Stray Chapter 5: Anyway, there is nothing shameful

  The sun gradually rose higher and higher, and the summer heat gradually showed its power.

  The oil cicadas also began to chirp, and a new round of high-pitched choruses began today with the bursts of heat, which disturbed the hearts of the people.

  The distant scenery is also obviously distorted and refracted under the steaming heat.

   However, only on the shore of Fengshen Lake, there was a shadow cast, and the cloud in the sky seemed to have been motionless for a long time, as if it was pinned to its original position by some force.

   It's just that no one can notice this. The streets are full of cicadas and the sound of vehicles passing by. It seems bustling and very lively.

   But as time goes by, there will be fewer and fewer pedestrians, because if it is not necessary, no one should choose the hottest time to go out on foot...

   Just like this, on the shady lakeside of Fengshen Lake, facing the cool breeze blowing on the lake, listening to the chirping of cicadas, Xue Shishi sat in a trance by the lake, listening to the people around him. 's narration.

   The originally annoying heat wave and cicada chirping had little effect, and could only quickly recede like a tide, becoming a pure background, and the whole world seemed to be left with only her and the teenagers around her.

  Although she felt very angry just now, she still didn't do anything in the end, trying to push someone into the lake to drown, and after she was in a good mood, she also listened carefully to Xia Ran's explanation and knew her own What happened to that weird long dream.

   In the other party's remarks, she knew that she did have a very long dream last night, and that dream was created by the other party for herself...

   This makes the girl's mood somewhat better, because it means that the experiences in the dream, getting along with this person, whether it is learning or adventure, or traveling around the world, etc., all happened exactly. matter.

   is a very precious memory, not some unrealistic, false imagination.

   And in the dream, it seems that a full year has passed...

   No matter what you say, this is a very novel experience, so that Yukinoshita Yukino is still in a trance at this moment, and even has a vague feeling of being out of the world, she feels a very unreal a feeling of.

  On the time scale of reality, the real yesterday seems to be a long time ago, so that when the girl just woke up, she couldn't distinguish between reality and dream. After all, it was too lacking in reality.

  Dream is the continuation of reality, and reality is the end of dream.

   That's why she seemed a little flustered in the morning, completely lost her calm and lost her sense of proportion, because she had never encountered such a thing before, it was a bit bizarre.

  Until now, Xia Ran personally admitted that the whole thing was his doing, and most of the clear memories in her mind...

  A lot of the occult knowledge that was originally just memorized by rote, but didn't know the reason, seems to have just slept, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and it has reached the level of understanding and application...

   and some magic tricks that seem to have developed muscle memory and movement habits...

   without exception, all of them prove it.

   It was indeed a dream, but it was also a fact that actually happened, not an illusion.

   is just...

  "But, why limit it to one year?"

   Yukinoshita came back to her senses from her trance, and the cicadas and the background that had gone away also returned to her world. She lowered her head and thought for a moment, and finally asked bluntly, A puzzled look on his face.

   Such a dreamy experience is simply a reinterpretation of the alternative "Alice in Wonderland". No matter how cold Yukinoshita is, she is still a girl after all, and she has a girlish heart, so naturally she felt relieved. My mood has also improved a lot...

  But even so, the girl is still puzzled, that is why this experience is only limited to one year?

  Since this person can achieve this level, then his experience of "Wonderland" should last longer, right? Maybe even full participation is not impossible, but why only one year...

   Well, this is actually not the point. The real point is that according to the information she currently has, in that weird world where the timeline is the fifth century AD, and I don’t know if it is a parallel time or a historical mirror, Xia Ran is absolutely Not just for a year or two.

   So, who knows how much he hooked up after that in a period of time that he didn't notice...well, she means who knows what he did again?

   Just thinking about it like this, the girl felt that her mood just changed a little, and it suddenly turned cloudy.

   so annoying!

   This is not because she suspects that her mental illness is out of control, but the situation is really not optimistic at all. Let's not talk about someone's own thoughts. After all, sometimes, Yukinoshita himself will be so angry that his chest hurts, and he is very suspicious of who is blind to fall in love with this guy...

   But that's the way it is, but some girls who can't help this guy's side do have ideas.

   As a blind person, seeing such a scene, Yukinoshita was really heartbroken, what is so good about this person...

   coupled with the thought of the strange girl in the palace skirt that she saw this morning, she is not much inferior to the immortal-looking young master of the magic realm not long ago, she will have some doubts, but it is actually normal thing.

   Could it be that after only a year, he got bored...

   And then you don't want yourself to hinder him from hooking up, so this is the case, right?

   Yukinoshita's mood became more and more complicated, her eyes were staring at the boy opposite, waiting for his answer.

   "It's very simple, because human beings have limits. Think about it, Yukinoshita-san. In reality, you just took a nap, but you have an extra year of memory out of thin air. The load is actually very heavy, that's the reason..."

  Xia Ran sat cross-legged on the edge of the lake, watching the azure lake with slight ripples caused by the breeze, and the ripples spread in circles, and said leisurely.

   "The human brain is not a computer after all. It is different from the memory mechanism that a computer can remember all data and information, and every byte can be copied exactly. People only remember some important features and keys. The rest of the unimportant information will be gradually forgotten..."

  People's brains can continue to operate for nearly a hundred years, because the brain can continuously organize memories and forget "useless memories". So the average person should not remember what they had for dinner a week ago, because everyone unknowingly organizes their brains.

  The leaf of every street tree, the face of every person in the crowd, the shape of every raindrop that falls from the sky...

   If everything is memorized thoroughly, no matter how big or small, no human being can survive.

  "Your current situation is like this. According to my calculations, one year should be the most suitable time..."

   The magician turned to look at the girl who frowned, and smiled softly, "Because as long as the unimportant information is generally filtered out, the rest of the memory is just enough for you to sleep and be a To the extent that dreams are accepted..."

   So one year, in his precise calculation, is the most appropriate.

   "Is that so..." Yukinoshita Yukino frowned slightly, she didn't rush to refute, but thought about it carefully, and found that it was really the case.

   She remembered that a year had passed in the world in her dream, but it was not three hundred and sixty-five days, every minute and every second of every day, and all records from beginning to end were clearly remembered Chu, on the contrary, it is like his past life——

   I can clearly remember how long I spent, but the specific memories that I can recall are only those, no more and no less.

  "I see..."

   She said this lightly, but her frowning brows did not relax because of it. Obviously, although this reason was reasonable, it was not enough to convince her.

   To be precise, that's not what Yukinoshita wanted to ask at first.

  "Xia Ran!"

   At this time, a crisp voice came from behind the two.

   The magician turned around and saw a girl in a blue-and-white shrine costume walking past the main hall of the shrine opposite the Lake of Fengshen.

  Her dress has a white pattern on her skirt, a black tie, a long smooth straight green hair with snake and frog hair accessories, and her hair is wrapped in a strand of white snakes on the left side, both are It is the symbol of the gods enshrined in Moriya Shrine.

  "It's Sanae, why are you free today?"

   He also waved his hand in response, showing a hearty smile: "By the way, haven't you been preaching all this time?"

   Well, he specifically checked the reference point of his memory and confirmed the time progress in the real world. Although it is indeed still during the summer vacation, Dongfenggu Sanae seems to have no spare time this summer.

  Because the two gods and adults have not seen the prospect of belief feedback in the dream game plan for the time being, so in the spirit of "no matter how small a mosquito's legs are, it is meat", "a little more is a little", and "everything comes" The ideological guidance of the class is still unwilling to give up the belief market of Gensokyo.

   Not to mention that both hands must be grasped, and both hands must be hard, at least you can't put all your eggs in one basket, right?

  If the dream game plan fails, then at least there must be the last reserve of Gensokyo, which can provide the two gods with not enough faith, but at least enough to maintain their livelihood...

  Although the only one who really needs faith is Suwako, but her situation is really not optimistic——

  Because of the gradual loss of faith, until she can no longer gain any new faith, she can continue to exist now, but she is just eating her old money.

   But she is sitting on the mountain, and she will always have a day to finish her meal. According to the current situation, she can't support it for long.

  ——It's about a hundred years at most. If there is no improvement, Suwako will really disappear. The situation can be said to be urgent!

  So Kanako, who knew that time was running out, never gave up the idea of ​​preaching in Gensokyo and then collecting beliefs. Ever since the Moriya Shrine was moved in, she has been doing missionary work, but the effect is really not good.

  The main reason is that Dongfenggu Sanae, Fengzhu, senior priestess, and the spokesperson of the gods, is in a sense less conscientious than Hakurei Reimu——

   She is still a first-year high school girl. She spends most of the day at school. When she comes back in the evening, it is often already in the evening. And in Gensokyo, even electricity has not been popularized, and the Kappa's desperate sales have not been able to change the social ideology in the human world...

   Working at sunrise and resting at sunset, this is the life law of most people in Gensokyo.

   Dongfenggu Sanae's time is almost perfectly staggered from them, so naturally she has not been able to make much progress. It was not until the summer vacation not long ago that she finally got busy, running all day long in Gensokyo come and go.

   "Yeah, it's been really tiring this time..." The blue and white witch approached, her little head nodded again and again, and at the same time looked at the two people alone by the lake with some curiosity, "But today Kanako The adults said that you can take a day off..."

   Sure enough, another one.

   Yukinoshita stood up, sighed silently in his heart, and glared at someone beside him. However, she still showed a polite smile to Sanae-san, but it was very light.

   However, it is in line with her usual character, because just like her name, the girl is like icy snow.

  Sanae has long been used to it, knowing that this girl has such a personality, so she has no doubts.

   "Oh, is that right? You can take a day off..." Xia Ran said slowly and carelessly, he also stood up, reached out and patted the dust that didn't exist on the clothes, as if it was not at all Surprised, "Is it because there is another banquet today?"

   "Huh? Xia Ran, did you know?" The blue and white witch was stunned for a moment.

   "Understood, after all, Zi was peeping today..." The magician said calmly, "I must know about the newcomer, and according to Gensokyo tradition, this matter must be treated solemnly, hold a banquet or something. ..."

   Well, every time someone joins the card pool... oh, no, it's a new character appearing in Gensokyo, and there's always a banquet to show the grand treatment and acceptance of newcomers.

   It's just that I don't know if it's because there are too many banquets. I always feel that this kind of treatment doesn't express a grand meaning at all. own delusion.

   But no matter how perfunctory it is, it is necessary, so after thinking about it, he feels that this cutscene is indispensable.

   is always his own disciple, no matter how cheap it is, it is the only true inheritance...

   "Well, did someone join Gensokyo again?" Dongfengya Sanae looked a little surprised. She just knew that there was another banquet today, but she didn't know the specific reason, and she didn't ask... Mainly because she felt that there was no Necessary—

   Follow the local customs, although the time is short, but she has also experienced the baptism and bombardment of the banquet frenzy every now and then, and subconsciously thinks that there is no reason to hold a banquet at all.

  "Yes, one of my students..."

  Xia Ran nodded, looked around, and found that the shrine was empty. Only then did she remember that they were all still in their own inner universe.

   "Then let me inform them now... Yukishita-san, do you want to come together?" Turning her head and looking at the black long straight girl, Xia Ran warmly sent an invitation.

   "Well, let's go together, I'll call her sister later..." Yukinoshita Yukino's expression was as flat as usual, and she couldn't see anything special.

   Then she seemed to remember something, hesitated for a moment, then cleared her throat and said, "But if you can, can you take me to that world to see it? I want to... see it in reality. That tower, and that world..."

   Speaking of the back, her voice became smaller and smaller, and she looked away at the same time.

   "Of course." The magician responded without hesitation.

   "What that world? What are you talking about?" The blue-and-white sorceress on the side was a little curious, looking back and forth between the two, her eyes were obviously eager to try.

   "Hey, this..." Xia Ran blinked and looked at Miss Yukinoshita, of course he wouldn't be stupid enough to say something at this time.

  “…”

  “…”

   "Then let's go together..." The black long straight girl said calmly after being silent for a while, as if she didn't care.

   In fact, she subconsciously wanted to refuse, but she hesitated, and in the end she was too thin-skinned and had no choice... After all, if she really wanted to do this, it wouldn't mean indirectly admitting to Sanae that she and the person beside her really Is there anything?

   Maybe it was because of this thought, and she felt that she had been silent for a long time just now, and Miko-san might see that something was wrong. Yukinoshita's eyes wandered, and she continued to add in a very calm tone:

  "Anyway, there is nothing to hide..."

  "Poof!"

   This is simply superfluous.

  Xia Ran couldn't help laughing out loud, and then she saw the girl's eyes that wanted to kill, so she quickly restrained her smile, nodded seriously, and said in agreement: "That's right, that's right, not anyway. What a shameful thing..."

   Although he said so, the smile on his face could not be stopped.

   Yukinoshita-san is really cute.

The expression on Dongfengtani Sanae on the side of    is a little weird, and the look in the eyes of the two of them has become more subtle.

  "Alright, alright, ready - go!"

   The magician raised his hand with a smile, snapped his fingers, and the three disappeared into the air by the lake at the same time, as if they had never appeared before.

  …

  …

  The Tower of Glory towering into the sky, standing in the depths of the British land, straight into the sky, overlooking the surrounding.

   And in the space on the top platform of the tower, three figures appeared at the same time.

  "Okay, here it is..."

  Xia Ran said, the next moment, he saw a familiar blond and blue-eyed figure pushing the door outside and entering.

  "Father...Father? You, are you back?"

  Mordred was stunned for a moment, followed by joy and anticipation——

  "Father... ah no, where's my mother?"