I, in a Jujutsu Kaisen Manga, Take the Detective Conan World by Storm

Jiang Lai had thought before that at the right opportunity, he would use the fingers at hand and their common enemy Brain-kun to make a deal with Ryomen Sukuna and form a united front with that guy.

And now, it was time to have a chat with Sukuna.

Jiang Lai planned to reach a relatively reasonable binding agreement with Ryomen Sukuna through negotiation for temporary cooperation.

Then, their side could secretly give Sukuna the fingers to let him complete his power. Then, under the pretense of execution, they would actually use separation cursed tools to split Sukuna and Itadori Yuji apart.

Whether power was complete or not, whether Sukuna and Itadori were separated or not, these things couldn't be seen by outsiders.

After this, Gojo Satoru could hide Itadori Yuji in the basement of his private residence again.

This would create the illusion that Ryomen Sukuna had taken over Itadori Yuji's body, which would fit Brain-kun's original conception of the [Correct and Reverse] Tower situation.

Incidentally, even if Ryomen Sukuna and Itadori Yuji were separated, it didn't mean Itadori Yuji would become an ordinary person.

Gojo Satoru had mentioned this point before. As a vessel, Itadori Yuji's body would gradually imprint memories of Sukuna's techniques over time. Plus, Itadori Yuji himself was [Benevolent Death], able to perfectly accept the other half's cursed energy.

In other words, the separated Itadori Yuji would still have cursed energy, and might even master Sukuna's techniques, performing cursed blade slashes and even expanding domains.

Jiang Lai presented these ideas to Gojo Satoru in detail, his words concise and logic clear.

"Oh, sounds good. I think it's feasible." Gojo Satoru held a positive attitude toward this. He rested one hand on his chin. "It just so happens that I recently had a conflict with the higher-ups, so not executing immediately is very normal. We have plenty of time to negotiate with Sukuna."

Gojo Satoru had never intended to execute Itadori Yuji, but while he could disobey the higher-ups' orders, he couldn't refuse a student's request.

Because of this, the higher-ups who knew this had approached Itadori Yuji first, planning to make Itadori Yuji himself request the death penalty.

Now, they could use this point to fabricate the subsequent plot.

During negotiations with Sukuna, Gojo Satoru could pretend to be having heart-to-heart talks with Itadori Yuji, thus delaying progress.

And once they finished negotiating with Sukuna, they would progress to the plot of "under Itadori Yuji's persistence, Gojo Satoru finally relented and agreed to fulfill his student's wish by executing him."

"This time the performance, the audience will be the higher-ups and Supervisory Committee." Jiang Lai organized his thoughts, then asked, "What about the others... should we tell them the truth, or keep it secret for now?"

"The [Separation] cursed tool is currently with Megumi, right?" Gojo Satoru thought. "Then those two should be able to guess, we can't hide it from them. Besides, I've deceived them once before, so even if we hide it, they probably won't believe it anyway."

"They've grown very quickly. At this point, I think we can trust the students." When Jiang Lai wore his Little Sheep disguise, he had always been in close contact with the first-year trio.

He could see that since the first-year trio had guessed about the enemy behind the scenes and recovered their memories from a thousand years ago, they had been growing at rapid speed. They weren't just growing in jujutsu level, but also in psychological maturity.

Jiang Lai believed that even if they knew the truth, they could cooperate in the performance and bury the truth.

"Sure~" Gojo Satoru's tone was cheerful, then he added, "But I think we don't need to notify them right away. Just in case, let's wait until we finish negotiating with that Sukuna guy."

"Naturally." Jiang Lai nodded. "Even telling them when we're getting the cursed tools on the day of 'execution' wouldn't be too late."

"Oh~ I wonder if we'll get to see the students crying their eyes out. Thinking about it, it seems quite interesting. I'll definitely have to film it with my phone then. After we finish the decisive battle, I'll print them out one by one and post them around the school~"

"...Hey, Satoru, rein in your bad taste." Jiang Lai held his forehead with one hand, reminding him. "Besides, don't you think happily taking photos with your phone on the day of a student's execution would be very unreasonable? It's supposed to be a life-and-death separation script, at least act a bit somber."

"No no no, actually, looking at my personality, if there really was an execution day, I think I'd still be like usual on the surface."

Gojo Satoru's gaze grew distant, his voice seeming to float from a canyon.

"I'd joke around and chat with the students as usual. Of course they'd all glare at me with red eyes, but I'd know the sadness and anger in their eyes wasn't directed at me. The sadness would be for Itadori, the anger for the higher-ups and Sukuna."

"Then in the talisman room, I'd tease the tied-up Yuji a few times, casually chatting about interesting things that happened since we met."

"That kid Yuji is great. No matter what I say, he'd play along and respond. He might even laugh along. The execution room would be filled with a cheerful atmosphere."

"Of course, in the end, I think we'd both fall silent."

"After the silence, I'd ask Yuji his thoughts one more time. If Yuji regretted it and didn't want to die anymore, as the best teacher, I'd immediately break the restraints on the spot and take him out of the talisman room in style, not caring how those rotten oranges would jump around~"

"But... I know that with Yuji's personality, he'd only choose to face death calmly. What he'd say at the end would definitely be something like 'thank you, sensei.'"

"And that would be the ending."

Gojo Satoru spoke this string of words in his usual tone, his eyelashes slightly lowered, no extra emotion showing on his face.

The air grew quiet. Outside the window, fog had risen at some point, blurring the bright moonlight and misting the bamboo leaf branches by the window.

"..." Jiang Lai was quiet for a moment, then raised his hand, lightly resting it on Gojo Satoru's arm. "None of this will really happen. They only belong to script performance."

Jiang Lai's voice was very steady, his expression serious.

"I know." Gojo Satoru's beautiful blue eyes lifted slightly. He curved his lips, drawing out his tone. "We've done so much. If we still had to go toward that kind of ending, I wouldn't stand for it."

Jiang Lai also smiled: "Mm. The ending that belongs to us will definitely be everyone happily gathered around a high-end restaurant table, determined to empty your wallet."

"Hmph, if you can empty it, go ahead and try. What I lack least is, first, strength, and second, money. I can spend lavishly without running out..."

"...Although it's true, hearing it somehow makes me angry."

"Can't help it, who told me to be the invincible and perfect spicy teacher~~"

The atmosphere in the room returned to normal. Jiang Lai and Gojo Satoru came to an agreement, finally confirming the list of those truly in the know for this fake death script.

Geto Suguru and Ieiri Shoko went without saying. They had always been privy to all intelligence. Having experienced the second playthrough restart together and possessing complete memories, they were always insiders.

Then there was special-grade cursed spirit Choso.

To avoid this brother-complex making any out-of-line moves, Jiang Lai decided to let him know too.

Choso was Itadori Yuji's "older brother." If he knew the truth in advance, he could secretly protect Yuji afterward. Incidentally, Choso was a very reliable big brother who could cooperate in perfect performance after knowing the truth.

Next were Fushiguro Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara.

Actually, they didn't need to tell them directly either. They could probably glimpse the truth from the [Separation] cursed tool alone.

Finally, there was Okkotsu Yuta.

Okkotsu was half an insider. Although he hadn't experienced it personally, he knew a lot.

Informing Okkotsu Yuta about this fake death script in advance would allow him to help control the surroundings, preventing higher-ups or other supervisors sent by the Supervisory Committee from detecting the truth.

Having decided on the list of those in the know for this plan, Gojo Satoru turned his face halfway toward Jiang Lai: "For this negotiation with Sukuna, how do you plan to proceed?"

"The safest method, dream connection." Jiang Lai nodded. "Just like how we contact Amanai Riko's side, I can also connect to Itadori Yuji's mental world, or rather, Ryomen Sukuna's innate domain."

"Do you need me to come along?" Gojo Satoru raised an eyebrow. "Or are you planning to continue performing your amnesia script?"

"Our script is mainly performed for the Supervisory Committee to make them lower their guard. With Sukuna's side, there's no need now." Jiang Lai's tone was light. "Having deceived him for so long, now that it's time for proper negotiation, I won't pretend to have amnesia anymore."

For some reason, Jiang Lai's mind kept floating with Ryomen Sukuna's expression memes.

(Sukuna pointing with his index finger: Coming to deceive again, pretending to have amnesia again, is there no end to this!).jpg

Jiang Lai: Done playing around, not pretending anymore. Brat little brother, your big brother is back...

"Then I'll go with you." Gojo Satoru cheerfully decided. "The two of us can gang up on him alone, very suitable. I hold grudges, I remember grudges from a thousand years ago too."

"How can this be called ganging up? We're approaching with full sincerity to negotiate with him." Jiang Lai said seriously. "After all, you have one finger and I have one, so logically two people should come to negotiate together."

Gojo Satoru gave a thumbs up, paused, then said: "What about Yuji's side? Are you planning to acknowledge him?"

He said, "Yuji has written many, many letters for you. I guess he really misses you."

Mentioning Itadori Yuji, Jiang Lai fell silent again.

He exhaled lightly, his gaze falling distantly on the candle flame: "...I've always remembered too."

Itadori Yuji was a good little brother. He could always touch hearts in gentle ways.

"The previous situation wasn't convenient for acknowledgment. But now, since we're starting negotiations with Sukuna, I think I can also meet Yuji honestly." Jiang Lai smiled.

Then he analyzed: "Sukuna, with his attitude of watching for entertainment, will probably maliciously pull Yuji into the innate domain then, wanting to see how I explain this deception and concealment."

"...But I think at that time, I won't say much."

Jiang Lai slowed his tone, his brown eyes warm and bright, containing wind-like anticipation and gentleness.

"I'll give Yuji a hug and tell him, sorry. And, thank you for your hard work all this time, I've missed him too."