Chapter 75: Fushijishi Is a Wonderful Place—Come Visit at Least Once!
There really wasn’t much to say about what happened after the three of them decided to abandon Kuwajima and escape the village.
In fact, if you excluded Kuwajima from the equation, the other three had been handling everything flawlessly from the very beginning.
They waited just long enough for the confusion caused by the destruction of the shrine to spread through the village.
Then, taking advantage of the chaos, they immediately fled—not along the roads, but straight through the dense woods that skirted the edge of the village.
Once word got around that the shrine had been destroyed, the guards at the village entrances would naturally tighten security. This brief window of confusion was their best chance.
On top of that, they chose a route no ordinary person would ever consider.
An overgrown stretch of forest with knee-high underbrush, uneven ground, and not a single light to guide the way.
Yet Taketsuru and Meiko moved through it effortlessly, as though they were taking a leisurely stroll through a city park. At this point, they were completely breaking the game’s balance.
Taketsuru even carried Niwashita-san on his back the entire time until they reached the main road.
Once they were safely out of the village, the three simply retraced the road they’d originally taken, walking at little more than a brisk pace.
The lonely country road, lit only by sparse streetlights, had exactly the kind of atmosphere perfect for a final desperate chase—a last dead sprint with the cursed villagers closing in from behind.
Unfortunately…
The three had escaped without anyone ever noticing them.
There wasn’t even a chase.
Watching them stroll away as though victory were already theirs, I let out a long sigh before turning my gaze back toward Kuwajima.
“Ku-hahaha! This, too, is but the opening chapter of a destiny already inscribed within the Akashic Records! Can your ignorant minds not perceive it? Tonight… my loyal servants shall become the ravenous jaws that tear out your throats!”
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Inner Thoughts: Hehehe… this is all part of the plan, right? They didn’t tell me the details, so I can’t say anything, but they specifically told me, ‘If you get caught, just stay calm.’ That means our victory is already guaranteed!
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“O ignorant Kuwajima,” I muttered with a grin. “Your absurd confidence may very well be the greatest bluff you’ve managed to throw at the villagers.”
“If someone acts that confidently after being captured,” the disembodied voice observed, amused, “I’d naturally assume their friends are coming to rescue them.”
Well…
She wasn’t entirely wrong.
Three out of four participants escaping alive could certainly be called a victory.
Still…
The one person who wasn’t going to survive proclaiming that with absolute confidence…
There was something oddly heartbreaking about it.
Since I’d already come up with an ending for the Normal Route…
It was probably time for the sad reveal.
“Alright. Show Kuwajima reality.”
“Okay.”
Once I’d settled on the Normal Ending, the unseen voice sounded strangely entertained as she carried out my instructions.
First, she whispered a divine revelation into the village chief’s mind.
Receiving the oracle, the old chief raised his voice.
“The Land God has spoken! The outsiders who entered this village… have already escaped!”
“…Huh?”
“Our failure to avenge our ancestors is an unforgivable disgrace! Therefore… we shall proceed immediately with the ritual to offer the captured sacrifice to the Land God!”
“W-WHAT!?”
Only then…
Only at that exact moment…
Did Kuwajima finally realize she’d been abandoned.
Poor Kuwajima.
But because of your sacrifice…
The other three escaped safely.
You should at least be proud of that.
Just as I was thinking that…
Kuwajima suddenly screamed.
“Fushijishi is a wonderful place—come visit at least once! Fushijishi is a wonderful place—come visit at least once! Fushijishi is a wonderful place—come visit at least once!”
“That was a remarkably fast decision.”
The instant she understood she’d been left behind…
She immediately shouted the surrender phrase without even a moment’s hesitation.
Well…
The only thing waiting for her now was the final terror of being offered as a sacrifice.
For someone like Kuwajima, immediately deciding, Nope, absolutely not, was perfectly understandable.
She couldn’t raise her right hand to signal surrender because she was tied up, but I’d let that slide.
The moment she surrendered, every villager froze in place.
Only the village chief looked toward empty space with an expression that clearly said,
“Um… what exactly am I supposed to do now?”
I thought for a moment before speaking.
“Hey. Connect me to Kuwajima.”
“Excuse me… I’m not a telephone service, you know.”
Despite the disembodied voice’s surprisingly passionate defense of her own rights, I ignored the complaint and spoke directly into Kuwajima’s mind.
“I acknowledge your surrender. We’ll respect your wishes. That said, Kuwajima… I have a proposal for you.”
“We made it back to the car safely.”
“We’ll never forget Tae-chan’s sacrifice.”
After walking for quite some time along the dimly lit road…
The three who had abandoned Kuwajima finally returned to their vehicle.
There hadn’t been a dramatic last chase.
The horror aspect had ended somewhat anticlimactically.
Still…
They had reached the goal.
Someone needed to tell them.
The role naturally belonged to Mana, the one who had explained the rules at the beginning.
“…One of you is missing.”
As though she had been waiting for them, Mana suddenly appeared in the middle of the road.
Just like before, her arrival was completely silent.
Even Taketsuru and Meiko flinched in surprise, though neither of them screamed.
Feeling somewhat guilty about Kuwajima’s absence, they answered.
“Well… if this had been a real life-or-death situation, I’d have done anything to save her. But since this was Kirishiro’s setup…”
“If we’re allowed to incapacitate every villager, there are plenty of ways we could’ve rescued her.”
“Please don’t.”
That wasn’t the spirit of a haunted village attraction.
Nor was it the spirit of a horror test of courage.
It was closer to one of those Western zombie games where you barricade yourself inside a shopping mall and mow down endless undead with assault rifles.
Japanese horror worked differently.
The protagonists were supposed to be powerless.
The monsters were supposed to be overwhelmingly unfair.
“…Very well. She can no longer be saved. But the three of you escaped. That means you’ve protected the village. Since you’ve made it this far… I’ll allow you to leave.”
The moment she finished speaking…
A dense white fog swallowed the surroundings.
Despite it being midsummer, the air suddenly turned icy.
Taketsuru and Meiko instinctively shifted into combat stances the instant the mist enveloped them.
Watching them, Mana sighed before speaking one last time.
“Get into your car and follow the road back. That will lead you out. He’ll be waiting for you there. But remember this… you sacrificed her. I don’t particularly mind. Whether she forgives you… is another matter entirely.”
With those words…
The fog vanished.
What remained before them was—
“…What the… Is that seriously a dam?”
“You’re kidding…”
“Wow…”
A flooded roadway.
And parked just before the water’s edge…
Niwashita-san’s car.
As though everything that had happened until now had been nothing more than a lie, an endless expanse of dark water stretched into the night.
Meiko crouched beside it and cautiously reached out, touching the surface.
“…It’s real. It’s actually water.”
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“So… the story about the dam…”
Taketsuru and Meiko stood frozen, muttering in disbelief.
Questions raced through their minds.
They had believed this entire event was something I’d orchestrated.
But now…
A flooded dam had appeared.
Something so utterly impossible that it shattered that assumption.
Which meant…
Was everything Mana had said actually true?
That doubt crept back into their hearts.
“Tae-chan… I’m sorry.”
“We’re going to survive.”
“Sumire-neesan…”
Unlike the other two, who looked increasingly shaken by the possibility that they had truly abandoned their friend…
Niwashita-san quietly accepted the decision she’d already made.
She alone sounded genuinely saddened by leaving Kuwajima behind.
She alone had already steeled herself for that reality.
Seeing Taketsuru and Meiko’s faces grow pale beneath the weight of that lingering doubt…
She gently ushered them forward.
“There’s no point staying here. Let’s get in the car. We’ll head somewhere with lights first.”
“O-Okay…”
“…Right.”
Niwashita-san climbed into the driver’s seat.
Taketsuru and Meiko exchanged uneasy glances before silently taking the rear seats.
Neither of them could bring themselves to sit in the passenger seat.
That had been Kuwajima’s place.
So they left the passenger seat empty.
As if waiting for someone.
The engine started immediately.
Just as Niwashita-san prepared to back the car up, she glanced into the rearview mirror.
“Oh?”
A warm smile spread across her face.
Then she cheerfully announced—
“Oh. Tae-chan made it out too.”
“…Huh?”
Taketsuru and Meiko whipped around.
And there—
“HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME BEHIIIIIIIIIIIIIND!!”
A long-haired woman, drenched from head to toe as though she had crawled straight out of the flooded dam, burst up from the back of the vehicle and grabbed both of their shoulders with iron grips.
“WHOOOOAAAAAAAHHH!?”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
Their screams echoed through the air.
Perfectly synchronized.
Right there—
In the upstairs guest room of Fushijishi Inn.
“Kyaaa~!”
“NAAAAAAAAAA—… Huh?”
At almost the same moment…
Niwashita-san let out another delighted scream.
Meanwhile, Kuwajima’s grudge-filled wail dramatically stretched into silence.
As all four voices overlapped…
Every one of them suddenly sat bolt upright in their futons.
“…Huh?”
“Eh?”
“Where are we?”
“The inn?”
Each of them looked around in confusion.
Then they noticed me sitting nearby, quietly watching over them.
I calmly closed the paperback I’d been reading to pass the time.
Snap.
“Morning, everyone. How are you feeling? I heard all four of you suddenly collapsed as if you’d fallen asleep.”
“…What?”
“…Huh?”
“No way…”
Everyone looked around the room once more.
It was around seven in the evening.
Outside, night had already fallen.
Even the chorus of cicadas had faded into silence.
Only moments ago…
They had believed they were inside that strange village.
Now they couldn’t comprehend the sudden shift in reality.
“W-Wait… What happened to the haunted village?”
“What about Tae-chan’s ghost?”
“And… my vengeance?”
Each of them was convinced something impossible had happened.
Only moments ago, they’d been through so much.
Yet now…
They were somehow back inside the country inn where they’d planned to spend the night.
Confusion was only natural.
I spoke calmly, as if reassuring them.
Or perhaps…
As if gently planting the answer in their minds.
“You all went to the river with Miya-chan. Then, all of a sudden, you collapsed. We thought it might’ve been heatstroke, but you were only asleep. So the villagers helped carry you back here to rest. You all looked like you were burning with a fever. Seems you had one strange dream.”
“No way. That wasn’t a dream. It was your setup.”
“Besides… There’s no way all four of us had the exact same weird dream.”
“You were the one who organized the festival—”
I shrugged.
“Even if you say that… I’ve been sitting here reading this whole time while waiting for you to wake up. If you had a strange dream, why don’t you wash your face? Oh, and Kuwajima. The restroom is downstairs behind the staircase.”
All of them still wore expressions that screamed None of this makes sense.
Nevertheless…
They decided to clear their heads.
The others headed off to wash their faces.
Kuwajima, naturally, made a beeline for the bathroom.
Well…
Not everyone left.
Only Niwashita-san stayed behind.
She looked at me quietly before asking,
“So… was that entire test of courage something the Land God helped create? A haunted village inside a dream… That was my first time experiencing something like that.”
“So… You realized it was a dream?”
She smiled.
“Mm. I was surprised something like that was even possible. But once I accepted that… I somehow understood.”
I raised both hands in surrender.
She was the only one who had correctly identified what kind of deity ruled this land.
Even after figuring it out…
She had kept silent because she wanted the other three to enjoy themselves.
“‘Forest God’ wasn’t quite right, was it? I think the guardian deity here is actually…the God of Lullabies.”
“Correct. She’s the Earth Mother who protects children’s peaceful sleep… Watches over the village’s children…Grants them the dreams they wish for…and, incidentally, is still unmarried.”
That was why…
She could perform miracles like this.
Everything they had experienced until now…
Had been nothing more than a haunted village woven from dreams by the local deity.
Realistically speaking…
There was no way I could prepare an entire village festival in only a couple of hours.
That was impossible.
In reality.
But…
What reality couldn’t accomplish…
Dreams could.
The trigger had been the nursery rhyme.
In other words…
A lullaby.
While Miya had been singing it to the four of them, they’d listened without any suspicion.
That was when I intervened.
And quietly guided them into the dream world.
Had they been on guard…
Putting Taketsuru and Meiko to sleep would’ve been far more difficult.
Inside that dream…
We held the festival.
Filled the village with participants.
Created rules.
Prepared the haunted village events.
And let them enjoy the test of courage.
Most of the villagers they’d encountered…
Were the souls of countless children under the Land God’s protection.
The only exceptions…
Were the village chief…
Mana…
And a few others who had volunteered to help.
If this became a regular attraction, we could always recruit more participants.
This time…
We simply hadn’t had enough time.
“In dreams… you can enjoy festivals however you like. You can laugh. You can shout. You can act like children again. A little mischief is easily forgiven. And even if something happens… it’s far less likely to leave lasting resentment.”
The moment I learned what the Land God was capable of…
I knew this could work.
Manipulating dreams offered far more freedom than trying to affect reality itself.
So…
While remaining outside the dream…
I stepped in whenever necessary, keeping the world running smoothly and making sure everyone had fun.
“So… did you enjoy yourself, Niwashita-san?”
“Hehe. I got to see Yuu-kun being both adorable and cool again. I had a wonderful time. And… It feels like I finally got a really good night’s sleep.”
With those final words…
She left the guest room as well, heading off to wash her face.
After glancing one last time at the illusion that floated briefly before my eyes…
I, too, left the room.
Feeling…
A quiet sense of accomplishment.
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Scream Count
Taketsuru Yuu: 1
Nekoyanagi Meiko: 1
Kuwajima Taeko: 12
Niwashita Sumire: 4
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Stress
Taketsuru Yuu: 72 → 33
Nekoyanagi Meiko: 83 → 31
Kuwajima Taeko: 10 → 5
Niwashita Sumire: 48 → 5
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As expected of the God of Lullabies.
Even after putting them through a nightmare like that…
She had still managed to relieve their stress remarkably well.