Chapter 205 : Black and White Unclear
Along with that light "It's over," Gojo Kyufuin snapped his folding fan shut with a swoosh and tucked it back at his waist.
Gojo Kyufuin's skin was white as porcelain, his light blue pupils like thin mist covering Jiangnan waters. He half-turned his face and smiled gently: "You said just now that you had no interest in dance music anymore, so I won't try to keep you."
"I'm sure you now have some understanding of this place, so please continue enjoying yourself according to your preferences."
Gojo Kyufuin's words indicated separation. He no longer guided covertly with plans and direction as before, but openly let go.
Everything seemed just as he said: it was over. All the probing, pulling, and undercurrents had cleared away.
"......" Jiang Lai fell silent briefly.
Now, he really couldn't figure out what kind of person Gojo Kyufuin was.
Was he an enemy or a friend? Or perhaps simply a character without absolute allegiance.
However, he could generally sense that the other's action of raising his sleeves and fan earlier was a form of protection.
Because Jiang Lai instinctively felt those falling purple lights weren't anything good. They seemed like markers, or perhaps screening tools.
The information gathered on-site wasn't abundant enough, more of a hazy confusion. More intelligence would have to rely on the God's-eye view of the manga to reveal.
Logically, the manga wouldn't be as cryptic as what he experienced. It would reveal some background in its depictions, or show characters' psychological dynamics.
He tucked one hand in his pocket, his fingertip brushing across his phone screen, pondering thoughtfully.
Gojo Kyufuin's earlier behavior was most likely protecting him, but what was the purpose?
Regardless, this guy should have vaguely noticed his uniqueness. Jiang Lai thought deeply. He didn't know how the other had made this judgment.
Gojo Kyufuin's current actions, were they to weaken the Supervisory Committee's overpowering trend and balance forces? Or were they for his inner bt psychology, not letting more people know before he had finished playing with his target?
If he thought further... would [Birth] be involved in this? Jiang Lai lowered his eyelids. Was Kyufuin's friendship with [Birth] back then genuine or false?
Before him, the long-haired man with the folding fan at his waist walked unhurriedly toward the edge of the dance floor. Under the lighting effects, his moon-white robe alternated between shadow and brightness, weaving flickering colors.
Just like this person himself, impossible to glimpse absolute black and white.
Jiang Lai watched that figure. When the other reached the edge and was about to step out at a corner with no cursed spirits, he suddenly spoke: "Please wait a moment."
Gojo Kyufuin's steps paused. He tilted his head slightly, his brows relaxed: "What is it?"
"I still don't know your name, and you haven't asked mine either." Jiang Lai said this. "Are we to part ways like this?"
This was simple probing. Jiang Lai planned to glimpse from the other's micro-expressions whether he already knew who he was.
However, Gojo Kyufuin's narrow light blue eyes curved into a crescent moon, his expression natural as he asked back: "Is knowing names important?" His tone was calm and gentle. "Names are just a string of codes."
This statement sounded familiar. Jiang Lai's brows raised slightly as he couldn't help recalling conversations from when he spent time with young Satoru.
During that fireworks festival, when family matters came up, young Gojo Satoru's brows carried some impatience, his refined face written with dissatisfaction toward those old folks.
Gojo Satoru couldn't make genuine friends in the family. He complained: "It's not that absolutely no one accompanies me. Naturally people will play with me too, but they're all arranged by the family. I don't even know their names. Big Fortune, Cocoa Cake, Sugar Bean, these kinds of names are obviously fake, right? Too perfunctory."
Jiang Lai at the time couldn't help but smile, yet also glimpsed behind the feudal great family.
Those seemingly ridiculous names were for Gojo Satoru's convenience in addressing them, catering to his preferences, and also because they felt Gojo Satoru didn't need to be too familiar with them, so they changed them this way.
In feudal great families like the Big Three Families, names worth remembering were exclusive to those with status and ability. For others, names were more like appellations for calling, nothing more.
Now, hearing Gojo Kyufuin again mention that "names are just a string of codes," Jiang Lai paused for two seconds, then answered this person before him as he had answered young Gojo Satoru back then.
"But this string of codes is what makes one special among thousands of ordinary things." Jiang Lai said. "Even if it's the same name, it carries different meanings. I think names are the first step in getting to know each other."
"......" Gojo Kyufuin's expression didn't change. He tilted his head slightly, his smiling lip curve remaining: "So that's how you think."
He lifted his eyelashes lightly and nodded slowly: "In that case, I should introduce myself to you."
The man in moon-white robes drew out his folding fan with one hand and gracefully bowed, his gestures quite elegant, his voice clear: "Kyufuin."
He didn't mention his surname. Jiang Lai keenly noticed this point.
Combined with what Nanami Kento had mentioned before, that this guy usually preferred others to call him "Kyufuin-san" rather than "Gojo-san," it could be seen more precisely that he indeed seemed to have weak belonging to the Gojo family.
Thoughts flowing, Jiang Lai's expression didn't change. He parted his lips slightly and finally uttered: "Lai."
"Then we can consider ourselves formally acquainted." Gojo Kyufuin smiled.
Was there also informal acquaintance? Like knowing in advance? Oh, but indeed. Probably both of them had learned about each other before this.
Jiang Lai mentally continued the sarcasm, but he didn't show it.
His gaze followed the person's movements and fell on that folding fan.
Gojo Kyufuin noticed Jiang Lai's gaze. His lip corners lifted as he said gently: "Very beautiful, isn't it?"
"......" Jiang Lai paused briefly, then continued: "Yes, very beautiful. Where did you get it?"
He directly brought up the topic about the folding fan following these words.
Gojo Kyufuin held the fan in his right hand, his left fingertip lightly brushing across its surface.
His long eyelashes cast light shadows on his fair skin. He paused for two or three seconds before slowly saying in a tone whose real emotion was hard to discern: "Received it long ago, quite some years past. You probably couldn't find it now."
"......" Jiang Lai didn't respond. He was discerning the other's hidden emotions and implications.
With neither speaking, the air was rarely quiet. The background music and clamoring from the dance floor seemed distant beyond the two of them.
After a while, Gojo Kyufuin closed his folding fan, as if also gathering his emotions.
He again put on an appropriate smile, his narrow light blue eyes blinking slightly as he continued: "But if you're truly interested, perhaps you could take a trip to Hokkaido."
Hokkaido? Jiang Lai caught the key location the other mentioned. Why would he mention that place?
This was quite a broad area. Nevertheless, Jiang Lai kept it in mind.
He didn't think someone like Gojo Kyufuin would speak useless words. Perhaps this location held more information.
He'd wait to see from the manga whether there would be inner thoughts from the person before him. Jiang Lai thought silently. This way he wouldn't have to make such cryptic guesses himself, but could directly see what he was thinking from a God's-eye view.
After casually dropping that statement, Gojo Kyufuin said no more. He waved his hand, moon-white sleeves fluttering, as farewell. He walked with traditional small steps toward the spot where he'd initially been reading.
Jiang Lai didn't follow. Things had progressed to this point, and he temporarily didn't need to dig deeper from Gojo Kyufuin. What he should do now was organize the half-hidden intelligence from before.
He scanned the surroundings and similarly found a relatively quiet place, preparing to open his phone to check the manga.
Based on previous experience, the Detective Conan world manga update speed was almost synchronized with events here, at most requiring just a brief wait.
Jiang Lai walked toward his target direction. Passing by the dining area, he glimpsed Geto Suguru sitting there again fake-smiling while chatting with unknown cursed spirits, and the liquid fox still holding and licking the small half-candle.
Jiang Lai's tense mood rarely relaxed a bit as he internally made a tactical lean-back expression: Such a small piece of candle, still not finished eating? What a thrifty little fox!!
......It could also be that it hadn't had a good meal in too long and was reluctant to finish it.
Involuntarily sighing in his heart, Jiang Lai's steps paused slightly. He took a small detour, and while passing the dining area, casually struck several traces of cursed energy onto other decorative candles at the edge.
The liquid fox could naturally keenly sense Jiang Lai's cursed energy. It quickly looked up, its spiral-patterned dizzy eyes bright and shining.
Geto Suguru also noticed the Nightmare Fox's movement, but he only glanced toward Jiang Lai's direction. Seeing the other was fine, he naturally withdrew his gaze.
Jiang Lai didn't have excessive contact with Geto Suguru. He continued around to the rest area and picked a small corner there where he wouldn't be disturbed.
Organizing his thoughts, he took out his phone, preparing to see the manga's updated content from a God's-eye view.
Just then, he saw two new email notifications.
One from Gojo Satoru: [Finished a big mission, taking a small mission on a casual trip, counts as business travel and dining, the kind that can bring kids~~ Coming? Location flexible.]
One from Geto Suguru: [Everything alright? I saw he didn't trouble you, but his behavior was very strange. Be careful. I'm free recently. If needed, I can assist in secretly investigating some information, anywhere is fine.]
Looking at these two emails in his inbox, Jiang Lai rested one hand on his chin, recalling the Hokkaido that Gojo Kyufuin had just mentioned.
He didn't know what was really in Hokkaido... but honestly, regardless of what was there, if their three big buddhas took a trip there, they should gain something, right?
Just for concealment, the few of them couldn't directly contact each other. But actually meeting up was fine too. They'd all practiced acting.
So Jiang Lai raised his hand to reply to both: [Let's check out Hokkaido. But wait a moment, let me think about it.]
He needed to first read the manga and analyze Gojo Kyufuin's behavior from a God's-eye view before confirming the next plan.