My name is Watanabe Morning Season. Born on December 10, 210 in Kamisu 66 Town.

In the year I was born, the bamboo, which blooms only once in a century, suddenly bloomed together, and at the same time, it rained for three months without a drop of rain, and then it snowed again in the summer.

On the night of December 10th, my birthday, the heavens and the earth were shrouded in endless darkness, and suddenly, lightning pierced the sky, and many people witnessed the scene of a dragon wearing golden scales swimming in a sea of clouds.

…… Anything like that hasn't happened. (Hey~~)

210 was an extremely ordinary year, and I, like the children born at the same time, was just an ordinary baby.

But for my mother, it wasn't like that. When my mother conceived me, she was in her forties, and it was a time to be pessimistic that she might have no children in her life.

After all, in our time, mothers were considered elderly mothers at that time.

Not only that, but her mother, Mizuho Watanabe, is in the important position of the secretary of the library. The decisions she makes can not only affect the future of the town, but may even lead to the death of many people, depending on the situation.

It is not easy for mothers to bear such a burden while taking care of important prenatal education.

At the same time, his father, Keimato Yamaura, held the position of mayor of Kamisu 66.

It's also very busy. It's just that when I was born, the mayor had to take on the responsibilities that couldn't be compared to the secretary. This is still the case today, just not to the extent it was then.

My mother was in a meeting to decide on the classification of the newly discovered books when she suddenly felt a strong labor pain in her abdomen. Although it was about a week earlier than the due date, the amniotic water suddenly broke, and the mother was admitted to a maternity hospital outside the town early.

I was born just ten minutes after that.

Unfortunately, I was so wrapped around my neck with the umbilical cord that I was so blue that I couldn't cry at all. However, the midwife was a young man who had just joined the workforce, and he fell into a dangerous panic, but fortunately, the seven generations were finally cut off, and I finally breathed the fresh air that belonged to this world and let out a healthy cry.

But strangely, I felt that another life had come to me, but then it disappeared.

Two weeks later, in the same maternity ward and nursery, another girl was born, Maria Akizuki, who would later become my dear friend.

Not only was she born prematurely, but she was also in an incorrect position, and she was wrapped around her neck with the umbilical cord just like me.

At that time, her condition was much more serious than mine, and she was almost in a state of suspended animation when she was born.

Luckily, the midwife had gained experience in dealing with dangerous situations from the process of delivering me, and was able to deal with Maria's problems calmly.

If the operation is slightly improper, and the umbilical cord is cut with a slight delay, it will be difficult for Zhenya to get rid of it. When I first heard this little story, I was ecstatic that I had indirectly saved my best friend's life. Now that I think about it, I can't help but have mixed feelings. If Truth had not come into the world, perhaps not so many people would have died......

Get back to business. I spent a happy childhood surrounded by the abundant nature of my hometown.

Kamisu 66 Town consists of seven villages spread over about 50 square kilometers. The outside world and the town are separated by the Hatcho standard. In the world of a thousand years from now, the Hachiding standard may no longer exist, so let's explain it for the time being. The Hatcho mark is a rope with many imperial coins hanging down, which can play a role in preventing bad things from the outside from invading the town, and is a solid barrier.

The children were sternly warned not to take a single step. Because outside the badgaku, there are all kinds of evil spirits and monsters wandering, and if you accidentally break out of the badgaim, something very terrifying may happen.

When I was six or seven years old, I asked my father, probably in a milky voice, "But what is such a terrible thing?" ”

"Everything." My father lifted his head from the books, touched his long chin, and cast a loving glance at me. Those gentle brown eyes are still deeply imprinted in my memory. For as long as I can remember, my father has never looked at me with a stern look. The only time I remember being reprimanded by my father was because I was casually looking around as I walked, and if it hadn't been for my father's loud warning, I would have fallen into a pit in the field.

"Hey, demon rats, cat monsters, sailboat dogs or something, you should know all about the early season, right?"

"That kind of thing everyone talks about, and my mother says it doesn't actually exist."

"Don't mention anything else, there really are demon rats."

I was amazed by the way my father said this casually.

"Liar."

"It's not a lie. Wasn't the renovation project in the town mobilized a large number of demon rats some time ago? ”

"I haven't seen it."

"They don't get kids to see them."

Although my father didn't elaborate on the reason, I think it was probably because the demon rat was so ugly that it was not suitable for children to see.

"But it doesn't feel too scary just to hear people say that, right?"

The father placed the material he was reading on the table, raised his right hand, and whispered a mantra in his mouth. The delicate paper fibers rustle and appear as if they had been roasted. It was a monogram used by the mayor at the time of approval.

"Early season, do you know the word 'yang and yin'?"

I shook my head silently.

"It's a sign of obedience on the surface, but in fact it's secretly trying to get other ideas."

"Other ideas...... What is the meaning? ”

"Plan to deceive and betray each other."

I was dumbfounded and couldn't help but say,

"There is no such person!"

"yes. It is absolutely impossible for a person to betray the trust of others. It's just that demon rats and humans are completely different. ”

I'm starting to feel a little scary.

"The demon rat worships those who possess magic as gods and obeys them absolutely. However, it is uncertain what attitude they will have towards children who have not yet acquired their magical powers. Therefore, children should avoid encountering demon rats as much as possible. ”

“…… But if the demon rat had official duties, it would come into the town, right? ”

"There will definitely be an adult supervising in this situation."

The father put the documents into the file box and once again lightly stretched out his right hand. I saw the file box and the lid slowly merge together, turning into a hollow piece of lacquered wood. It is unknown what kind of imagery the caster uses when casting the spell, so it is difficult for others to open the box without damaging the lid.

"In short, never go outside the Eight Ding Standard. There is a powerful barrier open within the Eight Ding Mark, which is very safe. But if you take a step, no one's mana will protect you. ”

"But, the demon rat ......"

"It's not just demon rats. You've already learned the story of evil spirits and karmic demons in school in the early season, right? ”

I was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say.

In order for us to subconsciously remember these two stories, the story of the evil ghost and the story of the karma, it has been taught many times depending on the stage of our growth. The stories we hear at school, though only for children, are already as terrifying as nightmares.

"Outside of the bad-eight standard, there will really be evil ghosts...... And karma? ”

"Hmm."

My father smiled softly as if to assuage my fears.

"Those were the old days...... There won't be any more ...... now."

"It is true that in the last hundred and fifty years, there has not been a single occurrence of evil spirits and karmic demons. But if you're not afraid of 10,000, you're afraid of what if, and you don't want to be like the young man who collects medicine in the early season, and suddenly run into evil ghosts, right? ”

I nodded silently.

Here, I would like to give a brief introduction to the story of evil spirits and karmic demons. It's just that it's not a fairy tale for children, but a complete version learned in the whole person school.

A tale of evil spirits

This is the story of 150 years ago. There is a young man picking medicine in the mountains. Because he was too focused on collecting herbs, he unconsciously walked in front of the Zhulian rope of the Eight Ding Biao with his head bored. The herbs in the Bading standard had been emptied, and just when the young man was in a hurry, he suddenly raised his head and saw that there were still many unpicked herbs outside, and he couldn't help but move his mind.

A long time ago, the adults told me that we must not take a step out of the eight Ding Biao. If you must go out, you must be accompanied by an adult.

But there are no adults nearby. The boy hesitated for a moment, thinking that it would not be too much of a problem to just go out a little, and even if he walked out, it would only be a matter of one or two steps, and it would be fine to take the herbs away.

So the boy gently drilled through the rope. The hanging coin shook and made a rustling sound.

At this time, he suddenly had a strong sense of foreboding. Coupled with the fact that he had violated the admonitions of the adults, he felt uneasy that he had never felt before.

"It's okay!" The boy encouraged himself in this way and approached the herbs.

At that moment, he saw an oncoming evil spirit.

Although the demon is only as tall as a boy, it is terrifying just by looking at it. The fury that burned everything turned into a flame-like circle of light behind the demon, spinning at high speed. Stubble after stubble of vegetation around the place where the demon had trampled was cut and exploded, and finally reduced to ashes in the raging flames.

The boy's face turned blue, and he forced himself to scream, and quietly stepped back, drilling through the rope. He thought that as long as he returned to the Eight Ding Standard, he would not be discovered by the evil spirits.

Who knows, at that time, there was a creaking sound from the boy's feet breaking dead branches.

The demon turned his face to this place with a blank expression, as if he had finally found someone to vent his anger, and kept staring at this side.

The boy slipped through the rope and fled. As long as you enter the range of the eight Ding standard, it will be fine, the boy thought like this.

However, looking back, the evil ghost actually drilled through the Zhulian rope and invaded the Eight Ding Biao!

At this point, the boy realized that he had done something irreparable—he had put the demon in the Eight Labels.

The boy cried and fled along the mountain road, while the demons pursued him closely. At this point, the boy decided that he should do something anyway, and ran along the rope towards the stream in the opposite direction of the village. Looking back, the faces of the chasing demons flickered in the grass, and only the sparkling eyes and the smirk on the lips could not be clearer. The demon seems to want me to take him to the village, but this is not going to work! If you go on like this and really return to the village with the evil spirits, the lives of the people in the village will not be saved!

The boy walked through the last bush, and in front of him was a cliff. The roar of running water from the valley floor echoed in the valley. There is only a freshly erected suspension bridge across the canyon.

Instead of crossing the bridge, the teenager continued to flee along the cliff towards the upper reaches of the river. Looking back, you can see that the demon has come to the bridge and is looking around for the boy's traces.

The boy ran forward with all his might, and after a while, another suspension bridge appeared in front of him. If you look closer, you can see that the weather-beaten bridge turns into a black shadow under the gloomy sky, shaking as if beckoning, and you can't help but feel creepy. No one dared to cross the crumbling bridge for more than ten years, and not only that, but the boy was also warned by the villagers not to walk on the bridge. However, the boy slowly walked up the bridge and walked towards the opposite bank.

The vines that had been subjected to the weight made an unpleasant sound, and the bridges under their feet were almost completely rotten, threatening to shatter into sawdust and be blown away by the wind at any moment.

The boy slowly walked to the middle of the bridge, and suddenly the bridge began to shake violently. Looking back, it turned out that the demon was about to start crossing the bridge.

The demon got closer and closer to the boy, and the bridge shook more and more violently. The boy glanced at the dizzying valley bottom, then looked up again, and saw that the demon was quite close to him.

When the boy could clearly see the demon's abominable face, the boy raised the scythe hidden behind his back and cut off the vines supporting the suspension bridge on one side in one fell swoop. The bridge sloped at a right angle, and the boy almost slipped to the bottom, but fortunately he managed to hold on to another vine and try to keep himself from falling.

The demon must have slid down, the boy thought. But the boy looked around, and the demon was hanging there holding on to the same vine just like the boy.

Slowly, the demon turned his head to this side, casting a terrifying look.

The scythe had long since fallen to the bottom, and the boy was now unable to get this vine no matter what.

What to do...... In desperation, the boy began to pray to heaven. My life is fine, the gods are above, and please don't let the evil spirits approach the village no matter what.

Did Heaven hear the boy's prayers? Or is it that the last vine on the tattered suspension bridge finally fails to bear such weight? The drawbridge snapped and broke, and the boy and the demon fell into the abyss, never to be seen again.

Since then, the demon has not been seen again.

This story has taught us a lot of lessons.

Undoubtedly, even small children can easily understand the admonition to never step out of the Eight Ding Mark. If you grow up, you may learn the spirit of sacrifice for the sake of the village. But even the brightest children have a hard time grasping the meaning of this story. Who would have thought that what this story was really trying to tell us was the fact that demons really exist?

The story of the Karma Demon

This was the story of 80 years ago. In the village, there is a teenager who lives alone. Although he was a very intelligent child, he had one shortcoming - as he grew older, he became more and more unsightly. The young man relied on his own brains and always looked down on others.

He always pretended to listen carefully to what the school and the village adults taught him, but in fact he didn't pay attention to the important lessons at all.

The boy laughed at the stupidity of the adults, and gradually, he even began to sneer at the ethics of the world.

Arrogance sows the seeds of karma.

The boy slowly distanced himself from his friends, and loneliness was his only friend, the only one he wanted to talk to.

Loneliness has turned into a seedbed of karma.

The lonely boy is immersed in thought, and he begins to think about things that should not be considered, and doubts things that should not be doubted.

Evil thoughts allowed karma to spread in the boy's body.

As a result, the teenager unconsciously accumulates karma, and his human nature gradually disappears and becomes a karmic demon.

At some point, the people in the village fled for fear of karma, and no one dared to live in the village anymore. So the karma demon lived in the forest, and who knows, the forest gradually lost its life.

Everywhere the karma goes, the plants are twisted into unimaginable shapes, withered and decayed; The food that the karma demon touches will immediately turn into deadly poison.

The karma demon wandered through the forest that exuded a strange smell of death, and finally, he realized that he was not supposed to exist in this world.

The karma demon walked through the dim woods, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and it turned out that he had come to a bottomless lake in the mountains, and was wrapped in the light of the lake.

He was looking forward to the pure and holy water of the lake to wash away the boundless sins on his body as he walked towards the center of the lake. However, the water surrounding the karmic demons quickly turned soapy, and the lake turned into a poison pool.

Karma is not supposed to exist in the world.

The karmic demon who woke up to this incident quietly disappeared to the bottom of the lake.

The lesson of this story must be much more concise and clear than the story of evil spirits. It's just that for us at that time, no one could understand the deep meaning of this story. Until that day, when I saw the true karma in the midst of endless despair and grief......

As soon as I put pen to paper, my chaotic thoughts came flooding in, and it became a little uncontrollable. Let's go back to when I was a child.

As mentioned earlier, Kamisu 66 Town is made up of 7 villages. Located on the east bank of the Tone River, the town is located in the center of the town, where the town's administrative organs are concentrated, while to the north is Matsukaze Village, where many large houses are scattered through the forest. Located in the open coastal area to the east is the Land of White Sand. To the south, bordering the village of the wagon is the village of watermills. In the northwest, it is separated from the beautiful scenery of the village of Harishi, and in the southwest from the golden village of the paddy field. The Oak Forest Village is located at the westernmost point of the town.

My mother's home is in the land of watermills, and I would like to explain the origin of this place name a little. Dozens of artificially dug canals from the Tone River crisscross the 66 towns of Kamisu and are ply by boat. Thanks to the efforts of the townspeople, the water is so clean that you can't drink it directly, but you can wash your face.

In the river in front of my house, brightly colored red and white carp frolic in the water, and many of the waterwheels that are worthy of the name of the watermill village are constantly spinning. There are also waterwheels in other villages, but there are many of them in the village of waterwheels, and it is very spectacular. I still remember that there were many types of waterwheels, such as upstream, reversed, downstream, and mid-stream. There may be more types of waterwheels that I don't know about. These waterwheels are responsible for pounding rice and grinding noodles, freeing people from monotonous and boring heavy labor.

Among these waterwheels, another large waterwheel with a metal fan blade baffle is the only one in Honmachi for power generation. The hard-earned electricity obtained from it is only used to power the horns on the roof of the village public hall, and other uses are strictly prohibited by ethical regulations.

Every day when the sun is about to set, the same melody is heard from the horns. The name of the piece is "Home Road" and it is part of a symphony composed a long time ago by a composer with a strange name named Dvořák. The lyrics I learned from school were roughly like this:

Outside the distant mountains, the sunset sinks in the west and the west

The moon in the blue sky is gradually starry, and the stars wink

Today's work is done today, hard work and hard work

It's time to rest, and don't work hard

Relax, relax, relax, and don't hesitate

The sunset is good, and the dusk is wonderful

Enjoy the view

In the darkness, a bonfire burns at night

Jumping and flickering, the flames flickering

It's like inviting you to fall asleep

Sweet dreams are intense, peaceful and warm

The fire warms her heart and she smiles at the corner of her mouth

Come and fall asleep happily

Fall asleep

As long as you hear the melody of "Home Road", the children who play and play in the suburbs must go home together. So, when I think of this song, the scene of dusk reflexively comes to mind. The streets at sunset, the pine forests casting long shadows on the sand, the mirror-like paddy fields reflecting the dark gray sky, the mirror-like paddy paddies, and the red dragonfly swarms. But what impressed me the most was the burning clouds on the horizon from the hills.

Close your eyes and another scene emerges. It was probably late summer and early autumn, and the weather was starting to get cooler.

"I have to go back." I don't know who said that.

If you listen carefully, the melody of "Home Road" is indeed faintly heard from the wind.

"That's a tie!"

As soon as the words fell, the children came out of the hidden place and came in groups.

Everyone is a child between the ages of eight and eleven, and they have been playing a game of turf grabbing early in the morning. Like an extension of a snowball fight in winter, the children split into two teams and compete for their own positions, and in the end, they only need to take away the flag that the other team has erected at the end of the position. On that day, our team made a serious mistake in the opening game and almost fell into a definite defeat.

"It's too cunning. We almost won! ”

Truth was a little unhappy. The girl's skin was fairer than the others, and her light-colored eyes were large and beautiful. The most striking thing is the red hair, which exudes dazzling brilliance.

"Surrender quickly!"

"That's it, it's clear that our side has the advantage."

Under pressure from Truth, Liang said. At this time, Truth Asia already had the aura of a queen.

"Why do we have to have an avatar?" My heart was on fire and I asked rhetorically.

"Our side has the upper hand!" Liang took the trouble to reiterate.

"But you haven't snatched the flag yet." I took a look.

"Draw." Wake a serious announcement.

"You think you're on our team, aren't you? Why do you want to help them speak? "Truth sub-questioning.

"Because that's the rule, it's time for the sun to go down, and no one can do anything about it."

"Isn't that still down the mountain?"

"Don't be forceful, it's just that you haven't gone down the hill yet." I held back my anger and sub-theorized with truth.

Although she is usually a close friend, she seems very annoying at this time.

"Na...... Gotta go back. Reiko said worriedly.

"When I heard "Home Road", I had to go home."

"So, wouldn't it be nice to have your avatars!" Liang repeated the words of the truth.

"You're all going to stop a little bit! Hey, judges! Jue called anxiously.

Momentarily and the other person were a little further away from the crowd, both standing on the hill and looking at the view. Beside them, the pit bull "Pleiades" sat quietly.

"What?" Momentarily slowed back. And the other remained silent.

"Whatever. Since it's a referee, it's a serious matter of saying 'draw'. ”

"Well, it's a draw today." After finishing speaking, he glanced at the children around him, and then turned his gaze to the distant scenery. And the other person teased the bulldog "Ang" all the time.

"We're going back." Reiko and they said this, and they went down the mountain one by one. Because they had to take a boat to go back.

"Wait a minute. The game isn't over yet. ”

"Go home. If you stay outside, the cat monster will appear. ”

Although the truth showed a dissatisfied expression, the game had to be over.

"Early, let's go back too." Jue said this to me, but I walked towards the moment. I didn't speak to the other child, although there was a familiar feeling to him.

"Aren't you going back?"

"Well, let's go."

Even though he said this, he still looked at the scenery as if he was fascinated. The other person next to him was like.

"What are you looking at?"

"Hey—I'm going back!" From behind him, there was an anxious voice. Momentarily and silently pointed to the distant scenery.

"There, can you see it?"

"What?"

The place where the finger is pointed is probably the junction of paddy fields and forests in the distant Golden Country.

"Look, White."

We are taught from a young age that our eyes are more important than anything else, and thanks to them, we all have good eyesight. At that time, the moving white shadow could be clearly seen on the ridge of light and shadow in the sunset hundreds of meters away.

"Really!"

"What. Is it so strange to be white or something? "Ijuke's voice, which has always been calm, somehow reveals a smell of impatience." yes, nothing out of the ordinary. The man not far from him said the first words. What a strange child.

But I couldn't move, and I didn't want to.

Climbing down the ridge at the speed of a snail, across the meadow, and finally disappearing into the forest. During this time, although my eyes were always staring at Lingbai, my mind was all focused on the moment around me. However, the image of another person also appeared in my mind.

At that time, I didn't know what the feelings in my heart were, but when I stood with Momentary and looked at the countryside in the twilight, my heart was filled with emotions that were so sweet that I could not speak, and that there was something strange, or confused, about the person who had now left me.

Could it be that this is also a fabricated memory? Mix up several similar memories and rewrite them, plus a spice called sentimental......

Even so, this scene still has a special meaning for me. This is the last memory of the time when I lived in a flawless world where everything was in order and we did not feel the slightest anxiety about the future.

As a result, the memories of first love still shine like the sunset today. Even shortly after that, everything was swallowed up by bottomless nothingness and sorrow. And the child who thinks it's weird, the child who has the strange feeling that seems to be nothing. Now gone, there's no way to know if that once strange child really exists.

(A tribute to the original!!! Ask for collection, ask for recommendation)