Chapter 157 : [Birth] and Riko
Jiang Lai didn't know if he could reunite with [Birth] in dreams, but he hoped that even if they couldn't meet, there could be some weak connection.
[Origin] before him lowered his branches, giving Jiang Lai a soft embrace.
Then He slowly withdrew those extending vines, sluggishly returning to the form of a slumbering, standing ancient tree.
Jiang Lai silently embraced the ancient tree that no longer had power fluctuations, knowing that the future path needed to be walked by himself.
Finally, the conscious Tengen sent them off as they left the Tombs of the Star, the old man's voice carrying an elder's blessing: "The outside world belongs to you, and miracles will also be yours."
Miracles...? Jiang Lai thought. Perhaps, but what they relied on was never miracles bestowed by fate, but miracles they created themselves.
They stepped out of this underground palace, returning beneath the firmament. Today was a cloudless, brilliant sunny day, and even the remaining chill in the air was warmed by the sunlight. Spring had arrived.
The black-haired youth carrying the sword bag turned his face to look at Little Sheep Jiang Lai: "Shall we set off, senpai?"
"Let's set off." Jiang Lai nodded, taking the first step forward.
…
Since the most famous location near the position marked as [Position Switch] on the map was Mount Fuji, Jiang Lai and Okkotsu Yuta headed there first to search.
There were dedicated buses from Tokyo to Mount Fuji. They bought tickets for that day and took the bus to Mount Fuji after lunch.
Okkotsu Yuta's sword bag was disguised as an ordinary luggage bag. Just in case, he didn't put it in the bus's side storage compartment but placed it in the overhead luggage rack above their seats.
Jiang Lai didn't bring anything special on this trip, just habitually carrying his small backpack containing a water bottle and several homework books.
Yes, since they weren't sure how long they'd need to explore around Mount Fuji, Jiang Lai brought his homework too. After all, the April school term was approaching.
Although this identity was just a low-key disguise for blending into society, Jiang Lai was also seriously being a good student, not wanting to cause trouble for his teacher or his nominal guardian, Nanami Kento.
The journey from Tokyo to Mount Fuji took several hours. After lunch, drowsiness gradually set in. Jiang Lai placed his backpack in front of him, hugged it, and began to doze off.
He yawned softly, not insisting on staying awake, planning to take a light nap before reaching their destination.
The swaying vehicle was always particularly conducive to sleep. Jiang Lai closed his eyes, naturally and gradually falling into dreams.
......
Jiang Lai's eyelashes trembled lightly. He opened his eyes to darkness before him.
He instinctively became alert, then noticed that his form had once again changed to his main body's appearance.
Jiang Lai was slightly stunned, then realized this wasn't the real world.
Could it be the same situation as when he entered Ryomen Sukuna's innate domain last time? Except this time, he wasn't connected to Sukuna but to someone else.
He understood that after [Origin] gave him power, he had the ability to connect with his conceptual family members.
There was no blood water or bone mountains here, not Sukuna's innate domain. And Itadori Yuji's inner world should theoretically overlap with Sukuna's. So this place should be...
[Birth]. This name popped into Jiang Lai's mind.
Everything came too suddenly. Although Jiang Lai had speculated about it, he hadn't expected to connect with [Birth] during such a short afternoon nap.
Before him was a dim, murky darkness. Jiang Lai tentatively stepped forward.
The surroundings were empty, his footsteps making no sound upon landing. Endless darkness enveloped the entire space.
Jiang Lai released some of his cursed energy, but he didn't sense any familiar power aura.
He couldn't help but doubt: Is this [Birth]'s inner world? But why would it be like this? And I can't seem to sense the main body.
Jiang Lai's emotions were complex. He stood silently in place for a moment, then stepped forward and continued walking.
Standing still was meaningless. Perhaps by exploring the surroundings, he could find something.
Following his intuition for some distance, Jiang Lai noticed a beam of light glowing faintly in the distant front.
It was a warm-colored light, not particularly clear. After walking closer, he could see the light source was a desk lamp.
In the darkness, an ordinary school desk was placed abruptly, with a bright desk lamp on it.
Sitting at the desk was a girl wearing a traditional Japanese sailor uniform. She had braided hair with a white headband, currently holding a pen and hunched over the desk, scribbling and drawing something.
Upon seeing the person before him, the first name that flashed through Jiang Lai's mind was Amanai Riko!
She was the escort target from when Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru executed the Star Plasma Vessel mission at Jujutsu High years ago, and also the character Toji mentioned who went missing and was taken by the Supervisory Committee to be used as a container.
......Why would Riko appear here? Does this mean my previous speculation was correct, that Amanai Riko is [Birth]'s container?!
Many thoughts flashed through Jiang Lai's mind in an instant as he connected the previous clues.
The power given by [Origin] would only connect him with his conceptual family members. If he saw someone else, it meant they shared an inner world.
When Jiang Lai noticed the girl, she happened to look up and saw him too.
Amanai Riko looked surprised: "Who are you?"
From the Star Plasma Vessel incident in 2006 to now, more than ten years had passed. Logically, Amanai Riko should have become an adult by now.
But the girl he saw still had the appearance of a middle school student from the Star Plasma Vessel incident, even her outfit was exactly the same.
After becoming [Birth]'s container, would the girl's age also stop changing?
Or had Amanai Riko, who lost her normal life after being taken away, kept her inner world at that age?
Jiang Lai couldn't be sure. His gaze fell on the desk, glimpsing that Amanai Riko was drawing.
She seemed to lack artistic talent. The colored pencil doodles were either fantastical or chaotic, though he could generally tell she was drawing people.
Jiang Lai naturally withdrew his gaze, carefully choosing his words to give a relatively appropriate opening.
However, the braided girl's expression suddenly changed. Those eyes staring at Jiang Lai appeared somewhat cold in the darkness: "I don't know you. Get out."
A powerful force suddenly came through the space, catching Jiang Lai off guard and pushing him out of that area...
"!" Little Sheep Jiang Lai's body shook as he suddenly woke up.
He opened his eyes to see the blue seats inside the bus, the vehicle still gently swaying forward.
Beside him, Okkotsu Yuta noticed Jiang Lai's movement. He turned his face and asked with concern: "What's wrong?"
"......" Jiang Lai took a deep breath, pulling his spirit back from the inner world he'd just connected to. He sat up properly, then noticed a black coat that had slipped off him. It was Okkotsu Yuta's.
Probably worried about catching cold while sleeping, Okkotsu Yuta had thoughtfully taken off his coat and covered Little Sheep Jiang Lai with it.
Jiang Lai gripped the coat on him, and after his mind returned, he turned his face and smiled brightly: "It's nothing, just had a nightmare."
These matters concerning dreams and [Existence] could only be explored by himself. Telling Okkotsu wouldn't help much and would only give him another worry. So Jiang Lai didn't say much.
He paused for two seconds, returning the coat to Okkotsu Yuta: "Here, thank you for the coat."
"You're welcome, I'm glad you're okay." Okkotsu Yuta didn't press further. He smiled gently, taking back his coat: "Just in time, Mirai, you woke up at the perfect moment. We're almost there."
When others were present, Okkotsu Yuta wouldn't address Jiang Lai as "senpai" but normally called him by name.
"Almost there? I must have slept for quite a while." Jiang Lai looked out the window. In the distance, he could already see Mount Fuji with its snow-white peak under the sky.
His gaze fell outside the window, but his mind was still on what had just happened.
He didn't know why he hadn't seen [Birth] in person. Perhaps it was because He was slumbering, or maybe in a deeper layer of the inner world. Jiang Lai pondered. So what he saw in the dream was Amanai Riko.
But Amanai Riko had quickly pushed him out of the inner world. She seemed not to trust him because they were strangers.
Jiang Lai didn't blame Riko's actions. He knew that Amanai Riko's wariness was actually a form of self-protection.
The lively and clever girl hadn't been able to finish her best years before falling into endless darkness, becoming an objectified container to be used.
Perhaps because of this, Amanai Riko's world still contained a desk and a lamp, as if she could return to those school days.
The colored pencil drawings scribbled under her pen were probably some manifestation of her inner thoughts.
Those unclear little figures might be classmates, friends, teachers, the convenience store owner on the way to school, and the security uncle who greeted her on the way home.
Time makes the past blurry, but memories make bygone days clear. Trivial daily life becomes incredibly precious in repeated time.
Depriving someone of their youth is incredibly cruel.
Jiang Lai clasped his hands together, his eyelids lowered.
Compared to Ryomen Sukuna's innate domain, Sukuna couldn't push Jiang Lai out because essentially the body's owner was Itadori.
But Amanai Riko could do this, which further confirmed that she was [Birth]'s container, the body's owner.
He understood in his heart that if he wanted to see [Birth] in the dream world, or collect some information about the Supervisory Committee's headquarters, he probably needed to get past Amanai Riko first.
While his thoughts were running, Okkotsu Yuta beside him said: "Speaking of which, Nanami-senpai's mission seems to be in this area too."
"Nanami-san?" Jiang Lai's thoughts returned, somewhat surprised.
"I vaguely remember Nanami-senpai mentioning the mission location. After thinking about it, it should be around here." Okkotsu Yuta said: "If we're lucky, we might meet."
"......" Jiang Lai hoped the two parties wouldn't encounter each other. After all, the Four Guardian Towers mission was dangerous. If they met, it would mean Nanami Kento was also facing danger at close range.
His gaze fell on Mount Fuji outside, and some things from the original work suddenly came to mind.
In the original work, Nanami Kento died at the hands of Mahito during the Shibuya Incident, but before that, he was severely injured by the volcano-head cursed spirit Jogo, almost half his body burned.
Jiang Lai looked away from Mount Fuji. He didn't want to think about those cruel scenes from the original anymore.