No one could answer.
He hadn't been attacked, yet his limbs grew stiff, and his skin felt as if countless feathers were teasing it. Sū ěr felt a wave of total discomfort.
"...Sū ěr? Sū ěr!"
Finally snapping back from his trance, Sū ěr saw Think pressing her hands on his shoulders, looking at him with worry.
"...I'm fine... was I attacked?" Contradictory words fell from Sū ěr mouth. He clenched his right fist and hammered his forehead hard, feeling a genuine sting of pain at the impact.
He wanted to say—or rather, suspect—that the sudden surge of fear and panic had been a directed attack from an unknown quarter. But such an excuse was meaningless except for self-deception.
Nothing had attacked him. He hadn't been influenced by any invisible force. This world was fake; it was a box created by something, somewhere.
In that moment just now, he had truly felt an infinite terror because he realized this truth. There were no horrific images or malevolent ghosts, and even that languid sense of tranquility that hadn't faded since arriving on the moon remained. Yet Sū ěr was deeply afraid... a shiver that soaked into his marrow.
His thoughts were expanding uncontrollably. Even now, the fear hadn't vanished; it was merely being forcibly suppressed.
"Are you hurt? Where?" Not knowing what was in Sū ěr heart, Think could only clearly perceive the fear and bewilderment that had gushed from the man's soul in that instant.
Pulling Sū ěr into a tight embrace, Think looked around alertly, yet she could find nothing out of the ordinary. The giant humanoid, dead or alive, remained in its pose, and even the melted brownish-black substances hadn't shifted in the slightest.
"...No, let me go first. I'm not hurt..." He managed to speak, his voice muffled by Think embrace.
"Truly?"
"Truly."
After a moment of suspicious silence, Think released her grip. Sū ěr, finally able to lift his head, heard his neck popping and cracking.
"...Did you feel anything unusual just now? I mean, mentally?" Sū ěr slapped his cheeks hard and asked Think.
"Mentally? Was your will attacked?" The brilliant Master Nirvalen needed only one sentence to judge the reason for Sū ěr reaction. After thinking for a moment, she shook her head. "No. Up until now, my thought process hasn't been influenced in the slightest. Of course, that might be due to my unique form of existence."
"Unlikely. You rely on my existence right now. If even I were influenced, you wouldn't be an exception," Sū ěr countered.
"...True," Think nodded.
Thus, the conclusion was further confirmed.
He didn't intend to reveal everything he had thought in that instant to Think. In fact, he suspected that what he feared wouldn't even be a source of terror for this Imanity. Unlike him, Think was a race born under the Old Deus [神灵种]; to her, even if a stronger Old Deus created a box-like world, it wasn't something to marvel at.
Moreover, knowing Think, even if this world were truly molded by an unknown entity on a whim, it wouldn't cause her any distress. She would simply move toward the world she wanted.
"...Why are you suddenly looking at me and smiling like an idiot?" Think reached out and tweaked Sū ěr ear, raising an eyebrow. "Have you thought of anything regarding this place?"
"Ah? Cough. Nothing, nothing," Sū ěr gave a couple of solemn, dry coughs. "I suspect this giant humanoid is Tsukuyomi , but I have no proof. To be honest, I'd rather it just stay lying there than have it suddenly sit up and introduce itself."
Because such a situation might bring a danger sufficient to kill both him and Think. Sū ěr didn't want to die, and he didn't want Think to die. It was that simple.
He had had enough of the self-sacrificial martyrdom. For Riku, who possessed a self-sacrificial personality, perhaps it could be repeated. but for Sū ěr, once in a lifetime was enough. More than enough.
Though he hadn't felt much pride in his current power, after witnessing this square earth and the sticker-like moon, Sū ěr became even more cautious.
"Tsukuyomi?" Think had learned a lot about this name from the yokai and Sū ěr, but in truth, the total information didn't even fill two lines. This deity was far too mysterious; essentially, only the name had been passed down, with no deeds to speak of.
Well, the most famous "deed" was likely his/her birth alongside Amaterasu and Susanoo. Even the gender was unknown.
"If it is Tsukuyomi, then why would it be trapped on the back of the moon?" Think murmured, then suddenly looked toward Sū ěr waist. "Right, the Magatama."
"!!!"
Sū ěr had almost forgotten he had that thing on him.
When the passage first opened, the string of Magatama had burst through his clothes. If he hadn't reacted quickly, it probably would have run off to who-knows-where. After arriving on the moon, he had temporarily forgotten about it due to the novel environment.
With a strange expression, he pulled the string of Magatama from his robe. To prevent any further accidents when he caught it earlier, Sū ěr had used his authority in this world to isolate the Magatama and the space around it, which was why it had remained quiet until now.
Otherwise, given how this Magatama used to jump toward the moon at every opportunity, it probably wouldn't have waited until now for Sū ěr to pull it out.
Upon actually arriving on the moon, it seemed to have lost its former spirit. The Yasakani no Magatama floated quietly in the air; what was reacting wasn't the beads themselves, but the black substance within that had stained them.
Sū ěr and Think had retreated to the furthest distance from which they could still observe. If things went well, according to what that jade-colored fox had said, the Yasakani no Magatama would open the gate to Takamagahara for them. Sū ěr still chose to believe the words of that fox (before her fall).
Once the door opened, they would slip away as fast as possible. After that, no matter what freakish transformation occurred to the giant on the back of the moon, it would have nothing to do with them. Every debt has its debtor; it could find whoever it wanted.
Perfect.