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It were the fishers that found it first.
On their way to the lake so they could ready their boats and head out, one of them noticed something bright among the trees. They'd gone to investigate and found themselves standing in a half circle around a dead man.
The dead man was lying on his stomach and there was a large, bloody wound on the back of his head. Blood made his hair shine and had splattered over the light fabric of his kimono. The man was carrying a sword, though it hadn't been drawn when he'd died.
There was nothing around that could have fallen and split the man's head open.
The fishers weren't sure what to do with a murdered samurai.
One stepped forward and turned the man on his side, in the hopes that someone would recognise him. If they knew where he belonged then they'd know who to inform of his death.
The man was still very young. Handsome too. But not one of them had ever seen him before. One sent his son back to the village.
Soon enough more people came by to get a glimpse of the unknown samurai. Still no one knew who he was. No one could explain what he was doing here, so close to the lake and the village, yet away from the path. No one could figure out who would have jumped a samurai and beaten him to death.
The murderer hadn't touched the sword, so it hadn't been a robber, and they couldn't possibly be another samurai or they surely wouldn't have bashed an unaware opponent over the head from behind.
Since no one wanted to suspect each other the rumour that festered was that someone from the village a valley over might have done it, but with no proof there wasn't anything they could have done about it.
They finally moved the body into the village around noon.
No one wanted to leave the stranger there to be claimed by wild animals and since there was no way to find his family or home, they decided to carry out his funeral in their stead.
The nearest priest however was in the village a valley over. No one wanted to vocally accuse their neighbouring village, but the thought was there and so no one particularly wanted to volunteer to walk for two hours along the same path the murderer might have taken back.
Finally the carpenter's wife had enough and declared she would go, accepting only her younger son's offer to accompany her.
Most went back to work, since they wouldn't be back for at least four hours and the carpenter set to work building a coffin. The costs of the funeral could be paid for with the samurai's sword, the villagers agreed, since none of them could carry one or had use for one. So far no one had dared to touch the sword either.
The dead samurai's body had grown stiff by the time the carpenter's wife and son returned, accompanied by the priest and a samurai the villagers knew. He had lived in the neighboring village for many years and was respected by the locals.
He'd come to see if perhaps he knew who the dead man was, or where he might've come from.
He shook his head after carefully inspecting the body, claiming to never have seen him before. Then he turned his attention to the sword. He carefully removed it from the body's belt. Slowly he unsheathed it and weighed it in his hand. Sliced the air with practiced motions.
Very well balanced, he noted. A wonderfully crafted blade. He sheathed it again. He didn't recognize the blade either. If it was a family heirloom he hadn't encountered the dead man's predecessors either.
The priest cleaned some of the blood off the man's hair to be able to cut it more easily. A few of the villagers helped remove his bloodied clothes and someone had brought clean ones to dress him once they'd finished washing him.
And then the man sat up.
Someone screamed in shock.
The stranger looked around startled and hurried to cover himself once he noticed that he was mostly nude.
More villagers burst into the room, having heard the scream and froze in the doorway, seeing the dead man very much not dead.
He got up and hurriedly apologised, seemingly too flustered to specify what he was apologizing for.
He put his clothes back on and gently took his sword back from the local samurai.
A fisher managed to find his speech again to ask who had attacked him and how he'd survived.
The stranger assured the villagers that he would track down his assailant to keep them from harming anyone else and apologised again.
The local samurai tried to ask him questions and offer help, but the stranger politely refused.
He left the village before nightfall and disappeared into the forest, leaving the villagers none the wiser to his identity nor where he was going.
The strange man was talked about for long after. People came up with various theories to explain his appearance and hurried disappearance.
No one could come up with a satisfying explanation how they'd all mistaken him for dead for so many hours.