Chapter 103 : Because You Are You
Gojo Satoru's words spilled forth, a simple sentence that seemed to carry countless emotions, yet was shrouded in a layer of haziness like morning mist.
Jiang Lai lifted his eyes, gazing across the small table at this moderate distance at the white-haired man whose slender fingers were interlaced.
He was wondering what Gojo Satoru's words meant, whether he had truly recalled events from long, long ago, or had only vaguely sensed certain years that had slipped through his fingers.
"What kind of dream was it?" Jiang Lai asked.
Gojo Satoru maintained his previous posture, leaning against the chair back. His perfectly curved lips parted, speaking in a low, slow tone that seemed like both an answer and self-talk:
"Probably a dream from a very ancient era. The architecture in the dream was all in the style of Heian-kyo from a thousand years ago."
Around the two of them was a barrier that Gojo Satoru had deliberately set up to reasonably blur and isolate sound, so the other customers in the dessert shop couldn't hear their conversation.
Therefore, they could speak plainly and communicate freely without concealment.
"The sky back then was very clear, and the starry nights were especially beautiful. The Gojo family was stationed in Heian-kyo City, the predecessor of Kyoto. My room had an antique bamboo blind, and when rolled up under the moonlight, I could see the beautiful night scenery outside the window."
His voice was neither light nor heavy, maintained at just the right edge between dreamlike and realistic.
The words describing the dream were inexplicably mixed with indescribable nostalgia and melancholy.
"In the dream, there was a magnificently brilliant meteor shower like I'd never seen before, like thousands of rays of light pouring down... Although this scene was beautiful, for some reason, I seemed very sad in the dream."
"......" Jiang Lai lowered his eyes slightly.
"Hmm, but I wasn't alone in the dream either. I met many people, like Suguru, Shoko, and my lovely students~"
"Uh, but for some reason, I didn't seem to see Yuji. Only that bastard Ryomen Sukuna, who wouldn't stay quiet even in my dream. Oh, and I have to call out those rotten tangerines specifically, how dare they come bother me even in my dreams. Those old geezers should hurry up and go into the ground."
Gojo Satoru's voice rose as he casually complained about these things with complete ease, showing no respect whatsoever for the so-called higher-ups as always.
Then his words suddenly stopped.
"Oh, right, there was also a navy blue figure in the dream, with long black hair cascading down to the waist, face always shrouded in a layer of white mist. But since I naturally had the Six Eyes in the dream too, I could still make out the features somewhat."
At this point, the white-haired teacher smiled, uncrossing his interlaced hands: "Guess who this person in the dream corresponds to?"
Jiang Lai blinked. He didn't speak because he could see that Gojo Satoru didn't really want him to answer, the other already knew the answer in his heart.
So he simply put down the cake fork in his hand and listened quietly.
"I in the dream seemed to never have called his name from beginning to end, but I think now I know his name."
Gojo Satoru raised one hand, casually lifting a corner of his blindfold, revealing the crystal clear sky-blue eyes beneath.
The Six Eyes calmly gazed at Jiang Lai before him. Gojo Satoru curved his lips, his thin lips parting slightly: "Lai." He called.
Jiang Lai's eyes curved like a crescent moon: "I'm here." He answered.
Gojo Satoru no longer leaned against the chair back. He leaned forward, placing one hand on the table edge, smiling as he asked at close range: "Do you think those were meaningless dreams of mine, or things that really happened in the past?"
Jiang Lai lifted his eyelids: "My answer is the one in your heart."
"What's that supposed to mean, not giving a definite reply." Gojo Satoru seemed to complain, but his expression was actually quite calm.
"But you don't really want to hear everything from me, do you." Jiang Lai blinked, saying.
Gojo Satoru laughed softly, letting down the corner of the blindfold he had lifted, his white hair swaying with the movement. He crossed one leg over the other, nodding slightly:
"Well, how should I put it. This dream was very long. Although I tried hard to remember it, after waking up, the dream still became blurry. Only a few deeply impressive fragments and some impressions remain."
"Of course, as the almighty strongest, I'll completely remember everything sooner or later~" Gojo Satoru lightly waved his finger, his voice cheerful. "Rather than hearing about those experiences from you, it's more appropriate for me to remember them myself, but before that, you'll probably have to wait a bit."
"Alright." Jiang Lai nodded in agreement, smiling gently as he said with a soft voice, "I'm sorry, Satoru... for making you wait so long before."
"So this time, let me wait for you instead. I'll keep waiting too."
Gojo Satoru's form paused slightly. He couldn't control the momentarily stunned expression, instinctively falling silent.
The air in the dessert shop was always tinged with threads of sweetness, the warmth from baking coating the interior with a layer of warmth. The wind chimes hanging at the glass door swayed gently, their soft jingling sounds drifting over.
After a brief quiet, the white-haired man's voice rose at the end, teasing: "Huh, so the thousand-year-old monster has a concept of time too. I thought someone your age would already be treating years like days."
"......What do you mean 'my age'? Speaking of now, you're the old man, no, old grandpa, already having a full head of white hair." Jiang Lai only paused for a second before quickly responding.
"Hmph, I'm the most handsome spicy teacher, white hair is a super rare hair color~ Don't be too jealous~" Gojo Satoru crossed his arms in front of his chest, swinging his long legs quite ostentatiously. "The super handsome Teacher Gojo is forever young, forever seven years old."
"Seven years old really fits your mental age, hey, stop swinging, the table's shaking. And you kicked me, Satoru!"
"Sorry, sorry, who made my legs so long." Gojo Satoru showed no remorse in his words, laughing as he replied, "There's nothing I can do about it."
After this playful exchange, the atmosphere between them returned to the usual friendly interaction. All the entanglement and heaviness that connected to bitter memories was swept away.
Gojo Satoru picked up his small fork again and began eating the other desserts from the parent-child set on the table. He casually tossed a few matcha cream puffs into his mouth, then said:
"Oh right, I also received messages from those guys upstairs last night. I have to go abroad in a couple of days and won't be around for a while."
"Hmm?" Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow slightly.
Although he knew that the strongest, Gojo Satoru, had missions all over the world and overseas assignments were common, the timing of this mission being issued 'last night' was a bit peculiar.
Because yesterday happened to be when the Satozakura School incident erupted and concluded.
Mahito had failed to successfully retrieve the fragment that Ryomen Sukuna in Itadori Yuji's body had taken, the light green fragment.
After Mahito returned, the Supervisory Committee would have definitely learned about this immediately. They probably wouldn't do nothing.
There were figures infiltrated by the Supervisory Committee among the upper echelons of the jujutsu world. So at this time, assigning Gojo Satoru an overseas mission seemed like transferring him away to conveniently do something to his students.
The previous juvenile detention center incident was the same. The higher-ups arranged for the three first-years Fushiguro, Itadori, and Kugisaki to execute a special-grade cursed spirit mission while Gojo Satoru was on a business trip, attempting to eliminate Ryomen Sukuna's vessel through this "accident."
Gojo Satoru nodded slightly, answering: "This timing is indeed somewhat delicate. But I probably still need to go on this mission, I need to find Yuta."
He explained by the way: "I don't know if you know about Okkotsu Yuta. His ancestors are all Sugawara no Michizane, so he's my very distant relative? Haha, he's a very capable student. The 2017 special-grade cursed spirit Rika incident caused quite a stir. Yuta is already a special-grade jujutsu sorcerer now."
"Is that so." Having read the original manga, Jiang Lai actually knew about Okkotsu Yuta, but he didn't reveal this, instead nodding along with what Gojo Satoru said, "A special-grade jujutsu sorcerer, that's really impressive."
"He's currently abroad, so I'll also go out for a trip." Gojo Satoru said, "During the time I'm not here, I plan to have Nanami and Haibara temporarily look after Yuji and the others."
"Mm, that sounds good, should be relatively safe." Jiang Lai said, "The me wearing the Little Sheep persona will be around, and I can also secretly watch over them when the time comes."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Lai." Gojo Satoru made a gesture, then added, "Of course, you need to be careful too. After all, your true identity can't really be exposed."
"It's that my true position can't be exposed." Jiang Lai lifted a confident smile, blinking lightly, "Don't worry, I'm quite good at acting and scripts."
Having experienced a series of struggles in the Detective Conan world, he already had rich acting experience.
Moreover, there were the continuously updated amnesiac villain script inspirations from the forum.
After that, they chatted casually about daily matters, exchanging information.
After their conversation ended, they had almost finished the parent-child set on the table.
When settling the bill and leaving the dessert shop, their clothes seemed to still carry the sweet fragrance of desserts.
When leaving this signature dessert shop, Gojo Satoru had also bought many exquisite pastries in large and small packages.
When they were almost downstairs, Gojo Satoru stopped and called to Jiang Lai: "Oh right, I promised to bring some desserts for Nanami and Yuji too, come here, let's divide them up. You take this portion back to give to them."
Little Sheep Jiang Lai, who had walked ahead a few steps, stopped and turned back. He reached out to receive the dessert bag that Gojo Satoru was bending slightly to hand over.
Currently, Little Sheep Jiang Lai and Gojo Satoru had a considerable height difference. The tall adult figure bent down slightly, the shadow cast almost steadily covering Little Sheep Jiang Lai.
After handing over the desserts, Gojo Satoru didn't immediately straighten up. Instead, he suddenly placed his free hand on Jiang Lai's shoulder, his large palm firmly gripping one side of the young boy's shoulder.
"?" Jiang Lai was slightly startled. He looked up to find that the white-haired man had removed his black blindfold at some point.
At this moment, those distant and vast sky-blue pupils were completely revealed, gazing at Little Sheep Jiang Lai at close range.
"Oh my, it's been so long since I've seen your true form, doing anything now feels like bullying a child."
Gojo Satoru said with a grin, moving the hand on the boy's shoulder to his cheek and unceremoniously giving it a mischievous pinch.
"You know this counts as bullying a child... hey, let go, it hurts!" Jiang Lai felt like one side of his cheek was about to be pinched red as he swatted away the other's hand.
"Sorry, sorry." Gojo Satoru let go, his tone sounding utterly insincere. He smiled broadly, then suddenly changed the subject, "Oh right, I forgot to ask a question earlier, thought about it and I'm a bit curious, so I'll ask."
His glass-bead-like blue eyes appeared somewhat deeper in color because they were backlit. At close range, the crystal-clear pupils almost clearly reflected the young boy before him.
"Is your acquaintance and interaction with me because I was once the white-haired figure you formed a bond with a thousand years ago, or because I am the Six Eyes you've watched over and raised for a thousand years?"
"......" Jiang Lai was slightly stunned at first, then after half a second, he blinked and said, "Eh, Satoru, you'd ask this kind of question too? It doesn't feel very real."
"Why wouldn't I? I occasionally have these moments too~ Just consider it curiosity." Gojo Satoru still grinned, his blue eyes showing no hidden emotions. "The most handsome spicy teacher and good friend's limited-time Q&A session, three-second countdown, timely answers get no reward, but overtime gets punishment~ Happily decided and starting now!"
"......Don't make arbitrary decisions, hey!"
"3, 2..."
"Alright, alright, I'll answer." Jiang Lai exhaled, looking up slightly to meet the sky-blue eyes nearby.
"Mm-hmm, so do you remember the question?" Gojo Satoru lowered his eyelids to gaze at Jiang Lai, his lashes fluttering as he smiled, his voice slow and low as he repeated the question, "Is it because of a thousand years ago, or a thousand years later?"
Under that tall shadow's coverage, Jiang Lai's eyes remained calm as water, his expression gentle and frank.
He lifted a smile at his brow, opening his mouth: "Because you are you."