"Hmm... What's up that road?" Blake went right where Carmen ran off. He didn't have a specific place to go, so it didn't take him long to go through it and arrive at a beautiful place. "Wow! Amazing!"
He came to a large open space. The dirt from the road ended and was replaced by a large amount of white sand, the sound of running water and birds could be heard all over the place, and the smell of nature in front of him made him want to take a deep breath.
"I didn't know that there was a lake so close to the town, it will be nice to come from time to time to rest a little." Blake looked around, approached, and took off his boots to feel the sand and water on his feet. "Aww! how nice. Huh, what is that?"
As he enjoyed the sensation, he could see that near him was a strange shadow swimming in the water. Curiosity got the better of him and he tried to get closer, but before reaching the shadow, it shot out of the water and crashed into his face causing Blake to fall backward into the sand. What that strange shadow was actually was a small trout that after hitting Blake, returned to the water and sped away.
"Ouch! Why is this happening to me?... At least no one saw me."
"Ahahaha, it seems that Mr. Trout likes you, haha." At that moment Blake felt very nervous, he did not want to turn to see the person who was laughing at his incident, and he was looking for a way to run away, but he cannot do it. Without further ado, he turned with a nervous laugh to explain what happened. "So you must be the new one everyone is talking about, right?"
Then Blake could see who it was. A girl, had pink hair like her eyes, wore peculiar clothing that revealed her abdomen, and a kind of coat was wrapped around her neck, but the most "strange" so to speak, were they what they seemed to be fins on her wrists and the shape of her ears.
"The news has moved fast. Yes, my name is..."
"Ahaha, I don't care about your name! But I'm Pia! I live in fabulous paradise baths!" Blake didn't know what to say from her comment, but even if he wanted to say something, the pink-haired girl wasn't going to let him do it. "Oh, never mind! It's time for you to take a bath!"
"A bath? Now?!"
"Duh, of course now! Look at you, uh, you're full of dark circles and unkempt."
"Well... Actually, I think I'm fine, haha..."
"Really? Are you sure you don't want to take a bath?"
"Yes. Very sure."
"Just wait! You won't be able to elude us forever!"
"Uh, if you say so..."
"I know! Oh, and I guess your name matters! I'll need to register your visit after all!"
"I'm Blake."
"Got it! Nice to meet you, Blake!"
"Anyway... I'll let you know when I'm ready for a bath."
"Ahaha, you better do it, or else... Well, see you 🎵." He didn't know why, but Blake felt a chill that ran down his spine at that moment and wondered if it had been caused by Pia who had already left him sight.
"I better be careful..."
"No, you can't do it!!!" But before he finished saying anything, a scream caused all of his attention to turn to a house near the shore, he put his boots back on and ran into the din for some reason, and he walked through the door of the place.
"Sob... Ah, my dear brother! Forget me, I have to go!"
"Sob... Dear sister!... Sob... must you go so soon? I just can't bear to let you go!" Blake did not understand anything, he could only see a devastating scene while in the background he seemed to hear a sad melody, where the fisherwoman who was found a while ago and a muscular guy who apparently was her brother participated. He didn't know why, but he couldn't take his attention away from what he was seeing.
"Those words devastate me, brother! But it is time for me to make my own way! I have to go...! To fish!"
"Be careful, my dear sister! Please come back alive! I could not bear your death!... Sob..."
"Oh, my dear brother... Sob..." And between more sobs and hugs, Blake could see the end of that heartbreaking scene as he ate some popcorn that appeared by magic, and a small tear fell down his cheek until Carmen seemed to be aware of his presence.
"Ah, hey, what brings you here, Blake?"
"Well, I..."
"Ah, I know! You're a customer, right?! Perfect!... Brother, it's your time to shine!" Blake wanted to say some more, but the muscular green-haired boy had already gotten close enough to him.
"Oh hello, bro! Welcome to the Carlos complex! Is this your first time here?"
"What, ah, y-yeah." The atmosphere changed completely and the previous scene didn't seem to matter to anyone.
"We raise fish and release them into the lake so you can catch them!" Carmen did not want to miss the opportunity to present the place either.
"That's right, it's like taking a trip to a tropical island!"
"It was my brother's idea! Isn't that great?!"
"Hahaha, you always flatter me too much, Carmen! It's a bit expensive, but you can fish all day! If you're good at fishing, it's a great deal, hahaha!"
"You're amazing, Carlos! You always have great ideas!"
"Haha..." Blake could only see the interaction of the green-haired ones as he giggled and listened to the little explanation about where he was.
"So stop by once in a while! My sister or I will be behind the counter!"
"Yes, come whenever you want! We will be waiting for you!"
"By the way, you're new here, right? What's your name?"
"It's Blake, nice to meet you."
"Blake, uh, my name is Carlos, it's my pleasure, hahaha!" Carlos reached out his hand to Blake and he accepted it, Carlos gave a strong handshake and Blake felt like was being crushed little by little. Carlos was much taller than Blake, you could say that he was about two meters tall, in addition to having a body full of muscles and tattoos on his arms that could be seen with the naked eye, while he formed a huge smile on his face.
"I hope you are interested in fishing."
"Of course."
"Then I think we'll get along great, hahaha!... I see you've already met Carmen; I hope you haven't done something strange to her. Gah!" Carmen hit him just as she heard Carlos talking about her.
"What do you mean by something strange?! The only thing that happened when we met is that I ended up on top of him."
"What?!!" Blake could feel a killing intent directed at him that made him very uncomfortable, he wanted to fix the misunderstanding, but Carmen only made things worse.
"Yes, I couldn't stop in time, was so hard, I ended up very sore." Strange sounds were coming from Carlos's knuckles as he looked at Blake the way a predator looks at its prey. Blake wanted to run out of there, but Carlos's hand took his shoulder and a huge vein of anger showed on his forehead. Blake felt it was the end of him, and he thought that maybe he shouldn't have left his farm that day.