Chapter 210 : Professional Match
When they finally arrived at Wakkanai City, it happened to be the opening ceremony of the fireworks festival.
Accompanied by the "bang bang" of ceremonial cannons and music, beautiful fireworks shot up into the sky one after another, blooming in the dark blue night sky.
Under the fireworks, crowds surged as people from all over gathered at this fireworks festival scene.
Gojo Satoru parked the car in the designated parking area outside the venue and entered the festival grounds with Little Sheep Jiang Lai.
Jiang Lai's gaze instinctively swept around, observing the terrain and building distribution on site. This was a habit he had developed from the Detective Conan world.
When arriving at unfamiliar places, first confirm the terrain, secure evacuation routes, then conduct investigation and exploration.
After his gaze made a full circle and returned, a bright, flashy pink rabbit lantern suddenly appeared before him.
Gojo Satoru's lips curved up as he smiled: "Bought this temple fair rabbit lantern at the entrance. How is it? Isn't it cute?"
Without allowing refusal, he stuffed it into Jiang Lai's hands: "Come on, little Watanabe, carry your favorite rabbit lantern."
This rabbit lantern had a tender pink shell with bow and heart decorations, very dreamy and girly in style.
"......" Jiang Lai gave him a half-moon eye but ultimately accepted the pink rabbit lantern graciously, while fitting his current brown-haired boy identity said: "My favorite lantern is a little sheep lantern. Do they sell sheep lanterns here?"
"They don't sell them, but we don't need to buy any." Gojo Satoru replied cheerfully. "Because we already have one."
Jiang Lai was slightly puzzled but sensed the other hadn't finished speaking, so he looked at the white-haired man.
Gojo Satoru extended his hand toward Jiang Lai in an inviting gesture, grinning: "Come on, give me your hand, wouldn't that be like me leading a little sheep lantern?"
Jiang Lai: "......"
"Just kidding." Gojo Satoru leisurely withdrew his hand, producing a candy from somewhere, easily unwrapping and tossing it into his mouth. "Let's go inside and look around. By the way, if you don't like that lantern, just throw it away~"
This way of speaking made it impossible for Jiang Lai to dispose of the mismatched pink rabbit lantern in his hands.
Though he knew the person in front of him was probably intentionally using retreat-to-advance tactics, he still pursed his lips and continued forward carrying the tender pink girly rabbit lantern.
But Jiang Lai didn't just let it go completely either. Walking behind, he kept peeling small stickers off the rabbit lantern's sides and sticking them one by one on Gojo Satoru's back.
Such actions weren't aggressive, and since Jiang Lai was an acquaintance, they naturally wouldn't be blocked by Limitless.
With Six Eyes providing 360-degree vision with no blind spots, Gojo Satoru could naturally detect Little Sheep Jiang Lai's actions, but he didn't stop him. Instead, he walked forward nonchalantly as if nothing was happening.
Jiang Lai's teenage form had smaller steps. Facing Gojo Satoru's long legs, he had to take two or three small running steps to keep up.
Fortunately, Gojo Satoru later seemed to notice this and slowed his pace.
The two turned around the corner ahead, moving from the fireworks festival's main street to a side street.
The foot traffic here wasn't as heavy as the main street, relatively quieter.
Jiang Lai instinctively understood that Gojo Satoru was leading the way rather than wandering aimlessly. After releasing cursed energy to survey the surroundings and confirming safety (no Supervisory Committee surveillance markers), he quietly asked:
"Should we start investigating now? Perhaps we could first learn more about the 'ice and snow curse' legend from locals."
"Of course." Gojo Satoru replied. "But this intelligence gathering can be completely left to Suguru~"
Right. Jiang Lai remembered. They had agreed to meet up at this fireworks festival.
It seemed Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru had already been in contact. Now taking this side street, if it wasn't to investigate the scene or gather intelligence, it must be to rendezvous with Suguru.
Gojo Satoru's next sentence confirmed this: "Suguru came by riding his cursed spirits. There aren't so many traffic rules in the air, so he arrived earlier than us and is already at this festival."
Jiang Lai raised his eyes to look at the small stalls on both sides of the road ahead, trying to find Geto Suguru's figure among the surrounding tourists.
The foot traffic here wasn't heavy, and there weren't many stalls either. Most sold masks, wood carvings, and other less popular but durable items.
As Gojo Satoru led Little Sheep Jiang Lai forward, he bought several small toys with interest while passing these stalls, played with them briefly in his hands, then tossed them to the brown-haired boy beside him.
As things accumulated more and more in his hands, Jiang Lai finally couldn't help but remind the other, complaining: "Stop buying, I can't carry anymore if you keep buying. Who exactly is the kid here, you or me?"
"Hey hey, can't adults be childish sometimes?" Gojo Satoru wagged his finger, drawing out his tone. "That's age discrimination..."
"......Then you carry them yourself."
"Okay okay, I'll listen to you." Gojo Satoru laughed, reaching out to take the pile of items Jiang Lai was holding, casually saying: "Actually I didn't mean to buy so much, it's just seeing your current kid appearance, I can't help wanting to tease you."
"What kind of weird hobby is bullying kids? Is this why you always prank students?"
"Just kidding, how could I like bullying kids? From one-year-old babies to thousand-year-old elders, I like pranking them all." Gojo Satoru said slowly. "Equally mischievous toward every age group."
"Such honesty."
Gojo Satoru laughed. They walked quietly forward for a distance before he spoke again: "Or maybe it's because I always saw you with that breezy, untroubled attitude before, not fun at all."
"Now that you've gotten smaller, I can see so many rich emotions on your face. It's somewhat fresh and interesting."
Jiang Lai half-turned his face, raising his brow: "I always had a breezy, untroubled look before? I was clearly natural and relaxed in front of you all."
"That may be so, but I always felt your adult form carried much more burden on your shoulders than your current appearance."
Gojo Satoru nodded in reply. His black blindfold concealed his beautiful azure eyes, but that gaze seemed able to penetrate the fabric and look directly at him.
"Really?" Jiang Lai tilted his head slightly. He hadn't noticed this point.
"Really." Gojo Satoru replied lightly but certainly.
"Probably because my true form represents facing more dangers." After thinking, Jiang Lai said. "When I'm in teenage form, I'm mostly together with you all, living mostly ordinary days, so there isn't as much pressure."
"No matter what form, there's no need to be tense. The strongest has always been on your side."
Gojo Satoru pulled something from the pile of purchased items and handed it to the brown-haired boy beside him: "Come on, since you're a kid, experience a kid's happiness."
The white-haired man handed over a sparkler, what traditional language called a fairy wand.
When this type of handheld firework burns, it bursts with dazzling bright stars.
At the fireworks festival long ago, Jiang Lai had lit one high for teenage Satoru, telling him the world was vast and he'd have companionship.
Now, Gojo Satoru returned a fairy wand to Jiang Lai, telling him that no matter when, friends would walk alongside.
Facing the fairy wand the white-haired man handed over, Jiang Lai's figure paused slightly. He took that sparkler, eyelids lowering, not responding for a while.
"What's wrong, not going to play with it?" Gojo Satoru tilted his head, grinning, but his words were slow: "Too moved to speak?"
Jiang Lai opened his mouth, then said quietly: "You... didn't give me a lighter."
"......Huh?!"
"But thinking about it, I probably don't need a lighter." Jiang Lai couldn't help but smile broadly, pulling a matchbox from his pocket.
This was given free by reception staff at the fireworks festival entrance, because there were many free small fireworks available at the venue.
Through Jiang Lai's joke, Gojo Satoru leaned back tactically: "I say, the atmosphere from just now is completely gone!"
"Isn't the current fun atmosphere just right?" Jiang Lai said leisurely. "Though we reminisce about the past, we live in the present."
He struck the match and lit the fairy wand in his hand. The sparkler burned with hissing sounds, bursting out small shining stars. Those bright lights reflected in Little Sheep Jiang Lai's dark pupils.
At this moment, they walked to the end of this side street. There stood the last stall, with a small tent set up like a fortune-telling booth.
Actually, this seemed to be a fortune-telling stall. The stall owner was someone wearing a black robe with golden patterns embroidered on the edges. Half his face was covered by a hood, only revealing upturned lips.
He looked mysterious while... seeming somewhat familiar.
Jiang Lai's burning fairy wand illuminated the crystal ball and books on the table, plus a black liquid fox lying nearby, blinking its big eyes.
Jiang Lai: "?" Why is it you again?
The liquid fox obediently curled up beside the stall, forming a pool of inky water.
It sneakily glanced at brown-haired boy-form Jiang Lai, its instinct for recognizing people battling with this unfamiliar appearance.
The liquid fox hesitated for a second, looked again, hesitated another second, then finally opened its mouth tentatively, silently mouthing "hungry."
Jiang Lai was silent for a moment, then tossed over the spent fairy wand while slightly releasing some of his true aura. The liquid fox was very sensitive to [Existence] and should be able to sense the trace.
After the little fox gobbled it up in one bite, it happily did little stamping steps in place, looking like it had confirmed something.
Jiang Lai shifted his gaze from the liquid fox to this fortune-telling stall's owner.
Since the Nightmare Fox was here, that meant Geto Suguru was also here. Could it be the person in front of him...
As his thoughts flowed, the stall owner ahead also looked up. Under the hood was a bun-haired young man with a smiling mask expression.
It was Geto Suguru!
Jiang Lai leaned back tactically, then realized.
So when Gojo Satoru said the other had arrived at the venue early, he meant he had already set up a stall here??
But setting up a mysterious fortune-telling stall, Suguru was probably professionally qualified for this. After all, he was someone with cult leader potential, very skilled at creating mystique and persuasion techniques.
Jiang Lai was silent for a moment.
Maybe he really had gotten some information about the 'ice and snow curse' from nearby tourists.