Chapter 55 : Restart
The white-haired youth's reply was a simple "Alright," revealing no emotion within.
Geto Suguru relaxed considerably upon receiving Gojo Satoru's affirmative response. He was about to say "thank you" when he heard Gojo Satoru continue with the second half of his statement:
"Do you think I'd agree so easily, then give you one shot, and everything would be over?"
The young man with the bun hairstyle was stunned for a few seconds, his eyes curving slightly as he said: "Why not? You came to kill me anyway, Satoru. For this Night Parade of a Hundred Demons incident, you must have received orders to eliminate me, this evil curse user."
"Yes." Gojo Satoru admitted frankly, "But now I've changed my mind slightly."
Geto Suguru raised his eyebrows and sighed lightly: "I should have kept quiet earlier, not let Lai speak either, and waited for you to kill me directly."
Gojo Satoru's blue eyes stared: "Then I would have asked you first anyway, I said I trust you, that you wouldn't do such things."
The air was quiet for two seconds.
Geto Suguru said: "So, are you still planning to help me, Satoru?"
"Yes." Gojo Satoru's brilliant eyes gazed at the person before him. He nodded slightly, his aura fluctuating like waves, his voice cold as an iceberg's edge, "Just not now, not by directly admitting defeat to those guys without trying anything."
Geto Suguru blinked and sighed quietly: "...The one admitting defeat is me, not you."
"Please, as the close friend of a spicy teacher, your defeat is my defeat, Suguru."
Gojo Satoru's natural utterance of "close friend" left Geto Suguru momentarily stunned.
After half a second, the young man with the bun hairstyle chuckled softly and said gently: "Calling a curse user your close friend is quite bold, Satoru. It will invite criticism."
"That's just the truth." Gojo Satoru lifted his eyelids, "Since you're planning to turn back now, once we find a way to remove the binding, returning to Jujutsu High to work like a slave wouldn't be impossible for atonement."
The last half sentence carried the joking tone of old days, just like before.
"..." But Geto Suguru didn't respond accordingly. He put on a smile and only said, "My answer will probably disappoint you."
Gojo Satoru's expression paused slightly.
At this moment, Jiang Lai, who had been listening to their conversation, lowered his hand covering his neck and constructed a bandage to wrap around the wound. He spoke in a calm voice:
"Suguru hasn't come to his senses, he's just tired, that's all."
His voice still rasped somewhat, though much better than before. Jiang Lai stepped forward closer.
Geto Suguru turned his gaze to look at those brown eyes watching him. Those calm eyes were just like years ago, able to see through the surface to the interior.
"I always feel like Lai can see through me every time..." The young man with the bun hairstyle smiled slightly, his eyelids lowering as he admitted frankly, "Indeed, I'm tired."
Under the wide black and gold kasaya were gaunt bones, behind the smile mask was endless fatigue, the taste of rag-like cursed spirits lingered on his tongue, never having a good appetite for eating.
The Geto Suguru here, compared to the original work, had the support of an organization behind him, but also lacked the companionship of companions he could call "family," walking alone for nearly ten years.
On a one-way road filled with seas of blood, he was pushed to run by the force behind him, stumbling and convincing himself that the chosen path was correct.
In restrictions and increasing contradictions, he suddenly began to doubt whether stepping onto this one-way road was his own choice or the result of puppet strings.
The starting point began to waver, motivation gradually drained, and that blade piercing through his old friend's throat was another heavy blow, his original intention had been "not wanting to witness mountains of corpses and seas of blood of sorcerers," but now he was forced to raise his blade against companions.
Ten years was a very long time, too many things weighing heavily on his shoulders. He had been tired for so long.
The current controlled situation made him realize his puppet nature even more. Freedom was a luxury item found only in death.
Questions about paths and righteousness, his chaotic mind no longer wanted to think about them.
"Whether I come to my senses or not doesn't matter anyway." Geto Suguru smiled with narrowed eyes, though containing no amusement, his voice low and hoarse, "Those traces I've walked will ultimately be carved there, and future paths aren't for me to decide either."
"Maybe next time, you can chat with Satoru, Shoko and the others, slowly seeking the path of righteousness." Jiang Lai said gently, "Don't be too hasty to make decisions. This trial and error has already proven this point."
Geto Suguru shook his head: "Unfortunately, there's no 'maybe.'"
"So, let it end here. Give me one that's clean and thorough, leaving not a trace." The black-haired young man with the bun hairstyle smiled, "If it's Satoru, he can definitely do it, thank you in advance."
Gojo Satoru: "...Don't say polite words at a time like this."
"Haha, I'm a very polite person." Geto Suguru's fox eyes curved, his voice low and gentle, "And this is sincere too."
He chuckled softly and said: "If you're the one to do it, I'll have no regrets, Satoru."
"You have no regrets? Maybe." Jiang Lai raised his eyes, calmly continuing, "But I do, Satoru does, Shoko does, Night Moth-sensei, Mimiko, Nanako, Maki, Mai, we all do."
Geto Suguru was stunned for a moment. These names were engravings of youthful times, possessing the power to stir heartstrings in their fluctuations. After a few seconds, he continued:
"Sorry... I hate monkeys and higher-ups, but I've never hated you all. Precisely because of this, I don't want to be manipulated into doing things I don't want to do someday in the future."
"Even if not for me, for protecting your students, do this, Satoru. In any case, please." His narrow fox eyes showed sincerity within the fatigue, "Please let me sleep in peace and freedom."
Gojo Satoru's brilliant blue eyes gazed at his former close friend, his face showing an indescribable expression. He could sense the sincerity in the person's words, and precisely because of this, he fell into silence.
He was the undisputed strongest. But being the strongest didn't mean he could save everyone.
Gojo Satoru wasn't someone who couldn't act against a close friend. If the other party stubbornly wielded a blade for slaughter, he could swallow the pain and uphold justice, calmly and steadily killing his old friend.
But the current situation made his throat tighten.
He couldn't find the source behind it all, couldn't cut the puppet strings, and the only way to free his friend was to kill him. Meanwhile, the real enemy was still laughing in the shadows.
Gojo Satoru clenched his fists, his eyes focusing: "...Then before leaving, tell me more about those guys, Suguru."
"If you want to rest, rest well first." The white-haired youth spoke calmly, the second half of his sentence burning with cold, angry killing intent, "And I will definitely defeat those guys."
Geto Suguru's fox eyes narrowed in a smile: "Then I'll leave it to you, Satoru."
His tone was like those moments when they stood side by side during their Jujutsu High days, as if what they were about to face wasn't eternal separation, but temporary separate actions.
The young man with the bun hairstyle exhaled and slowly narrated what he knew.
The Supervisory Committee had an extremely good external reputation, and those registered volunteers indeed all did good deeds.
However, its true interior advocated [useless people extending life for useful people, making the world more pure and refined], dividing people into "feed" categories through their own assessment of "useful or useless."
The missing population in society was abducted by them as "feed," while those with complete sun flower totem patterns on their foreheads would share this benefit, sharing life and cursed energy extracted from others.
However, Geto Suguru wasn't clear about the specific feed conversion process, not knowing whether it was cursed tools or some technique's effect.
Some higher-ups among the Big Three Families knew the inside story and were part of the core members, but Geto Suguru didn't know the specific list of who they were.
Since his totem wasn't fully formed, essentially, Geto Suguru wasn't considered a core member, let alone that most core members were secretive from each other.
The cores he had seen in daily life were only "Mother" and Yuikawa Kurisu.
Jiang Lai listened quietly, his impression of this organization becoming clearer in his mind. He noted down these details, planning to study specifically how to deal with them later.
At this time, Jiang Lai focused on continuously attempting to sense his time-related skill, he guessed that the activation of the second playthrough might be related to himself, but he wasn't clear how to operate it.
In speculation and attempts, Jiang Lai could vaguely touch some edges, but couldn't truly clarify them.
Until he heard Geto Suguru's final narrative.
"That prophecy is probably the reason they secretly observed Satoru and lured you out, Lai." Geto Suguru said, "'Mother' didn't allow me to see it. I only glimpsed it once. The prophecy content seemed to be words like 'Divine Six Eyes,' 'move the clock,' 'radiant restart'..."
The keywords Six Eyes, move the clock, restart combined together, connecting with everything experienced in the main timeline before, Jiang Lai's mind had already formed a line, some intuition emerging...
However, at this very moment, before Geto Suguru finished speaking, sudden change occurred!
Complex curse inscriptions suddenly appeared on the ground beneath the young man with the bun hairstyle, cursed energy fluctuations surged violently, swallowing and teleporting that figure in less than half a second, not even leaving time for a single word!
Gojo Satoru's instantaneous reaction wasn't to attack but to reach out to grab Geto Suguru, only he was ultimately half a step too late.
Jiang Lai watched the scene before him with shocked expression throughout, the human figure dissipated and cursed energy fluctuations still remained in the air.
This all happened too suddenly and quickly, no one expected the peaceful conversation to be interrupted by this sudden cursed technique teleportation!
Jiang Lai didn't believe anyone could cast techniques within Six Eyes' range on site, so this teleportation should have been inscribed long ago. Just now in Geto Suguru's words, he mentioned the prophecy and certain contents within the prophecy...
"Keyword combination trigger?" he murmured his speculation.
If so, at least the Supervisory Committee already knew that Geto Suguru had learned these contents and told others the secret.
Combined with the situation of the "dead" Yuikawa Kurisu, plus the possibly detected meeting of Gojo Satoru, Jiang Lai, and Geto Suguru, they would most likely consider this Geto Suguru's "betrayal."
Then the teleported Geto Suguru might not have it easy, but they didn't know where Geto Suguru had been teleported to.
Jiang Lai turned his head to look at the rigid figure beside him.
"..." Gojo Satoru said nothing. He slowly withdrew his hand, staring at the now empty ground.
Around the alley, bizarrely shaped cursed spirits from the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons climbed into this pathway, sensing human traces and coming to kill. They writhed their forms, carrying cursed energy as they attacked.
The white-haired youth turned his face, violent winds and snow suddenly rose in his sky-blue eyes, like piercing winter wind scraping across cliff faces, carrying the momentum to shred countless rocks.
The surrounding air even dropped a degree under the intimidation, incomparable powerful cursed energy swept up like a tornado!
Under this force, sorcerers and cursed spirits in another district couldn't help but shudder.
Ijichi Kiyotaka wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking silently: ...Although I don't know what happened, Gojo-san seems really angry!!
…
Various cursed spirits kept surging toward them for unknown reasons. But the densely packed cursed spirits were basically all resolved in the blink of an eye upon approaching. The title of strongest was never empty.
Buildings at the scene were pulverized into fragments in the battle, scattering and flying in the wind.
Jiang Lai didn't step forward. He knew the other didn't need his assistance, so he left space for Gojo Satoru to vent freely.
Shockwaves lifted his hem, Jiang Lai squinted to block the dust and sand, thinking about Geto Suguru's possible whereabouts in this brief time.
Since the Supervisory Committee knew about Geto Suguru's "betrayal," they probably wouldn't let him act freely anymore.
His heart was heavy.
From Yuikawa Kurisu's actions just now, it could be seen that the Supervisory Committee's attitude toward himself was most likely: use if possible, destroy if not usable.
Now it seemed that the first playthrough was not only Gojo Satoru's growth and Geto Suguru's trial and error, but also his own clue-gathering and exploration process. Jiang Lai's thoughts flowed slowly.
From the moment he was noticed by the Supervisory Committee, he no longer had the advantage of the enemy being in the open while he was hidden.
He began to recall.
When he was at the Zenin family, the Supervisory Committee hadn't paid attention to him yet. Their understanding and speculation about [Clock] still remained at the level of objects.
At that time, it was his first time going on missions with Jujutsu High's Satoru and Suguru, and he hadn't shown particularly special traits.
But his subsequent multiple appearances and the cleverness of timing attracted the Supervisory Committee's attention. In the end, even Yaga Masamichi could sense his difference, let alone the Supervisory Committee.
Cannot expose himself too early. Jiang Lai noted this point, then looked up at the figure in the distance.
Gojo Satoru raised his hand to destroy all cursed spirits at the scene. In the dust of all things, he stood in place, white hair flying, his exquisite face expressionless.
The cleared scene was exceptionally quiet. After dozens of seconds or perhaps minutes, a phone ringtone broke the frozen atmosphere.
"..." Gojo Satoru emerged from his own world. He paused, took out his phone, and answered the call.
Jiang Lai stepped forward a few paces. He couldn't hear what was specifically being said in the call, but could glimpse the momentarily stiff expression on the white-haired youth's face.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Lai asked.
"Back to Jujutsu High." Gojo Satoru gripped his phone tightly.
…
Ten years had passed, yet Jujutsu High maintained its original layout. Looking out, it seemed one could still see glimpses of those years.
However, the current scene differed greatly from the warm and beautiful memories, the view was filled with broken walls and ruins. Dust rose, cursed energy residue was everywhere, and occasionally one could glimpse glaring bloodstains.
According to witness reports and on-site cursed energy residue analysis, all of this was done by Geto Suguru.
For the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons incident, Gojo Satoru had Okkotsu Yuta, the Zenin sisters, and Nanako and Mimiko stay at school for defense, while others went out to exorcise cursed spirits on the streets.
In this school attack, all students were injured to different degrees, with Nanako and Zenin Maki being the most severely injured.
Mimiko's tears swirled in her eyes but she restrained them, still trying to stay calm as she quickly explained to Gojo Satoru during the phone call:
"...It was Geto-senpai, but Geto-senpai seemed to be controlled. He told us to stay far away..."
The injured students were all transferred to Ieiri Shoko, leaving only Gojo Satoru and Jiang Lai who had rushed to the scene.
The two stood before the ruins, gazing at this tragic scene after battle.
Jiang Lai's gaze swept over the severely damaged surroundings. He took a deep breath, calmly recalling and silently analyzing in his mind.
At that time, after Geto Suguru disappeared via spatial teleportation, quite a few cursed spirits surrounded the location where Gojo Satoru and he were.
From this perspective, the teleportation inscription might also have positioning functions. Those cursed spirits were probably transferred by the Supervisory Committee from nearby streets, for brief delay?
Then, during this short time, the Supervisory Committee manipulated Geto Suguru to return to Jujutsu High for slaughter and destruction, the Zenin sisters, Nanako and Mimiko at school were all children that Geto Suguru had brought before.
In the new series, the purpose of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was to draw out Jiang Lai. Geto Suguru was just cooperatively conducting cleanup.
He himself had no intention of killing Okkotsu Yuta and seizing Rika. In the planned itinerary, there was no stop at Jujutsu High at all.
Geto Suguru had never hated the people at Jujutsu High. He had his own principles and wouldn't kill young sorcerers without reason.
At this moment, however, he was controlled to destroy the Jujutsu High in his memories, raising his blade against children he had feelings for.
Although Jiang Lai couldn't see Geto Suguru, who was now somewhere unknown, he could imagine that the other party's current state must be terrible.
Geto Suguru, who had clearly made an agreement with his close friend Satoru and thought he could obtain freedom, hadn't expected a final turn that returned him to others' control, making him act against his true heart, anyone's mentality would collapse.
...Looking at it this way, the Supervisory Committee really was the biggest pervert. Yuikawa Kurisu might just be one of its reflections. Jiang Lai thought.
At this moment, Gojo Satoru lowered his eyes, staring at that stretch of ruins and the residue upon it. Cold anger mixed with blank bewilderment, silent oppressive pressure fell to the ground but had nowhere to be used.
The series of events came too suddenly. Later wanting to vent anger, but unable to find the real mastermind behind it all, finally turning into deep silence.
Winter cold wind brushed across faces, carrying tiny ice shards, bringing slight stinging pain.
Gojo Satoru parted his lips, his voice very low: "...I'm clearly the strongest, aren't I."
The second half wasn't spoken, but Jiang Lai beside him had already heard the hidden part.
"The strongest is also human." Jiang Lai replied. He paused for a second, then added, "And even immortals have times when they're powerless."
"..."
The white-haired youth spread his palm, blue eyes staring: "If when the sudden change occurred just now, my first reaction had been to kill Suguru, could I have given him freedom and protected the students...?"
"When facing a close friend, if the first reaction during sudden change is to kill, that mindset would be wrong." Jiang Lai's eyes sparkled as he tilted his head slightly, "Your choice wasn't wrong."
"Is that so." Gojo Satoru showed no expression.
The two of them stood silently here.
The white-haired youth's pair of sky-blue eyes gazed toward the front. Above the ruins, his mind inevitably recalled the past.
He thought of their Jujutsu High days, scene after scene like black and white films, slowly playing in winter.
If only at the very beginning, he could have noticed Suguru's condition earlier.
If during those years, following Lai's words, he had put down his pride to boldly express concern, getting to the bottom of things and staying by his side.
If earlier on, he had relied on intuition to eliminate Yuikawa Kurisu, or reminded Haibara and Nanami.
If long ago, he had begun investigating and guarding against the Supervisory Committee, he wouldn't be like now, having lost so much yet having nowhere to vent.
...If time could flow backward.
"Satoru." Jiang Lai said, "Do you want to start over?"
Not until hearing the call from the person beside him did Gojo Satoru realize he had actually spoken that last sentence aloud.
He paused, quickly adjusting his posture, pulling up his usual smile, using a seemingly casual tone:
"Ah, just saying it randomly. The strongest wouldn't waste time on such meaningless fantasies. The invincible handsome Gojo has already figured out how to drag out those rats from the sewers one by one, then crush them all."
The white-haired youth was tall and straight-backed, the last sentence delivered with deep killing intent.
Jiang Lai continued watching Gojo Satoru, blinking lightly, continuing: "It's not a fantasy, Satoru."
He sensed his own longitudinal technique, those blocked contents becoming clearer bit by bit under prophecy listening and past speculation, accompanied by intuition and some mysterious power:
[Longitudinal-Time Reversal. Cursed energy manipulates world node restart, requires others to activate, cannot be used by oneself. When activated, move the heart clock, during reversal oneself cannot exist, restart opportunity only once.]
[The activator and others who formed good connections will possess memories of the reversal fragments.]
Jiang Lai's heart followed instinct, finally clearly sensing his own ability at this moment.
So the world's second playthrough really was related to himself. Jiang Lai's mind soared. Indeed, coming to the jujutsu world, even skills would upgrade. His save file skill from the 1.0 Detective Conan world had directly evolved into making the world save files in Jujutsu Kaisen.
The first playthrough had progressed to this point, clues and thoughts, mistakes and pain had accumulated enough. There was no need to stubbornly continue walking this path, adding more scars to each other's hearts.
His thoughts surged.
So let it end here, restart, this also matched what Toji had said before about the world flowing backward on the day of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
Since Toji's death was a certainty in this Möbius strip, this reversal probably couldn't go back to before the Star Plasma Vessel. He thought. However, returning to the year when the Star Plasma Vessel incident ended would be sufficient.
If they could really restart, with their memories intact, they could avoid tragedy and walk toward a brand new future.
"If time reversal is your wish, I can make it happen for you." Jiang Lai said.
Gojo Satoru was stunned for half a second, placing one hand under his chin: "Today is Christmas Eve, not April Fools' Day. Are you preparing for tomorrow's Christmas? But I've long passed the age of believing in that. Santa Claus is completely fake."
"You used to believe in Santa Claus?"
Gojo Satoru: "A childhood dream, when I was little, I believed a bit." He laughed cheerfully, "Lai isn't going to tell me that Santa Claus is also a kind of [True Existence], is he?"
"Whether Santa Claus is truly an [Existence], I can't help you answer that." Jiang Lai's eyebrows curved, "However, I can tell you the answer to that question you've always been asking me."
Previously, Jiang Lai had always used "the time hasn't come" to delay. At this moment, he could finally determine that term.
The figure in dark blue floated his book, brown eyes gazing over, his eye corners carrying some amusement and seriousness, his tongue tip moving: "I am [Clock]."
Gojo Satoru stared at the figure before him: "...Clock?"
"That's right, so I have the ability to make time flow backward." Jiang Lai said, "Reverse and restart, try again. The regrets you and Suguru once encountered can be remedied one by one."
"When I asked you to help keep the pagoda tree wooden pendant before, I said I'd owe you a favor afterward. So as repayment, this time I'll fulfill your wish for time reversal, how about it?"
He spoke these words in sequence, his voice calm and gentle.
Jiang Lai had originally thought the white-haired youth would agree readily after brief surprise, laughing cheerfully and rubbing his hands together, perhaps saying something like "you should have said so earlier, I'm already eager to restart" or something similar.
However, the result was beyond his expectations. The Gojo Satoru before him hadn't given a reply for a long time.
After dozens of seconds, the jujutsu world's strongest slowly said: "...Then what about the cost?"
"Eh?" Jiang Lai blinked, "Satoru doesn't need to pay any cost."
"I mean, what cost do you pay?" Gojo Satoru's sky-blue eyes looked directly at Jiang Lai, "What will happen to you, Lai?"
Jiang Lai blinked, a light smile blooming on his face, his voice steady: "Don't worry, I won't pay any cost either."
This sentence was actually a lie.
When exploring his ability just now, Jiang Lai could vaguely sense that activating the longitudinal technique to interfere with the entire world would come with a cost.
However, recalling his situation in the main timeline, he thought: it's nothing more than losing something like divine nature as an [Existence]. He was originally human anyway, becoming human again wouldn't be a big deal.
So, facing the white-haired youth, his smile was open and peaceful.
Gojo Satoru's clear, beautiful blue eyes looked back at the person before him. He said word by word: "You're lying."
"Six Eyes has very powerful observation abilities and can determine lies from truth." He stared at the figure before him, "That sentence about no cost was a lie."
"..." Jiang Lai paused slightly, not expecting the other to be so perceptive.
Gojo Satoru maintained his staring motion, looking at the black-haired, brown-eyed person before him.
The cursed spirits and curse users in the city seemed to have already received retreat orders and had withdrawn almost completely.
The overwhelming curses dissipated accordingly, dark clouds suddenly broke, and the last rays of sunset burned gently at the junction of heaven and earth, warm light softly caressing every corner of the earth.
In twenty years of growth from age seven to now, the figure in dark blue had never changed.
He always seemed so young and gentle, accompanying like the wind, illuminating the human world like moonlight.
[Existence] cannot form connections, was it because after forming connections, one couldn't help but share the inner radiance with others? How much radiance did [Existence] have to share with humanity's many sufferings?
"...If it costs you, I don't need it. Don't think about it."
Gojo Satoru turned his face away, his words still in his usual tone but containing some stubborn determination.
"I'm the jujutsu world's strongest. I don't need to exchange for a happy ending through sacrifice. I can eliminate those guys myself and let Suguru pursue his free rest."
Though he said this, the past was already past. Jiang Lai knew. The dead couldn't return to life, scars wouldn't disappear. Plus, they had made too many mistakes in this round against the Supervisory Committee, making it difficult to win against them smoothly.
But he didn't voice these thoughts, only gently explaining: "The so-called cost isn't serious for me. It's actually just a small loss when activating. And restarting once, the chances we gain far exceed this."
"Trust me, Satoru. Every parting leads to reunion, doesn't it? I said 'see you next time,' so we'll definitely meet again."
"..." Gojo Satoru wasn't so easily swayed. His pair of Six Eyes stared at Jiang Lai, "Then when can we meet again?"
Jiang Lai paused, blinking lightly with a smile: "See you tomorrow."
Today was December 24th. Their next encounter in the main timeline was December 25th. In a sense, it could indeed be called seeing each other tomorrow.
The white-haired youth's Six Eyes stared tightly at the person before him. He determined the other wasn't lying, and his tense posture finally relaxed.
If they could meet again the next day, then there shouldn't be anything serious. He thought.
If time could really flow backward, then he, Suguru, Shoko, and Lai together would definitely make up for all regrets and defeat those guys this time.
So at this moment, he finally agreed, brilliant blue eyes gathering light, nodding slightly: "Alright. Let us restart."