This page is for posting speculations for Kusahibari No Naku Koro Ni.
The proper mundane explanation for 'Fae' is that the forest is home to a species of plant or fungus that creates a hallucinogen when hit by moon- and/or sunlight.
Corollaries:- Something about the plant has also resulted in cicadas not being able to flourish.
- The reason the camp 'works' in getting people over their internal troubles ('Absolution') is because the hallucinations are formed based on subjective experience and mood. So the campers do constructive and positive things, talk to Quinn about their problems, etc., and the hallucinogen takes them the rest of the way. Summer, of course, has longer hours of daylight, so more exposure to the compound.
- The reason people perceive the hallucinations as various Fae manifesting is because the notion of Fae being in the forest has been inserted into their heads beforehand by what they know and learn about the camp. This should also be true for Hakkoumori villagers, as they grew up with tales of Fae, and their experiences in the forest 'confirmed' the magical beings' existence. Over time, villagers would obviously have noticed things like the frequency of the encounters coinciding with the phases of the moon, but they would have also attributed this to the Fae.
- Kyouya is able to navigate the forest better than anyone else because he was over-exposed to the hallucinogen as a child, resulting in either semi-immunity or a finesse for dealing with the illusions. Or maybe his brain just works differently.
