Chapter 120 : Mahito - Good, Suguru and Lai Have Thawed
Despite his mental storm, Geto Suguru's face still maintained his squinting fox smile expression as he walked forward on muscle memory instinct.
The liquid fox lying on Geto Suguru's shoulder blinked its red eyes and suddenly nuzzled Geto Suguru's cheek. The cool jelly-like touch instantly snapped the cosmically transcendent Geto Suguru back to awareness.
He quickly calmed his emotions and organized his thoughts in the short time.
It seems Lai's memory should be fine? That gentle glance indicated he still remembered the past.
However, the problem of Lai becoming a cursed spirit still had no answer. But it seemed Lai was very much in control, probably with some plan. If there was a chance later, they might be able to communicate privately.
Thinking this, Geto Suguru's previously highly suspended heart finally eased slightly. His clenched hands under his wide sleeves loosened gently, leaving only a few fading red marks.
Though the two hadn't had detailed communication, some natural understanding made Geto Suguru realize he needed to cooperate with Lai, continue acting unfamiliar and unknowing but very interested, pretending to assist Mahito's plan while turning the tables.
It was time to test acting skills again. Previously, he had almost always performed solo acts. He hadn't expected to have the chance to cooperate with Lai this time.
Very good, then let's begin.
Geto Suguru quickly adjusted his state, his lips holding that perfectly appropriate smile from the past as he stepped forward, following behind Jiang Lai at neither too close nor too far a distance.
As if uncomfortable with the curse user's approach from behind, Jiang Lai quickened his pace, walking to the side of the blue-haired, triple-braided cursed spirit.
The black-haired youth's action wasn't concealed. Mahito naturally noticed Jiang Lai's movement. The cursed spirit with stitched lines on his face showed light flowing through his mismatched eyes as he smiled: "What's wrong?"
The black-haired, brown-eyed youth pressed his lips straight, glancing back slightly. His surroundings still carried faint vigilance. He spoke calmly: "That guy gives me an uncomfortable feeling... What's his technique?"
"Oh, very perceptive." Mahito didn't conceal this, curving his lips as he answered: "Geto-san's technique is cursed spirit manipulation, which has some relationship with us. That's probably why you feel uncomfortable."
"But don't be nervous. Geto-san is currently our cooperation partner and won't attack us." Mahito immediately added a reassuring statement.
Their volume wasn't deliberately lowered. Geto Suguru, who also heard these words, stepped forward from behind, his forehead wrapped in bandages as he smiled in response:
"Though my technique is cursed spirit manipulation... I'm not one to casually attack cooperation partners."
His words were light, but his aura didn't give a relaxing feeling. When standing beside Jiang Lai, he subtly brought some silent, tilted pressure.
The perceptive black-haired youth frowned slightly, also releasing cursed energy in response while distancing himself from Geto Suguru by moving to the side, taking another step toward Mahito's direction.
Mahito chuckled, raising his hand to rest on Jiang Lai's shoulder through that thin spatial barrier, continuing: "Alright, if you're still uneasy, then come to my other side."
Jiang Lai nodded slightly, moving to Mahito's other side, shifting from the middle position of the three to the edge.
While stepping, he raised his indifferent brown eyes, squinting slightly as he stared at the man-bunned youth across the distance.
Geto Suguru's narrow eyes lifted slightly at the corners as his gaze flowed over the black-haired youth, peacefully spreading his hands with a smile: "You don't need to be so wary of me."
Mahito's gray-blue mismatched eyes turned to Geto Suguru, silently indicating: It's not time to strike yet. Restrain your aura first, build good relations, and let him lower his guard.
Noticing the blue-haired, triple-braided special-grade cursed spirit's hint, Geto Suguru smiled with curved eyes while also retracting the cursed energy he'd released, showing willingness to cooperate.
Mahito withdrew his gaze, then his voice rose: "Actually, Geto-san doesn't absorb and convert all cursed spirits. The fox that followed you here today has been by Geto-san's side for a long time without signing a master-servant contract, remaining a companion."
The black-haired youth seemed very interested in the liquid fox, turning his face to look upon hearing this.
Geto Suguru maintained elegant bearing, raising one hand to stroke the little fox on his shoulder, smiling at Jiang Lai: "I'm very fond of the nightmare fox, and it seems to like you too. Would you like to continue playing with the nightmare fox for a while?"
The black-haired, brown-eyed youth didn't immediately respond, showing some subtle hesitation on his face.
Mahito seemed enthusiastic about breaking the ice between the two, going with the flow: "The nightmare fox is indeed quite nice, one of the better-tempered types among special-grade cursed spirits. I think you could first experience the aura between us companions at close range through the nightmare fox."
The black-haired youth seemed to trust Mahito more, finally nodding slightly and relaxing his tightly contracted barrier isolation.
Geto Suguru patted the nightmare fox on his shoulder, saying: "Go on, go play with our new friend. You can also find something to eat from him."
The black liquid fox swished its tail upon hearing this, its form changing and twisting in the air before reappearing beside Jiang Lai. It shook its ears, its spiral mosquito-coil eyes turning in circles.
"This guy loves to nibble on everything, eating anything. Its technique is devouring, directly swallowing enemies or cursed tools." Mahito also added from the side, smiling: "If you want, you can randomly feed it things, my friend."
Oh, it seemed the liquid fox from the past wasn't particularly stupid. It sounded like it hadn't exposed the time-related devouring ability. Jiang Lai very keenly analyzed this point.
He heard that in Mahito's words, his understanding of the liquid fox's [Devouring] skill remained at the physical material level.
But that was reasonable. If the liquid fox had exposed time-related devouring, the Supervisory Committee would have been suspicious of Geto Suguru long ago.
Jiang Lai thought.
The Supervisory Committee's confidence in giving Geto Suguru considerable freedom was based on the binding they'd made with Geto Suguru in childhood, the complete control from the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons in the first playthrough.
After the second playthrough began and returned to the Star Plasma Vessel incident, the liquid fox had started devouring Geto Suguru's early binding, probably having cleaned it up completely by now. The Supervisory Committee just didn't know this.
Analyzing this way, it seemed he could guess why the liquid fox had gotten slightly thinner.
Logically, cursed spirits wouldn't have the concept of gaining or losing weight. But the liquid fox, due to continuously using time reversal power without timely replenishment (his feeding), had gradually thinned down.
Thinking this, Jiang Lai again felt subtle guilt in his heart.
It really had been more than ten years without a good meal. No wonder it kept shouting "hungry" at him in the alley.
To still persist in staying by Geto Suguru's side under those circumstances instead of chasing after him, it was truly a good child.
He'd make time to feed the little fox more afterward. He thought.
Seeing the liquid fox walking around him on the ground, Jiang Lai's face showed a shallow smile, as if attracted by this fellow cursed spirit. He bent down slightly, gesturing for the liquid fox to leap into his arms.
The nightmare fox wasn't polite either, nimbly leaping into Jiang Lai's arms. Its jelly-like body shook as it found a comfortable position to lie down, beginning to nibble and chew on Jiang Lai's sleeve.
Cursed spirits' clothing was all condensed from cursed energy, replenishable at any time without truly being damaged or disappearing. Most cursed spirits didn't particularly care about their clothing and accessories.
So at this moment, Jiang Lai wasn't worried about the little fox nibbling his clothes. Actually, this seemingly playful subtle feeding method was quite good.
With such a companion in his arms, the indifferent alienation surrounding the black-haired youth seemed to finally dissipate somewhat. Even his attitude toward Geto Suguru wasn't as cautiously distant as before.
Mahito was very satisfied with this, feeling he'd broken through the initial barriers and gotten Jiang Lai to temporarily lower part of his guard.
His topic returned to the mission: "This fragment collection covers the Kanto region, most likely in Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, and Kanagawa Prefecture. We'll first explore Kanagawa Prefecture where we currently are, then follow the order of Chiba, Saitama, and Tokyo."
"Will it take several days?" Jiang Lai asked.
"It will probably need some time." Mahito smiled in response. "But it's actually quite fast. During these days, I can introduce you to other companions, or you can ask me anything you want to know."
"Of course, you can also ask Geto-san." Mahito didn't forget to harmonize the atmosphere between Jiang Lai and Geto Suguru again. "Geto-san has quite a bit of contact with us companions too."
Geto Suguru turned his face slightly, eyes upturned at the corners, hands naturally pocketed, his black-gold Buddhist robes lustrous and warm in the moonlight.
He said: "Naturally, if you have anything you want to ask me, I'll answer as well."
Mahito continued smoothly, his tone lightly rising with laughter:
"Geto-san actually contacts more of our kind. Some cursed spirits not in our small group, Geto-san encounters during missions too. I think if you're interested, you could really chat with him."
Mahito planned to continuously perform an enthusiastic and affable attitude during these days before the fragment fluctuations appeared.
Meanwhile, he'd let Geto Suguru and the black-haired youth become familiar too, thereby lowering the black-haired youth's vigilance and ensuring the final strike hit without error.
Currently, the black-haired youth already had some trust in him, but still maintained cursed energy vigilance toward Geto Suguru, who was human.
The blue-haired, triple-braided cursed spirit thought. If so, the current focus was thawing the atmosphere between the two.
Mahito clearly organized his plan in his heart, his mismatched eyes curving as he casually stepped back slightly, leaving some space for Jiang Lai and Geto Suguru to get closer and chat.
The black-haired youth's expression remained calm as his brown eyes looked over.
Geto Suguru maintained his smiling appearance. After Mahito stepped back to provide space, he unhurriedly approached Jiang Lai, closing the distance between them.
The black-haired youth's surrounding spatial technique instinctively erected for half a second, then, as if sensing the movement of the liquid fox in his arms, he finally retracted the opened barrier. Instead of distancing himself, he allowed Geto Suguru to approach.
They walked side by side, quiet for a moment before finally beginning to chat intermittently.
Suguru is quite cooperative. It seems everything is going smoothly.
Mahito, slightly behind, had curved mismatched eyes, very satisfied with this progress in eliminating vigilance.
Under his mediation, cursed spirit Lai and curse user Geto Suguru had finally thawed and drawn closer!