[Gintama] Immortal

The crowing of jackdaws came from the mountains, one high and one low, hoarse and desolate, echoing in the valley with nowhere to go.

Ayin was sitting in the corner of the Japanese room, and the nearby wooden table and floor were covered with snowflakes of paper.She watched Yae tie the cut white paper to the bare cherry tree in the yard. When the cold autumn wind blew, the branches covered with paper strips made a rattling sound. flowers.

"……What are you doing?"

"Look at the cherry blossoms."

Such unnutritious conversations are performed almost every day.

Ayin could tell that Yae was very busy.Anyone with eyes could tell that she was getting moldy from idleness.

Probably worried that the moldy people would come on a quick-and-go trip again. Naraku, who guards the academy, has recently become responsive, sometimes even without direct dialogue.

Yae once mentioned Kyoto's wagashi in a conversation between the two of them. Early the next morning, a cardboard box with the name of the Kyoto dim sum shop appeared on the table.A few days later, Yae said that he missed the time of serialization, so the weekly comics that were regularly released appeared on the table. He wanted to read news magazines, and the comics delivered to the table the next day added a new gossip magazine.

A Yin didn't think these actions were considerate, but when she thought of Naluo's expressionless and uniform face, she felt terrified.

Every move in daily life, every word during chatting is within the monitoring range of others. During the time she stayed in Amaterasu Temple Naraku, she was walking on thin ice, every second seemed like a year, but she still had to put on a calm demeanor on her face.

Yae would take her to drink afternoon tea every day, calling it a doctor's visit, to minimize her contact time with Naraku.

The partition wall has ears, and Naraku's guards are airtight. Yae often chats with her all over the world, and at the same time draws the topographic map of Amaterasu-in Naraku on the back of the magazine and in the corner of the manga.She can't bring these things out of the Japanese room, she can only rely on her memory.The topographic map has marked secret passages, traps, plank roads that have been demolished and rebuilt, and compartments that have been abandoned for many years but can still be hidden.

"To put it in a more understandable way, I'm probably the vomit of the dragon's veins." Between drawings, Yae once chatted with her, "In other words, I am the product of an accident. The memory has been erased for so many years, and now suddenly Remember everything, it’s normal to have some sequelae, just drink more hot water. Hey, there’s really no need to arrest you.”

"..."

"Don't put on that expression. Seventy to eighty percent of the people in this world are born because of a little accident between parents. You and I are both products of accidents."

"..."

"Miss Miko, don't you complain about me? I just played a yellow accent. I played a yellow accent in a serious way."

"...Do I need to praise you?"

"Thank you."

"...I haven't boasted yet! Hey, at least look into my eyes and talk!"

Naraku of Amaterasu-in was depressed and gloomy, and the Japanese room of the academy was the only place where Ayin could regain a sense of normalcy, but even so, the time limit for her stay was only in the afternoon.

A few times when she left the academy when she was in a demon, the dim yellow sunset cast a strange long shadow on the ground, and when she turned her head, the man wearing the yata mask was standing on the promenade outside, with dark red pupils deep and dark , staring at himself unemotionally.

That cold gaze seemed to be looking at a dead object.

The autumn wind was picking up, and Yae was sitting by the round window, looking sideways out of the window, the hot tea brewed in front of him exuded steam.

Recently, she spends more time in ecstasy. Once she keeps silent, a kind of silence will suddenly cover her body, as if her whole mind has been summoned to an unknown distant place.

The white paper strips tied all over the branches rustled and rattled in the wind, spreading away like ripples layer by layer.

"……It is going to rain."

Yae blinked and turned around.

Straightforward tone.

Ayin thinks that Yae might be worried about the cherry trees in the garden.After all, it was the result of her hard work all afternoon.

But Yae just sat by the window, looking in her direction, without any intention of getting up.

A Yin paused, and said, "It's the season, where is the rain..."

There was a muffled thunder from the sky, and she subconsciously turned her head to look out the window.

As if some kind of signal ready to send out, after the thunder, the world was quiet for a moment, and then, the cold raindrops were decorated with thousands of silver threads, and the overwhelming rain fell suddenly.

……

The water on this planet circulates again and again, falling from the sky to the earth, and returning from the earth to the ocean.

The water evaporates and rises, turning into clouds and rain at high altitude.Rainwater seeps into the ground and falls into lakes.Whether it is the spring water from the mountain stream or the underground river running through the ground, they will all flow into the same destination in the end.

She is an offshoot of the dragon vein that was accidentally opened up, and has been running independently for more than 1000 years with her own will.

After the memory was restored, the barrier separating her branch from the main body of the dragon vein seemed to gradually disappear.If her personal consciousness is like water contained in a container, the container that exists alone now has a crack, and the water gradually overflows from the gap, and when it falls into the vast sea of ​​dragon veins, her consciousness no longer has an edge, Instead, it is integrated with the dragon vein itself.

That feeling is not painful at all.

Just as water flows into a river and trees take root in the soil, she feels nothing but peace when she is back where it should be.

There is no sadness or joy, nor will you look back and think, just like a flowing river that will not stop, but just keep going forward.

The patter, the sound of the rain was loud, and the empty streets were shrouded in mist.

Transparent raindrops splashed on pedestrians' oil umbrellas, crackling like broken jade.If Yae has a clear consciousness at this moment, she will find that the two-story townhouse of the single-family house is very familiar, but she is only a part of the rain now, the wind blowing the curtain under the eaves, so she just watched the slender white figure walk up the outside. Stairs, put away the parasol, ring the old doorbell.

"Ouch-"

Two dogs barked from behind the door, and the two komadogs, one big and one small, ran to the entrance, and were dragged back by the petite girl.The man with silver curly hair opened the wooden door and met the calm-looking patrolman.

"...Yo, I thought who it was." The man grabbed his chin and leaned against the door lazily and bonelessly, "Seeing Miss Elite from the Hui Group, is she trying to take shelter from the rain in our Wanshiwu?"

"No," said the indifferent female voice succinctly, "I'm here to deal with a dog-stealing case."

The silver-haired man seemed to have paused, and stood up straight slightly away from the door frame.

"Hey, hey, have you seen that the elites in the group are already free enough to deal with the case of stealing dogs? Speaking of which, how many years is the sentence for false accusation?"

Looking past the figure blocking the door, the policewoman looked directly at the little white Komaru.

"How long has its owner been missing?"

The sound of the rain is quiet, and the drops of water falling along the eaves are connected into thin lines, and the silver light flickers in the rain and mist.

The expressions of the boy and girl staying in the living room changed slightly. The man with silver curly hair put one hand on the door frame, and when he bent down, his sloppy smile disappeared.

"We will complete the commission we have received from Master House. Miss Patrol, please go back."

"You don't know what you're fighting against."

The female voice who replied to him was clear and cold, with an unexpectedly stubborn attitude.

"do not go."

The silver-haired man was silent for a moment, then twitched the corner of his mouth in a dawdly way: "Why?"

"Songyang wouldn't want you to do that."

Two words, the noisy sound of rain suddenly fell silent.

Yae's hazy consciousness seemed to be pulled by a sharp hook, and he came back to his senses dripping with blood.

"...What do you know?" The drooping broken hair covered the expression in his eyes, Yin Shi's voice was very low, almost hoarse.

Xinnv's expression remained unchanged: "You are planning to pull the dragon's Ni Lin, which is no different from sending you to death. Songyang will not agree."

Silver seemed to laugh.He straightened up lazily, and asked nonchalantly, "What if I'm going to die?"

"She won't agree either."

"……Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about."

Facing Yinshi's sudden silence, Xinnv just looked at him indifferently.

"Don't look for it," she said. "Don't look for Yae."

She was right.Completely correct.But Yae suddenly wanted to reach out and hug the speechless person standing by the door.

She wanted to reach out and rub her messy but soft silver curly hair, and call him with a smile as before.

silver hour.silver hour.

Today, I lost again in the sparring with Songyang, Yinshi.

You must brush your teeth before going to bed Songyang is already standing behind you, Yinshi.

Wig says his shampoo was stolen and you know what's going on?

The scenery was blurred in the rain and mist, and she seemed to be tied with an invisible bond. Someone suddenly pulled her at the other end. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Swimming and fleeing in the gap between light and shadow.

Her clothes were soaked in cold sweat, she couldn't focus her sight, her heart was beating wildly in her chest, like a panicked young deer that had lost its backbone, it hurt her ribs and she was short of breath.

The consciousness and body that should be synchronized are messed up, and Yae subconsciously wants to grab something, but after struggling for a moment, he finds that his wrist has already been firmly grasped, unable to move.

"Look at me, Yae," said the voice.

"look at me."

In the chaos, only the repeated voice was so clear.Yae gasped and raised her head, her dark red eyes were close at hand, she saw her pale and bloodless face in his eyes, her wet black hair sticking to the side of her neck, like a dehydrated fish.

"Don't think about anything. Look at me, Yae."

Xu Xu held her cheeks, almost touching her forehead. When he spoke, his warm breath fell on the side of her lips, and there was a low vibration in the chest cavity.

"...Xu?" The anxious heartbeat slowed down, Yazhong moved her lips, and her hoarse voice was inaudible.

The blood in the eyes subsided instantly, like a frozen lake shrouded in mist again, lowered the eyelids, brushed the wet hair around her ears, and responded casually.

The gloomy feeling that was suppressed to the point of breaking before, just like an illusion, disappeared completely in the blink of an eye.

Consciousness and body gradually regained coordination, breathing and heartbeat gradually became calm, and Yazhong leaned on the empty arms, like a person recovering from a serious illness, unable to hide his weakness: "...how long have I been away?"

"Not long."

Xu let go of her wrist, and Yae moved her fingers, gently rubbing against his palm.

"scared?"

she asked him softly.

Hearing this, Xu let out a mocking chuckle, but didn't answer.

Yae looked up at him, and the corner of his mouth curled up a bit: "That's really a pity, I wanted to scare you."

The rain in late autumn is very cold, the world outside the window is gloomy, and the lamps in the Japanese room are weak and dim, like a torn veil.

The consciousness that had been awake for a moment became groggy again, Yae was pillowed on the sound of rain falling, and a sense of tiredness welled up in her bones.

Rubbing her pale cheeks with slightly warm fingertips, he lowered his head and asked, "Tired?"

"...a little bit."

"Don't sleep."

"...There is no one like you."

Narrowing his eyes, he repeated in a cool voice: "Don't sleep."

"I'll rest for a while." Yae sighed softly, as if he was some unreasonable child.

"Yae." Xu's voice was shaded.

"I didn't sleep, I just... rested for a while." She braced herself, stretched out her hand to cover the back of his hand in a daze, and patted him comfortingly.

The sound of rain faded away in the darkness.

……

Ayin knelt on the ground stiffly. She was called at an inappropriate time. The spy's body had just been dragged away by Naluo, and the dark red blood on the tatami was still warm and had a strong fishy smell.Xu wiped away the blood drops falling from the tip of the knife, the black blade reflected the candlelight, and the blood stains splashed on it seemed to come alive, gurgling in the dim yellow light.

"what is the problem?"

A cold voice came in the silence.

She closed her eyes, and said truthfully in a low voice: "...the dragon vein is a whole, and the branched branches will inevitably rejoin."

"Oh? What about after fusion?"

"As the name suggests, tributaries disappear."

There was a pause as he knocked on the scabbard, and said with a faint smile: "The solution."

Ayin silently clenched her fists, suppressing her fear: "I don't know."

"yes."

"This is the natural trend of the dragon's veins, there is no way of human intervention...cough!"

In the middle of speaking, her throat tightened suddenly, and her voice was cut off by the cold pressure.

Ayin struggled subconsciously, holding her neck with one hand, with a mask-like smile still on her face.As if she didn't hear what he was saying before, he said softly: "I need you to provide a solution to the problem, regardless of the means."

The darkness of lack of oxygen surged in, and the neck ached sharply.Before Ah Yin could not breathe at all, the force holding her neck suddenly loosened, and she fell to the ground as if someone had taken out her bones, holding on to her throat and panting desperately.

"You'd better give up such a boring thing as the dignity of a priestess as soon as possible." Xu Xu tilted his head and raised the corners of his lips with a half-smile, "If the opportunity is to restore the memory, then just erase it again."

A Yin raised his head, unable to make a sound, and could only look at him like a madman.

"Why, can't you do it?" Xu Xu narrowed his eyes.

Ayin clenched her teeth, and a bloody sweetness appeared in her mouth.

"It seems that it can't be done."

False tone of regret.

"...Why?" Ayin trembled, his expression full of unimaginable horror, "Why did you do this?"

Xu finally looked her straight in the eyes.

"You don't need to understand." He said softly, the blood in his eyes was so red that it was almost dripping, "She is mine."

No matter what it becomes, it is mine.