[Gintama] Immortal

From far away came the sound of the wind.

Passing through the mountains and brushing across the fields, the sound of Ye Hai's turbulence is undulating, like the ebb and flow of the sea, and the misty showers.

The sound of the wind is like some kind of eternal language, connecting all things with the wider world, just listening to it, and the mood calms down inconceivably.

The sound of the wind gradually faded away, and the humming of cicadas made another noise.When she regained her senses, she realized that she was lying in the shade of a tree.The mottled sunlight penetrates the gaps in the leaves, and the stars fall down, as brilliant as broken gold, and the temperature and color are so real.

……

reality?

This thought vaguely passed by, she was startled, a shadow suddenly fell in front of her, interrupting her budding thoughts.

"You fell asleep again."

A little human girl blinked her eyes and looked at herself helplessly.

She said nothing.

The little girl's eyes, like a newborn fawn, are filled with a soft light.

Her healthy heart suddenly began to ache, tightly bound by inexplicable emotions.

"again……?"

She spoke softly, for fear of disturbing the time at this moment.Even though she lost her memory, her instinct still told her that this was something she had been asking for for a long time but could never get.

"You..." The little girl hesitated for a moment, then put her hand on her forehead, "You're not sleepy, are you?"

Seemingly not aware of any abnormalities in her body temperature, the little girl thought for a while and asked, "Can you still recognize where you are?"

The tone couldn't be more natural, the behavior couldn't be more ordinary.

The cicadas are singing in the shade of the trees, and the blue sky in summer is surrounded by the mountains. Looking around, the rice fields are flat in the mountains, and the villages with a population of hundreds of people are located not far away. The scattered traditional wooden houses are in her impression. exactly the same.

Touching the familiar scenery, the memory seemed to open a door. She didn't need to think much, and the correct answer came out: "Kumano."

The memory has the sweet fragrance of citrus, the coolness of winter, the cherry blossoms in early spring blooming on the branches, soft like blowing snow falling in the silent sunshine.

The changing scenes of the four seasons seem to be imprinted on her soul, even if it is fleeting, it is enough to dispel the hesitation in her heart.

"I seem to have had a very long dream."

On the way back to the village, she suddenly spoke.

Fine wild flowers bloom on the edge of the field, stretching and shaking in the breeze.She seems to have walked this road thousands of times, even if the little girl does not lead her, she will not get lost with her eyes closed.

"What dream?" the little girl asked her.

"...I don't know, I can't remember clearly."

The summer sun is shining brightly, washing the world clear and bright.She narrowed her eyes slightly and said with a smile, "But it seems like a few lifetimes have passed."

It was a long, long dream, and she couldn't even remember the people who appeared in it.

In the summer, she was walking on the path full of wild flowers among the rice fields, and the gentle colors spread like ink. Suddenly, a piece of her heart was missing, empty, as if she had left something important in her dream.

The little girl tilted her head and thought for a while, then asked seriously: "I can't remember, are you sad?"

Those eyes that were as clear as a young deer looked at her, not like the eyes that a child of this age would have.

The other party quietly asked:

"Are you sad, Yae?"

Warm things fell from the right eye socket without warning.

That seemed to be her instinctive reaction, she subconsciously raised her hand to touch the corner of her eyes, and touched the strange wetness, only to realize later that it was her tears.

... So she can cry?

There was a dull pain in the heart, but there was no change in facial expression, as if she was emotionally separated from her own existence, and she couldn't make a sound for a while.

She stared blankly at the tears that wet her fingertips, the little girl took her hand again, and said to her softly:

"When you wake up from the dream, just forget about it."

"Didn't you always want to be with me?"

Faced with this question, she found herself unable to utter words of denial.

But if he admits it directly, another inexplicable force stops him.So she just stood there, looking at the little girl, looking at the figure she seemed to have been thinking about for a long time, no matter what, as long as it existed, she would acquiesce.

--I miss you.

The voice in my heart wouldn't lie, but that voice was more of gentle sadness than joy.

I really miss you.

Seeing that she remained silent, the little girl shook her hand, and said softly with a hint of pleading and coquetry:

"Come on, let's go home."

"...Okay." After a long time, she collected her expression, touched the little girl's head, and smiled slowly, "Let's go back."

In the midsummer of eternal life, the sun is shining and the breeze is smooth.

Time becomes lazy, and the noise of cicadas stretches like a line, just like this season, it seems that there will never be a moment when it will end.

During the day, she took the little girl up the mountain to pick wild fruits, dig wild vegetables, scoop water in the coolest stream, and bring back a big bamboo basket every time she fished.

The further you go into the mountains, the quieter and more remote the road becomes.But she is so familiar with everything in the mountains, and occasionally encounters a midsummer shower, she can find the cave for shelter in the first time.

There will be fog in the mountains sooner or later. In the deep mountains surrounded by clouds and mist, when the sun falls through the tall treetops, the still light and dust look very beautiful.

Sometimes she found herself standing there, motionless, looking at the quiet foggy sunlight in the deep mountains.

What was supposed to be there?

Cherry blossoms in full bloom.

The two never stay too long in the mountains.

In the evening, when night fell, the other villagers went to bed early, and she and the little girl slept in the bed together, sometimes telling stories until late at night.The little girl always had a lot of questions, asking what color Kaguya Hime's skirt was for a while, and why the night pearl in the Dragon Palace could shine in the water.

In summer night, the sky is full of stars and the Milky Way is bright. Sometimes two people will sneak out of the village to count shooting stars together.

She stood on the quiet mountain, looking up at the vast starry sky.

Is the night sky seen from other places - far away, unimaginably far away - so beautiful?

When the annual festival came, she helped the little girl occupy the best seat, and she could see the passing mikoshi at a glance.

Both sides of the road were surrounded by villagers watching the excitement, and everyone had a smile on their faces.In the procession welcoming the gods, some held pine branches, others scattered millet, and the people carrying the mikoshi were dressed in uniformly colored costumes and walked straight towards the altar.

The priests of the village wished to offer the opening prayers, and had people present this year's offerings.

There are buzzing voices all around. The life in the mountains is monotonous and simple, far inferior to the bustle and bustle of the capital. The annual celebration is an event that all the villagers look forward to.

Yae stood in the crowd, watching the villagers who served the priest Dazhu lead a figure to the altar.

The thin figure lowered his head, his messy light-colored hair seemed to have been pulled by someone, his body was covered with dirty and worn clothes, and there were bruises on his exposed calves.Probably because of the injury, he walked a little slower, was dragged forward by the thick rope, and almost fell directly.

"……wait!!"

The surroundings were silent for a moment, and everyone stopped their movements neatly, turning their heads to look at her.

The figure also raised his head and met her gaze blankly.

She saw a pair of red eyes.

The space is faint, like a tarnished blood jade, covered with dull dust.

Through those eyes, she saw her suddenly froze expression.

"What's the matter?" The voice of the priest Da Zhu was low and slow, knocking down like a heavy stick.

His mind was blank, and when he realized it, Yae had already stopped in front of the priest, and protected the boy with a blank expression behind him.

"Please end this ritual," she said.

There was an uproar.

"...What did you say?" Priest Dazhu's face darkened.

"I said, no." She said coldly, "You can't treat him like this."

The slightly cloudy eyeballs moved down and landed on her stubborn and tough posture.The grey-browed priest looked at her for a long while, and very slowly, a hoarse laugh escaped from his throat:

"Him? Who are you talking about?"

She froze for a moment, then turned around, and the villager in white looked at her suspiciously, holding the sacrificial wild deer in his hand.And the boy from before, like a hallucination, disappeared out of thin air without leaving any trace.

The interrupted ceremony resumed, and the bonfire was blazing, and the smell of deer tallow drifted in the wind, mixed with the smell of rosin.

She stood where she was, and the little girl ran to her side, holding her hand with some worry.

"If you are tired, go back and rest first."

She lowered her head, and after a while, she slowly raised her hand to cover her eyes.

"...I'm really a little tired, sorry."

The next morning, she didn't get up from the bed.

She waited patiently until the little girl and everyone in the village had gone out. Then she put on her clothes and walked towards the mountain by a hidden path.

The hustle and bustle of the cicadas is far away, and the summer heat is blocked by the deep forest, and the eyes are full of verdant greenery.

She went to the deep mountains, even the villagers who grew up in the mountains, there are places that they dare not go in the mountains surrounded by clouds and mist.

That place was listed as a forbidden area by the villagers. Last time, she was only a little closer, and she didn't even touch the steps. She was stopped by the hunter in the mountain and refused to let her go any further.

She pushed aside the branches that were falling in front of her eyes, and came to the fork in the road.

The bluestone steps covered by weeds stretched up from the side hillside and disappeared where she could not see.

The rust-red torii protrudes from the edge of the lush forest, serving as the entrance to the realm of the gods, dividing the barrier between the two worlds, standing quietly in the deep.

Something seemed to break out of the bottom of my heart, and the shackles of memory loosened, making a crunching sound.

She stood where she was, when a soft voice suddenly sounded behind her:

- "Are you leaving me?"

It seemed to be the voice of a young man, in a dry well that seemed to have no waves, and was plunged into deep darkness.

Just as she was about to turn her head, the voice settled down, becoming gentler and more elegant, always smiling and low, as if desperately suppressing something:

"do not leave me."

The owner of that voice hugged her from behind, put his hands around her waist, and hugged her tightly, as if he wanted to embed her into his own flesh and blood.

"Don't leave me, Yae."

It was as if her heart had been hit hard, and she was so painful that she couldn't breathe for a while, and her vision was instantly blurred.

She wanted to turn around, raised her arms to hug that person, wanted to speak to him, but when she really turned around, she saw the little girl standing in front of her.

There was no longer a bright smile on her face, the little girl looked at her with some sadness, and said aloud like an adult:

"You can't go any further, Yae."

She raised her head silently, looking at the place where the sun penetrated the treetops without blinking.

For a long time, just stood there.

She raised her head so hard, but there was still warm moisture in her eyes.

Quietly bent his lips, Yae said softly, "Have you seen Kagura Dance?"

She retracted her gaze, turned sideways, and the surrounding scene suddenly turned into an abandoned shrine in the mountains.Wild grass grows, moss climbs up the old blackened eaves, cherry blossoms bloom brilliantly in the silent sunlight, and pink and white petals spread over the branches like clouds.

Yae smiled and said, "This world is fake, right?"

The little girl—no, or something else—watched her quietly and asked, "Why do you think so, Yae?"

She looked away and looked at the blooming cherry blossoms without saying a word.

"...Because," Yae smiled and bent her eyes, which suddenly filled with tears, "Because there is no pain in this world."

How could a world without pain be real?

The eternal midsummer, the days that are as plain as water and without twists and turns, are like a rotating waterwheel, and the winds that come and go in the four seasons circulate steadily and unchangingly.Everything went well, and there was no unforeseen misfortune, no pain and parting.

If she didn't have the original memory, she would probably be able to stay happily in this false world forever.Just like an ordinary human being, it seemed that she was an ordinary person from beginning to end, but she had a dream that she couldn't remember clearly, and after waking up, everything went back to the original track.

She can live the life she once dreamed of, until her consciousness completely disappears, completely dissolved in the dragon's veins.

"Am I dead?" Yae asked.

The little girl didn't nod or shake her head: "You're going to disappear soon, wouldn't it be a little less painful for yourself?"

Yae smiled: "Are you some kind of consciousness of Dragon Vein?"

"After you disappear, I will disappear too." The little girl replied calmly, "To be more precise, I was born in response to your subconscious. Obviously there will be no more pain soon, why do you let me Do you remember?"

"...Because I love him." Yae said.

little monster.

virtual.

Yoshida Matsuyo.

It doesn't matter which name you call it, it doesn't matter what your identity is.

When the sun sets behind the mountain, the falling maple leaves in the atrium are like a red rain, reflecting the hazy light in the afterglow of the day.The red maple is scattered, and the thin leaves are illuminated by the light and shadow, and the veins are clearly visible, like thin blood vessels, falling on the ground to form a crimson lake.

——"One day, you will die too, won't you?"

no respond.

"...Oh, since you are going to die, I have to hurry up and create some memories—" She raised her head, "I just need to create some memories that will make people feel so painful that they are about to die in retrospect."

"Time is a tricky thing." She laughed.

——"If the pain is gone, I'm afraid I won't be able to remember you."

The lonely cherry blossoms fall silently in the sunlight.

"I want to see him." Yae choked up, "I really want to see him now."

This world is really fake.

Because after saying this, like a child, she finally stopped crying.