Chapter 244 : Detective Conan Friends, Return!
After Jiang Lai was slightly stunned, he raised his hand and lightly touched Silver Snake little Akira's lips with his fingertip, saying: "My hesitation isn't worry that you'll hurt me, but concern that you won't adapt... After all, this is a technique with unknown results."
"With you here, there's nothing to fear." Kurosawa Akira lightly blinked his gray-green eyes, his voice low and slow but firm, "You've been a lighthouse throughout my childhood and my adulthood."
A lighthouse illuminating the unknown path ahead in his vast life.
So Kurosawa Akira never feared the unknown, because he had his lighthouse.
The silver-haired young man was an inscrutable, indifferent person in most situations, rarely revealing emotions so directly.
But facing the person who had watched him grow up and taught him companionship, Kurosawa Akira openly displayed dependence and trust.
"..." Jiang Lai paused slightly, then smiled. He didn't say much more. Those brightly shining eyes had already revealed the sincerity in his heart.
Mutual trust needed no words.
Jiang Lai withdrew his hand. His gaze fell ahead, his voice steady with the ending slightly rising: "Then let us begin the evolution experiment."
Now they had already walked out of the basement and come to the relatively open ground. This area was close to the suburbs, sparsely populated, so no one would come to disturb them.
Cursed energy floated in Jiang Lai's palm, and the phone screen in his grip jumped to the operation page of the technique [Electronic Spirits].
Above, Silver Snake little Akira's image was right in the center, with the evolution button beside it flashing with ready golden light.
"Shall we begin?" Jiang Lai asked.
"Of course. I'm already prepared." Kurosawa Akira answered.
Jiang Lai steadied his emotions. He no longer hesitated and pressed the evolution button beside!
The cursed energy around him suddenly surged and fluctuated, and visible cursed energy code appeared in the surrounding space.
Silver Snake little Akira, who had originally been at his shoulder, had already slithered down and coiled on the open ground ahead, now floating in mid-air.
Just like all evolution scenes in anime, dazzling golden light burst forth before his eyes.
Jiang Lai stepped back two paces, leaving a space. At this moment, with his youthful appearance, his brown ponytail was lifted by the wind. The stirring dust forced him to raise his hand halfway to shield his face, squinting as he watched ahead.
The expanding golden light accompanied cursed energy fluctuations, creating quite a spectacular display. Jiang Lai felt very grateful that he had chosen a relatively secluded location in advance, so it wouldn't attract too much attention.
After a moment, the light gradually converged, and the cursed energy fluctuating in the air gradually calmed down. Jiang Lai looked up with anticipation and curiosity…
Ahead, there was still the beautiful silver snake coiled as usual.
"?" Jiang Lai was confused for a moment and said somewhat hesitantly: "It feels... like there's no change at all?"
This evolution was the same as no evolution!
He looked down at his phone. The [Electronic Spirits] technique page displayed a very obvious evolution completion indicator.
But the silver snake ahead was still as usual, elegantly and dangerously coiled ahead.
"No." However, Kurosawa Akira ahead gave a negative answer, saying slowly: "There is change, it's just that I haven't changed."
"Hmm?" Jiang Lai paused slightly, then understood what the other meant, "After evolution, it's a dual form that can be freely switched?"
"Yes." The silver snake little Akira ahead nodded. He flicked his forked tongue, and those usually indifferent gray-green eyes now rarely overflowed with some laughter, "Big Brother Jiang Lai, turn around. I'll give you a surprise."
Jiang Lai blinked and cooperatively turned around. Before him was a natural landscape of forest grass and trees, behind him was familiar cursed energy fluctuation.
"Tell me when you're ready, and I'll turn back." Jiang Lai said.
Kurosawa Akira behind him made an "Mm" sound in response.
Jiang Lai had always been a patient person, but at this moment, his heart felt as if it were being tickled by feathers.
He was extremely curious about what the other side of the so-called post-evolution dual form was, making Kurosawa Akira determined to give him a surprise.
Time hadn't passed too long, but Jiang Lai felt each second was extremely lengthy.
Extra anxiety was useless, so he simply emptied his thoughts and gazed into the distance, taking in the mountain forests and blue sky before his eyes.
Spring had arrived, all things were budding with life. The wind of March and April was the gentlest, carrying the fragrance of buds, leaves, and flowers, brushing across people's faces.
Jiang Lai's thoughts gradually emptied, slowly merging with this natural scenery.
Then he keenly sensed someone approaching from behind, but since Kurosawa Akira hadn't said "ready," Jiang Lai didn't turn around.
The next moment, a pair of hands suddenly passed under the arms of Jiang Lai in his middle school student appearance, steadily lifting him up. At the same time, a voice that was indifferent but mixed with some pleasure sounded by his ear: "Ready, Big Brother Jiang Lai."
"?!" The lifted Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised. He quickly turned around and saw the silver-haired young man steadily holding him.
The upright young man had very steady arm strength, standing in place like a silent pillar. His smooth silver long hair was neatly tied back behind his head, with a few strands of hair falling forward, swaying slightly with his movements.
It was the appearance of the adult Kurosawa Akira from memory!
There was only one difference. The young man's face wasn't a normal human face, but more like an electronic screen with flowing patterns that converged into a smiley face icon.
A human body paired with an electronic screen face gave everything a strange futuristic magical feeling.
Jiang Lai was stunned for a moment, then broke into a smile: "Akira!"
Kurosawa Akira gently set Jiang Lai down, just as gently as Jiang Lai had treated him back then. A checkmark appeared on his electronic face screen, and his voice sounded: "It's a surprise."
"I originally thought the shikigami form was the peak, but I didn't expect we could meet in human form." Jiang Lai felt quite surprised. This gave him more of an atmosphere of fighting side by side, "Although the face is an electronic screen... I can understand that though."
"After all, my technique is electronic series, so the shikigami's evolution would also have electronic characteristics." Jiang Lai coughed, "Besides, the world's will won't let people on your side discover the truth of the manga world, so it will blur your facial features."
"That's reasonable." Kurosawa Akira nodded. Another traditional smiley face icon appeared on his electronic screen, and he extended his hand toward Jiang Lai to demonstrate, "In this form, I still have snake characteristics and can harden my scales to resist cursed energy attacks."
Along with his words, layers of silver scales appeared on Kurosawa Akira's smooth hand, the hard scales reflecting rippling light like impenetrable armor.
"The dual forms can be freely switched. I'll choose based on real situations." Kurosawa Akira stood beside Jiang Lai. He tilted his head slightly, an exclamation point appearing on his electronic screen, "I want to see Big Brother Jiang Lai's original appearance. May I?"
"Is little Akira missing me because it's been too long?" Jiang Lai joked. He had always met the Detective Conan friends while wearing a disguise.
"Mm." Kurosawa Akira nodded frankly, his voice somewhat light, "I miss you."
This direct ball made Jiang Lai pause, then he smiled and responded in an equally light voice: "I miss you all very much too. It's been a long time since we gathered together. I rather miss the daily life of discussing cooking, washing dishes, and household chores back then."
Kurosawa Akira's electronic screen showed undulating wave patterns, indicating his leaping mood. He said: "When Big Brother Jiang Lai returns, you don't need to worry about household chores. Matsuda lost a bet a few days ago and has to handle household duties for half a year."
"Hmm? What bet?"
"He bet that when I met Itadori Yuji, I would compete with him jealously and ask you who your favorite little brother is." Kurosawa Akira's voice was calm.
Here, he paused, "But I've matured. I wouldn't act like a child anymore."
Jiang Lai recalled the time in the basement.
Except for communicating with Choso in the kitchen, whenever Kurosawa Akira had free time, he would coil around his wrist, looking quite clingy like a little brother. He couldn't help but laugh a bit.
Kurosawa Akira noticed Jiang Lai's laughter. He repeated once more: "I didn't compete jealously, right, Big Brother Jiang Lai? I've long since matured."
"Right." Jiang Lai coughed and nodded in response, "You didn't." But he didn't affirm the latter part.
Indeed, there was no childish behavior of competing for his elder brother, just clinging sticky to express dependence.
After all, Kurosawa Akira hadn't experienced a normal childhood and adolescence. His abnormal growth experience hadn't completely shed that part of childishness beneath his proper exterior.
But Jiang Lai wasn't in a hurry to push him to grow up. He was still as before, slowly accompanying little Akira's growth, even if the other remained this way forever, it was fine. Having some hidden innocence was also very precious.
Little Akira's evolution effect was one example. Jiang Lai could roughly guess what Matsuda Jinpei and Morofushi Hiromitsu's evolved appearances would be like. He contacted them both, and after confirming they were available, summoned them to this area.
As Jiang Lai had guessed, Matsuda Jinpei and Morofushi Hiromitsu also both had human forms from the Detective Conan world, except their faces were electronic screens.
Matsuda Jinpei displayed a pair of cool sunglasses on his face screen, his tone rising: "Whoa, finally don't have to be on all fours anymore. Human coordination is still better."
He snapped his fingers, lightning churning at his fingertips, "This is much more useful than a handgun, right?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu's electronic screen face showed a smiling emoji. He waved his hand lightly, flowing wind coiling around his side like some kind of assistance: "Yes, this acceleration method is better than cars too."
After so long, they were finally reunited again.
After summoning all the Detective Conan friends and completing evolution, Jiang Lai switched back to his true form. His brows and eyes curved, feeling the atmosphere was extremely relaxed.
Little Sheep Watanabe Mirai was set as his subordinate in the Jujutsu world, so it made perfect sense for the Little Sheep as technical personnel to hide in the shadows while only releasing spirit shikigami to assist God Lai.
"So where are we going next?" Matsuda Jinpei leaned against Jiang Lai's side, very naturally raising his arm to rest on his shoulder, using a joking tone: "We'll follow your lead, BOSS."
"Is this how you treat a BOSS?" Jiang Lai joked back, raising his hand to brush off Matsuda Jinpei's arm, then opened the email on his phone.
"Wait a moment, let me look at the email Junpei sent to see if I can find intelligence about the barrier core, which can be understood as searching for the organization's base."
"Isn't this professionally matched? We've already handled this once." Matsuda Jinpei waved his hand, "Right?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu's electronic face showed a kaomoji smile, and Kurosawa Akira displayed a checkmark.
Jiang Lai's lips curved in a smile as he responded: "Yes, we're a professional team."