[Gintama] Immortal

The Sutra Pavilion located outside the academy is a product of construction nearly 400 years ago.

Usually few people patronize, and some of the scroll books piled up in the depths are too old, worn yellow and brittle by time, and gradually forgotten after no one reads them over time.

Thick wooden beams block the thin sunlight, and the library on the second floor is extremely quiet, sunk in drowsy shadows.

The footsteps of her alone echoed in Nuoda's space, and Yae swayed from one row of labyrinth-like bookshelves to the next row, her eyes flicked to the left carelessly, and she froze.

Resolutely moving across, she stood on tiptoe and stretched her arms, reaching up with her fingers, her fingertips barely touched the bottom of the navy blue book, and tried hard for a long while, before she wiped the cover of the book with a layer of dust. , a pale hand passed over her head, and quietly took down the book.

"...Thank you." Yae took the dusty book from Oboro's hand.

The gray-haired man nodded silently, as a gesture, and turned around to leave.

"Is your injury better?"

Yae called him to stop.

He paused in his footsteps, and turned sideways. The mist-like dust was swimming in the stagnant air. His whole body was hidden in the shadow between the bookshelves. The thin kimono of dry wild color was not so much worn by people as it was. It is said that it is set on the thin skeleton.

The scar along the wrist disappearing into the empty cuff is shallow and pale, and the man's fingers are pale and knuckles distinct, with a sense of sharpness and fragility, like a blade that is about to break after being used too much.

"This little injury is nothing to worry about."

Oboro replied in the tone of describing other people's injuries.

Yae trotted forward a few steps, turned around skillfully and stopped in front of Oboro.

"Well, I see that you have nothing to do now that you are recovering from your injuries. Since you have all wandered to the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion," she smiled kindly, and raised the book in her hand, "Why don't you chat with me?"

Oboro subconsciously glanced at the old book cover, and paused when his eyes touched the words "Ise Tale".

He withdrew his gaze expressionlessly: "Why is this kind of book here?"

"The Tale of Ise" was written in the early Heian period more than 900 years ago. Among the more than 200 Japanese songs recorded in it, eight of the ten chapters are related to the relationship between men and women, and all the songs are about love stories thousands of years ago.

Yae: "Want to know?"

"..."

"Do you want to know why such romantic books appear on the bookshelf of Tenshoin Naraku?" Yae continued to smile: "Then chat with me."

After being silent for a while, Gujing Wubo's voice was deep and deep: "Is this an order?"

"...No," Yae blinked, and then she put down the book in her hand, "Do you have to be ordered to chat with me?"

"...You know where my injury came from." Long raised his eyes, the expression on his face made it impossible to see what he was thinking in his heart.

For those who play politics and engage in assassination, learning to keep quiet is the basis of survival.Climbing all the way up from the bottom of Amaterasu Inner Naraku, the mask must be worn firmly, so tight that it melts into the flesh and blood, and cannot be peeled off until death.

"I know." Yae rubbed the dust on the writing.

She knew what happened that night in Edo Castle.

The library full of historical dust amplifies the sound of every inch of breathing. There is no clock and dial to record time, and time is still falling like quicksand in an hourglass in silence.

"You are already adults." Yae's voice was close to a sigh, "You have already grown up."

If they were still just students in a private school, it would be fine for the smiling teacher to punch each of them to the ground when they were fighting.

The palm or the back of the hand, how to choose... She didn't know.

"I'm sorry if you want an answer." Yae just said that in the end.

Eyelids drooping: "You misunderstood, I didn't want an answer."

Yae followed in silence for a while: "Let me tell you, do you have to use honorifics?"

"Compared to five years ago, the situation has changed." Long's expression was indifferent, and he spoke concisely. When he said this sentence, he seemed to be completely unaware of the implication.

"...Wait, what has changed?" Yazhong asked in confusion.

Oboro looked away calmly: "There are some things that our subordinates shouldn't talk about rashly."

This person's attitude is too serious, even if he is really teasing her seriously, he can't tell the difference at all.

"..." Yae almost wanted to raise his hand and rub his face: "Does the corner of your Naraku sound a little too slippery? Isn't the efficiency a little too high at this time?"

Hazy lowered her head: "Don't dare."

Then he raised his eyes again, and said in a flat statement: "You didn't deny it."

Yae: "...Why didn't I find it so difficult for you to speak before."

No matter how stern and loyal the dog looks on the outside, how can he be the thirteenth generation of Amaterasu-in's Naraku, who is easy to deal with, and it is absolutely black when cut.

Hazy's expression didn't change.

Yae raised his hand and put it down again, a rare feeling of defeat.

"Please remove the honorifics, I beg you to remove the honorifics."

Hazy: "Forgive me."

"..." After a long while, she raised her head, sighed deeply, and chose to break the jar and said, "Then take this as an order—please sit at the desk over there, before I come back with refreshments." Sit still and don't move."

The thirteenth generation of Amaterasu-in Naraku is worthy of being the thirteenth generation of Amaterasu-in Naraku's thirteenth generation. In terms of the perfection of executing orders, no one can surpass it in 500 years.

The Sutra Pavilion is not far from the academy where she lives now, Yae went out for a trip and came back, and saw that it was exactly as she asked, waiting in place motionless.

The misty sunlight fell over the eaves. He maintained the posture when she left, with his back straight and his hands resting on his knees, like a monk meditating. Just looking at his back makes people want to step forward and check his breath impulse.

Yae handed the dark gray quilted feather fabric to his eyes: "Put it on."

The shadows of the verdant trees cast a shade on the wooden floor. The spring day is not too cold, but it is still not enough to wear only single clothes.

"Even if you don't care, there should be a limit to the labor of exploiting employees."

Oboro didn't take it immediately, Yae's hand just stopped in mid-air, she didn't mind, and continued casually: "I see that you were taken away by the Heavenly Daoists before your tendons were twisted a few days ago, Did you vomit blood during the report?"

"...Mr. Ding Ding's chess piece has been abolished, and the political situation has changed. It is only natural for them to feel anxious."

Lowering his eyes, Oboro raised his hand to take the haori she handed over.

"At this time, you are still considerate of your boss. You are indeed one of the top ten good employees of Amaterasu Institute Naraku." Yae sat at the table, and she seemed to be pleasing to the eye when she saw that she had warmed up. Since you have nothing to do for a few days, you should take a good rest. If Naraku of Amaterasu Institute loses you as a model worker, it will be a big loss."

Oboro was silent for a while.

"You..." He changed his words slightly after meeting Yae's gaze, "What did you say?"

A few days ago, he was summoned by the Heavenly Daoists, and there was no further movement after that.

This is not normal.In today's politically unstable moment, it is even more weird.

Yae picked up the senbei and started to eat it.

"Hmm... what? I didn't say anything."

Can't tell she's playing dumb, unless a person is blind.

He looked at her expressionlessly, his eyes filled with disapproval.

After eating a senbei, Yae patted the crumbs off his hands.

"Speaking of which, I also have something to ask you." She took out the matcha biscuit and tore open the package, "What did you do?"

Hazy: "What do you mean?"

"One year." Yae casually raised a finger, "I was discovered by Naraku when I was in Yoshiwara a year ago, but I was only caught back now. When did Naraku's efficiency become so low? have no idea."

As expected of a person who was promoted all the way through the bloody wind of the Kanzheng Prison, his expression remained motionless: "That's because Shinsuke Takasugi obstructed it."

Yae's movements paused slightly: "Really."

The ghost soldiers were hard to find, and she hadn't seen Takasugi for a while.Occasionally, she would see a few words about the Ghost Soldier Squad on the news, knowing that he was still energetically destroying the scene, she would feel more at ease in her heart.

Now that she has returned to Tianzhaoyuan Naraku, it's not just that she can't see Takasugi often.

Considering that Naraku would come to her door at some point, she once made second-hand preparations, sending a letter to the landlord of the apartment, and a letter to Mrs. Osaki who worked part-time at the bento shop.

If Gui lost her temper and went to look over her balcony again, she would be able to find the key she had not returned to the landlord on the balcony now, and if she searched the room a little, she would find a letter with the same content.

It should be said that an apology is better, or a note before a long trip.

Anyway—"Please don't worry about my affairs."

I can't promise a return date, but that's all I want, and I hope it can be clearly conveyed.

Yae looked at the scattered sunlight among the shadows of the trees.

After a while, she turned back: "Speaking of which, are we talking now?"

Obscure didn't answer for a while, she pushed the matcha biscuit in his direction, as if exchanging the initiative of the conversation: "Then, this is a rare opportunity, I'll give you a limited-time discount - as long as it is a question you are interested in, you can do whatever you want." ask."

The wind blew in the mountains, and the shadows cast by the clouds flitted across the ground.

The bronze lamp under the eaves emits a distant sound, like an ancient musical instrument sung by the wind.

Just when Yae thought she would not hear a reply, Oboro suddenly opened his mouth slightly: "How long... have you known each other?"

As if he had crossed some taboo boundary and reached out to touch something that could not be touched, the man's shoulders covered with dark gray feathers tensed up, like a person who was about to be punished, he instinctively made a defensive posture, but Between the suppressed movements, there is an expectation that cannot be described in words.

He lowered his head and narrowed his eyes, his voice was hoarse and obscure:

"And...the lord."

There was no response from the other side.

The first time someone asked her this question, Yae forgot what she originally wanted to say at that moment.

"...the first time I saw that person," the moment of ecstasy was short and long, and Yae returned to the real time point.She opened her mouth and heard herself say slowly: "It happened three years ago, nearly 800 years ago."

The wind passing through the mountains calmed down, and the lush and deep tree shadows were cast on the wooden floor, leaving ink-like traces.

"But at that time, we couldn't say we knew each other. For various reasons, that person ran to a shrine in the mountains to avoid being chased by the villagers. After escaping from that village, I never saw him again."

"...Really." Obscure's voice was very soft.

Thinking of something, Yae smiled: "That person... was completely different from what he is now. Have you ever seen a crow's cub? That's almost the same feeling."

Ragged, thin and small, at first she thought that the other party was a child discarded by some human family.

"When we met again," Yae's voice paused, "it was more than 200 years later."

"He...became very different, rather a completely changed person."

The blood-stained man stood among the corpses on the battlefield, his eyes were gloomy, his expression was cold, and his reaction to words was extremely slow, as if he only had the instinct of killing left.

The man was in such a bad state that she couldn't say a word—"What's wrong with you?"

In the first 100 years since Tenshoin Naraku was established, she was almost speaking to a stone.

Knocking on a stone will immediately echo, but the existence named "Xu" sometimes won't raise his eyes even after she says a dozen or so words.

There was nothing in that person's eyes.

Where are you looking?

She was around that shell all day long, following that being that was driven by hatred and rage.

——What the hell is she doing?

It would be a lie to say that such an idea never occurred to me.

But she stayed.

I can't explain why, but I just can't let it go anyway.

To let that person face the world alone again, she couldn't do it no matter what.

So she learned to chat one-sidedly, learned to stay in the oppressive and dark killer organization, and learned to bargain with people who ignored you life and death.

She learned to observe a person, to keep looking at a person, not to look away for 500 years.

"Did you know?" Yae suddenly raised his eyes and said the fact that it is natural, but now it seems unbelievable: "That person was illiterate before."

Reading and calligraphy has been the privilege of the ruling class for a long time in the past."Ghosts" who are not tolerated by human society and can only be hated and feared by people naturally cannot get the opportunity for education.

Became the leader of Amaterasu-in Naraku, began to be used by the ruling class, "ghosts" are still "ghosts", and can never get rid of their humble status and sit with human beings.

Receiving education is the right of a few people. If they cannot acquire human characters, they will put themselves in a very passive and unfavorable situation.

Since humans are unwilling, the "ghosts" learn by themselves.

If there is no teacher, put the knife on the opponent's neck.In the face of life-threatening choices, human beings always compromise very quickly.

"……wait for me a while."

I don't know what I thought of, and I watched Yae suddenly ran out excitedly, and ran back excitedly after a while holding something.She put the pile of things on the desk in front of him. They were all scrolls that were too old to tell the exact year, there were annotated Buddhist scriptures, and there were also ancient books that recorded the events of Amaterasu-in Naraku over the years.

Yae carefully dusted off the dust, opened one of the volumes, and pointed to the note on the footer:

"Did you see it? The word "ji". "

The kanji 「ji」 was formerly used to mark the syllable of 「き」, and is one of the most common manyo kana.

"I'll tell you a secret. Don't tell it. If you say it, you will be cut off." Yae's expression was very serious, and he seemed to have a faint smile. "On this word, that person must write it well. Once Been practicing for a while."

She opened another volume, which seemed to be relatively new, the pages not so damaged and the ink not smudged beyond recognition.Spreading the two volumes of books together in front of Oboro, Yae said with great interest:

"Did you see the difference? This book, and the handwriting in this book, have obviously improved since then, right?"

Oboro raised his eyes, and Yae was obviously immersed in another world.

She arranged and spread out the books and documents that Xu had written before in chronological order, from Buddhist scripture annotations 400 years ago to recent shogunate documents. Those papers that carry history itself have not been exposed to the sun for a long time, fragile, thin, withered and yellow Like fallen leaves in late autumn.

"Didn't you ask me before why there is "The Tale of Ise" in the Sutra Pavilion in Naraku of Tenshoin? It's not because that guy reads these dry books all day long. I kindly suggest him to read more "The Tale of Genji" Classics such as "Tao Yang Tao Yang's literary sentiments, but he threw them all on the bookshelf to eat ashes."

Yae shook his head, still smiling.She raised her hand to wipe off the dust on the scroll, and opened the scroll that recorded the history of Yanxiang's years on the table.

"That person—more precisely, the person from more than 100 years ago, when writing the hiragana "り" in succession, there is a small habit of making a circle around the tail. "

While talking and laughing, she realized that Oboro had been silent, so she stopped suddenly.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Yae straightened up, and she closed the book, "I accidentally said too much about such insignificant things. What was your problem at the beginning?"

"...No," Hao closed his eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "This is not an unimportant matter."

……

Xu passed through the towering door, and the slowly opened door made a heavy sound, echoing in the silent air.

Walking up the stone steps and walking through the winding corridors, Naraku would stop silently and touch the ground with the metal Zen stick, bowing down to salute him every time he passed by.

Walked over without squinting. Looking at the same scene repeatedly for 500 years, it seems superfluous to capture it with peripheral vision from the corner of the eye.

"My lord."

A deep and hoarse voice sounded, and she came out to meet him in her feathers, bowed her head and lowered her eyes, her expression respectful as usual.

Squinting his eyes, before Xu could speak, Yae had already run down the stairs.

she is laughing.Eyebrows stretched, the corners of the mouth curled up, as if it had been a long time since he came back.

"Why have you been here all day this time? Are those old men in the Heavenly Daoist Church just nagging? Listen to me, I'm in the Sutra Pavilion today..."

Yae grabbed his sleeve and chattered cheerfully.

Xu casually raised his eyelids, led the others back without saying a word.

"...What am I talking about, are you listening?" Yae raised her face.

Xu took his eyes back unhurriedly: "So, what then?"

Yae: "... you're not listening at all, are you?"

"No, I'm listening." Xu smiled.

Half of the keys in the hands of Tiandaozhong have now fallen into his hands.

As long as he wants, he can launch an interstellar-scale war at any time.

"...nonsense."

Yae laughed, took a step forward and raised her arms to hug his back, pressing her face into his arms.

"No way, I'll just take what you said is true."

His figure paused slightly, his eyes lowered.

Leaning softly in his arms, Yae narrowed his eyes happily, and said to him with a smile:

"Welcome back."

But now is not the time to start a war.

Not yet.