Lumine made up her mind—better to complete the commission quickly and talk less with the client.
When the Traveler arrived at Ritou and found Kama, she handed over Sumida's letter.
[Kama: "Another one?"]
This sentence felt somehow subtle, as if others had come to him for the same thing before the Traveler.
However, for some reason, none of those others had completed the commission—or rather, it was unknown if they had even returned? The readers sensed something eerie.
The Traveler was bold due to her skills and didn't pay much attention to it, simply telling Kama 'let's go'!
Who do you think I am? Bring the boat closer!
Kama brought the Traveler to Tsurumi Island and docked the boat.
Aside from the spot where Kama docked, the rest of Tsurumi Island was completely shrouded in thick fog, making the interior invisible.
Kama reminded the Traveler to enter through the main gate, or she might get lost.
Walking through the main gate into the thick fog, a little boy appeared in front of the Traveler and Paimon.
A little boy appearing in a place like this felt eerie no matter how you looked at it, yet the Traveler and Paimon, with their superhuman obliviousness, directly approached and chatted with him.
The little boy said his name was 'Ruu', and he was very happy to see the Traveler and Paimon because it had been a long time since he had seen outsiders.
The readers felt chills down their spines—it seemed Ruu hadn't seen outsiders in a long time; he hadn't seen living people in a long time, right?
In a ghostly place like Tsurumi Island, were there really any living people left? If memory served, hadn't the Tsurumi civilization vanished a thousand years ago?
Coincidentally, Ruu also said he was several thousand years old.
A little boy who hadn't grown in thousands of years? Who do you think you are—the Demon-Conquering Great Sage?
The Demon-Conquering Great Sage Ruu told the Traveler that she had come at the perfect time—they were about to hold a festival, and Kapatchiri would like her.
Ruu led the Traveler to the festival site, where there were two more people, Makuri and Ipe, who seemed to be offering to a 'perch'.
Ruu introduced the Traveler and Paimon to them, but they seemed unable to hear.
Was their attention entirely on the perch?
Trees where the Thunderbird had rested were called perches by them.
The readers grew even more puzzled—Thunderbird? Wasn't it shot dead by the Raiden Shogun?
We had just read about it not long ago; its regrets were still sealed.
This island... oh no, calling you a ghost place—you wouldn't really be a ghost place, right!?
Makuri and Ipe were offering to the perch and needed to retrieve the scattered feathers; Ruu had elemental sight and could find them faster, so he planned to help.
After everyone retrieved the feathers, the Traveler finally remembered to ask Ruu who Kapatchiri was.
[Ruu: "She's my friend! She likes listening to me sing. During the festival, I'll sing for Kapatchiri."]
As soon as singing was mentioned, Paimon perked up and said:
["The Traveler can sing too! Though it turns Glaze Lilies into Mist Flowers."]
For a moment, Lumine didn't know if Paimon was praising or dissing her.
If praising, it didn't sound like it; if dissing, with Paimon's intelligence, could she come up with such a way to diss someone?
Not knowing if Paimon was praising herself, Lumine was too lazy to dwell on it and directly asked Ruu for information about the maehira—after all, that was the task.
Ruu told the Traveler that the maehira was needed for the festival, so it could be found during the festival.
From his words, one could feel that Ruu was very much looking forward to the festival because he really wanted to meet his friend Kapatchiri.
Arriving at the festival site, the village head 'Mata' was still worrying about whether the festival would go smoothly.
[Mata: "This festival... I hope—no, Lord Thunderbird will surely be satisfied..."]
The Traveler asked him many questions, but he ignored them as if he didn't want to acknowledge anyone.
Some people nearby were the same, only chatting with those in front of them, as if they couldn't see the Traveler at all.
The more the readers read, the more wrong it felt. Though the super-oblivious Traveler and Paimon hadn't noticed any issues and thought others were just ignoring them.
But as bystanders, the readers saw clearly—this really was a ghost island!!
On the entire island, only Ruu could see the Traveler—could it be that Ruu was the only living person?
As the ghost most afraid of ghosts, Arataki Itto also had super obliviousness; he hadn't noticed anything wrong yet, only feeling that the local gang was too rude.
Actually ignoring a little brother of the Arataki Gang—as the boss, I have to go reason with them!
Arataki Itto shouted, Kuki Shinobu glanced over, a smile appearing at the corners of her mouth under her mask; she said nothing—go ahead.
The Traveler and Paimon were also reading the story; as bystanders, their obliviousness failed, and they noticed the clues.
Paimon was very scared: "Lumine, maybe we shouldn't go?"
Lumine shook her head: "Of course we should—this place is so interesting."
"Waaah, I don't want to!" Paimon resisted strongly, grabbing Lumine's hair to try to stop her.
However, Lumine didn't care about Paimon's actions at all. Please, we're on a boat—you pulling my hair does what?
To stop me, at least go to the front of the boat and push it back to Narukami Island. If you really don't want to go, try it.
The wave boat: Please stop me!
Back to the story—the Traveler in the story, seeing no one paying attention, left with Paimon and continued exploring.
Then they found Ruu at another perch; the person responsible for caring for this perch was injured, so the Traveler had to step in again.
Ruu seemed unable to help for some reason and could only entrust the Traveler.
After handling this perch, there were two more waiting for the Traveler.
This scene felt somewhat familiar to the readers—wasn't the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual like this back then?
One person knows the inside story but can't act, can only entrust the Traveler, and there are several places needing the Traveler's help—we've seen this script!
Could it be that in the end, Ruu will disappear like Hanachirusato? Don't let that happen!
In the story, the Traveler arrived at the second perch, where there was a group of monsters; the experienced Traveler dispatched them in a few moves.
Ruu, like Hanachirusato, suddenly appeared beside the Traveler and praised her a couple of times.
This strong sense of déjà vu made the readers increasingly anxious—though they hadn't grown attached to this child yet, they feared liking him later and then him disappearing.
Ruu told the Traveler that in the past, there were no monsters or large machines here—only an animal called 'thunderbirds', which were delicious.
But later, the 'thunderbirds' disappeared, and monsters and large machines appeared—no one knew why.
The Traveler was a warrior and didn't dwell on such 'literary' matters; she directly cleared the monsters around the perch and retrieved the feathers.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Arataki Itto: Regarding Tsurumi Island · One
"That's weird—when I suggested going to Tsurumi Island, Shinobu didn't stop me? Could it really require the great me to solve it?"