[Gintama] Immortal

When it’s time to replace the platycodon and beetroot in the vase, the air becomes cool and dry, the maple trees in the courtyard lose their summer colors, and the slender green leaves gradually turn crimson in autumn.

Songyang said he wanted to show her a gift, and Yaedan sat upright. He opened the furring cloth with a smile, revealing a dilapidated radio that had been repaired countless times, patted here and turned around there skillfully. .The old radio made intermittent noises, and he didn't know which magical channel he switched to. The chaotic current turned into a clear and soothing music.

It was an exotic ballad with a melodious melody and a mellow female voice. When you close your eyes, you can see the blooming camellias, blooming gorgeously and silently in the dim rain, faintly glowing a little bright red.

Yae remembers this song.

She was slightly distracted, her thoughts were half immersed in the memory, the soft and hoarse singing suddenly cut off, the blooming camellia fell off the branches, and the retro radio struggled a few times, completely silent.

The room suddenly fell silent.

Yae: "...Huh."

Songyang: "Huh."

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, Songyang raised his hand and knocked on the radio, the old metal shell made a blunt, dull sound, as heavy as a dull iron block.

"Ah." Songyang showed a distressed expression, "It seems to be broken again."

Sakata Gintoki's connections extend in all directions, and Songyang has also met many people over the years.

Hiraga Gengai's mechanical repair shop is located in Kabukicho. It looks ordinary on the outside, and it seems to be a place where broken copper and iron are piled up.Songyang smiled and called Mr. Hiraga outside the door, and the technician in overalls came out familiarly, looked at the radio that Songyang brought, and told him to come and pick it up in two days.

On the way back, the sky in early autumn was blue and clear, crisp and clean, like a freshly washed glazed porcelain bowl.The weather was neither too cold nor too hot. Yae and Songyang were walking along the riverside. The yellow-green weeping willows were blowing in the wind, and the soft water surface was sparkling. The scenery was very pleasant and very suitable for walking.

It's not yet the season for appreciating maple leaves, but the riverside is still bustling.Songyang took Yae's hand, walked and stopped, admiring the fallen leaves floating on the river for a while, and looking at the street stalls selling Kanto cooking for a while, and walked slowly on the way back to the private school.

The laughter of children, the sound of adults chatting, the whispers of the wind blowing through the leaves, the rustling of birds spreading their wings, the crunching of chains on swings in the park, and the joyful bouncing of balls on the ground—all kinds of The sounds are mixed together, like a never-ending river.

The sounds of the whole world poured into my ears, the muffled rumble of trams passing by came from farther away, the green light was lit at the intersection in the city center, and pedestrians of different colors took chaotic and orderly steps——

Yae stopped suddenly.

"……What's wrong?"

Noticing something strange was just a moment of heartbeat.

The surrounding voices went away immediately, as if a foot stepped on the ground, the body reacted one step ahead of the brain, and the moment before Yazhong ran out, Songyang suddenly clenched her hand.

"Where are you going?"

"I will be right back."

Before the words fell, they had completely disappeared from his fingers.

—she didn't come back right away.

According to the official statement, a serious traffic accident occurred at the central station. The alien ship fell out of control and caused a large-scale explosion when it hit the central tower.

Since the explosion was concentrated in the operating area of ​​the central tower, there were few casualties, but all flights passing through the central station were suspended, ships on the earth could not leave, and alien spacecraft were prohibited from landing.

Since the disintegration of the Tiandao regime, the use and management rights of Altana have returned to the hands of various planets. The newly established Cosmic Alliance has established a treaty of mutual supervision, strictly prohibiting the excessive development and use of weapons and energy related to Altana, and biological research has been banned Strictly prohibited, it is a felony at the transnational level.

It was rumored from nowhere that the ship that caused the explosion actually contained a large number of illegal Altana experimental products. Those things are now flowing into the dragon veins of the earth through the eruption port of the central tower, causing extremely serious pollution.This was not an accident at all, but a terrorist attack with a clear purpose.

Rumors of unknown origin spread more and more widely. Reporters from major newspapers pursued the new government fiercely over the issue of negligence. people.

The huge floor-to-ceiling windows reflected the silhouette in the darkness, the central tower was surrounded by a cordon, and the streets around were patrolled by police officers, and the air was full of tension.

The believer girl withdrew her gaze and looked at the silent figure standing by the window.

"You should go back." She said calmly, "There will be a second explosion here at some point, so it's not suitable to stay for a long time."

The head of the Metropolitan Police Department of the new government is not good at persuading people. She has always been used to communicating with a knife, which is simple, rude, direct and effective.

The believer can protect Cheng Ye under the watchful eyes of those old foxes in the shogunate until she sits firmly in the prime minister's seat. Soften your tone.

She lowered her eyes, her cold voice almost seemed to be sighing.

"Songyang."

The guards around the entrance of the central tower gave way, and the figures of the priestesses and sisters rushing from the shrine flashed into the night.

Songyang's expression was hidden in the darkness: "You also stay here, don't you?"

What are the consequences of Altana's pollution? Since there is no precedent, the new government has used all available solutions and prepared for the worst.

"I have my duty."

"What a surprise." Songyang seemed to bend the corner of his mouth, and his voice became slightly gentler, "The growth of a person is really incredible."

"Aren't you too?"

"..."

"You have lived as an ordinary person for so many years, just continue to live as an ordinary person." The believer said softly, "This is a sensitive period, and you as an ordinary person should not appear here. Others may not remember the war back then The appearance of the instigator, but Shinsengumi, among those team members who are patrolling downstairs now, there must be some people who will not forget."

She put it bluntly: "Whether it was an accident, a conspiracy, or a terrorist attack, people are looking for the culprit."

Song Yang laughed and turned around.

The letter girl didn't flinch.She looked back at Songyang calmly: "You shouldn't wait here."

She paused: "If it's the person I know, she will definitely go back."

Come back home.

On a moonless night, the stars are sparse.

Songyang pushed open the door of the private school, the entrance was dark, and the corridor was not lit.

When he came to the Japanese room, a figure sat with his back facing him under the eaves, staying in the dark and counting the dim stars in the night sky.

"Hey, why don't you make a sound when you walk." Yae turned his head, and there was indeed a smile on his face, "Have you committed the previous occupational disease again?"

Leaning leisurely against the pillars of the corridor, she seemed to sit there calmly, waiting for his response.

After waiting for a while before he could speak, Yae sighed and surrendered first to break the silence: "I have disappeared for a few days, I apologize."

"I'm sorry, it's my fault." She looked up at him, and stretched out her arms to signal, "Do you want a hug?"

Songyang squatted down slowly.

"...Smile, Songyang."

"What happened to your body?"

Yae suddenly fell silent.

Under his gaze, Yae was silent for a moment, lowered her head and opened half of her skirt.

The crystalline stone statue of Altana has scales of its own life, clustered together in pieces, winding all the way down from the collarbone, at first glance, it seems that there are strangely colored petals blooming on the white skin, and the composition is perfect The canvas was torn from the middle, revealing the truth hidden inside.

"...Why?" Songyang said softly.

Not "what happened".

"Why did it become like this?" Songyang caressed her cheek, his gentle fingertips felt a little cold.

Yae put her face into his palm and rubbed it soothingly.

"I am one with the dragon vein. Now the dragon vein is polluted by the foreign Altana, and I am also affected. But you don't have to worry, the vitality of the dragon vein is very tenacious. You know this better than anyone else. I will raise it once I raise it. Well, it’s just that I can’t go out to meet people recently.”

"It's okay." She smiled, "It's just an illness for me."

When the dark Altana crystal stones climbed up the neck and spread to the wrists and ankles, Yae smiled and told Shoyang that it was all right.

The crystal stone later fell off, turned into powder, and then re-growth. The color became more and more unknown. She began to have a fever, showing symptoms like poisoning and high fever, and fell into a strange deep sleep from time to time.

Ayin and Baiyin came several times. The priestess family guarding the Yellow Dragon Gate knew how to calm down the dragon veins of the riots and how to wake them up from a dormant state, but they were helpless against the pollution from other planets Altana.

Altana on different planets would not touch each other, but the development of civilization has changed the iron law of nature.

Pollution pours into the intricate underground undercurrent through the dragon's lair of the central tower. The dragon veins of the earth itself have a serious rejection reaction to the invading Altana. High fever and pain without source.

The private school seems to have stopped classes, but the Yae fever is drowsy, the waking hours are intermittent, and the memory has become blurred.

Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night, and sometimes when she opens her eyes, it is the evening when the sky is full of red clouds.Songyang was always by her side, and at first he would apply ice cubes to cool her down in vain, but after realizing that it was useless, he would kiss her fingers, the back of her hands, and her crystal-covered hair. Stones, places that have become inhuman and ugly.

"It will be fine." Songyang's voice was always so gentle and soft.She didn't feel like a monster when he kissed her.

To be honest, she didn't mind either.You're not human, so why worry about it?She's just shedding that skin now and turning into something close to her real face.

Long, long ago, she woke up to the realization that she would never become human.

Some people used to laugh at her about this matter, saying that she was just looking forward to something she wouldn't get.

...Ah, that person.

--that person.

When the disconnected consciousness resumed, Yae found herself standing in the darkness.

More precisely, she was standing in a dark patch of water.

She may be dreaming again, but each time she has a dream she can't remember what the dream is about, and sometimes she can't tell reality from fantasy.

The surface of the water sank like a dead body, she took a step, chose a direction at random in the darkness of nothingness, and walked for about a lifetime and the time to blink once, and something floated down the upstream.

She lowered her head, and a bright red maple leaf, as bright as blood, floated in the dark water and stopped gently at her feet.

Bending down, when the fingertips touched the water surface, the still darkness seemed to be finally shaken, and the whole world made a slight click, and ripples as small as spider silk.

The red maple leaf is thin and small, Yae put it in the palm of his hand and looked at it.

Really the color of blood.

Blood—warm, fishy, ​​smelt of rust and salt.

And a little bit of her original, reassuring breath.

Her body, which was messed up by the foreign Altana, what she wants most now is pure dragon blood without any impurities.

Even a small amount is enough to relieve the burning pain in her body.

She swallowed subconsciously and craved subconsciously.The warm and mellow power continuously poured into her limbs along her throat, she was like a traveler who has finally found water after walking in the desert for several days, she was rejoicing instinctively, every cell in her body was jump for joy.

A chuckle sounded beside her ear, that voice seemed to grow in the crack of her soul, obviously it was just the slightest movement, but it instantly brought the consciousness that had fallen into the mist back to reality.

The light of dusk was dim and mottled, and the room was silent.Yae opened his eyes with some difficulty, and a figure was reflected in the gradually clear vision.

The arm supporting her back was steady and strong, and she realized that she seemed to be lying in the other's arms, the air was filled with the smell of moist rust, her body was still hot, but the pain was no longer unbearable.

She raised her eyes and watched with interest as the knife edge in her palm gradually stopped bleeding, and the blood beads began to coagulate, as if she had noticed her gaze, he slightly bent his red eyes, his expression was like Yafold's memory Bao Liang in the middle: "It's really a messy gesture."

He raised his hand, wiped away the blood from the corner of her mouth, and gently rubbed it between his fingertips.His voice was deep and gentle, and the smile on his lips was like a poppy blooming in the dark night:

"Eight heavy."