total eclipse of heart

[This story takes place in the past that cannot be changed, and this story affects the future of some people. ]

Ise Shrine, the ceremony is in progress.

It was already late at night, but the people did not disperse.

Looking at the people singing divine songs around the bonfire, Mu, who was standing on the edge of the crowd, covered his mouth and yawned quietly, and took another step back secretly, wanting to leave quietly.But he still didn't take that step back—his body bumped into another person.

Just when the sacrificial dance was being prepared, a bonfire was set up in the center of the temple courtyard, and the bright fire suddenly rose, lighting up the night.The flute is clear and clear, the guqin is melodious, and wonderful music is intertwined. Led by the priest, everyone begins to sing divine songs and dance witches to the music.

"That's not okay, Mu." Wen Ran's voice sounded behind him, and Mu hurriedly turned around, rolled up his sleeves and bowed to the man, respectfully saying, "Master Tsurumi."

Tsurumi-sama, named Tsurumi Godo, is a pastor who is the lowest-ranking naedo, the so-called handyman in Onmyouliao, an institution where onmyojis gather. He admires him very much.It is the yin and yang assistant of yin and yang, and the official rank is from the sixth.

As for the position, the 13-year-old Mu still doesn't quite understand. What he knows is that this Tsurumi-sama is responsible for assisting that lord and acting for him when that lord is away.

It's the closest position to that adult.

Tsurumi Godao was wearing a pure white safari suit with a blue lining inside, and the blue and white colors also just set off his gentle and steady personality.He took a closer look at Mu's attire, nodded and smiled and said, "There is no need to be polite, Mu. Your attire today is very nice."

Mu raised his sleeves, covered his face and murmured thanks, but he heard someone chuckle and say: "Ha He sees you, don't tease him, this little thing's ears are red from your praise." You can tell by the voice that it is Odakura, and the official position is the same as Tsurumi Godao, from the sixth position, and the position is Quanzhu.

I saw him striding over, put his arms on Tsurumi's shoulders carelessly, then leaned down to look at the boy, spread out the paper fan, fanned it, and said leisurely: "I'm used to seeing your disgraced servant on weekdays." Appearance, wearing Chinese clothes, at first glance, it really has a refreshing feeling. He really deserves to be the boy that the adults fancy~" The ending of the last sentence floated, and the meaning of teasing was extremely obvious.

Hearing this, Mu's first reaction was not to refute, but to raise his head, stretch his neck and stand on tiptoe, trying his best to look past the crowd at the ceremony, and look at where the adult is.

That lord is probably by the Emperor's side now.It is inevitable.He is the only onmyoji who can sit in front of His Majesty the Emperor today.

However, the 13-year-old Mu's stature has not yet unfolded, he is a bit short, and he can't see the crowd with his neck stretched out, so he didn't see the real face of that adult for a moment.After a while, Mu felt that the pain in his neck was unbearable, so Mu gave up.

Odakura winked at Tsurumi, with a hint of obscenity, Tsurumi Wenran's expression did not change.

When the boy was lost, Tsurumi said with a slightly smiling voice: "Mu, why don't you watch the kagura dance tonight. It's not the imperial kagura from the court, but the Ukagura from the folk. Izumo genre."

"Izumo Kagura?" The little boy turned his head and asked aloud.

Tsurumi nodded and smiled, "That's right, it's the Kagura from Lord Ye Wang's hometown."

Kagura is a sacrificial dance that originated from the sacrificial activities in ancient clan society. It is an art dedicated to the gods and comforting them.There are different forms and types of Kagura dance praise.Okagura refers to court Kagura, while Sato Kagura is folk Kagura, which has a strong color of folk sacrificial singing and dancing.

In the emperor's Ise Shrine, folk Kagura, which was not allowed to be elegant, appeared in solemn rituals at this moment.

Watching the maiden holding a poplar tree branch changing props and dancing at one end, the opposite is a group of people wearing masks of various gods, evil spirits, and ghosts.Although he knew that those were played by humans, but when he saw so many ghosts and ghosts dangling in front of his eyes, even though he knew it was fake, Mu subconsciously clenched his sleeves tightly, feeling uncontrollably terrified.

"Master Ye Wang..." In the heart of the 13-year-old boy, this name is a powerful and reassuring talisman, and every word is read with incomparable reverence.

"That's right, this is the Kagura of Lord Ye Wang's hometown." Tsurumi, who misunderstood what he meant, sighed slightly, "Only this lord can make His Majesty the Emperor abandon the solemn Kagura, and perform such a folk trick. .”

After he finished speaking, he realized that his words were inappropriate, so he gave a soft ah, and explained: "My original intention was not to insult the Kagura of Mr. Ye Wang's hometown, but I just feel that folk things are really not elegant."

Odakura grinned, spread his paper fan to cover half of his face, he was willing to pretend to be confused for the time being, but his eyes were attracted by the whiteness that came quietly in the night sky.Then his eyes sank, and he said in a low voice: "There is something breaking into the barrier, and you don't know good and evil. You really underestimate our Yin-Yang Liao." As he said, his sleeves fluttered, and a ray of light shot out from under the paper fan , the white dot in the air suddenly fell, falling into the darkness of the courtyard.

Without waiting for anyone's orders, Mu ran over first.Tsurumi and Odakura, who arrived later, saw the little boy covering something with his sleeves, and the accidental whiteness allowed them to confirm that it was something that had been knocked down.

The boy looked tense, his whole body stretched into a bow ready to go.Seeing this, Tsurumi stopped Odakura from moving forward, stood a few steps away, and said softly, "Is that your thing, Mu?"

The boy nodded.

"What is it?" Tsurumi's tone became softer.

After hesitating for a while, Mu raised his head and replied softly, "It's paper-cutting. I smeared my own blood to turn it into a bird that can fly." Then, he took out the bag he was carrying from his sleeve. The piece of paper-cut is indeed a paper-cut of a white bird.It also has the residual spiritual power of him and Odakura just now.

"Is it used to pass messages to people?" Tsurumi asked.

Mu Zhi hesitated for a long time, then nodded lightly and said: "Yes. This is the medium through which I and the brothers and sisters of Huajian passed the news."

Xiaotian Cang let out a huff, frowned and looked down at Mudao, "What? You're still playing with that pair of brothers and sisters? Mr. Ye Wang may not allow you to play with that kind of garbage ghost outside the city." Regarding his words, Crane Jian Wudao also nodded slightly to express his agreement.

The boy who has always been small and cautious is not as submissive as usual.He said softly but firmly: "Master Ye Wang... didn't explicitly say that we can't play together."

"And," he slowly raised his head, mustered up the courage to look directly at Tsurumi and them, "they are my friends."

outside of Kyoto.

The muddy paths, low thatched huts, and dilapidated window frames made of paper, the cold wind blowing through, as if entering no one's land.Occasional weak candles were also extinguished.The whole alley was silent, as people fell asleep together.

Compared with the bustling and lively Kyoto, it is completely different from deserted.And between the two, there are only a few walls.

The shepherd walked on the muddy path with a lantern, and the candlelight flickered in the night wind, erratically.I prayed for it to support it for a while, but I heard thin laughter from behind me. After an inexplicable cold wind, the candle was almost blown out.Mu stabilized his mind, formed a magic seal with one hand, enlarged the surrounding enchantment, and tried his best to drive away the monsters.Then he quickened his pace, his body was stiff and he just walked forward.

After arriving at the appointed place, Mu couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, and the lantern he was carrying slightly illuminated the surrounding environment.

It is a collapsed abandoned house, with collapsed colonnades and scattered stones everywhere.The place where he is standing now is the courtyard, with cold smoke and decaying grass, ruined buildings and broken tiles, it is a desolate scene.

"Here you come." Along with the voice, there was a burst of fire from the darkness, and the true face of the owner of the voice was revealed in the fire.

It was a boy who looked about the same age as Mu, with thick straight eyebrows, messy hair, bare feet, and a coarse sackcloth.

Mu hurriedly took the lantern to look, and was relieved when he saw the familiar face of the boy, and called, "Mu." Then he smiled at the girl who timidly poked her head out from behind the boy, and nodded lightly in greeting. Said: "Yuan, good evening."

The girl nodded at him shyly, bowed her head and said nothing.

Hanamiki and Hanamiyuan are a pair of brother and sister who live outside the city.Although they didn't know Mu for a short time, but because of their similar age, the three of them quickly got together.

"Hey, you always say hello to Yuan first, and you're done just calling me?" the boy named Hanamiki said dissatisfiedly, holding a lantern in one hand, and leading his sister in the other to the opposite side of Mu.

Mu smiled, "But every time I call your name first."

Hua Jianmu clicked his tongue, and muttered that every time he saw me appearing, he would be frightened, how timid he was.I couldn't help talking about it again and again, "I mean you, a guy like you actually sneaked into the Yinyang House, and it was hand-picked by that adult. What does that adult like about you?"

Mu thought about it seriously, and replied in an extremely serious tone: "It's probably because I'm good-looking."

——This wood can actually say such a thing!

Hua Jianmu opened his eyes wide in disbelief, feeling that the image of the wooden follower who he bullied before was broken into pieces that could not be glued together.While his elder brother was in a dazed state, Hua Jianyuan focused his attention on Mu's clothes, raised his little finger to point at him, and praised in detail: "It's beautiful...this outfit."

By the candlelight of the lantern, Hanamiki carefully looked at his little follower, only to realize that Mu tonight is completely different from usual.

Her black crow-like hair was coiled into a topknot, hanging below her ears, her fair and delicate cheeks had long eyelashes, and her eyes were as bright as stars.Zhiyi Kuodan, Zhiyi is bright water red, painted with beautiful patterns.The boy wearing this suit is white and soft, like a slender white porcelain bottle neck painted with a layer of extremely bright colors, adding a bit of coquettish and enchanting to the already indistinguishable temperament.

He no longer wastes his natural beauty in coarse linen clothes like them, but carefully dresses himself up as a living and beautiful Yamato-e (Note 1).

Mu stood there with a smile on his face, but Hua Jianmu looked more and more unhappy, and couldn't help but said loudly: "It's hard for you to come out dressed like this, I'm afraid that your clothes will be stained with the same filthy mud as ours!"

Looking forward to being praised by his friends, the boy's face froze, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

Yuan tugged at the corner of his brother's clothes, and called him softly and slightly reproachfully, "Brother."

Having said that, Hanamiki also regretted it.But he still insisted on it, and his mouth was still strong, "It was originally, it already looks like a girl, it's more feminine to dress like this, it's better to change."

"Brother!" Yuan pulled the hem of his clothes vigorously, and stopped in a low voice.After Hua Jianmu finished speaking, he turned his head to the side, folded his arms with his hands and didn't even look at the two of them.And Hua Jianyuan tugged at the corner of his brother's clothes who turned his head to the side, looked back at Mu who was silent, and apologized with extreme anxiety: "I'm sorry, Mu, we had an appointment to play together...but my brother So... I'm sorry..."

The girl's voice was stained with crying, and she didn't seem to know what to do.

Seeing this, Mu tried his best to force a smile, and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's too late to make an appointment tonight. Let's play together another day, another day?" Taking out the paper-cut of Shiratori from his sleeve, he stepped forward and handed it over: "Here, let's use this medium to contact us, okay?"

The girl took it.The boy turned his head to look at it, snorted and turned back.

"Mu?" Seeing Mu still standing still, Hua Jianyuan couldn't help but make a sound in doubt.

The boy in Chinese clothes stood there, hesitated for a while, then seemed to make up his mind, stared at Hanamiki's profile who turned away from him, and said, "Actually, I don't want to wear this dress either. , seems very bad. But... I don't have any other clothes to wear, so..."

The explanation was only exchanged for another cold snort from Hua Jianmu.

Seeing this, Mu opened his mouth, didn't say any more, and left.

The candlelight was weaker when we went back than when we came, and after another inexplicable cold wind, with a pop, the candlelight was completely extinguished.Standing in the darkness, Mu heard the gleeful laughter of the monsters, and walked forward in silence.

[(Note 1) Yamato-e: A painting that depicts Japanese customs and characters produced in the late Heian period. 】