With the branching storylines covered, it's time for the Traveler to chat with Ei.
After talking with Ei, it's clear she's just here to wander around.
But as a shut-in, Ei rarely ventures out without a reason.
This time, her reason is: Yae Miko told her a Courage Test was happening and suggested she come to relax. How thoughtful!
Ei obediently showed up, but the Courage Test doesn't scare her at all. Instead, others get spooked just seeing her on the path.
Every participant who spots Ei trembles in fear, more terrified than if they'd seen a ghost.
Case closed. Yae Miko didn't send her to relax—she's using Ei as a tool.
Releasing a wild Raiden Ei to roam and randomly scare a lucky participant.
Even better, Ei doesn't realize Yae Miko's using her. She thinks, "Miko really cares about me, always thinking of me—what a great friend."
She has no idea Miko's her frenemy.
The care and thought are real, but so is the manipulation—no conflict there.
Ei also tells Lumine she was looking at the beach below, where a platform called "Akitsu Kimodameshi Amusement" is being built, derived from "Akitsu Kimodameshi Featherplay."
She was standing here, lost in thought—not because she's clueless, but because the game reminded her of the past, when the youkai were still around.
In reality, Ei isn't the only one stirred by memories—Makoto and Kitsune Saiguu are also pulled into reflection by Pastor Lucian.
In the story, Ei visited the beach, but the platform wasn't finished. No fate there, so back to Tenshukaku it is.
The place was built by small youkai, sustained by their youkai power for play, but they probably didn't dare use their magic on the Raiden Shogun.
Ei takes the Dango Milk Lumine gave her and heads back to Tenshukaku, leaving only a silhouette. When she's silent, she doesn't seem so clueless.
Ei basically served as Yae Miko's scare-NPC this time, so the Dango Milk is her payment.
Work hard, Raiden Shogun!
After Ei leaves, Lumine returns to the Courage Test's starting area, where Arataki Itto laughs loudly:
["Hahaha! How's that? My scaring skills are pretty good, right?"]
Readers hesitate to judge his scaring skills since they weren't that scary. In the story, only Paimon was genuinely spooked.
His getting scared skills, however, are top-notch. Past stories show him startled in odd situations, with entertaining reactions.
Itto's got a trait: when he commits to something, he's serious and focused.
This makes him easily startled by sudden appearances.
For Itto's question, Paimon doesn't know how to respond. As the only one scared, she hid behind the Traveler the whole time and barely noticed Itto.
Luckily, Itto doesn't care much about others' opinions—he thinks he's got talent, and that's enough.
Brimming with confidence, he drags the Traveler to scare his Arataki Gang underlings. Those guys are in for a treat.
Itto sets up an ambush on their path, waiting to jump out.
Soon, three figures appear. Itto counts down from three and leaps out with the Traveler and Paimon.
[Itto, face contorted, shouting: "HAAA!"]
[Paimon, with a cute squeal: "Wah!"]
[Traveler, hands in "claw" shapes, making a hissing cat face, but silent.]
In the illustration, only Itto looks like he's seriously scaring. Paimon and Lumine are just being cute.
They're less scaring and more posing for a photo.
With how adorable Paimon and Lumine look here, Lumine suspects Lucian has a crush on her, painting her this cute—almost adding a filter.
She's suspected this before, and now she's even more convinced.
Itto's plan was good, but execution matters more. With these two as teammates, how can they scare anyone?
Luckily, the three targets aren't human—a fox youkai, a one-eyed little monk, and a kappa, all childlike small youkai.
They're startled by Itto's group, screaming, "Ghosts—!"
Paimon, seeing their identities, realizes none are human—one even has a single eye—and screams, "Ghosts—!"
Both sides run faster than horses, desperate to sprint a hundred meters in a second.
Halfway through, Itto realizes something's off and stops the others.
He was leading the escape but now leads the halt.
He stops because he realizes those three didn't seem like ghosts.
Itto only fears ghosts since his fists don't work on them, but anything else? If his fists can solve it, it's no issue.
Reasonable—Fighting types can't damage Ghost types.
Itto ran because Paimon's "Ghosts!" made him think they'd met real ghosts, scaring him off.
Now, he wants to go back and check, as the three seemed familiar.
Paimon's eight hundred percent against it—she's genuinely terrified.
But she's even less willing to stay behind. Light novels teach that in these situations, the one left alone is the first to go.
With no choice, she clings to the Traveler, merging into one—she'll be the head.
The trio searches for the three "weird guys," and Lucian illustrates the process.
But the illustration angles are tricky—crow's-eye views, treetop perspectives, glimpses from behind grass, or wide, distant shots.
It feels like someone nearby is watching, and these sequential perspectives make readers genuinely tense.
Chinju Forest is vast, quiet, and dark.
Normally, close-up views of these handsome and beautiful characters distract from the setting, but these odd, distant angles make readers sense something's wrong.
The angles are so strange, almost like the eerie spatial distortion felt facing the Raiden Shogun. This can't be random—something's about to happen, right?
Reading with this mindset, sure enough, something appears!
A woman with long black hair, wearing a black kimono adorned with red flowers, crouches on the ground, her back to the group.
Readers, avid novel fans, can't help but imagine: what if she turns around and has no face?
Arataki Itto subtly sets down his book, quietly scooting closer to Kuki Shinobu to read hers. Better to read with Shinobu.
Some timid readers recall Paimon's words: "The rest of the story, we'll explore later."
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Arataki Itto: About the Akitsu Kimodameshi Night Courage Test
"Scaring me? Hmph, I wasn't scared at all! I just like reading with the Arataki Gang, so what if I sit close?"