[Gintama] Mr. Songyang that day

They spent the whole winter on the cold and windy journey.

Almost all the money was spent on the daily expenses in the fall, and some of the rest turned into a silver birthday gift-a bag of strawberry fudge.

Yinshi has no interest in celebrating birthdays, but Songyang insists on having a sense of ceremony. She asks Yinshi to close her eyes and make a wish in front of the steamed bun with a branch stuck in it.

"In the future... I will definitely give Yinshi a good birthday." She said so.

Yin Shi, who secretly opened her eyes, didn't know why she also closed them, with a disappointed expression on her face, as if she herself had a deep understanding of this regret.

He could only wish dryly on the steamed bun.

"Well, I hope Ah Yin can—"

"Shh, it won't work if you say it."

"……Oh."

then-

The silver-haired child who already looked like a teenager clasped his hands together and made a wish with a careless expression.

God, if you really exist, first go and fulfill the wish of the guy next to Ah Yin.As for Ah Yin himself, it seems that he has no wish that must be fulfilled.

——When they were still a half way away from Changzhou Fan, the two of them went back to the first days when they were penniless and wandering around.

After the birthday, the silver hour grows taller.

This year's winter is colder than usual.

The old cow who accompanied them all the way on the road asked Songyang to sell it to a nearby village at Yinshi's suggestion before winter came, in exchange for winter clothes and a little miscellaneous grains that could barely feed their hunger.

Yinshi seldom sees Songyang sleeping.Often when he opened his eyes, Songyang would be sitting next to him, wild fruits she had collected were scattered on the cart, and sometimes there would be prepared hares.

Compared with the amount of food she could eat ten bowls of noodles in one meal in Sagami at that time, her food intake has shrunk significantly now, and Yin Shi hardly saw her eat anything again.

She pushed most of the food to Yinshi, and she said that she had eaten it when Yinshi fell asleep. Yinshi didn't believe it, so she smiled and comforted Yinshi.

"A truly strong man can be powerful without food!"

"How can there be such a thing!"

"It's true."

Songyang raised a finger and explained solemnly.

"I'm that one, a celestial being from a special cultivating planet, who only needs to eat a big meal to replenish his strength when fighting, and usually only needs to absorb the aura of the sun and the moon."

"...You don't want to coax Ah Yin because of his young age, do you?"

Yinshi narrowed his eyes, trying to find clues from Songyang's impeccable smile.

"Sarah, who knows~"

"You really are fooling Ah Yin!"

"Okay, relax."

Smiling, Songyang tore off a piece of meat from the roasted rabbit and stuffed it into Yinshi's pouted mouth.

"I don't look like I'm starving, do I?"

"That's what I said..."

It's not that Yinshi didn't fail to notice the contradictory and abnormalities in Songyang compared with ordinary people.But he was young at that time, although he was precocious due to the living environment in the past, but in the face of Songyang who always smiles and seems to be able to tolerate everything, there will be moments of negligence when he is fooled by her smiling face .

"In short, don't worry about Ah Yin, Ah Yin has hands and feet, why do you always let you feed them?"

"Hmm, because Yinshi looks cute when being fed?"

"What kind of ridiculous statement is that!"

When spring came, they dragged the dilapidated cart to Hagi City.

Compared with Edo Castle and its surrounding areas, which were gradually opening up for commerce with nature and people, the Changzhou Domain near the Inland Sea was so simple that Gintoki couldn't help but sigh. "We are still on Earth."

Songyang insisted on finding a yard with pine trees, so they spent a day wandering around Hagi City, and then found a place Songyang was satisfied with in Songben Village in the eastern suburbs.

"This amount of money is not enough to buy my yard here."

The owner of the vacant yard is the proprietress of Shijiuwenwenwu, Mrs. Shan, who counted the odds and ends of money that Yinshi exchanged for old winter clothes several times, and returned them to Songyang.

"Although this yard is not worth much except for the useless torii gate, there is an abandoned dojo left by my husband at the foot of the mountain. I can't just sell it to a woman like you and a troublesome brat. "

"Stinky old woman, what are you talking about!"

Yin Shi, who was called a little ghost, was about to argue with the proprietress by jumping on his feet, and the noisy atmosphere of the old and the young made the atmosphere lively.

Songyang looked a little troubled.She had been troubled by this question for a long time, and at this moment, she couldn't help but ask this question after hearing the same thing from the mild-mannered proprietress.

"That... Actually, I've been thinking about it for a long time..."

"Ah? What do you want to say?"

The proprietress was pressing Yinshi's head down with a slap, but she raised her head when she heard this, her attitude towards Songyang was much more friendly than that towards Yinshi.

"If you want to find a place to stay, I can take you to the tavern where you are staying."

"I want to ask... is it really that obvious?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Obviously she has been wearing plain haori, her hair is not tied up, and her voice is deliberately lowered, but the real gender can still be seen at a glance—" The tone sounded a bit aggrieved.

"It's so disturbing—"

"——What Songyang, did you always plan to disguise yourself as a man?"

"..."

The corners of Granny Shan's mouth twitched, seeing Songyang's innocent face, she couldn't help but touch her forehead.

"Which man have you seen—ah, chest, this, this," Granny Shan said, gesticulating on her chest frantically.

"This, this thing!!"

Yin Shi whizzed and complained on the side. "Smelly old women don't have such things."

Granny Shan had blue veins on her forehead.

"Smelly brat, eat up the title of stinky old woman!!"

——Grandma Shan's son, Mei Tailang, was conscripted into the army last year and went to the battlefield. The day of his return is far away, and Granny Shan is the only one to take care of the Nineteen Character House.

It is not uncommon for women to wander around with their children and look for support everywhere in the troubled world, but the pair she met seemed much weirder at first glance.The two people's names are not related, and they don't seem to be related by blood, but anyone can see the feeling of being dependent on each other.

Granny Shan considers herself an enthusiastic person, but during the war, everyone is in danger. She doesn't want to bring back people who don't know their origins and cause trouble. Sent away, but after the oolong just now, she became a little worried.

A silly girl, a brat with a nasty mouth, is it really okay for the two of them to run around outside?

"At least you have to hide your breasts, so as to deceive some people's eyes. You are really a reckless girl."

In the inner room, Grandma Shan handed Songyang the cloth belt wrapping her chest, and taught her to wrap it tightly around her body.Song Yang didn't have any concept of avoiding suspicion, he took off the cloth belt and took off his underwear, which surprised Granny Shan.

"I told you..."

Grandma Shan waited for her to clean up before turning around, her tone a little helpless.

"You must not be the eldest lady who came out of a samurai family, right? Don't be angry with your family members. The outside world is not as beautiful as you imagined. Even if you know a little martial arts, it doesn't mean that you will be able to escape safely. Run around."

"Huh?" Songyang was stunned and asked curiously.

"How did Miss Shan see that I know martial arts?"

"My husband used to be a gym master. I have also seen some people who practice martial arts, and I can tell the difference. Most people's center of gravity is on the heels, and your center of gravity is on the toes, so there is almost no sound when walking."

Grandma Shan shrugged and said.

"The knife in the hands of the little ghost named Yinshi was given to him, right? Did you pick it up from a vagrant? That aura is not bad. Having said that, you don't have the aura of a child from a poor family, after all. Why do you have to run around mindlessly outside?"

"Because I made an agreement with someone."

Song Yang smiled.The bitterness that surged up in her heart at this moment did not show on her face at all.

"We want to open a private school in a place with pine trees, teach children to read, and maybe practice martial arts, so we have to realize this."

"..."

Grandma Shan was silent for a while, then sighed.

"Before the private school is built, give me a part-time job. The yard can be rented to you, the dojo can also be used, and you can bring the kid to eat when you are hungry, but I have agreed in advance that I will not give you too much wages."

Songyang blinked, not understanding the sudden change of attitude of the other party, but still thanked her softly.

"Thank you very much for bothering me, you are a good person."

For her, the kindness of human beings is always a precious memory worth cherishing, which allows her to stand here today, not to be swayed by the dark emotions and hatred for thousands of years.

Even if it's just for a moment.

She also wanted to prove to her heart that this world was not that bad, and there must be a home that would make monsters feel at ease.

——For the fact that he can have the right to use the entire dojo, Gintoki's excitement is no less than that of Songyang.

After patiently spending several days with Songyang to clean the yard inside and out, he finally couldn't hold back his yelling.

"Hey! Songyang! Do you still remember what you promised me!"

Songyang was carving characters on a wooden board, she was carving very carefully and seriously, she didn't stop when she heard Yinshi's question, she just nodded slightly to show that she was listening.

"Let's fight, hurry up and have a formal adult duel with Ah Yin in the dojo!"

"Want to practice fighting?"

Granny Shan was attracted by Yinshi's loud voice, and was a little curious when she heard it.

"I have a wooden knife left over here, just for you to use."

"Ayin doesn't want wooden knives, live ammunition is a man's duel!"

"Sorry, I'm not a man."

Songyang put down the wooden plaque after carving the words, not giving Yinshi a chance to peek.

"Silver isn't old enough to be a man yet."

"What kind of man is a kid whose height doesn't even reach my shoulders?"

Granny Shan came over with a wooden knife and handed one to Songyang, and the other to Yinshi.

"Take it, I want to see what you two can do."

"Smelly old women are not allowed to look!"

"Hey, let me say stinky brat, I stinky old woman, but I'm also a stinky brat with no hair on my face."

"Who said that! Ah Yin's hair from top to bottom has turned into a small forest—"

"Stop talking dirty in front of women, bastard!"

Sugataki couldn't bear it anymore and knocked Gintoki's head to educate him. "I'll forget it. It's too rude to say such things in front of unmarried girls. You little brat, since you want to aim at samurai seriously, you have to look like a samurai."

"..." Yinshi covered the bag on his forehead and glanced at Songyang quietly, seeing that her expression was normal, but somehow he was a little uncomfortable.

He has always been outspoken, and never thought of restraining himself in front of Songyang, but today, when Granny Shan pointed this out mercilessly, he felt embarrassed and unconvinced for a while.

"Ah Yin don't want to be a warrior, I'm so annoying, don't meddle in your own business, old lady."

"If you don't want to be a samurai, don't talk about men's duels. You kid will lose your temper and say angry words."

Yinshi was speechless after being read, pouted his mouth and was so angry that he wanted to run away, but Songyang grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up, and easily threw him on his shoulder.

"Okay, it's time for Yinshi to experience the education from the teacher."

For a moment, a cold feeling that my life is over came over Yinshi's back.

The author has something to say: I’m finally home~ Some things that are missing are irreparable... Hey, I don’t know what I want to sigh