Kiyoshi soon arrives at the lake to see a young couple being attacked by creatures called Kappas. Which amphibious-like creatures. They were green and oddly human-like in appearance, but they had webbed hands and feet and a turtle-like carapace on their back. The strange creatures jumped out of the water with furiousness and determination as they grabbed onto the young woman. Dragging her into the water in order to drown her in the lake.
Her boyfriend grabs onto her hands, trying to pull her back onto the bridge. As he does this, Kappas continues to appear from the water bitting and digging their claws into the young man's back, causing him to scream as he tries desperately to save his girlfriend. His girlfriend screams, crying for him to save her as the creatures continue to pull her deeper into the water. Suddenly, the young man loses his grip as they pulled his girlfriend into the lake.
Kiyoshi quickly dives into the water to the young man's surprise as he believed only he and his girlfriend were around this hour of the night. But he was glad that someone came to help them. The young man looked on into the depths of the lake awaiting the results of the stranger coming to help them, he wasn't even concerned about the creatures still digging into his flesh all that mattered is that his lover was alive and well then everything will solve itself out.
As he looked on, a violent splash of water emerged, and out of it, his lover was returned to him, unconscious but alive. But he wondered where the stranger who saved his girlfriend was. Did he perish saving her? The young man thought to himself. He didn't notice that the weight on the creatures on his back grew lighter, nor did he see the dead bodies of the Kappas behind him. But he notice large pools of blood on the lake's surface and the bodies of the creatures who attacked his girlfriend floating to the surface dead.
He turns to his girlfriend to see the stranger in all black attending to her injuries. Are you ok? Kiyoshi asked the young man who looked at him in astonishment.
"Yes, but is my girlfriend ok? Replied the young man.
"Yes, she is fine. She just needs to rest. Replied Kiyoshi, who quickly reach in front of the young man attending to his injuries.
"You're really strong, mister. Who are you? Remarked the young man.
That's not important, you need to take your girlfriend and go back to your hotel before more of those things come and attack us." Replied Kiyoshi as he finished attending to the young man's injuries.
The young man nodded his head and carried his girlfriend back to their hotel. Kiyoshi escorted the young man back to the hotel. The young man offered Kiyoshi money but Kiyoshi refused, stating he doesn't need money, he needs them to be careful to which the young man agrees and enters the hotel carrying his girlfriend.
Kiyoshi sneaks back into his room to not disturb the old and heads to bed. The following Kiyoshi awoke to the sweet smell of savory delights. Kiyoshi quickly heads down the stairs to see that Ma and Pa had already prepared breakfast for their guest. The elderly couple both smiled as they ushered Kiyoshi to the take for breakfast.
As Kiyoshi sits at the table, they presented a beautiful array of fresh foods to him. Rice Porridge, Pickled Vegetables, Steamed Vegetables, Grilled Fish, seaweed, Miso Soup, onigiri, natto, Rolled Omelet, and Tamago Kake Gohan were all presented to him as well as other nontraditional foods like pancakes, waffles, and muffins.
It astonished Kiyoshi that two elderly people could prepare such a banquet all by themselves and with such beauty and elegance as well. With Kiyoshi eating, the elderly couple asked Kiyoshi how his first night in town was with adoring and welcoming smiles on their face. Kiyoshi remarked that last night was uneventful as he went straight to bed, as he didn't want to scare the elderly couple with tales of strange and mystical creatures attacking people by the lake so close to their inn.
Pa remarked he was glad Kiyoshi took him and Ma's advice and stayed inside as people are going missing by the lake recently and they will hate for one of their guests to go missing as well. Kiyoshi nodded, stating that the old couple has nothing to worry about since Kiyoshi is not much of a going-out person.
Ma and Pa both smiled and left Kiyoshi to finish eating his overwhelming breakfast. As Kiyoshi continued eating sensational favors of the foods sent his taste buds into overdrive. It was ages since Kiyoshi had food crafted with such uniqueness and care of preparation. With every bite better than the next, Kiyoshi felt as if this is how a meal prepared by a loving mother will feel since he never got the chance to know his real mother at all.
From what Sairon told him, his mother died giving birth to him after the ritual of bonding him to the sword was completed. As the circumstances of his birth weigh heavily on his mind, Kiyoshi suddenly remembers that he didn't pay the workers at the spa yesterday. That right, I just ran off yesterday without paying them, remarked Kiyoshi as he finishes his breakfast and heads out of the inn thanking Ma and Pa on his way out.
Kiyoshi arrives at the spa, to the surprise of all the workers after how quickly he ran out yesterday. Kiyoshi apologizes to the staff, remarking that he had a sudden emergency and that he forgot to pay whilst handing the staff the money for yesterday's spa treatment. The workers giggled and smiled at Kiyoshi before pulling him inside for another spa treatment. Well, now, make it up to us now since you ran off yesterday and made us feel bad, remarked one of the female staff and she wrapped herself around Kiyoshi's arms as she and another coworker pull Kiyoshi into the massage room.
As Kiyoshi lies on his stomach getting a more "touchy" massage than before, he could overhear the other workers gossiping in the next room. They were talking about how three couples went missing last night by the lake, and how that makes twenty-two couples within the last two weeks missing. They remarked that if it continued that it will ruin the town as the only source of income is tourism and the lake is an important part of that tourism. But now people are scared of the lake and rumors are spreading about the lake and the town itself.
That can't be? Kiyoshi remarked to himself as he had killed all the Kappas at the lake last night. Was it before he arrived? Not impossible, he would have noticed. So what was going on at the lake? Kiyoshi thought to himself. But he will surely find out tonight, no matter what. What a vacation, Kiyoshi remarked to himself as left the spa to head back to the inn to the displeasure of the women working at the spa.
Before heading back to the inn, Kiyoshi heads over to the lake to investigate and see if he can find anything that can lead him toward the disappearing couples. He walked across the bridge to the other side of the river, which lead to the forest. There Kiyoshi was struck with an overwhelming presence of evil and dread, which automatically put Kiyoshi on the defensive. The presence was powerful, ancient, and cruel, but somehow familiar to Kiyoshi.
One thing is for sure, Kiyoshi was not prepared for a battle as his sword was back at the inn so as not to draw attention to himself. Kiyoshi quickly retreated back to the inn as the sun was setting and he didn't want to fight an unknown enemy in the dark without his sword.
Kiyoshi arrived back at the inn and quickly went back upstairs to his room, not even noticing Ma and Pa weren't at the front desk. Kiyoshi prepared himself for battle and awaited the night to fall when the unknown entity or entities are most likely to attack someone. Hours passed when suddenly the cruel and ancient presence will his room. It wasn't as strong as before, but he knew it was the same presence as before. But why was this presence so familiar to him? He thought to himself. With a burst of speed, Kiyoshi quickly looked out the window and, to his surprise, saw Ma and Pa walking on the bridge with a young couple heading to the forest.
Why were Ma and Pa heading to the forest with another couple? Were they under the spell of the entity? Kiyoshi thought to himself. But one thing was for sure is that Kiyoshi need to hurry up and rescue Ma, Pa, and the others before the unknown entity gets a hold of them and with that Kiyoshi jumps out the window to protect them and find out what is really going on in the town of Lilax Rejesha and at lake zuò ài