Chapter 198 : Cursed Spirit Banquet
Itadori Yuji wasn't too sure what his form had been at that time. His understanding of various gems wasn't extensive, plus he had seen himself through the reflection in the black-haired young man's eyes.
So he simply picked the most general response he could understand: "rock."
The sparkly kind......essentially should also count as rock, right? Itadori Yuji didn't really understand these things.
Kugisaki Nobara looked indescribable: "Uh, so you're a rock spirit?"
Fushiguro Megumi also rarely made a deadpan joke: "Looks like Sukuna lived in a stone house, which compared to grass huts and wooden houses from earlier years, had pretty good conditions."
Itadori Yuji coughed, and under his two classmates' gazes, gradually recounted the events from a thousand years ago that he remembered, and his relationship with that person.
Following his narration, Kugisaki Nobara and Fushiguro Megumi gradually understood that the "rock" Itadori Yuji spoke of wasn't a real rock, but something with transcendent meaning.
Fushiguro Megumi from a thousand years ago had contact with Jiang Lai and knew the other possessed power beyond the mortal realm.
Though he didn't fully understand what that person specifically was, he could guess it was some kind of god-like existence.
In other words, Itadori Yuji a thousand years ago was in an immature god-like state without human form, and had been taken and used by someone. As for who this someone was......
Combined with what Itadori Yuji had told them before about the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings information learned from Choso, perhaps that someone from a thousand years ago was the person who created the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, currently stationed with the Supervisory Committee: the figure with stitches on his forehead.
To be able to plan for a thousand years. Fushiguro Megumi quietly exhaled. In a sense, also very persistent, not knowing what that person intended to do.
But regardless, they were gradually mastering information, and the situation would eventually reverse.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai followed Gojo Satoru back to school, perfectly connecting the timeline.
Okkotsu Yuta used that map to test and confirmed that the [Correct and Reverse] Tower on Itadori Yuji had indeed disappeared.
But Jiang Lai still used his youth identity, taking advantage of training with Itadori and the others at school, to observe Itadori Yuji up close.
Only after confirming this space-time reversal had no side effects did he feel relieved.
During this time, Gojo Satoru also went to the talisman room to see Choso.
He had actually known from Okkotsu Yuta long ago that this Special Grade cursed spirit was rather special and counted as an ally, but still had to make this trip on the surface.
It was also Gojo Satoru who operated the negotiations with the higher-ups to bail Choso out of the talisman room.
Though many restrictions still weighed on Choso, at least now he could move freely instead of being confined to the talisman room.
As a rare allied Special Grade cursed spirit, Choso now served as a combat training simulation opponent for Itadori Yuji and the others, also counting as part of the school's teaching staff, just rather special.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai didn't participate in the combat training on the field. Because of his young age and shallow experience, his assigned task was merely to observe from the side.
After all, only Gojo Satoru who knew his true identity, Okkotsu Yuta, and Nanami Kento who had seen him fight Special Grade cursed spirits knew his considerable strength.
He originally wanted to use Choso to grind spirit experience points at this moment, but then reconsidered: if he didn't expose his true strength, he couldn't grind experience with Choso.
But revealing his strength now was a bit early, and there were also Supervisory Committee informants inside the school. Gojo Satoru had secretly targeted several last time.
Considering this, Jiang Lai ultimately chose to hold his water cup for now, observing their combat training on the field while thinking about subsequent plans.
During the break, Itadori Yuji, Fushiguro Megumi, and Kugisaki Nobara gathered together to analyze the earlier battle, while Choso sat calmly on the steps.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai happened to be sitting here too. He noticed that as Choso sat down with his sleeve-sweeping motion, something fluttered down.
Jiang Lai instinctively looked over. What fluttered down was a deep purple diamond-shaped leaf.
He had never seen such leaves at the school. So Jiang Lai curiously said: "Is this a leaf from where you had your mission yesterday? I've never seen leaves like this. What is it?"
That's right, Choso also went out on missions.
Because Gojo Satoru, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu and others were usually quite busy, during such times, Choso would secretly take Itadori Yuji and the others out to execute missions.
They had just gone out yesterday, so Jiang Lai guessed as such.
Choso turned his head slightly upon hearing this. He glanced at the deep purple diamond-shaped leaf on the ground, frowned and paused briefly, then bent to pick it up: "Oh, this, I almost forgot about it."
He said, "This isn't a plant leaf from the mission location. Precisely speaking, this doesn't count as a leaf."
Jiang Lai blinked, somewhat puzzled by this answer. He didn't understand what Choso meant.
But soon, Choso continued: "This is an [invitation]."
"Invitation?"
"Yes." Choso nodded, saying in a deep voice: "An invitation to a cursed spirit banquet."
Jiang Lai: "???"
He was stunned for a second, his dark youth eyes widening, as if somewhat doubtfully repeating: "......Cursed spirit banquet?"
Uh, wait, what is this? An unfamiliar term has appeared!
Are cursed spirits in the new jujutsu series so trendy that they even hold banquets?
But thinking carefully, it wasn't incomprehensible. After all, the number of intelligent cursed spirits had generally increased in the new series, so imitating human social gatherings with banquets wasn't impossible......
With thoughts rolling in his mind, Jiang Lai blinked, tilting his head slightly upward in a serious listening posture.
Choso was fond of Itadori Yuji's companions through association, maintaining a friendly attitude.
Facing the brown-haired boy's inquisitive gaze, he didn't hesitate and continued explaining: "Yes, somewhat like your human banquets, also a gathering."
"But there are quota restrictions. Usually, the banquet list consists of Special Grade or Grade 1 high-intelligence cursed spirits. Sometimes there are also a few human curse users participating, but very rarely."
"What's the purpose of such banquets?" Jiang Lai asked.
"No particular purpose, just entertainment." Choso said. "Cursed spirits naturally have entertainment activities too, especially intelligent cursed spirits. Though cursed spirits have natural killing intent toward humans, this doesn't mean killing people can continuously please cursed spirits."
Jiang Lai: "......"
Not sure what to comment on here, but generally understood: it's similar to humans having instinctive killing intent toward mosquitoes buzzing around them. Killing one or two mosquitoes is quite satisfying, but continuously killing mosquitoes wouldn't make people cheerful, much less be an entertainment activity.
"Or, in a sense, banquets are also activities for intelligent cursed spirits to prove they too can become masters of society."
Choso paused, then continued: "Making friends, cooperating, seeking revenge. In short, cursed spirit banquets are very lively, with everything."
Jiang Lai's face showed genuine surprise as he tilted his head and sighed: "I've never heard of such activities."
"Very normal." Choso nodded, his attitude calm. "Humans and cursed spirits are usually opposed. When they meet, there's only battle, either you die or I live, with very little communication. So humans basically don't know about these things."
"But," Jiang Lai raised a question, "with so many cursed spirits gathering together, wouldn't they be detected by [Window]?"
Logically, such a large group of cursed spirits together would have very dense cursed energy. It would be impossible for humans to not sense any traces.
"Special barrier formations shield the banquet surroundings, and there are also specialized cursed tools in the venue." Choso explained, his eyelids lowering as his voice slowly uttered the second half: "......The Supervisory Committee also provides assistance."
He didn't avoid mentioning this term, very directly making the revelation.
The Supervisory Committee. Jiang Lai's brows raised slightly. Hearing this term, he understood why [Window] couldn't detect it.
Probably besides the shielding barriers and cursed tool arrangements Choso mentioned isolating [Window]'s detection, there were also insiders within [Window] interfering, letting the so-called 'cursed spirit banquet' proceed undisturbed.
What was the Supervisory Committee assisting this activity for? Could this be part of the Supervisory Committee's deals with cursed spirits? That made some sense.
In front of him, Choso held that deep purple diamond-shaped leaf between his fingers, cursed energy surging as he instantly crushed and destroyed it!
"Received it while out on mission that day, forgot to deal with it." He had no particular expression, his voice casual. He symbolically clapped his hands to shake off the remains. "I no longer attend such gatherings."
After all, the Supervisory Committee was involved behind the scenes, and Choso had long since fallen out with the Supervisory Committee.
Plus, current Choso's position was no longer ordinary cursed spirit faction, much less human faction, but Itadori Yuji's faction.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai sat obediently, blinking without asking more questions, appearing as if his curiosity was satisfied and he had quieted down.
He picked up his homework book again and on the surface began writing seriously. Actually, Jiang Lai's mind was still on the 'cursed spirit banquet' Choso had mentioned.
This kind of mixed activity was a good place to collect intelligence. Jiang Lai was familiar with such activities from the Detective Conan world.
Plus with Supervisory Committee involvement, he might be able to further touch on Supervisory Committee information, or hook the Supervisory Committee's attention to delve deeper.
As for invitations...
Jiang Lai pondered. He wasn't clear where these deep purple diamond-shaped leaves came from, but they probably weren't naturally grown. Maybe they were scales from some tree-form cursed spirit......
Since invitations were sent yesterday, this banquet was probably being held soon. According to Choso, Special Grade and Grade 1 cursed spirits usually received invitations.
Jiang Lai's main form adjusted to cursed spirit state was Special Grade, so logically he should receive an invitation.
But he wasn't clear who was sending these, and they probably couldn't find him either, so he couldn't get such leaves.
But no problem, no big deal.
Since he couldn't get one, he'd use another cursed spirit's (not)!
Jiang Lai planned to fully utilize his initiative, randomly select some unlucky cursed spirit in Tokyo, track them to the banquet location, then 'borrow' their invitation to attend and see this lively event he'd never heard of.