[Comprehensive] Natsume Reiko's trip

Half a month later, Reiko and his party finally arrived at the Wakasa boundary.

Wakasa is a small area, but even so, if you want to find a fragment less than the size of your palm in such a place, although it cannot be said to be a needle in a haystack, at least it is difficult.

The first thing Reiko has to do is to find a fishing village where you can see the sea. After confirming that the debris has indeed fallen into the sea, try to find the monsters or gods living in the sea for help.

"Uncle, may I ask how to get to this fishing village?" Reiko asked an old man in this village holding a map that she had drawn herself through constant inquiries.

The old man looked at the Yaodao Ji holding a big knife and the boy and girl with feathers with some trepidation, and tremblingly explained the route to the fishing village.

After the old man left, Reiko rolled up the map and stuffed it into the package: "Well, the location of this village has been confirmed. At least three people have given the same route, so it should be correct."

Yao Dao Ji and Tong Nu felt a little lost at this moment: "I'm sorry, Master Reiko, none of us can help..."

Yes, Wakasa is no different than Heian-kyo. In Heian-kyo, the existence of Onmyoji is almost a household name, and Shikigami is no secret either.

But for Wakasa, which is far away from the political center, shikigami and monsters are directly equated.If it wasn't for Reiko, a human being, to explain carefully, I'm afraid the people here couldn't help shouting when they saw virgin boys and girls and Yaodao Ji.

Reiko patted the heads of the virgin girl and Yaodao Ji respectively: "Don't be so listless, it's rare that you can come out to play like this, cheer up!"

Tong Nan acted as if he had nothing to do with himself, although it was a bit impolite to say "come out to play", but because his sister had a good time playing, he didn't correct Master Reiko.

Seimei-sama and Reiko-sama are actually the same, they never put words of concern on their lips, but prove it with actions.

Tongnan still remembered that when he just became Seimei-sama's shikigami, the virgin would tremble with fear every night, and kept having nightmares, no matter how comforting he was, it was useless.

At this time, Master Seimei, who seemed to be indifferent to everything, would sit next to the virgin and let the virgin hold his hand.

Perhaps it was because Master Qingming saved the virgin, as long as Master Qingming stayed by the virgin's side, the virgin would gain a sense of security and gradually settle down.

When those memories were still deep in the beginning, Lord Seimei would stay by the virgin's side, and only left gently when the sky turned pale.

When the sun filled the earth, the virgin rubbed her eyes and gradually woke up. She smiled and said to the boy, "Brother, yesterday I dreamed about Master Qingming!"

From then on, Tong Nan knew that no matter how indifferent and ruthless Master Qingming appeared on the surface, in essence he was an extremely gentle human being.

He gave the boys and girls a stable home, so the boys sincerely hope that one day Master Qingming can also find his own happiness.

Fortunately, Reiko-sama appeared.

"Snapped"!

Reiko slapped the boy on the head for the third time: "Why are you in a daze, if you lose your mind again, I will abduct your sister! Let's go to the hotel, I'm hungry after walking for so long."

The boy rubbed his forehead and saw the girl making funny faces at him, while Yaodao Ji covered her mouth and couldn't help laughing.

Reiko held the virgin with one hand like a child, and tickled the virgin with the other hand, signaling him to hurry up.

The boy tried his best to look like an adult, but he didn't know that it made him cuter: "Master Reiko, I'm not a child."

"I said yes." Reiko grabbed the boy's hand arrogantly, leading the boy and girl from left to right and walked towards the hotel, and Yao Dao Ji followed behind with her horse.

Reiko's strange lineup aroused the attention of the villagers. Some of them hid in the house in fear, and some stood on the side of the road and whispered to people they knew.

But Reiko will no longer feel hurt because of those words, when she wants to gain something, she must lose something.

Between being an ordinary human being and being a person who keeps company with monsters all year round, Reiko chooses the latter, so she is willing to bear the price of the choice.

A clear and melodious flute sound with some nostalgia came from afar, and it entered Lingzi's ears stubbornly.

She had never heard this kind of flute sound like the melody of nature, it was like a breeze blowing through a bamboo forest, without any human fireworks.

"It's so nice." The virgin couldn't help walking towards the place where the flute sounded, and Lingzi was pulled by her, and they walked in that direction together.

"Don't go there, that one doesn't like to be disturbed while playing the flute." A white-haired old man leaning on a cane sat at the intersection of a fork in the road, preventing Reiko and his party from continuing to move forward.

Reiko wanted to ask the old man some questions, but the wise old man seemed to see through Reiko's meaning. Before Reiko could speak, he explained: "Every year on the anniversary of my mother's death, this song will be played in front of her house. But as long as someone Get closer, and the sound of the flute will disappear."

"Is it your mother's friend?" Reiko asked softly.

"'Big brother in the bamboo forest', that's what my mother called him." The old man narrowed his eyes, thinking of his white-haired mother.

Big brother?

Reiko looked at the old man and estimated his mother's age. Probably, this was another friendship between man and monster.

The sound of the flute is still ringing there, brisk with sadness.

A piece of music can be played repeatedly, but the lost time can never be repeated.

Gradually, one picture after another was gradually conveyed to Reiko's mind through the sound of the flute.

It was an extremely quiet bamboo forest, and the green bamboos swayed gently under the moonlight, dancing with the moonlight in the flute.

A man in a green kimono casually held a bamboo flute in his hand, and played it drunkenly by his mouth.

If someone had told Reiko before that when the playing technique reaches its peak, the beautiful timbre can be seen with the eyes, Reiko would not believe it.

But at this moment, Reiko really "saw" the flute.

What words should be used to describe it?

Reiko only felt that silver curtains of light flowed from the layer of emerald green bamboo, and those curtains of light surrounded the man and spread out circle by circle.

Ah, that's the song, the one I heard at the door of the old man's mother's house.

"It's so beautiful!" A childish child's voice suddenly remembered, interrupting this wonderful dreamlike moment.

The beautiful bamboo sound stopped abruptly, the man put down the flute from his lips, and looked dissatisfiedly at the uninvited guest who broke into his territory.

The girl didn't find anything wrong with her, but looked at the man playing the flute excitedly: "My name is Xiao Zhu, and everyone calls me Xiao Zhu, what's your name, big brother? Why are you playing the flute here by yourself?"

Xiaozhu chattered non-stop, completely destroying the tranquility of this bamboo forest.

The man frowned, as if he couldn't understand why there was such a noisy existence in this world: "Get out, this is not where you should come."

"I quarreled with my parents and got lost. I came here. Don't be angry, big brother. I'll come to listen to the flute tomorrow, okay? By the way, big brother, you haven't told Xiaozhu what your name is? Is it true that big brother hates Xiaozhu Why don't you want to talk? Mom always said that Xiao Zhu is very noisy, but Xiao Zhu just likes to talk, what should I do..."

Many children of this age can't even speak clearly, let alone jump out so many words at once. In a sense, Xiaozhu can indeed be called a gifted person.

But at this moment, the man in green doesn't think so at all.

"Wannianzhu, my name is Wannianzhu, all right, get out!" Wannianzhu couldn't bear it.

"Big brother's name is Zhuzi, and my name is also Zhuzi. My big brother and I must be very destined." Xiaozhu opened his mouth and spit out a long paragraph. Slowly lowered, "...I don't remember the way home."

In the end, it was Wannianzhu who endured Xiaozhu's magic voice and sent her back home.

"Thank you big brother, I will come again tomorrow." Xiao Zhu happily waved to Wannianzhu.

"Don't come." It's best not to come here forever. Humans and monsters will only bring misfortune.

The sun is very strong, but the light in the bamboo forest is always dim.Clusters of bamboo leaves shaded the sun, only a few spots scattered on the ground.

"Big brother, where are you? Xiao Zhu came to listen to you play the flute!" Xiao Zhu happily ran to the bamboo forest and ran around.

Obviously only met once, but the innocent child stubbornly believes that Wannianzhu will stay in this bamboo forest forever waiting for her.

"Big brother, are you playing peek-a-boo with me? Xiaozhu is here to find you!" Xiaozhu broke open one piece after another of the bamboo forest, and strode hard in the bamboo forest with his short legs.

"Big brother, I can't find you, I admit defeat, can you come out quickly?" Xiaozhu sat on the ground exhaustedly panting, and carefully touched the skin cut by the bamboo thorns.

However, the Wannian Bamboo still did not appear.

Maybe, big brother just passed by here occasionally; or maybe, big brother hated her, so he didn't want to come out to see her.

Xiaozhu hugged his legs aggrievedly, sat dirty in the bamboo forest, tears fell one by one.

A bamboo moved, and finally bent in front of Xiaozhu very helplessly, half of Wannianzhu poked out from the bamboo: "I said, I don't want to come again!"

Xiaozhu burst into laughter instantly, and stretched out his arms to Wannianzhu, not minding his half-human, half-bamboo attitude at all: "Big brother, I want to hear you play the flute!"

"I am a monster, and you are a human being." Wannianzhu said seriously.

Xiao Zhu tilted his head strangely: "Does this have anything to do with the fact that Big Brother plays the flute very well?"

"...It doesn't matter, after listening to this song, don't come again."

Wannianzhu sighed, turned into a human again, and played a tune.

This time, Xiaozhu didn't interrupt him again.

From the beginning, Xiaozhu came back to the bamboo forest every day, then every two or three days, and then once a month.The intervals between her visits are getting longer and longer, and her height is getting higher and higher.Gradually, Xiaozhu no longer likes to talk eloquently, but sits quietly beside him, listening to the flute and showing a gentle smile at the same time.

"I'm going to get married." Xiaozhu, who was already as slim as a bamboo, said looking at Wannianzhu.

"Oh, after listening to this song, don't come back again." Wannianzhu is used to Xiaozhu telling him every detail of life, and also used to the saying "After listening to this song, don't come back again".

Wannianzhu will say this sentence every time, and then every "next time" will continue to play the flute for Xiaozhu.

"You don't have... anything else you want to say?" Xiaozhu showed such a complicated expression in front of Wannianzhu for the first time, so complicated that Wannianzhu couldn't understand it at all.

"No, are you listening to the music?"

"Big Brother... No, Wannianzhu, if I really don't come here again, will you feel lonely?" Xiaozhu called Wannianzhu's name for the first time.

"No, this way I won't feel noisy." Wannianzhu said like this, but for some reason, when he said this sentence, there was some unwillingness in his heart.

"Yes, human time, for you, is probably like playing a piece of music." Xiaozhu said melancholy.

From the first time he heard the flute, Xiao Zhu was completely attracted by the beautiful sound.

The sound of the flute is so elegant and beautiful, but also so lonely and unbearable.

I'm afraid even Wannianzhu himself didn't realize that his flute sound could be so lonely.

From then on, Xiaozhu decided that she would accompany her elder brother. When the loneliness in the flute sound disappeared, it would definitely sound much, much better than the current sound.

So Xiaozhu lied that he was lost, so Xiaozhu came to pester Wannianzhu every day.

The loneliness in Wannian Bamboo Flute is getting less and less, and the joy is getting more and more. Xiaozhu is also growing up day by day, and finally reaches the age to talk about marriage.

But Xiaozhu doesn't want to marry. She has a secret in her heart that no one knows, that is, she likes the "big brother in the bamboo forest" who grew up with him.

However, everything is her own sentimentality.

Those romantic stories between monsters and humans are just stories after all.

"Listen to the music?" Wannianzhu didn't know what to say and could only repeat what he had just said.

"Listen, why don't you listen? I want to listen to the song we met for the first time." Xiaozhu returned to her usual appearance, as if the complex emotions in her eyes just now were all a phantom.

Wannianzhu put the flute to his lips, and melodious music flowed out from the flute.

Xiao Zhu closed his eyes and listened quietly.

Big brother, I will still come to pester you, even if I become a wife and a mother, I will always pester you.

So please don't forget me.

Because, I like you so much.