Summer of Fireflies

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PS: I have work tomorrow and may update later

I forgot to say: thank you for the grenade thrown by the bottler in the sky~ hug me!

53. Me and You: Meeting You at the Most Beautiful Time

When I met you, the sun just passed through your hair, bringing hope to me who was crying alone.

You led me down the stone steps step by step with a stick, you end at one end, and you and I, two small worlds, are linked together because of a small stick.

Your pace is leisurely, my little feet are brisk, and the pace of the two of them, one fast and one slow, together with cicadas and birds, compose the most beautiful melody of encounter this summer.

I think the most beautiful moments of my life are all in the first encounter here.

I said my name is Takekawa Ying, how about you, what is your name?

The leaves creaked softly, and the talisman paper shook.

Shake and dance with your silver hair.

The dusk embedded behind you, like a dyed yellow cloth, constitutes the most beautiful picture.

I ran away in a hurry, but you told me in your jade-like crisp voice.

You said, your name is Yin.

As soon as I turned my head, you disappeared into the wind in an instant.

I walked down the mountain in the shadow of dusk, and my grandpa just came to look for me. I threw away the branch and ran over happily, but was punched by my grandpa.

It turned out that grandpa had been worried about me all the time, he was very angry, and I threw myself into his arms and wept bitterly.

Grandpa said it was the legendary monster forest.

On summer nights, there will be the sound of music playing in the forest. Once human beings strayed into the summer festival held by monsters, rumors spread.

I was really stupid when I was a child. Grandpa held my hand and laughed heartily.

In the dead of night.

During the day, I agreed that I would come to see you the next day. That night, I was thinking about you and the monster forest, and I was tossing and turning while looking at the ceiling.

The house is dark and silent, the sky is full of stars outside, and the Milky Way world is separated by a place. Will you wait for me in the forest tomorrow as promised?

With curiosity and anticipation, I quietly fell asleep.

The next day, you really sat on the stone steps down the mountain and waited for me.

Happiness submerged me like sea water at high tide, I dropped my gift and rushed towards you, and you hit me on the head with a stick again, skillfully and with a helpless tone.

The temperature at the bottom of the mountain is very hot, you take me to a cool place.

I happily bit the popsicles, one for you, one for me, you front and back, I followed your footsteps, looking around curiously all the way.

We walked across the winding wooden bridge and through the dense jungle, and I never knew that there are so many beautiful places deep in the forest.

A monster ran out to scare me. As soon as you sneezed, it immediately turned into a prototype and slipped away. It turned out to be a timid old fox that loves to deform and scare people.

The first time I saw a real monster, I ignored your black lines and danced excitedly. At that time, I didn't know the reason for you to wear a mask.

With the first day, there will be a second day.

That summer, I ran into the forest almost every day, running and playing with you in the forest, and seeing the most beautiful scenery in the forest.

You made a lotus leaf into a boat and put it in the river. I have been curiously chasing it down the river, and we are still playing chasing games by the big tree.

A white cloud drifted over my head, and I squatted on the grass to pick small flowers. I found that the wild flowers here are very beautiful.

I picked a few flowers and ran to you, but you were lying on the grass and sleeping, staring at your fox mask, I was curious, I want to know what kind of face you have under the mask, looks normal, or Very strange, or no face at all.

Before taking off the mask, I imagined many kinds of terrible conjectures. After taking off the mask, I found that your face under the mask was surprisingly handsome.

Your pupils are golden vertical pupils, which remind me of the color of the sun. When you opened your eyes, the corners of your lips curved slightly. I quickly put the mask back on. You blamed me for attacking you, and I But you said you were pretending to be asleep.

Why wear a mask?

Without a mask, it doesn't look like a monster at all.

I said it was weird.

You just chuckle.

Why do you deliberately wear a mask to distinguish yourself from humans? You obviously look similar to humans, but you use this method to show that you are different from humans.

It's like, that mask is the boundary drawn between you and human beings, just like the boundary between you and me, although invisible, it does exist.

You are a monster, I am a human.

This boundary is actually very clear, but I often forget the existence of this boundary and treat you as a normal human being.

This year's summer vacation passed so quickly, we had to face separation.

You stopped with a hum, and the clogs made a rattling sound on the stone steps: "Will you...will come next year?"

Like anticipation, like you don't mind waiting for me for three long springs, autumns and winters besides summer.

I nodded vigorously, smiled, and started looking forward to the next summer.

In the summer of the second year, you were indeed waiting for me.

We sat on the lotus pier, the ground was full of green lotus leaves, and occasionally a few pink lotus flowers were dotted on the green leaves. I was playing in the water happily with my bare feet, shouting that the river is so cool, the water will be cold Of course, you don't understand my joy.

In fact, as long as I am with you, no matter what I do, I will feel novelty.

The monsters in the forest love you very much, and they all tell me not to touch you, so I nod my head very seriously.

If I touch you, you will disappear.

Only this line of boundary between man and ghost scares me so much that I dare not disobey it.

If only the monsters could touch you, looking at your back as you walk forward, I don't know why I suddenly started to envy those monsters who could touch you.

One summer after another, I like to play hide-and-seek. I hid in the trees and suddenly popped up to scare you. Although the skirt fell down, I felt very thin, but I was very happy to see you scared by me. I hope At least when you're with me, you can take your mask off once in a while.

You asked me what is the meaning of the mask after I took it off, I replied no, I said so, but I didn't think so in my heart.

In terms of meaning... probably I want to see more of your appearance, so that I can have a deeper impression of you, and a deeper impression...

The branch on which you were straddling suddenly broke, and you ran over to pick me up when you said it was dangerous. I couldn't help but my pupils dilated when I saw the hand you were about to reach out.

——Don't come to pick me up

There was a strong voice in my heart that echoed thousands of times in my head.

As I wished, at the moment when you were about to catch me, you suddenly withdrew your arms that were stretched out by conditioned reflex.

Reasonable terms are used to exchange you and me for the equivalent affection, and this affection does not need words.

I fell upside down under the tree, you apologize, I smile, thank you for retracting your arms at that moment.

――No matter what happens, please don't touch me.

This is the only forbidden condition for us to play together. If you disappear because you touched me, I think I will absolutely hate myself. I can't imagine how boring my life will be in the summer without you, light Just thinking about this possibility made me cry.

When I cry, you squat down and watch me cry.

At this moment, we shrank each other in the small circle that was imprisoned, and still kept a distance that did not touch each other. Where I couldn't see your eyebrows clearly, I already knew deeply how important you are to me.

At this point, it doesn't matter where the future is.

Next summer, and the next summer, I will go to the forest, and I will be with you.

I grew up and became a junior high school girl. Grandpa said that junior high school is the most beautiful age of our young girls.

I stood in front of you in a beautiful junior high school girl's new underwear, and you squinted at me through the mask and said that I looked like a woman.

She was originally a woman, and I muttered in dissatisfaction.

Walking beside you, I feel that my line of sight is gradually approaching your line of sight.

I have grown up, but you are still the same. The growth of monsters is much slower than that of ordinary people. I am thinking, when I am old, will you still be the same boy as the first time I met you.

Ah, if this is the case, what will we be like then? I have a little girlish melancholy out of thin air.

A white butterfly lands on the fox mask. You take off the mask, and you are smiling under the mask. The butterfly flies around you, as if it likes your smile very much.

You take off the mask and close your eyes, as if responding to the butterflies' love for you.

Even butterflies like your smile so much, what about me?Why do I always want you to take off the mask in front of me?

I can't find an answer.

This summer is coming to an end, and tomorrow is the day I leave.

This winter should be very cold too. Grandpa said while eating watermelon while sitting in the corridor. Grandpa said that there are basins nearby and far from the sea, so there is a big temperature difference between winter and summer, especially in hot summer years. It will be as cold as if the mountain god is punishing us.

At this time, I was thinking, since the winter is so cold, then, you who come to wait for me through the cold winter every year, will you also feel very cold in such a cold winter?

So before leaving, I gave you an orange scarf, hoping that it can replace me and accompany you through the cold winter every year when I am not by your side.

After returning to the city, I would often look at the frozen place outside the teacher's window in a daze, thinking about you who live in the forest, whether I miss you as much as I do at this moment.

I don’t feel cold at all when there is a heater at home. In the dead of night, I miss