Yeah, a statue of the dude is commonly portrayed in Japanese schools as a hard-working role model and sometimes included in ghost stories as a moving statue.
Pretty much a similar warning in Greek and Japanese mythology... Don't eat food in the land of the dead, or you'll be stuck there and never be able to return.
Our smart boy, instead, asks to takeout the mochi.
What really irks me in this series is why they don't get the absolute, perfect characters to solve each problem. Mice eating harvests? Ask Nazrin. Mosquitos swarming? Ask Wriggle. Lightning-related matters? There's Iku and Tojiko... but no, no screentime for our favorite 2hus.
So it was all an elaborate plan by Koishi to expose her sister to trauma so they could become the same?
What exactly was Sakuya's trauma, and what happened in the end...?
Hmm, this has a similar premise to Fuuzen Lamp's short story, Shoukei no Ori, which also explores dragons and dragon turtles. Pretty much, Yacchie mistaking Meiling for her lost sister. Good read too.