[Shaman King] He has a cat

She hadn't originally planned to go to Kyoto.

During the summer vacation after graduating from senior year, she finally made up her mind to go abroad to study for graduate school. Before her determination faded, she quickly bought a lot of information books and struck while the iron was hot.

She found a sunny afternoon and planned to start reciting words. Before her eyes could skip "abandon", the phone screen lit up.

"..."

Abandon, she will always stay in abandon, her fateful enemy in this life.

She resignedly put down the vocabulary book and slid open the phone screen.

Not seen for a while, her cousin is getting married and invited her to Japan for the wedding.

With a slight movement of her fingers, she was thinking about how to make up a decent reason to refuse the other party's invitation, but the other party seemed to have expected her to react like this, and quickly threw out the next sentence:

[I will cover all air tickets, board and lodging, as long as you arrive. 】

"..."

She jumped up from the bed.

【I am coming--! ! ! 】

The wedding took place in Kyoto two weeks later, on the hotel's deck facing the courtyard.

As the sky gets darker and guests arrive one after another, the Japanese paper lanterns on both sides of the road gradually light up, and the water light is dimly reflected on the transparent glass around the open-air platform.

She was one of the last people to be seated, and the guests at the same table greeted her with a smile, and she trembled in her heart, thinking that she was really coming—a large-scale Tai Chi exercise that must be inevitable in every family gathering, ah no, Greetings.

She hadn't seen her father's family for several years, and now they gathered together suddenly, and she would inevitably be asked about her recent situation.

She had already made preparations before she came here, and now she felt like returning to the examination room, skillfully began to fill in the multiple-choice questions—three long and one short, choose the shortest, and use the most concise answer to end the topic as quickly as possible.

"What major did you study in college?"

"Psychology." After a pause, she added habitually, "But I can't read minds, and I don't know what you're thinking right now."

Just like those who study computers can’t fix computers, and those who study psychology can’t read minds, especially for undergraduates like her, it’s hard to find a job with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. It's heaven, where there is still a need for postgraduate entrance examinations, and I am repeatedly abandoned.

"Have you found a job yet?"

She smiled and said, "Not yet, I plan to go abroad to study in graduate school."

After that, there were some chatter about "Do you have a partner?" "When are you going to get married?" and so on.The people who asked the question were not malicious, they just opened their mouths subconsciously, and the voices that came out became instinctive.

The open-air platform is close to the courtyard, and there is a clear smell of pine needles and grass in the air.She took a sip of water from the cup, moistened her throat, and planned to end the topic with one sentence:

"I'm not interested in getting married at the moment."

This is the truth.

It's not that she hates marriage, nor does she think that this kind of contractual relationship will definitely become a bondage, it's just that she doesn't have a particularly strong desire to get married.

Just like some people like to drink Coke, some people like to drink... Pepsi, although the latter is incomprehensible, but she feels that marriage is similar.

The whispers disappeared, and the surrounding guests became quiet at some point.

The night made the lights on the ground more and more bright. The bride dragged her wedding dress and slowly entered the venue. The transparent veil was decorated with hazy stars, and it was as white as the first handful of fine snow in early winter.

She watched the bride step by step towards the groom who was waiting at the end of the road, and found that happiness does make people beautiful, as if the whole person radiates light from the inside out.

But people who are immersed in happiness have a small shortcoming. They are always eager to share their happiness with others, and sometimes they will be very forceful to stuff the shrine's souvenirs into other people's hands.

A few days after the wedding, her cousin gave her a pendant with a small golden bell tied on it, which looked quite familiar.

"This is..." She had a bad feeling in her heart, "You bought it from Kiyomizu Temple, right? There is a famous love shrine there."

"Guess right." Her cousin told her with a smile, "This is the bell that can call happiness."

"... Did it spread so quickly among relatives?"

"It's okay, everyone now knows that you have decided to dedicate yourself to academic research."

Her head ached faintly: "...No, when did I decide to dedicate myself to academics?"

"Are you really determined to be alone for the rest of your life?"

"Isn't it decided yet?" She complained.

Smiling slightly, the other party sighed softly: "You may not feel it now, but if you feel lonely later, it may be too late. Even so, is it okay?"

She thought for a while.

"...Even so, it doesn't matter."

"why?"

"Because you think," she said in a relaxed tone, "If I feel lonely when I am alone, I can comfort myself because I am alone, but if I am with others, I still feel lonely. Doesn't this loneliness become Is there any solution?"

"Compared to the loneliness of being in a crowd, I think the loneliness of being alone is easier to bear."

The summer in Kyoto is bright and hot. When the summer insects in the garden are singing restlessly, and when the cicadas are singing in the shade of the dark green trees, the unique long feeling of midsummer arrives as expected.

Today's sun was dazzling, but the sky was blue. She just glanced in that direction, and couldn't help squinting her eyes and turning her head away.

Should have brought an umbrella, she thought, but getting back to the hotel was too much trouble now.

The person opposite was stunned for a while, then laughed again: "You are talking strange things again."

She shook the pendant in her hand, and the small golden bell dangled back and forth: "You are buying strange things again."

"Leave those poor gods alone," she sighed. "Even if they are gods, they will be too busy to listen to and respond to so many people's wishes every day. How hard it is."

If there are indeed gods in this world, she seriously doubts that the work of gods is open all year round, and there are no holidays for 360 days a year.

"Stop coming." The other party laughed and cursed, "Okay, I won't ask the same thing again. Where are you going today?"

"Two cities."

Nijo Castle was established in the early [-]th century, and it was the place where the general Shangluo of the Edo period stayed when he met the emperor.She originally wanted to go to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, but after searching online, she found that the current Imperial Palace was established after the Kamakura period in the [-]th century.

In other words, the current imperial palace is not the imperial palace of the Heian period.On the contrary, the area in the northwest corner of Erjo Castle overlaps with the original site of the Peace Palace.

Kyoto is the capital city established in the Heian period, and it is rare to come here. Anyway, I have to visit the Imperial Palace back then. She just thought about it for a while, and changed today's itinerary, changing the destination from the Imperial Palace to Nijo Castle.

There are not many tourists in Nijo City today, and there is no need to queue up to buy tickets.

In terms of structure, Nijo Castle is a typical Pingcheng. There are two moats inside and outside, one surrounding the entire city, and the other surrounding the Honmaru Palace in the center of the city.

In the afternoon, the white stone in the Honmaru Garden was shining brightly in the sun, and there were few tourists around, most of them hid in shaded places to enjoy the cool.

She looked at the map in the manual and stopped and walked. The interior of the Honmaru Palace is very luxuriously decorated, with gold leaf everywhere, and even the partitions are made of gold. There are large gorgeous landscapes, flowers and birds painted on it. The golden color of the years and the calm and heavy brown of the wood remain.

The voices of other tourists gradually receded behind her back, and the air became cooler. She came to the end of the corridor unknowingly, and there was no one around. The staff who introduced the Royal Palace to tourists seemed to be going in the opposite direction.

She put down the manual, and a slender ray of sunlight fell to her feet and climbed up the partition door painted with pines.

This partition was no different from the ones she had seen before. They were all in the gorgeous style of the Kano school. The only special thing was that the partition was closed.

She looked around, but did not see a sign indicating that the cultural relics were being repaired.

How strange, she thought.

Tourists are not allowed to enter the rooms in the palace, but can only stay in the corridor and look into the room. Therefore, the doors next to the corridor are all open, so that tourists can enjoy the scenery inside.

In such a place, there is actually a closed door.

In the distance, there was the sound of children playing outside, maybe some brat closed the door of this room while the parents were not paying attention.

With that in mind, she stretched out her hand.

She touched the tightly closed door, found the place where the door and the wall fit together with her fingertips, and pulled lightly without much force——

There seemed to be a gust of wind blowing from a distance, and the warm coolness suddenly passed over her cheeks, lifting the hair around her ears.

The music sounded in the wind, it seemed to be a dragon flute, or a harp, the simple and long-lasting sound was elongated like silk, and the flow of time was slow and stagnant, as if a picture scroll surrounded by clouds and mist was slowly unfolding in front of people's eyes. She was fascinated by this The sudden music distracted him for a while, and when he came back to his senses, he realized that there was someone on the other side of the door.

The first thing she noticed was the hunting clothes on the other party's body, with wide and wide long sleeves, where the shoulders and sleeves connected to reveal the red single shirt inside.

It was a young man, wearing a safari suit and a black hat, his long black hair was not tied up, but let it hang loosely over his shoulders.

... She read the manual and remembered that there were no special festivals in Nijo Castle today.

The flute music in the background did not disappear, nor did the person in front of her. When she opened the door, the person inside just looked up at her.

For a brief glance, time seemed to stand still for an instant.

The wind from outside slowly blew in, and the light-colored petals fell silently into the corridor with the sunlight.

"..."

"...Excuse me." She closed the door behind her back.

It must be the wrong way for her to open the door.

The door frame hit the wall with a muffled sound. She remembered that what she opened was a golden partition, but now she closed it as an ordinary wooden door.

The cherry blossoms blown in by the wind reflected the sun, but it should be summer now.

...No no no no no, that's impossible.

At some point, the noise of tourists was replaced by the sound of mysterious music. At first, she thought it was an illusion produced by the wind, but later she found that it was not the case.

She turned around and walked away, walking faster and faster, and finally couldn't help running.

The lush green courtyard is gone, the strange cherry blossoms are in full bloom, there are countless magnificent palaces around the imperial palace, and the long corridors that have been passed before are twisted into complex mazes, no matter where the tourists and staff are. The figures are nowhere to be found.

The palace music from afar was still playing, and she began to feel flustered, and was about to jump down the corridor when a warm and steady voice suddenly sounded behind her.

"and many more."

The invisible wind swayed her sleeves, and she only felt her body lighten, and suddenly she was pulled back by a soft force, and her whole body was firmly in the shadow at the corner of the corridor eaves.

After landing, she looked up, just in time to see a group of Samurai with swords appeared in her field of vision.

Those people wore black crown hats, brown clothes, arrow pots on their backs and swords, and passed through the two palaces during their patrol.

Her mind went blank, and she slowly came back to her senses, turning her head to thank her.

The man in hunting clothes smiled slightly at her: "If you are discovered now, your head will be lost."

"..."

...The man who came up with a kind expression and said something incredible!

The author has something to say:

It can be said that this story was born because of the Mount Osore chapter. I recommend that you read the manga, volume 19-20.

It is estimated that the pace of the short and medium stories will be slower, and the writing will be casual, and the textual research is also very random.

Everyone enjoyed watching, and I also enjoyed writing.