Su Shuang's world is collapsing [Comprehensive]

The blood in his whole body seemed to be emptied at that moment.Liu Quan felt his body suddenly become cold and stiff.Although the person in my memory was standing in front of her so alive, her legs seemed to be frozen, they were so heavy that she couldn't move at all, and it was even more impossible to just step forward and rush forward. into each other's arms—

"... Mr. Hijikata?!" She murmured as if talking to herself.After pausing for a moment, he repeated the name that seemed to have a little magic power in disbelief.

"Mr. Hijikata?"

Hijikata didn't seem to have any intention of moving in front of her right away.Standing by the door, the corners of his lips twitched unnaturally, revealing an awkward smile that he didn't know what to do because he didn't quite adapt to the delicate situation in the room at the moment.

"...Ah." After a moment of silence, he replied gruffly.

After responding to her like this, he seemed to have finally gained a little leeway to move freely. He turned his head and looked around, with a suspicious and defensive expression on his face.

"Where is this place?!...Why did I come here?" There was a hint of vigilance and judgment in his tone. After these two questions were uttered, he seemed to realize something slowly and opened his mouth. , and finally squeezed out another question.

"...Why are you here too?"

Liu Quan: "..."

She used to be proud of her eloquence countless times, but when it really came to such a moment, she realized that sometimes, words are useless at all.

She couldn't speak a word.

Thousands of emotions, thousands of words, all crowded in her heart, making her even feel short of breath for a moment.There seemed to be a huge stone stuck in her throat, and the excitement mixed with the urge to cry rushed into her heart, causing her eyes to turn red instantly, and her breathing became much heavier; she just stared at him blankly, She squirmed her lips and opened and closed several times, but couldn't make a single syllable.

Then, before she could answer his question, she was surprised to find Hijikata's chest heaving violently a few times.

It was as if he had finally regained his sanity from the shock of this unexpected reunion, and realized what was really important——

Hijikata took a sharp step forward, his eyes wide open.

"No, in fact, it should be said... you are still alive?!"

Liu Quan:! ! !

As his question came out, a cold fact was suddenly thrown between the two of them, like a sharp knife hanging in the sky, capable of falling down and cutting their throats at any time——

This should be the first time the two of them met after she left the last evidence—or, a message—on the beach in Hakodate.

At that time, in order to leave that world reasonably and cut off Hijikata's desire to take risks to find her whereabouts, she deliberately used her identity as a "Rakshasa" to mislead him, and left a last message on the railing by the seaside of Hakodate, making him think that she was After tying the scarf to the railing, it turned into bluish-white ashes, was blown to the sea and sky along with the violent sea wind, and disappeared——

"No, Mr. Hijikata..." She heard her weak voice, subconsciously said in vain.

What does "no" refer to?Is it "No, I'm not dead" or "No, I'm dead, and what you're seeing is not real"?

How to explain everything that has happened since then until now?

Say I'm sorry I lied to you?Said that I am not dead, but I can never go back to you?Speaking of what you know and are familiar with, the girl who walked into the gate of the village on a sunny autumn day in the third year of Wenjiu, dressed as a teenager to sign up for the Shinsengumi, never really existed from the beginning? ...

For some reason, weak, helpless tears came to her eyes.

She could only look back at him in vain and helpless, and called out in a low voice and stubbornly: "...Mr. Tukata——"

The astonishment on Hijikata's face slowly faded away.His complexion was a little pale, and he stared at her deeply, making his eyes almost a bottomless black.

Finally, he lowered his eyes slightly, shook his head, and smiled.

"I see—" he said.

"That's what it looks like."

She looked at him helplessly, with tears in her eyes, with a pitiful look, as if she had done something wrong countless times in the past, and she knew that she would definitely provoke his roar and anger, so she was dejected and didn't know She was overwhelmed, afraid and did not dare to run away, stood shyly in front of him, as if waiting for him to make the final judgment on her fate——

Thinking of this, he seemed to be smiling.Then, he said, "What did you do to piss me off enough, did you?"

Liu Quan:? !

She didn't expect the deputy chief to say such a sentence at all.

His tone was very low, with a hint of light self-mockery and a hint of helplessness, but I don't know which point in his words touched her, which made her get hot-headed, and blurted out a sentence without thinking. out.

"At that time, I had a last resort - I didn't mean to leave you, Mr. Hijikata!"

The earthworker suddenly raised his gaze.Their eyes met in mid-air.There seemed to be a cluster of dancing small flames burning in his eyes, but for a moment she couldn't tell whether it was anger or the flame of hope rekindled.

"So... why on earth—?!" He was silent for a moment, as if these words were squeezed out from between his teeth.

Liu Quan opened his mouth, and there seemed to be countless pictures and human voices flowing through his mind like water.

She thought of the lively voices of people in the garrison on a fine autumn afternoon; she thought of the scene of gritting her teeth and trekking all the way north, and everyone turned over another mountain in silence; When I was in the office, the deputy director said, "Don't die! Come back alive!"; I also thought of the last time I was alone in the violent sea breeze on the beach of Hakodate, holding the scarf that was blown constantly by the wind with my left hand, all the time. Writing down that haiku, the cold wind made my fingers stiff and painful——

She thought about calling the system bacteria several times after she stepped into this room, but she couldn't get in touch with him; she thought that maybe this room has a certain shielding effect on the system bacteria... Then, isn't it time to tell the truth—at least a part of it? The truth - is it the best time to regain the Deputy Chief's trust?

But what should she say?

Bright lights were cast from the ceiling and fell on the deputy chief.His face was as young and handsome as she remembered, bathed in the light, his whole face seemed to be glowing——

"Don't you remember why you came here?" She didn't answer his question at the end, but asked in a low voice.

Tu Fang was taken aback by this question.

"Ah?!" He uttered a slightly impatient syllable, "Now I am asking you a question."

Liu Quan smiled bitterly, but still did not budge.

"Why are you here, Hijikata-san?"

Tu Fang suddenly raised his head slightly, gritted his teeth and let out a hiss between his teeth, as if he had a toothache, and replied angrily: "How do I know?!... When I woke up, I was standing here! Here What the hell kind of place is it? It’s dazzlingly bright... such a bright place, it shouldn’t be the underworld—”

His voice suddenly stopped.Because half a room away, the young girl standing in front of him suddenly had a smile on her face.

He asked gruffly: "...What are you laughing at? Where did I say something wrong?!"

The young girl in front of him seemed to find it more interesting, she laughed even harder, shook her head before Hijikata got angry, and replied with an innocent (?) face: "No, no. "

Her voice was very gentle, as if it had sounded countless times in his memories.

"This is indeed not the underworld. If you really want to say it... it should be regarded as the border between the two worlds... right?"

The earth side was stunned.

"The junction between the two worlds...? What the hell is that place?" He asked suspiciously, frowning, with a serious expression on his face, as if he was about to confront the entire capital or be arrogant Ang, who doesn't pay attention to the new group, seems to see the people returning to the group line up.

Liu Quan's heart skipped a beat.

"...It's a place where people like me, neither human nor ghost, can stay." She replied softly, and took a step forward tentatively.

Hijikata frowned as if a little surprised, with a distressed and unbearable expression flashing across his face.

"'Neither human nor ghost'?" He repeated the key words in Liu Quan's words, and the expression on his face looked even worse.

"You, do you exist like that now?..." He was silent for a long time, and finally raised his eyes again, as if he was about to walk forward.

"...I won't be able to touch you anymore, will I?" His words were extremely painful, his voice seemed to be roaring in his chest, sending out low vibrations.

Liu Quan also looked back at him.Then, she slowly raised her right hand, raised it to her eyes, slowly turned her palm upside down and looked at it twice.

Her right hand was raised higher than her forehead, and she raised her head slightly because of this.The blazing and dazzling light from the ceiling shone down and passed through her fingers, as if there was a bright light on the edge of her palm.

She slowly put down her hand again and looked directly at the deputy chief who was only a few steps away from her.

Then, she walked slowly, walking across the room step by step, and came to him, with her palm down, she raised her right hand slightly.

There was a hint of bewilderment on Earth's face.But he seemed to be used to cooperating with any incomprehensible behavior of her; so he obeyed the tacit sense of understanding that had been cultivated for a long time, with his palm facing up, he stretched out his left hand towards her.

Liu Quan stared at his hand hanging directly above his palm.The back of that hand was still smooth and delicate, the skin was so white that it was almost translucent, and the tiny calluses on the palm that had been worn out by holding the knife for a long time could not be seen.

She suddenly raised her head, stared at Tu Fang's handsome face, and smiled softly.

"Mr. Hijikata... Do you remember what was written on the paper I left you?" She asked in a low voice, which was almost gentle and melancholy.

The earth side did not speak.As if she didn't need his answer, she paused and then said:

"I'm not like you, I don't have a deep understanding of haiku... In the past, in order to make you feel good about me, I forced to read some books..."

She paused for a moment, and there was a tone of guilt, guilt and regret in her voice.

"However, at that time, these two sentences still floated in my mind—"

"'I knew it was a dream, don't wake up'."

Following the exit of the last syllable, her head drooped deeply, as if there was a drop of water, and as she lowered her head, it fell like that, and fell silently to the ground.

The earthwork also seemed to have noticed the suspicious drop of water.He hesitated for a while, as if he couldn't bear it, he said in a hoarse voice: "...It's Waka, isn't it?"

She still lowered her face.He couldn't see the expression on her face.But he heard her smile strangely.

"Yes." She said, "It's Waka."

There was a sigh of heartbreak in her voice.

"It's a pity I can't touch you anymore—"

"... Mr. Hijikata."

In the next second, her right hand fell straight down—suddenly passed through Tufang's outstretched left hand, and hung into the void!

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A little note:

The two sentences quoted by the girl at the end of this chapter "I knew it was a dream, don't wake up" are excerpted from the waka of Ono Komachi.

The original text is "梦と知りせば覚めざらましを".