Chapter 62 : New School and New Online Friend
When the doorbell rang, Nanami Kento wasn't particularly eager to answer the door.
However, he knew that even if he pretended not to be home, the other would find a way in anyway. Moreover, the existence of Six Eyes had essentially eliminated the option of [pretending not to be home].
So he got up to open the door.
"Hi~ Nanami! Long time no see, I'm here to deliver a child to you!" Gojo Satoru held up a brown curly-haired little boy with both hands, waving him in front as if showing off some pet.
"How about it, Nanami? Isn't this little guy cute? His curly hair is like a brown little sheep, or that kind of dog! But since he only occasionally bleats instead of barking, he should belong to the sheep category. He's yours!"
"..." Nanami Kento's expression remained calm, "Gojo-san, please try not to give strange nicknames to children of this age. Additionally, if you insist on kidnapping minors, I'm afraid I'll have to call the police."
"Eh? Kidnapping children?? Is that my image in Nanami's eyes..."
Gojo Satoru leaned back tactically, his tone fluctuating rhythmically.
"This was picked up from the ruins of that deep mountain village from my last mission. He's a survivor who seems to have some sorcerer talent, so I brought him along."
Nanami Kento frowned slightly upon hearing this.
"I rarely have the spare time to do good deeds, so I spent those few days taking him for treatment, buying things, handling documents and such. But I'm too busy and don't have time to raise a child."
Gojo Satoru waved the little boy in his hands again, "So I decided to give this very interesting child to you. Happy! His name is Watanabe Mirai."
"Please don't make decisions for people casually. This is very troubling." Nanami Kento's voice was flat, "I'm also very busy. Gojo-san should find someone else."
"You don't want him?" Gojo Satoru tilted his head slightly, showing a thoughtful expression, "Ah, in that case, who else could I give him to? At this age, it would be best for him to attend school in society, right? And not knowing if he'll awaken a technique, it's not suitable to leave him at Jujutsu High."
"Should I give him to Haibara? But Haibara has a sister at home, so that doesn't seem very suitable either..."
Gojo Satoru drew out his tone, saying rather regretfully: "Thinking about it, I can only leave him at an orphanage. So pitiful, an unwanted little guy might get bullied there..."
"Please, Nanami-san, please take me in."
As if sensing his possible fate from Gojo's words, the brown-haired boy being held up by Gojo Satoru raised his dark eyes with a pitiful look.
"I'll be very good and study hard, and I eat very little. Please, don't abandon me..."
Although Nanami Kento's expression remained cold, his voice deliberately softened considerably:
"Gojo-san should be able to find someone more suitable for you. And even if it's an orphanage, they can take good care of you. If I have free time, I'll visit you."
"However, this child can see cursed spirits but doesn't understand jujutsu techniques."
"In that case, he'll attract those cursed spirits' attention and live in fear every day without being understood by those around him. So pitiful~ Maybe one day he'll be eaten by a cursed spirit that discovers him."
Gojo Satoru held the brown-haired boy by his collar with one hand while pretending to wipe tears with the other through his eye mask, his performance quite exaggerated but his words sounding very real.
Little sheep Jiang Lai fully utilized this disguise's appearance and age advantages, using the kitten's most powerful eye attack (?), deliberately using a soft, nasal voice with trembling tones:
"Please, I don't want to go to the orphanage... When I earn money, I'll repay you. Like maybe giving you three percent of mission earnings or something, a big loss and discount..."
Although the latter sentence was quite tempting to complain about, the reliable adult didn't dwell on this.
"It's not about money." Nanami Kento replied.
"Please please..." The brown-haired little boy's dark eyes were moist as he pressed his palms together.
"Nanami..." Gojo Satoru cooperated with a similar tone, drawing out the sound.
Under the gaze of the white-haired youth and brown-haired little boy, Nanami Kento sighed quietly and finally nodded, giving a positive response:
"Alright, stay at my place."
"Yeah, hooray!!" ×2
The two people before him swept away their previous expressions, showing similar brilliant smiles. Gojo Satoru put the brown-haired boy down, then high-fived him.
Nanami Kento: "..." For some reason, he felt like he'd been deceived.
He rubbed one temple with some headache, then said expressionlessly: "If there's nothing else, after leaving this child here, you can go, Gojo-san."
"Is this kicking me out, Nanami? So hurtful~~"
"Just stating facts to prevent you from being late returning to school and putting me down as the reason."
After deciding to adopt the boy before him, although Nanami Kento's expression remained serious and cold, his movements were very gentle as he lightly guided the other to his side.
Gojo Satoru pulled out a stack of documents from his bag and stuffed them to the blonde Nanami Kento:
"Here, these are all things related to him. Some newly opened certificates, adoption paperwork, physical examination reports, and a whole series of other things."
Nanami Kento: "..." So it was all prepared in advance!
However, since he had agreed, there was no reason to back out. He flipped to the next page of documents and began simply browsing through the physical examination report.
"Oh, right, although the examination report doesn't show anything special, he seems to occasionally have headaches and physical weakness. His health isn't very good." Gojo Satoru supplemented from the side, "Of course, it's not the influence of curses."
"Didn't Gojo-san take him for further examination?"
"I did examine him. The next few pages are examination reports from different hospitals, all showing no problems." Gojo Satoru spread his hands, "Maybe it's some unique rare disease."
"I won't trouble Nanami-san too much," the brown-haired little boy beside him looked up slightly, his expression bright, "I can take care of myself and won't feel particularly uncomfortable. It's just occasionally, I might need to take leave from school..."
"If you need care, tell me." Nanami Kento said calmly, "Since I chose to adopt you, I have responsibility for you."
"..." Little sheep Jiang Lai blinked and nodded with a smile: "Alright, if I really need your care, I'll definitely tell you."
The hidden meaning was: no special attention needed in daily life.
Nanami Kento nodded in agreement and neatly organized the documents in his hand.
Gojo Satoru didn't continue to stay. As the strongest in the jujutsu world, he was indeed very busy. After making a few jokes, he waved his hand and left stylishly.
Afterwards, Jiang Lai smoothly moved into Nanami Kento's home.
The reliable and mature adult Nanamin, although always stern and bland in appearance, was actually very thoughtful inside.
Nanami Kento didn't pay special attention to anything, giving sufficient respectful space. Every morning before leaving, he would prepare milk and lunch boxes for the boy at home, with convenient heating instruction notes attached.
After adopting the brown-haired boy, in the first few days, he specifically took little sheep Jiang Lai out to buy several sets of clothes, along with other personal items and books suitable for this age, bringing them all home.
Additionally, there were programming and electronic technology-related books that little sheep Jiang Lai said he was interested in.
Jiang Lai used these few days of going out shopping to gradually understand the specific terrain and buildings in the area.
This was Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.
Nanami Kento originally had an apartment in downtown Tokyo, but because Haibara Yu's hometown was here, after graduation, he simply sold his Tokyo apartment and moved to Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture.
This place had a name in the original Jujutsu Kaisen work. The [Juvenile Fish and Reverse Punishment] arc took place here.
The Juvenile Fish arc was a relatively obscure and sad chapter, with main characters being Yoshino Junpei, a second-year high school student suffering from school bullying, and the newly born, heart-tempting Special Grade cursed spirit Mahito.
Those involved in resolving this incident were Itadori Yuji and Nanami Kento.
If following the original timeline, this arc occurred around mid-2018. The current timeline had reached the end of 2018.
However, the new series didn't completely follow the original plot development, so maybe the Juvenile Fish arc story hadn't happened either.
Clarifying whether this incident occurred had relatively important significance for finding Mahito's traces and determining Mahito's birth time.
Coincidentally, after the new year, Nanami Kento laid out several school brochures for little sheep Jiang Lai to choose a school he wanted to attend.
One of the schools was Kanagawa Prefectural Satozakura School from the [Juvenile Fish and Reverse Punishment] arc.
What differed from the original was that this school wasn't just a high school, but an integrated junior-senior high school.
Taking this opportunity, Jiang Lai planned to probe for some information indirectly.
So after simply browsing through several school brochures, he asked with a curious tone: "Nanami, do any of these schools have special stories?"
After becoming familiar, little sheep Jiang Lai's address for Nanami Kento also transitioned from "Nanami-san" to "Nanami."
"Special?" Nanami Kento adjusted his special nose-clip glasses, "What do you mean?"
"Well, I heard many schools have various strange rumors," the brown-haired boy's dark eyes sparkled, "They seem really interesting!"
"Generally speaking, these strange rumors are related to cursed spirits." Nanami Kento stated calmly, "They're not interesting matters. If negative emotions continue accumulating, beyond the rumors, student casualty incidents might occur."
"The schools I selected are all currently safe and haven't had incidents before."
[These schools haven't had incidents before] meant that the [Juvenile Fish and Reverse Punishment] arc events hadn't happened yet?
Jiang Lai's thoughts flowed in his mind.
Combined with the previously known marks on Fushiguro Toji's soul, the Supervisory Committee should have characters who could touch souls. In the original Jujutsu Kaisen, only the Special Grade cursed spirit Mahito could do this.
From this perspective, in the new series, Mahito's birth time was much earlier than in the original work. He had long since left Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture.
If so, Yoshino Junpei should still be alive?
Speaking of which, he was also a child with certain sorcerer potential. Would the Supervisory Committee pay attention to him? And would Mahito return in the future to have a fateful encounter with Junpei?
The Special Grade cursed spirit Mahito's technique could see and touch souls, but phone-kun's identity switching was definitely reliable, neither discoverable by Six Eyes nor by Mahito.
His mind flashing with thoughts, Jiang Lai's face didn't reveal anything. He blinked and after flipping through the brochures several times, finally pointed at [Kanagawa Prefectural Satozakura School], saying playfully:
"I want to go to school here. This school's name sounds nice!"
Contacting Special Grade cursed spirits carried certain risks, but opportunities usually came with dangers. Jiang Lai hadn't come here planning to hide.
Therefore, he chose this important location that occupied significant chapters in the original work.
If worst came to worst, he'd switch identities before meeting, changing back to his true form and transforming into cursed spirit form to make contact. Special Grade cursed spirit groups were usually friendly to their companions. He thought.
Nanami Kento nodded and picked up that school's brochure: "Alright, I'll handle your enrollment application in a few days. Do you want to join as a transfer student before spring break, or as a new student after spring break starts?"
To get intelligence early, familiarize with the environment, and scout the area, earlier would be better. Jiang Lai thought.
So his face showed a bright smile: "I want to start school early, before spring break. I can keep up with the progress."
Inner adult Jiang Lai: Actually totally don't want to start school early QAQ... No matter how old, never want school to start!!
After deciding to enroll as soon as possible, that evening, Jiang Lai began organizing his belongings.
After arranging his pencil case and books, he opened his phone, planning to see if the manga had updated to little sheep's appearance and how it was presented.
When opening his phone, Jiang Lai first noticed a new message.
From a Jujutsu Kaisen world app. A game about collecting cute spirits and going on adventures, somewhat like Pokémon.
Jiang Lai naturally still entertained himself daily, as a balance between work and rest was a comfortable lifestyle.
Having basically understood the Jujutsu Kaisen world and no longer being as busy establishing himself as initially, plus switching to the youth form little sheep disguise staying at Nanami's house with relatively free time, Jiang Lai downloaded this game for daily relaxation.
Since the message happened to pop up, Jiang Lai clicked in.
It was a new team formation message, automatically randomly matched by the system, non-separable. Two-person teams to jointly start the next map adventure.
[#Next One Is Me#: Hmm? What kind of match is this? What's that weird name of yours, so childish.]
Jiang Lai raised his eyebrows slightly and tapped a reply.
[#Little Sheep Doesn't Sleep#: Your name is the weird one, what kind of ghost name is "Next One Is Me," next what, next idiot?]
[#Next One Is Me#: Ugh, can't you stop adding "mee" to every sentence?? Looking at you like this, you're probably not an adult yet, not some stupid woman, right? You don't understand the meaning behind my username at all, it's both motivation and fact.]
Oh? Jiang Lai frowned slightly.
Because of mainly dealing with the jujutsu world, Jiang Lai's first reaction to that username [Next One] was actually [Next Family Head], departing from ordinary society.
If it really was such a completion, then this obsession and confidence about family headship, combined with this impolite, subtly sexist way of speaking...
It's you, Zenin Naoya!
Speaking of which, did the feudal and closed Zenin family actually go online? Jiang Lai originally thought they wouldn't even use the internet.
He wondered what the current Zenin family was like.
Subconsciously analyzing in his mind, Jiang Lai continued typing, aiming to annoy the other person with his reply:
[#Little Sheep Doesn't Sleep#: You talk so much nonsense, asking this and that right away. I like adding "mee," mind your own business. But I can limit-time unsubscribe from the "mee" habit for extra payment, game transfer 10 million.]
[#Next One Is Me#: Heh, I have money, but I won't give it to you.]
[#Little Sheep Doesn't Sleep#: Mee.]
[#Next One Is Me#: Can you stop with the "mee"? If it weren't for this random team that can't be quit... Anyway, I won't carry you, don't drag me down, idiot.]
[#Little Sheep Doesn't Sleep#: Mee.]
[#Next One Is Me#: ? What do you mean?]
[#Little Sheep Doesn't Sleep#: Mee.]
[#Next One Is Me#: ...Are you doing this on purpose?]
[#Little Sheep Doesn't Sleep#: Mee.]
[#Next One Is Me#: Did you set up an auto-reply??]
Jiang Lai had long since minimized the game app. He had indeed set up auto-reply.
Whether the other person was the colorful cloud pig or not, the future team time would be long anyway. He'd investigate and probe for information later.
Currently, their conversation was meaningless, so he might as well leave the other person hanging.
Jiang Lai thought comfortably.
He prepared to continue browsing the official manga website to see the recent situation.