Chapter 162 : Detective Conan World's Manga Chasers
Detective Conan World.
Matsuda Jinpei absentmindedly flicked the lighter's switch, the clicking sounds very crisp.
The swaying flame flickered in his eyes, and Matsuda Jinpei couldn't help but recall yesterday's fantastical experience of going to the jujutsu world.
That volcano-head guy had actually mistaken his gender. Where did he have anything that could be mistaken for the wrong gender?
Speaking of which, cursed spirits under normal circumstances shouldn't have gender concepts. How rare that Jogo could distinguish between male and female.
Yesterday's mix-up left Matsuda Jinpei completely speechless, but thinking back, fighting alongside his friend Jiang Lai again was something worth being happy about.
Moreover, during yesterday's battle, throwing lightning bolts was especially satisfying. Although he was past the chuunibyou age of youth, being able to use supernatural powers was naturally very cool.
Such magical experiences wouldn't have been possible without Jiang Lai.
"Hey, Matsuda, what are you doing here?" A hand suddenly landed on his back, and colleague Murashita laughed mischievously. "You're not secretly smoking, are you? I'm going to report you..."
"Hey hey, I'm not smoking. My nicotine craving just came up, so I came here to get some air and play with the lighter." Matsuda Jinpei skillfully played with the lighter in his hand, then deftly tucked it into his pocket. "My self-control is still very strong."
"There's a smoking room over there. If you really can't help it, just go smoke." The colleague let go of his hand, then patted Matsuda Jinpei's shoulder. "It's break time, it's okay to relax a bit."
"Hmm... mainly I promised to quit smoking, so I'm cutting back."
The colleague looked shocked and leaned back dramatically: "Really? Not to be mean, Matsuda, but you've been smoking for who knows how many years. You're really going to quit?"
"Really, why would I lie to you?" Matsuda Jinpei pulled out his cigarette pack from his pocket, flicked it open with his thumb, and showed it to his colleague. "Look, it's all sugar sticks inside, no cigarettes."
"...Really amazing." The colleague took the cigarette pack and looked inside, finding it indeed contained sugar sticks rather than cigarettes. "Speaking of which, who did you make this promise with? Of course, if it's private, you don't need to answer me. I'm just asking casually."
Despite saying this, the colleague's expression was full of "gossip," looking somewhat teasing, like he'd discovered a good buddy's underground romance.
"...What are you thinking?" Matsuda Jinpei gave him a half-moon eye look. "It's a promise with friends."
"Oh oh oh, friends... okay." The colleague looked somewhat disappointed, but then sighed: "Seems like you have a good relationship, even changing habits for each other."
"Yeah, indeed. They're friends I can call family." Matsuda Jinpei openly admitted.
The decision to quit smoking was indeed made together with his friends.
The reason was Jiang Lai's situation. Because they were worried that Jiang Lai in the jujutsu world might make decisions that disregarded his health again, they'd been constantly sending care and reminders through the internet.
Jiang Lai's replies were cheerful in tone, which reassured them while he also proposed "living longer together, everyone being old tortoises of the world together."
Although the term "old tortoises" was very tempting to complain about, they still made the agreement to "live longer together."
Jiang Lai's promise was "valuing others and valuing himself," Matsuda Jinpei's was "quitting smoking," Morofushi Hiromitsu's was "sleeping on time without staying up late," and Kurosawa Akira's was "safety first in research."
Upon hearing that Matsuda Jinpei was quitting smoking, childhood friend Hagiwara Kenji immediately expressed support, saying with a grin:
"Then I'll be responsible for supervising little Jinpei! I won't help you hide secret smoking just because we're good friends."
"What's that, Hagi? Don't underestimate me, my self-control is very strong." Matsuda Jinpei played around with his best friend, symbolically pushing each other.
And Furuya Rei said he could supervise Morofushi Hiromitsu, since he'd definitely sleep later than Morofushi Hiromitsu, he just needed to check if the other was online before bed.
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "...Zero, you should also sleep early. Overtime work is never-ending."
The class president far away in Nagano Prefecture even specially sent them a message saying that "quitting smoking" and "early sleep" were good habits.
Recalling the past, Matsuda Jinpei's eyebrows softened somewhat. He pulled out a sugar stick from the cigarette pack and put it in his mouth, restraining his smoking addiction.
"Ah, speaking of which, you look somewhat familiar like this." The colleague placed one hand on his chin, staring at Matsuda Jinpei for two or three seconds.
"What?" Matsuda Jinpei asked in a muffled voice.
"I remember now. You're a bit like that dog in the manga!" The colleague slapped his left hand with his right palm, having a sudden realization.
Matsuda Jinpei: "......"
Immediately, colleague Murashita noticed the ambiguity in his words and quickly waved his hands: "No no, I don't mean to insult you. I just... uh, you know, that Shadow Dog in the new jujutsu series we all follow has your aura."
"Like, curly hair, cool guy, smoking, arrogant. These keywords are a bit like you, though the Shadow Dog doesn't wear sunglasses."
Hearing the other mention "Shadow Dog," Matsuda Jinpei unconsciously broke out in cold sweat, almost thinking he was about to be exposed.
However, as someone who had once gone undercover in an organization, he wouldn't easily expose his emotions. On the surface, he maintained his usual carefree appearance and went along with it:
"Hmm... indeed has a bit of my aura. That Shadow Dog is quite handsome after all. Too bad it lacks sunglasses, not as cool as me."
The colleague laughed, then said: "Speaking of which, the recent chapters have had quite ups and downs. When I saw Nanami versus Jogo, I thought there'd be another fated death like in the original, but unexpectedly that youth he took in was so amazing!"
"Although there was foreshadowing before, and I saw people online discussing that the youth probably wasn't simple... seeing that scene in the manga with my own eyes still felt incredible." The colleague sighed. "Who would have thought a middle schooler was actually a special grade sorcerer."
"Isn't that how manga always is? Elementary and high school students saving the world. Now middle school students are included too, perfectly complete." Matsuda Jinpei replied in a lazy tone.
"The later plot was so funny! Jogo actually mistook Shadow Dog for Rika!"
The colleague burst into laughter, patting Matsuda Jinpei's shoulder and joking: "You know what I was thinking? I was thinking, this Shadow Dog has such similar aura to you, when I come to work tomorrow, I can teasingly call you [Matsuda Rika] by analogy."
"Hey, you guy..." Matsuda Jinpei put away the cigarette pack and playfully grabbed the other in a headlock, while the colleague dramatically cried for mercy.
Matsuda Jinpei released him at the right time, nodding slightly: "Since you made the same mistake as Jogo in the manga, I'll call you Murashita Jogo from now on."
"Matsuda Rika!"
"Murashita Jogo!"
Even adults had some childish jokes during work breaks. The two called each other by those nicknames.
Another colleague, Fujii, who was also following the manga at the neighboring desk, commented on their behavior: "Following a manga doesn't require being this obsessed."
It was break time now, and he calmly took a sip of tea.
Matsuda Jinpei and colleague Murashita both turned their heads.
"You should first take off that limited edition God Lai badge on your bag before saying that!" by Matsuda Jinpei
"Hey Fujii, don't think I don't know your online nickname is [Spirit Master Watanabe-kun]!" by colleague Murashita
Fujii's facade of calmly drinking tea was ruthlessly exposed. Turns out everyone was obsessively following the manga!
……
Jujutsu World.
The injuries on Nanami Kento's body had mostly healed, and the scars left by burns had become extremely faint.
Nanami Kento's mission this time was to handle missing person casualties near Mount Fuji scenic area. The cursed spirit causing this incident wasn't Jogo, but another Grade 1 cursed spirit.
That's why [Window] had sent Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer Nanami Kento to execute this mission.
Encountering special grade cursed spirit Jogo was purely accidental.
The Grade 1 cursed spirit that caused the Mount Fuji scenic area incident had already been exorcised by Nanami Kento. Therefore, after resting for a day or two at this small sanatorium, he prepared to return to Tokyo.
Just as he had told Little Sheep Jiang Lai before, he knew the two had important business to do, so everything was entrusted to them.
What Nanami Kento could do was silently provide support and necessary concealment when needed.
"The future path is for you to walk." Nanami Kento's voice was calm. Before leaving, his gaze fell on both of them.
Okkotsu Yuta nodded, his expression serious: "Please rest assured, Nanami-senpai."
They didn't have further communication, but Okkotsu Yuta could also sense that Nanami Kento had already perceived their situation.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai waved dramatically with a brilliant smile: "Don't worry! I've never lost before. I even won playing games with terrible teammates. This time I'm with the god-tier teammate Brother Okkotsu, so naturally there's no problem!"
He replaced the dangerous gamble with playing games to prevent Nanami Kento from worrying too much about them.
Nanami Kento could hear the implied meaning in Little Sheep Jiang Lai's words. A smile appeared on his serious face as his gaze settled on the brown-haired youth:
"No matter what, I'll wait for you to come home."
This was a very plain yet incredibly profound statement.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai nodded and replied seriously: "Alright, I'll come home."
Nanami Kento didn't linger here too long, as the return bus was about to depart. He got on the bus and finally looked through the window at the figures of Okkotsu Yuta and Little Sheep Jiang Lai from afar.
The two youths stood there, their figures appearing small yet seeming to carry distant mountains and tomorrow on their shoulders.
"......" Nanami Kento felt a strange sense of peace. In them, he saw hope for the new generation.
He also recalled the other students at Jujutsu High, all vigorous youths.
Perhaps the chaos of cursed spirits in the jujutsu world and the shadows lurking behind society would meet their end in these young hands.
Nanami Kento leaned back in his chair.
He could somewhat understand why Gojo chose to become a teacher and nurture those youths.
Jiang Lai watched the bus Nanami Kento was on until the vehicle disappeared around the corner ahead.
After seeing off Nanami Kento and ensuring he safely left the area, Jiang Lai prepared to head back to the foot of Mount Fuji and meet Jogo with his main body.