Chapter 63 : New Technique!
As Jiang Lai had previously speculated, when it came to parts involving himself and Gojo Satoru, the manga didn't fully reveal everything, but rather displayed it in a misleading, selective manner.
Following the previous chapter's depiction of Jiang Lai's unfamiliar expression, this chapter clearly portrayed the detailed expression on Gojo Satoru's face the moment he heard those words. Those revealed azure eyes surged like giant waves, reflecting the cold attitude of the black-haired young man before him.
The next few panels gradually transitioned to pure black.
Turning the page, there was a silhouette of the white-haired young man stepping out of the alley. His hands were tucked in his pockets, his posture as usual, his tall figure straight as a pine tree. The blindfold he had put back on covered half his face, while the shadows cast by the buildings beside him further obscured his expression, making it impossible to discern.
Immediately after, the next scene suddenly switched, showing Itadori Yuji and the others on the other side.
The time in this manga chapter was December 25, 2018, which was Christmas. The first-year and second-year students from Tokyo Jujutsu High were gathered together for a meal, looking quite lively.
Itadori Yuji said: "Originally, we were planning to invite Gojo-sensei to join the gathering, but Gojo-sensei said he already had plans and told us to have fun ourselves..."
"Mm." Zenin Maki's expression wasn't surprised. "He's busy every Christmas."
"That's right." Beside her, Zenin Mai nodded as well. She was now also a member of the second-year group at Jujutsu High.
Nanako and Mimiko were quite talented and learned quickly. Plus, to balance the grade levels, they were now in the third-year group at the high school.
The Tokyo High third-year group had been sent to socialize with Kyoto High for Christmas, so they weren't currently present.
"Huh? Every year?" Kugisaki Nobara was somewhat surprised hearing this, raising her eyebrows as she complained: "Is Gojo-sensei really that popular? Although I'll admit he does look pretty good, but that personality... Seriously, does he really get invited in advance every year??"
"No." Zenin Maki paused for a few seconds before saying, "Maybe he's waiting for someone."
Gojo Satoru had never told anyone around him who he was waiting for, but Zenin Maki had her suspicions.
She always remembered the mysterious great demon who had led her and her sister out of the Zenin family, and she knew that person had a very good relationship with Gojo. But that mysterious great demon had never appeared again after the Star Plasma Vessel incident.
Gojo, Geto, and Senior Ieiri seemed to have become much more mature overnight. They performed well, and no one else noticed the changes in these few people.
However, the Zenin sisters, who were close by at the time and had sensitive personalities, keenly sensed something. Moreover, their minds also inexplicably contained some vague impressions of the future.
They were too young at the time to understand why. But as they gradually grew up, some incredible speculations slowly emerged in Zenin Maki's mind.
Perhaps the maturity of Senior Gojo and the others, and the vague future impressions in her own mind, were related to that mysterious great demon. And the reason that person kept not appearing was some kind of price.
The person Gojo-sensei was waiting for should be that mysterious great demon. Zenin Maki speculated this in her heart, but she didn't voice it.
She was smart and could sense the aura of secrets without needing them spelled out. Therefore, she only mentioned these things briefly and didn't voice the speculations in her mind.
She wondered if Gojo-sensei had waited for that person this Christmas. Zenin Maki looked toward the window. Perhaps due to some kind of imprinting complex, she also missed that navy blue figure and looked forward to a reunion someday.
The scene followed Zenin Maki's gaze to outside the window. Snowflakes began to fall leisurely in the sky, and against the solemn white background, the page gradually transitioned panel by panel to pure white.
On the next page, Nanami Kento suddenly received a text message, and Gojo Satoru came to find Nanami while carrying a brown-haired boy.
The plot that followed was the same as what Jiang Lai had experienced, ending with his choice of school.
This part didn't reveal much information that was significant to Jiang Lai, and there wasn't much that needed careful analysis, but he still symbolically glanced at the forum.
【Wuwuwu, God Lai really did lose his memory!! I'm so scared that he and Gojo won't really go their separate ways or even become enemies!! No way, I really can't handle it. If they turn against each other in the future, how heartbroken would Gojo-sensei be QAQ】
【So sad... Why did it turn out like this? Memory loss is bad civilization wuwu... Gojo-sensei, quickly, quickly take God Lai to get his brain checked!】
【Grass, what do you mean "get his brain checked"? That totally ruins the atmosphere hahaha... But seriously, I feel like Gojo wouldn't just give up like this. He'll definitely find a way to restore God Lai's memory.】
【Am I the only one paying attention to the new character? Gojo-sensei called him Little Sheep haha, such a cute nickname! Who would have thought the white long-haired cat picked up another student? He really walks around everywhere, picking up students everywhere hhh】
【But the only one getting victimized is Nanami haha! Speaking of which, the high school the new character chose seems to be the school where Junpei was in the original work. Is poor little Junpei okay in this new series? The timeline of the plot in this series should be adjusted, right?】
【Not sure what's going on, but since they showed related scenes, there should be plot development... Could it be that this school has something special? Unlike the original, this time this school has become a middle school with both junior and senior high sections.】
【It won't be Mahito appearing again to victimize two people at once!! I just started liking this new character Little Sheep, is he going to get his lunch box in this arc??】
【Not that extreme, not that extreme. That would be too hellish and too sudden... I think the new character still has room for exploration. He looks like he has a distinctive personality and some backstory (thinking). Anyway, I'm really looking forward to him awakening a technique!】
Jiang Lai: I'm also very much looking forward to awakening a new technique.jpg
He put away his phone, also thinking, if it was just to introduce a new character, the manga could have completely stopped after Little Sheep's information was introduced and he was handed over to Nanami. There was no need to elaborate on the later parts.
However, the manga also depicted which school he chose...
Could it be that this school had something special about it?
In such a dangerous world, it's better to overthink than to underthink. Jiang Lai made up his mind to explore thoroughly after enrolling.
After the brief New Year winter break ended, Jiang Lai, disguised as Little Sheep, enrolled at Kanagawa Prefectural Satozakura School and officially became a transfer student in Class 1 of the first year of junior high.
Japanese junior high curriculum differed from Chinese, but under Little Sheep's shell, Jiang Lai was after all an adult at heart, so no matter how big the differences were, he could adapt quickly. Moreover, before enrolling, Jiang Lai had specifically skimmed through the textbooks to understand the situation in advance.
Because he was a transfer student, the surrounding classmates initially maintained some distance from him.
Jiang Lai himself didn't particularly mind. Just as well, he took advantage of the free time to deliberately wander around the school during breaks and the afternoon club time, trying to discover something.
However, after walking around several times, he didn't sense anything particularly special.
By chance, he encountered the thin and weak Yoshino Junpei, whose bangs covered half his face.
The other person was still alive here and hadn't dropped out of school, which meant he hadn't encountered the special grade cursed spirit Mahito, and the Juvenile Detention Center arc hadn't happened.
He was holding a large stack of things, seemingly transporting materials. He didn't notice the stone under his feet and suddenly fell to the ground, revealing several beating marks hidden under his long sleeves.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai happened to be passing by at the time, so he crouched down to help Yoshino Junpei pick up the things and then handed them back to him.
He noticed the marks on Yoshino Junpei's arms, knowing these were probably traces of school bullying. But since the two of them didn't know each other at all and this was their first meeting, he couldn't say much.
Yoshino Junpei also seemed reluctant to let others see the marks. He quickly adjusted his sleeves to cover the traces, thanked Little Sheep Jiang Lai in a low voice for helping pick up the things, and then left.
The two didn't exchange much.
Until a week later.
That day was Monday. After the afternoon club activities ended, Little Sheep Jiang Lai was carrying his schoolbag and planning to go home.
Nanami Kento's residence wasn't far from here, so Little Sheep Jiang Lai didn't need him to pick him up and could walk home by himself.
Their club ended relatively late, and Jiang Lai had also returned to the classroom once. Therefore, when he locked the door, there were almost no people left in the teaching building.
After the students left school, the usually noisy and lively teaching building became particularly quiet. Because of this, even a little sound was enough to attract attention.
Carrying his schoolbag and having just locked the classroom door, Jiang Lai then heard the sound of things crashing down from some floor above, as if something had happened.
This school had both junior and senior high sections, but there weren't many classes, so they were all in the same teaching building. The first, second, and third floors were the junior high section, while the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors were the senior high section.
Hearing the noise, Jiang Lai paused in his movements. He had just put away the keys when he heard a piercing scream.
"Ahhhh...!!"
The scream then stopped abruptly.
Jiang Lai's eyes sharpened. He threw the backpack from his back to the door, paused for half a second, then picked up the backpack again and gripped it in his hand. A backpack full of things could actually be considered a weapon of sorts.
Let's go up and take a look. Jiang Lai made up his mind. On one hand, it was to save people; on the other hand, it was to gather intelligence immediately.
He moved swiftly with a clear head, speculating about possible situations.
It was either someone committing murder or cursed spirits. Jiang Lai planned two scenarios in advance in his mind.
Although he moved quickly, his footsteps were silent, his posture as light as a dragonfly touching water. The abilities he had trained in the Detective Conan world had become even more refined.
Listening carefully to the sounds, Jiang Lai rushed up the stairs all the way to the fifth floor.
Just as he stepped onto the fifth floor, a figure came running shakily from the other end of the corridor. The thin male student with black shoulder-length hair was breathing heavily, stumbling as he ran outward, almost about to fall.
Yoshino Junpei!
Behind him, a monster with limbs like a spider almost occupied the entire corridor, and beside it, there were cursed spirits of various sizes scattered everywhere!
Blood was splattered on the corridor walls, and the bodies of several tall students lay on the ground. Their mutilated appearance made it clear at a glance that they had been killed by cursed spirits.
...Why would so many cursed spirits suddenly appear? A question arose in Jiang Lai's mind.
Before this, Nanami Kento had specifically investigated these schools, and by all accounts, the negative emotions here hadn't reached the level to spawn so many cursed spirits.
Could these be cursed spirits from other places? But why?
Yoshino Junpei noticed the brown-haired boy figure that appeared in front of him. He still remembered the underclassman who had helped him pick up things not long ago. At this moment, he tried to raise his voice, shouting with a trembling tone: "That... run, run...!!"
His hands and feet went weak, and after running forward for just a few steps, he was about to fall to the ground.
The brown-haired boy stepped forward and smoothly caught him, pulling him behind himself. His attitude was quite calm, and he even playfully winked:
"Classmate, my services are very expensive. Remember to pay up later."
Yoshino Junpei's brain was completely blank: "Wh-what?"
However, the brown-haired underclassman didn't reply further, just dropped a line: "Do you have your phone? You call the police first."
This kind of situation definitely needed to be known by others as quickly as possible. The police system definitely had jujutsu world personnel, so various cursed spirit incidents could be quickly reported to jujutsu sorcerers.
Humans usually couldn't outrun cursed spirits. Jiang Lai was well aware of this.
He infused cursed energy into the backpack he was carrying, planning to use the backpack as a temporary cursed tool to buy time until others arrived.
However, at this moment, he heard his phone ring with cheerful music, the background music from that sprite adventure game starting up.
"?" Wait, he hadn't touched his phone at all. Why did this game automatically...
A flash of lightning suddenly crossed his mind. Jiang Lai instantly realized something. He quickly took out his phone and looked down.
After switching identities, Phone-kun's exterior had also changed accordingly. Little Sheep's disguise had a cute plastic soft rubber sheep horn phone case. At this time, the screen was displaying the sprite selection page from the game.
At the same time, he gradually understood the ability that belonged to him.
[Technique-Digital Sprites]!