Chapter 61 : New Guardian
After mastering the identity-switching ability, Jiang Lai first chatted with his family in the Detective Conan world, informing them of the specific situation and previewing the plot development.
Then, the next day, before the appointed time, Jiang Lai switched to the little sheep Watanabe Mirai disguise and sat in the living room sofa waiting for Six Eyes' grand arrival.
He wasn't just sitting there empty-handed, deliberately holding a first-year Japanese middle school textbook in his hand, propping his cheek with one hand while his gaze browsed through page by page.
The room was very quiet, the ticking sound of the wall clock clearly audible.
Jiang Lai finished the current page and turned to the next, accompanied by the soft sound of page-turning. At the same time, a black figure appeared beside him.
It was Gojo Satoru.
He didn't know where the other had come from, but it definitely wasn't through the front door.
Jiang Lai looked up, his gaze meeting those sky-blue eyes directly. Today's Gojo Satoru who came to find him also wasn't wearing an eye mask, his beautiful Six Eyes staring at him very directly.
Little sheep Jiang Lai blinked lightly, showing a brilliant smile on his face as he greeted first: "Uncle, are you here to steal things?"
"Uncle?!" Gojo Satoru made a V sign under his chin, his tone casual: "Please please, I'm the super invincible handsome guy, forever 18 years old, okay? How could I be that kind of rotten orange old man?"
"Okay uncle, so uncle, are you here to steal things?" Little sheep Jiang Lai's smile remained brilliant, carrying the innocence and mischief of a young child.
"I'm here to eat children, specifically children like you who call handsome guys uncle~~" The white-haired teacher hummed, pretending to flex his fingers, "Let your guardian come find you in my belly..."
"Eating me is fine," the brown-haired boy closed his middle school textbook and replied seriously, "but that requires extra payment."
"Your guardian Mr. Lai already owes me 1.8 billion, let your guardian pay his debt first before I pay."
"When did I owe you 1.8 billion?" Jiang Lai stopped role-playing at this moment, leaving the little sheep identity and raising his eyebrows in retort.
Gojo Satoru's eyes showed some surprise, then he raised his tone: "Oh...?" He didn't rush to say anything.
"Cough, it's me, Lai." Jiang Lai used his phone to switch forms on the spot, letting Gojo Satoru believe that the person before him was the real one, then he looked up, "When did I owe you 1.8 billion?" he half-joked.
"The strongest jujutsu sorcerer's fee is very high. You made me wait so many years for nothing, you should give some mental damage compensation." Gojo Satoru laughed cheerfully, his tone casual, "1.8 billion isn't high, friendship price~~"
"I'm going to sue you for fraud and extortion, Satoru."
"Eh eh, did the old demon also master these legal skills?"
The joking stopped here for now. Jiang Lai looked up and asked: "Alright, let's talk business. Did you recognize me just now with Six Eyes?"
"Hmm... how should I put it." Gojo Satoru placed his right hand by his lips, "Six Eyes' feedback is very objective, it's unfamiliar data I've never seen, not familiar cursed energy."
Unfamiliar data? It seems switching disguises also switches cursed energy. Jiang Lai breathed a sigh of relief. Then he could use the disguise with peace of mind.
"It's just that my sixth sense intuition told me you seemed familiar, especially when you called me uncle." Gojo Satoru continued, moving closer, "This is revenge for when I called you uncle at age seven, right? I say, thousand-year-old demon, don't be so petty, you'll become ugly."
"Who's the one holding grudges?" Jiang Lai's eyebrows curved like crescents, "It's definitely not me."
Then he continued: "Since Six Eyes gave you unfamiliar data feedback, why did you continue the conversation so naturally?"
"Someone appearing in your home should be investigated, right?" Gojo Satoru said, "Besides, although I didn't completely recognize you at the time, my intuition felt somewhat familiar, so I thought this little boy was your derivative... just like that stupid fox."
Here, the white-haired youth deliberately paused for a second, his smile widening: "You know, I even wanted to sigh about your fertility..."
Jiang Lai twitched his mouth: "Hey, go away, Satoru. What kind of comment is that?"
"Don't mind these little details~" Gojo Satoru waved his finger, his eyes quite interested, "But I didn't expect you could change your body yourself. How did you do it? You're clearly already..." He paused slightly, "no longer [Existence]."
"Yes, I don't count as complete [Existence]." Jiang Lai nodded, his meaning unclear: "But I haven't lost all abilities either."
Since he couldn't explain the origin of this disguise in detail, he simply continued the riddle-person mode, replying with such ambiguous words.
"In that case, can you become buttered potatoes? Edamame-flavored Kikufuku? Sleeve buttons on Jujutsu High uniforms?" He circled around Jiang Lai, his tone drifting as he swayed, "Or roadside trees, street light bulbs?"
"...Of course not, there are conditional limitations." Jiang Lai broke Gojo Satoru's unserious questioning, answering: "Currently, there's only this one form transformation."
"Ah..." Gojo Satoru drew out his tone, "Too bad you can't become other things."
"Although currently there's only this one form transformation, maybe there will be others in the future."
Jiang Lai spoke calmly, his tone gentle.
"If one day you can't find me, maybe I've switched to another form."
"I'll become clouds, become snow, become sunlight, become a line of moving text in your books, become gentle breeze brushing your cheeks when you're tired, become a small grass beside the moist soil you pass after rain. Perhaps you won't be able to recognize me like this, but actually, I'll always stay by your side."
The jujutsu world was very dangerous, Jiang Lai had always known this. He couldn't guarantee he would be the winner who laughed last.
If he fell short, at least he hoped to leave his companions a ray of hope so they wouldn't be too sad.
"..." Hearing Jiang Lai's words, Gojo Satoru rarely fell silent again.
After a long while, he finally said, "Ah, if that's the case, I'll have to start destroying plants and trees."
Jiang Lai: "?"
"Since you said you might become a blade of grass, then I'll trample lawns. Before I step on your head, you'll definitely jump out, right?" Gojo Satoru smiled playfully, using his casual tone: "But even if I step on you, you can't beat me~~"
Jiang Lai showed a half-helpless curved-eye expression, not insisting on replying to this.
Gojo Satoru quickly transitioned to the next sentence: "You better not switch to other forms. These two are very good, at least I can clearly find you."
"...Don't worry." Jiang Lai nodded with a smile, "Under normal circumstances, I'll just switch between these two appearances."
"For safety, I need you to help keep it secret and cooperate with me, Satoru."
"I understand." Gojo Satoru gathered some of his joking demeanor, his blue eyes focusing as he nodded: "What's your plan?"
Jiang Lai logically explained his planning to Gojo Satoru. He clarified his overall intention: use the little sheep disguise to contact jujutsu world humans, use his true form to contact the cursed spirit side.
At the end, Jiang Lai specifically said: "Additionally, I've been learning human electronic technology recently. In the information age, this skill seems quite useful. And I discovered I'm very talented."
He gave advance warning for his future display of advanced hacking skills.
"Not bad, Lai. I didn't expect the thousand-year-old demon to be so progressive. Why are those jujutsu world rotten oranges still so corrupt?" Gojo Satoru took every opportunity to complain about the higher-ups, "Really don't know what those guys have in their heads."
After casually saying that, Gojo Satoru focused his gaze on Jiang Lai again: "You just told me this identity is called [Watanabe Mirai], but you haven't mentioned the most important technique yet."
"Hmm?" Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised, "I thought your Six Eyes could see it?"
He was hoping to learn about little sheep's technique from Gojo Satoru!
"Logically it should be possible. But probably because your situation is quite special, Six Eyes didn't give me accurate information feedback." Gojo Satoru touched his chin, asking curiously: "So what's your technique?"
Jiang Lai was silent for two seconds, touching his nose: "Maybe... it hasn't awakened yet."
"Not awakened?" Gojo Satoru's eye corners rose slightly, "Normally speaking, the age for technique awakening is generally six or seven years old."
He stepped forward, raising his hand to ruffle the little sheep disguise's slightly curly hair, deliberately using a lazy tone: "Looks like you're a... super invincible big dummy."
Little sheep disguise Jiang Lai flapped his arms to push away Gojo Satoru's hand, complaining: "As a teacher, you should encourage students more, okay? What a terrible adult, Satoru."
"That hurts to hear~ I'm a super spicy teacher with 100% positive reviews!" The white-haired youth struck a stylish pose, his tone perfunctory: "It's okay, it's okay, I believe you still have room for improvement."
"So, are you going to Jujutsu High?" Gojo Satoru's lashes fluttered as he asked, "Although you look like a middle school freshman, it's not impossible to skip grades, or just explain it as looking young."
Jiang Lai thought for a few seconds and answered: "Not for now."
Jujutsu High's management was relatively strict, and entries and exits were generally recorded under normal circumstances, making it inconvenient for him to flexibly switch identities for activities.
Moreover, with Gojo Satoru alone at Jujutsu High, it was sufficient for intelligence gathering.
For now, Jiang Lai planned to first explore ordinary human society.
Unlike the relatively clean environment of Jujutsu High, society was full of mixed characters and complex information, conducive to conducting transactions and gathering various intelligence.
So he informed Gojo Satoru of his considerations.
"Hmm, that works too." Gojo Satoru thought along and said, "I happen to have a next mission in a particularly remote village where a village annihilation incident occurred. Because of the remote location plus the people there being rather closed off, the government couldn't even get complete household registration information."
"So I can say you're a survivor from there." He said, "After I exorcised the cursed spirits, seeing that although you're stupid, you do have sorcerer potential, I casually picked you up and brought you back."
That should work. Jiang Lai nodded. This would solve the background problem.
"Oh, right, do you need a guardian? In the jujutsu world." Gojo Satoru's tone rose slightly as he asked.
A guardian... Jiang Lai thought for a few seconds, feeling it was necessary.
Otherwise, minors of this age would generally be sent to orphanages, and the Supervisory Committee might come to adopt him. Before figuring out his technique, he didn't want direct contact with the Supervisory Committee.
"I need one. Someone with regular habits and reliable adult." Jiang Lai said, "Not too enthusiastic, someone who usually seems relatively serious would be good."
Regular habits would make it convenient for him to track the other's whereabouts, then switch identities when the guardian wasn't home.
Relatively serious and business-like meant they wouldn't be overly concerned about his daily whereabouts.
After hearing Jiang Lai's requirements, Gojo Satoru thought for a moment, tapping his left hand with his right palm, suddenly realizing: "There's one person who fits perfectly!"
On the other side.
Nanami Kento heard a message notification. He instinctively opened his phone to look.
It was a message from Gojo Satoru.
[Hi hi, are you home Nanami?
Want to have a child? Still hesitating? Good news good news, no waiting, no payment needed, the child-delivering Goddess of Mercy is coming right away...!! (Cool sparkling stars)]
Nanami Kento: ?