I, in a Jujutsu Kaisen Manga, Take the Detective Conan World by Storm

Ryomen Sukuna looked like he didn't believe it at all. His expression and eyes were all conveying: I know you're disgusting me, enough already.

Jiang Lai collected his perfunctory performance attitude and returned to his usual calm. He just silently replied in his heart: Indeed, in this era telling the truth gets no believers.jpg

"Alright, let's skip this topic for now." Jiang Lai walked forward a few steps, resting his book in his palm: "Where are you planning to go?"

"Where am I planning to go?" Ryomen Sukuna chewed over this sentence, showing a somewhat sarcastic smile. He placed his hand on the transparent barrier, drawing out his voice: "Remove this, and naturally I'll go wherever I want."

"That's not impossible."

To Ryomen Sukuna's slight surprise, the other's words seemed to agree. He raised his eyebrows and stared at the black-haired youth, waiting for that guy's next sentence.

Jiang Lai's expression remained normal as he said gently: "But you left quite a mess before. Six Eyes is very angry, and I haven't settled accounts with you yet. If we just let it slide so simply, wouldn't that be..."

"Didn't you already disgust me just now," the cherry-pink haired youth rolled his eyes, "with that brother relationship stuff."

Jiang Lai (smiling): "...That really was the truth. Also, not respecting one's elder brother deserves punishment."

Ryomen Sukuna snorted contemptuously, his crimson eyes filled with danger as always. However, since the current him couldn't beat Jiang Lai, all this dangerous aura had no real threatening power.

The snow had mostly stopped now, with the bright moon hanging overhead.

Jiang Lai gazed into the distance. After thinking for a moment, he said thoughtfully: "I've already figured out how to punish you. It's a very malicious move, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow during the day. It's too late today."

Ryomen Sukuna looked indifferent: "No need to wait until tomorrow." He squeezed out low laughter from his throat: "Let me see what skills you have... malicious moves? Do you even have any?"

"No, if I said tomorrow, then it's tomorrow."

As Jiang Lai spoke, he lightly flicked his fingertips, using spatial techniques to create an air hammock between two trees, then leaped up and lay down comfortably.

"Using your ability for this?" Ryomen Sukuna mocked: "How boring."

Jiang Lai, lying comfortably on his side on the air hammock, heard this and seemed quite considerate as he asked:

"Is that so? Do you want a hammock too, Sukuna? But you're currently in the punishment phase of not being allowed to listen to stories, so I won't rock a hammock while telling you bedtime stories."

The cherry-pink haired youth was thoroughly disgusted again. He used intersecting cursed blades to cut at the transparent barrier, the sharp clashing sounds ringing in their ears.

Jiang Lai treated it as white noise, floating and ignoring it completely. He just lightly waved his hand at the end, expanding that spatial barrier so Ryomen Sukuna could sit or lie down to rest.

Jiang Lai: I really am a good older brother.jpg

Logically, true [Existences] didn't need sleep, but because he had just used his abilities and borne sinful karma, drowsiness arose.

Therefore, Jiang Lai still followed his instincts and decided to lie down for a brief night's rest.

"You should rest well too, Sukuna." Jiang Lai said: "Don't forget there's a super malicious move waiting for you tomorrow."

"Malicious?" Ryomen Sukuna finally stopped his meaningless cutting, grinning as he half-narrowed his eyes: "...Fine, I'm looking forward to it."

…

The next day.

Jiang Lai and Ryomen Sukuna, surrounded by spatial techniques, walked to the vicinity of another new village.

To avoid trouble, Jiang Lai didn't bring Ryomen Sukuna into the village. He constructed a transparent cat box to leave the other in place, calculating the time in his mind.

Spatial technique arrangements without his presence couldn't be adjusted and repaired in real time, so they had time limits.

"Please wait here for a moment. I'll be right back." Jiang Lai put a fox mask back on his face and stepped into the village.

This village happened to be having a market day.

Jiang Lai had searched for Heian-kyo spice substitutes from his book (phone) in advance, but when he actually arrived at this market, he discovered he didn't need to slowly search using reference materials.

This Jujutsu Kaisen world's alternate version of Heian-kyo surprisingly had nearly complete seasonings just like modern times, with similar names even. This was very convenient.

Therefore, Jiang Lai didn't waste any effort and bought all kinds of items.

Regarding money, he had to thank the long-haired Gojo from before. When they were shopping there, the other had casually stuffed a lot of money into Jiang Lai's hands. Now it came in handy.

Carrying the items in a simple bundle, on his way back, just as Jiang Lai was about to leave the village, his [Existence]-level highly sensitive hearing caught different low discussion voices from the crowd.

"...There are traces of that person. Someone around here said they saw a white-haired youth pass through this area. We should be able to find him at the next village..."

It was a deep voice, probably a guard or warrior's role.

"That guy is really something, just leaving on a whim to go play. The family is in chaos because of him. Why can't we just let responsible servants search? Why do we have to participate too, running around so hard..."

It was a sharp voice with some dissatisfaction and complaints.

"Don't be disrespectful, Tanitsu." Another gentle voice responded. Though the content was reproachful, the tone wasn't harsh: "Speaking about that person like this could get you punished in the family."

"...Sorry, I just..."

"It's fine, no problem. I'm just reminding you not to say complaining things in front of others next time. Let's continue searching. If we find him, we still need to persuade him to return home." The gentle voice continued.

The voices gradually became unclear as distance increased. Jiang Lai tilted his head slightly, glancing over from afar.

The discussions mentioning "white-haired youth" made Jiang Lai pause for half a second as he realized who the "runaway" they were discussing was - most likely the long-haired Gojo Satoru from a thousand years ago.

Indeed, the Gojo family had been privately searching for the white long-haired cat who had impulsively run away from home. After all, Six Eyes was very important to the Gojo family.

Jiang Lai's gaze swept over. Those figures turned a corner ahead, and he only caught the silhouette of the last speaker with the gentle voice - those narrowly outlined eyes were a particularly rare pale blue color.

The bustling crowd soon obscured those people, and Jiang Lai also withdrew his gaze, continuing to walk forward normally.

After walking some distance, he suddenly recalled something.

Wait, pale blue eyes... he seemed to have seen this person before, had some memory of them!

Jiang Lai retrieved very old images from his mind. At the beginning of the Yesterday's Past arc at the Gojo family shrine, not long after witnessing young Gojo go down the mountain, another figure had come to the shrine alone.

At that time, Jiang Lai had observed him from afar in the forest, catching sight of those pale blue eyes.

Later, when chatting with young Gojo at the fireworks festival, young Gojo mentioned there was a young elder in the family, saying maintaining appearance was probably the other's technique.

So were these two people with narrow pale blue eyes the same person... or some ancestor and descendant relationship?

Being the same person seemed a bit ridiculous. This was a thousand years ago - could it be some immortality technique?

But the ancestor setting was also ridiculous, since those pale blue eyes seemed more like a mutation rather than some stably inherited trait.

Pondering this, Jiang Lai temporarily noted this point in his heart, planning to consider it more carefully after gathering other intelligence clues.

He carried the bundle full of items back to the location outside the village. Ryomen Sukuna was sitting cross-legged on the ground, already beginning to develop preliminary time-killing abilities.

Noticing Jiang Lai's return, he only lazily lifted his eyelids, laughing nastily: "Did you go robbing or stealing?"

"Money left by Ohagi. These were proper transactions." Jiang Lai put down his bundle and took out the items one by one.

Ryomen Sukuna noticed what the other had bought. After his expression paused briefly, it turned to keen interest: "You're going to cook?"

"Yes." Jiang Lai nodded, turning his head to smile: "You're hungry, right?"

Ryomen Sukuna didn't think the person in front of him would be so kind. His crimson eyes glanced at the seasonings and wild birds on the ground, finding it somewhat laughable inwardly: could the so-called malicious punishment method just be forcing him to eat bird meat?

The Heian-kyo prohibited eating beast meat except fish, so they basically didn't raise livestock.

These remote villages occasionally ate some hunted wild bird meat, but Japanese nobles absolutely wouldn't eat it.

However, Ryomen Sukuna naturally had no such concerns. He even ate human flesh. If this was the punishment method, it would actually be more like a benefit for him.

Ryomen Sukuna propped his cheek with one hand, watching with interest as the person in front used techniques to process the bird meat from a distance.

The navy blue figure's movements were smooth and beautiful, processing cleanly and orderly. The series of operations from building a small barbecue stove to applying various seasonings were all very efficient.

Jiang Lai was quite good at cooking. He had learned all this processing before, and had specifically used his book (phone) to review it several times before going to market. Plus, using techniques rather than his hands made the operation cleaner and smoother.

Soon, the aroma of roasted bird meat wafted out. The fragrance lingered nearby, stirring up appetite. The transparent cat box didn't block scents.

Ryomen Sukuna said leisurely: "Can't tell... so you really can cook."

"I'm strong in all aspects." Jiang Lai nodded confidently with a smile, taking the fragrant roasted bird meat down from the rack.

Then, under Ryomen Sukuna's gaze, he put the roasted bird meat into his own mouth and began eating elegantly and happily.

Ryomen Sukuna: "?"

Ryomen Sukuna lowered the hand supporting his cheek, all four eyes staring at the black-haired youth: "...You eat meat?" This wasn't prepared to force him to eat??

"What's wrong? It's very fragrant." Jiang Lai replied calmly, then smiled gently: "You're hungry, right? Don't worry, you can watch me eat."

He lowered his eyes slightly, continuing his elegant meal.

Ryomen Sukuna: "??"

The official guidebook mentioned that Ryomen Sukuna had no hobbies except eating, and even found a particularly good cook as his subordinate, Uraume.

Therefore, for an extreme libertarian who found pleasure in fine food, the most malicious punishment was to restrain his freedom, let him go hungry, then eat deliciously in front of him!

Jiang Lai silently gave himself a thumbs up in his heart.

Force works both ways. If he beat someone up, he'd still have to exert effort using techniques. Better to enjoy eating while the other suffered without him suffering at all.

As an [Existence], Jiang Lai had no sense of fullness or hunger. Therefore, after finishing the whole roasted bird, he made several roasted fruits.

He also deliberately applied plenty of seasoning while using techniques to fan the aroma toward the cherry-pink haired youth. His malicious intent was obvious.

Ryomen Sukuna: "..."

If looks could kill, the navy blue figure would already be dismembered.

After Jiang Lai flowed through his delicious meal like flowing water, drank some water, and cleaned up with techniques, Ryomen Sukuna, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke slowly: "I changed my mind."

"What?" Jiang Lai looked up.

"Direct cutting and killing seems a bit wasteful." Ryomen Sukuna laughed lowly, not hiding his malice at all: "I suddenly want to try cooking methods. But although your cooking is good, you probably can't cook yourself, so I'll need to find an additional chef."

"Planning to eat me?" Jiang Lai raised his eyebrows slightly, smiling casually and calmly: "If you can manage it."

He was already used to Ryomen Sukuna's hellish style and wasn't particularly surprised by what the other said.

However, Jiang Lai hadn't planned to actually starve the other to death. What if all the other's sinful karma accumulated on his own head? That wouldn't be fun.

By the way, honestly, could the other actually be starved to death? He was an [Existence] after all, even if a degraded chaotic version.

He threw over the flatbread he'd bought from the market, along with several wild fruits out of kindness. Ryomen Sukuna caught them smoothly and ate without fuss.

When his canine teeth tore and bit, his eyes swept over the navy blue figure, his swallowing motions like devouring from afar.

Jiang Lai remained calm, treating it as his silly little brother having another rebellious phase episode. After using techniques to level the scene and complete his planned "malicious punishment," the previous drowsiness arose again.

Although he had rested last night, he seemed not to have fully replenished his energy.

Jiang Lai yawned lightly, lowering his eyes slightly, planning to rest a little more.

"Take your time eating, no rush. If you behave well in the future, I might cook you a meal too." Jiang Lai said with a grin, manipulating space to create another air hammock, preparing to sleep.

It was daytime now, but winter daylight wasn't harsh. Jiang Lai opened his book and placed it over his face, letting the tide-like drowsiness sweep over him as he drifted into sleep.

…

[Existences] probably didn't dream.

The sound of wind whistling past his ears grew louder and softer. His thoughts gradually returned. Awakening from deep sleep, Jiang Lai pulled the book from his face, only then noticing it was completely dark.

"I actually slept all afternoon." Jiang Lai stretched lazily, leisurely adjusting his position and descending from his air hammock.

The cherry-pink four-armed youth stood beside him. Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised - had his spatial barrier been set to allow the other this close to him?

Under the moonlight, Ryomen Sukuna laughed with unclear expression, raising his hand slightly to send intersecting sharp cursed blades!

The cursed blades reached his side in a breath. The air barrier around Jiang Lai blocked those cursed blades, dissolving the attack!

"...You actually got out of the barrier?" Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised.

"Your spatial barriers can't last too long without real-time monitoring and repair, right?" Ryomen Sukuna squeezed out sounds from his throat, grinning: "Half a day is enough to break through, let alone ten days."

"Ten days?" Jiang Lai paused again. Had he really slept that long?

"Ah, something like that." Ryomen Sukuna said casually, as if he hadn't specifically counted either.

"If it was that long, why didn't you leave but stayed here?" Jiang Lai raised his eyebrows slightly, asking: "Don't tell me you were really waiting for me to cook for you?"

"Because I was trying to kill you!" Ryomen Sukuna laughed loudly, his crimson eyes turning over as he rested one hand on his chin: "But I didn't expect that even while sleeping, you have a layer of spatial techniques for isolation... Of course, it's not completely unbreakable."

Jiang Lai frowned slightly, then touched his neck.

He could feel a not-very-obvious wound, like being scratched by a wire, short and shallow, but definitely there.

It seemed bearing sinful karma would transform into a period of dormancy, he thought. Did he really sleep for ten days this time?

"Resurrecting the village really had a price," Ryomen Sukuna mused, his villain tone drawn out. He swept his gaze over, laughing lowly: "You've gotten a bit weaker. Don't let your guard down - I told you that before."