I, in a Jujutsu Kaisen Manga, Take the Detective Conan World by Storm

Although Lady Zenin's attitude was very gentle, everyone present felt somewhat uncomfortable with the situation.

Fushiguro Megumi, Itadori Yuji, and Kugisaki Nobara were extremely nervous due to the cursed tool matter, facing the suddenly visiting Lady Zenin who now stood beside the compartment wall.

Zenin Naoya, on the other hand, couldn't enjoy photographing with spirits according to his wishes because Lady Zenin was present.

He glanced down at the spirit, unsure whether to release his gaming nature to get close to it, or maintain his usual arrogant, noble heir image. As the future Zenin family head, exposing his gaming addiction seemed inappropriate.

Lady Zenin, who had made the atmosphere tense, also didn't seem completely relaxed herself.

Her eyebrows also carried some inconspicuous concerns, though these concerns were well hidden beneath the smile trained by the great feudal family.

The person with the calmest mindset present was probably Jiang Lai.

After his initial instinctive wariness, he had become much more calm.

Because Jiang Lai vaguely detected hints in Lady Zenin's words, and the silver snake Akira coiled around his wrist hadn't issued any danger warnings.

Silver snake Akira, who possessed [Vigilance] talent, could sense danger through sixth sense.

Moreover, Kurosawa Akira himself had keen observational abilities. Combined, he could naturally judge whether this Lady Zenin had malicious intent.

While not ruling out the possibility that this Lady Zenin could disguise herself, the likelihood of simultaneously deceiving both Jiang Lai and Kurosawa Akira, two former hidden bosses, was minimal.

The silver snake's cold snout pressed against Jiang Lai's fingertip. Besides this, there were no other movements, as quiet as if it were truly a snake-shaped bracelet.

But Jiang Lai knew that Kurosawa Akira was coldly observing Lady Zenin standing in the distance through his sleeve.

No danger didn't mean no trouble. Though trouble could also combine with opportunity.

Zenin Naoya reluctantly composed himself, interacting with the spirit several times as if it were technique practice.

The group of Fushiguro, Itadori, and Kugisaki cooperated by commenting that they were using the cursed tool camera to record these movements for careful study of combat standards when they returned.

This finally completed the photography session.

Lady Zenin maintained her smile throughout, until everyone left the study area, and she personally saw them out of the family head's room.

Fushiguro Megumi still had his usual cool expression, though it carried some genuine heaviness.

His hand in his pocket gripped the unsealing charm tightly, his lips pressed straight.

He had thought they would achieve great success, but Lady Zenin's arrival at the last moment had turned everything to nothing.

The group of Fushiguro, Itadori, and Kugisaki exchanged glances. The ups and downs of their experience left them feeling very dejected.

Only Little Sheep Jiang Lai maintained his cheerful expression, bouncing along beside them as if completely unaffected by this incident.

Actually, Jiang Lai was just putting on an act of emptiness to appear nonchalant. His real thoughts were still processing what had just happened.

Earlier, when Lady Zenin had seen them off at the family head's room, she stood in the doorway, nodding slightly as loose strands of hair swayed by her ears.

Her beautiful face held a smile as she said gently:

"Seeing Naoya interact with you young people brings me joy too. Since yours is an equal transaction mission, you needn't be overly constrained. During these few days at the Zenin family, if you encounter any problems, you can come find me. I'm usually here."

These words sounded polite, like official pleasantries.

In such feudal great families, to avoid suspicion, outsiders would never actively seek out the family head's wife.

Moreover, the family head's room area wasn't freely accessible, so even if they came looking, it would likely involve guards reporting and having dedicated servants serve as intermediaries, or being taken to a reception room.

For this reason, Fushiguro Megumi, Itadori Yuji, and Kugisaki Nobara only took Lady Zenin's words as distant politeness. After courteous responses, they followed Zenin Naoya and left.

Only Jiang Lai, who had initially detected Lady Zenin's riddling nature, carefully pondered the meaning behind these words.

She had first mentioned Naoya. Though this might not be worth analyzing, since even riddles needed topics to introduce.

As the bridge connecting the Zenin family and outsiders, Naoya was that brick to throw (?)

But when mentioning Naoya, she twice brought up making friends with young people from outside... perhaps Lady Zenin had incorporated some personal feelings here.

This was currently difficult to determine.

Then Lady Zenin mentioned equal transaction, which should be the key point.

When Lady Zenin had arrived at the study, she had gently pointed out equal transaction.

Thoughts flowed through Jiang Lai's mind. He didn't think Lady Zenin would appear in the study without reason. Most likely, she had prophesied something and stayed there accordingly.

Perhaps Lady Zenin knew someone was coming to take something, but due to her own position considerations, her attitude was that things couldn't be taken for free, but required fair transactions.

Probably for this reason, when seeing them off, Lady Zenin mentioned she was always there and could be contacted if needed. This meant wanting to discuss transactions.

Jiang Lai roughly organized his speculation in his mind. Although he had basic judgment, he didn't rashly speak out or take action, but planned to discuss with Kurosawa Akira, who had also experienced the scene, before making final decisions.

Zenin Naoya's photography today hadn't been satisfying. His slightly downturned fox eyes carried some depression, his delicate face sullen.

Little Sheep Jiang Lai stepped forward two or three paces, walking beside Zenin Naoya, planning to soothe this financier's (sucker's) emotions.

So he looked up, blinking: "Today's photos actually gave you several extra shots, not limited to one. I can give them all to you."

Zenin Naoya instinctively asked: "Free?"

Little Sheep Jiang Lai: "...Of course, consider it a benefit for being such a long-time customer!"

Zenin Naoya's depressed mood eased slightly. He rarely looked at the brown-haired boy beside him a few more times, momentarily forgetting that these accumulated expenses were basically products of being scammed by Little Sheep.

"But if you're not satisfied with those photos, you can take a few more. After all, you're staying here with room and board included." Little Sheep Jiang Lai's tone was cheerful as he added.

Although Jiang Lai felt another trip to the study would be useless since Lady Zenin was definitely prepared, he still decided to keep another path open, just in case.

Hearing this, Zenin Naoya paused, raised his eyebrows, and asked suspiciously: "Your consideration here, isn't the starting point planning to freeload food and lodging?"

"What, receiving gratitude and rewards for once and you think it's fraud?" Little Sheep Jiang Lai put his hands on his hips, "If you don't want it, forget it. Freeloading food and lodging here can't compare to going out and scamming money."

Zenin Naoya: "..."

It seemed strange, yet somehow very logical. Staying here for room and board naturally couldn't compare to the rewards from taking missions outside (scamming money?).

The blonde young man wanted to speak but hesitated, hesitated but wanted to speak, finally deciding that free benefits shouldn't be wasted. Since he could rarely squeeze something out of Little Sheep, naturally he couldn't miss the opportunity.

So he nodded, arrogantly agreeing: "Fine, then I'll allow you to stay one more day."

Although the group of Fushiguro, Itadori, and Kugisaki didn't show it on their faces, they all exhaled inwardly. At least they had one more day of opportunity, perhaps still a chance to obtain the cursed tool.

Jiang Lai's eyebrows curved as his other hand stroked the silver-white snake's scales on his wrist, his gaze already returning to their lodging rooms.

He awaited communication with Kurosawa Akira.

With an unsatisfying day of activities, Zenin Naoya scheduled the photo session for the next day.

After brief rest and dinner, Little Sheep Jiang Lai symbolically participated in the group's discussion about tomorrow's plans, then returned to his own room.

The moment he closed the door, his demeanor gradually settled, becoming somewhat serious.

During the day's free time, Jiang Lai and silver snake Akira had exchanged information.

As the former true hidden boss of the Detective Conan world organization, Kurosawa Akira possessed incredibly keen observation skills. Hidden at Jiang Lai's wrist, he had memorized the entire conversation.

Kurosawa Akira's conclusion was similar to Jiang Lai's thinking. When the two communicated, they basically confirmed their speculation's validity.

But besides this, Kurosawa Akira added: "Prophecy has ambiguity. I think that lady couldn't know your true identity beneath the disguise through prophetic ability."

He paused, his gray-green eyes lifting: "However, she might be able to prophesy that your group has connections to someone, which is why she gave special attention and mentioned fair transaction."

Jiang Lai's expression paused slightly. After several seconds, he said: "The Zenin family most likely isn't truly loyal to the Supervisory Committee. If they want to secretly resist, their transaction partners would necessarily be on the opposing side to the Supervisory Committee..."

And the [Clock] connected to the Six Eyes in the known prophecy appeared to be on the opposing side to the Supervisory Committee, and was a powerful, reliable character.

Following this logic, perhaps the prophecy given to the Supervisory Committee back then really was tampered with. Jiang Lai thought.

If [Moving the Clock], this misleading phrase, was intentional, then the original prophecy might have revealed that [Clock] was a humanoid character.

In other words, Lady Zenin might possibly know that [Clock] was a conscious humanoid, and through secondary prophecy discovered that among this group who came to the study, one was connected to [Clock]?

So she wanted to use this opportunity to establish communication channels with [Clock] and achieve some kind of transaction.

Jiang Lai's thoughts raced. He boldly followed the most likely path in his deductions, then clearly described it to Kurosawa Akira.

Silver snake Akira quietly listened to Jiang Lai's account. His tail tip swayed lightly as he hissed: "So you plan to find her? That Lady Zenin."

"What do you think?" Jiang Lai asked back.

"If following your speculation, the lady who wants to communicate is definitely you." Kurosawa Akira analyzed calmly, "And for truly direct transactions with the Zenin family, appearing in your true form would be most convenient, avoiding unnecessary intermediary steps."

"As for Watanabe, this young human disguise, can continue lurking as a cover. However, with the knowing Lady Zenin, this disguise would gain an additional setting of being able to connect with your true form, the [Clock]."

Jiang Lai blinked, pondered for a while, then complained: "My jujutsu world self being my boss, while I work as my own subordinate? Round and round, Little Sheep disguise is working for my true form boss again."

Kurosawa Akira: "In summary, it's all working for yourself, and it's all you doing the work."

Jiang Lai: ...996 worker tears up!!

"Speaking of this, if the manga describes it this way, it would have some foreshadowing, wouldn't it?" Kurosawa Akira said, "The new series manga opening had you on the phone, indicating you weren't alone but already had connections with certain characters."

"Incidentally, this way, your Watanabe disguise could also do things beyond this age in the future. After all, having connections with [Clock], playing pig to eat tiger is very normal."

"The manga still has the amnesia setting now." Jiang Lai placed one hand on his chin.

"Misunderstanding narratives always have moments of revelation. Gradually releasing some contradictory clues is also one method."

Kurosawa Akira moved to Jiang Lai's other wrist, saying flatly: "Besides, memory confusion doesn't prevent forming alliances. Sixth sense building an organization is very reasonable."

Jiang Lai: "..." Wait, whose natural sixth sense involves forming alliances and building organizations?!

Well, but in shonen manga, that wasn't impossible either.