[Gintama] Immortal

Azuchi Castle is located on the shore of Lake Biwa. The castle tower is majestic and majestic. The screens in the castle were painted by famous masters of the Kano school. It is known as the best city in the world.

Oda moved the city here, and in the past few years has vigorously developed commerce and built roads.Today, the castle town is thriving and has become a cultural and economic center.

Yae stood in the middle of the road, and the surrounding pedestrians shunted like a school of fish, and the lively voices were mixed together. In addition to dialects from various places, there were also foreign languages ​​that she could not understand at all.

Those people wore strange clothes, with high noses and deep eyes. Their eyes were like blue glass beads they brought, shining faintly in the sun.

"Southern Man"—these people were so called because they came ashore from the South by ship.

Yae wandered from the end of the east street to the west street, and there were everything in the bustling castle town. She spared a few laps, and finally went back to a shop.

It was a southern barbarian's shop, and the front door was filled with things she had never seen before: calligraphy and paintings, boxes, glass products, and books in foreign languages.

The Nanman, who seemed to be the owner of the shop, stood by the door and greeted passers-by on the street with a wide smile.Yae couldn't understand what he was muttering, but he could see his kindness from the overly obvious smile.

It was the first time Yae saw someone smiling like this to a stranger.

She stared at the creases at the corners of the southern barbarian's eyes for a while, and felt that she had seen enough and her curiosity was satisfied. She turned her eyes to the small plate next to her.

Next to the thick books, the plate held a few honey-like golden sugar cubes.

Because the price was too high, she walked around several times and came back, but the candies were still where they were.

"Confeito" is said to mean candy in the Nanman language. After transliteration, it becomes Jinpingtang, which is an exceptionally rare thing.

Yae squatted in front of the booth, hugging her knees, staring hard at the candy on the plate.

The crystal shell looks crunchy, glistening in the sun like shattered stars.

Looks kind of delicious.

Yae waited and waited, during which several people came over curiously, and when they heard the price, they shook their heads and left.

Yae: ...Why are they so useless?

The sun shifted, and the noon sun seemed to be less irritating, a shadow suddenly fell, Yae raised his head, a white hand stretched out, and picked up the small plate of Jinpeitang.

She blinked, then blinked again.

The young man with the bamboo hat on stood there expressionlessly. His facial features were different from the one she was familiar with. They looked plain and unremarkable, a look that could easily disappear in the crowd.

But those dark red eyes were still exactly the same as the ones she knew, dull and cold, like stagnant water without waves.

In Antu City, Xu will not show his true colors to others.In broad daylight, it is impossible for him to put on the mask with a 100% return rate.

Yae stood up and praised him:

"Human.skin.mask is not bad."

Leaving the most lively street market, the alleys are extraordinarily quiet.The low wooden buildings are neatly scattered, and occasionally a sprig or two of morning glory protrudes from someone's yard.

Xu walked forward, and Yae followed him bouncingly with her hands behind her back.

With an uncontrollable smile in the corner of her mouth, she asked him, "Why are you here?"

"...mission." Xu said indifferently, "The kid from the Ashikaga family is a bit tricky."

Yae: "Oh."

She lost interest in this serious topic in an instant.

After staring at the Kopei candy that Xu just bought for a while, Yae raised his head and asked again, "Don't you want to try it?"

"Why do you want to taste it?"

"Hey, why would you buy it if you don't want to eat it?"

"..."

Paused for a moment: "If you don't have a sense of taste, you can't taste it, so why are you staying there?"

"I can't taste it, but you can." Yae skipped his question, and suggested sincerely: "You can try it for me, okay?"

"..."

"OK?"

"..."

"Try it."

"..."

"Xu." She called him.

I guess he was really annoyed by her, maybe he just didn't want her to continue to distract him, so he picked up a small piece of Jinping candy, put it to his mouth, and bit it expressionlessly.

Click, a small corner was missing from the translucent golden candy.

He swallowed it unhurriedly, and his expression didn't change from the beginning to the end.

Yae: ...Sugar should be used.

Click click.After Xu ate a whole piece of candy, as if he had completed a task, Yae couldn't wait to get close to him:

"Sweet?"

"..."

"Is it tasty?"

She looked at him expectantly, Xu Xu finally looked over, and after a long time, she replied very lightly.

Yae bent his eyes and smiled at him: "That's great."

Suddenly she was satisfied, she put her hands behind her back, took a few steps forward, turned her head, Jian Xu was still standing there, and waved to him: "Let's go, I'll take you for a stroll."

After only staying in Antu City for half a day, he looked like he had become a local guide.

Xu looked at her: "You seem to be in a good mood."

For a moment, Yae felt that he heard another subtext: Don't be angry?

She shook her head to get the strange thought out of her mind.

"Don't you think this city is pretty nice?"

Yae and Xu walked side by side in the newly established castle town. The roads here are smooth, and the houses on both sides look very solid, and the wood smells like it has been tanned by the sun.

"Abolish checkpoints, reduce taxes, encourage trade and commerce, and tolerate different cultures. Oda's Sixth Heaven Demon King is not what I imagined."

"...You seem to have a lot of love for Oda." Xu's voice was a little cold.

Yae laughed and said, "You saw it."

"I'm not interested in the world, and I can't guess who will win in the end. I just think that if you want to bet, bet on the most interesting one."

Xu turned his face: "So, is your choice Oda?"

"...It may not be appropriate to choose this term." Yae thought for a while, "Think about it, just like we saw the Muromachi Shogunate from its establishment to its demise, everything always has a beginning and an end, and now this troubled world will end one day, anyway. A new order will be established. I'm just interested in the world that guy might build."

With a pause in his footsteps, Xu stopped suddenly, and Yae also subconsciously braked and stopped in place.

"……What's wrong?"

"You appreciate him."

Straightforward tone.

Yae scratched his cheek: "It's okay, I just think that person is interesting and different."

click.

The golden candy suddenly shattered into powder and fell from the white fingers.

At this moment, there was commotion in the market.

Heavy objects toppled over with a loud noise, and passers-by screamed and hurriedly dispersed, mixed with curses from soldiers.The hurried footsteps pushed away all obstacles, and ran towards this side desperately.

"assassin--!"

"Catch that assassin——!"

Yae was a little dazed, she looked at Xu, and wrote brightly in her eyes:

——Shouldn’t the assassin be you?

Xu Hao stood in place in a leisurely manner.A figure rushed out, seeing Xu standing in his only way, his eyes immediately became fierce.

With a flick of the sleeve, the dagger slipped into the palm of his hand, the man ran towards Xu, raised his wrist, the movement of swinging the knife was suddenly clamped, and stopped abruptly in mid-air, immediately, severe pain exploded from the broken wrist bone, Xu Holding the man's wrist, he folded it in the opposite direction without much force. Before the man screamed, his neck was cold, and his vision was forever darkened.

When Oda's people arrived, Xu stood beside the assassin's body, slowly wiping the blood on his fingertips.

The corpse was lying on the ground in a strange posture, its wrist twisted into a strange arc, it looked like it had cut its own neck, the tip of the knife sank into the throat, and came out straight through the back of the neck.

The leading general hesitated to speak, his eyes full of vigilance: "You..."

"The assassin is dead, so there's no need to thank you." Xu put down his hand, the saber at his waist was hanging there securely, never out of its sheath.

The people around were motionless, their expressions tense.

Xu Xu glanced at the family crests on the armors of those people, and with a half-smile, he evoked a cold smile.

"Oda?"

Yae found that Xu was not in a good mood at this time.

The sixth generation of Amaterasu Naraku never talked much, and never talked nonsense with the enemy.

Compared with the bloodthirsty generations of Xu, he is gentle, giving people a cold and heavy feeling, like high mountains and snowfields that have not melted for a thousand years, but he does not have the sharp and sharp hostility like a blade.

At this moment, Xu narrowed his eyes and mocked lightly: "That's all."

"Bold!!" shouted a young officer, "How dare you disrespect the lord..."

"Wait." The leading general raised his hand.

He stared into Xu's eyes, and slowly said: "Your Excellency took the initiative to solve this hidden danger for us, we are naturally grateful. But, are you a little too confident?"

As he spoke, he turned slightly sideways, and a figure dressed as a civilian was thrown to the ground by the soldiers, his arms were tightly bound by thick ropes.

Yae glanced at that figure—it was Naraku.

She understood the current situation.

This is a trial.

Oda intends to recruit Amaterasu-in Naraku, but now it seems that even if they want to start a cooperation, they have to show some prestige before the cooperation.

Xu slapped the opponent in the face, and the opponent slapped him back again.

At least that's how it looks.

That Naraku lay obediently on the ground, face down.

In an instant, she was no longer worried about how to watch the show or how to watch the show.

"Oh? Really." Xu's expression didn't change.

The young officer snorted coldly: "Your men have already been captured by us, you still have to keep your mouth shut."

"Caught it?" Xu seemed to bend the corner of his mouth, and said without warmth, "Are you sure?"

Before he finished speaking, Naluo, who was lying motionless on the ground, suddenly exploded. The soldiers around him couldn't react in time, and watched as Naluo broke free from the restraints, strangled the young officer's neck, and twisted into a position that could be unscrewed immediately.

His face was pale, and the young officer was motionless. Compared with fear, the expression in his eyes was first surprised, followed by humiliation.

The situation turned around in an instant.

Xu: "Are you still planning to stick to your previous rhetoric?"

Yae could tell that Xu was not in a bad mood, but very bad.

The young officer gritted his teeth and refused to admit defeat.

Nai Luo, with gloomy eyes, tightened his arms and increased his strength. The officer who was stuck between his arms could not breathe, and his face turned from pale to pale.

"Enough!" shouted the leading general.

Nothing to move.

He didn't receive his instructions, and that Naraku didn't stop.

Seeing that his life was almost gone, Yae sighed, and stretched out his hand to pull Xu's cuff.

"It's going to be a bit too much to go on like this."

She raised her head and looked seriously into Yin Hong's eyes: "Stop."

"..."

She shook her hand slightly, making the motion of shaking his sleeve.

"Void."

As soon as Naluo loosened his hand, the young officer fell to the ground, clutching his neck and breathing heavily.

The leading military commander had an ugly face, but in today's world, the strong are respected, and there are orders from above, so it is difficult for him to show his inner dissatisfaction.

Taking a deep breath, he stopped looking directly at Xu, lowered his head, and his posture became respectful:

"My lord wants to see you, please come with me."

……

The Tianshou Pavilion in Azuchi Castle has seven floors, and it is built on a mountain more than 100 meters high, adjacent to Lake Biwa in the north.

At night, the moonlight spreads over the dark and vast water.The evening breeze is blowing, passing through the outer corridor, the bronze lamps under the eaves are swaying, casting a warm orange light.

From a height, the view is extremely wide.The brilliance of the moon outlines the nearest clouds in the night, ethereal, like thin smoke and veil.

Yae leaned against the window with the best view, quietly watching the gentle moonlight on the lake.

Footsteps sounded from behind, and a black figure appeared in the Japanese room as if out of thin air.

She turned her head, Xu just stood behind her, looking down at her.

"Have we talked about it?"

"For the time being."

"What kind of answer is that?" Yae couldn't help laughing.

She looked out the window, and the bronze lamp under the eaves was blown by the night wind, jingling and jingling, making a slight sound.

"Do you know?" The gentle night makes people's hearts soften. "Those southern barbarians seem to have the nickname 'ghost'. "

The skin is white, the nose is high, and the eyes are deep. They are completely different from the people who grew up in this land, like another species.

"Because it's different, it's treated as a ghost."

Those who are like us are humans, and those who are different from us are ghosts.

"According to this logic, you and I are also ghosts."

Yae stood up and stood face to face with Xu.

"I learned a lot today. Those ghosts from the southern barbarians, their culture is very interesting."

She said, "Can you not move?"

"……doing what?"

"Shh... don't talk now."

Yae stretched out her hand, tentatively.

With her fingers in the air, she hesitated for a while, and slowly took a step forward like a child learning to walk for the first time, almost touching Xu's body.

She raised her hand, put her arm through his waist, around his armpit, and finally wrapped it gently around his back.

The moonlight is silent, and there are no lights in the room.The bronze lamps under the eaves stopped shaking, and Night Breeze left the castle tower and headed for the mirror-like Lake Biwa.

"The southern barbarians seem to call this a hug." Yae said in a low voice.

Without making a sound, he stood motionless by the window, stiff as a rock of ice.

Yae rested her head on his chest, relaxing.

She can't feel anything.

No body temperature, no skin feel.

It's a fake hug without any substance.

Yae curled the corners of her mouth and smiled softly.

"Seems not bad."

And the dim bronze mirror in the room reflected the figure of a person.

The lonely shadow stood there, as slowly as a glacier melted, he raised his hand, for a long time——

He put his hand down silently.

The wind rises and calms, and the ripples on the water surface spread, and finally dissolve into the night connected to the sky, disappearing without a trace.

Moonlight, lake color, empty embrace.

That's all a "ghost" can have.

Oblivious to Xu's movements, Yae closed her eyes.

……

It would be great if one day I could embrace you with a real attitude.

Not a cold corpse, not someone else's shell.

If one day.

one day—

Like normal people, it would be nice if I could hug you.

The author has something to say:

This is the end of the Sixth Generation Purpose episode

The next sequence is:

Silver Hour Perspective

↓

Songyang

↓

Virtual (?)