[Gintama] Immortal

The annual sacrificial fire burned blazingly on the altar set up.

The priests of the shrine are covered with hoarfrost, wearing tall black hats and white clean clothes.Standing in front of the altar engulfed by the flames, he threw the goma wooden tablet into the surging flames. Facing the roiling heat wave, he looked calm and pious, and concentrated on reciting prayers, thanking the gods for the harvest this year .

Autumn is the harvest season, and it is also the season for holding sacrifices and celebrations during the slack season.

The bright and fierce summer seems to end suddenly in one day. The mountains shake off their vibrant green, and the colors that belong to late autumn are overwhelming. Before people notice, the maple forest on the outskirts of Dicheng has been dyed red.

Yae was very excited when he heard that the fire festival was going to be held in the village, because after the fire festival, tangerines could be roasted.

Oranges are traditionally roasted over embers, so she brought her own tangerines, wrapped in a handkerchief for her bosom.

After swallowing the wooden sign, the fire on the altar became more majestic, and the billowing smoke rose to the sky, like the prayers of the people on the ground.The people around couldn't help exclaiming in amazement, and Yae focused on the vigorous and violent sacrificial fire, hoping that it would burn out quickly.

After watching the same ceremony hundreds of times, she is still more interested in the part about roasting oranges.

"Teacher, teacher," a familiar voice came from beside him, and Yae temporarily looked away, seeing Kanta pulling Shoyang's sleeve, his face full of curiosity, "Why do you want to burn the fire?"

Song Yang lowered his head slightly, and replied in a gentle voice: "The fire is to celebrate the harvest, and at the same time, I also pray for everyone to be happy and healthy this year, and to avoid fires."

Still not satisfied with this answer, Kanta still raised his head, his face showed the persistence of wanting to break the casserole and ask the end.

"If you want to explain in detail," Songyang's voice paused, "from the past, fire has been regarded as a sacred symbol by people. Flame can expel darkness, cure diseases and eliminate disasters, and purify unclean things .”

The bonfire on the altar became more and more intense, and continued to heat up. The red flames danced violently in the wind as if they were expanding.

"What do you mean unclean?"

The scorching flames blurred the surrounding air, and the burning fire reflected in the eyes, silently burning the past.

Songyang touched Kanta's head, and smiled lightly:

"To give the simplest example, death, as opposed to life, is impurity."

The raging flame finally died down until it turned into quiet ashes.The children in the village had been waiting for a long time, and they all ran up cheering, and roasted oranges in the embers of the burned Goma wooden plaque.

The peel of the tangerine was slowly charred black, and when it was almost time, Yae used a branch to pull the tangerine out of the hot embers.

The weather is cool in autumn, and it is surprisingly so today.In the cold season, the yellow flesh is roasted warmly, and the sweet smell becomes more intense.

"Here, here."

Breathing into a white mist in the cold air, Yae put half of the warm mandarin into Song Yang's hand, slightly bent his apricot eyes: "Eat this, and you won't catch a cold next year."

As for whether Songyang would catch a cold, the two of them naturally knew it well.

Laughing softly, Songyang accepted her small gift: "Thank you so much, Yae."

The fire festival is held on the shrine side, and Noh performances are held on the Buddhist temple side.

Songyang led a group of chattering students, finished roasting the oranges at the shrine, and then rushed to the place at the temple.

The surrounding villagers seemed to think the same way, and there were crowds of people cheering along the way.

When they arrived at the Buddhist temple, a circle of people surrounded the Noh stage of Kashiwagi, and Yae opened the way in front of them, fighting all obstacles to win the best viewing seats for everyone in the Matsushita village school.

Before the performance started, the voices of the people were already lively, and the emotion of anticipation permeated and fermented in the air along an invisible track. People crowded shoulder to shoulder, and buzzing voices were everywhere.

Yin Shi looked a little listless in the cold weather, as if he was not used to the feeling of being surrounded by crowds.

People were so absorbed in the pre-show atmosphere that no one noticed his striking silver hair and red eyes.

"Yinshi," Songyang said suddenly with a smile, "your scarf is crooked."

Yinshi lowered his head with his eyelids down, and found that the scarf that Songyang had wrapped for him before going out was indeed skewed to one side, probably caused by pushing through the crowd.

Before he had time to click his tongue, Songyang already knelt down naturally and helped him wrap the scarf back.The wide and warm fabric was carefully covered to the chin, revealing the tip of the nose that was slightly reddened by the cold.

"Occasionally pay more attention to your own affairs, Yinshi." Before straightening up, Songyang sighed helplessly, reached out and rubbed Yinshi's messy curly hair, "It will be bad if you catch a cold again."

"... Long-winded, Ah Yin is not such a person who catches cold easily." Yinshi came back to his senses, slightly looked away, and the voice coming through the scarf was muffled.

Yae patted Takasugi on the shoulder: "See? At a time like this, you should laugh back, 'Wow, are you blushing?' Then you will be even with Gintoki."

Gao Shan: "...how do you remember what happened a few months ago so clearly?"

"Don't say it was a few months ago, I remember everything hundreds of years ago clearly, including your teacher's dark history." Yae put on a serious expression.

One advantage of being like her is that the truth can be said freely, because no one will believe it.

After choking for a while, Gao Shan's voice was clearly disgusted: "Take your hand away."

"What, do you need me to mess up your scarf?" Yae showed a meaningful smile, "Then let Songyang help you rewrap it?"

Gui next to him looked at his scarf with a pensive expression, as if he was seriously considering the feasibility of this matter.

Qiu Yin: "No, don't meddle with you, Mr. Gui."

The sound of drums and flutes sounded, and the surrounding voices suddenly became quieter.

The main character dressed in a gorgeous Tang weave stepped onto the stage, with a snow-white face painted with a young woman's face, slightly parted red lips, slender eyes, and light eyebrows that were raised high, revealing a trace of beauty. Strong Heian-kyo style.

The red maple in the Buddhist temple is burning fiercely, densely covering both sides of the Noh stage.

In line with the season of late autumn, the repertoire of this performance is quite classic "Red Leaf Hunting", which tells the story of a military general in the Heian period, Hirao Shigeru, who met the female ghost of Togakushi Mountain in Shinano and cut her under the knife. Back to Ghost Story.

When she first appeared on the scene, the main heroine, who is really a female ghost, disguised herself as a daughter of a nobleman with her family members to enjoy maple leaves, and invited Hira Shigeru, who was hunting deer in the mountains, to join them.After being drunk by the female ghosts, Hirao fell into a deep sleep, and in his dream saw the god sent by Hachiman to help him survive the catastrophe.

The gods informed Ping Weimao of the female ghost's true identity and intentions, and gave him a magic sword to slay ghosts.After Yuimo Hira woke up from his dream, the female ghost of Mount Togakushi appeared in front of his eyes.After a hard fight, Yuimo Hira, with his exquisite martial arts and the help of Hachiman God, successfully repelled the female ghost, and the story ended here.

Yae had watched this Noh play many times, but it was the first time to watch it honestly in the audience like this.

The costumes are gorgeous and heavy, the lines are long and complicated, and the rhythm of Noh is extremely slow. With the long and weird music in the background, it gives people a feeling that the actors are reciting prayers, full of ancient and heavy rituals.

After the initial novelty faded, the students in the private school lost interest, but Takasugi kept staring at it.He was too lazy to get involved in this kind of "childish" activity when roasting oranges before, but he became interested in traditional Noh plays that children would never like or appreciate.

The story finally reached its climax. When the female ghost of Togakushi Mountain reappeared, she was no longer elegant and dignified as she first appeared. She was replaced by a terrifying mask symbolizing an evil spirit. Her eyes were like copper bells, her fangs were sharp, and her mouth was wide open.

This is a common routine in dreams.Most of the protagonists are undead ghosts trapped in the world, and the supporting characters often serve as listeners or completers who relieve them of their obsessions. When they first appear on the stage, the protagonist often hides his real body and only shows his true face in the second half. The mask at the core of Noh is a form that directly expresses this transformation of identity.

When Ping Weimao was fighting with the evil spirits, the students who lacked interest finally cheered up and exclaimed softly in the audience.

Until the end of the performance, the people around were still immersed in the final wonderful duel, full of praise for Mr. Pingweimao's bravery, as if they had witnessed the figure of Mr. Pingweimao thousands of years ago.

"Look at the trick, you evil spirit!" After the Noh drama, the students of the private school started to fight happily. However, everyone would like to be Hira Yuisho with high martial arts skills, and no one would like to play the frightening girl Togakushi-san. ghost.

There are many adults in the little Ping Wei Mao, but it is a pity that there is no enemy who can show them their heroic appearance.

The students shoved each other.

"You are a female ghost."

"No, you are."

"You are."

"Your whole family is."

"Then your ancestors have been for eighteen generations."

"You should just be a ghost first, and then change back when the time comes."

"Well said, why don't you start by yourself, you evil ghost."

Yinshi silently stood at the end of the line.

Yae cleared her throat, and said loudly: "Then, let me, the female ghost of Togakushi Mountain, be your opponent!" She glanced around: "Who will come first? You can go together if you want."

——No one is more suitable to be a ghost than her.

So the students were discouraged.

Songyang smiled, and came out to smooth things over: "Okay, okay, there are other activities going on, please don't hurt your peace."

Gui has been reminiscing about the plot of "Red Leaf Hunting", he said slightly: "Teacher?"

"what happened?"

"Why isn't Hachiman the one who slays evil spirits? Since he can bestow the sword on Hiraomo, it means that Hachiman also has the ability to ward off ghosts, doesn't it?" He asked seriously, and Gintoki also looked over.

"...You asked a good question, Kotaro." Songyang smiled and narrowed his eyes, completely hiding the look in his eyes.He said briskly, "Because only humans can kill evil spirits."

The golden apricot groves and fiery red maple trees, the colors of late autumn are always so strong and gorgeous, as if they want to spare no effort to burn the last trace of life before the arrival of winter.The fallen leaves are covered with the bluestone ancient road, and the time and space become remote and quiet, stained with the beauty of wabi-sabi unique to this season.

The whole day was a celebration, and Matsuyo and Yae sent the students to the festival venue and then returned to the ancient Buddhist temple.

Yae has always wanted to try the kaiseki cuisine of the Buddhist temple. The temple originally provided a service for travelers to stay overnight, so he simply made a reservation in the temple without doing anything else.

Today, she wanted to visit the courtyard for a while, but she looked at Songyang's face and gave up on this idea.

"You look a little tired today, are you okay?"

The students were not present, and Songyang didn't need to continue the role of teacher. He rubbed his eyebrows and said, "Sorry, I may have slept late yesterday."

Without asking why he went to bed late, Yae looked at him for a while: "Why don't you go to the room to rest for a while?"

"Sorry." Songyang said again.

The courtyard is the most beautiful in this season, and Yae walked slowly along the winding corridors of the temple alone.

The ancient pond is like a smooth mirror, reflecting the burning red maple, and the arch bridge is hidden in layers of colors in late autumn. The ground is covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, which have fallen and are still blooming on the branches. A strong visual contrast.

It gets dark early in autumn and winter, and after she strolled around the courtyard, it was evening when the sun was setting.

The end of the sky is reflected magnificently and magnificently by the twilight, as if it will burn in the next moment.The boundary between darkness and light became clear, and the thin setting sun was dragged long, silently falling in the fiery red maple forest, which gave off a decadent and decadent beauty, which further brought out the coolness in the air.

The person behind appeared silently, and when Yae turned around, he almost ran into the opponent's arms directly.

The sounds in the world suddenly disappeared, and an inexplicable chill suddenly rushed up her spine, like a frog being stared at by a snake, her brain went blank for a moment.

"..." Songyang?

She looked up.

wrong.

It's been a while since I saw that face showing a cold expression, and the eyes that reflected his figure were blood red.

The setting sun sank into the horizon, leaving only a trace of crimson embedded in the far end, and the darkness poured down from the sky like water.

"...Xu?" She suppressed her smile, stood up straight, and stared at the personality she had never seen before, as if she wanted to look straight into the deepest part of the other person's soul through the face with a false smile.

It's not the first generation who likes to kill the most, nor the ninth generation who is the most cunning and treacherous. The other party's breath is familiar and strange, full of cold and cramped oppression.

Yae: "...now is not the time for you to show up."

"That's an interesting way to say it," that personality laughed in a low voice, his voice was completely different from Songyang's gentleness, and it was quite condescending, "Could it be that you want to say that there is still time that only belongs to Songyang."

Yae suddenly realized where the strong sense of disobedience in her heart came from—she had never seen that kind of insightful and superior attitude in other personalities.

"……Who are you?"

Her tone finally cooled down: "...Who the hell are you?"

The author has something to say:

Appear on the stage to brush up the sense of existence_(:з」∠)_

But he will be offline in the next chapter [Hello]

He just came out for a while, so don't worry about it for the time being.

Songyang seems to have been performing perfectly in front of the students, and the fans feel distressed