[Gintama] Immortal

Yae found that there was a little tail behind her.

When walking during the day, when fetching water by the stream, and when resting on the way, her quiet eyes seemed to follow her, and if she turned around, she could always meet the eyes of the red-eyed boy.

The other party neither spoke nor made a sound. Although he had initially mastered the language ability, he seemed to have no intention of putting it into practice.

Yae sometimes chats with passing travelers by the tea house. After a long conversation, the boy with red pupils will come over and stand beside her without saying a word, staring at her with those empty eyes, seeing The other party hastily stopped the topic, and fled uncomfortably.

"...Is there anything you want to tell me?" Even if he asked directly like this, the other party would not reply.

The young man raised his face slightly, and the facial features that had begun to bloom were beautiful but indifferent, like the young gods described in ancient books, contradictoryly revealing the indifference and innocence of ignorance of the world.

The only time the other party spoke before, now it looks like a hallucination of her own imagination.

"……sleep early."

Gintoki yawned and sat down against the leeward rock wall.

The night was like black ink, and the firelight reflected the forest floor, spreading a warm glow in the darkness.

"I still have to hurry tomorrow."

As the fire dies down, the sound of insects in the quiet night is low, like fireflies flickering among the bushes.

Yae, the vigilante, swayed around the camp. She stood under the green pine, closed her eyes, and her consciousness fell into the dark river of the underground dragon veins. She left here suddenly and spread away silently.

Skimming the mountains and fields in the dark, passing through the sleeping villages and towns, the creatures hidden in the night whispered, and the breath of all things came from the wind——

With a sudden brake, Yae suddenly pulled her attention back before her consciousness ran away. She took a light breath, staggered back, and held on to the rough tree trunk.

The dizziness soon faded, and the picture in front of him became clear again.

The young man who was supposed to be asleep looked at her, his dark red pupils showed no emotion, and he didn't know how long he looked there without moving.

Yae paused, and walked over as if nothing had happened.

"Have you lost sleep?"

She sat cross-legged beside him, picked up the haori cover to cover his head, and patted him very familiarly and naturally: "Go to sleep, or you won't be able to wake up tomorrow."

There was no charming movement, as if the other party was some kind of fluffy animal.

The red-eyed boy remained silent.He lowered his eyes slightly, and the silhouette was outlined by the hazy firelight. The boy's appearance in haori was temporarily reminiscent of a court lady wearing a quilt and going out for an outing in the Heian period. There was a kind of indistinguishable beauty that did not belong to this world.

Yae: "..."

It would be a mistake not to visit a photo studio.

She looked at this face for 500 years, so of course she knew that this person was good-looking.

The leader of the killer organization used to always wear a dark mask. It was one thing not to reveal his true appearance, and the other was that he was too handsome.

But she had never seen the appearance of this man in his youth, without blood and mud.

Yae withdrew his hand: "Go to bed earlier."

The boy with red pupils turned his head and stared at her hand without blinking.

Yae had no choice but to press him onto the makeshift pillow and said to him seriously, "Close your eyes."

The boy closed his eyes.

After a few seconds, it opened again.

Yae covered his eyes.

"Don't open your eyes. You are growing your body now, and getting enough sleep is very important."

The boy lay down obediently, but when she moved her hand away, he raised his eyes again and looked at her quietly.

Yae almost sighed: "...you are stubborn with me, aren't you?"

The other party looked at her obediently.

For a moment, he raised his hand, brushing away her long, raven-colored hair with the back of his hand, and touched her cheek with warm fingers, as if touching fragile porcelain for the first time, as if a blind person touched the tangible world for the first time, gently Gently stroked her face.

Yae was slightly startled.

Driven by an inexplicable instinct, the red-eyed boy still had a confused look on his face when he reached out to her.The confusion was reflected in the dark red eyes, and a vacant mist appeared.Then the mist deepened, sinking into the darker place of the pupils.

As if dripping water into ink, the blood in the depths surged up.Yae suddenly held down the boy's hand and said to him softly, "Okay, that's enough."

Peeling, sparks float out of the firewood.

"It's getting late, go to sleep."

She lowered her eyes and smiled:

"I'll be watching you."

The boy turned his head to the side without much expression on his face.

"I'm here, I'm not going anywhere."

The bright red eyes looked at her, and after a long while, they were finally covered slowly.

"Good night." Yae said softly.

……

Good night, you my love.

Naraku tracked Xu's whereabouts for two years.Without hesitation, they were so persistent that they almost dug up the tributaries of the dragon's veins and rummaged through them one by one.

That reckless attitude is completely different from Naraku's dark and low-key style in the past, and it has the meaning of moths rushing to the flame, as if there are still things that can still burn in the 500-year darkness.

Gintoki was walking by the canal in the castle town when Naraku overtook him.The canal reflects the blue sky, and the weeping willows on the bank are blowing in the wind.After many years, Dicheng still looks like it did in a trance. The buildings with white walls and black tiles are the residences of the samurai family.

The peaceful scene was torn apart by the cold metal Zen staff at the next moment, Gintoki pulled the boy behind him, and the long knife in his hand suddenly came out of its sheath!

But someone beside him moved faster than him, with a metallic hum, a purple figure flashed past, the steelless blade pierced into the chest of Naluo who was disguised as a commoner, blood spattered out, dazzling red.

"... Tsk," Yin Shi relaxed his shoulders, "You dwarf, why are you stealing the limelight?"

"It's been two years since I saw you, and you really hope that the first thing I do is to kill you?"

Gao Shan flicked the blood from the tip of the knife, squinted at him, and his deep voice was hoarse:

"It's too slow, Yinshi. I'm getting impatient waiting."

He took a step forward, not towards Naraku in front of him, but behind Yinshi.

The boy lowered his head and couldn't see his eyes or expression clearly, but the light in Takasugi's eyes fluctuated violently, as if a flame was ignited for a moment, and the bright light almost burst out, illuminating the man's haughty face.

He said: "..."

Before he could make a sound, the smoke and dust from the explosion suddenly covered the sky and the sun, and the familiar laughter came down. Gui crossed his chest and stood upright in the ruins.

"I'm late," he said.

Then he was kicked into the field by Yinshi and Takasugi Qiqi.

"No, you don't have to come."

The voices of the two were very cold, and their expressions were also very cold.

"Puff... cough cough cough... show mercy!" Gui let out a pitiful cry.

A chuckle came from the side.

The young man raised his head at some point, his eyes were crooked with a smile, and he looked at the three of them.

Silver suddenly froze.

The name came to the tip of his tongue, making his heart ache.

"...Songyang?" He heard his own voice, which was completely blank.

The boy who was not as tall as his shoulders smiled gently and said to him softly:

"You've grown taller, Yinshi."

The blank is filled in an instant.The whole world becomes irrelevant in that instant.

Yae came out of the alley.

"Jinsuke, Kotaro." Every time that gentle voice said a name, the man who was only a teenager suddenly couldn't move, as if someone had pinched his weakness and strangled the softest part of his heart.

Among the many names, this is the first one to remember.

Among those countless memories, what I finally remembered was these times as a teacher.

……very nice.

Sure enough, she should have retreated into the dark from the beginning.

The person who remembered the name of Yoshida Matsuyo turned his head, and the eyes of the two met in the air.Ripples appeared in the red pupils, and Yae bent her lips to smile, and then looked away, looking at the man standing silently in front of Naraku.

The man was covered with bandages all over his body, as if he had experienced an extremely painful injury. His face was covered with only his eyes, covered by a wide bamboo hat, his eyes hidden in the shadows were gloomy, revealing the cold air that could not touch the sun. .

"Here." Yae called him.She didn't look at the expressions of the people behind her.

She spread her palms to show that she didn't have a weapon in her hands.

"You might not recognize me," she said quietly, "I'm Yae."

The eyes of the person on the opposite side froze slightly, and Naraku's formation remained motionless, but there seemed to be a tiny crack opening somewhere, and the atmosphere became slightly different.

Bi looked at her heavily, for a long time, he said in a hoarse voice: "Master Xu..."

Yae nodded slightly.

"I think we should try to talk." She met his gaze, "about Xu."

About what is left behind.

To that person, Naraku Amaterasu is probably just a pawn.But even chess pieces were born because of Xu, and finally left behind through Xu's hands, almost like inheritance.

Naraku is the sword in the hands of those in power, and a dead soldier who pledges allegiance to Xu with his life.

They are tools to kill, machines to perform tasks, as cold as their purpose of existence, without too much emotion and thinking.

Yae couldn't tell what she was thinking right now.

But she thought that everything should have a beginning and an end.

What started with Xu, and should end after Xu, where should it go now—that wayward guy is gone, and someone has to take care of it.

Someone has to care about this.

To hear voices that have not been recognized as human beings in a long time.

Those who may not be a pity to die, those who have been walking dead for so many years.

Why are you so persistent?What is the reason for continuing to act?

Is the empty name Xu, in a place so dark that the sun doesn't shine, is there still someone desperately holding it in their hands?

"... Yae." Yinshi's voice tightened.

She could hear the tension and disapproval in his voice.Before Yinshi came over, she turned sideways and smiled at him: "It's okay, let's talk."

As she spoke, she looked at Bi again, eyes slightly bent, and said, "Are you going to hurt me?"

"...No." Bi lowered his gaze, "It is Master Xu's order to protect you."

He paused for a moment, and moved his fingers slightly to signal, and there was a rustling sound, and Naluo retracted the stick knife into its sheath.

"I'll go with them and be back soon."

The eightfold voice is brisk.

The 500 years of Amaterasu-in Naraku are Xu's 500 years, and they are also hers.

Even if she is just a bystander, a witness of history, she also has an inescapable, self-imposed responsibility.

…No, maybe not just responsibility.

Even in such a dark place, cherry blossoms bloomed and red leaves fell.

Yae looked at the four of them, blinked, and showed a playful smile:

"I haven't seen you for a long time. You teachers and students should have some chats, shouldn't you?"

When he is with students, that person can become Songyang.

How can you be a teacher without students?

——Who will this "you" be?

No matter what choice you make, no matter which name you remember in those countless memories.

I only hope that the nightmare of the past will never be repeated again, and that the rest of your life will be safe and free from suffering.