[Gintama] Immortal

Hearing that Yae refused to go to the temple to recuperate, the doctor who treated her almost jumped up with anger.

The old man with mostly white eyebrows and beard has been practicing medicine for decades. He has treated children in the village with persistent high fevers, and healed the pulse of nobles in feudal clans. He has never seen a patient who heard that he was about to die. My condition developed freely.

If it wasn't for the patient's physical condition, the old gentleman would have sent Yae to the medical clinic with the best resources in Edo to take a good look at what was going on with her strange disease: the seemingly young body, But it seems that he is determined to go his own way towards death, and he is close to the point where the oil is exhausted and the lamp is dry.

The old man insisted on prescribing a lot of medicines for her, and urged her to rest well.

Since you want to recuperate, you should go to a temple with a quiet environment.

He and the abbot there have been friends for many years, and there are also monks who are good at medicine in the temple.The private school was chaotic, except for the teachers who were all young students, no one knew how to take care of the sick.

Yae propped her head up, and seemed to be thinking seriously while the doctor tried to persuade her.

Thinking that she had finally figured it out, thought it through, figured it out, and stopped playing around with her own life and death, the gray-browed old gentleman took a sip from his teacup in relief, moistening his throat and preparing to continue.

"I have a question," Yae sat up a little, putting his hands carefully on his lap.

The old gentleman nodded: "Please speak."

"In the temple, can I only eat vegetarian food?"

"..." The old gentleman almost couldn't bring it up in one breath.

Listening to the conversation between the two without making a sound, Songyang maintained a gentle and polite attitude. At this moment, he suddenly said: "Do you want to go to the temple to recuperate?"

He looked at Yae with that gentle and calm look: "Have you thought it through?"

"It's just a possibility. It is said to go to the temple to recuperate, but in fact it is only half a stick of incense walking distance." Yae counted his fingers, "You can come to see me every day, it will not be a problem at all."

She thought about it, and added casually: "The temple includes food and lodging, and the scenery is not bad."

If he recuperated in the temple, he might be able to avoid the last meeting.

After a moment of silence, Songyang said with a wry smile, "If you recuperate in the temple, you have to eat vegetarian meals three times a day."

"..."

Yae stretched out his hand silently, and silently pulled Songyang's sleeve.

"Please, don't send me away." Her expression was very sincere: "If I eat fast for three meals, I will definitely die early."

... You are dying young, girl!

With a mouthful of old blood in his throat, the old man took a few deep breaths, his face seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

"If you insist on not fasting..."

"You don't have to go anywhere." Songyang covered Yae's hand, his voice was soft and low, as patient as coaxing a child.

Turning his head, he looked at the old gentleman who was so angry that his beard and eyebrows twitched together, and said with a gentle smile: "We have already decided to recuperate in this private school."

"...Such a selfish decision is extremely irresponsible to the patient, do you know?" The old man's tone became severe, and he stopped using the honorifics, obviously really angry.

"Yes," Songyang said with a slight smile.His attitude was as gentle and polite as usual, but he was as firm as a rock. His green eyes were slightly narrowed, with a calm look that others could not understand. "I know."

After staring at Songyang motionlessly for a moment, the old man sighed in his heart, picked up the medicine box with a sullen face, opened the door and left without saying a word.

Tired after just sitting for a while, Yae lay down again after the doctor left.

"By the way, let me just say it casually." She turned her head and looked at Songyang: "If I really want to go to the temple to recuperate, will you agree?"

Songyang helped her cover the quilt, and paused slightly upon hearing this.

The two looked at each other for a moment, Songyang smiled and rolled his eyes.

"will not."

The students of the Matsushita village school heard that the Yae was ill.

But neither Songyang nor Yae could tell what kind of illness it was.

I asked Yae last week, and she said it was heatstroke. When I asked again a few days ago, she said it was a cold due to wind-cold.Songyang always helped her with such nonsense with her eyes open.

Realizing that the two adults in the private school had reached a united front, the rest had to seek help from the students who were present at the time, but they couldn't find out why, only that Yae suddenly fell down.

Although I don’t know exactly what kind of disease I have, I used to run around, go down the river to catch fish and up the mountain to catch fireflies, play snowball fights in winter and pick red maples in autumn. People who are always in high spirits and don’t want to waste a moment indoors have started to nest all day long. In the room, never went out a step.

Several times, Yae, who was supposed to be resting, was caught by students eating potato chips and reading manga under the covers.

Gui told Yae very seriously, and searched for the comics and snacks she secretly hid under the quilt. A few days later, thinking that she should be more honest, a surprise inspection turned out that she was secretly feeding the crows with lunch.

The few black crows landed in the corridor, and when they saw Gui standing there holding the door in shock, they unhurriedly picked up the leftover food, spread their wings, and flew away with a few flaps.

After that day, there was an additional rule in the private school not to feed crows.

Yae sighed: "It's wrong, this private school is really wrong."

The students of the private school spontaneously started to make surprise checks on whether she was recuperating properly, and even Takasugi and Gintoki participated.

After searching several times, since the bed was no longer safe, she began to secretly transfer snacks and comics to various corners of the room.

The safety index has improved, but it also means that she has to hide the comics the moment she hears footsteps, roll back to the bed, cover the quilt, and cover her head to pretend to sleep.

Even if he is sick, Yae can continue to fight wits with them in a variety of ways-I never thought that this would be so reassuring. The students who were a little worried at the beginning gradually relaxed later.

"Do you think Yae's illness has been cured?" During the break, a male student said with a big smile, the hope in his tone was well hidden with a relaxed attitude.

"Maybe she thought it was fun, so she continued to pretend."

His analysis seemed to make sense, and it was very consistent with their known Yae's behavior pattern, which attracted everyone's approval.

"Gao Sugi-kun, what do you think?" The male classmate turned his head, it seemed that as long as Gao Sugi nodded and said "yes", this matter was absolutely true, beyond doubt.

Holding his chin, Takasugi slightly lowered his eyelids to hide the expression in his blue eyes, knowing what the answer everyone wanted, he still said coldly: "This is just your own baseless assumption..."

There was a sound from the desk at the back of the classroom, Gintoki stood up and walked out without saying a word.

"Silver time?" Gui chased him out with some anxiety.

"Where are you going?"

The dark red eyes glanced at him lazily, Yinshi passed Gui and continued to walk forward, with no fluctuations in his tone:

"Go to urinate."

……

Before she fell ill, it was Yae's responsibility to go to the castle town to buy necessary supplies, and it was also her pleasure.

"Is there anything you want?"

Before leaving with Yinshi and the other three, Songyang came to her room very seriously.

"...I'm not a little girl anymore."

Yae couldn't help laughing.

"Do you still have to bring me a gift when you go out?"

After being unable to go out, Songyang clumsily changed the flowers in her alcove for her.

Which flowers to put in which season, because she always told him before that he knew it, but in practice it was not the same thing at all.

The uneven Xia Hua was carefully placed in the vase. Others might frown slightly when they saw this appearance, but she thought it was just right.

Songyang's eyes are very gentle, and the gentle green pupils always remind people of the lake surface smoothed by the spring breeze.

He smiled and said, "But I want to bring you something."

With a light cough, Yae suppressed the smile that welled up in his heart a little bit—just a little bit.

"Then bring me a...soy sauce dumpling."

"teacher--"

Gui's voice came from the door.

The breeze blows over the wind chimes under the eaves, causing transparent ripples.

The private school fell silent.

The sun is warm and there is a scent of summer flowers in the air.

The sky was blue and high, although she didn't go outside, even if she closed her eyes, she could still see it.

There are four teachers and students who are fighting and making trouble.

Gintoki and Takasugi who were quarreling, Katsura who was muddy, and Shoyang who smiled with crooked eyebrows.

She made an agreement with Songyang that it should be the same as usual.

Even if her health is deteriorating and the waking hours of the day are getting less and less, as long as some worried students sneak up to see her, she must be full of energy.

Everything can be lost, but only the smile can't be lost.

Lying on the pillow, Yae turned her head and looked outside.

Over the corridor, over the courtyard, over the bamboo fence, looking at the distance where the undulating green hills meet the sky.

It's a strange feeling to have your mind and body out of sync.

She obviously felt that she could fight for another 500 years, but her body told her that she was very tired and sleepy, and she wanted to sleep very much.

The concept of time blurred.

She seemed to be asleep, but she didn't.

The scenery in the dream and the colors in reality blended and intertwined and separated. In the vision that was stripped of the darkness and cleared again, it seemed that a shadow of a person was reflected.

The hazy consciousness did not know why they gathered together suddenly, and Yae's intuition told her—it didn't seem that there was indeed a person standing there outside the bamboo fence of the private school.

Motionless, silent, standing there like a shadow.

……who is it.

The figure dressed as a walker held the bamboo hat down low, no matter how much she squinted her eyes, she couldn't see the face under the hat.

Even though she couldn't see her face, Yae felt that thin and silent figure was inexplicably familiar, and felt that her heart ached, and her breathing suddenly became a little difficult.

The man slung his luggage, looking like a casual passerby.

It just happened to happen to pass by this private school.

Standing outside the bamboo fence, that person seemed unable to move, just looking in the direction of the private school.

For a long time, stand there.

Yae was convinced that even if someone chopped off his head from behind with a knife, and the hot scarlet blood splashed out, the direction the other party's eyeballs looked at would not change the final scene.

For a moment, she seemed to think that the other party thought the same way.

The pain seemed to be about to die, and the pain was so painful that he wished to die at this moment, but his body didn't listen, and he could only stand there stiffly.

……who is it.

Who the hell is it?

After an eternity, the person standing outside the bamboo fence finally moved.

He turned around, and a crow flew down and landed on the bamboo fence in front of him, raising its neck and making a slightly hoarse, very intimate cry.

At that moment, something overflowed inside and burst out.

There was no time to put on the haori, no time to put on the clogs, no time to think or take care of his current physical condition, Yae stood up while leaning on the wall, and ran out staggeringly.

……Wait a moment.

Please wait a moment.

Please……

"Wait a moment!!!"

The figure who was about to leave paused slightly, but did not turn around.

"Would you... want to come in for a cup of tea?" Yae was holding the skirt of his left chest, calming down his rapid breathing, staring at the back for a moment, "Just a cup."

She didn't know why, but her tone was as soft as a begging.

Please don't go.

There is a voice in the bottom of my heart that keeps pleading.

Yae could feel that person's tension.

The figure between the youth and the teenager was tense, and the wide cuffs hung down to cover the movement of the opponent's hands.She knew that her current actions were very reckless, even dangerous, but she just had no choice, no way to watch the other party go away.

She opened her mouth, her voice hoarse:

"Is that your crow?"

The crow sitting on the opponent's shoulder tilted its head slightly, and its black pupils like glass beads reflected her pale face and out of breath.

Crows are unique birds, some are resident birds, staying in the same area regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and some migrate sporadically with the changing seasons.

She has been unable to judge whether those crows that do not belong to the local mountains and always like to stay around the private school come from the same place and are sent by the same person.

But it is different now.

"The crows who have been watching this private school all these years..."

The emotional ups and downs were too intense, and there was a colic in her heart, and her voice trembled slightly.

"It's yours, isn't it?"

His shoulders stiffened, and the figure suddenly froze.

For a moment, she felt an unmistakable killing intent, but in the same short moment, the other party changed his mind.

It is obviously not a wise choice to kill people at the gate of the private school.

"……Wait a moment!!"

Pupils shrank slightly, Yae didn't even think about it, and ran after that figure into the forest.

The dark green like a splash of ink floods the sky, engulfing the bright summer in an instant.

The surrounding air dropped several degrees in an instant, the sunlight became far away, and only layers and layers of endless forest green remained in the field of vision—and that vague figure that kept going away.

Yae gasped for breath, swept away the branches that hit his face, and staggered, like a person who lost all direction in the dark, almost relying on intuition and an obsession to support his body going forward run forward.

The lungs were burning, turning into scorched dead branches little by little, and the beating heart kept whining under the load.

Oxygen cannot be supplied, the vision is dizzy and black, and the judgment of space and terrain is almost completely lost. Yae just runs forward.

Run forward desperately.

Even if it's an extremely absurd guess.

It is also good for the undead who have long died to return to the present world for a short time.

——Before Yoshida Shoyo became Yoshida Shoyo, the No.12 leader of Tenshoin Naraku suddenly brought back a child one day.

——The little child with gray curly hair just huddled in Xu's arms, even if he lost consciousness, he still held Xu's loose robe tightly in his hands, as if he was not grabbing the god of death that everyone hates and fears , but the only straw for the drowning man.

The knee suddenly gave way, but the brain didn't react, and Yae almost fell down in a daze.

The ground was sloping, and she realized she might have rolled down the hill.

There was pain everywhere in the body, but the pain in one place was particularly sharp and concentrated. She touched that place and felt a needle.

——The child who was picked up by Xu in Obscure Moon was named Obscure.

Footsteps sounded behind her, and she could feel someone approaching.

There was a sweetness in the throat, and the vision was eroded by black spots. Yae tried to move his fingers—his body was paralyzed and he couldn't move.

--"teacher."

In a long, long time, it was the first time someone called Xu that way.

The hazy brilliance is not bright or dazzling, but it actually brought soft changes to the empty and dark 500 years.

The sounds of the world seem to come from across the distant water surface, and there seems to be a bird's cry from a branch, which is long and lonely, echoing in the dark forest.

Yae struggled to breathe, to keep her heart beating.

... not just imaginary.

——Her daily pleasure, the happiest thing, became observing that little child named Oboro.

The shadow fell, and she heard the sound of the blade being unsheathed, and then the cold blade pressed against the side of her neck.

The face under the bamboo hat couldn't be seen clearly, she was very familiar with that cold and stern aura after staying in the Naraku of Tianzhaoyuan for so long.

Yae moved her lips, unable to make a sound.

……hazy.

——During the time Xu was performing tasks outside, Obor diligently cleaned the room, scrubbed the floor, removed dust, and organized scriptures.After cleaning all the rooms that could be cleaned, he sat quietly and waited.

He raised his head, looked at the distant sky, and waited patiently, almost piously, for that person to come back.

Although he couldn't see her, she had sat beside the child and waited with him.

The blue sky, she still remembered.

...Is there something wrong?

The aura on the opponent's body was so cold and unfamiliar, so depressing that it was almost gloomy, and Yae couldn't help feeling dazed for a while.

The blade pressed against her neck would have slit open her carotid artery just an inch further forward.

At this time, it was like being frozen, standing still.

……Wait a moment.

Wait a moment.

Yae struggled to press the edge of the blade, followed the arc of the blade, and grabbed the opponent's hand.

She exhausted all her strength, but only in vain, she grabbed the scarred hand that was pressing the knife on her neck.

"...Don't go."

Songyang will be very happy to meet you.

He never forgot about you.

Your textbooks are still left in the private school.

please come back.come back.

Don't go, please.

——"In three days, I'll be leaving... During this period, Oboro will be counting on you, Yae."

...she was sorry.

She wasn't there, she was sorry.

Why was she not there then.

Suddenly there was a hoarse crow in the forest, and she seemed to hear someone calling her name vaguely.

Yae.

Yae.

Familiar yet unfamiliar with panic.

As soon as the blade pressing on the carotid artery was released, the cold feeling suddenly disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, she felt that the other party opened her fingers one by one.

—— "Is the smell of blood on my body too strong?"

After returning from a false mission, the night was already very dark.While waiting for him, Xun fell asleep lying on the desk, Xu covered the little figure with a quilt in a strange way, was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked her this question softly.

Yae blinked and leaned over.

"I can't smell anything, but," she paused, "I don't think the kid would mind that."

He lowered his eyes.

After a while, he spoke:

"yes."

——That was the first time she saw Xu showing an expression that could almost be called a smile.