Standing at the Sundae Inn Bar's locked door, Akari fell on her hands and knees in despair. Her hopes of buying a drink as a present (for Owen) had been crushed––but perhaps these hopes were foolish to begin with. Wait. I remember now! she suddenly thought; When I first visited the town hall, I met a girl named Kathy there… She said the bar would be closed for awhile.

Getting up, Akari walked past the streets of Waffle Town. During that time… I guess I was too angered by my argument with Gill to much pay attention to such important details, she thought; What were we even arguing about back then?

Akari had already forgotten and forgiven.

Gill. He's a bit of a stuffed shirt, but he's very serious and hard-working... It was probably just a misunderstanding on my part.

Using the brilliant moonlight, Akari found her way home and diligently worked her field. Being very careful this time, she planted the seeds she had bought from Souffle Farm earlier––potatoes and turnips––and attempted to water them all. Soon exhausted by this, she refilled her watering can and rested by the trough. Lost in thought, her ears filled with the heavy breathing of the night sky and the rumbling river, and she surveyed her newly planted seeds with profound awe. All of these things, in combination, made her think about the mysterious thing that Anissa had said to her earlier:

"You'd be surprised to know… how everyone on this island suffers from a broken heart."

Being too fatigued to water the last half row of her seeds, Akari dragged herself into her house and went to sleep, and all despite her worried thoughts about the island and its inhabitants. She wondered if she'd dream about that glowing woman again, but her sleep was uneventful.

Waking up the next morning, the terrible pang of hunger stung Akari's gut and made her tremble with an alarming craving for something heavy and filling. Shuffling through her rucksack, she contemplated eating a precious herb but miraculously found a Very Berry in there. She didn't remember having it, but since she snatched WHATEVER off the ground, there were bound to be surprises!

Akari rammed the entire Very Berry in her mouth––leaves, stalk, seeds, skin and all. She felt a little better after eating it, but understandably, one fruit was not a true meal. It was nothing compared to the tea and cookies served by Anissa the other day––and it was barely comparable to the sandwich that Maya had fed her the day before that. That reminds me… I must repay their kindness, she thought tearfully. She would never underestimate the value of a home-cooked meal ever again.

Soothed by the chirping birds outside, Akari left out the front door and traveled down and around the ridge of her farm. Even though her stomach rattled like a hollow seed pod, the morning sun warmed her back and promised her with the bug-covered bounty of its creation: something from off the ground again.

On second thought, this didn't appease Akari at all. Instead of running off to forage, she took out her fishing pole and ran for the river. "I refuse to die of starvation," she swore with demented urgency, "even if I fish up a boot, I will eat it… because leather is just animal skin. Yes…" The recent lack of protein (or anything) in her diet for the past week had finally obliterated her sanity. Launching her fishing pole forward, its lure landed in, bobbled on, and glided across the water.

A whole entire hour passed before Akari got even one nibble. When the fishing pole tugged in her hand, she held on tight and yanked the rod desperately. In her frenzied battle with the rod, water sloshed from her head bowl and her energy drastically drained. However, miraculously––right when she was about to faint––the line flew up through the air and a squirming fish landed in her hands.

It was a 15 cm redfin. Akari stared into it's black, soulful eyes and felt its tender skin wriggle in her hands. "I… I can't eat this... as it is," she realized aloud, gaping at it. "I can't eat a WHOLE fish ALIVE." She said this even though she ate dinner dishes whole. "But Papa could… eat fish whole…"

Such was the might of a Kappa's iron stomach.

So surely… I must be able to eat a whole LIVE fish, too! she thought determinedly; Geh… but I don't want to… She shook her head at the sight of the gasping, desperate fish in her hands––a pitiful creature who slowly gave into his search destiny. She, too, would have to give in.

"I mustn't be so picky," Akari said, tilting back her head; "Down the hatch!" Holding the fish by it's tail, she slowly lowered it into her mouth––but stopped halfway.

She stuffed the half-dead fish into her rucksack.

"I can't do it after all…" Akari hunched over, grasping her knees in defeat. However, after a bit of deliberation, she took out her axe and the now-dead fish with a new sense of purpose. "Maybe I can cut the fish up and make sashimi," she said. "How do I do that?" She held the axe in one hand, the fish in the other, and stared between the two. "Gut. Clean. Chop," she said to herself, as if trying to summon a hidden action. But there was no way she could perform such a command!

"WHY?" she yelled at the sky, raising both items heavenward. Without a proper kitchen, she would surely die.

Right when Akari was about to throw the fish down on the ground and senselessly chop it––like firewood––she felt the fractional coolness of a shadow on her back. Somebody there? she thought, quickly stuffing away the axe and turning around. She wished for no more incidents, but it seemed her wishes never came true, for she was now face to face with Toby––the perverse fisherman who was possibly onto her Kappa secret.

"Oh, are you trying to cook that?" he asked, pointing at the fish and acting as if he had done NOTHING terrible to her in the past two days.

Akari shimmied backwards. "Don't come any closer!" she warned in a voice fraught with distress.

"Why?" Toby tilted his head with sincere ignorance.

Toby was exactly like a child. That's why Akari found herself unable to answer him bluntly. But still, she really wanted to say, 'Because you're a creepy guy who looked up my shirt and slept in my bed!'

However, she felt that it was too outside her comfort and so kept quiet. There was clearly something not right about Toby… and she didn't want to bully a lunatic. She also didn't want to become lunatic who always thought men were after her. Even if they had good reason to––in the riot and throw her off the island sort of way.

I just need to make some boundaries with him, she rationalized. If I carefully tell him what he did to make me angry, he might understand a little bit and learn. Like a child.

"Could it be," Toby began, holding his cat-like face in thought, "that you're still angry about last time?"

Akari froze completely in place, just like a scarecrow. Maybe this guy isn't as ignorant as I previously believed, she thought––a sinking feeling settling in her chest as he came closer. She backed away and bumped into the ridge's boulder-enforced wall. "H-hold it," she said––holding up her hands at him––her heart pounding from the feeling of being hunted and cornered. "I'm not mad at you," she said, "I'm just! Just weary of you." She didn't want to tell him that she was afraid, lest he derived some sort of twisted enjoyment from it. Possibly, Akari's only advantage in this situation was that she was also capable of thinking like a lunatic.

She was ready to bring out her hammer.

Toby stopped––his face only a hair's width away from hers. Though he was uncomfortably close, he only seemed to be studying her face with intellectual intent. It was as if he was reading an encyclopedia and arriving at an answer.

Did he figure it out? Akari thought in horror, her toes curling in her boots. Did he just realize that I'm the Kappa girl?

Just as suddenly as Akari had arrived at that conclusion, Toby pulled away and pounded his palm with his fist. "Yes of course, that's it," he said in profound revelation; "I did things that upset you, however, I haven't properly apologized yet. First off… I'll set the hook-in-your-shirt issue right by doing what is fair." Sliding his fingers under the hem of his blue linen jacket, he gracefully pulled it off and dropped it on the ground.

"Huh… heh?" Akari emitted, looking down at his jacket, dumbfounded why it was there. It was when she glanced back up that she saw it.

That Toby had taken off his shirt.

Yes, dropping his blue t-shirt on the ground, Toby revealed his polished tan muscles beneath the blinding sunlight and somehow––though he had boyishly thin proportions––he still managed to appear almost as buff as Owen. Perhaps right next to blacksmithing, fishing and sailing were among the toughest trades.

"Mu-muh?!" Akari garbled, shielding her eyes from his shining abs; her cheeks reddening with equal intensity. Muscles! she thought in agony; My ONE true WEAKNESS. This of course was nonsense. Akari had too many weaknesses to assign numbers to.

Holding her reddened face, and just about to yell, Akari dashed past Toby and ran far down the road. Once past the ridge of her farm, she let out a massive, "NOOOO!" which echoed clear down to the falls.

"Was that not enough?" Toby wondered aloud, still standing shirtless.