CHAPTER 1 STORY 41
A Strange Presence
One time, when I was sightseeing around a certain country, I arrived at an open plaza, where I caught sight of a lone man worrying over something. The man stood before a green lawn, racking his brain.
“This is awful… What am I supposed to do here…?”
It was easy to see he was troubled, so I tried to speak to him, and he said, “The fact is that there’s no end to the people walking on this grass…”
He showed me the tragic scene that spread out before us. The lawn in the plaza was apparently just there to beautify the scenery, and a sign stating KEEP OFF THE GRASS had been erected.
However, the citizens of the city ignored the sign and went right in. They sat down and started enjoying their picnics. No matter how many times the man warned them off, and despite the fact that he had set up a fence, it seemed like everybody ignored the rules, he said.
“What to do…?”
The man let out a sigh.
I see, I see.
“Well, if that’s the problem—”
A witch suddenly appeared beside him. Who was she?
That’s right, it was me.
“Why don’t you leave this up to me?”
“Firstly, who are you?”
“I can definitely solve your grass problem for you.”
“Sure. By the way, who are you?”
And just like that, I undertook the task of getting rid of every last one of the rude people who were trespassing on the lawn. Well, actually, my method for dealing with a problem like this one was as simple as could be.
The following day—
A young man and woman appeared. They walked right onto the lawn and started to enjoy a picnic. Disregarding the KEEP OFF THE GRASS sign, they laughed and flirted the whole time.
Oh dear, no morals at all, huh?
And so I quickly approached the couple and spoke to them.
“Good afternoon! Could I speak to the two of you for a moment?”
Both of them looked at me blankly, and I said, “As a matter of fact, recently, I’ve been handing out presents like this to people like you. Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh!”
As I spoke, I offered them a bright red apple.
“I’ll be sure to offer you presents whenever you picnic on the grass from now on. Oh-hoh-hoh!”
“Uh-huh…” Although the two of them had a questionable reaction to my extremely suspicious behavior, they still continued their picnic.
Meanwhile, I continued walking around handing out apples to all the people who stepped on the grass.
Eventually, a credible rumor began to circulate that there was a strange, suspicious witch walking around handing out apples on the forbidden lawn, and one by one, people stopped approaching the grass.
“I see. Rather than warning them off, you endorsed them going on the lawn and then made it uncomfortable, and everyone stopped going?” The man slapped his knee as he handed me my reward.
I nodded in the affirmative.
“Because they want to keep their distance from the strange lady, you see.”
[Publication Information] Volume 13
Toranoana Buyer’s Bonus
[Author Comments]
Rather than “No, don’t do it!” it produces a stronger reaction against something to be told “Yes, please go ahead, do it, please, heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…” It’s the same psychological phenomenon that instructs us to not push, never push.
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