After Hinako turned down Miko’s invitation to go to the summer festival, Shiori shows up and insists that she go for her mental health. Of course, it doesn’t go as Shiori wanted, as Hinako is reminded of the painful memories from that day.
Last time, Shiori said she would only grant Hinako’s wish to be eaten by her if Hinako takes care of her physical and mental health. Obviously, this is why Shiori took her to the summer festival. She basically buys a candy apple for Hinako, while Shiori brought a drink. After seeing a memory of herself with her family at the festival, she remembers the traumatic moments as she runs away from Shiori. That happened when Hinako was being terrifyingly kind.
Eventually, Hinako is in the crowd watching the fireworks. When she started seeing the fireworks, it reminded her of the time she survived as the sea was on fire. Eventually, Shiori finds Hinako at the temple steps. Shiori wonders why Hinako ran away so suddenly, as Hinako doesn’t want her to go near her. Hinako, of course, regrets the decision to go to the festival with Shiori, as she thought she would get what she wanted, but she is forcing her to remember her traumatic experiences so that she will never become delicious in her eyes.
Of course, Shiori thinks Hinako is the one who doesn’t understand. The only reason youkai is attracted to Hinako is her poor mental health, which leads her to become suicidal. While Hinako says she doesn’t want to die, Shiori knows that Hinako didn’t show any resistance when the iso-onna attacked her. Hinako’s smell is only attractive to youkai because of this, which she compares to a beached whale rotting. It’s not too surprising, given what we see with Hinako so far.
That said, we learn more about Hinako’s survivor’s guilt. It came as a result of her being thrown from the car after a car crash caused by a truck. As she saw the fire that was in the ocean, she was heartbroken that she was the only survivor and her parents and older brother died, and she couldn’t save them. She was about to join them when she heard a voice to live on. At the same time, life is hard after that event, as people around her don’t know how to approach her. Seeing Shiori reminded her of the ocean, as she is someone humans can’t control. That is why Hinako wants Shiori to grant her wish for Shiori to eat her.
After hearing about Hinako’s troubles, it’s nice to see Shiori wanting to change her perspective on life so she can get closer to her. After all, she wants Hinako to fulfill the promise to live on and live every day to the fullest. That way, Hinako heals her emotional wounds and hopefully finds hope and joy in her life, which is when she will devour her. In other words, Hinako has to work harder, which she finds ridiculous, but Shiori still has faith in her that she can do it.
The next morning, Hinako met up with Miko on their way to school. Of course, Miko thought she saw Hinako at the festival as she asked her if she had seen the fireworks. As expected, Hinako lied that she didn’t. Later, Hinako begged Shiori not to tell what happened at the festival. After all, Hinako says Miko is special to her because she helped her through the hard times after the accident and is always with her. Hinako is afraid that if Miko finds out that Hinako ditched her for Shiori, she will get upset.
Then again, I feel that this might have backfired as Hinako went off a bit to drop off the garbage she was going to put in the bin. After Shiori killed some youkai, a few moments later, Miko was there as she dropped a bucket. She freaked out over what Shiori did. I wonder what it is about the fact that she could see them. We’ll have to wait until next time to see what triggers her reaction.
(Also known as This Monster Wants to Eat Me)
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