"In order to protect, it was born in Lao Cai. ”

I repeated Yu Ping's words in my heart, and remembered what happened during this time.

"So... After the demolition of the old street... It's..."I looked at Yu Ping, trying to get a different answer.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid that's what you think. Yu Ping said, "Since the thing that is guarded is no longer there, it will naturally disappear." ”

"Isn't there a way to make amend?" I felt my throat dry, and I must have talked too much today.

"Every life has a reason why it came to this world, people are, and so are youkai. Yu Ping's words are exactly the same as what Shou once said to me, "Since it has completed its mission, its life is nearing the end." ”

My mind went blank.

I finally found it, and I was finally able to chat with it again, thinking that I would be able to see it again in the future, and that I still had enough time to repay its kindness.

But it's going to disappear with the demolition of the old street? I can't accept it.

"Can't... It can't be like this, there must be another way," I said to myself, "how could it end like this? Isn't it a very powerful youkai?"

"No matter how powerful a youkai is, it can't resist the forces of nature. Yu Ping said, "I'm sorry Ye Ke, I can't accompany you, if you don't leave, you won't be able to leave, I can't fight against a few demon slayers alone." ”

"It's okay, you go first, don't worry about me. I calmed myself down, took out the tambourine that the old man had given me, and said to the moths, "I originally wanted to draw your attention to the sound of the tambourine, but now it seems that I don't need it, so I'll give it to you." ”

"Lord Yak, this is not a tambourine to play," said the moths, "and with this tambourine you may be able to prevent your friend from disappearing." ”

"Contract tambourine, after signing a contract with a youkai, you can summon the youkai through its sound. Yu Ping picked up the tambourine from my hand and looked at it carefully, "That monster was born to protect it, and if the object of protection changes from Lao Cai to something else, its mission can continue." The power of this tambourine should be able to summon high-level youkai. He gave me back the tambourine and patted me on the shoulder, "You're up to you." ”

After Yu Ping left with the sound gap, I gently shook the tambourine in my hand, the crisp and pleasant sound was accompanied by an imperceptible echo, I thought about it for a long time, put the tambourine in my bag, and decided to go and talk to Shou.

From afar, I saw Mamoru that the dinner was over, and everyone was satisfied, and thanked the guy one by one, and he couldn't hide his teeth from the beginning to the end, and when everyone left, it changed back to its furry appearance and moved towards me.

"Yo, where are you hiding?" greeted me as if nothing had happened.

"Just sent the gap away," I said, "are you done?"

"Yes, yes, it's just one wish. ”

"The owner of the coffee shop has already seen the girl he wants to see, as I was told by the gap. ”

"Really??" it was overjoyed, "I'll take a look, you wait for me for a while." ”

"Well, good. I didn't say anything, just stood there and waited for it to come back, and five minutes later, the furry reappeared in front of my eyes.

"How?" I asked it.

"Yes, yes. "Furry doesn't look very happy.

“... The girl forgot about the young man?" I asked.

"No... It's not—" Furry looked left and right, "Let's go, sit down on that stone staircase." ”

Sitting side by side on the stone steps, we were both silent for a long time, and I guessed that it was struggling with whether to tell me the truth, and I was struggling with whether my thoughts were too selfish.

"How do you feel today?" Eventually, it was Furry who spoke first.

"Pretty good. ”

"Happy?" it continued.

"Hmm. ”

Silence fell again.

"The owner of the coffee shop," I spoke first this time, "how?"

"It's all right," said Furry, "and the girl hasn't forgotten him." ”

"Then why haven't you been here for so long?"

The girl was actually married when she first met him, but her husband lost contact when he was out at work, and there was no news, and after a long time, the girl lost hope, so she was with the owner of the coffee shop. "It was unhurried and unhurried," but at this moment, the girl's husband reappeared, not only that, but her husband also offered to take her out of City A, the girl's original hopeless heart was resurrected, she found that she still loved her husband deeply, so she left a note and left quietly, so she didn't know that the young man was still waiting for her, and after learning that the old street was going to be demolished, she wanted to come and see it again, who knew that she inadvertently walked into the coffee shop and met the man who had been waiting for her for many years. ”

"And then?"

Later, the two middle-aged men were relatively speechless, he invited her to coffee, she asked him if he was okay, and when he finally left, both of them lied. "The owner of the coffee shop said that he was not waiting for her, and the middle-aged girl said that she was just passing by the old street when she accompanied her husband to City A, but the fact is that the owner of the coffee shop has been looking forward to this moment for an unknown number of years, and the girl's husband has died a few years ago." ”

"Why bother," I said, "if only I had to say what I thought, but why did the girl's husband die?"

"It should be, for a great cause, so great that the girl will never forget it, so great that the young man can't bear to say what he thinks. ”

"You see their past?"

"Well, it's really true," said Furry, "that each life comes into this world with its own meaning, and the three of them have their own mission." ”

"What about you?" I asked.

"I am the one who guards, I came to protect the old street, and now my mission is almost over, and as soon as the old street is demolished, I can go..."

"Go north to find your non-existent friend?" I interrupted.

“... Well, yes. "Furry didn't give any explanation.

Today's old street is unusually quiet, the vendors who have finished the party go to spend time with their families, and there are only the two of us on the empty old street.

"Can't you leave without leaving?" I said in as calm a tone as I could.

"No," said Furry faintly, "my mission is over, and there is no reason to exist any longer." ”

"Isn't your mission to guard?"

"Yes, to protect the peace here. ”

"Would you like to," I pulled the tambourine out of my bag, a crisp voice breaking the silence, "to be my guardian?"

Furry was shocked for a moment, then turned to silence.

"I have made up my mind that I will never make a contract with youkai to bind them, and I will never become a demon exterminator. I looked at the tambourine in my hand, "But if it allows you to stay in this world for a little longer, even if it's short for you youkai, I'm willing to give it a try." ”

"Do you know what it means for someone of your power to sign a contract with me?" said Shou, staring at the ground.

"It means that your life will be connected to me, the length of my life directly determines the time you stay in the world, there will be a lot of demon slayers to find me, there will be a lot of monsters to start watching out for me, I may encounter a lot of trouble, after all, signing a contract is something that only people who become demon slayers will do, and I will definitely be hated by them if I have the ability but do not want to take on the obligation of demon slayers," I said, "But I already have a lot of troubles, and it is nothing to have more, but if you are gone, you are really gone." ”

"You don't have to be someone you don't like for me. "If you hadn't found out, I wouldn't have wanted to involve you at all." There are many possibilities in your life, even if you have the power to make many people envious, but as long as you want, you can still live like an ordinary person, but if you sign a contract with me, these possibilities become impossible. ”

"It may be selfish to do this, I really just hope to let you live unilaterally, but I don't want to do the same thing as the demon killer, I don't want to control you and bind you, I just hope to use my own short life span of a few decades to extend the time that doesn't make much sense to you, I don't expect you to be by my side all the time, you can do everything you want to do, my only wish is that in my lifetime, when I close my eyes every night, I can feel that my friends are also living happily in a corner of the earth, so that I don't feel like I'm alone." 。 Of course, if you don't want to, I won't force it, you monsters of your level probably don't want to be the guardian of an ordinary human, if so, I will accompany you to the end. "I said so much in one breath that I didn't even think about it.

Shou didn't speak.

"Don't you want to stay? You don't want to see what will become of Lao Cai in the future? What will happen to those vendors? Don't want to know what will happen in the next ten or twenty years?"

"How could it not be," Shou finally raised his head, revealing the toothy smile of its logo, "The stars are so beautiful, the night is so beautiful, not to mention ten or twenty years, even if it is an extra month, a day, an hour, I am willing, this world is too beautiful, it is worth stopping and staying, but," it looked at me, "I still can't let you do what only demon slaying people would do for me." ”

"You'd better promise him. A voice suddenly came out from behind him, Tsubaki in a blue dress didn't know when he came behind us, "He's a super stubborn person, likes to meddle in things, and is very soft-hearted, if you don't agree to him today, he will do everything he can to make you agree." ”

Shou looked at Tsubaki's eyes, and Tsubaki didn't avoid its gaze, but Tsubaki's eyes, I couldn't understand.

"I understand...", after a long, long time, Mamoru finally retracted his gaze, "Okay, I signed a contract with you, but after signing it, I will leave, as long as the youkai who signed the contract is not by your side, there is no reason for the other demon slayers to force you to join, and it won't cause you too much trouble," it stood up, its mop-like body swaying from side to side, "After all, when I was guarding the old street, I offended a lot of youkai and demon slayers." ”

"Wait, I don't understand?" I said, "why did you agree as soon as Tsubaki came? What did you see in her eyes?"

"Both I and the cat have the right not to say anything," Mamoru said, "and it's my mission to protect everyone's past secrets." ”

Later, under the guidance of the old man, I and Furry stood on both sides of the tambourine, and when he put his hand in my hand, the ground spread out a symmetrical circle centered on the tambourine, and a warm current accompanied by light spread from the palm of my hand to my whole body, it is said that the contract originally required the blood of both parties to sign, but if the youkai voluntarily signed a contract with someone, it only needed to face each other.

Later, Shouzhen left City A as he said, and I didn't see it for a long time after that, and it was only after Shou left that I learned that the tambourine that the old man gave me was the tambourine he used back then, but he turned on the automatic blocking state for my other problems, and didn't say a word.

In addition, it seems that on the night when I signed the contract with Mamoru, all the famous demon slayers and youkai in A City felt the power of the contract, and I didn't know how much my simple decision had a huge impact on the world of demon slayers.

And my only impression of that moment is that after the light in the palm of my hand was extinguished, the furry bowed his head slightly, "Lord Ye Ke, re-introduction, my name is Shou, from today on, I am your guardian, tambourine is faith, ready to call at any time." ”