fictional spring

Not long after I woke up the next day, the maid came to look for me again, and she told me: "Master Yuanshan has something to ask for you."

Obviously I just came to the city yesterday, but I didn't want to let go of even a minute. I didn't know until I met Lord Swordsman that he actually couldn't fall asleep at night.

"Is it because you are not used to the environment in the city?"

After I asked this question, Lord Swordsman shook his head, "It's just that I always feel a little uneasy, so I just don't sleep."

"Master Yuanshan," I thought for a while, and then said, "But in this case, can your body really support it?"

Before he answered, I continued: "When something like this happened, everyone naturally wanted to find out the truth as soon as possible, but now there are no clues at all... You are pushing yourself too hard."

Hearing that Lord Swordsman opened his eyes slightly, he was silent for a moment, nodded and said: "You are right, I am very sorry."

In fact, he has absolutely no reason to apologize.

He said that I was right, but in fact the swordsman had no intention of going to rest, but looked around and said to me: "Can I talk to you alone?"

Hearing this, the maids guarding around lowered their heads.I could probably sense his intentions, so I nodded and let the others go out for now.

The young swordsman sat in front of me. After confirming that everyone else had left, he said: "Although it is a bit presumptuous, I still want to ask you some questions. I hope you can tell me the truth as much as possible."

The serious-looking swordsman pursed his lips, and said, "I heard that you visited the City Lord yesterday, what do you think of the City Lord's situation?"

In fact, when Lord Swordsman spoke, I could vaguely guess what he wanted to ask.

"Father's complexion doesn't seem very good-looking, and his skin is paler than usual..."

"Is there anything strange about that?" The swordsman asked abruptly, "For example, is he afraid of the sun, and what about the smell... Do you smell blood?"

——The swordsman is suspicious of his father.

This kind of cognition instantly occupied my mind and made me hesitate for a moment.

I still nodded: "I smell it."

Although it is a very light smell, it really emanates from the body of my father.It didn't seem like he had it originally, but more like - the smell left from between the fingers and minions.

And I once learned from Master Swordsman that "ghosts" are cruel creatures that feed on human beings.

Hearing that Lord Swordsman's expression became more serious, he stared into my eyes for a long time, and then he seemed to have made some important decision, and said to me: "To be honest, I investigated in the city last night. After looking at the time and place of those people's disappearance, a very interesting thing was discovered."

"What's the matter?"

"If the residences of those who disappeared are arranged according to the time of their disappearance, they will be the distance from the city lord's mansion from far to near..."

Lord Swordsman suddenly mentioned this, as if he wanted to hint at me.

"Nowadays, except for the City Lord's Mansion, almost everyone else in the city has disappeared."

Speaking of this, if I don't understand what the swordsman wants to tell me, then I can say that it is abnormal.

I said softly: "So you think the 'ghost' is in the Santo's Mansion, right?"

Lord Swordsman did not deny it.

I fell silent.

Seeing that I didn't answer, Lord Swordsman sat upright and said, "If possible, I hope to meet Lord City Master."

——Then determine whether my father is the "ghost".

It's hard to say what kind of mood I'm in at this time. In fact, I've already noticed it when I saw my father yesterday, but I still have a little unwillingness to believe it, but today the swordsman is in front of me. Informed me of his suspicions.

"I'll arrange it for you."

This is my answer.

Lord Swordsman bowed and said, "I am very grateful."

I closed my eyes and suddenly felt a little dizzy, so I raised my hand and pressed my forehead: "I will give you an answer to this matter as soon as possible, please go back and rest for now, Mr. Yuanshan."

But the swordsman showed a look of hesitation, as if he still had something to say to me.

I looked up and saw his expression, "Do you have anything else to do?"

"I heard that a witch came to the city lord's mansion a few months ago, and her name is Wu Mi..." At this point, the swordsman frowned tightly, and said to me: "To be honest, I once I learned from the lord that there is only one ghost in this world who can transform human beings into ghosts, and his name—”

I watched his lips open and close.

He said, "It's Ghost Dance Tsuji Mumi."

And that is the name of Miko-sama.

At the beginning, the witch only told us that her name was "Wu Mi", and later "Gi Wu Tsuji Mu Mi" was only mentioned once when I was alone with me, so what the swordsman knows is only from the maid's name. The "no misery" heard in the mouth.

In this way, his doubts about Miko-sama suddenly dropped a lot.

My thoughts suddenly fell into strange chaos, I subconsciously lowered my head, frowned and did not speak.

After a while, I turned back to him and asked, "Did you mean 'he'?"

Hearing this, the swordsman nodded, "Oni Wu Tsuji is undoubtedly a male, so I just find it a bit strange. That priestess is probably just a coincidence."

I suddenly remembered what Miko-sama once said, "Miko-sama said that she also heard about the Ghost Slayer Squad, although I don't know where she heard it from, but maybe her name has something to do with it."

This is already the most appropriate reason I can think of.

Apparently, he also saw that I was obviously unwell at the moment. Master Yuanshan asked about my physical condition again. After calling Lizi who was guarding outside the house, he was still not at ease.

"How about I take you back together?" Lord Swordsman said.

Before the words fell, another voice sounded at the door: "No need."

It was a female voice I was very familiar with.

The miko who was standing at the door stepped into the Japanese room, and said to the slightly surprised eyes of the swordsman: "I will take care of Mu Yue Ji."

This is the character of Miko-sama, so strong that it can even be called willful, coupled with the tone that does not allow others to refute, so that Swordsman-sama was unable to speak for a while.

"you are……"

After hesitating for a moment, the swordsman asked, "Is it the Miko-sama that Mutsuki Hime mentioned?"

I don't know if it's my illusion, but Miko-sama's face doesn't look very good at this time, as if she is bored or disgusted by Swordsman-sama, "What does this kind of thing have to do with you, everyone in the Ghost Killing Squad likes it so much Mind your own business?"

Hearing this, I tugged on her sleeve.

Probably my small actions also had some effect, Miko-sama's face finally became normal, but there was still no friendly sign, and one could not help but wonder if she and the Ghost Killing Squad had any unsolved grudges .

In my opinion, the members of the Ghost Killing Squad are not at all annoying.

The swordsman has been sizing up Miko-sama since she appeared in front of him, and that sight seems to make Miko-sama even more displeased, "If there is nothing else, Mutsuki-hime will have to rest."

This is obviously driving people away.

After Miko-sama said such words, Swordsman-sama had no reason to stay any longer. Before leaving, he took another deep look at Miko-sama, as if he was thinking about something, he stepped out door.

After he left, I breathed a sigh of relief, let go of the sleeve of Miko and asked, "Why did you come out suddenly?"

It was said that Miko-sama looked outside—because of the snow, the weather was dark and there was no sunlight.

"When I went to look for you in your room, I saw that you were not there, so I guessed that I came here."

I couldn't help coughing as she spoke.Seeing this, she frowned, and suddenly looked closer at me: "Your face is so red, are you sick again?"

I froze for a moment, and was about to say that I was fine, but was interrupted by Miko-sama's blurted words: "That kind of messy little thing is fine, even if you let it go, it doesn't matter."

In fact, I shouldn't be turning against the Miko at this time, but when I heard her say such a thing, and showed her appearance as if she didn't take everything seriously, I still couldn't help but refute: "But if you let it go If we go down, other people in the city may disappear again."

"So what if you're missing? That kind of thing has nothing to do with you."

Miko-sama took it for granted that I fell silent for a while.

"But their families will be devastated."

Hearing this, the Miko raised her eyebrows: "Then will you be sad?"

After she asked, I thought about it and shook my head.

I have never seen those people, nor have I seen the sad appearance of those people, but the judgments and thoughts I made based on my own thoughts, and the emotions brought about cannot be called heavy.

I just feel like I should do something.

It's just a thought.

But Miko probably couldn't understand my thoughts, because after I shook my head, she said to me: "In this case, it doesn't matter whether those people are dead or alive, their life and death have less impact on you than the weather The changes came directly."

I thought about it, and felt that Miko-sama's words were indeed very reasonable.

The anger of others does not affect me too much, especially those who have never met before. On the contrary, the bad weather often makes my body fall into pain, but...

There is still a voice in my heart that wants to refute.

There are too many things I want to tell Miko, and I can't finish them in a while, and the dizziness caused by the wind and cold makes my head more dizzy, and the thoughts in my mind can no longer be kept clear. .

Miko-sama's embrace is very warm, and the sense of reassurance brought by the familiar smell aggravated my drowsiness. I leaned against Miko-sama's arms and didn't express any further opinions, but let myself slowly lose consciousness.

When I woke up, the sky seemed to be much darker—probably approaching dusk.

Probably the Miko-sama sent me back to the room. When I opened my eyes, I found that I was no longer in the previous room.

Just when I was estimating how long I had slept, I suddenly heard a loud noise coming from afar.It seemed to be mixed with the crowd's chaotic footsteps and short screams, and it seemed that something collapsed and fell on the ground...

Not an earthquake, because my room didn't feel that kind of shaking.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be such a voice in the City Lord's Mansion. Just when I was surprised by this, I opened my mouth and started calling Lizi's name, and wanted to ask her what happened, but I found out After calling several times, there was still no response.

"Riko?"

While I lifted the quilt, I put my coat on my body. The dizziness caused by just waking up has not completely faded away, but it is much better than the situation before falling asleep just now.

When no one responded to me, I opened the barrier myself.

As soon as the door was opened, one could feel the cold wind blowing towards the face, cutting the face like a knife when it blew, and there was not a single person anywhere, only the sound of colliding together from a distance.

I frowned, and suddenly saw the barrier door opposite was pulled open, and the priestess in black Tang clothes stood at the door, showing a faint smile at me.

It was clear that I was still bothered by the strange sound for no reason at first, but when I saw Miko-sama, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

I thought that since Miko-sama opened the barrier door, the next step would be to come to me from her room, but to my surprise, she was still standing quietly at the door of her room—without saying a word. Said, did not do a single action.

As if thinking or waiting for something, Miko-sama stared at me closely with those plum red eyes.

So I took the initiative to step out of the door and came to her through the veranda.

I asked her, "What are you looking at?"

Hearing that Miko-sama raised her face and looked outside the courtyard, "It's just trivial things that are not worth mentioning."

I froze for a moment, and suddenly realized that the direction she was looking at was actually the direction where the sound came from: "Then do you know what that sound is? Where did Lizi go? I woke up and called her many times, but nothing happened." people answer."

Just less than half a second after I finished speaking, something suddenly fell from the air and hit heavily on the thick snow in the courtyard, leaving an extremely long trace.

However, if you take a closer look, you will find that——

"Father?"

The one who was rolling in embarrassment on the snowy ground was my father whom I only met yesterday.

At this moment, his clothes seemed to have been scratched a lot by something sharp, and crimson blood stains could be seen on the cracked gaps, and because he had rubbed a certain distance on the snow, his body was covered with white snow particles.

I was surprised to see my father get up from the snow, the wounds on his body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye, but at this time the fingers that should have been very ordinary turned into sharp nails, abnormally several times larger than usual, and even the entire body People have become grinning like some kind of beast.

Just as he got up from the snow, another figure jumped over from the wall, black feathers fluttering in the wind.

The figure landed steadily on the snow, and it was also a very familiar figure.

"Mr. Yuanshan?"

The swordsman in black feathers had already pulled out the long knife at his waist, and the sharp sword was pointing at Father. His expression was extremely solemn, and his eyes were fixed on Father not far away. He didn't look away after the sound.

"Muzuki Hime, I know you can't accept this reality now, but to be on the safe side, please leave here with Miko-sama first, and go to you guys after I'm done."

His tone was very calm, and his words were full of consideration for us.

In fact, as early as when I smelled the smell from my father, I was already sure that something happened to my father that I didn't know.

And my mother obviously knew about it, so she came to my room on purpose at that time, and told me in a tone that forcibly suppressed the panic and fear that the messenger from Kyoto hadn't left yet.

She wanted me to leave then.

But I didn't listen to her and continued to stay in the city.

And now Lord Swordsman is also letting me go.Actually, I should have obeyed the swordsman-sama and left the courtyard with the priestess, but——

When I grabbed Miko-sama's hand and planned to take her away, she pulled me back.

Father yelled in our direction with a terrified expression: "Please save me! My lord!"

There was fear and awe in that voice.

My body couldn't help but tremble a little, but the Miko held her in her arms, and she whispered in my ear: "Are you afraid?"

I lowered my head and didn't speak.

But Master Swordsman's voice became extremely unexpected, and even the volume increased a lot, completely without the usual calm feeling.

"Could it be that you are really Oni Wu Tsuji Mumi?" The swordsman obviously couldn't believe it: "How come, there is no 'ghost' breath on your body at all, and you are a woman..."

Lord Swordsman fell into some kind of doubt, he seemed to think of something suddenly, "Could it be that Mu Yueji has already..."

He even began to doubt my identity.

Hearing that, Miko-sama laughed softly in my ear, "It's obvious that Mutsuki Hime is human."

I raised my face to look at her face, opened my mouth and suddenly didn't know how to speak.

It is actually very simple to figure out the current situation, everyone's identity is clear at a glance - the father who has become a cannibal ghost, the swordsman who came from afar to kill ghosts, and... ...the Miko-sama who turned her father into a ghost.

As early as the Miko-sama showed a disgusted expression towards the swordsman, and showed indifference to the fact that people often disappeared in the city, the clues could already be seen.

It's just that I don't want to believe it.

In other words, knowing this, but still subconsciously suppressing those thoughts that might destroy the original peaceful life, so that I don't think about it.

--It was my fault.

If I had said that earlier, maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they are now.

The situation fell into a strange stalemate, and no one moved. After an unknown period of time, my father spoke first.

He ran towards us, "Why don't you call this human..."

Before I finished speaking, I saw scarlet blood splashing on the white snow, melting together with the thick snow, accompanied by the small sound of something round and falling on the snow, I suddenly opened my eyes wide. eyes.

It was my father's head.

The body that lost its head also quickly fell powerlessly on the snow, with blood gushing from its neck, and after a while, Father's body dissipated on the snow like this.

All I could see was the blood.

Can't see anything, can't hear anything, can't say anything, can't feel anything.

How should I feel at this moment?

I don't know myself.

What woke me up was the swordsman's hasty shout.

"Run! Mutsuki Hime!"

While yelling, he swung his sword towards the Miko-sama on my side. It wasn't my illusion. At that moment, his movements became much slower in my sight.

Every move can be seen clearly-in fact, this has been the case in the past.

When I was young and saw other people do things, I could see every detail of what they did, and then repeat that thing in the same way.

My father and mother were very proud of this, and even believed that I was favored by the gods. They invited the priests of Bashi for me, and they also asked people to perform divination for me.

But... no one could predict anything.

Even those very famous priests shook their heads and sighed after making calculations for me, and refused to say anything more.

Until a certain time, the onmyoji of Tu Yumen's family happened to pass by the city and made an exception to make a divination for me.

——That is the descendant of Abe Seimei, the great onmyoji in the Heian period.

Perhaps the reason why I have not been abandoned by my father and my mother is also the result of that fortune-telling. I personally don't know what the onmyoji of the Tsuchimikado family said to my father and my mother, but they I was happy then.

Probably... what a good result.

Thinking of that kind of thing now, it's more ironic.

Because of me, my father was turned into a ghost, my mother's life and death were uncertain, and even Riko and the others didn't know where they went.

And the reason why it has become like this is because I left Guiwu Tsuji in the city lord's mansion.

But in an instant, Lord Swordsman also died before my eyes.

Warm blood even splashed on my face. Although the temperature was not very high, it seemed as if it was burning my cheeks. The tingling pain came in bursts, and I couldn't even breathe calmly.

After the hot moment passed, the cold wind took away all the heat, leaving only the cold and wet touch.

A crisp voice sounded in front of me—it was the swordsman's long knife that fell beside me.

At this time, Miko-sama, her figure has changed in front of me. The body that was originally similar to mine has changed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the outline of the face and facial features have also undergone obvious changes.

"She" becomes "he".

It was as if he was deliberately mocking the swordsman-sama's way of lowering his vigilance and doubts about her because she was a woman and that Onimai Tsuji, who could turn humans into ghosts, was a man.

She turned into a man in front of me.

I suddenly remembered what Miko-sama once said to me, when she asked me if my thoughts on those who disappeared would be equally sad because their families were sad.

My answer at the time was no.

But now instead of other people losing family members, it's happening to me.

Gui Wu Tsuji Wu Mi... killed his father with his own hands.

And in front of me, I also killed the water column of the Demon Slayer Squad who came to hunt down the whereabouts of Oni.