"In the beginning, I was just a seed."

"I don't know where the bird brought it, landed, took root, and sprouted."

"At that time, there were still dignitaries living in the castle next door, and on the streets, samurai came and went, talking about things I didn't understand."

"Later, there were fewer and fewer people on horseback, and more people sat in cars made of steel."

"For a youkai like me, who hadn't really awakened his spiritual consciousness at that time, it was difficult to perceive the passage of time, and only by looking at humans could I recall time."

"That's when I met the gentleman."

"He doesn't look like anyone else, like a guest from a foreign land."

"At that time, Songjiang City had been occupied by another group of people, and the dignitaries and dignitaries in the past were nowhere to be found, and outside Songjiang City, all kinds of people came and went, but no one would stop and look up at my flowers."

"He is the only one who, once in a while, stops and looks up at my branches, and speaks words I don't understand."

"Sometimes, you can see him with some monsters and spirits."

"But apart from his wife, I've never seen him walk with anyone else."

"Later, I learned that he was a soul exterminator, and his name in Wakuni was Koizumi Yakumo."

"Every spring, Mr. Koizumi comes here to admire the flowers, and even if he is not in the city for a while, I can still see him walking slowly, stopping, and looking in my direction on a sunny day."

"Until one year, in the winter of that year, it was very long, that Mr. Koizumi returned to the city in the autumn and stayed there until the early spring."

"I was about to transform into a youkai at that time, and on an early spring afternoon, Mr. Koizumi suddenly came to this alley, and he didn't just look at it as usual."

Mr. Koizumi came to my side, put his hand lightly on the trunk of the tree, and said.

"'After being with me for so long, you should have your own life, it's a pity, I'm going to Tokyo tomorrow, and I can't see you in full bloom, they all say, when the cherry blossom demon really awakens, the blooming flowers are the most beautiful, but unfortunately I shouldn't be able to witness it with my own eyes.' ”

"'But it's okay, I'll draw a picture and record your blooming memories as a memorial of this time.'" ”

"'Having said all this, you may not understand it either, but in short, thank you for being with us during this time.'" ”

He said so, and left.

"At that time, I wanted to wait until he came back and then really bloom."

"Unexpectedly, year after year, until I had the strength to change into a human form, I never saw Mr. Koizumi again, and even his residence was no longer human."

"Now it seems that he just said it casually at the time, after all, I am just a little monster whose spiritual sense is in ambiguity, and he is a famous soul destroyer."

After the old woman finished speaking, she sighed.

Qiao Qiao's gaze crossed the old woman's shoulder and looked behind her.

The withered cherry blossom tree.

There is not a single green leaf on the branches, which is out of place with the surrounding trees.

In front of the tree, a sign was hung with information about the tree.

The cherry tree, which is more than 100 years old, has never bloomed in the last 100 years, and is now on the verge of dying, despite the efforts of botanists, it has not been able to slow down the process of death.

"This ...... It's so unfortunate. ”

Sayoko said.

Tears flowed from Qiao Qiao's eyes.

His cell phone rang at this time, and the ringtone of Kagura Bell was quiet and far-reaching.

Qiao Qiao picked up the phone while snorting with a tissue.

"Hey, Chairman Ii? Well? It's okay, I didn't cry, nothing was wrong...... Well? Is there a result? Good. ”

With tears in his eyes, he put down his phone and turned on Line.

In the Line, there are several pictures sent by Masaharu Ii.

[The only designated ghost]: These are paintings related to Koizumi Yakumo that have been recorded by Todai and Minejo Dai, and I have sent them all to you.

Qiao Qiao looked at it, there were not many of them, only six.

The first two are landscape paintings decorated in Koizumi Yakumo's office.

From the fourth one, Qiao Qiao felt a little abrupt.

Because the fourth is an oil painting.

Yes, Koizumi Yakumo lived in Europe when he was young, and naturally it was not the Oriental painting techniques that he learned since he was a child, but oil painting.

Until he saw the sixth, Qiao Qiao's hand stopped.

The theme of the sixth painting is cherry blossoms.

Cherry blossoms blooming in the warm spring light.

Although it is the rich color of oil painting, under the painter's brush, it presents a fresh and elegant tone.

It can be seen that the painter put his heart and soul into the painting.

It's just that this painting is not finished.

Except for the cherry blossoms, there are no other places where the painting is finished.

Even the cherry blossoms are not completely painted, and they always give people a feeling of budding.

[The only designated ghost]: This painting was found in the dormitory of Mr. Koizumi Yakumo, who died of a heart attack in the autumn of the year he came to Minejo University, and this painting should be regarded as his posthumous work, which has been kept by the school and hung in the Koizumi Yakumo Laboratory at the end of Sakura Road.

Faced with Qiao Qiao's inquiry, Ii Masaharu replied.

Qiao Qiao looked at the painting again.

Zoom in on it, and in the corner, you can see a comment in English.

Translated, it roughly means to commemorate those days under the cherry blossom trees and the birth of a friend.

Perhaps, Koizumi Yakumo really wanted to finish the painting at that time, and one day, return here and say goodbye to the Sakura Demon who has completely possessed spiritual sense.

However, the world is impermanent, illness has taken his life, and no one knows about the agreement, and to this day, if it weren't for the help of Qiao Qiao and Sayoko, maybe when the cherry blossom tree is completely dead, no one will remember that time again.

Qiao Qiao handed the phone to the old woman.

At the moment of seeing that painting.

Sayoko seemed to see a woman in a cherry-colored kimono smiling at herself.

"Mr. Koizumi, I really kept my promise."

The woman chuckled.

"Huh?"

Sayoko saw that a petal fell on her shoulder.

One, two, countless pink petals, falling slowly.

When I looked up, I saw that the ancient tree, which had already withered, had bloomed into a tree of cherry blossoms in this autumn.

When the cherry blossom demon really awakens, the flowers in full bloom are the most beautiful.

Sayoko remembered what she had just heard.

"It's so beautiful......"

Passers-by by chance couldn't help but stop.

"But it's autumn, why are the cherry blossoms blooming?"

There are more and more people, and this secluded alley may never have had so many visitors.

Everyone stopped and looked up to admire the cherry blossoms that bloomed in the miracle of late autumn.

In the crowd, Qiao Qiao took Sayoko's hand and said softly.

"Among Koizumi Yakumo's "Strange Talks", there is an article called "Sixteen Sakura".

"In the Edo period, a samurai had a cherry blossom tree growing in his house, and every spring, when the cherry blossoms bloomed, the samurai and his friends gathered under the cherry blossom tree."

"As the years passed, the samurai grew old, and his family and friends left him one by one, and when he was dying, he was alone, but he still enjoyed the cherry blossoms in the spring, and it seemed that this cherry blossom tree had become his only friend."

"Unexpectedly, one day, the cherry blossom tree withered and died, and the samurai was very sad and felt that life had lost its meaning and fell ill in bed."

"In the winter of the following year, on January 16, the samurai felt that his life was at the end of his life, and he went to the withered cherry tree, saying that he was about to die, and begged the gods to let him see the cherry tree in full bloom before he died."

"So, the cherry blossom tree bloomed beautifully in the heavy winter snow, and the samurai smiled and passed away under the tree when they saw the flower."

"Since then, the 16 cherry blossoms have only bloomed on the 16th of January, when the snow is falling."

What happened later, Qiao Qiao saw it in the newspaper.

A cherry blossom tree outside the Koizumi Yakumo Memorial Hall, which had not bloomed for a hundred years, suddenly bloomed.

In just one night, the cherry blossoms bloom all over the street.

But the next day, when people went here again, they found that the cherry tree had died.

And in distant Tokyo, at Minejo University, Koizumi Yakumo Research Laboratory, the original unfinished cherry blossom painting seems to have been completed by someone overnight.

The cherry blossoms in the painting are in full bloom in a spring light, showing a touching vitality, as if they are really alive.

Even time is indelible.