"Mamura, what did that guy mean just now?"

When Umino and his party left, Mika turned her head, stared at Mamura with a smile, and began to "ask the teacher for guilt", and even with the early season, they also looked at Mamura with a curious face.

Being stared at by a group of people, Mamura shrank back a little uneasily, and his expression looked embarrassed: "Can I not say it?" ”

Without waiting for Mika to say something to refuse, Rina first gave Mamura a step: "Why? Did he tell you not to say it? ”

"Well, they told me not to say it to anyone else, and I promised, so keep my oath."

Mamura descended the stairs and made a look of disobedience. He made it clear that this was a matter of credit and commitment between people, and Meijia couldn't continue to ask, so she could only glare at Rina stupidly, and snorted softly: "Love to say it or not, I don't think it's a good thing." ”

"Not really! It's a great thing! ”

Mamura argued, and the corners of Mika's lips curled inadvertently, and then she estimated that she would use words to stimulate Mamura and make him speechless. But at this time, Rina disrupted Mika's little plan, she stroked the snow-white cotton hat she was wearing, and sighed with palpitations: "It's finally over, just now I was worried that I would encounter something very harsh." Mika, let's go eat after we release the flowers, I'm a little hungry. ”

"Well, let's go out."

Sha echoed, and Mariya also looked at Mika with a smile: "Sister Mika, hurry up and bring me that ice flower of yours." ”

"Hmph, okay, okay."

Mika squinted at me, she probably saw the strangeness of the Umino people, and she wanted to ask Mamura so urgently out of concern - but this is not a good solution, for us, it is not important to know Umino and their secrets, it is important to avoid getting involved with Umino and them.

So I shook my head at her and nodded again, indicating "don't keep asking, then I already know, I'll take care of it". Mika understood what I conveyed, and glared at Rina and Sasa one by one: "It's good that I'm a bad person alone." ”

"Let's go, let go."

After complaining, Mika turned her head and walked towards the already empty riverbank, and the girls Rina and Saya hurriedly followed, and the boys couldn't figure out the situation for a while, looked at each other for a while, and then turned their heads to follow. I deliberately took a step behind, and reached out to grab the still confused Mamura: "Mamura, go slowly, I have something to say to you." ”

"Okay."

He hesitated, then nodded in agreement.

So the two of us paced behind the group and remained silent for more than ten seconds. Just as I was organizing my language and planning to open the topic with a suitable way of conversation and skills, I didn't expect Mamura to speak first: "Fold, do you say that people will die?" ”

"Why do you ask this?"

I know that Mamura is probably still entangled in Mr. Kawakami's affairs, but I don't plan to take the initiative to break it.

"I know, that Mr. Kawakami is dead. Just like the people, they are always in the soil and can never get out again. ”

Mamura's face showed a melancholy that did not match his age, he sighed and lowered his head: "Even if you become an adult and have magic power, you will die one day sooner or later." Why, even though the magic is so powerful, it can't make people live forever. ”

His words are undoubtedly beyond the cognition of death at this age, but in my opinion, they are similar to unfounded worries, life is born and must die, eternal immortality does not necessarily bring pleasure, or it may be powerless to watch the people close to him die, and finally cumin enjoys endless loneliness, and finally goes to self-destruction - of course, summer insects are indescribable, and my cognition is only to speculate on the thinking of the eternal with my own subjectivity, just like thinking about the "omnipotent god" with the wisdom of the poor It's ridiculous to think about something.

Even so, I still stubbornly believe that eternal life is torture, so I will never try to pursue that kind of eternal existence. Maybe it's because I've already died once, so I don't have any fear of death. In other words, for me, a life of simplicity, growing old with those close to me, and finally being surrounded by children and grandchildren, is a natural truth for me, and a reward that I have always dreamed of.

It's ridiculous that a human being who has never attained immortality can assert that he doesn't need it at all, just like a poor person who says "I like poverty and don't need any money to pollute me" – and I can't help but be pleased by my own thinking and chuckle out loud.

"Fold! Don't laugh! ”

Mamura reached out and slapped my shoulder, I shrugged my shoulders and put away my smile: "Mamura, if you can live forever, but your father and mother will die one day, I, Sa, Mika, and Rina ...... Will you feel happy that our friends will also die, and you will be left alone to continue to live? ”

"No, it won't."

He shook his head and looked serious: "I must have been very sad and sad at that time. But I still want to live, and as long as I live, maybe I can find a way to resurrect everyone and get you all back. ”

I couldn't help but laugh dumbly at these childish and innocent words, subconsciously categorizing them as fairy tales and fantasies, but when I think about the magic of mana and the fact that it is a "resurrection" in a sense, I can't deny that there is indeed such a possibility.

"Resurrection of the Dead"

"Forever Lasts"

Will these powers belonging to the "gods" fall into the hands of humans?

"Don't laugh!"

Mamura furrowed in displeasure. I apologized to him, and he rejoiced again: "And as long as everyone lives forever, as long as everyone does not die, then there will be no sadness and sadness." ”

I can't bear to destroy his dreams and innocence, and I don't intend to impose my three views on him, I just listen quietly and don't express any opinions.

After that, Mamura muttered a lot about eternal life, and I figured out that it was probably the people of Koi who instilled a lot of ideas in this regard in him, and perhaps drew a blueprint for it - when I learned about this situation, and then thought of the death of the relatives of the Koi brothers, in this way, what the people of Koi were doing probably surfaced.

Do you use mana to explore the possibility of making humanity last forever? It's not 100% sure, but it's probably already eight or nine.

I sighed softly, vaguely aware of the danger faced by the Umino group, if, as I had guessed, they would inevitably involve genetic problems in order to study such a method of perpetuating humanity, experimenting with animals beforehand, and in the end, inevitably practicing it on humans—but the rules of ethics limit this.

Because my father is a staff member of Myo Fa Farm, and his daily work involves the genetic improvement of various plants, I have heard my parents discuss this by chance, and I have also heard that there is a clause in the ethics regulations - "You cannot use magic to modify human genes, and you cannot conduct research and analysis of the genes of living organisms in private unless it is necessary for school or work, and the genetic research and analysis of humans and rats must not be carried out privately unless approved by the ethics committee." ”

In other words, Umino and his entourage have either touched this rule or are about to touch this rule.

"Fold, do you know the cell? The human body is made up of countless cells, and they are constantly dividing......"

"These are all Xiaojing, they told you?"

When I was about to reach the riverbank, I stopped and interrupted Mamura. His eyes dodged, and he nodded, making an inaudible voice: "Yes." ”

"Mamura, are you going to go to Koi and them in the future?"

I looked at Mamura and felt that with his character, if he was really interested in what Koi and they described, he would probably come to them anyway - judging by his obsession with insects and his stubborn personality that was not visible from the outside, it was very likely that he would do such a thing.

"No...... I'm not going to go, and I'm not going to be friends with them. ”

Mamura shook his head and gave a surprising reply. I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows: "Why?" ”

"I don't know why, but I can feel that you don't like me being in contact with them, so I won't go to them."

His tone was calm, with a slightly shy smile on his face, and he didn't look as ignorant as he had just appeared: "I know I'm stupid, but I can see your worries. ”

"Mamura, I'm sorry. I think what Umino and the others did might be a violation of ethics, so I want you not to get too close to them. ”

Now that he has seen the clue, I will be open to the truth, and although I can't explain to him the shady situation in the town, it is reasonable to use the statement that "you should not approach those who violate the ethical rules" - after all, in Kamisu 66 Town, the ethical regulations are equivalent to the law, and the person who violates the ethical rules is equivalent to the criminal, and no matter what the era, the criminal will never make people want to get close to.

"I see."

After being silent for a while, Mamura nodded heavily, and his tone was worried: "Fold, can you not tell others what you just said?" ”

"Of course."

I patted Mamura on the shoulder and gave me a positive smile. He was stunned for a moment, looked at my hand, then turned his head to look at my face, his dark eyes shining, and then his face showed a look as if he had made up some kind of determination: "Fold, I won't give up!" ”

I was dumbfounded, unable to understand what he meant for a while, and my thoughts turned for a while before I realized that what he was talking about was something that happened in the early morning, and I couldn't help but be angry and funny, but I couldn't bear to continue to hit him, but I just pretended not to hear: "Okay, they are waiting, we should go." ”

……

"Fold, Mamura, you two hurry up!"

At Mika's urging, Mamura and I returned to the team. Mamura went to get his ice flower back, and I picked one of the most leisurely-looking ice flowers on the river, about the size of two hands together, and it was the slowest one visible to the naked eye on the river, and its lower calyx and rhizomes were relatively large and dense, making it turn back and forth from time to time under the current of the current, drifting downstream at a slow speed.

After asking Jing to salvage it with the power of magic, I held the flower in the palm of my hand and played with it, because of the water, the whole flower seemed to be full of weight, and the petals were cold and thick to the touch, but they were very smooth and delicate, like a woman's delicate skin.

This was the first time I had touched the ice flower, so I carefully observed it, in addition to the strange color, the shape of the petals of the ice flower is similar to that of a lotus flower, and it blooms outwards in layers, but the petals are larger than the lotus petals, and at the same time there are many more petals.

When I unfolded the petals a little and looked at the center of the flower, I was surprised to find that there were no stamens and pistils in it, and I don't know if it was because of petalization or other reasons, but the center of the petals that were supposed to grow the stamens was empty and smooth, as if it were an artificial flower-shaped box, leaving just a certain amount of space to stuff things.

Although I wondered how this flower could reproduce without stamens, I didn't pay too much attention to it, and after playing with it for a while, I rolled up the envelope in my hand and put it into the space wrapped in petals. As soon as you let go of your hand, the unfolded petals return to their original shape like elastic gummies, wrapping the envelope in layers of crystal clear petals, and then even if you pour water on it, it is difficult to penetrate inside.

Mika handed her twin flowers to the others to look at, satisfying everyone's curiosity, and whispered to the girls Rina, Sa, and Maria for a while, and then she clapped her palms and attracted everyone's attention: "Are you all ready?" ”

"Ready!"

The first one in the morning responded, and everyone else responded, and I symbolically raised my hand and said "oh". Meijia's gaze turned around on everyone's faces, and finally landed on me, the corners of her eyes suddenly turned up, and there was a malicious aura on her smiling face: "Everyone, I don't think it's interesting to just let go, why don't we have a game?" ”

"I refuse."

As soon as I saw Mika's performance, I understood what was going on in her head, and I was the first to speak out against it.

"The objection is invalid."

Meijia raised her index finger and shook it a few times, and the corners of her lips pouted with a smug smile: "Fold, it's too naïve!" This world is a world where the minority obeys the majority! ”

"I'm proposing an ice drifting competition! The competition consists of us putting the ice flowers into the river together, and then determining the ranking according to how fast the ice flowers float to the river bay, and the previous person is eligible to make a request for the next person, and the time limit is tonight. And also...... The last person must agree to a request from each person in front of them, and the time limit is also tonight - the minority obeys the majority, and now everyone starts voting, and if you agree, raise your hand! ”

Announcing the content of the game, Mika raised her hand first, Rina was the second, followed by Maria, Haoji, Shizu, and even Saya threw an apologetic smile at me before raising her right hand with white fluffy gloves above her head - the girls had clearly been in collusion just now.

"Then I'm in favor of that."

Jue raised his hand with a nonchalant expression. Next, Instant Heliang thought about it for a while, and they all agreed. Mamura looked at me and didn't stretch out his hand.

"There are nine people who are in favor and only two who are against, so let's play according to the principle that the minority obeys the majority."

Mika's gaze turned on the ice flower in my hand, and there was a smile on her face that seemed to say "You deserve it, tell you to choose the slowest", and then I realized that my inadvertent choice was caught by her.

I exhaled and gave her a "we'll see" look, but I was outnumbered, and I could only acquiesce to this game where "Shiraishi is afraid to become the biggest loser".

Meijia's temperament is said to be too much action, and if it is not good, it is impatient. After speaking, she immediately took action, the first to lift the trouser legs, revealing two white rising calves, and then waded through the yellow weeds and snow on the riverside, squatted down by the water and waved at us: "Don't rub around, come quickly." When I finished it early and went back to eat early, my stomach was already hungry. ”

"But if you put it in the river, it will get stuck in the reeds, and why don't you row to the center of the river and put it?"

Momentarily asked, but he quickly realized that it was inappropriate: "But what happened just now, it's not good to go to the river now." ”

"But what to do? But the reeds on the shore will get the flowers stuck. ”

Jue was also in a difficult position, but Meijia waved her hand nonchalantly and looked at Jing: "It's okay, Sister Jing will help us send all the flowers to the center of the river." Right? ”

"Yes."

Jing held her ice flower and nodded carelessly, her emerald green eyes looked distracted, and she didn't know what she was thinking. But judging by the small gestures she made from time to time at me, it was very likely that what she was thinking had something to do with me, and judging by the vague lines that curved between the plump lip flaps of the antifreeze-resistant lipstick, it was clearly not a good thing.

Realizing this, I felt a drum beat inside me, because no matter what she thought, what she was thinking about should be related to the competition that Mika proposed. Further, it has to do with the demands I should make when I finish last in the race – all in all, I should at least avoid being last place.

Thinking so, I glanced at the dense rhizome of the ice flower in my hand, thought about it, and decided to break some of it, but as soon as my fingers touched the rhizome, I found that the yarn turned his face over, looked at me with dark eyes, and reproached me softly: "Fold, no." Cheating is not allowed, and it is useless. ”

"I'm sorry."

Cheating was caught, and I was embarrassed to continue, retracting my outstretched hand, and wondering about the saying that "cheating is useless", and asked more: "Why is it useless?" ”

"I can't tell you."

Sasha pursed her lips and shook her head, but her fingers quietly pointed in Jing's direction, and she made a backward movement with both hands - it was easy to understand, Jing was going to drag me back.

I couldn't stop crying and laughing, and I didn't know what a few people were plotting to make it so hopeful that I would be at the bottom, and even did this kind of manipulation of the rankings.

Knowing the inside story, I didn't bother to continue to struggle to the death, so I honestly completed the prayer before the release, and then let Jing use the magic power to collect everyone's ice flowers, send them to the center of the river to line up, and go down the river under the eyes of everyone.

The location of the river bay was less than 300 meters, and soon the still ice flower was the first to float to the river bay, followed by Mika, Maria, Instant, Sa, Mamura, Rina, Ryo, Zaoji, and Satoru in order. As for the last place, there is no doubt that it belongs to me, who is still hovering halfway through the ice flower.

"There's no need to look at it."

When Jue's Binghua also arrived at Hewan, Meijia pursed her lips and raised her finger at me and gestured with a Y: "Fold, the last place is you, and you have to promise everyone a request." ”

"Wouldn't you be embarrassed?"

I glanced at Meijia, she tilted her head a little weakly, and her white cheeks were slightly crimson: "Anyway, you lost, I am willing to lose the bet." ”

"That's right, fold, you are willing to gamble and lose."

Feeling coaxed and teasing, he showed a rather sinister smile: "My request will be ...... when the time comes." ”

"Wait, Satoru, who said you could make a request?"

Zaoji crossed his arms and interrupted his words with a straight face: "In addition to the last one who has to agree to everyone's request, the previous one can also ask the next one to agree to a request." My request to you is that you can't fold your requirements. ”

"Huh!!"

Jue's sinister smile turned into consternation, and he muttered unwillingly: "Early season, what are you doing?" Why say such a request. ”

"Excuse me, you...... It's called Ryo Inaba, right? Can I call you good? ”

At this time, Rina also walked in front of Ryo, she looked at Ryoshi with a smile on her face, and after he nodded in agreement, she gently flicked the ponytail that fell on her left shoulder, and her smile became more and more gentle: "My request is the same as Watanabe's, you can't make any demands in half today." No problem, right? ”

Liang looked at Jue, who looked desperate, and Zaoji, who was staring at Jue with cold eyes, and was about to go up and beat someone, pulled his lips and replied: "No." ”

"Thank you."

Rina nodded and smiled at Ryo, and walked away.

What happened to Satoru and Liang was instantly caught in the eyes of Mamura and Instant, and when he noticed that Sa's gaze was looking at him, Mamura lowered his head and muttered in a voice that everyone could hear: "Fold, I don't have anything to say." ”

"Yes, my request is to lend me the "New Generation World Naturalist" for a while longer, is it okay?"

Instantly walked up to me and pleaded sincerely. I nodded with a wry smile: "It's okay, just return it to me when you finish reading." Otherwise, I can ask my father for advice and see if I can give it to you. ”

"Really?"

Instantly looking very happy, I nodded again: "It should be fine." ”

"Thank you."

He thanked him sincerely, and could tell that he really liked the book.

"It's okay."

I waved my hand, glanced at Kaku, Ryo, and Mamura, and then at Mika, who had a smug smile on her face that couldn't be hidden, needless to say, this was a typical trick of cooking a cunning rabbit dead lackey, and it was obviously from her head.

"Fold, we'll talk about it in the evening."

Mika raised her chin at me, as if to declare that she was the victor.

"I see. But don't go too far, and I'll refuse to do anything too much. ”

Shrugging my shoulders, I smiled helplessly.

"Got it, got it, now let's eat. Eat, eat, eat! ”

As if she had won a battle, Mika clenched her fists and cheered, and walked to the front. She drove the rhythm, and we had to keep up. After a few steps, I looked back at the ice flower in the bend, and then my ice flower had just arrived, gradually disappeared into the dense forest of reeds, and finally disappeared.

It will flow into the ocean of life with the current, and with my good wishes, I don't know if it will sink into the sea. Or will you start a new life with your companions after a long journey?

"Fold, what are you looking at?"

Turning back to see me in the early season, I smiled at her, "Just to see where my ice flowers are." ”

"Where?"

She tilted her head to look at the bend.

"It's out of sight now."

I turned my head and took a step: "Let's go." ”

……

I didn't greet everyone during the New Year, but here is a late New Year's greeting: Happy New Year, I wish you all good health and good luck in the new year.