[Lord Gintama] Overlooking the Throne

When he rushed into the cell, he smelled a strong smell of blood, which made it difficult to breathe.

Pupils constricted suddenly, Sakata Gintoki stared at the hellish scene in front of him, and his mind seemed to be in a mess.

Viscous and harsh blood smeared all over the wall, and dripped down the wooden pillars that seemed to be stained with red paint. The sound was clear and monotonous, and penetrated into the gap between the stone slabs.

There are many bones and corpses everywhere, and the face is frozen with fear.

"Teacher Songyang—"

He heard Shinsuke Takasugi's heart-piercing cry, full of despair and unwillingness that could not be concealed.

Sakata Gintoki walked into the only open cell.

Takasugi Shinsuke slammed his fist to the ground, his flesh was bloody and his shoulders were trembling.

The man lying on the ground had a pale but peaceful face, as if he had fallen asleep.

But from the neck to half of his arm, he was eaten away, exposing the thick white bones and mutilated muscles.

"Teacher Shoyo..." Sakata Gintoki stared blankly at Yoshida Shoyo's body, he thought his mind would go blank, or lose his mind, but at this moment, his messy thoughts were sorted out so damn clearly .

Slightly lowering his head, Sakata Gintoki, whose eyes were covered by white hair, clenched his fists tightly without showing any expression.

is it you?

Chiba.

【I】

In midsummer, cicadas sing, making it difficult to fall asleep.

When Sakata Ginshi turned over from the floor, he happened to think of the simple birdcage he, Wig, and Takasugi made on the back mountain a few days ago-a big bamboo plaque was propped up with a short stick, and grains were scattered, and the birds ate When you hit the short stick, you can successfully catch the bird.

It's just that they tried for a long time that day, but they didn't catch a single bird.

When Sakata Ginshi suddenly wanted to go to the back mountain to see the birdcage, shortly after walking into the woods, he heard the faint and strange voice of the girl coming from behind the plane tree.

That voice sounded familiar.

With a slight pause in his footsteps, a trace of doubt flashed in Sakata Yinshi's red eyes, and he followed the sound to look for it.

The girl behind the bush, holding on to the trunk, vomited out all the lunch she had just swallowed, holding her throat. She opened the mineral water bottle in her hand and rinsed her mouth with water until she could no longer vomit anything. Her face was as pale as ever. Paper.

"What's wrong with you, troublemaker." He said suddenly.

The girl turned her head in a hurry, showing a panicked expression for a moment, but soon regained her composure, twisted the bottle cap in her hand, pursed her lips, and looked away: "So it's Sakata-kun Ah, I'm fine, maybe I caught a cold last night, and I feel a little uncomfortable today."

"You're not feeling well, why don't you work hard to eat?" Sakata Gintoki just stepped forward, but the girl shrank subconsciously and took a step back.

"..."

"Troublemaker."

"what?"

"If you step back any further you'll be stepping on vomit."

"..."

【Ⅱ】

During the rainy season, there was a lot of drizzle, and in the cold and humid weather, Sakata Gintoki, who stayed in the private school as a whole, felt that he was about to get moldy.

"Ah, what a bore!" Sakata Gintoki yelled weakly, covering his face with a book.

"Yinshi, books are not used like that." Katsura Kotaro took the book off his face and said solemnly.

I always feel that the one who stops him at this time should be Chiha Yoshida who always pretends to be a student.

Sakata Gintoki looked puzzled, glanced at the students who were silently reading in the classroom, patted the head of the black-haired girl in front of him with a book and asked casually, "Maumi, where is the trouble?"

"Eh?" Misaki Mayumi, who was hurt by the beating, turned his head and replied honestly, "Yoshida-san seems to have a fever, so he didn't come to class, but Mr. Shoyo just went down the mountain to buy medicine for Yoshida-san gone."

"Didn't you say that idiots don't catch colds?" Sakata Gintoki stood up, habitually took the knife that Matsuyo-sensei gave him, and kept chanting while ignoring the wig off "It's still in the morning class, Yinshi." With a voice, I decided to go and see that rare creature that was obviously a fool and could catch a cold.

"Bang bang" - he knocked on the door.

There was no sound from inside.

"Troublemaker?" he called again.

It was so quiet inside that even the sound of an embroidery needle falling on the ground could be heard.

"..." Sakata Gintoki hesitated and said, "Are you okay, troublemaker? I'm going to open the door."

His right hand stretched towards the paper door, and as the paper door was pushed open by him little by little, he finally saw the inside of the room.

The sunlight in the rain, soft and dim, velvet through the latticed windows and dimly illuminated the room.

The owner of the room seemed to have just left, the bedding on the floor was a little messy, the lights and shadows intertwined, slightly dazzling.

The wind poured in unscrupulously through the half-open window, rustling the books on the desk.

Sakata Gintoki took off his clogs and walked into the room. He was about to close the window when he caught a glimpse of a series of shallow footprints under the window sill on the path leading to the back mountain.

With red eyes fixed slightly, he closed the window, walked out of the room, put on the clogs, hesitated for a moment, returned to the room, jumped out through the window, and chased after the string of footprints.

【Ⅲ】

The string of footprints broke off at the entrance of Houshan Village.

It was drizzling, and this originally warm and peaceful village was now lifeless.

No one came out, and everyone closed their doors tightly. When he crossed the path directly between the houses, he heard the villagers hiding in the houses, small and bitter.

"Is that him?"

"He's the ghoul."

"My God, how could Mr. Yoshida adopt someone like that."

"Is there any misunderstanding?"

"...that corpse has been torn into pieces..."

……

Sakata Gintoki clenched the samurai sword in his hand, quickened his pace and crossed the path.

The bean-like rain came suddenly and without warning.

Sakata Gintoki hid under the eaves protecting the knife.

The sound of rain.

This place avoids the village just now, and there are only a few independent houses. Through the dilapidated doors and windows, you can see that the inside is mostly empty, and the old tables and chairs are covered with a thick layer of dust.

Sakata Gintoki vaguely remembered that this was the place where the cannibal incident happened a month ago.

At that time, the shogunate sent two or three samurai to walk around, and perfunctorily concluded that the beast cannibalize people, telling everyone not to panic, and then left.

Mr. Songyang, who was entrusted by the villagers to investigate the incident, did not come up with any convincing results, although he did a detailed investigation.

It's just that in Sakata Gintoki's impression, Mr. Songyang, who rushed to the crime scene and investigated carefully, looked a little complicated and unbelievable.

The rain slanted in and wet half of Sakata Gintoki's clothes standing under the eaves.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Sakata Gintoki knocked on the wooden door.

"Crack... creak..."——he heard a vague and strange voice coming from inside.

"If no one makes a sound, Ah Yin, I will pretend that no one is coming in to hide from the rain." Sakata Yinshi patted the door again, and the door that was not closed was pushed open unexpectedly.

The light inside was so dim that it was almost impossible to see clearly.

The girl sitting on the ground with her back to him seemed to be eating something, making "creaking" noises non-stop.

The room was filled with a strong smell of blood.

Sakata Gintoki, who suddenly reacted, drew his knife out of its sheath and slashed at it.

The knife cracked and chopped the plank.

The girl who was sitting on the ground disappeared.

Sakata Gintoki was slightly taken aback.

The wind blows suddenly.

He raised his head, and the purple-haired girl covered in blood sat on the window sill and jumped down with her back to him.

That figure is——

Eyes filled with horror, Sakata Gintoki rushed over to grab her, but his hand only grabbed the corner of his clothes, and it fell away in an instant, leaving only a hand full of blood, sticky and glaring.

"Hey, who the hell are you?" Sakata Gintoki stared at the girl's back, saying every word.

"..." The girl with her back to him didn't answer, and fled along the path.

"Damn it!" Sakata Gintoki was about to flip out along the window sill and chase after him, but the back collar was suddenly pulled.

"Stop chasing, Yinshi." It was Teacher Songyang's voice.

Sakata Gintoki stopped moving.

Yoshida Matsuyo handed him the samurai sword he dropped just now: "Let's leave here first, and we'll talk about it later."

After the window was opened, light from the outside flooded into the room in an instant, clearly illuminating the mutilated corpse in the room.

Gintoki Sakata looked away and nodded.

【Ⅳ】

"What's wrong with me? Sakata-kun?"

Under his scrutiny, the girl in front of her lowered her head, looked at the kimono on her body, raised her head again, and looked at him cautiously, with uneasy eyes.

"Qianyu..." His eyes flickered slightly, Sakata Gintoki asked in a casual tone on purpose, "Where did you go just now?"

"Eh?" The girl was stunned for a moment, showing a confused expression, "I've been in the room all the time, Sakata-kun, what's wrong with you today? You seem a little strange."

"……always there?"

"Well, it's always been there."

【Ⅴ】

Sakata Gintoki hid behind a thick tree trunk and saw with his own eyes that she quietly poured out the medicine that Teacher Songyang had given her, but her illness recovered quickly.

【Ⅵ】

"Yinshi, we can't be sure that Qianyu did that thing, after all, we only saw that similar figure from the back, so don't tell Kotaro and them for now."

【Ⅶ】

That was the last incident of "beasts eating people" in that village.

But not far from the village, there is a mass grave.

……

"kill him!"

Takasugi Shinsuke's desperate roar like a trapped animal recalled Sakata Gintoki's thoughts.

His sad eyes are like a lone wolf who is exhausted and has to stand up and fight: "I will definitely kill him!"

The "he" mentioned by Takasugi Shinsuke is not a fixed person, but everyone in this corrupt shogunate.

Sakata Gintoki did not speak.

Looking at the broken body on the ground, he thought of the rain and the killing in the rain.

His body seemed to be filled with lead, he moved his lips, his throat was too dry to say anything.

……

On the tall building, the body of the daimyo in the city was nailed high into the wall with a spear, his seven orifices were bleeding, and his face was full of distortion and fear.

Taking that day as the dividing line, after that, Sakata Gintoki couldn't remember the memory of the barbarians clearly.

Pieces and pieces, incomplete.

And they are all memories that he doesn't want to recall, so he doesn't want to fight.

For example, in the battle with the high-ranking members of the Heavenly Dao, the leader of the Chajini tribe captured them easily, and then easily let them go.

They later found out that it was because Mayumi Misaki, who is known as being able to change fate against the sky, proposed to those heavenly beings, "If you meet them on the battlefield, please let them go at least once." That was full of compromise and humiliation. conditions, joined the Heavenly Daoists.

Another example is the tombstone standing in front of the burned Matsushita village school.

The tomb of his mentor Yoshida Matsuyo.

And...the tomb of Yoshida Chiha.

Hey, Chiba.

Are you really dead?

Standing in front of the cold tombstone, Sakata Gintoki lowered his head slightly, clutching the samurai sword in his hand, and asked softly in his heart.