Chapter 100 : Awakening from Dreams
Detective Conan World.
During lunch break, several close colleagues from the Metropolitan Police's Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit made plans to eat at a nearby small restaurant together.
"That new Jujutsu series' Thousand Year Hexagram chapter concluded, the recent episodes were too exciting." A colleague with a crew cut chatted casually, sighing. "I was quite busy recently and hadn't had time to watch. I binged it all yesterday."
Then he said: "I remember Matsuda and Hagiwara, you two were particularly following this manga. Do you chase updates every episode? Recently the manga's cliffhanger endings seem to be at very nail-biting places."
Matsuda Jinpei silently lifted his face, his eyes showing shallow dark circles.
Crew cut colleague: "...Looks like you do chase every update and lose sleep over it."
Matsuda Jinpei exhaled, then grabbed a large piece of beef and stuffed it in his mouth, forcefully chewing and swallowing before saying sullenly:
"I equally hate every manga artist who ends on cliffhangers."
Hagiwara Kenji placed the freshly served glasses of lemon water in front of everyone, then said:
"How to put it, the recent update-chasing experience is like wanting a soda really badly in hot summer, but also worrying that after drinking this soda, you'll die on the spot."
"Hah??" The crew cut colleague looked completely confused. "Die on the spot??"
"Meaning both anticipating and fearing what comes next~" Hagiwara Kenji's droopy eyes held a smile as he sighed in reply.
"The situation inside looks very dangerous. Though we know it's just filling in the past, who knows if the plot might suddenly take a sharp turn and let important characters... mm, forget it, better not say unlucky things."
"Anyway, seeing this chapter's ending now, I can finally feel somewhat relieved." Matsuda Jinpei recalled. "Lai's sleeping location is very safe, just wondering if maintaining the same sleeping position for a long time might be bad for the body, oh, but maybe that world doesn't follow science."
"Lai's character setting is quasi-divine, right? Should be fine." The crew cut police colleague half-jokingly said. "Speaking of which, you seem to chase manga with real emotional investment, almost like caring for actual existing friends."
"Cough cough, after all, only by truly putting yourself in their shoes can you better analyze plot and guess future developments."
Matsuda Jinpei, aside from the initial choking coughs, maintained his expression and very naturally spoke serious words.
The secret of a real friend transmigrating to the Jujutsu world was something they few who knew had long agreed to never reveal, to avoid complications.
"Aren't there also people online who have romantic relationships with characters, like 'dream boyfriends' and 'dream girlfriends'? By comparison and extension, we're like 'dream friends.' Just thinking of being friends with manga characters."
Hagiwara Kenji smiled as he connected the latter half, making all the concern more reasonable.
"Oh, is that so? I don't know much about these things." The crew cut colleague drank the lemon water on the table. "But describing it that way, I think I've seen 'dream little brothers' online before, people fantasizing about being manga characters' little brothers."
"And that netizen seemed quite wealthy, you could tell just from the merchandise displays he set up."
The crew cut colleague sighed: "Plus he's very combative, though he doesn't use crude language or unreasonable arguments. His word choices are polite, logic clear, he'll very rationally and calmly express... well, dream little brother opinions."
Matsuda Jinpei & Hagiwara Kenji: "......" Sounds familiar.
"I even followed him because he often posts his manga analysis and various information he buys himself, maybe you'd be interested too."
The crew cut colleague spoke while opening his phone, then turned the screen toward the two in front of him:
"Look, this is [Click to View Good Little Brother Manual Three Hundred Rules]..."
Under the long username was an avatar of a cool green-eyed silver long-haired cat with colorful Q-version chemistry bottles beside it.
Matsuda Jinpei & Hagiwara Kenji: ...As expected, it's you, brother-complex little Akira!!
On the other side, in the Jujutsu world.
Jiang Lai's consciousness gradually returned, feeling light filtering through his eyelids as sunlight swayed gently.
His lashes trembled slightly, then he slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the room full of morning sunlight.
The room's walls were covered with sheep wallpaper. On the bedside table next to him, beside a cute brown alarm clock, sat a phone in a rubber case.
Jiang Lai took a moment to react before finally coming to his senses.
After a golden millet dream returning to a thousand years ago, experiencing vast and mighty long years, he had returned again to the room where he'd fallen asleep a thousand years later.
At this moment he was borrowing Phone-kun's form-switching ability, wearing the sheep disguise of a first-year middle schooler, living in temporary guardian Nanami Kento's house.
They had recently just resolved the inexplicable cursed spirit attraction problem at Satozakura School and encountered Mahito.
The incident's conclusion was that the light green divine status fragment was unexpectedly seized by Ryomen Sukuna who appeared in Itadori Yuji's palm.
Itadori Yuji... the other conceptual little brother he hadn't met a thousand years ago. Now he was right next door to his room.
He kind of wanted to meet him.
Jiang Lai rubbed his cheeks, got up and simply tidied his room, then stepped out to first wash up and become more awake.
He seemed to have woken quite early. The doors to both Nanami Kento and Itadori Yuji's rooms were still closed.
Jiang Lai kept his washing sounds quiet, efficiently brushing his teeth and washing his face before quietly returning to his room.
Perfect, he could use this time to read the manga and forums first. Jiang Lai thought, picking up the phone from his bedside table.
See the situation from a god's-eye view. The manga should reveal more information.
He opened the official Jujutsu new series website. Currently, all content of the [Thousand Year Hexagram] chapter had been updated.
Jiang Lai flipped pages from where he'd last read. He moved through the parts he'd personally experienced relatively quickly, only generally checking for any missed key points, putting most attention on what came after.
From the manga, he learned Shuuki's real name, Fushiguro Megumi. He also understood why in the [Yesterday's Past] chapter, he had appeared in the deep forest near the Gojo family shrine.
His timeline was Modern → Yesterday's Past → Thousand Year Hexagram, while everyone else's timeline was Thousand Year Hexagram → Yesterday's Past → Modern.
Two different timelines merged together with incomparable precision, forming an indescribable Möbius strip.
Past and future were tightly interwoven.
Indeed, this was a reincarnation story tightly focused on the character "return." Jiang Lai silently sighed in his heart.
His fingertips brushed across the characters on screen, as if he could interact with them again across time, making up for that bit of missing regret.
Since the thousand-year-ago story had been completed, then someday they would remember, right? Jiang Lai thought.
Then he continued flipping pages.
The manga's perspective shifted afterward. From friends like Gojo, it turned to other characters.
[Birth] in lotus pink kimono with princess-cut hair, who happened to be wandering near Heian-kyo city outskirts, widened beautiful peach blossom eyes.
In the magnificent beautiful meteor shower, her expression held no appreciative joy, only complete shock and amazement.
They seemed able to sense what was truly burning behind such a miraculous human spectacle.
"[Space-Time]..." They murmured, unconsciously reaching forward, but immediately realizing this was a futile gesture.
Going there now was actually too late, but They pressed their lips straight and still quickened their pace, leaping toward Heian-kyo city.
Heian-kyo city was conducting a campaign to subjugate the King of Curses. Almost all jujutsu sorcerers had gathered around Ryomen Sukuna.
[Birth] avoided the crowds, directly rushing to the now-empty shrine. Lotus pink kimono sleeves fluttered as tender leaves spiraled down at Their feet.
In this lush forest, [Birth]'s expression was somewhat blank and dazed, walking forward two or three steps to gently place Their palm against the nearest tree trunk.
"......" They remained silent, slightly lifting Their face.
Moonlight flowed in Their beautiful peach blossom eyes, seemingly rippling like water.
But They ultimately didn't let the moonlight rippling in Their eyes flow out.
Only when finally turning to leave, They left behind an iris flower the color of tears.
"......" Seeing this, Jiang Lai's mood also became somewhat complex. He hadn't known his elder sister (elder brother) happened to be nearby.
If only he had said a proper goodbye when they parted last time.
He exhaled, then continued reading.
The scene shifted again, changing to a different location.
In the manga, [Birth] with princess-cut hair stood in the center, behind them hung a huge black and white iris ink painting.
Beside them also stood a simply dressed man.
The ordinary-faced black-haired man had last appeared when making a deal with Ryomen Sukuna—it was the thousand-year-ago Kenjaku (Brain-kun)!
Jiang Lai stared intently at Brain-kun in the manga, his fingers tightening slightly. He didn't know how the two had made contact.
"We believe in you, you are nature's beloved, heaven's embodiment. We faithful servants will definitely give our all," Kenjaku's posture was quite respectful as he half-bowed. "As long as we find the lost [Space-Time] power condensate and offer it up, we can use faith's power to accelerate recovery."
[Birth]'s expression was very cold. They didn't say much, neither refuting nor confirming Kenjaku's words about "the lost [Space-Time] power condensate."
Jiang Lai thought: since his elder sister (elder brother) had been to the scene, They probably knew he was sleeping in the forest [Origin] created, and wasn't actually lost in the vast world.
But for safety, They probably wouldn't tell others this.
Therefore, Kenjaku still understood according to his own interpretation that after [Space-Time]'s power was over-consumed, the remaining parts condensed into objects lost somewhere in the human world.
In the manga, [Birth] gazed straight ahead, saying: "Though I never understand... I forever respect his choices. Since little brother likes worldly humans, then during his absence, I'll temporarily look after humans for him."
Kenjaku raised his eyes, waiting for the next words from the princess-cut figure before him.
"Create a simple organization outside human political struggles." They said as calmly as water. "No need to appear openly, hiding in shadows is fine. Use iris flowers as totems, rewarding good and punishing evil according to worldly judgment. I will provide some assistance with my power."
"Then, when he returns, I'll give this back to him."
[Birth] lowered Their eyes, long dense lashes like small fans as They blinked slowly: "Participating in the human world this way, he won't need to do everything personally... perhaps he won't suffer such heavy injuries again."
"Understood." Kenjaku's face wore a perfectly curved smile, still giving perfectly polite bows. "We will devoutly fulfill Your instructions. I'm willing to make a binding vow that I will definitely follow [making iris flowers the organization's symbol, and practicing good deeds in the human world according to rules]."
Jiang Lai narrowed his eyes, from his future perspective keenly noticing the loophole in this binding vow: Kenjaku only said he would practice good deeds, but didn't say he wouldn't commit evil deeds.
[Birth], who had almost no contact with humans, didn't seem to think much about this.
They slightly softened their expression, turned around, their eyes flowing as thin lips parted to speak:
"As for the faith power conversion you mentioned—this isn't something that can be done just by saying it. How do you plan to achieve this?"
"If it were me, I indeed couldn't convert faith into power suitable for you." Kenjaku admitted readily enough, but quickly changed direction: "However, this naturally isn't empty talk either."
He half-turned, making a gesture toward the back. From outside the door, another figure slowly walked in.
The man in Gojo family attire had long hair loosely tied behind his head. After walking to not far in front, he stopped and bowed, then raised his head, revealing those narrow light blue eyes.
At the same time, Kenjaku's latter words were also spoken: "His technique is [Conversion]."
The manga ended here.
Jiang Lai, browsing on his phone, narrowed his eyes, complex thoughts swaying in his heart, with two points jumping out particularly clearly:
① That Gojo family person indeed had close ties with the Supervisory Committee. The technique called [Conversion] was a very important point.
② From [Birth]'s words, this was an organization his elder sister (elder brother) left for him, so he should be the legitimate heir to that iris flower organization