[Comprehensive] Natsume Reiko's trip

A long time ago, in a fishing village called Xiaohama by the Wakasa Sea, there lived a very beautiful girl named Qiuzi.

The beautiful Qiuzi was pursued by men in the whole village, and finally, Qiuzi chose one of them to be his wife.

Qiuzi's father is the best fisherman in the village. In order to give Qiuzi an unforgettable wedding, he decided to go out to sea to catch the legendary mermaid, but no one thought he would succeed.

However, on the day of the wedding, Qiuzi's father took out a hideous "fish".

The upper body of this fish looks like a human being, but it is extremely shriveled and ugly; the lower body is a fish tail, with a scale torn off, revealing the crystal clear and plump fish flesh like a pearl.

The father took pieces of fish with a small knife and served them to the people who came to watch the ceremony, and claimed that they were mermaids that could "never grow old and die" after eating them.

But no one believed this, everyone shied away from each other, but refused to eat this weird thing for a long time.

Only Qiuzi, because he trusted his father, ate slice after slice of fish.

Qiuzi's father died suddenly on the second day of the wedding. The villagers said it was the curse of the mermaid, but Qiuzi who ate the mermaid meat became more and more beautiful and healthy.

Ten years, 20 years, 30 years...

When Qiuzi's child was also gray-haired, Qiuzi was still young and beautiful.Even if a knife cuts her wrist, the wound on her wrist will recover in an instant, neither old nor dead.

Everyone in this world longs for immortality, but only those who truly realize this will know that what eternal life brings is not the holy light of heaven, but the fireworks of hell.

Because, living itself is already an extremely painful thing.

"Cough, cough cough..." The storyteller's mother-in-law's throat was dry because of the long narration, and she couldn't help coughing twice.The children listening to the story quickly fetched a scoop of water from the wooden bucket filled with well water, and brought it to the old woman.

"Then what happened afterwards? What happened to the girl Qiuzi who ate the mermaid meat?" A girl put her hands on her chin and looked expectantly at the mother-in-law who was telling the story.

A boy pulled the girl's hair unceremoniously, and used the most direct and clumsy way to attract the girl's attention: "Of course I left the village, and I haven't heard from it since then—my mother-in-law has told this story more than a dozen times. Have you memorized it all?"

The girl glared at the boy in dissatisfaction: "Sister Qiuzi will definitely be happy, and she will never age or die, that's great!"

"I'm still a 'sister', maybe she's older than my mother-in-law's mother-in-law..." the boy muttered.

The mother-in-law sipped the well water and looked at these children like the rising sun with loving eyes.

She is already very old, and she once had a beautiful vision of eternal youth, but she really has eternal life, but she may not be happier than she is now.

A person's life is like a seed that germinates in spring, becomes luxuriant in summer, bears fruit in autumn, dies peacefully in the snow in winter, and finally becomes the nourishment for the growth of the next generation.

Unfortunately, most people don't understand this.

Ordinary people yearn for immortality, but why don't immortal people desire to live like ordinary people?

Reiko and the child quietly listened to the story of the mermaid, and waited until the mother-in-law's cough subsided, and then slowly walked to her mother-in-law: "Grandma, have you seen any strange sights recently? For example, the glowing fragments fell Into the sea or something?"

The mother-in-law slowly narrowed her cloudy eyes, looking at Reiko and the monster behind her with some difficulty.

She has been to many places in her life, and this is not the first time she has seen monsters: "I'm old, my eyesight is not good, these scenes, even if there are, I must not be able to see them clearly."

"That's right... Excuse me, mother-in-law." A trace of disappointment flashed in Reiko's eyes, but she still said goodbye to her mother-in-law politely.

This is already the third fishing village near the sea that Reiko has come to. There is no news of Kusanagi sword fragments being found in the previous two villages. Will she return empty-handed this time?

"Glowing fragments? I've seen them before!" The little boy who was pulling the girl's hair said abruptly, "But isn't that a glowing star? I saw it fall into the sea a few months ago."

months ago?This is roughly consistent with the time given by Mei Yu. Although I don't know if it is a fragment of the Kusanagi sword, I finally have some clues.

"Thank you." Reiko reached out and touched the boy's head.

The boy didn't appreciate Reiko's actions, instead he knocked off Reiko's hand cleanly: "Don't touch my head, I won't grow tall!"

After that, he made a grimace, then took the girl's hand and ran away.

Two small black shadows chased each other in the sun, and the villagers working around only smiled kindly when they saw it, and then sighed, "It's nice to be young."

A child can be an angel or a devil.Their untainted faces had the purest expression in the world, but they could also speak the most venomous things with the most innocent tones—for they didn't need to hide, and they couldn't.

Reiko has experienced the "vicious" side of children very clearly, but compared with the intrigue hidden under the mask of hypocrisy in the adult world, this kind of frank words are still extremely cute.

"Let's go, let's go to the beach and see if there are any monsters who can help." Reiko averted her gaze from looking at the child, and greeted the Shikigami behind her.

There is no golden sandy beach here, but black silt and cliffs of different heights. Fishing boats of all sizes stop in the middle of the shorter cliffs, using these stones as natural harbors.

There were ripples in the sea, and it looked calm.Occasionally, white waves hit the rocks on the shore, turning into countless splashes, and then falling into the sea again, blending with the sea water.

Reiko stood on a rock, smoothed her hair that was a little messed up by the sea breeze, and quietly looked at the beautiful scenery in front of her.

This is just an ordinary seaside fishing village, not a resort, and even the sea is not blue.But it is this kind of "reality" that shows the vastness and danger of the sea at a glance.

The light blue sky and the somewhat turbid deep blue sea are layered together, giving people a sense of relaxation and joy.

"I'm going to go out to see the sea, do you want to go with me?" Reiko jumped off the rock nimbly, her eyes were eager to try.

"Of course, Master Reiko! My brother and I originally came from the sea, and we can fly. If you fall into the sea, my brother and I will pull you back up!" What happened was a hammer to the chest.

"Virgin!" The boy reprimanded, and then apologized to Reiko, "My sister speaks out loud, Master Reiko, we will not let you fall into the sea."

"Pfft! How can you be so cute!" Reiko rubbed the heads of boys and girls unceremoniously, "Where are you, Demon Sword Girl?"

"Naturally, I will follow Master Reiko." Yao Dao Ji replied solemnly.

"Then... let's find a boat!" Reiko made a final decision.

The boats in this era were basically made of wood. After Reiko paid a lot of money, an old fisherman with a gray beard and a healthy body agreed to take Reiko to sea.

"There are indeed monsters living in this sea, and many people have seen them." The old fisherman skillfully pulled up the sail, untied the string tied to the wooden stake, and after pushing the boat away from the mud, he quickly jumped When we got to the boat, "It was a bearded red fish, wearing clothes, and carrying a walking stick, and it often came to snatch the sea fish we caught."

Today's weather is fine, the sea breeze is blowing, and the white sail soon swells up a beautiful arc, leaving traces on the sea surface.

Reiko blinked, and the cute and funny face of Catfish appeared in her mind: "Is it a catfish living in the sea? It just wants fish and has never hurt anyone?"

"Yes, in fact, the old fishermen here are not afraid of it. Sometimes when the food is relatively scarce, even if they are stubborn and don't take out the fish, it will not snatch it. It will just leave dejected. Of course, sometimes it will It will set off a stormy sea to scare people, but after the fishermen return to the village, they will know that it is because the storm is coming, and the monster is afraid that the fishermen will be buried in the sea, so they will use this method to drive everyone away."

The old fisherman's tone was quite nostalgic: "I think I saved my life because of this when I was a kid."

"This is really a good monster." Reiko laughed.

"Who says it's not? The recent fish is not easy to catch. Maybe it will come out to 'look for food'. I really hope I can catch a few more fish and thank it well."

The old fisherman's hoarse voice, accompanied by the salty sea breeze, gradually formed Reiko's overall impression of the sea.The original difficult experience of finding fragments seems to have become more interesting.

Reiko felt that she fell in love with this fishing village and the way humans and monsters get along here.

No wonder she wandered around the village with boys and girls and Yaodao Ji. The villagers at most responded with curious eyes, and they didn't have the fear and disgust they saw in the city.

Perhaps because of looking at this vast and boundless sea every day, it seems that the hearts of people here have become more open.

Boys and girls flew into the sky one after another, enjoying the freedom brought by flying; while Yaodao Ji's face was a little pale, probably because it was the first time she went to sea, she looked very nervous, holding the boat tightly with both hands. edge.

Reiko's eyes closed slowly, and she spread her arms, bathing in the oncoming sea breeze.Seeing the old fisherman, he also began to sing an unknown tune with a hoarse voice, and the voice with some vicissitudes spread far and far.

"Mermaids! Master Reiko, there are mermaids!" The maiden's originally thin voice seemed a little sharp, and immediately overwhelmed the old fisherman's singing.

Reiko quickly opened her eyes, and all she could see was the black hair that hadn't completely submerged in the sea and a slender "fish tail"... No, it wasn't a fish tail, but more like a snake's tail.

The "mermaid" rolled in the sea, then turned its head, and the human part resurfaced: "I am not a mermaid, I am a sea woman, the mistress of this sea. You are here to catch Are you fish? If you are sensible, hand over all your fish, otherwise...you will be eaten!"

The haenyeo pretended to show her fangs, but it wasn't scary, but it made her even more charming.Ama's hair is very long, covering almost the whole body; her eyes are the vertical pupils of snakes, exuding golden light, but they are not cold, but exude a charming atmosphere.

It's a pity that no one on this boat was frightened by the diver's house, not the experienced fishermen, and naturally neither was Reiko.

"If you want fish, you have to wait. I haven't found a suitable place to cast the net yet." The old fisherman replied calmly, and then looked at Reiko, "Little girl, don't you want to ask the monster for help? This is gone."

Reiko looked at the ama's house, and then smiled: "We'll give you the fish, and then you can do me a favor?"

Hearing this, Haenyeofang put her hands on her stomach vigilantly: "What's the matter?"

Reiko's gaze fell on her stomach following the movements of the ama. The abdomen of the ama was not as slender as imagined, but rather bloated, with an obvious bulge in the middle, which even sea water could not completely cover.

"You...have a child?" Reiko asked hesitantly.

The ama suddenly retracted into the water, only showing two eyes looking at Reiko, the eyes were full of guard.

When Lingzi saw it, her expression softened instantly: "You need fish for your children, right? Don't worry, if we catch fish, we will give you all of them, and we don't need your help anymore."

"Why?" Hearing this, Haenyeofang asked with some hesitation as her head was exposed again.

"Why are there so many? You are pregnant! How dare I let a pregnant woman run around looking for things for me? Besides, there should be a lot of monsters in this sea, I just look for them."

Saying that, Reiko looked at the old fisherman: "Old man, when I find a suitable place for fishing, I will buy all the fish you catch, okay?"

The old fisherman said with a "hehe" smile: "Little girl, you have given me enough money. Even if you don't tell me, I won't be reluctant to part with those two fish."

Haenyeofang looked at Reiko and the old fisherman with a complex expression, and then smiled: "At first, I was not very used to the behavior of that dead ghost helping you human beings, but now it seems that the behavior of that dead ghost is also certain. It makes sense. Among human beings, there are people who know how to repay their kindness."

"devil?"

"Humans call him Kaibozu, and a red salted fish is enough." Ama's disgust reveals a bit of intimacy, "Recently, the fisherman's harvest is not good. Every time my dead ghost goes out, I can't get any fish. I'm also hungry and can't help it. I just came out by myself."

Saying that, Ama rubbed her belly with a gentle expression.

Nature is very miraculous. Umibozu, who can set off huge waves, is troubled by food. He is a fool who can't catch fish, so he can only snatch it from fishermen. This is probably something that human beings can't understand anyway.

Reiko observed the clean sea water, and seemed to have found the reason why Umibozu and Ama were hungry as monsters: "Why don't you go back first and come to us after a while? The evil spirit on your body kills all the fish. They were all scared away, and if this continues, they will not be able to catch fish.”

Haenyeo's expression froze for a moment, she lowered her head in embarrassment, responded, and then disappeared into the sea.

With the swaying tail of the snake, the ripples gradually faded, spread out, became lighter and weaker, and the sea surface became calm again.

"Okay, next, let's go fishing! However, you have to send Yaodao Ji back first." Reiko looked at Yaodao Ji who was still pale, and showed a very helpless smile.

When the fishing boat returned to the sea, only Reiko and the old fisherman were left.

Fishing is actually a very boring thing. Once the net is caught, the next thing to do is to wait quietly.

Reiko imitated the old fishermen and lay on the fishing boat together, looking at the boundless blue above her head, she felt extremely small.

There is no place where the sky can be seen more expansively than the sea.

Up, you can touch the blue sky; down, you can touch the sea.When a person is lying on this small fishing boat, it is as if he is at the boundary line between heaven and earth, and he can grasp the whole world with one hand.

The old fisherman hummed the song softly again, this time there were no words, and no words were needed.

Because whether it is the sky or the earth, it is all in the singing of the old fishermen.

The author has something to say:

ps: There is indeed a monster called "Haenyeobo" among Japanese monsters, and it is indeed the wife of Umibozu.

Behind every salted fish is a beautiful wife, well, there is nothing wrong with this sentence.