[Comprehensive] Light and Shadow

"Witch, Lord Witch God!"

Natsume stared in horror at the large blood-red chest of the Wushen in front of him, and the Wushen held his chest with his right hand, with a painful expression.Natsume was about to rush over in a panic, what happened!

"Don't come here!" The witch god said loudly, coughing up a few more mouthfuls of blood, the bright red on his chest spread terrifyingly, and then he staggered a few times.The witch god slowly raised his head, his eyes fixed on Xia Mu, his purple eyes were full of disbelief, "Xia Mu, why?"

Stopping in his tracks, Natsume looked at the despair in Wu Shen's eyes and felt his heart trembling terribly, why did Wu Shen say that.Natsume lowered his head and saw that his right hand was holding a samurai sword. The blood on the blade fell drop by drop. The bright blood fell on the bluestone board, but the blood red seemed to hurt Natsume's eyes.

Natsume let go of his hand and heard the sound of the samurai sword falling to the ground. Natsume looked at his right hand in shock, and then at the witch god in blood. Did I do this?

"Natsume, why..." The witch god's voice was sad and desperate, and finally he gave Natsume a blank look, then slowly leaned forward, and fell to the ground like a puppet with broken strings.

The pool of blood on the bluestone slab was still expanding round and round, and the god lying on the ground had his eyes slightly closed, his pupils covered by eyelashes were dimmed, and only a few blobs of bright red in white clothes slowly bloomed and gradually became wet the whole field of view.

White silence, red jumping eyes.

The smile of the shaman in the shrine has been static at the moment of first meeting with time, and it no longer exists.

Natsume sat up abruptly, his hands trembling extremely, then staggered out of bed and turned on the light.Breathing a bit short of breath, there was a burst of cold sweat on his forehead, Natsume forced himself to open his eyes even though the lights were dazzling, even though tears kept falling due to physiological reactions, Natsume still looked around blankly and urgently.

Is it a nightmare?

Natsume stretched out his hand to cover his chest, his heart was beating unsteadily and rapidly...fortunately, it was a nightmare.

"Natsume, is there something wrong with your body?" While eating breakfast, Toko Fujiwara worriedly looked at Natsume's listless face, and reached out to touch the boy's forehead. Fortunately, he didn't have a fever.

"No, it's just that I didn't sleep well last night." Natsume shook her head and smiled reassuringly at Aunt Tako.

"If you don't feel well, you must tell me." Tazi frowned slightly, and continued to tell Natsume, for fear that the boy would suffer without telling him if he was sick, "I'll go buy some more milk later, Since there is no class today, you should sleep a little longer at noon."

"Let me go together, and I can help carry some things." Natsume nodded, and did not refuse Tazi's kindness.

"Since it's the weekend, let's have a good rest." Toko didn't agree with Natsume's suggestion, looking at Natsume's pale face, he only hoped that the boy could sleep more and have a good rest.

After Aunt Toko went out, Natsume told Uncle Fujiwara that she still went out.

Walking on the familiar path to the shrine, Natsume bought wagashi as usual.Natsume, who was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, slowly lifted up the sleeve of his right hand, and there was a strange black mark on his white wrist, like an ink dot, but it had changed a little from the appearance he saw early in the morning.

It is growing like life, and the ink color is slowly spreading. I don't know what it will become in a few days.

Natsume sighed, thinking of the nightmare last night, and looked at the marks on his wrist again.

Have you been haunted by a monster?No matter how hard I think about it, I can only go to the shrine.

Strangely, he was not chased by the monster. Even if he saw the monster, he stared at him and then silently avoided it. Natsume expressed his surprise.Natsume looked at the weird marks on his wrist, maybe it was marked with the food mark of some high-level monster, so he was avoided by other monsters.

Natsume pursed her lips and smiled. In fact, it feels good not to be chased like this. Is this considered a pleasure in bitterness?

Step by step through the bluestone stairs, over the crimson torii gate, faintly heard the melodious ringing of bells.Natsume looked up at the cherry blossom tree. The boy in white was sitting on the branch and resting with his eyes closed.

At that moment, my uneasy heart finally calmed down.

The young man slowly opened his eyes, those purple pupils looked at the silent young man, then stood on the branch and jumped down lightly.

The shattered purple hair swayed involuntarily, the wide sleeves swayed in the wind, and the boy was holding cherry blossoms on the ground, such a scene was so soft that people couldn't take their eyes off it.

"Natsume, you're here."

The witch god unceremoniously reached out to take the offerings and fruits from Natsume's hand, but when he saw the strange pattern on the wrist under Natsume's raised right sleeve, the witch god paused, and then immediately grabbed Natsume wrist, eyes slightly narrowed.

"what is this?"

"I don't know." Natsume shook his head, "I had a nightmare last night, and I saw this mark this morning."

"What kind of monster have you encountered recently?" The witch god frowned slightly, and his slightly narrowed eyes were full of anger and anger.

"...a lot." Natsume said slowly, he was used to encountering different monsters every day.

"Idiot! You don't even know you've been cursed! You deserve it if you die!" The witch god shook off Natsume's hand, stared at Natsume with wide-eyed angry eyes, then reached out and snatched the wagashi, frowning, and began to gobble it up.

Natsume didn't speak, but quietly watched the witch god still bulging while chewing wagashi, and couldn't help but smile.

"Stupid, you are still laughing! Be careful that there will be no dregs left after being eaten by that monster!" The witch god looked at Natsume who was still laughing, and became even more angry.

"I have the protection of the Lord Sorcerer God." Xia Mu had a warm smile on his face, and looked at the Sorcerer God indifferently.

"...Human beings who don't know what to do." The witch god paused, then looked away from Natsume uncomfortably, lowered his head slightly, stuffed wagashi into his mouth with his fingers and swallowed, but a cloud appeared on his ear. A light blush.

"Did you have a nightmare last night?" Wu Shen finished eating wagashi and looked up at Natsume.

"Yeah." Natsume nodded, but if he let the witch god know what his nightmare was, he would definitely be laughed at angrily.

The witch god stretched out his right hand to Natsume, with the palm facing up, his white and slender fingers stretched out, and the boy's purple pupils stared at Natsume.

Natsume froze for a moment, looked down at the hand that the witch god extended to him, and then slowly covered it.

At that moment, the ground that Natsume and the witch god stepped on seemed to have a wind current surging, and the breath of the wind slowly supported Natsume's body. Natsume looked at the ground in surprise, but found that his feet had left the ground.

The shirt fluttered in the wind, the flaxen hair was a little disheveled, the breeze seemed to condense in this small world, lingering around Natsume, endowing the human with invisible wings and leaving the ground.

The witch god held Natsume's hand, and stood gently on the branch of the cherry tree. Looking at Natsume who was sitting on the branch and seemed to have not reacted yet, the witch god smiled flamboyantly in a good mood.

Natsume looked down at the distant ground, and then suddenly realized that he was already sitting on the cherry blossom tree.He raised his head and looked into the distance, from the crimson torii to the dark green forest, and the town where he lived stretched in the distance.

You can see neatly arranged houses and interlaced rivers and roads from a distance. Even if you only see it from a distance, the close-up view of the town will naturally appear in your mind. Every road, every house, every day Memories seem to be clearly visible.

There, is where I live.

Natsume's light-colored lips slowly curled up, and suddenly a very peaceful feeling came out of her heart, she could hear the steady beating of her heart, and the breeze seemed to carry a warm and pleasant temperature, for no reason, just looking at that The scenery feels very satisfying and warm.

"Natsume, sleep for a while."

Natsume looked away and looked at the witch god standing beside him, sitting on the cherry blossom tree and sleeping?

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall." The witch god narrowed his eyes slightly, and said with some contempt, this god has given up the throne of sleeping here to you, a human being, do you dare to agree to give it a try.

"Hmm." Natsume looked at the witch god with some helplessness, but he naturally accepted such awkward concern. He was indeed a little sleepy. Natsume leaned his head on the tree trunk, and always felt that sitting on the branch to sleep would feel uncomfortable.

But after closing his eyes, he fell asleep peacefully, and after waking up, it was already dusk.

During this sleep, I didn’t have any nightmares, it seemed like I had a good dream, I can’t remember the dream clearly, I just vaguely remember Uncle Fujiwara, Aunt Toko, Lord Wushen, and cherry blossoms all over the sky.

His body was a little stiff, but he didn't feel uncomfortable, it was just a little heavy on his shoulders.Gently turning his head to look, he only saw the familiar short light purple hair, did the witch god fall asleep by himself?

Natsume sighed softly and didn't move his body, not wanting to disturb the rest of the witch god.

I remembered what Master Wushen said to himself on the day of the night market - "Natsume, can you not leave me?"

That day, Natsume didn't answer, or before he thought of an answer, the witch god suddenly disappeared, disappearing before his eyes as if he wasn't waiting for his answer.Even if I met again, I didn't mention it.

Natsume turned his head slightly, and looked at the scenery of the town again.

The crimson torii is like a sharp dividing line, clearly separating the boundaries between humans and gods.

When the shaman who has been stationed alone at the shrine stands on the cherry blossom tree and looks there, what will he think?

That is the world of human beings. Even if life is short like flowers blooming, human beings still live peacefully in that town every day; but the gods cannot enter, so they can only stay in the shrine in depression, with thin and boring memories. Spend endless hours.

It must be very lonely.

"Natsume..." The witch god softly called Natsume's name, and then moved his head away from Natsume's shoulder.

The witch god stood up and stretched out his hand to Natsume who was sitting, "It's dusk, you should go back."

"Master Wushen, I will come to worship you tomorrow." Natsume also stood up, stretched out his hand to cover the hand of Wushen, with a gentle smile on the corner of his mouth, "Whether it is tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or later, I will I have always come to pay homage to you."

Natsume felt the hand of the witch god trembling slightly, Natsume clenched it a little bit, the golden-brown eyes seemed to be dyed with the clear warmth of the setting sun, and the outlines of the facial features became a little blurred.

"I cherish everything now. Even though I see the existence of interlacing and hear voices that others can't hear, sometimes it feels troublesome, but there are more encounters that are beautiful and warm to me. , I will live my life with these beautiful memories.”

Xia Mu's eyes lightly looked at the distant town, with a soft and warm expression.Then Natsume turned his head and looked at the witch god seriously, the temperature of the palms touching was full of warmth.

"Human life is short, but I still hope to be able to accompany Lord Wushen in my lifetime."

"I hope, after I die..."

"Sorcerer God can also smile and recall a human named Natsume Takashi, and that memory is warm and beautiful."