chapter 1

It was a sunny afternoon, perfect weather for a flight over Japan. Carl and Laurie were the only two passengers in the luxury plane that took them to their destination. Carl was a tan skin boy, about 1m80 and Laurie was a 1m70 girl with red hairs. They were both in the middle of their twenties, and were quite in shape.
As Laurie worked in a big start up since the end of her studies, and as the startup went more than well, she earned a lot of money but also gained a lot of stress and anxiety. She told Carl, his boyfriend, many times how much she needed a big rest. Carl was a home-worker interior-designer in a big company and enjoyed his job, but not that much. He actually never really liked working, but that was important for him to help Laurie pay the bill and the groceries.
They weren’t in poverty at all, but his pride as a man was stronger. They actually were pretty safe in matters of money, and even more since Laurie sold her part of the start up. As she was over with that, she decided to take a big break from civilization. Of course, Carl came with her, more than happy to follow his girlfriend and stop working.
And here they are, flying to a little island off the coast of Japan. They really wanted to go on a desert island, with no one in it, no wifi, no phone, just them and nature.
In the plane, they were enjoying the view and saying goodbye to civilization.
They were excited to see their new life. They had no idea of what they'd discover on this island.

***

As they set foot on the island, they saw their new house. It was supposed to be desert, but actually it was that kind of offer like “give you the vacation of your life” that you could find in a travel agency. The agency had that offer, a little cottage on a small island, yours for some years, as long as you want, you just had to pay enough. They paid for years, hoping to find a new sense to their life.
The house was very casual, a sofa with a small TV (only a few channels due to a lack of wifi). A bathroom, with a surprisingly large bathtub, and a bedroom with a nice king size bed.
“Fuck it that bed is handsome!” said Carl while he slumped on the bed.
“Yeah, I thought it would be less luxurious, we didn’t pay that much...
Oh come on, stop worrying about money ! It's only you and I now...”
She joined him on the bed and he gently put his arm on her neck and kissed her.
To get food and drinkable water, they had to use a boat and go to a nearby island, which they did once a week. The rest of the week they were doing some home renovations, as the cottage was still a little bit dirty after so much time with no one living in it.
After that, they started to enjoy their new life. For Laurie, enjoying it means going swimming on the beach, finding some shells to decorate their house or cooking with the food they took from the close island.
For Carl, that was more like laying on the sofa or on the bed, watching TV, reading a book or a comic, and eating the delicious meal that Laurie was cooking.
Which didn’t please Laurie. She always hated that lazy part of his personality. She believed in work and being active, even during that kind of break. But she didn’t want to ruin this just because she wanted him to be more active.

After a month or two, they started to realise that they weren’t alone on the island. They were next to a beach but a big part of the island was a large forest which looked unwelcoming. When they asked people on the nearby island, they confirmed their doubts and told them about villagers that decided to live on this island a long time ago, who came sometimes to get food and stuff like that. They seemed very friendly, which reassured the two lovers.

They finally decided to try to meet them officially and enter the forest.

***
The villagers were very happy that they decided to meet them.
“The last people who lived in the cottage didn’t want at all to have contact with us, but we love welcoming visitors! It's an honor for us to treat them like kings and queens.”
A man who described himself as the leader of the village told them about how they got here. They were living on the other island but had a different culture and decided to move here.

“But what is your culture? Why the last visitor didn’t want to talk to you?” asked Laurie, still a little suspicious.
Well, actually we’re just looking to treat our guests as best as we can . It's a very old tradition and it’s very important for us to respect it. Would you want to stay with us tonight? We will organise a feast for you.
It would be a pleasure! “ said Carl before Laurie could say no.