[Gintama] Immortal

Waking up from the emptiness of the darkness, she found that the mountain cherry blossoms at the shrine had bloomed again.

The setting sun slanted down like the mist that shrouded Mount Kumano all year round, and the cherry blossoms mottled with light and shadow were in full bloom.

The shrine, which is integrated with the weeds and thick moss, stands under the cedar tree. It is not so much a majestic shrine, but more like a graveyard for lonely ghosts.

Yae squinted her eyes, watching the world turn from blurry to clear, and she emerged in front of her existence, which was no different from a ghost.

Rotting bonito wood was interspersed on the roof of the Shinmei style, and the crow standing on it saw that she had woken up, and raised its neck slightly excitedly and let out a hoarse cry.

Turning a blind eye to the crows that landed on the roof of the shrine, Yae stretched out his hand towards the setting sun.

Unsurprisingly, the afterglow of the setting sun penetrated straight through her arms and fell unobstructed in her eyes, magnificent and lonely as before.

Seeing her lazily motionless, the crows began to stir as if urged, and then Yae got up and walked towards the shrine built off the ground in the vast ancient colors.

The shrine covered with rotting wood is only a few stacks in size, and it has become a habitat for crows in the past few decades. The shrine that once enshrined the god body is full of spoils looted by these robbers.The crows are especially fond of small sparkling items: fragments of coral jade, copper coins that are no longer in circulation, small and delicate shells of Jinghong, gold leaf affixed to noble fans, and even women's soft champagne.

... How can you take something that looks like a token of love, bastard!What if it prevents a certain couple from achieving the great harmony of life? Without the great harmony of life, what do you want others to do? Hey, hey, hey--if it wasn't that she couldn't touch the real thing, she really thought about pinching these crows The neck let them send things back obediently.

Yae walked to the edge of the shrine, and the crows gathered on the roof hopped and stretched their necks to watch her movements.

Putting one hand on the edge of the moss-covered wooden platform, Yae bent down and looked under the shrine erected off the ground.

The setting sun closed the afterglow, and she saw a pair of red eyes.

The owner of those eyes shrank back into the shadows, the thin silhouette was between a child and a teenager, the scarlet pupils were like deep dry wells, and the movements and gestures revealed fear, but there was no pandemonium in the eyes of a dead thing. Without making any waves, he looked at her almost indifferently.

... Hehe, these crows are capable and have learned to steal people, and they are still human children.

Yae blinked, and blinked again.In order to confirm something important, she tentatively stretched her hand forward, and the sound of Xi Suo came from the shadows, and the child with strange eyes hid deeper inside.

...can you see her?

Taking advantage of the moment when the other party moved, Yae saw the wet soil on the ground showing a deep dark red with the faint light. Even if she couldn't smell the smell in the air, she could guess the source of it—it was blood .

If it is a dying person, maybe he can really see abnormal things, so it is not surprising that he can see her.Yae didn't want to think so much.

"...Whose lost child are you?" She hadn't talked to anyone for a long time, and she was not used to her voice, but soon she suppressed the slightly awkward emotion.

What should be said in this situation?Yae thought, if he was the only adult present, or the acting lord of this shrine—a self-proclaimed one—he must show some calm and reliable demeanor.

"What's your name? Where do you live?" She tried to keep her tone as gentle as possible, "Come out, those crows won't eat you."

There was no movement.

Yae cleared his throat. "Little ghost, oh no, this kid? This little adult?"

She regretted that she had been sleeping all the time for decades. Although there was a village at the foot of the mountain, she seldom visited it. When she woke up, she didn't even know the current era, and her basic ability to communicate with people was almost useless.

She condemned herself deeply in her heart for ten seconds, and tried to recall how the woman with a child shouted when she saw the human village for the last time, but the memory was fruitless.

Yae sighed.

"little monster?"

After the words fell, the child with scarlet eyes raised his head reflexively, as if he had been poked by a certain keyword.

"If the wound is not bandaged, you will die."

Not getting a response, Yae stood up as if giving up.At this moment, an extremely low voice came from behind, which was extremely hoarse due to the long-term lack of moisture:

"...you are not human."

The last rays of light have almost completely disappeared below the horizon. At the moment of magic at the turn of day and night, the cedar trees in the ancient forest soar into the clouds, and countless black shadows are intertwined and dragged on the ground, only one is missing. shadow of man.

Yae turned around, and the ground behind her was nothing but pine needles and fallen leaves.

Blood red eyes stared at her for a moment. "You're not human either." The voice repeated again, and the weak and trembling voice revealed some weird and strange meaning.

...That's the first sentence you opened your mouth, right?Yae was expressionless.Shouldn't she be applauding now, praising the other party for being awesome and observant? ? ?

"You seem to have used an extra word 'also' in your words."

The setting sun was swallowed by the horizon, and there was a layer of coolness in the air in early spring.The child hiding under the shrine was silent for a while, as if repeating the words he had heard many times, he said indifferently:

——"I am an undead monster."

Why did the child who claimed to be a monster appear at the shrine in the deep mountains? As the heavy night fell, the answer came uninvited.

In the bottomless darkness, flickering flames emerged from far and near among the towering ancient trees.Yae recognized the villagers holding burning pine branches for lighting, and the villagers wearing burlap clothes were all men in their prime of life, holding weapons that would only be used during hunting, and divided into groups to patrol the surrounding area.

It is probably because they are afraid of going too far in the dark forest, and every once in a while someone will shout once or twice to confirm the position of the large army.

Villagers holding pine lamps searched around in the forest like headless chickens, and their shouts were filled with cruel emotions inspired by fear.If he didn't know that what they were looking for was hidden under this shrine at this moment, Yae would probably think that they were hunting the beast that destroyed the village's rice fields, and planned to kill it to vent their anger-for the villagers, nothing is more important than rice fields.

"Don't worry, they won't search for this shrine." Yae seemed to be talking to herself, she rested her chin on one hand, and watched with interest the flames dancing in the darkness following the actions of the villagers.

As if to prove her words, three or two villagers held burning pine branches and accidentally came to the shrine's shrine, which had been covered in weeds.

The leading man held up the pine light and swung it back and forth, left and right.The swaying firelight reflects the torii gates that have been corroded by time, and the cherry blossoms blooming silently in the night.

The man's face changed, and the arm holding the pine branch trembled slightly.

The villagers behind him seemed to recognize the shrine, and their expressions suddenly became very ugly.

No one said anything.In just a moment, the flame left the shrine and headed for the dark forest again.

When the sound of footsteps was swallowed up by the night, Yae burst out laughing. "Look," she said to the motionless guy hiding under the shrine, almost holding his breath, "I said they dare not come near."

"You don't have to be afraid." She paused, then added casually, "This is Kii Kumano."

Mount Kumano has been regarded as the entrance to the underworld since ancient times, and it is the starting point for crossing from this world to the other side. Human beings living here have an extraordinary awe of gods and ghosts, and there will be special sacrificial activities in all important seasons of the year.

And this shrine is special for the village at the foot of the mountain.

The shrine, which has been abandoned for a hundred years, has not been disturbed for a long time. Decades ago, it finally welcomed a ray of popularity, but the other party was a villager who coveted the property in the shrine.Maybe it was because they knew what they had offended, so they were terrified, maybe they were blinded by the chasing crows, and the villagers who stole the property from the shrine fell off the cliff and lost their lives. .

Yae lowered her eyes and smiled self-deprecatingly.

——"Are you the god here?"

It had been a hundred years since someone had said that to her.

The world is gradually changing, the seasons are changing, the mountain cherry blossoms are blooming again, and she is still here, counting the rising and setting of the moon, guarding the increasingly desolate and dilapidated shrine.

Now it is extended for three years (1071).

It has been nearly 300 years since the capital was moved to Heian-kyo, but Kumano in Kinokuni seems to be still in the age of myths shrouded in clouds and mist.

Living in the bustling capital, the imperial family and ministers are tired of all day long, so they like to go south to pay homage to Kumano Taisha.

Kumano Taisha Shrine enshrines Yata birds, and crows are regarded as messengers of the gods in the local area. They will not be condemned for swaggering and pecking at the tributes in the shrine. They are all good at stealing and looting. The villagers dare not complain. They are used to these things. Crows are lawless.

With a "click", the small wild fruit fell from the air and landed on the slender shoulders with a soft sound.

The scarlet pupils looked up blankly, and the culprit crouched on a high branch, let out a hoarse and ugly cry triumphantly, and then spread his wings and flew away.

Yae, who was walking in front, turned back: "They are not malicious, but they haven't seen living people around the shrine for a long time."

The ancient trees are towering, towering into the clouds like a straight giant sword, making human beings as small as ants.The bright sunlight slanted in through the treetops. As if afraid of being scalded by the soft, misty sunlight, the boy in coarse linen rags slowly stretched out his hand, spread his fingers, and watched intently. temperature.

When they first met, due to the ambient light at that time, she seemed to be wrong about his age.

The light-colored hair seemed to have not been taken care of since it was born, and was roughly cut to shoulder length. The hair falling in front of the eyelids seemed to have escaped a catastrophe, covering what could be seen in the scarlet pupils in a mess. see the world.The burlap, which could no longer be called clothes, was splattered with dirty blood, but it was not as good as the scars all over the body under the cloth.

He has been enduring the malice of the world around him, and after carefully unfolding his habitually curled up body and standing up straight, his height is still different from that of a young child, and the shadow of a young man can be vaguely seen.

Yae chose an easy path as best he could. The forest floor was covered with soft pine branches and fallen leaves, but broken branches and gravel were inevitably hidden among the brown soil.The boy who walked barefoot like a beast didn't seem to notice this, and the expressionless expression of stepping on the piercing stone would not change in the slightest.

The sound of the gurgling water became clear, and the young man driven by instinct, like a thirsty wild deer, finally took active action.

Yae laughed, causing the boy who was bent over the water to raise his head.

She suppressed the corners of her upturned mouth and looked away: "Okay, I don't smile."

There was the sound of flapping wings in the forest, and the crow that she had entrusted to send away earlier flew back.Folding its wings skillfully, the black crow landed on the branch closest to Yae, and opened its mouth to make a hoarse sound.

Yae listened for a moment, then said, "It's almost time to go back."

The clear water dripped back into the stream along the wet hair, and the young man looked up with his expression unchanged. His scarlet eyes were like a deep pool without waves, showing no emotion.

In the quiet forest, there is only the gurgling stream, and the sound of water is pleasant.Compared with previous years, the water level is now much lower, and you can touch the bottom with your hands. From this, it is not difficult to imagine the actual situation of Kumanogawa.

The territory of Kii Country is facing the sea from east to west, and the climate is warm and humid all year round. During the decades when she was sleeping, she encountered a severe drought that was rare in a century.

The crops have failed year after year, and the villagers at the foot of the mountain followed the ancient teachings of their ancestors. A few years ago, under the leadership of the priest Dazhu, they took the living sacrifices to the upper reaches of the Kumano River, tied them to wooden posts, and then threw stones, punctured them, and killed them. kill.

When the warm blood stained the gravel beach, the villagers threw away the murder weapon in their hands and knelt together to pray for rain from the gods of Kumano River to wash away the filth on the river beach.

The crows followed the smell of blood, and the villagers begged to heaven with hoarse voices, and the humble pleas gradually turned into curses over time.

The son of a sinner with his head hanging was still tied to the blood-stained wooden post, as if he had been completely forgotten by the villagers who were eager for rain.

The first to notice the abnormality was the young daughter of the priest Dazhu.Under the scorching sun, she suddenly let out a strange scream, and the surrounding villagers stopped the ceremony of praying for rain.

Under the horrified gaze of the people—the child who should have died opened his blood-red eyes.

The author has something to say:

I can't save the manuscript, I made a hole in advance, and I became bald [wait a minute]

While preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination and digging a hole, I suddenly felt that I really have an unparalleled... courage to die_(:з」∠)_

Update to see the choice of Steins Gate, which can drop randomly, but will not abandon the pit, look at my sincere eyes

This article is as private as a mountain, and there is a cosmic black hole hidden in the author's mind, please don't take it seriously

Private establishment is now at the end of the Heian period, the 11th century AD

Our goal is the end of the Bakumatsu, the Matsushita village school, and the young joy3【clench fist】The hundreds of years in between will definitely not be written in detail, I can dance, my liver is not enough

When I was waiting for the bus in Kurama Mountain, Kyoto, I saw the poster of Kumano Hongu Taisha Shrine. It was almost a huge eight-tag bird.The circuit that has been formed in my brain is destined to immediately think of Gintama [cover face

This brain hole is so buried_(:з」∠)_