[Gintama] Immortal

This planet has two moons.

When the trajectories of the two coincide in the night sky, the full moon facing each other merges into one, symbolizing the end of the growing season of all things, and the earth entering a chapter of recuperation.

According to tradition, a grand celebration is held in the village.Seeing that the time for the moon to coincide is approaching, people in the village, regardless of age and gender, are busy: building altars, weaving new clothes, brewing fruit wine, drawing tents, Yae is idle and idle, and they simply follow along to help.

Having never seen outsiders before, the children in the village are extremely curious.Yae was sitting by the fireside weaving garlands, and they squatted outside the door to observe in secret. When she lowered her eyelids, they peeked out, and when she raised her head, they quickly retreated from the door, moving swiftly as if they had been trained. Vegetarian gophers.

She thought it was funny, and didn't bother to reveal it, so she purposely extended the time of bowing her head a little longer. When those little guys let down their vigilance, she suddenly raised her head, threw the things in her hand, and pretended to get up and chase them out.

The little guys gathered by the door screamed in fright, and dispersed in a rush, laughing while running, almost screaming with excitement.

Yae sat back by the fireside, and a figure poking his head appeared outside the door not long after, it seemed that he hadn't played enough.

It goes on forever.

With a familiar and nostalgic smile in his heart, Yae softened his heart, and simply lowered his voice with a full performance, and turned to the door with a straight face: "If you bother me again, I will stew him and put him in the pot to cook."

As he spoke, he grinned and showed his canine teeth.

The children covered their mouths and sneered, and only started to run away when she strode to the door.Like catching a rabbit, she picked it up casually and picked up the slowest child.

The little guy let out a tickling laugh, twisted left and right in her hands, Yae lifted him high, and put on a cosmic super fierce expression:

"Is that you? Are you the most mischievous troublemaker in the village?"

The cultural customs are very different, but the happiness of children is always the same.

Yae put aside the matter at hand for the time being, and played around with the group of little beans.They scurried all over the ground, hiding from her for a while, and then couldn't help but come up to him to raise them high. They deliberately struggled when they were caught by her, giggling while moving around.

Yae raised every child once, and returned to the house to find that those children were still following.

"Okay, today's game time is over."

The leading children were older, hesitated for a moment, and obediently left from the door.The rest of the people blinked and looked at her without speaking.

"Go back quickly." Yae waved his hand, Xu walked out of the house at this time, the child who was still stuck to the door and refused to leave immediately scattered like a bird, and disappeared completely in the blink of an eye.

Wow.

Yae admired from the bottom of his heart.

Children's intuition is really sharp.

Yae returned to the fireside, picked up the half-braided corolla, and weaved back the branched grass and flower stems one by one.

Xu Xu watched her busy with no interest.

"You like cubs?"

Weaving into the last key flower branch, Yae raised his head: "I quite like it."

"why?"

"Because it's fun. Children are best teased."

"..."

The green branches are slender and flexible, and the golden flowers are as dense as ears of wheat, and they are knotted together. Yae held up the braided corolla and said with a smile: "This work is called "The Laurel of the Destroyer", do you want to wear it?" ?”

Xu: "No."

Yae shrugged and pulled her hand back, picking out new grass stalks and wild flowers, and weaving them into bunches patiently between her fingers.

"You're annoying, aren't you?"

Human cubs.

Children are weak and thin creatures, lacking the ability to survive independently and protect themselves.

There is no established body of knowledge, no understanding of how society works, and no understanding of the concept of the self.

The so-called child is an existence that is at the mercy of others.

Without lights, the land falls into pristine and pure darkness after nightfall.

The distant stars are shining quietly, the plain splits the forest, and the knee-high weeds stretch into the distance. A cluster of eye-catching bonfires rises up, and the blazing flames fly like stars, encircling a world in the darkness.

The intricately patterned robes lay on the ground, and the gray-eyed young priest slowly climbed onto the altar of Atsugi holding golden ears of wheat.

After chanting prayers, burning sacrifices, and pouring sake, the fire suddenly bursts out, like a galaxy leading from the ground to the sky, symbolizing the official opening of the annual festival.

Leaving the laughter behind, Yae held up her white skirt, stepped over the rustling soft weeds, and ran away from the light source and the crowd.

"You really are here."

At the intersection of firelight and shadow, a familiar figure sat there, like a beast gradually disappearing into the darkness, staring at the unsuspecting crowd indifferently.

Yae suddenly popped up with a "ha!", without raising his eyelids, as if he had expected her to appear from behind, he just curled his lips calmly: "Have you been drinking?"

There is a strange fruity aroma in the air, which is slightly bitter at first, but the slight bitterness quickly settles and ferments into a rich and long-lasting sweet and greasy aroma.

"...Did you smell it?" Yae blinked and realized that he was still holding a wine bowl in one hand, oh, and quickly put on a serious expression: "I found that the wine on this planet is delicious Yes, much sweeter than those produced on earth."

After thinking about it, she put the wine bowl in front of Xu: "Have a taste?"

"..."

"Not poisonous. Really."

Lifting his eyelids with a half-smile, Yae's expression was sincere, and he stared at him unblinkingly with bright eyes:

"Try it?"

The fruit wine smelled sweet, but it had a lot of stamina. She was obviously a little drunk. Although she was still able to stand, her fair neck and cheeks were flushed with crimson, and her voice slowed down a lot.

The wine bowl was tilted, Xu Xu supported her somewhat unstable wrist, and slowly drank a little from the edge of the bowl.

The dark wine is like dark red blood, exuding a rich and slightly bitter aroma.

The light-colored and long-haired man drank the wine she served in an almost docile manner, and the temperature of the wrist holding her suddenly became a little hot, spreading along the skin of the two, burning to the heart.

After drinking, with drooping eyelids, he took his fingertips to wipe off the traces on his lips, and said in a warm voice:

"Is this okay?"

He raised his head, and the previous pure and elegant illusion like a deer drinking water by the stream quickly disappeared, and the slightly curved scarlet pupils undoubtedly belonged to hunting beasts.

Yae withdrew his hand: "...that's fine."

Instantly sobered up, she finally remembered what she was here for, and immediately felt that something was wrong with the current development.

Putting the wine aside, Yae cleared his throat and asked him:

"Mr. Xu who has lived for a long time, can I take up 1 minute of your life?"

Xu seemed to raise his eyebrows: "What?"

"Don't do anything, just stay still."

Yae stretched out her hand, held his face, and carefully lowered her head until their foreheads touched.

It is estimated that she drank too much and her body temperature was higher.In contrast, Xu's body temperature is not so hot, and the slightly cold skin is very comfortable to touch.

"……what is this?"

"The custom here."

An intimate way to say "I value you."

There was a slight touch on the side of the cheek, Xu Xu picked up a strand of black hair braided with floral flowers, and wrapped his fingers around the soft hair tip: "Is this also a custom?"

"It's a custom." She suppressed her smile and answered seriously, "[-]% custom."

Their foreheads touched each other, their noses touched lightly, and their breathing was so close, it seemed that even the heartbeat in their chests could be heard clearly.

"...One minute seems to be up."

"not yet."

He hugged her and kissed her.

The raging bonfire went away, the crowd disappeared, and the eternal galaxy was quietly shining in the distance light-years away.

The air exudes a rich aroma of wine, and the taste between the lips and teeth changes from slightly cold bitterness to sweetness.Time slows down, like a thawed stream in early spring.

Feeling a little dizzy from being kissed, probably because of the alcohol, Yae leaned her head on his shoulder.

The ceremony came to an end, and the stars sprang up from the bonfire were like fireflies dancing in the night wind.

Yae's gaze followed the flying Martians to the starry night sky.

amazing.The earth without lights is so dark, but the stars in the sky are extremely bright.

"Have you ever thought about it - how consciousness is born from matter."

Yae blinked slowly, and suddenly said so.

"Why," Xu held her in his arms, shielding her back from the night wind, like a harbor with ideal conditions, but her posture was completely and thoroughly possessive, "Why did you suddenly think of this?"

"In the beginning, this universe only had cold elementary particles. Even if they later combined into more complex structures, turned into atoms and molecules, and formed celestial bodies and life, but consciousness is in such a completely different form," Yae paused, "When and why? , suddenly began to exist?"

Xu's silence came a bit abruptly, Yae thought for a moment that he didn't hear what she just said clearly, and was about to repeat it.

"The question you're asking doesn't make sense."

His voice was gentle, as if the previous pause was just some kind of illusion, and the words he spoke were ruthless on the contrary:

"This universe was born out of pure coincidence, and the trajectory of all destiny is accidental. Just like the so-called meaning, it is just an excuse that humans give themselves so that they can live."

Yae raised his head, trying to see Xu's expression more clearly.He still had the same slightly curved eyebrows and eyes, and his dark red pupils were as deep as a waveless pool, and he could not see any subtle fluctuations in emotion.

"Are you curious about your origin, Yae?"

"Is there anything wrong with wanting to know where you came from?"

The blowing night wind smashed the dancing flames into pieces, and the temperature in the air suddenly dropped a bit, but the oppressive and gloomy chill was fleeting, and it returned to normal after the night wind subsided.

Xu asked her casually: "Did someone tell you anything?"

Yae was silent for a while, leaning in his arms without speaking.

"No, just suddenly curious."

"who is it."

"It's just my own curiosity."

"Yae," Xu asked her in a tone that could be called gentle, "who is that person?"

"You don't like this topic, we won't talk about it in the future." Yazhong remained calm, "I won't bring it up again in the future."

"...you said it yourself."

Xu Xu bent his eyebrows and said with a smile: "You know I hate lies."

……

The golden leaves covered the ground, the breeze blew by, and the rustling sound was like an occasional shower in midsummer.

The figure who was supposed to be busy preparing for the ceremony stood under the tree, his robes with intricate patterns dragging the floor, immersed in the golden and dry river.

"Everything has a time and a place to return to."

"So please don't be sad."

The boy's voice was calm and quiet.

She didn't feel sad.

The brilliant golden leaves are like a flowing river. These fallen leaves will become part of the earth, helping the soil to breed new life, and return to the world in another form again.

"I can't see where you came from, but everything has its own place to go."

Suddenly he looked more than 16 years old, his gray eyes were inexplicably gentle and a little sad.

"Please don't be sad."

The cool moonlight came in.

Consciousness seemed to remain in a dream, Yae lay in the dark for a while, and suddenly realized that the place beside her was empty.

She sat up, the blanket slipping from her shoulders.

There was another person's body temperature vaguely in the position next to it, which had not completely dissipated.

Yae put on her clothes and went outside.The night after the ceremony was extremely quiet, without the crackling of the bonfire, without any lighting torches, the dark world was like a thick curtain that sucked away all the colors and sounds.

She groped forward in the dark and came to the southernmost building in the village. Specially shaped straw ropes and pine branches hung in front of the wooden door, and the rough touch was very recognizable.

There was a fire in the house, but no one was around the fire.Yae opened the curtain and came to the inner courtyard, and walked through the corridor, suddenly there was a loud noise from the room on the east, as if some kind of barrier was crisp and broken, which was no different from a loud noise in the dead of night.

She ran without hesitation.The moment he opened the door suddenly, the bright knife light swept across the air, the lampstand fell over, and the hot flame burned along the winding lamp oil like a hissing poisonous snake.

"stop!"

The sharp tip of the knife barely stopped next to her ear, cutting off a strand of black hair that fell.The gray-eyed young priest clutched his neck, gasping for breath like a fish being thrown ashore. He half-kneeled behind her, and bright red blood kept spilling from between his fingers, dripping onto the wooden floor.

"Why?" Yae's eyes were complicated.

Xu squinted his eyes, his condescending expression became colder under the reflection of the fire.

"Step aside."

Yae didn't move.

The person who held her in his arms not long ago could pick up the murder knife when he turned around.

She has always been clear.

but.

But even so...

She sighed in her heart, and said two words calmly:

"reason."

The author has something to say:

There are still a few chapters left in the story of the universe, and then it’s time to return to Earth [Break your fingers