Chapter 102 : Memory or Not
The morning sunlight was lovely. Since it was currently the transition between winter and spring, the morning breeze carried coolness that crept into people's sleeves and collars, making passersby involuntarily wrap their outer clothes tighter.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai wore a light camel-colored scarf around his neck, which happened to block the quite cool morning wind. This was the newly bought scarf that Nanami Kento had suddenly grabbed and handed over at the last moment when Gojo Satoru was carrying him out the window.
Nanami Kento always remembered the physical condition issues Gojo Satoru had mentioned when bringing Little Sheep Jiang Lai over before. Reliable adults always showed wordless care when needed.
When Jiang Lai and Gojo Satoru had discussed the Little Sheep disguise's [poor health] setting, it was to conveniently take sick leave to skip school anytime, then gather clues or switch identities.
Now, receiving the light camel-colored scarf Nanami Kento handed over, Jiang Lai was slightly stunned, smiling cutely as he reached out to accept and wrap it around, thinking:
When the situation became clear enough later and he no longer needed to use identity switching to explore intelligence, he'd remove the [poor health] aspect from the setting, have a smooth recovery, then say a proper goodbye.
In the Jujutsu world, this disguise had no reason for death escape, so there was no need to make caring people worry more.
On the road, Gojo Satoru casually bought a rice ball and stuffed it into Little Sheep Jiang Lai's hands, saying: "Eat this first to fill your stomach a bit, half-full is fine. Save the rest of your stomach for desserts~"
"Thanks." Little Sheep Jiang Lai reached out to take the rice ball, then said somewhat surprised: "Speaking of which, you're really planning to take me to a dessert shop?"
There weren't many people on the street in the morning. Most people were hurriedly rushing to work. There weren't many big shops around either, not many iris flower symbols.
Therefore, Jiang Lai wasn't worried about being overheard by interested parties, so he spoke normally.
"Of course, that shop's little cakes are really super famous. I've wanted to experience it for a long time."
Gojo Satoru's voice rose as he replied, "Especially the parent-child set meal's exclusive styles, that's the shop's signature. So why must they set parent-child requirements to buy it? But no matter, from now on, you're my son~"
"...Hey, don't arbitrarily assign people such titles."
"Didn't you agree just now? Little friend Mirai," Gojo Satoru reached up to ruffle the brown-haired youth's hair beside him. "You agreed so happily! Make sure to cooperate well with this parent-child performance later."
For a moment, Jiang Lai felt dazed, as if back in school life, like dormmates casually teasing and complaining to each other daily.
Then he came to his senses, brushing Gojo Satoru's large hand away from his head, then looking up: "I thought you came to tell me something?"
"Eh? Shouldn't it be you telling me something?" Gojo Satoru's voice still carried an upward lilt, but the black eyepatch wrapped around his face perfectly concealed half his expression, making it impossible to discern.
Jiang Lai was stunned.
The white-haired teacher giggled, left hand tapping right palm, then continued: "Well anyway, let's go buy little cakes first, then sit down and chat slowly."
…
Goin Dessert Shop was the local signature dessert shop. Just opening for business in the early morning, it welcomed customers.
A tall, slender white-haired man approached the shop, wearing a strange black eyepatch on his face.
Even so, through the exposed half of his face, one could see this was a very handsome person.
...So tall! The shop clerk silently marveled. This must be over 190cm.
Beside the white-haired man was a brown-haired youth, estimated to be around the age of just graduating elementary school and entering first year of middle school.
The visitor indicated at the front counter that they wanted a parent-child set meal.
"Sorry sir, our store manager has a rule that parent-child set meals can only be sold to actual parent-child pairs." The clerk replied with a business smile.
"I know, we are parent-child." Gojo Satoru patted the brown-haired youth, saying seriously, "Though we look like we have no facial or hair color connection, and he's not as handsome, stunning, ceiling-level attractive, and charming as me, we really are parent-child."
Clerk: "?"
Little Sheep Jiang Lai: "." This self-praise is too practiced!
The clerk hesitated, laughing awkwardly: "Ah, is that so..."
Gojo Satoru half-bent over, elbow propped on the front counter, turning his head toward the brown-haired youth with a playful smile:
"Come on, call daddy~ Today daddy is taking you to skip school and eat limited-edition little cakes. After eating, we'll go back to class. Oh right, don't let mommy know."
His words actually quite resembled an unreliable dad, acted quite convincingly.
...But calling daddy was impossible. Where the clerk couldn't see, Jiang Lai gave him a dead-fish-eye expression.
Probably because the clerk heard Gojo Satoru's words about "taking the kid to skip school, eating cakes then going back to class," with thoughts of caring for minors, the clerk stopped inquiring further. After quickly placing the order, they said to wait a moment for the parent-child set meal.
Gojo Satoru took Little Sheep Jiang Lai to choose a relatively inner, more secluded spot, conveniently beside some decorative item.
This position was relatively hidden, convenient for their upcoming conversation, and convenient for setting up double insurance barriers.
The shop served the sweet parent-child set meal quite quickly. Gojo Satoru very elegantly cut the limited-edition strawberry macaron milk-cap cake within, standardly dividing it in half, lightly pushing one portion forward to Little Sheep Jiang Lai.
"Didn't expect you'd actually give me half. I thought you'd hog it all or only cut a tiny bit for me." Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow somewhat surprised, half-jokingly saying.
"What are you talking about? I'm a good daddy," the other deliberately used drawn-out tones, his words carrying some teasing between friends.
Jiang Lai showed a "heh heh" expression, paused for a second, then returned the topic to normal: "The Satozakura School matter, Nanami-san should have already informed you. I won't repeat it."
"Yes, Nanami-san told me roughly." Gojo Satoru slightly withdrew his earlier unserious attitude, nodding to ask, "What's the situation with your special grade cursed spirit state?"
"Same as I told you initially, it's a state I can adjust myself." Jiang Lai smiled, explaining, "I chose cursed spirit form then for stealthy movement. Besides, cursed spirit identity makes it convenient to contact those guys from the other side. Special grade cursed spirits at least have a small group."
He spoke according to the new series' setting. Considering the intelligence upgrade of cursed spirits in the new series, he added "at least" to his words.
"Small group ah..." Gojo Satoru used a small fork to pick up a strawberry from the cake and put it in his mouth, casually saying, "High-intelligence cursed spirits are troublesome."
"Indeed." Jiang Lai nodded, "But this also means they can communicate. If we can exchange words, maybe we can extract some intelligence from them."
"Speaking of special grade cursed spirit small groups, Suguru told me the Supervisory Committee seems to have one." Gojo Satoru thought, saying, "Same as the ones you encountered this time, right?"
"Probably." Jiang Lai answered, "The special grade cursed spirit we encountered this time was a humanoid cursed spirit with blue hair in three braids and suture lines on his face. He held a special woven bag, recovering light green fragments from Satozakura School that attracted surrounding cursed spirits, namely divine status fragments."
Hearing "divine status fragments," Gojo Satoru's expression slightly focused. He stopped his movements.
"Don't worry, that's not mine. Mine hasn't shattered." Jiang Lai paused for a second, continuing, "That thing is now with Ryomen Sukuna. During breakfast chat, Itadori-kun said the other is keeping it in his innate domain, not devouring it."
"Do you need it?" Gojo Satoru asked directly. "Do you need these kinds of fragments?"
"...I probably know whose fragments they are." Jiang Lai lowered his eyes. "I need them, but not for use on myself."
After stopping for two or three seconds, Gojo Satoru made a gesture with rising intonation: "OK~ No matter where you use it, anyway, I'll give it to you." His expression became slightly more serious. "I'll keep watch."
"Then I'll trouble you." Jiang Lai didn't refuse, smiling in reply.
At the end, he added: "But that thing contains very strong power. Best not to touch it directly with any body part. If you don't have special sealing cursed tools, just circle the area around it and leave it for me to handle."
"Hm? Is it that dangerous?" Gojo Satoru's eyebrow under his eyepatch raised. Under Jiang Lai's serious gaze, he nodded in agreement: "Alright, if I get news, I'll notify you first. Before that, I won't let anyone know about or approach it. Don't worry."
Jiang Lai breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that though Gojo Satoru seemed carefree and unreliable daily, his promises were absolutely trustworthy. Leaving it to him was reassuring.
Then he remembered his question about that Gojo family person, so he spoke again:
"Oh right, Satoru, let me ask you something. Does your Gojo family have someone with light blue eyes in a relatively high position?"
This question seemed somewhat abrupt at the moment, but Gojo Satoru didn't ask much. He curved his index finger against his lips, answering:
"You probably mean our family's Third Elder. That's the immortal guy I told you about when we went to the fireworks festival together as kids."
Jiang Lai's mind wandered for a second, marveling at Gojo Satoru's excellent memory. Such distant memories from the youth fireworks festival, after so long, he could still remember details so clearly!
Then he refocused, saying: "This person might have some connection to the Supervisory Committee. Do you have more intelligence about him?"
Hearing "Supervisory Committee," Gojo Satoru tilted his head back slightly, then nodded unsurprised:
"Mm, he has connections with the Supervisory Committee. I know this, it's not a secret. All Big Three Families have people responsible for contacting the Supervisory Committee. Our family basically has this elder handle the interface."
Jiang Lai was slightly stunned, thinking: If it's this open, it's harder to deal with than careful hiding. Seems this person isn't afraid of exposing the Supervisory Committee's true dark side through himself.
"His name is Gojo Kyufuin."
Kyufuin... Jiang Lai silently repeated, finding it somewhat awkward. Generally, the character "in" mostly appeared in Japanese surnames, rarely seen in given names.
"That guy has lived quite a long time, knows a lot, so every time our family holds ceremonies, they consult ancient texts then confirm with him again."
Gojo Satoru said, "He's our family's Third Elder, unlike the First and Second Elders who wield great power. He doesn't usually participate in family power struggles, mainly responsible for the clan treasury's cursed tools and ancient texts."
The other's focus might not be on the Gojo family. Hearing this, Jiang Lai understood.
"As for that guy's personality, traditionally gentle. Don't know if it's real or fake, but he often visits sick family members regardless of status, providing bedside care and comfort."
Gojo Satoru thought, "When I was small, compared to those elders who always bothered me with big principles, he left me with okay impressions. After all, he rarely restricted me and didn't lecture me much."
If Jiang Lai hadn't seen the other's connection with Brain-kun from the manga, hearing just these words would give him above-average impressions of this person.
But currently knowing more circumstances, these actions seemed covered with layers of unclear meaning.
But he couldn't tell people in this world about the manga.
Therefore, after silent contemplation, Jiang Lai spoke: "I have no evidence now, but instinct tells me this person has problems. If you believe me... be careful, Satoru."
"Of course I believe you. Don't fairy-demon instincts tend to be accurate?" Gojo Satoru curved his lips, waving his finger. "Oh oh, I thought of something fun. After everything ends, you go set up a fortune-telling stall on the street. I'll be the shill, Suguru will attract customers, Shoko collects fees, students provide support. Perfect retirement life!"
"...What kind of ridiculous retirement life is that!"
This joke broke the earlier heavy atmosphere, and Jiang Lai's taut heartstrings relaxed slightly.
Gojo Satoru finished the small cake in front of him in several bites, wiped his lips and fingers with a wet wipe, and crossed his legs: "Continue, anything else to say?"
"I'm done." Jiang Lai had asked everything he wanted to ask, with nothing more he wanted to explore deeply.
From Gojo Satoru's earlier responses, he heard that Gojo didn't know that light blue-eyed Third Elder particularly well.
Therefore, after noting down what the other said, he didn't continue wasting words asking more.
"You're done?" But Gojo Satoru threw the question back again. "Nothing else? Should be other things to tell me, right?"
This was said quite directly, the scene resembling earlier on the road. Gojo Satoru seemed very certain that Jiang Lai had more to say.
Jiang Lai couldn't immediately understand the other's meaning for a while. After several seconds, he developed some speculation: Could the other have recovered thousand-year-ago memories?
But it didn't quite seem like it.
Or rather, maybe some vague perception, but not complete.
If the other truly had complete thousand-year-ago memories, the performance wouldn't be like this now. Moreover, in earlier questions, he would have revealed more information about the thousand-year-ago light blue-eyed Gojo Kyufuin.
Naturally, Jiang Lai also looked forward to his friends recovering thousand-year-ago memories, but before friends truly recovered memories themselves, he didn't plan to mention thousand-year-ago events too much.
That would trouble his friends, and maybe they'd blame themselves for [forgetting], constantly trying to remember.
Therefore, Jiang Lai chose to go with the flow. He wasn't rushing or pushing, silently waiting nearby, giving them time.
This also perfectly connected with his actions in Yesterday's Past chapter, explaining it as: meeting and befriending each other, but not letting thousand-year-ago events bind them.
At this moment, uncertain whether Gojo Satoru had truly recovered thousand-year-ago memories, Jiang Lai didn't proactively say much.
He planned to understand more about the other's situation first.
So he just blinked, counting on his fingers in reply:
"Oh, maybe there is something else to say, about Tokyo where I promised the landlord grandmother to clean Suguru's upstairs room. Could you trouble someone to indirectly clean it periodically?"
However, Gojo Satoru didn't follow this point in answering. He crossed his hands, leaning back in his chair.
The black eyepatch still covered that exquisitely perfect face, completely concealing his eyes, but Jiang Lai seemed able to sense those azure eyes behind the eyepatch staring at him.
The air fell quiet for a moment. Gojo Satoru's voice was low and hoarse, sounding as if coming from far away:
"I ah... seem to have had a very long, hazy dream."