Chapter 174 : t5 and Jiang Lai's [Next Time We Meet]
After listening to the conversation of everyone on the training ground, Jiang Lai fell into brief silence.
This world...... although that cursed user path was one Gojo Satoru walked onto himself, in a certain sense, he was actually forced onto a one-way road.
In reality, the hardships experienced had all been overcome. After tragedies turned the page, they welcomed new chapters, and they all still had futures.
The strongest seemed to have long since turned past the old scars, settling his disposition and organizing his thoughts, moving forward hand in hand with friends.
However, through this Crossroads Tower that was skilled at amplifying negative emotions, one could glimpse that Gojo Satoru's heart was always drifting with shadows of the past.
As the strongest, he wouldn't be stuck in the past, wouldn't be trapped by shadows, and wouldn't show the slightest weak emotions.
Just occasionally, those shadows would sway before his eyes, reminding him of those tragedies that brushed past, making his fingertips tremble almost imperceptibly.
Zhuangzi's dawn dream confusing butterflies: beauty and pain intertwined together. In moments of confusion, one couldn't distinguish whether "overcoming tragedy" was wishful thinking delusion, or a genuine chance for reversal.
The Crossroads Tower had obviously caught onto this point, swapping real and false, amplifying memory shadows, and erasing the biggest variable, Jiang Lai.
To this, Jiang Lai only wanted to say:
Supervisory Committee, you've done nothing but evil!.jpg
He exhaled, his gaze falling on everyone on the training ground.
Nanami Kento seemed unwilling to let students fall into overly heavy emotions, so he quickly called them up again to begin the next round of physical training.
Jiang Lai didn't continue watching their training. Restraining his cursed energy aura, he walked toward the location of the high school's medical office. He wanted to take a distant look at Ieiri Shoko's condition.
The medical office was located at a side entrance. From a distance, one could smell the scent of disinfectant in the air.
Inside the room, besides the brown long-haired woman wearing a mask, there was another figure: Okkotsu Yuta, who had returned to school.
Jiang Lai glimpsed the personnel inside through the window. He settled outside, silently standing across a wall.
Through the manga, Jiang Lai knew that before returning to school, Okkotsu Yuta had met with Gojo Satoru. On the rooftop, the white-haired man had declared the annihilation of Kyoto and asked Okkotsu Yuta to convey it to the jujutsu world.
At this moment, Okkotsu Yuta seemed to have just finished recounting that experience to Shoko.
Ieiri Shoko pulled down her medical mask, and the scar on her face appeared very jarring, though she seemed to not mind showing it openly.
Ieiri Shoko's eyelids drooped slightly as she spoke quietly: "......Really foolish. Satoru, Suguru, both want to shoulder everything alone: clearly everyone is still here."
"It wouldn't matter to let go a little. The people beside them could also help share the burden. Just like during high school, when they caused trouble, didn't I occasionally help cover for them?"
Ieiri Shoko's gaze fell distantly to the side, as if responding to Okkotsu Yuta, yet also like pure soliloquy, or like conveying across time and space to friends who weren't present.
"Things I don't care about, they put in their hearts first." She wound her hair around one hand, tucking the loose strands by her cheek behind her ear, exposing that dark scar. "Carrying too much can crush a person."
Outside, separated by a wall, Jiang Lai listened quietly.
Ieiri Shoko held a thin cigarette between her fingers. Having quit smoking for a long time, she rarely lit one again. The rising smoke was hazy and blurred the space before her:
"......They're all arrogant idiots."
The air became silent for a moment.
Okkotsu Yuta stood in front carrying his sword bag, his head half-lowered, not speaking.
Ieiri Shoko lit that cigarette, took a deep drag, exhaled light smoke rings, then continued: "Since Satoru asked you to deliver the message, then speak up. Otherwise that guy will definitely cause an even bigger commotion."
"Satoru's advance notice is probably also to give most ordinary people in Kyoto some evacuation time." Ieiri Shoko said. "He's never been as cold as he appears."
Okkotsu Yuta pressed his lips into a straight line, raising his eyes: "Okay, I'll deliver the message and inform the jujutsu higher-ups." He paused here, then added: "I'm just worried they'll use Yuji to......"
"Regarding Yuji's matter, I'm afraid none of us can truly intervene. If the higher-ups want to use Ryomen Sukuna to deal with Satoru, we can neither prevent nor protect him." Ieiri Shoko's gaze turned over. "Precisely because of this, if we want to save this child, we can only entrust it to Satoru."
"Only with him present can there be a glimmer of hope." Here, Ieiri Shoko curved her lips. "After all, Satoru is now a cursed user: he won't follow the higher-ups' orders to execute vessels."
Okkotsu Yuta was slightly stunned, his tense mind relaxing a bit. However, after his thoughts turned, he suddenly seemed to remember something and said:
"Yuji has already absorbed fifteen fingers. If the higher-ups gather a few more, then Ryomen Sukuna will possess power close to completion. Gojo-sensei:"
"A battle between the strongest cursed user and the King of Curses, regardless of how the battle goes, would probably be considered an excellent thing in most people's eyes in the jujutsu world."
Ieiri Shoko rested one hand on the side of a shelf. "But I don't have that many positions or thoughts. I just favor acquaintances more, so I'd hope Satoru wins: maybe the other party could even find a way to protect Yuji."
"But even if he really wins, it may not be a good thing for Satoru." Ieiri Shoko took another drag of her cigarette, leaning against the medical office wall, her gaze drifting to the ceiling above. "If madness has no end, it will devour even the self."
No more sounds came from the medical office. Both Ieiri Shoko and Okkotsu Yuta fell into a certain silence.
"......" Jiang Lai waved his hand to disperse the trace cursed energy residue he had left and silently departed.
After hearing Ieiri Shoko's words, he understood much more.
If the higher-ups really planned to use Ryomen Sukuna to deal with Gojo Satoru, making Kyoto the battlefield, then whether he lost or won, it would be some kind of negative reinforcement for Gojo Satoru.
Jiang Lai's thoughts were heavy.
Losing would mean death or injury, winning would mean falling into an even deeper spiral of madness.
So what to do? Simply become the third person on the battlefield himself and beat them both up, so they'd have no winner or loser?
It sounded good, but seemed somewhat unrealistic. Jiang Lai silently looked up at the sky.
After the great elder [Origin] infused power into Jiang Lai, he had recovered some of his strength from a thousand years ago and could battle with Gojo Satoru and the near-complete Ryomen Sukuna.
However, although their strength was similar, their fighting hearts were different. Without killing intent, his moves lacked a trace of edge.
If they really fought, the expanding scene would be even harder to control. No one could predict how the struggle between special-grade peaks would end.
Either he could do something like two-against-one, or not engage in full-scale battle, just intervene at crucial moments......
Weighing and considering subsequent plans in his heart, Jiang Lai gradually walked out of the forest area where Tokyo Jujutsu High was located, reaching the small town closest to the high school.
Jiang Lai also had an impression of this town. When he had spent time with high school-era Gojo Satoru, they had left the high school together and come here to dine.
Back then, when high school-era Gojo Satoru chatted with Jiang Lai, he had also talked about this place.
The white-haired youth in his adolescence had both hands behind his head, an arrogant yet casual appearance, saying offhandedly:
"The high school was built too remotely, but fortunately the location choice wasn't bad. There's a particularly delicious dessert shop in the town down the mountain."
He tilted his head slightly, his beautiful and lively blue eyes behind sunglasses carrying some curiosity: "Hey, speaking of which, as a mysteriously appearing thousand-year-old monster who's been in seclusion year-round, you probably haven't eaten much dessert, right? Do you know what mousse Black Forest, cream puffs, Häagen-Dazs are?"
"I do know some about these things." Jiang Lai at that time replied with half-moon eyes. "I'm not that cut off from the world."
"That's true: if you were truly cut off from the world, you wouldn't have come to find me." Gojo Satoru rested his index finger on his chin, curving his lips casually. "Next time when we're free, I'll take you to try that dessert shop I mentioned."
"When is next time when we're free?" Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow slightly, resting his left hand holding a book on his right palm, smiling. "Is it the same concept as the [next time we meet] I say to you?"
"......Hey, so you actually know your [next time we meet] is infinitely distant!" The white-haired youth's Six Eyes behind his sunglasses lit up like jewels, carrying some emotion as he glared back.
Jiang Lai coughed once, covering his lips with the book, maintaining a light and breezy appearance without responding.
The white-haired youth snorted lightly, lowering his hands from behind his head: "I'm not like you. My [next time when we're free] is very real—I'll take you there tomorrow."
"Alright, then I'll wait for you to treat me." Jiang Lai replied with a smile.
However, in the end, they still didn't make it to that dessert shop.
Missions came one after another, events were very tightly packed, without much leisure time.
The so-called [next time when we're free] also became infinitely long, thrown to the back of memory.
At this moment, recalling the past, Jiang Lai's gaze flowed over the street.
He remembered Gojo Satoru had mentioned that dessert shop's name, something like [Seven Red Pomelos]?
From the high school period until now's timeline, more than ten years had already passed. He wondered if this dessert shop was still open.
With thoughts flowing in his heart, Jiang Lai's gaze passed by shop nameplates one by one.
Ahead, an old-style sign that looked quite aged hung there, with colorful neon lights surrounding the large characters [Seven Red Pomelos], and a smiling dumpling mascot beside it.
Ah, it's this shop. Jiang Lai recognized it.
He stopped outside the shop, then suddenly remembered something slightly embarrassing—in this Crossroads Tower where he didn't exist, Jiang Lai had no currency that could be used for payment.
......Although this was an illusory world, eating without paying still wouldn't work, right? Jiang Lai thought silently.
Just at this moment, he heard a familiar voice beside his ear.
"Hm? You again?"
The white-haired man he had met not long ago appeared here again, holding a cup of strawberry smoothie in one hand, looking completely at ease.
Although he was a wanted cursed user, Gojo Satoru had absolutely no intention of hiding his whereabouts.
The cold atmosphere between them when they separated at the commercial street last time seemed to have completely disappeared.
Gojo Satoru had already restrained his previously leaked emotions and returned to being the perfectly flawless, dashing strongest.
The white-haired man took a sip of strawberry smoothie, facing this dessert shop, and said casually: "Meeting twice in a row at dessert shops I've taken a liking to...... should I say what a coincidence and praise your good taste, or commend your excellent intelligence gathering ability?"
Jiang Lai paused and replied: "I was just passing by. Are you coming here to eat dessert?"
"Of course, I came here specifically for this." Gojo Satoru's tone was casual. "Are you eating here?"
"If you're treating." Jiang Lai said half-jokingly.
He actually didn't hold much hope.
After all, although the two could rarely engage in normal conversation at this moment, in reality, in this world, he was still a complete stranger to Gojo Satoru......
"That's fine."
The unexpected reply from Gojo Satoru made Jiang Lai slightly stunned.
He looked at the white-haired man, judging whether the other was making a verbal joke or really planned to treat him.
Gojo Satoru held the smoothie cup in one hand and had the other in his trouser pocket. He walked forward, pausing slightly at the entrance, turning his body slightly, his tone unchanged: "I'm in a good mood, so I'll rarely treat someone. What, not coming?"
As the strongest, his actions were always willful and unexpected.
Jiang Lai thought. Probably the other was currently holding the attitude of "might as well, since I'm free anyway, I'll get close contact and probe this suspicious character" when inviting him.
Even so, Jiang Lai's face still showed a light smile, resting the antique book against his curved lips.
He stepped forward to follow, thinking leisurely in his heart.
Looking at it now, Satoru's [next time when we're free] and his own [next time we meet] seemed to be about the same.
—No matter how time passed and people changed, they seemed infinitely distant, yet were ultimately truly fulfilled.