[Gintama] Immortal

All stories have the same beginning.

A long time ago, in a small fishing village in Tanba country, there lived a young man named Taro Urashima.

Long, long ago, there was an old couple who cut bamboo for a living. They found a three-inch small figure in the shiny bamboo.

A long time ago - there was a boy with no name.

The boy has no parents, and he doesn't know where he came from. He spent a long time in the world alone, constantly looking for a way to end his life.

Jumping from a high cliff, he didn't fall to pieces.

Pierced by a sharp weapon, his heart was still beating.

Using fire, extreme cold, darkness and deathly loneliness, a boy without a name—a man with countless names, tried countless methods, but still failed to die like a human being.

All stories in this world start from the same place.

But how should a story that started a long, long time ago end?

……

Not long after reaching an agreement with Naraku headed by Bi, the actions of the Tianyuan Sect became frequent.

According to the plan, Naraku passed the wrong information to the Tianyuan Sect, leading them from the universe to the earth, just falling into the encirclement network arranged for them.

The new government evacuated the crowd ahead of time, and fierce fighting destroyed a large number of buildings.As the center of the battlefield, the central tower was blown up by Altana's huge energy, leaving only half standing in the smoky ruins.

After the aftermath of the explosion dissipated, the sound seemed to disappear as well.

The dust remained in the air, the ground no longer shook, and the scarred people helped each other to stand up.

The Zhensengumi and the fighters stood shoulder to shoulder, and the ninjas and samurai guarded the more seriously injured partners.Gao Shan and Gui stood in front of them silently, Xinnv held the knife with her right hand resting lightly on the handle, looking at the only remaining enemy.

The figure collapsed near the inner core of the central tower, most of its limbs evaporated in the high-energy explosion, and blood gushed out from the big hole in its chest, staining the ground beneath it red in the blink of an eye.

Kagura and Shinpachi placed Gintoki's arms on their shoulders, carefully supporting his body.The two of them had grown almost as tall as him, and could easily bear all his weight.

The brow bone was stained with blood, and the blood beads slipped down the jaw, Yin Shixu held the wooden knife in his hand, and raised his eyes with all his strength.

clatter--

There was the sound of clogs knocking on the ground in the open space.

Everyone turned their heads, Yunbai sleeves that appeared out of nowhere fluttered to the ground, and Yae walked through the crowd without looking sideways.

She put back on her priestess attire, her long black hair was simply tied up, and she wore a golden crown in front of her hair, and long scarlet tassels hanging from her waist. Her expression was calm as if she hadn't seen the blood all over the ground.

She walked towards the central tower, towards the bloody and almost invisible body.

"……you."

Driven by the empty factor, the figure suddenly grabbed the ground with its crippled fingers, and dragged its body forward a few inches.

click.

The sound of clogs paused slightly, the lingering sound was still echoing, and Yae stopped in front of him.

"you."

The other party raised his head with difficulty, and his simple words carried the sharpness of cutting gold and breaking stones, and filled with a strong smell of blood.

Those were empty eyes, dark and deep, like a devouring abyss.

What is left in this body is the last factor of Xu.

Two years ago, that Xu who was still thinking about destroying the world was the will left behind as a preparatory plan.

This final war was directed by him alone.

"Hmm." Yae made a slight nasal sound.

She squatted down, and the soft sleeves fell into a pool of blood, and the water-absorbing fabric quickly became stained red, withered and beautiful like camellias that had been knocked into the mud by rain.

"it's me."

No one around made a sound.

As the dust settled, Yae's voice was gentle and quiet in the empty ruins.

"It's about to end."

Thin light came in through the gap in the wall, and the sky outside was high and blue, as usual.

For all other creatures in this world, this is just a thousand similar and ordinary days.Far from this central tower, far from Edo, the wild flowers are still blooming, the breeze is still blowing, the rice fields are shining in the sun, and life always goes on.

"Is this the ending you wrote for yourself?"

Xu chuckled, eyes mocking.He moved his bloody fingertips, as if he wanted to pinch the slender neck and cut off the voice, but he just lay in the pool of blood, looking at her without blinking.

"No, in that ending, you will die with me too."

Yae bent her lips, she was indeed smiling: "Really."

The dark red pupils narrowed slightly, and Xu Xu's voice lowered: "You don't want to."

Yae shook his head slightly, and Zhu Sui, who was crowned the previous day, made a soft sound.

"No, I just have something else to do."

Xu sneered and said, "For those humans?"

He looked sideways at those who stood far away and stood together.

"You really like those despicable creatures."

Yae looked at him for a long time, then sighed softly and long.

"You still don't understand?"

The wet blood continued to soak along the soft fabric, the blood color spread up, and gorgeous flowers bloomed on the sleeves of Yunbai.

"It's never been a multiple-choice question," Yae said.

"I love the bright side of humanity, and I love the bright side—just as I love you."

Xu is always good at satirizing people.

He has been tortured with the cruelest methods, so he has naturally learned to deal with others cruelly.

He can always reveal the most secret pain in the bottom of the heart, and cut off the soft flesh on the tip of the heart with the sharpest knife.

This time, he didn't respond.

A large amount of blood was lost, Altana's factor was too severely damaged, and now he has lost the ability to revive, Xu stayed there motionless, his breath gradually weakened.

He closed his eyes, then opened them: "Lie."

"I did not lie."

How does a story begin?

Long, long ago, there was a boy with no name.

"Eightfold." He falsely called her.

She responded quietly.

At the end of the long story, the man who is no longer a teenager can finally die as he wishes.

The sound of breathing becomes thinner. "...Xu." She called out that name for the last time.

Not warm at all, not bright name at all.

Cold, just like you.

The breath disappeared.

She lowered her eyes.

I always, love you very much.

It has been more than a month since the power of the Tianyuan Sect was completely eradicated, and the clouds hanging over people's heads have dissipated.After the threat of war was resolved, the streets of Edo returned to calm.

late summer.The cicadas in the shade of the trees are no longer screaming hoarsely. A group of children are playing in the park. The sound of kicking cans flies high into the air. With a clang, the clear and crisp sound travels far in the clear and cloudless weather.

Yae was lying in the shade of a tree, flickering spots of light swaying in front of her eyes, like fine ripples on the surface of sparkling water.

"What's wrong?" An elegant and gentle voice came from above, Songyang looked down at her with a smile in his eyes.Now he has the appearance of an adult, with a curved lip and a raised eyebrow, it is the smiling appearance of that person back then, with a smell that even the sun is nostalgic for.

The long black hair was scattered on the light-colored kimono, and Yae was comfortably resting on Shoyo's knee, murmuring indistinctly:

"It's nothing, just a little sleepy."

The movement of stroking her hair paused, Songyang's eyes narrowed slightly, his expression was still gentle, and there were not too many waves.

"……yes."

The warm fingertips rubbed against her cheeks, lingering repeatedly on the white and soft skin.

Song Yang caressed her face and whispered: "Stay with me for a while."

"...Aren't I here?" Yae slightly opened his eyes slightly itchy from his fingertips.

She turned her head and asked him, "what's wrong with you?"

For more than a month, little by little, she finally cut off the connection between Songyang and the dragon veins of the earth.

This is like trying to divert a river, the process of cutting off this link is extremely laborious.After the huge project was completed, the tiredness seemed to be born in her bones, extending outward from the center of her own existence, growing thin and dense branches.

She was too lazy to move at all, she was drowsy, and even the sunlight she saw through the cracks in her eyelids was lazy and hazy.

"No." Songyang said warmly, "I'm fine."

As mutants of Altana, Xu and Songyang can absorb the energy of the planet without limit to replenish themselves.As long as the earth's dragon veins will not dry up, as long as they are still on this earth, they can be resurrected infinitely.

She closed the transportation channel of this infinite supply, just like revoking Xu and Songyang's special authority, kicking them out of the earth's dragon vein system forever.

Losing the ability to revive, Songyang has become no different from ordinary people now.

Due to lack of supplies, once the existing Altana in the body is exhausted, if he is fatally injured, he will die like an ordinary person.

He can choose to live on, or he can end his own life.

He can finally hold the right to choose about his own life and death in his palm.

"Then I'm relieved." Yae frowned.

She stretched out her hand and touched Songyang's face with her fingertips.She likes to see the way he smiles, the way his brows and eyes are curved, bright and light.

Watching him teach children to read, laughing with the students, and running to the fields in a daze to help neighbors pull weeds.

Such a good time.very nice.

"Don't make that look," Yae said. "I've wanted to do this for a long time."

After knowing what she was originally, knowing that she was only a part of the dragon vein, and that she would become a part of the dragon vein in the future, she vaguely thought about it.

It's her atonement, but it's not just atonement.

Yae smiled and said to him: "Otherwise, I'm always worried about you, and I can't even sleep well."

Many, many years ago, she woke up from the darkness of nothingness.

On a spring day in the deep mountains, the sun is like mist.The cherry blossoms on the branches are in full bloom, and the magnificent sunset is like a dream, as if it is about to burn in the eyes.

She used to like collecting stories.

Stories of ordinary people, stories of ministers and ministers, stories of warriors and bandits.

Strange tales, stories, miscellaneous stories.

She loves those vivid stories and vivid people, because her world is static.

She used to be the one without a story.

But now to tell her own story, where does she start?

Long, long ago, there was a girl who didn't exist.

She meets a teenager who has no name.

...well, it's a good place to start.

The distant breeze blew over the branches, and the leaves rustled softly.It was like the sound of the sea, the ebb and flow of sea water hitting the shore, splashing fine white foam like flying snow.

"Eight heavy."

Songyang called her softly.

She knew she was leaving.

In the past two years, she has been working hard to hold on, and now she finally can't get over the sleepiness, and she wants to go back to the place where she should be.

Consciousness is lost, slipping into the darkness.The sky between the leaves is reflected in the field of vision, and the mottled broken light is reflected in the bottom of the eyes.Space, time, place, everything is moving away from her.

She felt very peaceful, very reassuring.

She had lived long enough, and now she could finally rest.

Yazhong moved her fingers and found Songyang's palm.

"I'll come back to you."

Be it the wind, the rain, the snow in winter or the flowers in spring—she will always come back.

As part of this world, she will always be with him.

"I know." Songyang bent his eyes, and his fingertips seemed to tremble for a while, but the trembling stopped soon.

Yae smiled slightly: "Live as a human being, Songyang."

"...Okay." He said softly, "I promise you."

Yae slowly closed his eyes.

She seemed to see the boy from before, sitting under a branch full of cherry blossoms.Soft petals fell to his shoulders, to his fair hair.He didn't reach out to pick it off, but just stayed there quietly, staring at her without blinking his dark red eyes.

Holding the imaginary fan in her hand, she turned around in the open space in front of the shrine, dancing with her long kimono sleeves for him to see.

……

Goodbye, little monster.

She walked into that distant time and walked to the boy under the cherry tree.

She cupped the boy's cheeks and gently placed a kiss on his forehead.

— Farewell, my little monster.

……

Empty cans leaped high and across the blue sky.With a clatter, the jar fell onto the lawn of the park, rolling and rolling, all the way to the shade of the green trees.

The leading child ran over, one step ahead of him with a slender white hand, and picked up the empty soda can.

"Give."

He took it in a daze, the person in front of him was very good-looking, he couldn't help but look at it a few more times, and subconsciously asked:

"you alone?"

He realized that the other party was in a trance.For it was a while before he heard the gentle and pleasant voice say:

"Yeah, now I'm alone."

The author has something to say:

In fact, I think that after rebirth, there are always some differences.

Young pine is Songyang, but not exactly Songyang

Although inheriting the same memory, it is not exactly the same continuation after all

virtual as well

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