#'why didn't all the youkai just migrate down to hell if the fear of the dead works' is a trick question by the way

[occasionaltouhou]

if youkai faith works then youkai fear must also work. the faith of the tengu and kappa is sufficient to establish kanako as the kami of youkai mountain, which is a way bigger thing than the assumption that a general low-level fear from the youkai of the underground could sustain the komeijis

i would say it's more like that youkai simply can't be authentically afraid of most other youkai (it's not in their nature) but given their existence as beings that are essentially just the mind and spirit, it makes sense that a mind-reader would cause fear that others would not trigger

i definitely agree that the vengeful spirits probably help with the maintenance of former hell, since they're former humans and we already know from keiki's example that even dead humans can still have sufficient faith to conjure up an unhinged cyberpunk kami