[Gintama] Immortal

"Hey, can't you talk?"

The bonfire crackled and burned, and black shadows were cast on the rock wall of the cave, like ancient and obscure murals.

The figure sitting by the fire raised his head, and the armor all over his body made a heavy rustling sound as he moved. The mask with the high nose and deep eyes turned to his position, and the exposed parts of the eyes were covered by the helmet, like two deep wells. swarthy darkness.

Yin Shi: "..."

other side:"……"

The horses who were nesting together by the campfire to keep warm snorted impatiently, and their bits and bridles rattled.

Outside the cave was the dark night and the whistling snowstorm. The masked warrior raised his hand and stroked its rough mane soothingly. He was still a little annoyed at the position, but he didn't stretch out his head to hug him.

...disgusted by a horse.

There was no fluctuation in Sakata Gintoki's heart, so he remained motionless on the surface.

He has been living in a fantasy these days.

Besieged by the shogunate army and fell into a desperate situation, he was rescued halfway by the military attendant who was killed inexplicably. When he was on horseback, he passed out due to excessive blood loss. When he woke up, he found himself in a cave. There is a bonfire, simple bandages and medicines, wooden bowls and soup pots, dried and spread straw...even quilts.

Quilt, child, all, have.

Yinshi's mood at that time was very complicated.

What he hurt was not his brain, he still remembered the value of his own head to the shogunate.During the few days when he was comatose, even if he didn't bet on Takasugi's height, he still knew that the shogunate army was probably conducting a large-scale search in the style of closing the mountain, even if he hid in the ground and turned into a carrot, he would have to dig it out.

"You..." Yinshi struggled to speak out, and decided to be more tactful, "Did you borrow these from nearby villagers' homes?"

The armored figure remained silent and did not speak.

Yuanjiang is directly under the jurisdiction of the shogunate. Most of the local villagers are tenants. They are the leaders of the Tokugawa family. It is a big disloyalty to secretly help the barbarians, and it is equivalent to a seller.

Yinshi's eyelids twitched: "You stole it?"

After a long silence, he saw the other party nod, clearly and unequivocally.

...you still nod oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

There is no intention of introspection at all, only nodding very neatly when nodding.

Sakata Gintoki felt despair at that time.

But it was unknown whether it was due to the bad weather, or the eyes of the shogunate soldiers who were in charge of the search were blinded by the wind and snow. He recuperated peacefully for a few days without encountering any troubles.

On the third day, he felt that he was able to move. He would not feel that the wound was about to burst again after walking a few steps while holding the rock wall. He wanted to go out to check the situation. It stabbed into the ground in front of his feet, the knife was shining brightly, quite dazzling.

Yinshi raised his head, and the owner of the mask looked at him expressionlessly—of course, expressionlessly. Only the dark holes of the eyes were exposed under the ancient thick antler helmet, and he turned faintly into the cave.

So he had to go back and lie down obediently.recuperate.

As soon as he was recovering from the injury, he took care of it for a week, and accidentally grew some flesh.

The silent Samurai left the cave early every morning, and when he returned, he sometimes carried a hare in his hand, sometimes a wild bird, and once brought back a limp snake.

Sakata Gintoki was so frightened that his hair almost exploded. The other party silently turned his head and looked at him. He obviously didn't speak, and his expression was completely covered by the hideous mask, but he read from it "how old are you?" How can I still be afraid of snakes when I am a person” means.

After being together for so many days, he sometimes has a strange illusion that the other person has a wonderful sense of familiarity, as if the two have known each other for a long time.

Even if the other party is silent all day long, when he is motionless, it is like the armor displayed in the alcove boasting the merits of his ancestors—without words, expressions, or eye contact, he can still understand what the other party wants to express.

For example, let him heal his wounds well, let him not worry about chasing and killing, let him eat more meat and vegetables... If he is picky eater, he will cut his belly.

For example, wait for "he" to come back.

When the other party is not around during the day, Euntoki has many opportunities to leave.

The other party would even leave the sword to him, and go out with only the longbow and quiver on his back. The ancient and traditional outfit is like a character who walked out of "The Tale of the Heike"-a person who would have worn it hundreds of years ago.

He could have left, but he didn't.

Yin Shi found many reasons for himself.

From the point of being able to hunt back food every day, the other party is very familiar with the terrain of the mountains and the habits of creatures. It seems that he has lived in the mountains for most of his life, and he can easily dig wild vegetables that are hard to find in winter.

If he escaped, he would probably be caught up by the other party in less than half a day.

This was the best reason he could think of so far.

The bonfire dimmed, and the boundless wind and snow were still howling outside the cave. The maroon horse seemed to have fallen asleep, and the samurai dressed in his old clothes slightly lowered his head and added some flammable dead branches to the fire.

The warm firelight was reflected on that ferocious mask, and after getting used to it, it wasn't scary anymore.

Lowering his eyes, Yinshi said casually, "You really can't talk?"

The shadow crawled on the surrounding rock walls like a silent monster, and after a while, he saw the other party nodded.

"Born? Are you dumb?"

Shaking his head.

"That's the day after tomorrow. You can't speak now, is it because of some unspeakable secret?"

The flame flickered quietly, and the head wearing the antler helmet nodded slowly.

The expression remained unchanged, but Yinshi's eyes were slightly dark:

"Like the family crest on your back?"

Yuanjiang belonged to the "Imperial Leader" of the shogunate, and was managed by Mamoru Inoue Kouchi, one of the daimyos.

The family crest of the Inoue family is a pattern composed of twelve eagle feathers.

Although it was covered with blood, it was exactly this pattern that was painted in gold mud on the opponent's armor vest.

The shogunate army who raided the supply team did not catch up immediately, probably because they saw the family emblem on the opponent's armor, which clearly belonged to the shogunate.

It stands to reason that he should have drawn his knife and pressed the other party's neck to ask for clarification the moment he woke up.

However, it stands to reason that he shouldn't be so careless that he didn't even bring a knife. At that time, he threw the knife so stupidly and held the opponent's hand, got on his horse, and then fainted without defense past.

If his vigilance is so low at ordinary times, it would not be enough to die a few times on the battlefield.

Gintoki seemed to be able to hear Takasugi's sneer in his ear.

Naive.

madness.

Two bursts.

The martial attendant sitting by the fire shook his head, this time the shaking was very obvious, and he seemed to say, "Can't you guess more seriously?"

Yinshi felt that he seemed to understand something at that moment.

He twitched the corner of his mouth: "This armor...couldn't be you who stole it?"

nod.

nodded.

...Nodding ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

No no no, calm down, why did Ah Yin suddenly become a spitting slave.calm.calm.

Yinshi took a deep breath: "Why do you suddenly think of stealing other people's armor?"

After a moment of silence, the masked martial attendant stretched out his hand towards him, and the chain mail that covered the hand rustled softly with the movement.

Yinshi took a few glances at the opponent's arm frozen in the air, not quite sure what it meant.

... Are you going to drag him to the abyss of hell?

The other party is actually a ghost full of obsession wandering around the world, is he finally going to drag him down now?

The warrior on horseback who emerged from the sea of ​​flames looked suspicious no matter how he looked at it.

That time, that place, it's too coincidental to say it's a coincidence - it's almost as if they came here just for him.

So it really is a ghost, right?

Is it a ghost?

Silver reached out.

I didn't feel the illusory and cold mist in my imagination. The deerskin gloves were thick and soft, and they were warmed by the fire.

He handed over his hand to the other party, as if a military attendant from hundreds of years ago bowed his head slightly and began to write in his hand seriously.

Stroke by stroke, the fingers with deerskin gloves slid across his palm, like teaching young children to practice calligraphy, writing extremely slowly and patiently.

With a crackle, little sparks jumped into the air, and soon disappeared without a trace.

Gintoki came back to his senses, and tried to decipher the words written by the other party:

--"ugly".

"..."

"…………"

Is the armor ugly or something else is too ugly!

Why are you stealing armor just because you're ugly?

Yinshi was silent for a long time, and his dark red eyes were already empty.

The masked martial attendant tilted his head and looked at him for a while, thinking that he didn't understand, he raised his finger and wanted to write it again.

"No, no, I understand, I understand Ah Yin. You don't need to write it again."

Yinshi was suddenly tired—very familiar, suddenly tired.

"You... are from the shogunate?"

The other party shook his head.

"That's right, my head is quite valuable to the people in the shogunate." Yinshi talked about his head as if talking about someone else's, and his tone was full of indifference and indifference.

"You won't get any benefit from helping me, at least you can get some money if you sell me."

The other party shook his head again.

Gintoki realized that it meant "don't say that".

He looks away:

"Since you're not from the shogunate, are you a patriot?"

The other party looked at him for a while, seemed to want to sigh, then shook his head slightly.

Yin Shi frowned slightly, feeling a little uncertain for a moment.

The samurai wearing a ferocious mask remained silent, dressed as a murderer, but his demeanor was never hostile. At this moment, it was quite pleasant to see him struggling, as if he was very funny.

——They are now being hunted down by the shogunate.

Very occasionally, he forgets this fact.Maybe he wanted to forget—the gunfire, the smoke, the people who kept dying.

The bright and warm campfire was crackling, and the sound of the wind and snow outside seemed to subside.

After the snow, maybe there will be moonlight.

On a starless night, the shining moonlight is like white snow on the ground.

Very gentle and tranquil scenery.

It was late at night, and the world seemed to become a circle seen through the hole.

In this small world, only the quietly burning bonfire in front of me is left.

"Does not belong to the shogunate, nor is it a patriot."

Silver paused.

"Whose side are you on?"

After a moment of silence, the other party raised his hand and wrote a word in his palm:

--"you".