With slumped shoulder and fizzy vision, Akari trudged down the road.

Last night, after the excitement at Caramel River, Akari had barely managed to grab two hours of sleep. How she wanted to stop under a tree and take a nap! But there would be none of that. Being a farmer, she had a potato crop to tend to, and being finished with watering and weeding it for the day, she now had Doctor Jin to find. There was much to discuss.

A voice mewled from behind Akari, and when she turned around, she found an orange tabby cat. "Ki... kitty," she said, bending low to pet him. As soon as her hand touched him, however, his teeth clamped down on her fingers– and wouldn't release.

Akari should've know this would happen. Smelling like fish and all, cats couldn't help but want to take a bite out of her. But this didn't deter her. Though the pain was overwhelming and she definitely wanted to cry, she endured it and took her other hand– petting the cat's head. "There there," she said with strained sweetness. The cat purred and grew distracted– just enough for her to slip her wounded hand away. Hurrying down the road, she miraculously escaped before he could pounce her.

Once again, Akari wandered, lost, around the Maple Lake District. The only bearings that she had was the church in the distance. Souffle Farm is north from here, she realized, wandering up the steep hill which led to the Ganache Mining district. But where was Waffle Town? If her memory served correct, the clinic was in that faraway place.

Akari's sense of direction was certainly no good. "All the roads look the same to me," she said, scowling in upset. Padding across the dry road and finally standing before the household of Souffle Farm, she stopped. Listening closely, she could hear Ruth and Craig's voices screaming over each other from within– and then suddenly– a booming clang.

...I'll come back later, Akari thought, walking away. Trudging north, she glanced around and realized that she had never been to this part of the district before. Poking around and briefly investigating the nearby mine's entrance, she regained focus and hurried on, rounding the road's corner and slowing when she heard an earthshaking noise. She looked ahead.

A tall young man in a tight, black muscle shirt was hammering away at a pile of blocks. Stopping to wipe the sweat from his brow, he flinched and turned around– a blank, startled expression settling on his face.

Did I make too much noise? Akari wondered; But he was so loud! Slinging a hammer like that... he looks really big and strong...

Akari knew about love at first sight, but in this moment, she could not recall such a fantastical ideology– even if it was an accurate description for what was befalling her. Aware that her face was burning– unbearably– she instead blamed it on the scorching noonday sun.

The young man quickly did away with his blank stare and smiled pleasantly at the girl. "Oh!" he managed out with a laugh. "Hey, how's it going?"

"F... fine?" Akari answered, confusedly touching her hot face. What was this uncomfortable warmth rising up inside of her? She had no reason for it and it was unsettling. Wait, have I ever even met this guy before? she wondered. What was she getting all happy about? She had never experienced this kind of nervousness before.

Holding his chin and looking her over, the young man nodded approvingly. "It's nice to see a new face around here!" he said.

"Thank... you," Akari stammered, flopping her arms around as she tried to explain herself; "I just moved here a few days ago... I'm a farmer!"

"Ah, so you're the one the Mayor was talking about. So, you're Akari."

With quivering eyes, the girl gulped and averted her gaze, instead fixating it right past the young man. For some reason, she couldn't bear to look at his face. "Yes, that's me. Akari..." She nodded gawkily. Her cheeks were still burning and her fists were now clenched tight. I don't understand... Am I running out of water again? she wondered.

"Nice to meet you!" he said, raising his hand and waving in an exaggerated manner. "I'm Owen. I work at the blacksmith's."

"Very pleased to make your acquaintance." Akari nearly bowed, but stopped herself. If she was already overheating, she'd be worse off if she leaked any more water. However, as worried as she was about that, she was suddenly concerned about what Owen was doing– or more specifically– what he was hammering. "If you don't mind me asking," she began; "why are you breaking up those cement blocks?"

For a half second, Owen's smile disappeared and he resumed his prior blankness. Raising his arms, he shrugged widely at her. "I'm breaking rocks down to material stone," he said. "It's used to build houses."

R-really? Akari thought, realizing that something was definitely off. But those aren't natural rocks... They're man-made cement blocks! There's no reason to be breaking them down... they're already formed! Observing the pile closer, she noticed something out of the ordinary. Owen had been chipping away at a single cement block– and since half of its surface was gone– it revealed a long, varnished piece of wood buried within.

A... handle? Akari realized. Was something stuck inside the block? Looking up, she saw that once again Owen was holding his chin and looking her over. This time, however, he had a calculating look in his eyes.

To combat Akari's suspicions, Owen smiled pleasantly and closed these eyes. This girl is a little too smart for her own good, he he had just the plan for distracting her. Still, it would be a good idea to keep an eye out for her...

Akari held her new– but certainly old– hammer in hand. As soon as Owen had gifted it to her, he had wished her good luck and then ran off– abandoning his block pile. Had he been hammering it just for kicks? Well it didn't matter to Akari anymore. It didn't matter if a wooden handle was stuck in some preformed block. To her, it actually looked like the handle of an old farm tool. Maybe it got stuck in there during a construction job and he was trying to get it out. It didn't make sense why he would hide such a fact... but who cared?

What mattered to Akari now, above all else, was that Owen had given her a gift. It would take more than gravity and a lack of sleep to keep her from beaming so idiotically and cheerfully. Wobbling up the road, lead-headed and blurry-visioned, she briefly regained energy again as the road grew greener and less dusty. Onward she kept going, her curiosity driving her forward. There was a shady forest up ahead!

Reaching the winding road's end, Akari entered into the forest's gated clearing where she saw two young men standing around a stump. Right away, the youngest– a light-haired boy named Bo– came up and greeted her, introducing himself as an apprentice at the carpenter's shop. However, he seemed more captivated by his partner than by the new farmer girl.

"You see that guy over there?" Bo said, nodding his round, doll-like head. "He's another apprentice. He's a lot better than me." With idolizing eyes, he turned around to watch.

With a charged shout and a burst of energy, the dark-haired apprentice raised his axe up over his scarf-covered head, leapt into the air, and slammed the axe down over the stump– chopping it into four perfectly equal planks.

"Whoa! See that?" Bo said to Akari; "That was was really TWO axe strokes just now, but he did it so fast, that it only looked like one–" As eager as he was to give a play-by-play, he stopped when he saw that she had gone completely pale. "...Akari?" He asked.

Akari froze, her startled eyes locked on the dissected stump. Her knees went wobbly and her body went numb. If that stump was a person... if that stump had been a person, indeed! They'd no longer be a person, simply put.

South from our old farm, there lived a carpenter in the forest, Akari thought, remembering him well; He didn't gossip about my parents like the other villagers. Sometimes, he would even try to be hospitable to my mother. However, whenever he'd see my face, he'd fly into an unexplainable rage... Holding his axe way up over his head, with a murderous glint in his eyes, he'd try to–

"Quadra Chop...? Nah... Ultra Mega Splitter...?" the dark-haired apprentice rambled on, trying to name his technique; "Nah, that's not quite it. Hmm..." He held his chin in reflection, bobbling his head around as if trying to shake a rare thought loose. For a few seconds, Bo yelled at him and they exchanged a few words, but Akari didn't pay any attention nor snap from her terror until Bo said her name several times.

"Akari. Akari, this is Luke, the star apprentice," Bo explained.

"Nice meeting you!" The dark-haired apprentice came closer, glaring at her fiercely but with a boyish smile. If his flame-themed headscarf told her anything about him, it was that he was hot-blooded (in the innocent definition of the word, of course).

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Akari said, calming down significantly once she realized that he had left his axe by the split stump.

Luke, however, took her words of burgeoning friendship quite literally, slipping his arm around her neck and pulling her very close. "Well, if you need anything," he said in a very business-like manner; "come and talk to me! I'll see what I can do!" He patted her back so roughly, that she had to cough to re-establish her shaken lungs.

To say that Akari was uncomfortable would be an understatement, but she definitely didn't want to be rude. After all, Luke was genuinely offering her his help. Thankfully, Bo pried Luke off and pulled him back, all while ignoring his protests.

"He's not really that helpful," Bo explained, smiling apologetically. "Anyway, nice to meet you." Saying this, he let go of Luke and bowed. He bowed and Akari could not help it.

When bowed to, one must return the bow. This was kappa etiquette! Akari's blood forbade her from disobeying it. Automatically, she felt her spine bend and her back cave forward. Soon, her head was parallel to the ground, and with panicked eyes, she watched as precious life fluid poured onto the dark, rich soil before her. It's no good... she thought; I really can't help it.

Feeling even dizzier than before, Akari quickly stood up straight. No one had seen her spill. Thank goodness, she thought. But her worries were far from over.

Scratching his head, perturbed by Bo's usage of the word 'domestic (he wasn't sure what that word really meant), Luke thought hard about how to be helpful right then and there. Finally, he raised his chin in sudden revelation. "I know!" he said to Akari; "You can have my old axe if you want! It's perfect for learning!" Reaching into his red vest's pocket, he slid out a wooden handle and unsheathed a WHOLE entire axe.

Akari's eyes grew wide and her pale complexion returned. Her pulse quickened and her stomach dropped and quaked with cold anxiety. He had... he has another axe? she thought; No–

Holding the axe in hand, Luke's expression dimmed and his personality faded. His pupils contracted and his breathing stilled. Something about the kappa half-child overrode his conscience.

"H-hold on a second–" Akari sputtered, holding her hands up in alarm. Walking backwards, slowly, she prepared to run away. As soon as she moved, though, Luke raised the axe way up over his head– and with a murderous glint in his eyes.