Chapter 58 : Better wish me happy birthday
"Merry Christmas, Lai."
Jiang Lai's consciousness gradually returned, the time travel of an eternal moment finally returned to its origin.
He stood on the tile floor, carrying a small chocolate cake in his hand, with the rental apartment scene before his eyes. It was now 2018.
Having experienced those first playthrough stories, at this moment, facing the person before him again, that sharp vigilance that had originally shown due to an unexpected visitor's sudden visit no longer had meaning.
However, to facilitate explaining the tense hostility that had just been emanating from him, Jiang Lai's thoughts shifted slightly, maintaining the demeanor he'd had when first entering, using a tone for addressing strangers, saying calmly:
"Merry Christmas, sir. May I ask the reason for your visit?"
Hearing this, Gojo Satoru's form suddenly froze, his steadily crossed hands trembling unavoidably, some surging aura rising then stiffening as his blue eyes stared straight over!
The next second, Jiang Lai instantly dropped his vigilant hostility, smiling brightly: "Just kidding, Satoru. I remember."
"..."
The air was quiet for several seconds. Gojo Satoru showed no expression.
Jiang Lai (pondering): Ah, maybe I shouldn't have made that kind of joke.
So he blinked, raising his hand to indicate the small chocolate cake he was carrying, saying to ease the atmosphere: "I bought dessert. How about I treat you to this?"
The white-haired youth in the chair remained unchanged in posture and didn't respond. He was silent for a moment, his sky-blue eyes lifting with the power to detect lies and discern truth:
"...[I remember], what does that mean?"
"Well, do you remember the [see you tomorrow] I promised you? This is actually similar to a kind of binding." Jiang Lai's eyebrows curved, "Before December 25th, my memories weren't very complete, but now they're much better."
There was some word play involved, but overall it was indeed the truth.
Only now completing the first playthrough experience, if viewed from a forward timeline, it was indeed only now that he remembered the past.
Gojo Satoru's blue eyes blinked slightly. After Six Eyes determined this statement was most likely true, he finally relaxed from his previously tense, silent posture.
"You guy... I originally thought my personality was bad enough, but I still fall short compared to you."
The white-haired youth suddenly changed his tone, abruptly standing up with a drawn-out complaint.
"Hey hey, making us wait for you so long is one thing, but you actually made that kind of joke just now! Thousand-year-old demons are really bad! Ah, I don't care, handsome Gojo is angry, and the consequences are very serious."
"Sorry for making you wait so long." Jiang Lai's eyebrows were like a crescent moon, "I'll treat you to small cake, okay?"
"Don't think you can brush this off so easily."
Standing up, Gojo Satoru's tall figure almost completely blocked the sunlight streaming through the window. With his long legs moving gracefully, he quickly walked over in two or three steps, "Do you think a mere small cake can buy me off..."
As he approached Jiang Lai, his unfinished words suddenly stopped, as if someone had pressed a mute button!
"Satoru?" Jiang Lai tilted his head slightly.
Gojo Satoru's incredibly brilliant blue eyes widened slightly. His previously playful, joking, relaxed tone completely disappeared, leaving only the slight coolness of winter wind blowing snow from branches.
His tone was somewhat heavy as he asked slowly: "...What's wrong with you, Lai?"
"What's wrong with me?" Jiang Lai was somewhat puzzled, looking down at his own outfit, "Is this outfit not suitable? That's not right, a windbreaker combination totally fits the season. Don't tell me the strongest sir also has opinions about clothing choices?"
His words carried some teasing toward the end.
However, the white-haired youth before him didn't pick up the joke. He just used his blue eyes to deeply lock onto Jiang Lai, then stepped forward again, approaching until he was right in front of him.
Gojo Satoru extended his hand, paused for half a second, finally placing it on the person's left shoulder. His expression serious as he asked:
"Your current condition... what's wrong with you?"
The joy of reunion had briefly occupied his mind earlier, then Jiang Lai's amnesia prank had made his heart tremble, and only now that he had calmed down did his brain and Six Eyes resume normal operation.
It was also at this moment that Gojo Satoru keenly noticed the difference in the person before him.
In his memory, the black-haired, brown-eyed youth always appeared like floating clouds and mist in Six Eyes' vision, mysterious and elegant.
No matter how the seasons changed, he never changed due to heat or cold.
Because he was [Existence], he belonged to nature, he didn't fear heat nor cold. Human form was just a shell for walking in the mortal world.
But now, in Six Eyes' field of vision, although cursed energy was still blurred by unknown factors and somewhat difficult to discern, it was no longer the previously impenetrable cloud-like state.
At the heart position, there was no longer that mysterious flowing aura.
Having just returned from outside, the black-haired, brown-eyed youth's fingers holding the dessert bag were reddened from the cold.
That windbreaker outfit was no longer for blending in with surrounding crowds or walking in the world without standing out, but purely for keeping warm.
The cake in his hands probably wasn't for tasting either.
Only now did Gojo Satoru hazily realize that this room was full of living atmosphere. The small heater in the living room, fruit on the coffee table, vegetables in the kitchen - these were all traces of human life.
But Lai, as an [Existence], logically shouldn't be connected to these traces.
...The current him seemed no longer the lofty, carefree [Existence] of before.
This conclusion struck his heart like a heavy blow. The joy of reunion after more than ten years was now once again occupied by complex emotions!
His heart felt as if it was suddenly gripped by a large hand. After many years, he once again felt the powerlessness and pain he'd experienced on that first playthrough street facing the defected Suguru.
A gentle deity gave the children who had gone astray a return ticket, reversing the world's time and space, and the price was that radiance would be no more.
"...That sentence you told me about the cost being small, that was a lie, wasn't it." Gojo Satoru's hand on Jiang Lai's shoulder tightened uncontrollably. He didn't know what tone to use, "You—"
"Satoru. I'm fine." Jiang Lai blinked lightly, consoling, "For me, [Existence] and human have no significant difference. I like wandering in the human world."
"Becoming the same as you all isn't bad either, is it?"
"The same? Hey hey, do I look like I'm easy to fool, Lai."
Gojo Satoru's sky-blue eyes narrowed slightly, his tone rising but without any of his usual lightheartedness, "Mature adults aren't seven-year-old children anymore. I hate lies, even well-meaning lies. Don't lie to me anymore."
"You can't even be considered purely human now!" Gojo Satoru's words were definitive, those eyes having strong penetrating power at close range, "Although most people would judge you as an ordinary human, I can see - your actual situation is worse. Others can't tell because of some cursed tool's confusing effect."
His gaze fell on the feather necklace at the black-haired, brown-eyed youth's neck: "It's this, isn't it."
"..." Jiang Lai was genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected Gojo Satoru to so keenly notice the key object.
After half a second, he frankly admitted: "Right. This necklace is - you can understand it as something that maintains relative stability."
Jiang Lai pondered for a moment, finally settling on the definition of the feather necklace: protection of some kind after [Existence]'s divine nature shattered, keeping the vague, uncertain self in some relatively stable state - whether that state was human, cursed spirit, or a mixture of both.
This way, it seemed the feather necklace's setting could be completed too.
Gojo Satoru's expression showed turbulence. Although Jiang Lai had only mentioned a little, he could fill in the meaning behind it.
"...Lai." His voice was hoarse.
"Really, it's fine. For me, this isn't sacrifice." Jiang Lai showed his smile again, sighing softly, "Actually, being independent from the world all along would make one feel lonely. I didn't want lonely eternity."
When he had just arrived in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, he was isolated and helpless, like a lost wild goose.
His familiar Detective Conan friends were in a distant different dimension, with no friends he could truly confide in nearby. The only companionship he had was the half-cautious, half-frank Fushiguro Toji.
After experiencing the first playthrough, he now had friends in this world he could genuinely interact with.
Jiang Lai didn't think losing his [Existence] identity was regrettable. Even if what he experienced wasn't this Möbius loop, in a straightforward sequence of events, he would have made the same decision.
"For a better future - our shared future." Jiang Lai's brown eyes were as gentle and steady as vast fertile soil, yet engraved with determination and smiles, "Fighting side by side, sharing weal and woe, this is what friends are, isn't it?"
"For me, December 25th isn't a fall, but a very happy, celebratory rebirth and reunion."
Jiang Lai curved his lips upward, radiant with vigor, smiling brightly: "In human terms - I have a birthday now too. Today is my birthday."
"..."
Gojo Satoru didn't say anything for a moment, just slowly loosening his grip on Jiang Lai's left shoulder.
"Won't you wish me happy birthday? I'll seriously accept Satoru's blessing." Jiang Lai said with a smile, stepping into the room.
The white-haired youth's glass-bead-like eyes watched the figure before him. Usually eloquent and capable of infuriating people without compensation, able to joke and play tricks with students and higher-ups, his mouth could say nothing at this moment.
Gojo Satoru was rarely quiet.
Jiang Lai took off his coat and hung it on the entrance coat rack, naturally pushing the tall white-haired youth while smoothly changing the subject:
"Alright, tell me about the stories from these years. During the time I wasn't here, don't be stingy about sharing all the interesting things with me."
"We can eat cake while chatting." Jiang Lai placed the newly bought small chocolate cake on the table, then turned toward the refrigerator, "I also bought some blueberries yesterday, let's bring them out to eat together."
"Oh, right." Holding a box of ready-to-eat blueberries, Jiang Lai returned to the living room and turned to Gojo Satoru, "After starting over, how is your current setup?"
Gojo Satoru, who had been standing in place like a pillar, slowly raised his head. Only at this moment did he, who had been silent for so long, slowly speak: "...We can help you get it back."
"What?" Jiang Lai didn't quite understand.
Gojo Satoru exhaled, his eyebrows rising slightly, sweeping away his previous somber mood and returning to his usual casual, carefree manner, arrogant and powerful in a way that made people furious.
"I'm saying - how long have you been human? These few months can't give you a taste of all those messy human problems."
Gojo Satoru casually clapped his hands, raising his tone.
"You'll definitely cry later, you know. When you become a trembling, disease-ridden, trouble-filled old man, you'll definitely wipe away tears saying things like 'I'd never give up my divine nature if I could reverse time once more' or 'I won't be human in my next life.'"
Jiang Lai was somewhat amused: "Hey, are you cursing me with diseases so early? And what's this about not being human in the next life?"
"Ah, those are just examples, examples, don't worry about these details—" Gojo Satoru waved his hand.
"Regardless, you should have the opportunity to choose to become [Existence] again." At this sentence, the white-haired youth's expression focused, mixing some seriousness into his casualness.
After a few seconds pause, Gojo Satoru continued: "If you can't get back your own [divine nature], then I'll just steal another one for you. As the strongest, I never owe anyone."
"Can that thing even be stolen?" Jiang Lai coughed, "And that's not very ethical."
"Some things don't deserve their position. What's the point of occupying such things? Better to give them to good people like you." Gojo Satoru hummed.
Then he suddenly stopped speaking, looking up with a serious voice: "The Supervisory Committee - they very likely also have an [Existence]."