Happy to leave this gorgeous campsite with my weird neighbours behind, I continued to go north. I realised that the east coast ends up colliding with a military testing base, so I figured there's nothing for me to see up there so I should aim for Mutsu on the western side of the peninsula, where I can eat. The cycle itself was not too bad, lots of big roads but they weren't that busy. However, my knee was hurting pretty badly today from the very start and I don't know why. At Mutsu I went to Gusto for dinner, thinking I would camp at a park nearby afterwards. When I left Gusto, a woman approached me to ask me what I was up to. I had the usual conversation, telling them I'm cycling the country, them saying "Sugoooooi!", and so on. But this woman had crazy eyes. And then I spotted the flyer in her handbag. Suspicious.... She then showed me the flyer after a 10 minute chat. I said I couldn't read that well. "No problem" she says, "I can show you an English version in my car". I ain't getting in your car lady. She played audio for me from her phone. It was an AI voice telling me about the teachings of the High Buddha. It was what I suspected from the start.... She is one of those famous Japanese cultists! They have quite a reputation in Japan, but this was my first time being enlisted personally! I considered following her to try and get some free accomodation, you know, play along for the night. But I figured that's probably a stupid idea. I told her I had to get going, and then I booked a hotel instead of camping. The interaction had given me the heebiejeebies, I think I needed a room to feel safe, like I wasn't going to be followed and snatched from my tent. Mutsu as a city is really run down and kind of sad looking, like you can tell that a lot of the population has left. This is true all over Japan, but for some reason these most northern areas of Honshu feel the most desolate and old, like they've really been left to die. It makes me wonder if that's why somebody would turn to a cult that lives here. The hotel room was nice though.