SCS 12

Story 12

The UMA of Lake Ikeda

In Kagoshima Prefecture, there’s a lake called Lake Ikeda where a UMA known as Issie is said to dwell.
At first, I thought it was just a rip-off of Nessie, but apparently it was originally based on the local dragon god legend of Lake Ikeda, and there are actually many reported sightings.

I’m originally from the Kanto region, but after joining a company—super white-collar, though full of transfers—I somehow ended up living in Kagoshima.

About three years after being transferred to Kagoshima, I was invited by my close friend, A-kun, a Kagoshima native who had been hired locally, to go on a kimodameshi (a nighttime test of courage).

A-kun is really into the paranormal and had already been to lots of haunted spots. Since he’d already exhausted the classic haunted locations, he suggested we go to Lake Ikeda to look for a UMA.

Honestly, I wasn’t that keen. I wasn’t interested in UMAs at all, and if anything, I would’ve preferred a run-down, creepy old mansion. Just going to a lake sounded boring.
But A-kun explained that the town where Lake Ikeda is located is also famous for its sand-steam hot springs, so we could relax there during the day and then go to the lake at night. Since I love hot springs and saunas, I agreed and happily made plans to go with him.

There are about three times a year when I get a compensatory day off after working on a weekend, and it just so happened that one of those days was coming up the following week. So we decided to go to Lake Ikeda then.

The plan was: work Saturday, head to Lake Ikeda Sunday night, sleep in the car, then enjoy the sand-steam hot springs Monday during the day.

And before I knew it, Sunday had arrived.

Lake Ikeda was about an hour’s drive from the city where we lived.

On Saturday night, I stayed over at A-kun’s place. On Sunday, we played video games, took a good nap, went out for yakiniku in the evening, then took another nap to be fully prepared. We wanted to arrive at Lake Ikeda around 2 a.m., so we left in A-kun’s car at around 12:30.

Since A-kun and I got along so well, we were laughing and chatting the whole drive. Normally I’m a coward and easily spooked by scary things, but with A-kun cracking me up, I totally forgot about being scared.

After chatting away, the hour flew by and we arrived at Lake Ikeda.

We got out of the car and started walking around the lake. A-kun, hoping something might show up in photos, snapped a ton of pictures. But it was so dark that none of them really turned out, and I was laughing hysterically at the blurry, useless shots.

We must have wandered around the lake aimlessly for about an hour.

Then, in the distance, we saw a black shadow writhing.

“Hey, A-kun, isn’t there something over there?”
“Hmm… yeah, I see something black, but… isn’t it just a tree?”

It could have been a tree… but it also looked like it was quivering, as if rippling slightly.

We both stared hard at the black shape. It was dark, so we couldn’t make it out clearly.

But it felt like the shadow was growing larger.

No—more like it was getting closer.

“That’s… not a tree. It’s moving,” said A-kun.

“It’s coming toward us…” I replied.

Suppressing the urge to run, we kept watching.
“This is bad. Let’s head back to the car,” A-kun suggested. I nodded, and we both rushed toward the car, already at the limits of our fear.

On the way back, I glanced over my shoulder for one last look at the thing.

And then I realized—
It wasn’t a single creature at all. It was like the cursed god from Princess Mononoke, a massive form made up of countless writhing worm-like things gathered together.

We jumped into the car and sped out of town, straight home. We didn’t care about the hot springs anymore.

My heart was pounding, and I felt this strange, indescribable sensation.

I think it was… a kind of reverence. A primal awe.

Could that have been Issie, the creature of Lake Ikeda?

It’s been about ten years since that night, but even now, sometimes the memory resurfaces suddenly, and my heart races with that same fear—and that same awe.