Chapter 19: Amusement Park of Misfortune

“Look, they sell popsicles here! It’s not even that hot yet, right? Want to try one?”

“Hey, over there! They have fresh squeezed juice! The stuff I drank before was all artificial coloring and saccharin. Want to get a cup?”

Erena truly lived up to her reputation as a great woman with the aura of an R-18 heroine. She had already forgotten everything from last night and was cheerfully introducing Chihaya Sayo to the surroundings…

Wait. Maybe ‘introducing’ wasn’t the right word. More accurately, it was like a child’s pure curiosity.

Chihaya Sayo sighed. She watched Erena bounce around both sides of the street with a helpless look, while carefully adjusting her steps to keep away from the crowds.

Thanks to last night’s conversation with Rule, her emotional influence on others was now close to nothing. But no matter how she controlled her released spiritual power, she couldn’t completely avoid affecting the people around her. Anyone already emotionally unstable could still suffer a mental collapse in a short time.

To be safe, she was better off staying away from crowds.

“Chihaya? I bought two. Here, try it.”

Erena seemed to notice how out of place Chihaya Sayo looked among the other people. She smiled, took Chihaya Sayo’s right hand, and placed a cup of iced fresh watermelon juice into the girl’s free left hand.

“Don’t be so scared. Hmm… Most people are actually pretty friendly, you know. Come stand a little closer. We have to line up!”

‘A little closer? If I stood in the middle of the crowd, this amusement park would probably see several tragedies.’

Chihaya Sayo complained inwardly, but still made a token step forward. Then…

She pressed close to Erena’s small body.

She could feel the tangled emotions of the crowd around her, surging like a tide. Countless feelings gathered into a stream that slowly washed over the girl’s body.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but under the impact of those emotions, her usually restrained spiritual power seemed to grow restless. It probed at the laughing people around her, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.

Clearly, Chihaya Sayo’s attempt to keep her distance from the crowd was completely misunderstood by Erena as a lack of security. And so…

Chihaya Sayo shuddered. A hand had silently crossed her back and wrapped around her shoulder.

“Is there anything you want to ride? For example…”

Erena’s eyes curved into two crescent moons. She pointed a finger at the huge metal machine nearby with obvious mischief.

“How about that one? The drop tower?”

“Ah…”

Chihaya Sayo swallowed.

She had no real concept of amusement park rides. In her previous life and this one, places like this had always been beyond her reach.

After all, for her, a computer and a phone had been her entire life.

But if she was a Spirit, then a drop tower shouldn’t be a problem, right? She was at least…

“Okay. That one.”

“Yay!”

Erena showed a smile like a scheme had succeeded. Then, with practiced ease, she pushed Chihaya Sayo into one of the drop tower’s rotating seats.

As the drop tower slowly climbed, Chihaya Sayo could clearly see herself getting farther and farther from the solid ground. An indescribable feeling gradually rose in the girl’s heart.

Maybe for her, the worst part wasn’t the moment the drop tower fell, but the slow climb before the fall.

Chihaya Sayo couldn’t help turning her head to look at Erena beside her.

As expected of a DEM company wizard. This drop tower was child’s play to her. Besides curiosity, her face showed more… boredom?

A strange fear slowly rose in Chihaya Sayo’s heart and gripped her beating heart tightly.

‘No. She shouldn’t be this afraid. This fear was far too intense. Rather than coming from her, it was more like…’

Chihaya Sayo began searching for the source of the fear in her heart. Then…

She turned her head and saw four tourists slumped in their seats, rolling their eyes back. Their thin lips were stark white, with no color at all.

In her eyes, she could clearly see the part representing ‘fear’ gradually taking over those tourists’ minds, until no other emotion remained in their hearts.

‘This was bad!’

“Stop, something’s wrong here…”

Before the girl could call out, a thick feeling of weightlessness rushed from every limb to her brain and easily broke through her mind’s last defense.

In less than a blink, her brain had completely shut down. She could only watch as her body rushed toward the solid ground.

‘If the machine malfunctioned, what should she do?’

‘If the safety belt malfunctioned, what should she do?’

‘If…’

Her mind went blank for an instant, then spun at high speed. Countless possible accidents flashed through Chihaya Sayo’s mind. In the end, they froze into the image of a blue-haired boy at the center of her brain.

‘Wait… Was this… her life flashing before her eyes?’

‘Why would she think of that thing, Shido Itsuka? She should have no feelings for him at all, right?’

‘Despicable Phantom! If I ever get the chance, I will tear you into ten thousand pieces!’

While the girl’s life flashed before her eyes, the huge drop tower had already entered its slow descent. The four poor unlucky souls beside Chihaya Sayo had completely lost consciousness. Their bodies twitched involuntarily. They were clearly half a step into the King of Hell’s palace.

“Um, I’m sorry…”

Though she knew the four nearly dead unlucky souls probably couldn’t hear her, Chihaya Sayo still apologized out of habit.

“Huh? Why are you apologizing to them? It’s obviously their problem… If your heart is weak and you’re a coward, don’t ride the drop tower. What does it have to do with you? Or is that an Asian habit?”

‘Sorry. Though I can’t say it outright, their fainting really has everything to do with me…’

Looking at Erena in front of her, Chihaya Sayo couldn’t help lowering her head.

She absolutely could not ride any more attractions that put her together with other people. Absolutely!

“How about the roller coaster? Let’s ride the roller coaster! This one is two thousand meters long. Super thrilling!”

‘Roller coaster?’

Looking at the stars sparkling in Erena’s eyes, Chihaya Sayo thought it over carefully.

A drop tower of just a few minutes had sent four people to the hospital. If it was a two-thousand-meter roller coaster… chances were, people would die, right?

“No, no. I’m a coward. I guess I’m really not suited for thrilling rides like that…”

“Huh? A coward? You seemed fine just now, so I thought you were brave.”

Erena carefully considered the less thrilling attractions in the park, but…

Thinking about it, besides the children’s area, the only other option was the summer water attractions that weren’t open yet, right?

Watching Erena rack her brains, Chihaya Sayo fell silent.

There was no helping it. Her passive ability was just too troublesome. Almost every attraction shared with other tourists had to be crossed off. The only suitable ones might be…

‘Merry-go-round or Ferris wheel?’

“Maybe we should find an arcade and play games instead?”

Chihaya Sayo suddenly suggested. For her, video games were still more appealing.

“Oh, you’re way too much of a shut-in! We came all the way out here and you still want to play video games? That’s so boring.”

Erena firmly rejected the girl’s sincere suggestion, then pulled Chihaya Sayo’s hand toward another large machine.

“Don’t worry. This pendulum ride isn’t that scary. Just try it. Just one little try.”

“This…”

Chihaya Sayo hesitated. She had never been good at refusing other people’s requests, especially when a beautiful girl was blinking her big eyes at her with a hopeful look…

She slowly raised her head toward the pendulum’s densely packed seats and swallowed.

If the drop tower had let her affect only four people, then now…

“Please? Just one try! I’m telling you, this one really isn’t that scary…”

“I…”

Chihaya Sayo hesitated, then half-reluctantly followed Erena… and several dozen unknown unlucky souls onto the legendary pendulum ride.

‘This… would definitely kill someone, right?’

Before the ride even started, she could feel the fear swelling uncontrollably in those dozens of unlucky souls.

Although she tried hard to restrain her spiritual power, there was still no improvement. The slightly playful emotion called fear gave Chihaya Sayo the middle finger, then quietly took control of everyone’s minds around her.

“Wait! Some people here aren’t feeling well…”

The moment she spoke, the huge machine spun at full speed and stuffed the rest of her sentence back into her stomach. And those dozens of unlucky souls all fainted from fright without exception.

The thrill of the pendulum no longer mattered. The girl’s whole being was focused on the dozens of unlucky souls who had passed out from fear.

If any of them suddenly lost all emotional response, then they had probably been scared to death.

But clearly, they were all still alive. They had only stepped one foot into the gates of hell, which was still acceptable.

The machine slowly stopped. Chihaya Sayo and Erena walked off the pendulum without a scratch, but the other unlucky souls weren’t so fortunate.

One after another, they twitched in their seats like dead dogs. In the end, more than a dozen ambulances were called to carry people away. That shocking scene was burned deep into everyone’s memory. The amusement park became famous for ‘fainting dozens of tourists at once’ and turned into a must-visit spot for countless tourists from abroad.

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