[Comprehensive] Natsume Reiko's trip

"Go back...I want to go back...help me, I want to go back..."

A desolate and mournful voice gradually came from the sky above the street, and a faded, worn-out gray paper umbrella kept ups and downs in the sky of Heian-kyo, looking for the unknown way back.

A line of blood and tears left from the one eye formed on the umbrella paper, dripping from the air like rain, and splashed on the ground, leaving shocking bloodstains.

"Finally found you!" Reiko propped her knees out of breath.

The roads in Heian-kyo extend in all directions, but the buildings are also densely packed. Although the speed of the paper umbrella flying in the night sky is not fast, Reiko still has to go a long way to catch up with it.

"Hey! That umbrella in the sky!" Reiko made a trumpet shape with both hands and put it to her mouth, "Do you need any help?"

The umbrella demon glanced at Reiko with bloody eyes, ignored her, and continued to wander in the sky.

"Then there's no other way." Reiko tied the binding spell prepared in advance to the arrow, took out the bow Seimei gave her, and shot at the Umbrella Demon.

And then... a perfect shot.

Qingming quickly opened the barrier, limiting the umbrella demon within a certain range.He looked at Reiko's embarrassed expression, and felt an urge to help her forehead.

Seimei temporarily prepared the bow and arrow for Reiko considering the flying characteristics of the Umbrella Demon, and did not specially train Reiko in archery skills.

But after the arrow branch is tied with a spell, the arrow will automatically attack the target along the pull of the evil spirit. It doesn't require any precise archery skills, as long as the general direction is right, it will basically hit the target with every shot.

With Reiko's deflection, Seimei couldn't help wondering if the arrow would have been flying directly towards him if there was no spell.

The Umbrella Monster flew left and right, but it seemed to be covered by something, and it couldn't fly out anyway. Its attention returned to Reiko who had just attacked it.

"Why...don't let me go back!"

The umbrella demon's originally opened umbrella closed instantly, and the tip of the umbrella rushed down in Reiko's direction: "Kill you, and I can go back!"

"Reiko, use..." Before Seimei finished speaking, Reiko greeted her, and punched her...

"boom"!

The originally straight umbrella tip was bent into a right angle, and the umbrella monster no longer had the aggressive look just now, but lay pitifully on the ground, the blood and tears in its eyes seemed to flow even more ferociously.

Seimei silently swallowed the words "using a charm" again, he felt that there seemed to be some deviation in his teaching to Reiko.

Apart from the punch he gave Kamo to protect the constitution, Seimei hadn't really seen Reiko's attack.When dealing with monsters, Reiko is generally very gentle, even if her hands are covered with blood, she will not get angry, so in Seimei's heart, Reiko has always been a gentle and kind girl.Although he has a carefree personality and is a little violent when he is annoyed, he is generally the type who needs to be protected.

Therefore, when teaching Reiko onmyoji, Seimei first chose a spell that combines both offense and defense. Among the spells, he taught Reiko how to draw offensive spells, which can effectively repel monsters.

however……

Seimei opened her fan and silently covered her face.

"Okay, can we talk now? Don't cry, I'll find someone to fix the damage." Reiko looked at the sobbing and crying Umbrella Demon, and said helplessly.

Qingming took a closer look at the monster on the ground: "This is the Tang Paper Umbrella Monster, an umbrella made with a method passed down from the Tang Dynasty. It probably became a monster because of some accident."

"Da Tang!" Reiko touched the Tang Paper Umbrella Monster's full of holes, showing a rather yearning expression, "It is said that the utensils of the Tang Dynasty are exquisitely made, and you must have been a very beautiful umbrella in the past." Umbrella?"

"Yeah, I used to..."

The Tang Paper Umbrella Demon thought of the appearance of himself when he was just created, the appearance that carried the skills and emotions of three generations of grandparents and grandchildren.

It was a family that used "umbrella" as their surname. Although it was just a small family that made umbrellas for a living, it also had its own inheritance and rules.

The head of this generation is the seventh generation descendant, so it is called Umbrella Seven; his son is the eighth generation, so he is called Umbrella Eight; the five-year-old grandson is the ninth generation in the future, named Umbrella Nine.

When Umbrella was nine or five years old, according to the rules, he had to make his first umbrella.

The production of a Tang umbrella usually takes two weeks to ten months from material selection to completion.

The young Sanjiu followed the elderly Sanqi and the mature Sanba into the Xiongxiong Mountains, went to the mountains to find the bamboos that were most suitable for making umbrellas, brought them back, and carefully cut them into thin strips of equal length.

Those bamboo strips are slowly brushed by wrinkled rough hands, carefully polished by calloused strong hands, dyed by soft little hands, and finally glued together with tapioca flour to form a new soul together. .

After the umbrella ribs are made, pieces of translucent Tang paper are cut into appropriate shapes, and Umbrella Nine draws pictures on them with a brush.

Childish brushstrokes can't draw a beautiful picture scroll, a simple wooden house with scattered paper umbrellas inside, and a century-old maple tree outside - that is the simple and warm home in Shanjiu's heart.

The painted Tang paper is carefully glued to the umbrella ribs, and then coated with layers of linseed oil and waterproofed, and finally dried in the sun—a Tang umbrella is made in this way. up.

The umbrella that 5-year-old Shan Jiu made with the help of his grandfather Shan Qi and father Shan Ba ​​is neither exquisite nor beautiful.But Shan Jiu still couldn't wait to open the Tang umbrella to the sun, the sunlight flowed in the air through the Tang paper, and finally fell on Shan Jiu's face.

Tang San will probably never forget in his life how bright Shan Jiu's smile was at that time.

Boxes of umbrellas are loaded into bullock carts and will be pulled to nearby towns for sale, and Umbrella Nine's first umbrella is one of them.

Umbrella Nine and Umbrella Eight took most of their family and embarked on the road of trafficking together. As usual, they hugged and bid farewell to Umbrella Nine and the women in the family, and then drove out of the solemn and majestic car amidst the rattling of the car. Luocheng Gate.

Then, gone forever.

Tang San remembered that day, with distorted smiles, the robbers raised and lowered their swords with cold light again and again... The bright red blood stained the whole land.

A few drops of bright red were also splashed on the surface of Tang Umbrella, and it didn't know if it was the blood of Umbrella Qi or Umbrella.

The robbers robbed everything, and the well-made umbrellas were sold to others at a low price by the robbers, while the paper umbrellas like Tang Umbrella, which seemed to be made of graffiti, were naturally ignored by the robbers and thrown in the cottage by the robbers. somewhere.

Day after day, year after year.

Tang San knew that he was not a so-called inferior product.Although it has not been dyed with bright colors or painted with beautiful flowers, its umbrella ribs are made of the best bamboos selected from the mountains by three generations of grandparents.It is strong enough, and every detail is perfect, even if it is used for hundreds of years, it will not be decayed or damaged.

It is the first umbrella of Umbrella Nine, and it is also the umbrella that represents the heritage of this umbrella-making family.

The greatest wish of an umbrella maker is that the umbrella he makes can be liked by the guests; the greatest wish of an umbrella is that it can protect his owner from wind and rain.

Tang Umbrella lay in the dark warehouse, the pattern on the umbrella paper gradually dimmed and finally disappeared.The fragile umbrella paper has holes one after another, and it can no longer protect the owner from wind and rain.

Tang San remembered the room under Umbrella Nine, the maple tree, and the umbrellas placed in the room.

Ah, it wants to go back, that is Umbrella Nine's home, and it is also its home!

After going back, Umbrella Nine will definitely open it again, and then show that smile brighter than the sun, right?

Want to go back, it wants to go back!

Its umbrella surface turned into a head, and its ribs turned into a body. It finally changed from an ordinary umbrella to a Tang paper umbrella demon.

The Tang Paper Umbrella Demon walked up to a certain robber at night, stared at the robber with bloody eyes, and begged the robber to send him back.

But the robbers refused, they kept running away, kept away from themselves, just like throwing themselves away like garbage back then, just like hacking Shanqi and Shanba to death with a ferocious smile, that makes people angry .

Ah, I hate it, I'm so lonely!Why is no one bothering to approach it, to use it?

It is obviously such a meaningful umbrella!

Resentment made the Tang paper umbrella demon stronger and stronger, and it could finally fly to the sky to find that tall maple tree and that bright smile of Umbrella Nine by itself.

It's just that the blood and tears in its eyes flowed more and more, and it seemed that there was no end to it.

Whose blood is that?

Is it from Umbrella Seven and Umbrella Eight?Is it from robbers?Or... its own?

"In the end, I found the maple tree, but the maple tree is still there, but the house is not that house." Tang Zhisanxiu knelt in front of Reiko, telling its story, "I wonder if I found it. What's wrong? Maybe somewhere, Umbrella Nine is still waiting for me to go back. So I keep looking, keep looking, but I can't find it anywhere."

Reiko thought of the place that the old lady only showed her during the day. There was indeed a big maple tree there, which grew dense leaves under the nourishment of spring and summer rain.

That house has long since had a new owner, and even the house itself has been demolished and rebuilt.

Time is such a cruel thing. In just a few decades, no trace of a family's existence can be wiped away. In the end, monsters are required to commemorate it.

"What are you going to do, Reiko? Dispel it directly or seal it?" Seimei waited for Reiko's choice, but Reiko would probably "medd her own business" again.

"Tang Paper Umbrella Demon, Umbrella Jiu is gone, but he still has descendants. You go back with us tonight, how about I take you to look for it tomorrow?" Lingzi put her hand on the place where she bent her , gently stroking.

Reiko's hands have the softness and delicateness unique to girls, but also because of frequent fights, her hands are very strong and steady, and there are tiny calluses on the belly of her fingers.

Touched by such a hand, Tang Zhisan Yao thought of Shan Qi's rough and wrinkled hands, Shan Ba's strong and powerful hands, and Shan Jiu's white and soft hands.

The blood and tears in the eyes of the Tangzhi umbrella demon flowed out again, more and more, more and more...

The author has something to say:

I really like writing short stories about monsters. It would be nice if you guys would like to read them~ ps: (▼皮▼#) Jinjiang is forcing me to give up the release at 20:[-], why did I publish the app for an hour and a half? I really don’t want to post it again and reset the publication time (╯‵ ′)╯︵┴─┴