Chapter 126 : Stinky Little Brother and Good Little Brother
Itadori Yuji instinctively followed Ryomen Sukuna's guidance and turned his head to look at the black-haired figure standing to the side.
The moment he saw Jiang Lai's face, Itadori Yuji was first stunned, then turned toward Ryomen Sukuna again, raising his eyebrows and shouting: "Hey, what are you up to again? I'm not interested in playing along with your antics, I have training tomorrow."
Obviously, Itadori Yuji regarded the black-haired figure as another trick by Ryomen Sukuna and didn't consider it real.
"Ill-mannered brat." Ryomen Sukuna snorted coldly, slashing with his finger blade through the air, directly cutting the cherry-pink haired boy in half!
The human body split from the middle, blood spraying, an extremely graphic bloody scene played out on the spot. Immediately after, the cherry-pink haired boy's corpse disappeared, and a complete Itadori Yuji appeared at the scene again.
Ryomen Sukuna had killed and revived him within the domain.
The newly appeared Itadori Yuji fell on his butt into the blood water, then quickly leaped up, his expression showing no fear whatsoever, still maintaining his usual resolute and angry gaze as he shouted at Ryomen Sukuna: "You bastard!"
His unfinished words were interrupted. Ryomen Sukuna seemed to have lost patience and cleanly appeared next to Itadori Yuji like teleportation, then kicked him toward the black-haired young man!
Kicked hard, Itadori Yuji staggered forward several steps. Although his motor skills were good and he tried his best to steady himself, he still inevitably lunged forward.
Jiang Lai gracefully extended his hand, supporting the lunging cherry-pink haired boy.
"Thanks..." The polite Itadori Yuji instinctively thanked him, then realized what he had touched wasn't illusory but real, "Wait?!"
The moment Itadori Yuji steadied himself with support, Jiang Lai released his hand from supporting him. He stood silently in place, making eye contact with the surprised-looking Itadori Yuji.
Behind them, Ryomen Sukuna with his arms crossed and embraced slightly narrowed his eyes, his gaze lingering on Jiang Lai's hand movement for a moment.
Jiang Lai knew what he was looking at. Just now when he had supported Itadori Yuji, he hadn't activated his spatial techniques.
But he knew this was the reasonable thing to do, able to correspond with that time in the initial winter night when he had supported Itadori Yuji.
The persona he was currently playing was someone with confused memories but still some instinctive awareness, so he would pay special attention to Itadori Yuji and others.
Ryomen Sukuna was probably using Itadori Yuji to test him, seeing if he would show behavior inconsistent with his logic, thereby judging his true state. Jiang Lai was very clear about this in his heart.
"It's you!" Itadori Yuji stepped back two steps, reacting, his eyes widening like an underage tiger, "Why are you here?!"
Itadori Yuji had complex feelings about the person in front of him. His sixth sense told him the black-haired young man wasn't evil, and there was even some inexplicable natural sense of closeness.
But the other party's current identity as a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit made it difficult for him to completely lower his guard. Moreover, the other party seemed to have some relationship with Ryomen Sukuna...
Come to think of it, after the Satozakura Middle School incident ended, Nanami Kento had told him that the black-haired young man resembled a former friend of Gojo-sensei. Were they the same person?
In a brief moment, Jiang Lai watched various expressions cross Itadori Yuji's face.
Jiang Lai chuckled lightly and responded to Itadori's earlier question: "The reason for appearing here, I'm not clear about. But from my self-perception, I won't stay here long."
"Get out early." Ryomen Sukuna added this sentence in a lazy tone, his crimson eyes carrying impatience, his kimono swaying slightly with his sleeve movements.
Itadori Yuji glanced at Ryomen Sukuna, then looked back at Jiang Lai. He opened his mouth, his golden-orange eyes focusing on Jiang Lai, struggling for two or three seconds before finally speaking:
"Ah... I don't know why, but I feel you're somewhat familiar."
Just saying this seemed insufficient to express his meaning, so Itadori Yuji scratched his head and added:
"I don't mean the familiarity from these few encounters, but... actually, even back on that winter night when chasing the cursed spirit that swallowed Wu, I had a slight, inconspicuous feeling."
"Have we met even earlier?"
Itadori Yuji was intuition-oriented, directly conveying his doubts.
Of course they had met. Jiang Lai thought. In the vast spectacle of falling stars and burning radiance a thousand years ago, they had met and parted.
However, these words naturally couldn't be spoken at this moment, and Jiang Lai temporarily didn't plan to say much before Itadori Yuji remembered.
The other party was someone who bore great responsibility. If he knew the specific details from a thousand years ago, he might blame himself for those casualties, even though essentially it wasn't his intention but being controlled by Kenjaku.
So Jiang Lai lowered his eyes, then raised them, saying calmly: "I don't know." He said, "Just that there is indeed some sense of familiarity. You and Sukuna give me the same feeling."
"Huh?" Itadori Yuji was first stunned, then nodded, "Oh, after all I'm now Ryomen Sukuna's vessel, maybe our auras got mixed together."
Ryomen Sukuna on the cattle bone mountain let out a silent contemptuous laugh, supporting his head with one hand, seeming to watch an interesting show.
Then Itadori Yuji said: "Speaking of which, you..." He wanted to ask something but stopped, seeming unsure how to organize his words.
The black-haired young man watched him calmly with a peaceful expression, waiting for Itadori Yuji's next words.
After a moment, Itadori Yuji finally struggled to say: "Do you have no memory of the past at all? I heard you apparently resemble a former friend of Gojo-sensei."
Jiang Lai tilted his head slightly, his tone bland: "Six Eyes."
This form of address seemed distant, with Six Eyes being more like an objectified representation than a personal reference.
Itadori Yuji looked at Jiang Lai, not getting any more response from the black-haired young man in front of him.
He seemed somewhat deflated yet accepting as he exhaled: "Never mind, pretend I didn't ask anything. If this caused any trouble, I'm very sorry."
The moment his words fell, a sharp cursed blade slashed diagonally through the air, then clang! was deflected by spatial code!
Jiang Lai and Itadori Yuji's gazes instantly shifted to the side!
Ryomen Sukuna on the cattle bone mountain withdrew his hand that had made that attack, saying casually: "Had enough chatting? In my domain, how truly noisy."
"Hey, you're the one who pulled me in here!" Itadori Yuji turned toward Ryomen Sukuna, making a fist.
"Don't be ungrateful, brat. I gave you a chance to chat, didn't I?"
Ryomen Sukuna snorted with laughter, then said with some mockery: "But hey brat, as a jujutsu sorcerer, to maintain such a friendly attitude with a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit? It seems your stance isn't that firm."
"..." Itadori Yuji hesitated for half a second, then replied, "Not all cursed spirits are as irredeemably evil as you."
"Nice compliment!" Ryomen Sukuna laughed heartily, obviously taking this as some kind of praise.
Then his voice deepened, saying maliciously: "But how can you be sure that the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit standing in front of you is innocent? You should know that cursed spirits are all collections of negative emotions, naturally having irrepressible killing intent toward humans."
This point Itadori Yuji couldn't dispute, because this was indeed something he struggled and hesitated about.
When studying at Tokyo Jujutsu High, he had learned that cursed spirits' killing intent toward humans was instinctive.
"You'll get your companions killed, brat." Ryomen Sukuna deliberately said this, "It's all your fault. You always want to protect others, but you always harm others."
He crossed his legs, his lips curled high, his crimson eyes sweeping toward Jiang Lai, then continuing: "The teacher of this cherry-pink haired brat in front of you is a Special-Grade sorcerer who has personally exorcised hundreds of Special-Grade Cursed Spirits. Maybe you won't be an exception in the future. Cursed spirits and humans are opposing sides, don't you know?"
Jiang Lai's demeanor remained unperturbed, only slightly lowering his eyelids.
His thoughts moved quickly in his heart, knowing that Ryomen Sukuna had tested enough and currently reluctantly believed he indeed had memory confusion, then began his daily fire-stirring for entertainment.
This conversation directly exposed the contradictory opposition of identities, making the relatively relaxed atmosphere between Jiang Lai and Itadori Yuji seem to become tense again in an instant.
The Innate Domain was quiet for a moment.
Then a clear young voice rang out in the space.
Itadori Yuji's eyes were determined: "What's right and wrong, who's right and who's wrong, I'll judge for myself. I don't need you, Sukuna, to butt in."
He turned toward Jiang Lai, his expression more serious than usual, carrying characteristics where warmth and sharpness coexisted:
"Although I don't know what exactly happened to you, I'll think of ways within my ability. Of course, don't think about harming my companions, otherwise I'll attack you without hesitation!"
"I won't consider you a trustworthy companion because of intuitive familiarity, nor will I consider you an enemy that must be exorcised because of your identity."
Itadori Yuji placed his fist over his heart, "I will sense and explore the truth."
These words were beautifully said, and the young man's youthful posture was even more eye-catching. Jiang Lai's warm brown eyes couldn't help but show slight gentle amusement.
However, the next instant, Itadori Yuji's form suddenly disappeared, swallowed by the blood water under his feet!
Ryomen Sukuna looked annoyed, waving his hand: "Annoying brat, truly boring." He directly kicked the other party out of his Innate Domain.
Then he leaped down from the cattle bone mountain again, his blue-black butterfly knot straps flying behind him.
Ryomen Sukuna's eyebrows rose high as he stared at Jiang Lai, his tone lifting: "Why aren't you getting lost yet?"
"It's not time yet." Jiang Lai could see that Ryomen Sukuna couldn't kick him out like he did Itadori Yuji, this unexpected intruder.
His expression was calm, and inwardly he was rather pleased to see Ryomen Sukuna's displeasure.
Jiang Lai still remembered his plan to explore and search for fragments in Sukuna's Innate Domain, but he couldn't be too obvious about it. How about doing something random while touring around here?
So he straightforwardly pulled out his phone, checking the signal bars, which showed an unexpectedly reasonable full signal.
Jiang Lai: Worthy of being the true protagonist Phone-kun, having network and signal everywhere!.jpg
Next time if he came again, he could watch movies at Sukuna's place. He thought whimsically.
Seeing Jiang Lai pull out his phone, Ryomen Sukuna's eyebrows slightly raised.
As a thousand-year-old lonely widower (not), Ryomen Sukuna had been trapped in Itadori Yuji's body since arriving in modern times and hadn't directly contacted these electronic technologies.
Although he had also observed the outside world through Itadori Yuji, Ryomen Sukuna still wasn't particularly familiar with these things. Seeing Jiang Lai take out his phone, his slight interest was accompanied by instinctive alertness.
Jiang Lai opened his phone, saying calmly: "Since I can't actively leave temporarily and you can't kick me out, rather than idle, I'll do some human world activities here."
"Today's healthy 10,000 steps check-in will be completed in your Innate Domain."