Chapter 57 : Reversal Without You
Noticing Geto Suguru's expression, Gojo Satoru's form paused, his gaze looking straight through his sunglasses: "What's wrong?"
"...How did Lai manage to restart the world?" Geto Suguru's slender eyes didn't blink.
"He told me he possessed the ability to reverse time, that he could make everything start over." Gojo Satoru raised his hand to pinch his own cheek, seeming still somewhat unable to react, "I really didn't expect it to take effect so quickly, opening my eyes to find myself back in the Jujutsu High period."
"...His ability?"
"Right," Gojo Satoru nodded, "The ability of being the [Clock] existence."
Geto Suguru hesitated for a few seconds before saying quietly: "I once accidentally overheard a conversation between [Mother] and someone else, saying that if [Clock] couldn't be used for their purposes, then before the prophetic event occurred, it should be exhausted or destroyed..."
He paused for a second here, "That's also why, when the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons encountered Lai, I ultimately decided to let him go."
Hearing content related to the Supervisory Committee, Gojo Satoru's gaze sharpened. Immediately after, he caught a particular keyword in this statement: "Exhausted?"
"From the literal meaning, most likely power completely consumed."
Geto Suguru didn't continue, but both of them simultaneously had the same question arise in their hearts:
To restart the world, how much power would need to be consumed?
In the corridor, the cross breeze carried the fresh fragrance of plants from outside, gently brushing past. In the silence, only breathing and heartbeats could be heard.
A few seconds later, Gojo Satoru waved his hand, raising his voice to break the quiet, speaking:
"It should be fine! I specifically confirmed with Lai, he said this matter didn't have too great a cost, and he made an appointment with me for [see you tomorrow]."
"Wait until we see him tomorrow, then we'll ask about the specific situation." Gojo Satoru's expression was serious, "Determine the limits, then not let him do things that exhaust his power."
"You made an appointment to meet?" Geto Suguru's body relaxed slightly, "Then perhaps there's nothing too serious."
"Oh, right," Gojo Satoru tapped his left hand with his right palm, suddenly remembering the fox in the room. He pointed backward with his thumb toward his dormitory, "Lai also brought you a gift, said it was returning one to you."
"A gift? Returning one to me?" Geto Suguru was stunned.
When Gojo Satoru hooked his shoulder and dragged him into the dormitory, he finally remembered what this phrase referred to.
Back then, he had given Lai a box of flower cakes, asking Lai to bring them to the Zenin sisters as a greeting gift. At that time, the figure in dark blue had smiled, blinking lightly and saying, "Thank you, I'll return the favor later."
It was somewhat like those stories in ghost tales, where humans inadvertently help a deity with some small matter, and the deity casually returns a great gift with a simple gesture.
At this moment, he stared at the black liquid fox on the bedding, somewhat surprised: "This is...?!"
Actually a cursed spirit?! Where did Lai get a cursed spirit from??
"Restarting the world required moving the hands, and the clock dial... was at Lai's heart position." Mentioning this, the scene that had shaken his mind seemed to float before his eyes again.
Geto Suguru's eyes widened slightly.
Gojo Satoru's eyelids drooped slightly as he continued: "This cursed spirit was born when the clock dial was destroyed as the hands were moved counterclockwise, the liquid mixed with Lai's blood, and was created in the cursed energy fluctuations."
"..." Although Geto Suguru wasn't at the scene, he could vaguely imagine what had happened then.
And mentioning this, he couldn't help but further recall the scene when he was controlled to destroy Jujutsu High, attacking students he had feelings for:
The powerless anger of being manipulated, the despair of never being able to break free from bindings... blood and collapsing buildings, the Jujutsu High that belonged to his youthful memories destroyed in an instant.
His thoughts involuntarily sank deeply into past events, Geto Suguru's body standing rigidly in place, until a familiar voice struck his ears.
"Hey, Suguru! Suguru!"
Geto Suguru suddenly pulled himself from his thoughts, looking up: "Sorry, I was spacing out..."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw a black shape suddenly coming toward him. Geto Suguru instinctively caught it, his movements still somewhat flustered: "Wait, Satoru, that was too sudden! Don't throw it like that..."
"Good, I've delivered it as promised." Gojo Satoru clapped his hands briskly, then nodded: "What will you do? Exorcise and absorb it, or form a master-servant contract?"
Geto Suguru looked down. The liquid fox in his arms opened its eyes, then yawned softly, and continued sleeping comfortably, showing none of the usual hostility and killing intent that cursed spirits had toward humans.
Probably related to its "creator." Both were beings with kind hearts. Perhaps this cursed spirit fox was different from other cursed spirits.
So, after hesitating for a moment, Geto Suguru said: "No need. I'll just keep it like this."
"Hah? Just keep it?"
"Yes, I'll look after it." Geto Suguru touched the liquid fox in his arms.
"Fine, then keep it." Gojo Satoru stepped forward a few paces, raising his hand to poke the liquid fox, "This thing really feels like jelly! Cool and cold, really fun~ Essential summer cooling treasure."
"It's sleeping, stop poking at it." Geto Suguru lightly blocked Gojo Satoru's mischievous hand, changing his position.
"Already switching to father mode? You adapt pretty quickly, Suguru." Gojo Satoru laughed cheerfully, half-jokingly saying, "Don't worry, this thing sleeps like the dead. I was just carrying it and throwing it to you, and it didn't even show signs of waking up. A little poking definitely won't hurt."
"...Stop fooling around. The focus of our attention isn't here right now." Geto Suguru coughed once, his expression focusing as his tone became serious, "First, we need to find others who have memories of the reversal."
They were now in a situation equivalent to playing a game where they saved at a checkpoint after the Star Plasma Vessel incident, then played all the way to 2017 where they got a bad ending, then returned to the Star Plasma Vessel checkpoint to restart the story from there.
Based on the principle that those who formed good connections could possess memories of time reversal, Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru tested everyone at Jujutsu High and reached the conclusion:
Shoko, like them, had memories of the experiences over the next dozen-plus years.
Maki and Mai, who had been brought back from the Zenin family before the Star Plasma Vessel incident, had somewhat vague impressions of the future.
The rest of the people at Jujutsu High seemed to currently have no awareness of the time reversal.
"Is it because only the three of us knew about Lai's [Existence] identity?" Geto Suguru thought and said, "Therefore our memories are the clearest."
"Probably so." Ieiri Shoko nodded, "Nanako and Mimiko's situation should be similar to Maki and Mai, having vague impressions but not clear ones."
"Ah, speaking of this, let's go pick up those two kids tomorrow." Gojo Satoru propped his cheek with one hand, planning.
"Although I also want to bring them back as soon as possible, we can't act so hastily." Geto Suguru said gently, "Just as you told me earlier, Lai's thinking was correct. We should focus on concealment and paralyze the enemy. Those guys aren't as easy as you think."
"Fine, fine, fine, actually I'm not in a hurry either." Gojo Satoru pursed his lips, "Then let's wait to take a nearby mission, pretend to wander over, discover kids with sorcery talent, then bring them back."
Geto Suguru's face showed a smile, then after a second's pause, he said quietly:
"After I try my best to gather intelligence for you all and complete my mission... Satoru, please fulfill what you promised me, give me a clean and thorough... mmph?!"
Before he could finish speaking, his mouth was stuffed with a large rice dumpling. Gojo Satoru used snacks to block his friend's mouth:
"Hey hey, we're starting over, can't you have some confidence? Even if you don't believe in yourself, believe in me, okay? Stop thinking about escaping to the other shore all the time."
At this moment, the three of them were all gathered in Gojo Satoru's dormitory room, surrounded by a circle of snacks.
Gojo Satoru had declared that they would stay up in the dormitory until midnight, betting that Lai would appear at the stroke of midnight in that divine descent manner.
Geto Suguru swallowed the rice dumpling in his mouth, smiling bitterly:
"The binding contract signed back then has already decided my fate as a marionette from then on. It's just that they found real-time manipulation somewhat troublesome, so they let me, who hadn't betrayed them during this period, maintain self-consciousness."
He removed the bandages from his forehead, revealing the black patterns beneath: "And there's also this. If this really forms, then..."
"Geto." Ieiri Shoko stared at his forehead, suddenly speaking, "Isn't your pattern missing a bit?"
"Hm?" Geto Suguru was slightly stunned.
Ieiri Shoko held a lollipop in her hand: "I have a good memory during this period. As a medical student, I remember these human body details very clearly. Moreover, you just came to me after the Star Plasma Vessel incident ended."
"Today, the marks on your forehead have indeed decreased, just a little. The small corners at the edges have faded."
Gojo Satoru leaned in to look, his blue eyes widening: "It really seems like it! There's some fading at the edges!"
Everyone paused for a few seconds, then their gazes all moved together to the only special case after the restart, the liquid fox cursed spirit.
The black liquid fox was now lying on Geto Suguru's shoulder with its eyes half-closed, sleeping. Under everyone's observation, it smacked its lips.
"...Oh, that makes sense too. Lai is [Clock], so Lai's derivative should also possess certain time reversal abilities."
Gojo Satoru placed one hand under his chin, thinking rapidly, "The pattern on your forehead, Suguru, might be exactly what this guy is reversing for you. That's why Lai left it with you."
Lai... had he already figured out how to help him?
Geto Suguru recalled the past. He remembered the gentle expression of the black-haired, brown-eyed person, silently allowing him to make mistakes, saying in a light tone that there would be a future.
After dozens of seconds, he raised his other hand to touch the black liquid fox on his shoulder:
"Is it you? Thank you. However, the disappearance of the forehead marks is too obvious. Could you please reverse the binding I signed in childhood first?"
Geto Suguru's voice was gentle, asking with hope.
The black liquid fox half-opened its eyes, tilting its head as if trying to understand Geto Suguru's words. After a minute, it spoke: "Can."
That word "can" lit a flame of hope in Geto Suguru's heart. So living freely was actually still a possibility, right?
The liquid fox cursed spirit changed positions, saying with halting speech: "Hungry. Food. Hungry."
"Hungry? Cursed spirits eat food?" Gojo Satoru casually grabbed a box of chips from the snack pile, "Tomato flavored."
The black cursed spirit fox turned its face away: "Don't eat. Hungry. Food."
"Hey, you're being picky now." Gojo Satoru leaned back in a rather lordly manner, waving his hand, "Then don't eat, wait for your guardian to come pick you up tomorrow."
"Mm." Geto Suguru's face also showed a smile, "When Lai appears, I'll ask him carefully how to take care of this cursed spirit."
They waited hopefully for midnight the next day.
However, they didn't wait for the person they were expecting.
At the stroke of midnight, Gojo Satoru held a party popper in his hand, his lips curved in a mischievous expression, preparing to spray confetti on the black-haired, brown-eyed person the moment he appeared.
That person didn't appear.
Gojo Satoru relaxed his arm that had become stiff from maintaining one position too long, pursing his lips:
"Fine, I actually guessed wrong! Then let's wait for 12 at night. That guy definitely wants to tease us on purpose, so he'll appear at the very end."
"Maybe he guessed you were going to spray him with confetti." Ieiri Shoko had a lollipop in her mouth.
"I'll put it away." Gojo Satoru casually threw the party popper on the cabinet, raising both hands to address the air, "Hey, Lai, I've put it away, if you want to come out, hurry up."
No sound, no phenomena whatsoever.
"...Let's wait until evening. Maybe Lai really will appear at the very end." Geto Suguru consoled.
That day seemed to pass particularly slowly.
During class, Gojo Satoru absent-mindedly propped his cheek while looking out the window. Night Moth-sensei coughed forcefully several times, then couldn't stand it anymore and threw a piece of chalk.
Of course, it was blocked by Limitless. The post-restart Gojo Satoru had already mastered automatic Limitless.
"Satoru!" Night Moth-sensei slammed the desk forcefully, "Pay attention to the lesson! What's so interesting outside the window?"
"I'm just wondering if a person might fall from the sky." Gojo Satoru laughed as he turned back, "I'm listening, Night Moth-sensei. I'm an invincible genius, I can multitask~"
Geto Suguru turned his head to look out the window, his heart beating heavily. The same inexplicable floating feeling lingered in his heart.
Let's wait until evening. He said to himself. Lai made an appointment with Satoru, he'll appear.
Nighttime. The minute hand slowly approached twelve o'clock, and several people gathered again in Gojo Satoru's dormitory.
Unlike the lively atmosphere at midnight, this time they didn't speak, just waited quietly.
The summer evening scene was quiet and peaceful, with distant high and low insect chirping, nature's nighttime concerto.
When the interweaving insect chirping entered a segment of rest, the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand finally overlapped at the 12 position.
Midnight had arrived.
Gojo Satoru's expression remained unchanged as he raised his blue eyes, his voice still carrying that casual tone:
"Lai is late! How dare he make us wait so long! An unpunctual deity isn't a good deity. Be careful of losing human worship, hey."
No sound, no phenomena whatsoever.
They waited together for another ten minutes.
Wind started outside, the high and low insect chirping was somewhat scattered by the night wind, leaves rustling with a soft sound.
"I'm getting angry now. The young version of the spicy teacher is angry." Gojo Satoru sat steadily, then turned sideways to pull the liquid fox cursed spirit's tail, "Hey, your guardian doesn't want you anymore..."
Geto Suguru silently exhaled, his fingers clenching with his nails digging into soft flesh. He spoke quietly:
"...Satoru." He turned his face, "Maybe Lai's [see you tomorrow] didn't mean that?"
Gojo Satoru was silent for a long while. He actually wasn't unable to guess another possibility, but emotionally, he hoped it would be today.
"He should have said [see you tomorrow] to you in that scene at the time." Ieiri Shoko said, "That is to say, the time he made an appointment with you was to meet on December 25th, 2017."
"..." Gojo Satoru spread his arms wide and collapsed on the bed, "Ah, I knew it. The evil thousand-year-old demon is playing word games again."
"Time reversal probably isn't an easy thing." Geto Suguru said quietly, "Let's wait for him."
Let's wait for him. Geto Suguru thought. We'll be able to wait for him.
"No one has ever made me wait this long. When he comes back, I must make him treat us!" Gojo Satoru looked up at the ceiling, his tone revealing no inner emotion, speaking in his usual casual manner.
After a few seconds, he quietly added, "...Or I can treat him too."
Afterwards.
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru took a mission near a village and went to bring Nanako and Mimiko back.
The two little ones' situation was similar to what they had guessed, they had vague impressions of the future.
When Gojo and Geto Suguru went to pick them up, Nanako grabbed Gojo Satoru's sleeve, her expression confused with some puzzlement: "...The figure in my dreams doesn't seem to have white hair."
"Right." Gojo Satoru unceremoniously ruffled Nanako's hair, "It should be another person, someone you'll meet in the future."
He spoke with absolute certainty, not knowing whether he was informing the two little ones or convincing himself.
During missions, Gojo Satoru also obtained a sealing cursed tool. Not as invincible as Prison Realm, but it could achieve long-term sealing effects very well.
To make Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu recognize Yuikawa Kurisu's true nature, Gojo Satoru deliberately exercised patience, just like Lai had done, using technology to quietly record this guy's private actions.
Then during that mission, he recorded Yuikawa's deliberate manipulations from the side. After the rescue, Gojo Satoru combined the previous videos and showed them both.
The exposed Yuikawa Kurisu initially pretended to be pitiful, but as evidence mounted, he stopped pretending and began inducing Gojo Satoru to kill him.
Gojo Satoru on the surface: A nominal junior, won't kill for now. Seal for reflection.
Gojo Satoru internally: Still using this trick? Can't be killed anyway, and he'd run out to be annoying again later. Locking him up is perfect! (Happy)
So the junior group became just Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu.
Then, Gojo Satoru used this mission as a pretext to harshly confront the higher-ups and [Window], making them strengthen detection accuracy. Otherwise, he wouldn't be polite.
The several of them excellently implemented the disguise, acting, and troublemaking principles, giving those rotten oranges a heap of justified troubles while secretly observing those who seemed suspicious.
Geto Suguru and Gojo Satoru didn't rush to eliminate the suspicious individuals they'd discovered through "accidents," instead deciding to cast a long line to catch big fish, maintaining the advantage of the enemy being in the open while they were hidden.
During their third year at Jujutsu High, under the Supervisory Committee's repeated quiet urging and encouragement, Geto Suguru pretended to defect, giving his house key to Nakamura-san downstairs before leaving.
Actually, Geto Suguru planned to work with Gojo Satoru from inside and outside. The Supervisory Committee had a great reputation in society, and those guys were cunning, so someone had to infiltrate internally.
Gojo Satoru also learned to disguise himself. On the surface, he disliked the Supervisory Committee due to his arrogant personality as usual, but he didn't show any additional outstanding hostility.
When he became a teacher and started teaching students, when students used the iris flower card benefits issued by the Supervisory Committee, he had no objection. After all, the Supervisory Committee could always monitor students, and blocking them would seem conspicuous.
Therefore, Gojo Satoru cheerfully said to let the students spend without restraint, preferably eating the Supervisory Committee into bankruptcy.
He rescued Fushiguro Tsumiki early, brought back Okkotsu Yuta early and helped him break the curse. Everything was running smoothly in a good direction, just missing a witness.
Time flew like an arrow, days and months passed like a shuttle. In the blink of an eye, it was almost Christmas 2017.
Since the Supervisory Committee never discovered traces of [Clock] or guessed [Clock]'s identity, there was no Night Parade of a Hundred Demons this time to lure [Clock] into appearing.
This time on December 25th, that guy should come back. Gojo Satoru's beautiful blue eyes lazily lifted, scanning the Christmas decorations already set up on the streets. He had been waiting for more than ten Christmases.
That trickster who deceives people with word games... the strongest has never been deceived twice by the same riddle person!
This time he still started waiting from midnight.
Jujutsu High had a Christmas holiday, and the students had all gone out to play. Gojo Satoru dragged a chair over, crossing his hands as he sat by the floor-to-ceiling window in his dormitory, blue eyes blinking as he watched the snow falling frame by frame outside.
There were still party poppers in the dormitory drawer, but Gojo Satoru didn't take them out.
He just waited quietly, then replied to students' greetings on his phone with a delinquent teacher's tone, rambling about various topics.
Perhaps because his heart was vaguely nervous, Gojo Satoru couldn't help but send all kinds of cheerful daily messages on his phone, harassing students, assistant supervisors, and some higher-ups.
In the ding-dong of message notification noise, Gojo Satoru's facial expression was exceptionally calm.
That day also passed very slowly. But ultimately, it still slid toward midnight.
In the last second of December 25th, Gojo Satoru raised those brilliant sky-blue eyes, gazing toward the falling snow outside the window.
Within Six Eyes' field of vision, he saw forests, he saw accumulated snow, he saw small birds hopping on ancient-style buildings, and those meetings and reunions at a greater distance.
But he didn't wait for his own reunion.
At 12:05 AM on December 26th, 2017, Gojo Satoru's phone screen lit up.
He received a message from Geto Suguru.
[Did you see him?]
No name noted, but Gojo Satoru was familiar with this email address. Since Geto Suguru was undercover, they wouldn't contact openly. Just occasionally private contact, then delete records.
Gojo Satoru looked down at his phone screen until the light dimmed again.
Geto Suguru on the other end of the phone actually vaguely guessed the answer. After all, if the two had met, Gojo Satoru would definitely send him a barrage of messages, describing and complaining about a whole bunch of things.
I'm the strongest, aren't I? I am the strongest. Gojo Satoru sat in darkness, his hands crossed. This kind of one-for-one sacrifice... too underestimating, Lai.
You promised me. You broke your promise.
After a few minutes, or perhaps hours, Gojo Satoru grabbed his phone and replied:
[Didn't come back, liar. Good! Now I have ironclad evidence of a thousand-year-old demon deceiving a child!! That guy, does he think I have a good temper? I hold grudges for a lifetime!]
[...Satoru.]
The reply came quickly from the other side, probably also hadn't been sleeping.
[Don't say I don't count as a child~ The invincible handsome guy is forever young, forever seven years old~!]
Gojo Satoru continued typing on his phone keyboard, the input text box filled with playful jokes, but actually, his face had no expression throughout.
After typing this string of text, Gojo Satoru casually threw his phone on the bed again.
After a few seconds of quiet, he got up again, walking in two or three steps to his desk, pulling open the drawer and taking out that party popper.
"Lying guy. You're late." His blue eyes stared at the ceiling as he aimed the party popper diagonally upward, lazily pulling the trigger.
In a shower of flying confetti, he quietly added, "...Why did you say see you tomorrow?"
The daily routine after that seemed unchanged.
Gojo Satoru still maintained his usual casual and carefree attitude, black eye mask covering the upper half of his face, daily teasing students, annoying rotten oranges, secretly cooperating with Geto Suguru to gather intelligence.
Occasionally chatting with students, when asked what kind of people he hated most, Fushiguro Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara both complained, while Itadori Yuji scratched his head saying he'd never thought about this question.
Then Gojo Satoru also chimed in: "Sensei also has people he hates~"
Itadori Yuji blinked, as usual being the straight man: "Oh oh! What kind of people does Gojo-sensei hate?"
"Sensei hates many people, those guys who assign missions, the high and mighty rotten oranges, and all sorts of miscellaneous others." Gojo Satoru laughed cheerfully, "But sensei hates one type most of all..."
"What is it?"
"People who break their word, especially those who lie to children. The type who make promises and give people plenty of hope, then disappear without a trace and can't be found anywhere." Gojo Satoru raised his finger and shook it, "Even if their original intention was good, I won't forgive them."
"..." Itadori Yuji blinked.
Kugisaki Nobara whispered quietly: "This seems pretty specific... Who is he referring to?"
Fushiguro Megumi: "Don't know."
Gojo Satoru heard the students' discussion but didn't say anything more, his face full of smiles.
Just adding silently in his heart: Why did you say see you tomorrow?
Until winter 2018, he heard fragmentary news from students.
Initially, Gojo Satoru didn't think much of it. Black hair and brown eyes were too common a combination.
Later, after the students had more contact with that person, a vague sixth-sense expectation stirred in his heart.
But he restrained his impulse to search, not letting his emotions become too obvious, just cheerfully reassuring the students.
...If it was Lai, why didn't he come find him? Gojo Satoru deliberately took missions in Tokyo during that period.
Could it be because it wasn't the right time yet? Gojo Satoru remembered that [see you tomorrow] again.
If it was just tomorrow from a date perspective, then the tomorrow of December 24th would be December 25th.
Gojo Satoru counted the days, suppressing his inner desire to verify. But when Itadori Yuji received a phone call, he still couldn't hold back and took over.
The other end of the phone was very quiet, with only light breathing sounds. Gojo Satoru remained equally silent.
Why wasn't the other person speaking? If they spoke, would it break some contract? Was the person on the other end really an old friend he'd known?
These thoughts swayed until he received a message from Geto Suguru.
Geto Suguru said he had seen Lai. But to be safe, he hadn't said anything. Just a brief glance as they passed.
Hey hey, so this see you tomorrow had waited way too long? And he actually had to make a house call?
Gojo Satoru's face showed a smile, gritting his teeth internally, but his overall emotion was still joy.
Fine, fine, as the strongest invincible handsome guy, he'd reluctantly move his body and go actively see that guy, considering that before, it was always him who came to find himself.
On December 25th, 2018, Gojo Satoru sat with his back to the light in that room, watching the door open, waiting for that familiar figure to step in from outside.
He wanted to say: Isn't the bastard old demon going too far? Your see you tomorrow was way too long! The promise of no cost and very little cost was definitely a lie.
He also wanted to complain: Taking care of the little fox was super troublesome, and that guy always cried hungry, seeming not very smart.
Also, he'd obviously been back for a while, why didn't he come find him? Did he have to personally make house calls? After waiting so long, he must treat him to a meal! Don't think he can casually brush this off!
However, after a hundred turns of thoughts, what Gojo Satoru finally said was just one sentence:
"Merry Christmas, Lai."