Chapter 182 : Domain Combination
"......Don't want tomorrow, only want today."
The white-haired man's blue pupils fell distantly ahead, containing powerful force within his Six Eyes.
Accompanying Gojo Satoru's murmured words, the entire stellar sea within the domain burst with brilliant radiance. The surging river of years flowed turbulently, and the outermost boundaries seemed to extend infinitely into the distance.
Jiang Lai felt his domain's power surging, his expression slightly stunned, somewhat surprised by this further enhancement effect before his eyes.
At this moment in the Crossroads Tower world, was the further strengthening of his domain power due to Gojo Satoru's strong subconscious will, or other reasons?
This wasn't the moment to investigate deeply. Jiang Lai temporarily noted this question in his heart.
Jiang Lai's gaze also fell ahead. This domain had already exceeded Kyoto's range, its beautiful boundaries extending to even more distant places.
At this moment, Jiang Lai already understood that to pull Gojo Satoru out of Zhuangzi's dawn dream, he couldn't ignore everything the other had experienced in this Crossroads Tower.
The root of suffering came from shadows lurking deep in the heart. The Crossroads Tower was a mischievous funhouse mirror, exaggerating and distorting those gray areas.
The black-haired youth turned his face, his navy blue robe corner gently swaying as he followed the previous topic: "Do you want to return to the high school next?"
"......" Gojo Satoru didn't immediately reply. The momentary emotional outburst earlier seemed to have exhausted his spirit. At this moment, he looked somewhat listless, like a white big cat sick on a rainy day.
However, after two seconds, he still opened his lips: "I want to go to the high school." Gojo Satoru's deep blue eyes glanced at the person beside him. "What will you do?"
"I said I came to find you and solve problems together with you, so naturally I'll be by your side." Jiang Lai's voice was gentle. "Let's go back and see. Shoko hasn't seen you for a long time either."
Mentioning his former classmate's name, Gojo Satoru's lowered hand moved almost imperceptibly, though his surface attitude remained nonchalant:
"If we go back, we'll inevitably run into each other. That can't be helped."
"Even if we can't happen to meet, we should make a special effort to see old friends." Jiang Lai smiled. "Ieiri-san still remembers you all. Last time I went to the high school, I heard her conversation with Okkotsu, she said you're all idiots."
If this were reality, hearing this, Gojo Satoru would definitely exaggerate:
"Eh! Who's an idiot? Anyway, it definitely isn't me, this super invincible handsome guy, so it must be Suguru~ Right, Shoko?"
Then casually tease a few more lines.
But here, hearing these words, Gojo Satoru just lifted his eyelids slightly and said casually: "Perhaps. The strongest is nothing more than that."
"Don't be bound by anything. The title of [strongest] can't bind you either." Jiang Lai lightly patted the other's shoulder with his book. "Ieiri-san's [idiot] doesn't refer to all sorts of messy things. She's just talking about you two."
Jiang Lai repeated: "She said that people around you can help share the burden, yet you stubbornly insist on shouldering everything alone until the load crushes you. Isn't that being an idiot?"
"Shoko would say things like that too." Gojo Satoru chuckled lightly.
"Actually, I used to be the same."
Jiang Lai's words took a slight turn here. When recalling past events, his expression became much gentler. "I used to be accustomed to carrying everything alone too. Later, someone taught me about [weathering storms together]......Actually, traveling together gives friends much more genuine peace of mind than standing guard alone."
His experiences in the Detective Conan world had brought him much. Even now, crossing between worlds, they still helped him inadvertently.
Talking to this point, Jiang Lai's lips curved up as he said half-jokingly: "Speaking of which, during high school you would still drag people around you to take the blame together. Why can't you do that now?"
Hearing this, Gojo Satoru unconsciously said:
"Hey hey, during high school I always volunteered to take the blame. Only occasionally, just occasionally would I drag Suguru and Shoko along. Anyway, no matter what, they'd never really resent me. Back then we were chased and beaten by Principal Yaga every day......"
Mentioning high school memories, Gojo Satoru's expression brightened for a moment, then his thoughts quickly returned, remembering the current precarious and divided situation, and fell silent again.
Jiang Lai constantly watched Gojo Satoru's expression. When the other fell silent, he naturally continued:
"As you said, no matter what, they'd never really resent you. I think you understand this in your heart, but you just can't forgive yourself."
"None of the things that happened were your fault." Jiang Lai said. "Emotional spears shouldn't be aimed at yourself. They should be aimed at those enemies."
Gojo Satoru's deep blue eyes looked toward Jiang Lai. After a moment, he suddenly smiled: "Are you comforting me?"
He steadied himself. "Fine, I am indeed calmer. But talking about these past events now is meaningless. The past won't change."
Jiang Lai turned his face, pondering for a second or two, then said seriously: "So you want to change the past, to start over?"
Gojo Satoru raised his pure white eyelashes.
"If you want to, of course you can." Before him, the person in navy blue kimono smiled with curved eyes. "Do you remember those stories I told you? I have the ability to reverse space-time and restart everything."
The words flowed out very naturally: "I am the [Clock]."
This sentence inexplicably made Gojo Satoru's heart flutter, as if a similar voice flashed through the depths of his mind.
He gazed at the person before him with his blue pupils. The black-haired youth's smiling expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
The contradictory feeling of familiarity and strangeness rose in his heart again. Gojo Satoru was momentarily speechless.
Jiang Lai waited quietly, his heart very calm.
At this moment, the clock at his heart wasn't completely repaired, and he wasn't sure if manipulating the clock in this Crossroads Tower would affect his real self.
But he wasn't worried.
Because Jiang Lai knew that [starting over] wasn't the point where Gojo Satoru's knots would untie.
He revealed this, making his words coincide with scenes from years past, to steer the topic and atmosphere to this point, to trigger more memories and further discover what Satoru truly wanted to achieve.
His brown eyes blinked lightly as he met the sky-blue pupils beside him.
Gojo Satoru gazed at Jiang Lai and slowly said: "Reversing space-time, what kind of price would you pay? You didn't tell me in those stories."
When Jiang Lai had narrated past events to Gojo Satoru, he had only selectively shared certain parts.
Those sad gray experiences were lightly passed over. Jiang Lai only said that after the world restarted, they reunited the next Christmas.
He didn't mention the falling meteor shower, the shattering of the heart's clock, the silence of [Existence] divine status, or the endless waiting.
At this moment, hearing Gojo Satoru's words, Jiang Lai felt for an instant as if he'd returned to the feeling of that Night Parade of a Hundred Demons day, when Satoru had also looked at him and first asked about the price.
Jiang Lai's expression relaxed as he said softly: "There won't be any major price, just temporary separation, then [see you tomorrow]."
[See you tomorrow] sounded incredibly light, as if they could meet at the next turn.
But Gojo Satoru's expression didn't ease. He still locked onto Jiang Lai with his blue pupils, complex emotions he himself didn't understand surging in his eyes.
After a brief moment of eye contact, the white-haired man looked away and gave his instinctive response: "No."
Just as he had murmured under the starry sky "don't want tomorrow, only want today," Gojo Satoru stubbornly held to this point at this moment.
"But don't you still want to change the past?" Jiang Lai said. "If you only want this moment, how can you change what's already happened?"
Gojo Satoru fell into hesitant silence. He wanted to change the past, but he also didn't want a restart.
At the same time, chaotic thoughts surged in his mind again. Gojo Satoru's eyes flashed with countless blurry scenes.
Had such conversations, such choices, such changes happened before?
He indeed wanted to change the past, but he didn't want to just borrow the power of those around him to 'start over.'
Jiang Lai's eyes were gentle as he continued asking: "Is what you truly think in your heart really 'don't want tomorrow, only want today'?"
Gojo Satoru opened his lips slightly. He wanted to affirm or deny, but felt that neither response could fully express himself.
The sun, moon and stars within the vast domain flowed with radiance, not stopping for a moment. Brilliant light enveloped Kyoto.
In an instant within the starry domain, Gojo Satoru suddenly understood: he didn't reject tomorrow, he just feared losing today.
He hoped to change the past, protect the present, and grasp the future.
Perhaps this sounded somewhat greedy, but as the strongest, why shouldn't he be a bit greedy?
"Yesterday, today, tomorrow." Gojo Satoru's crystal blue eyes gradually focused, flashing with irresistible radiance. "I want to possess them all."
"If reversing space-time has a price, let me break that price." His eyelashes fluttered, his voice rarely abandoning its usual lightness for the firmness that even the vicissitudes of time couldn't change. "Or bear it together with you."
"I've never been a passive observer in the rear." Gojo Satoru's voice rose slightly at the end. "This is what you said, to let me stand beside you."
The white-haired man's sky-blue pupils were completely clear at the bottom. His immense cursed energy no longer spread carelessly, gathering into more solid power.
The stellar sea domain's radiance became even more gorgeous. Black and white waves surged, circling the outermost edges in rings. The naturally rising wind made Jiang Lai's navy blue kimono hem gently sway.
This was the second rise in domain power. Jiang Lai could feel it.
At this moment, he already had some vague guesses in his heart.
The upgrade of his domain didn't come from the subconscious of the Crossroads Tower's Gojo Satoru, but was indeed related to the other.
Jiang Lai sensed that his domain didn't reject Gojo Satoru's cursed energy, because he was familiar with and trusted the other, just as the other believed in him deep in his heart.
So Gojo Satoru's steadily released cursed energy could influence his domain.
Logically, cursed energy within domains would repel each other, but his domain was incredibly inclusive and transformed the power into positive influence.
Was it because of [Existence]?
Jiang Lai's thoughts raced rapidly. Half intuition and half speculation, he felt like he was touching on some new approach.
[Existence] belonged to nature, merging with everything and embracing all.
So if the other and himself had sufficient understanding and mutual trust, could they perform some kind of cursed energy cooperation in domain combination?
Outside was daylight, inside the domain were stars. Jiang Lai stood in place, his brown eyes gathering dancing radiance as he spoke: "In that case, how about trying to expand domains simultaneously?"
"What?" Gojo Satoru tilted his head slightly.
"No predecessors have attempted it, and no theoretical assumptions exist, but we can be the first pioneers together." Jiang Lai smiled sideways, boldly suggesting: "Want to try domain combination?"