Su Shuang's world is collapsing [Comprehensive]

...that's not the case...

...She also once wondered if Mr. Shannan had lost to Rakshasa's madness...

...and even made up his mind that one day he must draw his sword towards him and send him on his way...

...Even if he is so unfortunate, she is ready to end his life at any time...

...But until now, she realized that Shannan is really a gentle person...

He is, through and through, a gentle, nice guy—

"Mr. Shannan...is a brave man...and a gentle man...in my heart, until now—" she replied, weeping.

"...I will always be someone who is admired and wants to be relied on seriously."

After hesitating for a moment, she seemed to have made up her mind and said such words.

However, up to now, no matter how sincere, gentle and beautiful words you say, it probably won't be of much use.

He said that Rakshasa is just a short-lived epiphyllum in this era.

But in fact, Mr. Shannan is the epiphyllum...with a lonely personality and a gentle personality, so beautiful but can only have a short blooming life, leaving only the epiphyllum of others' sadness and remembrance.

Shannan was silent for a moment, and the hand holding her tightened again.However, he didn't respond to her words, but opened his eyes slightly, seemingly staring intently at her crying face, and then slowly raised the corners of his lips, showing a faint smile.

Finally, she heard his voice, as gentle as ever.

"Farewell... Xue Ye."

Every goodbye is a forever farewell.He had told her so.

But when the farewell really came, he called her by her name for the first and last time.

In retrospect, in the Shinsengumi where swordsmanship masters emerge in large numbers, Shannan, who is quite literati, gentle and gentle, sometimes seems a bit like an outlier.

He has always maintained a polite attitude, with a hint of alienation in his approachable gentleness.He never called the two women living in the Shinsengumi by anything other than their honorific title—he once called her "Yuki-kun", but after the truth of her identity as a woman was revealed, he kept using "" Qingyuan Jun" to address her.

On the eve of his departure to Sendai, he even said very harsh words to her.She thought that at that moment she had completely lost him, the senior and companion whom she had always respected and looked up to.

Now she finally understands that she has never lost him as a senior and companion, but they have unknowingly walked on different paths.Even though he couldn't understand or agree with each other for a while, he always stood behind her, watched her silently, never stayed away from her, never gave up on her——

And, at the end of her life, what she firmly believed in was still the truth—the former Mr. Shannan had always lived in this world and always existed in his heart.

When Shannan's body began to collapse and finally turned into ashes, she knelt beside him, holding his hand tightly with her right hand, and tightly holding the wakizawa he left her with her left hand.

The hand she was holding tightly turned into ashes in the end, and passed through her fingers, and even the clothes were turned into ashes together. Where Shannan was lying before, except for the handle that was "cracking the heart" After breaking off, there was nothing left except the sword that had accompanied him to continue fighting.

Liu Quan stared at his empty right hand in disbelief at first, then slowly curled up his five fingers and clenched them into a fist.In the next second, big teardrops fell from her eye sockets.

The fine blue-white dust passed through the teardrops falling on her face, and disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Hijikata just knelt there, his hands still held the hand of Yamanan Heisuke, but the empty fingers could not even see the dust.

He looked at the place where Shannan Heisuke disappeared and remained motionless.

Not a single tear welled up in his eyes.It was as if all his tears had flowed from Liu Quan's eyes.

Liu Quan tightly grasped the handle that Shannan left her with both hands, crying so hard that he couldn't lift his head.

Although she cried because of separation when she was separated from Xiaoyi in Aizu, she never seemed to cry as miserable and sad as she is today.

...Even though Kondo had shed tears of grief when she was forced to leave her on the streets of Edo late at night again, she had never faced Shannan's disappearance as hard as today.

...Is it because she and Shannan have more deep bonds, have experienced those dark moments together that will leave a deep imprint on the heart?

...or is it because Shannan finally returned to the familiar, gentle, kind, and courageous person she deeply missed at the last moment?

"...Although he lost his life, but...Mr. Shannan finally defeated Raksha's madness... Sure enough, Mr. Shannan is still the self we are familiar with, and has not changed..."

These were the words Qianhe, who was trying to comfort Liu Quan, stammered beside her.

Although I also lost my father and Shinsengumi's friends at the same time, and she was also crying because of indescribable grief, but Chizuru is still the girl everyone knows and likes, even when she is enduring pain Supporting companions and friends who are more painful—maybe that's why everyone accepted her so quickly and decided to do their best to protect her.

Liu Quan's cry slowly subsided, but the tears had no intention of stopping.

She knelt on the ground, holding Shannan's wakizashi with her hands convulsively, so hard that the skin on the back of her hands turned white.Tears fell one by one on the place where Shannan had been lying just now, leaving a small spot of water on the tatami.

[In your heart, do you value Mr. Shannan? 】

The question Qianhe once asked her without authorization had resurfaced in her mind for some reason.

... Chizuru must have remembered their conversation at that time, so he endured his own pain and kindly comforted her.

...Although Okita said something to Liu Quan when they said goodbye to each other last time, "You have to keep an eye on the deputy chief, don't let him be snatched away by other women", but until now Qianzuru may still He stubbornly thought that Shannan might be the most important person in Liu Quan's mind.

... Actually, that's not the case.She respected him and looked up to him, but before the sudden farewell tonight, she never thought that Shannan would have any extraordinary feelings for her.

To her, Shannan is actually like an outstanding and respectable big brother next door. When she was a young and weak ugly duckling who was inconspicuous and not valued by others, she was treated tenderly and cared for by him, so I will always have admiration and gratitude for him, and people will always want to trust and rely on him, and I sincerely hope that he can continue to be happy and smooth.

... This kind of feeling is not the same as the feeling she has for another person.

But when Shannan disappeared suddenly, and now that it was impossible to expect the happiness of the illusory afterlife, no matter how many times he had hurt others because of Rakshasa's madness, it still made her feel sad. An unacceptable ending.

But for some reason, when all these things came to her lips, she felt extremely tired, and she no longer had the desire and strength to explain clearly to Qianhe.

We have all experienced parting countless times so far.Inoue, Yamazaki, Yongcura, Harada, Kondo, Saito... Some people leave here and continue to live and fight elsewhere; Heisuke and Shannan.

Immediately afterwards, there must be more separations, until the last moment of the battle, until the end of life——

Okita, who was standing silently by the side, came over, stretched out a hand, pressed Chizuru's shoulder, and gently pulled her into his arms.

"Xue Ye will continue to fight." He said quietly in his usual flat tone, as if he was not seeking her answer at all, but was describing a fact that had already been decided.

Liu Quan was silent for a moment.

Then she held Shannan's wakizashi tightly with one hand, and pushed the ground hard with the other hand, and stood up.

The tears on her face were still wet, but she felt that all her tears had dried up.She blinked, feeling a pang of pain.

"...Of course." She replied calmly.

With nostalgia for those who have passed away, go forward desperately. This is the most important thing to do now as a member of the Shinsengumi.

"You just live on." She looked back at Okita calmly, "What Mr. Shannan has found with all his might, may be the last hope...for yourself, for Chizuru, for those who care about you, and even for everyone who cares about you. In order to replace Sannan-san who disappeared as a Rakshasa, Peace Sukun..."

The desire to cry still pounded in her chest, but she had no more tears to shed.

"Please live well, Souji-kun. Can you make an agreement with everyone like this?" She looked at the tall young man in front of her seriously.

Okita also looked back at her.His slightly sharp eyes wandered back and forth on her face, and finally, he showed a shadowless smile.

"Ah, it's settled." He replied in a casual tone, looking at her casually.

"So, like me, you also agreed to fight until the last moment in order to live well?"

Chizuru seemed startled, and raised her head to look up at Okita.

But at this moment, Okita's eyes were not on her.

No, to be honest, in fact, his eyes were not really on Liu Quan at the moment.

His gaze crossed Liu Quan's face, and seemed to be projected on the face of Hijikata standing quietly behind Liu Quan.

Like Okita, at this moment, Tukata's body was splattered with blood from the fierce battle with the two Rakshasa teams just now.His face is also the same as that of Okita. Even though he has just lost his friends and companions who have been fighting side by side since the days of the test guards, they look extraordinarily calm, as if the great sadness has been deeply buried in their hearts and turned into the motivation to move on. Like courage and drive.

Hijikata's eyes lightly fell on Okita's youthful face.

It seemed like yesterday that the mischievous young man made a lot of noise, but the bystanders who laughed heartily and watched their innocuous skirmishes disappeared one by one.

Up to now, it seems that no one is there——

... No, maybe there is one more person.

Maybe she can't catch up with the boss's pranks every time, but until now, she is really the only one who can recall those past events with her, and she is still by his side.

In those times when he didn't pay attention to her, when he was close to other tenderness and wanted to give more care, she just stayed there, earnestly performing every job and Obligation, occasionally showing her lively and playful side as a girl, sometimes bothers him very much, but more often it is so brave that even he can't help but have a headache.

She has always been one of the most reliable subordinates, even if she failed to fulfill his order to save Kondo-kun in the end.Her defeat and Kondo's execution virtually drew a deep gulf between them.

In fact, he never blamed her for being helpless.What he cannot actually face is his own powerlessness.He has always thought that as the deputy head of the Shinsengumi, he should be strong and always have a solution to the problem. Even though the Shinsengumi has been suffering from various failures in the later stage, he has not really changed his mind; until Kondo's Sentenced.

This incident made him truly see how weak and pale he was, and how small and insignificant his abilities were.Taking the responsibility of forcing a girl back into the darkness behind her, making her risk the great risk of sacrificing herself, making a promise that she didn't really want to, and her desperate move to save Kondo ultimately failed, leaving him Even more unable to face her who was persecuted by him, and herself who did such a thing.

……Can those gaps be silently filled by this kind of shared pain and mutual support in the repeated experience of life and death when we have lost too many companions and friends?

Hijikata looked back at Okita.This was the first time since Kondo's martyrdom that the two of them faced each other calmly without any anger or extremes.

"Ah." He replied in a deep voice.

"That's it, sir."

"In order to survive and lead the Shinsengumi to move forward, in order to pass on the faith of the Shinsengumi..."

"I will fight till the end."

The author has something to say:

February 5:

The soundtrack of this chapter: It is still the ED of "Hakuoki Snow Flower Record", the ED of the Souji chapter, "Dream-atruelovetale-".The lyrics are simple. . .Everyone must be a mother.

Since JJ doesn't let you post the link now, if you try to listen online, you can only trouble everyone to search by yourself, sorry for the inconvenience~~