In the mountains during spring, one could faintly hear the chirping of insects and birds. At night, cherry blossoms occasionally fell in the wind.
Rushing out of the wooden house in the forest, Keli's pale flashlight beam shone on the dark, lightless pond.
The pond water reflected sparkling light due to the strong illumination, and at the center of that light, by the lake, a person dressed as a student was covering his eyes due to the sudden brightness.
And below that student, at the center of the light, black dorsal fins unfurled and quickly retracted.
A pair of large eyes reflecting yellow light seemed to turn towards the source of the light, stimulated by the sudden glare. A monstrous mouth, neither human nor fish, with sharp teeth, opened and closed, causing the gills beside its ears to flap and emit a strange sound.
And when it truly turned its head, as if stimulated by the strong light, it raised its webbed claws in the dark water to block the light, then vanished into the pond's edge.
Everything happened extremely quickly, lasting no more than a second, but that scene made the two who rushed out stop instantly.
The fragrance, along with the shadow, disappeared into the water, gradually thinning, like a delicacy hidden under tin foil.
"W-What was that?"
Kazuma incredulously rubbed his eyes. He felt his sanity being impacted the moment he saw that thing.
"Damn it, Lalaye isn't really going to start handing out household registers to students, is it?"
Keli originally wanted to say a name directly, but he was afraid that the pronunciation in the current situation would attract attention or cause a strong reaction from those around him, so he held back.
While the two were talking, the startled student over there tumbled into the grass and instantly disappeared into the woods.
The two didn't bother with the fleeing student; instead, they stared intently at the not-so-large pond.
Sweeping the flashlight left and right, the longest point of this oval pond was no more than 20 meters.
However, it couldn't be described as clear. Under the flashlight's glow, the pond, whose depth was unknown, only showed black mud rolling upwards from the bottom, but the shadowy figure, whether it was an illusion or not, was nowhere to be seen.
"W-What do we do now?"
Kazuma asked, a premonition of ill omen in his heart.
Last time, it was just to see why a homeless man was kidnapped, and this time, it's just to see if there's anything unusual at school and directly serve everyone a big dish, right?
While Kazuma was anxious, he saw Keli take out his phone.
"W-What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to film the first high-definition water monkey video in human history for netizens in the neighboring country, @ a certain Up host, and post it on the American UMA enthusiast forum, setting it to paid viewing to earn a few million."
Keli excitedly opened the camera.
"Stop it, let's quickly figure something out! How do we deal with that thing? We..."
Kazuma asked this, not asking everyone whether they should contact the museum or inform Senzaemon first.
Instead, he was asking, how do we kill this thing and delay our hunger a bit longer?
Keli clearly understood Kazuma's meaning and stroked his chin.
"Let's find something conductive and launch a full-scale assault on the pond.
Maybe this is some rare ingredient. We can give it to Nekiri Senzaemon and even get a bonus."
At this moment, the group of students and the dormitory aunt, who had rushed out upon realizing something was wrong, turned pale when they heard these words.
They had expected to see two figures, overly terrified, frantically running for their lives with their hands raised.
As a result, he heard this.
No, where did the principal invite these teachers from? Could it be Miskatonic University?
At the same time, two other groups also arrived at the lakeside.
One group was Nakiri Erina, naturally.
As the driver opened the car door, Nakiri Erina frowned, stepping onto the ground with her long legs encased in black stockings, while Shinhisa Hisako, who felt she shouldn't have brought the young lady out to act crazy late at night, looked like she wanted to speak but held back.
The other group was Sadatsuka Nao, who had informed Keli of the anomaly here.
Although Keli had gently told this young friend not to cause trouble unnecessarily, this surveillance domain expert still came, but she was observing from a distance, on the rooftop of another building, using night vision binoculars.
As soon as Nakiri Erina got out of the car, she scanned her surroundings and walked towards the dormitory over there.
She wanted to see what those two boys who had deceived her grandfather were doing.
However, as soon as she entered, she saw a scene that made her feel extremely bizarre.
"Speak! What was that?"
A row of students and the dorm manager auntie were squatting on the ground, while the person carrying a guitar case was pacing in front of them.
"We... we really don't know!"
The students were all terrified, unable to speak.
"You shouldn't have seen anything, so why did you react as soon as we mentioned something?"
Upon seeing this situation, the bodyguards, who initially didn't know why they were there, immediately reacted and blocked Nakiri Erina before she could question the two.
The other, shorter person, was holding a flashlight, pointing it at a pond next to the dormitory, standing at the side of the pond closest to the downhill path.
"Young Lady, I apologize, but the Commander-in-Chief has given orders that you cannot approach the scene where the two advisors are working. I will now escort you back."
Erina was stunned on the spot.
"Ota, what do you mean?"
"I apologize, Young Lady, this is the Commander-in-Chief's order."
Just as he was pulling, Keli also noticed their arrival, and his eyes lit up when he saw the bodyguards.
"Hey, you over there, get someone to bring a cart of quicklime."
Upon hearing Keli's words, the faces of several people squatting on the ground changed dramatically.
No, are you performing the famous Chinese dish 'Water-Boiled Fish' here?
"Understood!"
The bodyguard immediately agreed and then pressed his earpiece.
"Director Danzo has a request, immediately bring a few bags of quicklime to the second downhill path, Gasho Dorm. Also, send a few more people, the Young Lady is here, take her away."
"Hey! What are you doing? What exactly did Grandfather command? Why can't I go!"
Nakiri Erina felt like she was going to die of anger. No? The daytime incident was one thing, but what kind of bewitching potion did these two pour into Grandfather? What were they doing over there that even her own driver, who was specifically responsible for protecting her, was acting like this?
What was here that she couldn't know? And why didn't their subordinates try to dissuade them! It was obvious that those two were not formidable chefs at all.
But her anger stopped there, because the next moment, through the bodyguard's arm, Nakiri Erina saw it.
Under the flashlight's beam, a bizarre head emerged.
Like something from the distant deep sea, just seeing it made one question the reality of the world. It had a structure similar to a human face, yet with a familiar texture. As a chef, Erina was all too familiar with that texture; it was the mucous membrane outside a fish's head skin.
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