Natsume's Little Mister

"Ever since I was a child, I discovered that I could see things that others couldn't.

People who can't understand the world in my eyes regard me as a freak, alienate me, reject me, and call me a monster behind my back.

Am I really a monster?

In the crowd, I need to be careful to hide my weirdness, hoping to blend in with the ordinary crowd instead of living alone.

A solitary person is either a beast or a god.

And I'm a monster.

Monsters also want to have friends and loved ones. "

——by Natsume Takashi

Yokohama has been cloudy and rainy recently, and the air is humid with a sense of tide.

It rained a little early in the morning, and at dawn, the raindrops fell from the eaves of the Japanese garden, forming a crystal rain curtain.

Behind the rain curtain is the luxuriant red maple in the courtyard.

The stones are scattered, the moss is green, and there are a few lively redness in the koi pond.

"Boom boom boom——"

The hurried footsteps went from far to near, all the way to the study at the end of the corridor.

The study was quiet, only the pattering rain outside the window disturbed the sleepiness through the half-closed window, and a gust of cool wind blew past, blowing off the manuscript paper with elegant handwriting on the desk.

"Natsume-sensei, are you in there? I'll pick up the manuscript."

The cautious voice of the editor-in-chief Miki Ichiro came into the study and fell into the ears of the boy in front of the desk.

It was a young man with elegant eyebrows and eyes, with a faint bookish air all over his body, just like the moonlight in the night like water, not glaring, not rebellious, just right and touching.

He folded his arms, draped in a dark feather, and fell asleep on the desk, with a few strands of brown hair fluttering slightly with his breath.

In the morning of early autumn, there was a bit of chill, and his slightly pale cheeks were buried in the white manuscript paper and dark feathers, like a handful of light snow in winter, calm and serene, with a sickly fragility.

The voice of editor Miki came in and woke him up. Boy, no, Natsume Takashi frowned, opened his eyes in a daze, and raised his head from the desk with his numb arms.

Following his movements, the feathers slid down to the floor, spreading out a large pattern of deep and shallow peony embroidery.

Awakened, he hadn't recovered from the nightmare, his chest felt stuffy and he couldn't breathe, and there was a little depression between his brows and eyes.

Been bugged for years.

As long as he can remember, he has been having the same dream, in which he seems to be in another world.

Unlike him being adopted by Natsume Soseki now, he is stable and happy. In his dream, he seems to have been rotating among different relatives, and he seems to hear countless voices of rejection——

"Get out, why don't you get out of my house?"

"monster!"

"Dirty all day long, people think we treat you badly."

Losing his parents when he was young, being dependent on others, and being displaced, a few simple words filled countless heartaches.

And those eyes that can see monsters are even worse, bringing him countless tribulations and pains, and even those pains manifested on his body through dreams.

It wasn't until the last year that the dream changed. In the dream, he seemed to be adopted by a kind-hearted family and had a reliable partner. However, these pictures seemed to be covered with a layer of fog, making it difficult to see clearly. It didn't dissipate when I woke up, which is a pity.

Regardless of the numb arm, Natsume Takashi pulled the pen and paper familiarly, and recorded it before the memory disappeared.

After the last fragmented word fell, he stopped and breathed a sigh of relief, and the breathless oppression in his chest subsided.

Putting down the pen, just about to respond to Ichiro Miki outside the door, the chill of early autumn surged up, his throat itched, and he couldn't help coughing lightly, the black kimono stuck to his back, his slender back bent into an arch, his pale cheeks Sick flush.

"Ahem, is it Editor Miki?"

He probed his forehead, probably a low-grade fever.

"Hey, yes, it's me, can I come in?" Editor Miki couldn't help but sigh slightly in his heart when he heard Natsume Takashi's weak cough.

Since he took over Natsume-sensei, the other party's health has been not very good, especially every time the seasons change, he is bound to get sick.

"Cough cough, please come in." Natsume Takashi responded, and couldn't help coughing a few more times, his originally clear voice became a little hoarse, like a hoarse violin.

Editor Miki said "excuse me", and opened the door to come in.

As soon as he entered the study room, his eyes fell on Natsume Takashi's pale face, he frowned and walked forward quickly, picked up the feathers on the ground and draped them on Natsume's shoulders.

"Ms. Natsume, please pay attention to your body. Your body is the most important thing. If you are really uncomfortable, you can ask for leave."

While talking, he noticed the manuscript paper scattered all over the floor, he naturally squatted down, and picked up the manuscript paper on the ground.

"It's okay, it's just that it almost ended last night when I thought about it, and I couldn't help but stay up all night." Takashi Natsume said with a smile while hugging Haori.

After finishing speaking, he rubbed against the haori unconsciously, and the unabated warmth on the haori made him squint his eyes involuntarily, like a well-behaved cat.

Editor Miki felt ashamed for a moment.

In a daze, Natsume took the manuscript paper in his hand.

The other party straightened up, lowered his eyebrows and arranged them in order, then handed them back to him, and said with a smirk: "Editor Miki, look at the end of my writing, if there is no problem, I will submit the manuscript."

"Hey, good." Editor Miki nodded blankly.

Miki Ichiro sat down on his knees, calmed down and carefully read the story page by page.

This story tells the story of the god and his last believer. Japan claims to have 800 million gods, and here is a dew god who was conferred as a god because of human belief.

From the beginning of the story, a weak spirit accidentally enters the shrine but is worshiped as a god by the locals. The rise and fall of generations and the alternation of times, human beings who worship him as gods gradually forget the gods, and only the last girl remembers him , and come to worship every day, rain or shine.

Lushen, who obviously could survive as long as she gave up her position as a god, stayed because of the last believer, until Granny Hanako passed away, and the god who lost her last believer also disappeared from the world.

And even so, in Lushen's mouth, it is still "human beings, so cute", without complaints or sadness.

This story has been serialized in the country's most popular magazine - "Asuka and the Clear Sky". It has been serialized for half a year from the spring when the cherry blossoms are gorgeous to the early autumn when the red maple is dyed red.

This is the fourth long story published by Takashi Natsume.

In the strange and desolate world of literary world, his existence is more precious than diamonds.

His writing style has the beauty of sorrow unique to his nation, but he is as gentle as himself. In adversity, it seems that there is a light shining into the long night, pulling and pulling, until it brings people into the light.

At the same time, Natsume's articles have a dynamic texture. Reading those words, people seem to be able to plunge into the story in person, and empathize with the emotions of the characters in it, just like magic.

The special style of writing, excellent stories, and magical appeal make Natsume appear in the literary world like a red sun rising, shining brightly in hope.

And today's manuscript is the end of his fourth story.

After seeing the handwriting of "full text", editor Miki showed a complex expression of being moved and wanting to cry.

After being silent for a while, he opened his mouth and finally couldn't help asking: "So Lushen has disappeared forever?"

He looked at Natsume Takashi with a pleading look on his face.

Natsume Takashi coughed lightly, looked away slightly guilty, and hummed lightly.

The creator paints a world, but sometimes the story itself has a soul.

There are all kinds of characters in it, and the various states of the world, they are advancing according to a special law, and as the creator of the world, he is just a storyteller, and he cannot control the direction of the story.

Editor Miki stared at Natsume for a while, making sure that he really had no intention of modifying the ending, and wailed in disappointment, feeling that the world had turned gray.

People who are engaged in text-related work are always extra sensitive, even editor Miki is in his 40s.

For more than half a year, he accompanied this story from the initial excitement to the present ending.

At the end of the story, when Granny Hanako finally had the courage to say "the weather is so nice" to the god in the illusion, he burst into tears.

That kind of sadness is like seeing the beauty of the world being shattered with his own eyes, and his heart is shattered into glass shards, but he has to agree that this ending is really reasonable. .

Although he had already expected that the ending would not be perfect, he really didn't think that the ending would really be be.

Editor Miki held a stack of manuscripts with a skeptical expression on his face.

And Natsume Takashi moved his legs that were finally not so numb, slipped away from him quietly, opened the door of the study, and returned to his bedroom.

After closing the door, he held on to the door frame and finally heaved a sigh of relief.

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The author has something to say:

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Open the article ~ please collect, please comment ~

ooc belongs to me, the male god belongs to everyone, and the male god is unique.

I also recommend my completed comprehensive comics and comprehensive British and American essay "The Witcher" cp chirp, you can see it by poking my column.