The Lost Village (迷家)

Hey! Find anything over there?

He might be caught among the rocks, too.

There should be stagnant water behind big rocks,

so he might be there.

But we can't see a thing in this dark.

Hey, are you okay?

Why'd you lose sight of him in the first place?

Sorry. He was drifting so fast, he was gone in a flash.

And we thought it'd be better if we all looked together.

But if it happened so fast, maybe it wasn't him you saw.

Maybe it was just a piece of driftwood.

It was a body!

A dead body!

I bet that criminal killed him...

That settles it! We have to execute him!

Stop it, Lovepon.

But yeah, maybe we were mistaken.

That'd be better, actually.

If Yottsun became a dozaemon, a drowned body,

where would that leave me?

Quit being all doom and gloom!

Don't we have any more of those blindingly bright flashlights?

This is for my personal use.

Surefires are expensive.

Do you know how much this cost?

Okay. Never mind.

Listen up, guys.

Given how dark it is, more people might get hurt due to slipping and stuff.

So let's get out of the river for now.

Okay.

Valkana-san?

I'm going to look downstream.

Look, we don't even know for sure that he was floating down.

It's too dangerous!

I bet the river's deeper downstream.

Why're you being so stubborn?

You wouldn't be able to find him in this dark anyway.

Come on, Valkana-san.

Let me go!

I'll just do this myself!

What?

No way... A bear?

Do bears really sound like that?

Hey, isn't this kind of bad?

Yeah...

Okay. Everyone keep calm, keep your voices down, and hurry back to the village.

Valkana-san, I understand how you feel,

but it's not safe here.

Shit!

The Lost

Village

Yottsun's Drowning

This is surprisingly well-made.

This is a gas blowback, right?

I had it custom made, so it's not the same inside.

Compared to the real M4 I shot in Vegas,

this is still just a toy.

This can't kill anyone.

You've shot a purrson before?

No.

I have.

It was a furocious battle.

Using BB guns, though.

You seem to have taken a liking to it, so I'll loan it to you for now.

Meow let's guard this place well.

It's almost dawn.

What should we do?

Find Yottsun, what else?

Well, yeah...

But didn't you hear that noise?

We all heard it, right?

Whatever made that noise might've also made those prints and bloodstains.

And there's more than one of them, right?

I bet it's a bear.

Do bears really sound like that?

It sounded more like a sea lion than a bear.

Really? It sounded like a human voice to me.

Was it even a voice? Wasn't it more like a creaking sound?

Not a person?

More like a siren.

A siren?

It's not like a dam would be opening its gates at that time of night.

If not a bear, then maybe it's a tiger or a panther?

I've never heard of either of them running wild in Japan!

But it does mean some carnivore's wandering around, right?

I like eating, but I don't want to be on the receiving end.

No! I'm scared!

It'll be okay.

I'll protect you even if it means I get eaten myself, Piitan.

Manbe-san! I'm so happy!

So you see, we might get attacked if we walk around carelessly.

And we don't know if the creature is nocturnal, so looking for him during the day is risky, too.

We'll never find Yottsun if we're that paranoid!

I hate to be the one to say it, but isn't it too late already?

So what, we're going to leave him to die?!

So what's the plan, organizer?

Um, like I was trying to say,

we should all discuss what to do next,

accounting for the possibility that it's a bear or a tiger.

What's there to discuss?

We need to leave as soon as possible.

Well, Mikage-san, that's too hasty...

Yottsun might've been eaten alive by that thing!

Yeah. Living with beasts like that wasn't exactly the new life we had in mind.

Well, true.

So weak.

Too weak.

It's simple.

If it's being a bother, we should just kill it.

You're seriously talking about taking on a wild animal?

But what about weapons?

Didn't Nyanta have guns?

Those aren't real, are they?

It's certainly an option.

We can live in constant fear of an enemy, or we can exterminate it ourselves.

I doubt either option allows us to avoid casualties.

Otherwise, we can just say goodbye to this place.

I don't think we should leave.

Masaki-san?

I don't think this is an ordinary mountain.

It's probably more dangerous to try to leave than to stay here.

And how do you know that?

So... you do know something we don't?

No...

If you do, please tell us.

I don't!

It's just that...

You don't know why, but you think we shouldn't try to leave?

That makes no sense.

How can we go back without finding Yottsun-san or freeing Jack-san?

Besides, someone else might get hurt or vanish on our way out.

I don't want that.

I think we should stay here a little longer.

Yeah.

We shouldn't leave those two behind.

We should all think about this a little more before making a decision.

What?

Masaki-san may be right.

The village itself didn't show any signs of damage.

Then...

It might mean we won't be attacked as long as we stay here. Maybe.

I see!

Is there any guarantee that external threats will never come inside the village?

Well...

And if the village is attacked,

will we kill the attackers like Valkana said?

How many of us will die that way?

Who'll take responsibility when that happens?

We're in danger of being attacked right at this very moment.

We don't have the time to ponder our options.

I'm leaving.

Wait, Mikage-san!

If we leave, we can call for help.

We can let the police handle Yottsun and Jack.

The police?

Not you all, too!

I'm not sure about getting the police involved,

but I guess we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

That idiot!

Ow, ow!

Let go, Hayato!

What the hell are you thinking?

What?

I just thought I'd stay a little longer.

Haven't you been listening at all?

This place is dangerous!

But Masaki-san said leaving would be dangerous, too.

Forget about her.

Have I ever been wrong?

Well, no...

But that's not the point!

It's not right to just leave without finding Yottsun-san!

We've been saying it's more risky to continue looking for him on our own.

We should get out of here and call the police.

Is it really a good idea to call the police here?

Either way, something's off about this place.

We need to get away from here and these people ASAP.

Still, I don't want to leave until we find Yottsun-san!

Mitsumune!

Fine. Do what you want.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Yeah. Thanks for always looking out for me.

Hey, you two.

Yes, sir!

We'll need protection on the way down.

Can you come along?

The way down?

Well, I suppose a mountain escort is more exciting than a base defense.

Leave the point to meow!

Well, our numbers have dwindled.

Dahara-san, are you sure you want to stay?

I am the organizer of this tour.

If someone wants to stay,

it's my mission to stay with them until the end.

Thank you.

Oh, no problem.

Aside from you two,

why are the rest of you still here?

I hate walking.

I'm not sure I can walk that trail in my heels.