【Gao Gui】The Glorious Years

1945.5 Yamazaki retired

My fault.

If he hadn't been thinking about Mr. Kawagami's safety at that time, if he had reacted more quickly and thoughtfully, Shinpachi might not have been lying dying in a pool of blood like he is now.

Sister A Miao had no blood on her pale face, she cleaned up Shinpachi's wound with trembling hands, and the gauze fell off several times.She didn't cry, but those red eyes made me hate myself.Brother Kondo said about sister A Miao's life experience. Both her and Shinpachi's parents died when they were young. It was Sister A Miao who worked as a small worker in the medical clinic to make money. She was both a father and a mother who brought up Shinpachi.Shinpachi is her only relative, and Shinpachi is her home.I still remember her bright smile when she said goodbye to Shinpachi in the morning. Now that Shinpachi looks like this, she must be heartbroken.it's all my fault.

Gui is also helping.I know he likes Shinpachi very much.Shinpachi is the youngest of them all, and he is often called around, but Gui never treats him roughly, and will protect Shinpachi not to be bullied by others.Gui also looked worried at this moment, and Kondo was more nervous than him.Brother Kondo looked at sister A Miao guiltily from time to time, as if Shinpachi was injured because of his dereliction of duty.If I could have cleared my mind at that time...if...all of this might not have happened...

"Xiao Tui, don't blame yourself too much. It wasn't caused by you." Mr. Kawagami patted me on the shoulder.

This consolation could have made me so excited that I couldn't know what to do, but at this time, I was tortured by the apology to Shinpachi, and I even lost the strength to respond.

"Sister..." Shinpachi spoke with difficulty.

The voice was very weak, but it immediately changed sister A Miao's stiff expression.She lowered her head and put her ear close to Shinpachi, and asked anxiously, "Sister is here, what do you want to say?"

"..." Shinpachi's lips moved, but he couldn't make a sound.He was too weak to keep his eyes open.

"Say it again, make it clearer!" Sister A Miao's tears were about to fall, and her desperate face made me lose the courage to face it. I hugged my head and couldn't bear to look any further.

"I want... I want to listen to the song..." Shinpachi spent a lot of effort, and finally let sister A Miao hear it.

Big teardrops rolled down Sister A Miao's eyes, she didn't bother to wipe them off, and hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, sister will sing for you, sister will sing for you."

"The red dragonfly in the sunset, please tell me..." Sister A Miao suddenly covered her mouth.She began to choke uncontrollably.She couldn't sing anymore.

In the dead silence, someone hummed softly. It was the captured American company commander.I can't understand English, but I heard that song in the movie.It was originally a very cheerful song, but now he sang it very slowly, which sounded extremely melodious and sad.

Gradually other Americans joined in.Someone followed behind me in Japanese.I turned my head and found it was Sougo.He still has the usual indifferent expression, but his singing voice is very warm.

"I heard that you are leaving your homeland,

I will miss your bright eyes and smile.

They say you will bring sunshine,

Light the way under our feet. "

The singing brought me back to the winter before I enlisted in the army.On the eve of my departure, my mother put the newly sewn cotton padded clothes into my backpack for me, and ignored my father's persuasion to block many of my favorite red bean buns. "If you can't beat the enemy, run away. Don't be afraid of being laughed at. Mom only has you as a son. You can't have any accidents." Mom said while stroking my cheek.

"Nonsense!" Dad was very angry, "My son, how could you do such a worthless thing! Xiao Tui, listen up, it doesn't matter if you lose your life, don't lose your face! Do you hear me!"

Mom's eyes were wet and she didn't dare to speak again.

But when I left the next day, Dad was not so strong either.After he sent me out, he lowered his head and quickly returned to the inner room.

I knew he was crying.

In the warm and sad singing, I buried my face in the crook of my arms, hiding the tears that surged like a tide.

Shinpachi died at a quarter past ten at night.Sister A Miao's hoarse crying tore everyone's heart.Brother Kondo awkwardly supported her by the shoulder, unable to say a word of comfort.

"Oops."

Sitting with his back against a palm tree, Mr. Heshang raised his head, his handsome face was covered by a military cap.

"I don't like this kind of melody."

1945.5 Toshiro Hijikata

The cost of war drives everyone crazy.When I first came to the island it was colorful.Blue sea and blue sky, green trees and red flowers.However, after only two short months, mud and lead, rotting corpses and maggots turned it into a devastated ruin, ugly and stinking all day long.While watching the familiar comrades around me continue to fall, and my ears were filled with the curses of the wounded soldiers who were tortured to the point of wanting to die, I suddenly remembered what Kondo told me before the war, that this was a hopeless war .

The food is getting less and less. When Kondo and Matsudaira talked about this, Matsudaira also wrinkled his thick eyebrows, helpless.At that time, a group of soldiers who lost their temper were venting their anger on the few hapless American prisoners, kicking them so that they kept howling.Matsudaira half-closed his eyes to watch the scene, and suddenly sneered.

"Katsura Kotaro is right, they won't tell me any secrets."

When he raised his saber and walked towards the Americans, I subconsciously looked at Katsura who was temporarily fatigued by Shinpachi's death. He obviously also noticed the movement of Matsudaira, and his hunched back immediately straightened up.And Takasugi suddenly hugged him tightly from behind. "Wig, don't mess around," he whispered in his ear, looking very serious.

Songping pushed aside the soldiers who were beating the captives, grabbed an American and began to slash wildly. His face was distorted with ferocity, and the blood splashed on it made this half-old face even more terrifying.The Americans gradually fell silent from howling, and finally turned into a tattered corpse.None of his companions stepped forward to stop him.Everyone knows what is going to happen next, and no one can escape.

This brutal visual impact stunned Gui for a moment. He seemed to be struggling to stand up, but his body was tightly held by Gao Shan.

Song Ping chopped up the Americans one by one amidst the applause, and finally only the company commander remained.The company commander was surprisingly calm, as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.He winked at Gui, as if saying goodbye lightly between friends.

"No! No way!" Gui broke free from Gao Shan's embrace, and quickly rushed to block in front of the American.He confronted Matsudaira almost furiously, not caring about the surprised eyes of others.

"Go away." Song Ping ordered him with a sullen face.

Gui glared at him motionless.

"I can even chop you off! Something that doesn't have full hair." Songping swung the blood-stained saber vigorously in front of Gui.

Gui didn't even blink his eyes.

Songping's breathing became heavier and heavier, his lips were pursed into a cruel oblique line, he slowly raised his head, and stroked Gui's cheeks and neck with the tip of the knife bit by bit.Gui Bai's fair skin was soon stained with several tinges of red.American blood.

"Are you letting go?" Songping asked coldly.

Gui still had a tough face.I know his stubborn temper. In front of people other than Takasugi, this guy is unexpectedly stubborn.

"Very good." Song Ping sneered, "Very good." He raised the knife back, and he really slashed at it with the same momentum as he used to treat Americans.

A "bang" shot stopped all of this.Matsudaira's knife was stuck in mid-air.The American company commander lay in a pool of blood.

Gui turned his head in disbelief, and met Takasugi's cold gaze.A few seconds later, Gui slapped Gao Sugi hard in front of everyone, and then walked away quickly, not knowing where he was going.

The shot hit the company commander's heart, and the American finally showed a bleak smile and said thank you in a faint voice.I think that should be his sincere gratitude to Takasugi.

After Matsudaira regained his composure, I saw Silverfur secretly elbow Takasugi. "Go after it, it's so dangerous outside." He whispered.

Gao Shan didn't move, but said lightly: "He's not an idiot, it's fine."

Silverfur spread his hands helplessly at me.Although I turned my head away and ignored him, it was the first time I realized that he was not completely unlovable.

After midnight, Gui really came back safe and sound.He turned a blind eye to Takasugi when he passed by Takasugi, and sat in his foxhole without saying a word.Takasugi didn't take the initiative to talk to him either.The two suddenly became strangers.I think some things should be broken down and explained to Gui, because he has a solid heart, and his brain may not be able to turn around for a while.

"Gui." I couldn't help opening my mouth, "Takasugi is right."

That's right, food can no longer afford the extra mouths, and Americans are doomed to lose their lives.What's more, the shot that Takasugi fired was not only to protect Gui, but also relieved the pain of the Americans to a large extent.The man's body was the only complete one of all American prisoners.

I thought Gui would talk back to me again, but unexpectedly he didn't.After a moment of silence he said he knew.

"I just can't take it. I..." He stopped.

I also stopped talking.Night soon covered everything, and all that was left was sleep.

There was only a little light on the sky the next day, and everyone began to prepare for a new round of battle.In my hurry, I saw Takasugi and Gui very close together, but they still didn't look at each other until Takasugi opened his mouth.

"I dreamed of you yesterday," he said, tying his shoelaces.

"What did you dream about?" Gui asked expressionlessly as he fastened the button.

"I dreamed that you were running." Takasugi still lowered his head, but the fingers that were tying the shoelaces stopped moving, "Running and running will disappear."

Gui didn't speak.

"You have been running fast since you were a child, and I still couldn't outrun you until I entered junior high school. Sometimes on the street, you run in front and I follow behind. I can't help but worry that you will run away if you run. If it disappears, I won’t be able to find it anywhere.”

"Wig, you promise me that you will always stay in my sight in the future, let me see you and know that you are safe. OK?"

After Gao Shan finished speaking, he raised his head and looked at Gui.I noticed that he looked haggard, presumably he didn't sleep well.

Gui fastened all the buttons, fiddled with the butt of his gun for a while, and finally stretched out a hand to cover the back of Gao Shan's hand, and fastened every gap between his fingers tightly.

"I will." He finally showed a tired smile to Gao Shan, "I will never leave you."

"I only have you."

Okita died on June 20th.He is just 33 days away from his [-]th birthday.

He was burned by a flame-breathing tank.I did not witness the situation at that time, but it was the wig that extinguished the flames around him and carried him back to the position with a trace of breath.I also don't know how the wig accomplished all of this thoughtfully in the hail of bullets. I only know that the moment he appeared in front of us with Okita, Takasugi leaned against the mountain wall and sat on the ground bit by bit as if he had lost all his strength.The wig looked at Takasugi and whispered sorry, Takasugi didn't scold him for his nonsense like before, but said tiredly, just come back.

Duochuan stayed by Okita's side all night.During the period, Okita vaguely called his sister, and Duochuan immediately called for A Miao.A Miao grasped Okita's coke-like hand understandingly, and said softly to him, sister is with you, don't be afraid.Looking at Okita's dark and broken face, I felt extremely sad.He was such a delicate and beautiful boy, and now he is like a burnt dry wood.He lay there powerlessly, without even a trace of his usual vigor and vigor.Is he saying goodbye to us too?I never seemed to have imagined such a possibility.Since the fall of Shuri, I have made the consciousness of dying in battle, but I never expected his ending like this. This unbearable ending doesn't match him at all.It doesn't match at all.

At two o'clock in the morning, I went to persuade more strings to rest.I explained to him that there was going to be a war tomorrow, and that I could replace him and take care of Okita for two or three hours.He said no.I saw his tear-stained face in the dim lighting.He tilted his head up, as if this would slow down the flow of tears.

"He said that he didn't blame me, but that I refused to forgive myself."

His hoarse voice stabbed hard in my heart.I couldn't help but stepped forward and lowered the proud head, pressing it to my shoulder.There are eleven million words in my brain, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, but I can't say a word.

"He asked me to tell Kondo to take good care of A Miao." He laughed suddenly, but that short laugh was more desolate than tears to my ears.

"Yinshi, tell me, why are you fighting?"

I have no idea.I also want to know.

"Why the hell are we fighting??!!" He let out a piercing roar, and then began to whimper uncontrollably.

"It's been unclear for a long time." He said inarticulately, "From the day I started this road, I haven't been clear about anything."

His violently shaking shoulders made me realize for the first time that I was so weak that I didn't even have the strength to calm down a body.I can only hug him stiffly, I don't know how ridiculous the posture is.I can't say a single word of comfort.I couldn't comfort him because his suppressed sobs had disturbed all my thoughts.I suddenly remembered that when I was a child, I asked Teacher Songyang what "a heart is like a knife is twisted". The teacher said that it described a person who was very sad, as if a knife was stirring in the heart. "Has Xiaoyin ever been in such a mood?" the teacher asked me.I said no, it's just that sometimes it's annoying not to have sugar.The teacher laughed until he was full of belly, and finally said to me, how good that is, the teacher hoped that Xiaoyin would never experience such pain.

But teacher, I think I know now.

I turned my eyes to A Miao for help, hoping she could say something to make the out-of-control duochuan feel better.A Miao didn't look at me.She didn't cry either.

She would have stopped crying a long time ago.