Chapter 50 2007-2017
Gojo Satoru also widened his blue eyes and uttered, “Huh?”
"...Although this sounds unbelievable, it really happened." Yega Zhengdao rubbed his temple with one hand, "That guy, Jay, didn't come back this time."
"According to the judgment of the magic world, Jay's behavior is defined as [defection], and from now on Jay's identity will become a wanted [spellcaster]."
“…Are you kidding me?!” Gojo Satoru clenched his fists. “Isn’t this too casual?! Just judging him like this—”
"I understand." Yega Zhengdao said solemnly, "The death of an entire village by cursed spirits is definitely not a trivial matter. Such cruel behavior is enough to define it as a crime."
Before Gojo Satoru could say the next sentence, Jiang Lai spoke first: "Jie Jun did leave the college. However, the incident in the village was not necessarily caused by him."
The calm words calmed the heated atmosphere a little.
He continued, "I was also present at the village incident. When Jiejun left, he no longer had the intention to massacre the entire village. Even if he had the intention to kill, he would not have spared only the culprits in the police station."
These words make sense. Yega Masamichi was silent for a moment, then continued, "However, according to the judgment of the person in charge of the magic world, the villagers were harmed by the cursed spirits, and the magic power of the outstanding person at the scene was damaged..."
"The mission to the village was carried out by Jie. He was exorcising the cursed spirits there at the time, so it is reasonable that some residual cursed spirits were left at the scene." Jiang Lai narrated slowly.
After a pause, he added lightly, "Or another way of thinking - it's possible that the person in charge of the magic world lied."
"As for the curse spirit operator, the only candidate we know of is Jie Jun," Jiang Lai said, "But the curse spirit that massacred the village might not have been controlled by a magician."
These two sentences brought peace to the scene again.
These speculations are based on analysis of facts and do not clearly point out any conspiracy behind them.
However, if these words are correct, then there is a horrifying truth behind them - why would the cursed spirits and some high-level people in the curse world work together to create such a deceptive result?
Yega Masamichi was speechless for a moment. After all, these things sounded too incredible. The cursed spirits and the humans in the world of curses should be in an irreconcilable hostile relationship. Logically, these behaviors did not make sense.
Gojo Satoru sighed heavily, raised his head and said, "No matter what the situation is! In short, Jay was wronged, right? Those rotten oranges or something else wanted to frame him?"
"..." Jiang Lai lowered his eyes slightly, then raised them again, "These are just some of my inferences. I don't know the specific facts."
——The remarks just made were based on Jiang Lai’s analysis of Geto’s state of mind at the time and information from the supervisory commission.
However, he could not be 100% sure of the real culprit of the village incident.
"Anyway, let's find Jay and have a good chat with him!" Gojo Satoru raised his eyebrows, looking carefree, "The truth will be out soon, right? Or I can go talk to those rotten oranges first."
"..." Yega Masamichi exhaled and shook his head, "No, Wu. The judgment of the magic world will not change because of personal emotions. This won't work."
"What do you mean by personal emotions? They are the ones who don't care about the truth!"
The white-haired boy squeezed the broken sunglasses in his hand until they were deformed even more severely. After he let go, the broken pieces fell to the ground with a crackling sound.
He raised his chin and glanced at the people beside him with his blue eyes: "Let's go, Lai. Go and drag those guys back."
Jiang Lai paused and asked: "Do you know where he is?"
"I don't know." Gojo Satoru replied without hesitation, his tone still arrogant, "But it doesn't matter, I have good eyesight, I can tell if Jie is here just by scanning the crowd."
As he walked out, he said, "Mr. Night Moth, go tell those rotten oranges to wait until I get Jera back, and then we can define what exactly happened."
Ye Mo Zheng Dao turned around and looked at Gojo Satoru who was about to leave: "Wait a minute. The decision of the higher-ups is not something that can be shaken by anyone—"
The white-haired boy stopped walking, half turned his head, and the sunlight shining in from the corridor door fell on his pure white eyelashes. His splendid eyes seemed a little cold:
"——I'll tell the rotten oranges clearly that you shouldn't casually label others as "curse caster". Otherwise, I'll slam my head on the table. Don't mess with me if you don't mind living a long life."
Ye Mo Zhengdao frowned. He knew that these things had brought a huge shock to his students. Not everyone could immediately accept the fact that their good friend suddenly defected and left.
Gojo Satoru doesn't have many friends. It can be said that Geto Suguru is the best friend of his youth who has the greatest influence on Gojo Satoru and has the best relationship with him.
Gojo Satoru was obviously in a state of confusion and anger at the moment, so Yega Zhengdao did not give him much advice, but just sighed:
“…Go ahead. When you come back, don’t act so willfully, Satoru.”
Gojo Satoru put his hands in his pockets, pretending not to hear anything. Or perhaps he was just too focused on verifying something and therefore ignored the other sounds around him.
He took a few steps forward with his long legs, then stopped and turned back to ask, "You're not coming with me, Lai?"
"..." Jiang Lai still stood there without moving.
It's not that he was unwilling to go with Gojo Satoru to find Geto and find out the truth. It's just that just now, he glanced at his phone out of habit.
——The clear countdown above showed that he would not stay here for long. After ten minutes, he would leave again.
Leaving the scene abruptly would obviously cause more troublesome misunderstandings, so Jiang Lai did not respond to Gojo Satoru.
But at this moment, he didn't know what excuse to use to refuse.
For a moment, there was only silence.
"..." The white-haired boy straightened his lips with perfect shape, and said in a stiff tone, "It's up to you."
He withdrew his gaze, and walked away with big strides, his back showing a bit of temper.
Yega Zhengdao looked at Gojo Satoru's quickly disappearing back and sighed again.
Jiang Lai held the book in his hand, paused, and then handed the small bag of black sesame cookies in his hand to the person beside him: "Principal, this is what Jie left for Wu and Xiaozi. Please help deliver it later."
Ye Mo Zheng Dao was stunned for two seconds before he reached out to take it: "Okay."
He nodded and looked at Jiang Lai again.
As a mature person who has experienced many things and has been in the world of magic for many years, Yega Zhengdao can feel the difference in Jiang Lai during these encounters.
——After all, no one can enter and exit the barrier of the high school so casually, possessing power while remaining nameless in the world of magic, maintaining a mysterious and unknown elegance.
However, he didn't ask any more questions in the end. He just nodded in frustration and said, "Thank you for taking care of them all the time."
Jiang Lai blinked when he heard this, and smiled: "It's nothing, I also like these kids - youth is always beautiful and precious."
After the brief conversation, the two fell silent again.
Jiang Lai estimated the time in his mind. When it was almost time to leave, he stepped out and spoke slowly, "Anyway, let's leave it at that for now. I'm going to be away for a while."
"Do you need me to give Wu a message for you?" Yega Zhengdao asked.
Leave a message? What should I leave? Jiang Lai's mind was full of thoughts, and countless words gathered in his heart and throat.
But in the end, he just smiled gently and said, "Then tell him - 'See you next time'."
No matter how many reminders you give, it is not as impressive as the other person's personal experience. Jiang Lai did not want to cause too much disturbance and distract Gojo Satoru.
So he thought about it, swallowed all those words, and simply left behind such a simple sentence.
Simple but sincere.
Jiang Lai waved his hand for the last time, bidding farewell to Ye Mo Zheng Dao. His dark blue sleeves fluttered in the air, and he blended in and disappeared in the light.
——The time has come.
——
Jiang Lai opened his eyes and saw a wall in front of him.
The red brick walls were mottled with the marks of time, and the ground was littered with debris. In Japan, such dirty alleys were not common.
The mess on the ground was covered with shoe prints, as if left behind after a chaotic evacuation of the crowd.
He turned his head and looked outside the alley. The street outside this alley was relatively quiet, and the road surface was broken and shattered, as if it had just experienced a fierce fight.
In the distance, the sound of fighting continued. The winter wind blew and shook the dry treetops.
It is winter now, there is a lot of magical power fluctuations in the air, the scene has been evacuated, and there are sounds of fighting in the distance.
Connecting these clues together, Jiang Lai immediately made a judgment in his mind - the current timeline is most likely the One Hundred Demons Night Parade incident in 2017.
Ten years have passed from 2007 to 2017. Every time he changes time and space, he usually has a period of self-adjustment. This is no exception.
Jiang Lai now has many questions in his mind:
What is the truth behind the village incident? Did Gojo Satoru find Geto and Kagome? What did they say after he found them?
How did Satoru feel about his departure? Did Nanako and Mimiko end up attending high school with Maki and Mayi?
In addition, he also wants to know more information about the regulatory commission. The prophecy of that year, what those people are looking for, and the follow-up of Yukawa Kurita, these mysteries have not yet been revealed.
I hope the comics can depict these well.
Jiang Lai listened to the movements around him, flipped his fingers, and set up a simple spell code trap around him as a warning to guard against sudden attacks.
He was in no hurry to go out and investigate. Being too impatient was not a good idea. It was better to fully grasp all the information currently known so that he could be prepared when he met the relevant people later.
The cold winter wind blew up the hem of Jiang Lai's navy blue clothes. Normally, it should feel cold to wear this. But Jiang Lai didn't feel anything special.
As an [existence], he is one with nature and does not need to adjust his clothes specially. He breathes with the four seasons.
Jiang Lai skillfully opened his mobile phone and clicked on the official website of the new series of Jujutsu Kaisen.
He lowered his warm brown eyes and looked straight ahead, intending to learn about the situation of people and things in the past ten years from the few chapters of comics updated on the official website.