kind of statement... Jiang Lai paused slightly in his heart, but his face maintained a gentle smile as he continued following up: "And then? How did little Mai respond?"
"I didn't really understand what Geto-nii meant." Zenin Mai rubbed the edge of her sleeves, "I asked him, what counts as useless people?"
"Back when I was at the Zenin family, they all said I was a useless person. But my sister said I was her best and most wonderful little sister. So do I count as a useless person?"
"Hmm... So how did Suguru-kun answer you?"
"Geto-nii didn't answer me," Zenin Mai lifted her head slightly, her dark green hair falling diagonally backward, "He just patted my head."
This kind of response... Jiang Lai was silent for two seconds, and after a few breaths, he showed his smile again, "Was that all?"
"I think that was about it." Little Mai tried hard to recall the past, which was somewhat difficult for a child to remember clearly, "He seemed to say something before leaving, I don't know if it was a reply, he told me, don't be afraid."
Jiang Lai's thoughts flowed inwardly. He was speculating about the meaning behind these words.
In the original work, Geto Suguru only targeted non-sorcerers, believing that ordinary people's existence had no meaning.
But here, due to the Supervisory Committee's influence, it seemed he was also including sorcerers themselves in the consideration of "whether they should be ranked in different tiers."
However, that final phrase "don't be afraid" seemed to reveal some protective intent from Geto Suguru. He didn't completely agree with the Supervisory Committee's views.
Nevertheless, even so, the current Geto Suguru seemed to be leaning toward a new path different from what he had once insisted upon.
It's just that the reason for stepping onto that path, besides his own subjective factors, also had the Supervisory Committee's push from behind.
After playing with Zenin Maki and Mai for a little while longer, Jiang Lai and Gojo Satoru got up to leave, the two little ones still had their own study tasks, today wasn't a holiday.
On the way back to the dorms, Jiang Lai asked as if casually: "Haven't you three been gathering together much lately?"
"Yeah, there are super, super many missions, why are there so many cursed spirits this summer?" Upon hearing this, Gojo Satoru immediately began complaining.
"Although they're all weaklings in my eyes, having too many is still annoying. Especially quite a few intelligent cursed spirits that want to take hostages and engage in negotiated deals, a whole bunch of troublesome stuff."
"I can tell. That must be really tough." Jiang Lai nodded, "You're recovering relatively well, but Suguru-kun seems particularly exhausted lately."
"Suguru... probably because, besides going on missions, he also has to deal with those higher-ups." Gojo Satoru thought for a moment and said.
Deal with the higher-ups? Jiang Lai raised his eyebrows slightly inwardly, following up: "Suguru-kun still has contact with the higher-ups?"
"Isn't there supposed to be regular mission reports and summaries? I don't know why the higher-ups bother with this process..." Gojo Satoru crossed his hands behind his head, "Anyway, I don't want to see those guys' faces at all. Suguru took the initiative to suggest that he could go in the future, and he'd also bring along the second and first years, reporting on everyone together."
All missions reported by him? In that case, besides the missions Geto Suguru executed himself, he would also see more difficulties and casualties that other sorcerers faced during their missions. Jiang Lai thought.
He turned his head and said gently to Gojo Satoru: "Seeing him work so hard, why didn't you help share the load once or twice?"
"I did say so! I said things like 'let me help you write the mission reports' and 'this time I'll go meet those old geezers,' but Suguru refused." Gojo Satoru looked ahead, his usually raised voice dropping slightly, "Suguru has something on his mind, but he won't say what it is."
So Gojo Satoru could sense his best friend's condition. Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised, then recalled that in the original manga during their Jujutsu High period, Gojo Satoru had said things like "you're not suited to be a sorcerer, recognize yourself and get ordinary certificates to become an assistant supervisor" to his underclassman Ijichi.
This showed that Gojo at this age, while arrogant and casual, also paid attention to those around him, just that his way of speaking wasn't very pleasant.
"Suguru-kun won't say, so you just let him be?" Jiang Lai said half-jokingly, "I thought you'd throw a fit or something."
"How could I do that! I asked two or three times, he wouldn't say, only saying things like 'summer fatigue' and 'maybe ate too much cold noodles,' why should I keep pestering him."
Gojo Satoru snorted, turning his face away, "If he won't say, then fine, I don't care either!"
"..." Jiang Lai paused for two or three seconds, then said seriously, "Next time, I need to recommend a book called 'The Communication Bible' to Suguru, and 'Learn High EQ Conversation Skills in One Move' to you."
Gojo Satoru had a half-moon eye expression: "Hey, what's that supposed to mean."
After two or three seconds of quiet, the white-haired boy lowered his hands from behind his head, slowing his pace slightly.
"Actually, it's not like he said nothing... Suguru once told me that regardless of whether he had thought it through, he would walk a path that had already been laid out for him."
A path that had been laid out? Jiang Lai's warm brown eyes shifted: "How did you understand that?"
"I think Suguru is under too much pressure, maybe he doesn't want to be a sorcerer anymore. Being a sorcerer really does involve a lot of things." Gojo Satoru's beautiful blue eyes looked up at the sky through his sunglasses, "Once this busy period of missions passes, I'll treat Suguru to several more meals, help him build up his strength."
"And then he'll get fat?" Jiang Lai still said with a smile.
"Of course! I'll supervise Suguru's eating, crazily stuff him with meat and sweets," Gojo Satoru lifted his head slightly, his youthful spirit vibrantly displayed as he laughed cheerfully, "Make Suguru eat less of that cold noodle stuff, summer will be over soon."
Jiang Lai's eyebrows curved with his smile. He didn't continue elaborating on this point.
After all, everything seemed to be too late already.
That phrase "regardless of whether he had thought it through, he would walk a path that had already been laid out" likely concealed the Supervisory Committee's long-standing operations behind it.
Whether actively or passively, having progressed to this point, Geto Suguru seemed to have already been pushed to the edge.
Jiang Lai pieced all the clues together and could see very clearly.
According to Toji's earlier words about "having lived through a period twice, the second time the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons didn't happen," and the forum's speculation about Gojo Satoru's prescience, this world should have a restart second playthrough.
If so, perhaps the current first playthrough was such a period of irreversible trial and error, until the boy learned to grow through loss and recognized the hidden enemies.
And what he could do was collect as much information as possible during this time, preparing for what came after.
Jiang Lai's gaze fell ahead, finally asking: "How is the pattern on Suguru-kun's forehead now?"
"I still don't know what that actually is." Gojo Satoru paused for half a second, kicking a pebble underfoot, "I saw him unwrap the bandages last month, that thing is still growing, now it looks somewhat like... half a sun or something."
"Half a sun?"
"Like an unfinished half sun." Gojo Satoru gestured, "A rather abstract totem pattern."
A sun totem? Jiang Lai paused again for two or three seconds, then said: "Is that so. This matter sounds rather abstract too."
"I even specifically went through those old books in Jujutsu High's library, but didn't find anything." Gojo Satoru hummed, "Maybe it's a product of some religion he believed in as a child... but Suguru seems to have only been in contact with the Supervisory Committee, right? Could it be that?"
"Hard to say." Jiang Lai replied.
Gojo Satoru lifted his head, then lowered his gaze: "That makes sense. I'll pay more attention to this later, see if I can find anything."
The following few days were unusually leisurely. Both Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru had no missions.
After Ieiri Shoko completed her medical dissection studies, as agreed, Gojo Satoru used his technique to completely destroy Yuikawa Kurisu's corpse.
Before the corpse was destroyed, Jiang Lai specifically went to take another look.
The lying light brown-haired boy didn't look much different from before, his forehead still appeared to have nothing visible.
But Jiang Lai knew that there truly wasn't nothing there.
Just yesterday, the manga had updated another chapter, depicting what Yuikawa Kurisu's forehead looked like from Geto Suguru's perspective, there was a complex sun totem pattern there.
Combined with his earlier conversation with Gojo Satoru, Jiang Lai almost immediately made the connection, the continuously extending and growing black pattern of half a sun on Geto Suguru's forehead, when completed, would probably look like what was currently on Yuikawa Kurisu's forehead.
At that time, the great detective Kudo Shinichi from the Detective Conan world had also sent a simple analysis email.
He was now daily pulled by classmates who followed the manga to serve as an analysis expert, even encouraging him to publish his reasoning content in magazines like "Anime Express" and earn some manuscript fees (though Kudo wasn't short on funds).
[#Kudo Shinichi#: The sun is usually central to mythology, but this pattern isn't sun god worship. If we extract just the core meaning, this totem probably symbolizes "core" and "universal illumination."]
Below, he attached two images showing the sun totem magnified countless times in detail.
The strokes forming this pattern weren't solid lines, but rather tiny iris flowers connected together.
[#Kudo Shinichi#: This thing... seems to be related to the Supervisory Committee. Iris flowers have many meanings in flower language, but most don't fit.
After elimination, tracing back to the earliest history, in ancient Egyptian times, iris flowers combined with lotuses and other plants formed the "Tree of Life" pattern, so their most primitive meaning is "resurrection" and "life." I think this point should be useful.]
[#Kudo Shinichi#: Not sure about the specific situation on your end, wishing you all the best.]
After reading through the entire email content, Jiang Lai replied with thanks, then integrated all the intelligence in his mind.
Given this, he could roughly deduce the conclusion:
This totem pattern was related to the Supervisory Committee, and was a marking for more inner core members.
Incomplete versions of the mark (like Geto Suguru's) could be seen.
Complete versions of the mark (like Yuikawa Kurisu's) wouldn't be easily discovered, seemingly only visible to fellow Supervisory Committee insiders (like Geto Suguru) after the host had been dead for some time.
Thinking this way, it corresponded with what he'd initially heard about "Supervisory Committee core member secrecy." Core members with complete markings would basically not be detected by outsiders.
From Yuikawa Kurisu's fearlessness of death, if it wasn't related to his technique, then it was related to the Supervisory Committee's internal situation, just like Kudo Shinichi's email analysis: "resurrection and life."
The totem pattern on core members' foreheads was possibly a collective contract binding.
Combined with the previous mentions of "feed" and the missing population in society, could they be using other people's lives to infinitely extend their own? Jiang Lai boldly speculated. And core members with complete markings could share this benefit.
Honestly... if they couldn't die, these enemies would be too difficult to defeat. He had to find a way to locate and destroy the source.
His thoughts deepened, inevitably returning to Geto Suguru.
When they were at the abandoned building before, Geto Suguru didn't know what this was and had asked him to take photos.
But looking at it now, he probably already understood what this marking meant.
Besides benefits, this marking should also have constraints.
So Geto Suguru couldn't break free on his own, and after struggling with his thoughts, could only follow the "path that had been laid out."
Taking that path was partly due to his own evolution of [righteous path] theory, and partly due to some objective, inescapable factors.
Jiang Lai kept thinking until Gojo Satoru stylishly and handsomely finished disposing of the corpse, striding back with his characteristic swagger.
He hooked one arm around Geto Suguru and beckoned to Jiang Lai and Ieiri Shoko with the other, saying they absolutely had to go out for a big meal today.
Ieiri Shoko said: "Today? Aren't you two supposed to go on missions this afternoon? Isn't the timing too tight?"
"Forget it, Satoru." Geto Suguru gently pushed Gojo Satoru's arm away, "Let's eat after we finish our missions and come back."
Jiang Lai blinked, asking somewhat curiously: "What kind of mission requires both of you to go together?"
Assigning two Special Grade sorcerers together, what cursed spirit had such an honor! Jiang Lai felt the cursed spirit could light incense in advance.
However, Gojo Satoru shook his head: "No, Suguru and I aren't going together. It's just that we both coincidentally received new mission assignments and have to depart this afternoon."
"Satoru's is a business trip mission to Osaka." Geto Suguru said gently, "Mine is a bit closer, just that the road isn't very good. The village where the mission is located is quite remote. After parking on the main road, the latter half of the journey has to be done on foot."
A rather remote village? Jiang Lai's heart paused slightly, almost instantly associating it with the final mission from the original work when Geto Suguru defected, which was in a remote village.
In the original, after Geto Suguru exorcised the cursed spirit, he encountered two little girls (Mimiko and Nanako) who were being beaten, abused, and caged by the villagers.
The ignorant villagers treated children with sorcery talent as the source of sin, and when the villagers cursed the girls, the negative emotions they released continued breeding cursed spirits.
Geto Suguru witnessed the fact that ordinary people continuously produced cursed spirits, as well as the mountains of corpses and seas of blood that sorcerers faced on this path, so his already wavering righteousness completely inverted, and he decided to create a [world with only sorcerers].
"How could there be such a remote village?" Jiang Lai asked a couple more questions as if casually, "The cursed spirits are really good at hiding."
"Indeed." Geto Suguru rubbed his temples, "That cursed spirit has caused quite a few villagers to go missing and die mysteriously. My mission is to find and exorcise it... The mission itself isn't very difficult, but the journey is arduous."
Jiang Lai: This sounds really familiar, this must be Geto Suguru's final mission from the original work!
Gojo Satoru released his arm from around his best friend, yawning: "My mission is the same, the transportation is so long, but I can play around in Osaka, I'll bring back specialties for you all."
"Sounds good." Geto Suguru responded, "Looking forward to your specialties."
"And we'll eat together when I get back!" Gojo Satoru emphasized again, "Shoko and I will keep an eye on you, Suguru. You've gotten so thin lately, you must eat several steaks to build yourself up. Don't put down your chopsticks after two bites."
"Alright, alright," Geto Suguru was amused, "I'll eat you into bankruptcy."
"Try to eat me into bankruptcy!" Gojo Satoru laughed cheerfully, his eyebrows dancing, "What about Lai? Do you want to come to Osaka with me this time?"
Jiang Lai's brown eyes curved slightly as he shook his head in reply: "Osaka is too far, I won't go with you this time, Satoru."
He paused for two seconds, then continued: "Compared to cities, I'm more interested in rural areas, this time I'll go on the mission with Suguru-kun... if Suguru-kun doesn't mind?"
Geto Suguru was slightly stunned, somewhat surprised by Jiang Lai's choice, but still nodded: "Of course I don't mind." His voice was gentle, "Perfect, we can chat and talk on the road."
"You two are going to play together, leaving me all alone," Gojo Satoru drew out his tone, deliberately raising his voice, "How unfair!"
"What's the big deal." Jiang Lai smiled with curved lips, "We'll all reunite in the end anyway."