"I saw him. He was a..." Dodolo nodded. Just as he was about to describe the ticket seller's appearance, Hastur suddenly interrupted him.
"I'll give you a Phantom Stone. Use your spiritual power to project the ticket seller's appearance onto it. Rather than listen to a pale verbal description, I'd rather see for myself what this ticket seller looks like." After speaking, Hastur seemed to feel that this request was somewhat excessive and added, "Just the ticket seller's appearance is enough. You don't need to project anything else."
The reason this request was somewhat excessive was that there had almost never been any precedent on Stargazing Day for using illusion arts to project glimpses of the future. It was not due to any rule restricting it; rather, discussion was discussion, and everyone could fill in the blanks for themselves. If future fragments were truly displayed through illusion arts, information that one had initially failed to notice might be spotted first by someone else, who could then manipulate and exploit it, ultimately leaving oneself worse off.
Under such circumstances, no one would deliberately use illusion arts to reveal their visions. Of course, if you chose to reveal them yourself, that was fine. But if others asked you to do so, that was moral coercion. That was why Hastur had specifically added that last sentence.
Hastur's urgency made everyone, including the observers, turn to look at him. They did not understand why Hastur would make such a request. Could it be that he knew the ticket seller as well? Only Lapuye and Asethos seemed to have thought of something. Yet neither spoke, merely watching quietly as matters unfolded.
Dodolo declined the Phantom Stone Hastur offered him. When disappointment showed in Hastur's eyes, Dodolo said, "I know a little Light-Shadow Art. I may