The end of the curtain

?Long streets and ancient alleys, cherry blossoms are gentle and soft.Flying from the branches in the wind, falling and dancing, gently depicting touches of light pink everywhere.

At the entrance of the simple and solemn shrine, wind chimes are hung on both sides of the carved vermilion lacquer pillars.The wind blows gently, while the cherry blossoms are flying, there is the jingling and beautiful emerald sound of the wind chimes, accompanied by the carefree laughter of the children.

"Little ghosts~" It was a soft but playful voice that used to sound.

Several seven or eight-year-old children who were playing the game immediately stopped the game and rushed over, their innocent smiles filled with joy, and they shouted "General Manager" one after another.

The chief patted the heads of those children who were only waist-high one by one, but there was a rare gentle smile on Qingjun's face. The little girl in the blue kimono ran over and tugged on her sleeve.

"Brother, come and play together."

"..." I secretly feel that my men's clothing seems to be quite successful, but at the same time, I feel schizophrenic thinking that the other party is just a child, and it's normal not to see it.But a girl is not used to being called brother for the first time, Sakurai smiled awkwardly, "...ah, haha..."

"Brother, let's play together." The little girl blinked her watery innocent eyes, said again, and then directly pulled Sakurai over with her little strength.

ah hello...

"You have to be careful~" The chief manager stroked his hair casually, looked at Sakurai who was pushed around by the children, and smiled leisurely, "These little devils are not so easy to deal with. Oh~”

The children were arguing, and then dragged Sakurai to half-squat down on the grounds of "newcomers join", and then the two children stood on tiptoe and covered her eyes with a cloth.

This is the legendary "grab people in the dark" game, no matter when, children always like to play this game.

"Hey, wait..." I'm not ready yet.

"It's started! Run! Ahhh——"

"..." Who will save me!

There is complete darkness in front of the eyes, that's how people are, once their eyes are dark, they will not be able to stand still, let alone catch a group of lively and energetic children.

The group of children were really as clever as the chief executive said, and they ran fast.It was hard for Sakurai to stand firm, but those children laughed and ran away quickly, running over from time to time and yanking Sakurai's sleeves hard, making her unable to tell the direction from east to west, from north to south, several times To fall to the ground.

After several times of dizziness, Sakurai also began to learn how to behave. First, she stood in the middle without moving, listening to the voice of the child quietly, and then when the next child rushed over and grabbed her clothes, she grabbed her with her backhand. live with that child.

Although he grabbed it, he was afraid that the other party was just a weak child, so he didn't use any strength.But the child struggled fiercely and let go of her hand and ran in the opposite direction. Sakurai didn't expect him to "play tricks", so he was led by the child and fell straight forward.

"——!!!"

When his body was about to fall, even if someone held him firmly, Sakurai didn't think too much about it, and after standing firmly on his feet, he took off the cloth blindfolded, looked up and saw the chief executive with a playful look on his face With a smile, he raised his eyebrows and said with a sly smile: "Why, do you know how powerful these brats are?"

Nonsense, children are very good at cheating.

"Yeah." Sakurai suddenly noticed that this posture seemed a bit inappropriate, so he pushed away the chief executive's hand without any trace.The general manager didn't care about it, he didn't know when he was already holding a bag of Jinpingtang in his hand, when the children saw this, they swarmed up, and the general manager's hand was empty after a while.

A group of children also gnawed on the candy and walked away noisyly, and the huge shrine became so quiet.I saw the cherry blossoms falling gently with the wind, covering the ground.

The two of them sat quietly under the stone slab of the cherry tree in front of the shrine. The corners of the chief's lips curled up like a smile but not a smile, and Sakurai was habitually sitting upright.Neither of them spoke, but each had their own thoughts.

"Mr. Okita, how is your body feeling recently?" Even Sakurai herself didn't know why she wanted to break the silence, she just felt bored and panicked, so she asked in a low voice.

She made a very clear diagnosis, and the director's condition was getting more and more out of her control.The first point is that she has no cure for the root cause.Second, the chief executive didn't cooperate well... She never told him the real illness, and she was afraid of what he would think after she told him.In this kind of era, when a good time suffers from an incurable disease, everyone will be on the verge of collapse.

Really, Souji, I don't want to see you in pain... His ideal is to accompany Mr. Kondo with his sword.But that kind of disease, in the near future, even the strength to stand up will gradually disappear...

The chief executive would not have thought that he originally brought her out to let her relax, but she still couldn't get rid of the depression in her heart.

I always feel that the two of them have become unfamiliar, even if they look up and look down every day.From the previous "Okita" to the current "Mr. Okita".Ever since that incident with Ari, she has always alienated herself intentionally or unintentionally... But that's okay, I don't really understand why she insisted on joining the Shinsengumi at that time, but he was a little happy in his heart, but at the same time Mixed feelings.The Shinsengumi is the Mibu Wolf Den...

——It doesn't matter, as long as you can do well, I will be relieved.

"Well, okay, isn't Xiaoxu the clearest—" the chief executive said calmly, Sakurai glanced at him somewhat depressed, and muttered to himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with the chief executive's words.

But at this time, the chief executive smiled lightly with a faint ignorance, and the corners of his lips raised high: "Does Xiaoxu want to know that much?"

"..." Sakurai's heart sank suddenly, and his face suddenly became a little ugly.

Souji Okita, I really don't understand what you are thinking, you clearly know that I don't mean that at all... If you do this, what about Chizuru?Don't you need to think about Chizuru's thoughts?Please don't get along in such a messy way of getting along, our relationship is just the relationship between a doctor and a patient, that's all...

It seems that the answer to that question is out of reach for me after all.I will never bother you, even though I know I'm really hurt.But I am a person of the new era, and people of the new era must learn to let go of their hands gracefully and frankly...

But in my heart, I still couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. I always felt that there was a stone in my heart, and I couldn't stop it.

"I'm sorry, it's been a long time, I have to go first." Sakurai didn't want to be alone with him for another moment, she was afraid that she would not be able to bear it and would go crazy.With the reason that "Mr. Hijikata will scold me if I go back late", she quickly turned and left, but she walked in the opposite direction of the village.

Is it coming again...

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As night falls, the pink cherry blossoms dancing in the sky are very mysterious in the dark. It is a kind of beauty in the dark night, which is gradually suffocating without knowing it.

The general manager sat there alone for a long time, until the discomfort in his lungs made him cough again, and after a little relief, he raised his head and realized that the sky was already crimson and the sun was setting.

He was very upset and confused, and he couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

So, the general manager returned to the Shinsengumi's settlement alone.But after returning to the village, it was meal time as usual, but Qianhe ran over in a hurry at this time, saying that Xiaoxu had disappeared.I searched everywhere but didn't see her. I asked Yamazaki, but Yamazaki said that she hadn't been to the infirmary for a day.

"What should I do? Mr. Okita." Qianzuru's slightly immature face was full of undisguised anxiety.Although this incident has not alarmed Mr. Hijikata and the others.

"..." The director paused for a while when he heard the words, but there was no expression on his face, "The child went out with me today, but she left by herself later." He narrated it so lightly, as if it had nothing to do with him.

"What's the matter, but...Xiaoxu didn't come back...I just, I went to ask the team member on duty just now..." Qianhe's heart beat faster again, and she was about to cry look like.

"Hmm—" The chief executive responded inexplicably, his face still calm and indifferent.Then, he turned around, "That kid is really troublesome."

But the moment he turned around, his handsome face was covered with a light haze.

—————————————————————

After leaving sullenly again, Sakurai was in a bad mood.She knew it wasn't anger, but the pain of not being able to understand what she wanted to understand.

However, life still has to go on.I'm not here to ask for trouble, I'm here to cure his illness, so that's enough.

Originally, he was going back to the village, but Sakurai was in a bad mood. As he walked, he realized that he hadn't gone back at all, but was in a strange place, and it was getting late.

Come on, if you don't go back quickly, little Qianhe will be worried and will be scolded... But, where is this place?

A long, narrow and ancient alley, the road paved with bluestone slabs, because of the wind and rain for many years, beats people and cars, under the extremely dim orange candlelight, there is a faint sense of treachery.

Occasionally, the wind blows and brings sparse petals from nowhere.

What is this place?Although she has lived in Kyoto for more than a year, there are still many places in Kyoto where she does not know the way.

——Where is this... from east to west, north to south?

——Ah, I don’t know the way, if I knew it, I wouldn’t run around, and now I’m running and people are getting lost…

……

A gust of cold wind suddenly blows past a few pink flower petals that came from nowhere, and a few dim paper lanterns hanging at the roadside entrance are flickering, and the candles are also flickering .

Sakurai felt a little terrified for the first time, but not very strong.A deep chill rose from the soles of his feet and gradually spread all over his body.

At the same time, the atmosphere around him suddenly changed to a low-pressure oppressive feeling, carrying that kind of bloodthirsty chill.

The wind is raging, and the night is solemn.

It was that feeling again, a feeling I hadn't had in a long time.Sakurai himself didn't know that feeling, but somehow he actually possessed the perception.

The murderous aura coming from the wind, a familiar feeling.However, Sakurai didn't feel any fear in her brief unconsciousness, but subconsciously reached her right hand towards the empty left waist. That movement, so skillful that she couldn't believe it herself, was actually—drawing the sword!

The subconscious action of drawing a knife, even if there is no knife, isn't that what a swordsman will only have when he senses danger?She is not a swordsman, why is she like this?Could it be that the people who watched the Shinsengumi drew their swords more, and started to learn from them?

impossible……?