落とし穴１５２堀：夏の怪談リバイバル 女神という名の災難と救い (Part1)
**Pitfall 152: Summer Ghost Story Revival - A Calamity and Salvation Named Goddess**
Side: Yuki
"Eeeek! A ghost! A ghoooost!"
The woman screaming at the top of her lungs while hurling whatever she could grab at me was named Hairen.
For the record, she is the very Goddess worshipped by the Hairen Faith—a religion held dear by my wives Kagura, Mikos, Enora, and Stasia—in the region known as the New Continent.
And here she was, letting out genuine, terrified shrieks while tossing items at us one after another.
"Hey. You useless goddess. Calm down."
"Who are you calling a useless goddess?! Wait, Yuki?"
I wondered if it was really okay for her to snap back to reality just because I called her a "useless goddess," but pointing that out would only drag the conversation on, so I decided to let it slide. The priority right now was to escape this place.
"That's right. And Taiki and Taizou are here, too."
"Hello there. Should I say 'good evening'?"
"Well, since it is night, 'good evening' would be appropriate. Greetings, Lady Hairen."
"Oh, hi, good evening. Wait, both of you? That’s right! I have business with you guys!"
"That’s convenient. I have business with you, too."
"Eh? What? I came here to scare you guys, though?"
"..."
Good. We had confirmed that this situation was indeed intentionally manufactured. As expected, the culprit—no, the idiot—was a loose-lipped one.
"Let’s get straight to the point. Tell us how to get out of here. A lot of time must have passed already. It’ll be a disaster if our vacation is over by the time we get out."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Lady Luna has stopped time in this space. But I don't know how to get out."
"..."
Truly, fools talk too much.
I see, so that’s why she set up such an elaborate trap. It meant that a war of attrition was effectively meaningless. I had initially considered waiting for Luna to get bored, but if Luna was the mastermind behind this, she would definitely send reinforcements to keep us moving. If that happened, we’d likely be worn down to nothing.
That meant escaping as quickly as possible was the only viable option.
"Alright, we’ve got the confirmation. Let’s get out of here quickly. It’s obvious Luna is going to pull something else."
"Agreed. But where should we go? Hairen doesn't seem to know anything."
"The front entrance was a bust, so next, we aim for the staff-only exit. Given that we're surrounded by earth and sand, the odds are low, but it's still worth checking. It’s better than standing here worrying for nothing."
Nodding at Taizou’s suggestion, we turned to leave the room, but then—
"Hey! Are you planning on leaving me behind!?"
For some reason, the noisy one spoke up.
"Leave you behind? Hairen, aren't you supposed to be scaring us? What are you doing following us?"
"Ah... come to think of it, that’s right."
"..."
We were all struck into silence by her completely unexpected reaction. *Haah.* What a creature. What on earth is going on inside that head of hers? Is she a bird-brained fool who forgets everything after three steps?
I truly don't know how Souta-san and Enor-san managed to put up with her. If it were me, I would have ignored her and left her behind immediately.
Well, let’s just leave her behind now. She said she was here to scare us, after all.
"…Well, looks like you remembered. We’re heading out, so feel free to take your time thinking of ways to scare us."
"Right. Well, good luck!"
*SLAM.*
Good. We managed to part ways naturally. I let out a sigh of relief as we successfully left the room without her.
"Yuki-san, was that really okay?"
"I don't think we can drag her around with us. Besides, I said it before—Hairen is on the side that’s supposed to be scaring us. What would be the point of her tagging along?"
"That is true. She has her own role to play. Though I understand Taiki’s concern, Lady Luna is watching us. I doubt she will let anything truly disastrous happen. More importantly, as Yuki-kun said, if we escape this world quickly, Hairen-dono will naturally be able to leave as well."
Exactly. Escaping quickly was for Hairen’s sake, too.
Well, the truth is, if we had to move through this inn while dragging Hairen along, the difficulty level would definitely skyrocket. Souta-san and Enor-san had said that things would work out, but that only applied to the *result*—the very end. Getting to that result would require a massive amount of effort. I had no intention of babysitting her in a ghost-survival venue orchestrated by Luna.
"Besides, she’s a goddess, after all. She should be able to handle a few ghosts."
"Ah, now that you mention it, that’s true."
"Indeed. We should prioritize our own survival before worrying about a goddess. Now, enough idle chatter. Let’s go find that back exit."
Taizou-san shared my sentiment, so we resumed our exploration of the abandoned inn.
Still, this really is a realistic horror game. Between the school from before and this inn, does Luna have some kind of deep obsession with horror?
Well, never mind that. The destination is the back exit. The kitchen or somewhere around there seems suspicious. With that in mind, we left the wing with the guest rooms and, relying on the memory of the tour Kirue and Sasari gave us, returned to the area where the buffet and banquet hall were located.
"The banquet hall is a dead end. That’s a place for people to gather and make noise. Which means..."
"The buffet area, then. They would have been cooking nearby, so there should be a kitchen."
"Right, let’s go. If we can find a blade or something, it could serve as a weapon."
We headed toward where the buffet should have been, but...
"…There’s no trace of a buffet here."
"You're right. Why is that?"
What Taiki and I were looking at was a room with absolutely no signs of the buffet we saw yesterday—just chairs and small tables scattered about.
"No, it’s only natural that it’s not here. This isn't Weed’s 'Yugen Inn'; it’s the 1923 'Yugen Inn.' Naturally, a place like a buffet wouldn't exist. Back then, this was probably a waiting room or something similar."
Taizou-san answered our confusion. I see, that makes sense. But if that’s the case...
"Does that mean this way is a dead end?"
"Well, that would be the case. It doesn't look like there’s a kitchen nearby."
Still, it felt wrong to just turn back now. Thinking this, I stepped into the waiting room and checked the tables and chairs, but as expected, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Nothing here, either."
"Nope. But it’s actually unsettling to look everywhere and find absolutely no hints."
"Well, we did capture the Axe Man. You could say we’re acting against Luna-dono’s guidance, so it’s only natural we wouldn't find any hints."
Exactly. I had considered that possibility. Hairen’s words had confirmed that this place was prepared by Luna.