We arrived at a shrine on top of a small hill.
To reach the shrine, we had to climb the stairs that wrapped symmetrically around the hill.
The distance is probably the same whether you start from the left or right side.
The girls began the climb in silence, each splitting off to the left or right.
They did not have a meeting in the car, and after getting out, they did not look at each other or signal to each other, but went their separate ways without hesitation.
Of course, the steps leading up to that shrine were surrounded by dense woods and
It is eerie in a way that no normal woman would want to go there, even if there were more than one of them.
A girl, still in junior high school, strolls down the stairs without hesitation or fear.
Obviously, something is wrong.
In a panic, we split up into three and followed the girls, one by one.
I couldn’t resist and started talking to the girl in front of me.
“You are acting a little strange. What are you doing there?
You don’t look scared at all, even though you are trying to test your courage. Why were you there?”
Frustrated by the girl’s refusal to answer, I persistently asked.
Perhaps because I was so persistent, she mumbled something like this
“We are looking for a place to die…”
That was the first time she looked me in the eye.
But rather than looking into my eyes, it was as if she was looking through me into the distance.
Then she smiled faintly.
A little drool was glistening at the edge of her slightly upturned mouth.
I feel as if my whole body were drenched. I looked around at the other members of the group, but they are all very blue.
But we can hear them, but I was the only one who could see this girl’s eyes and drool.
Just as I was about to run away, we reached the top.
The group on the other side was just coming up from the other side.
M, who had turned completely blue, came running up to me.
“Did you hear that? Did you hear that?”
Apparently, M and the others heard about it from the other girl.
At any rate, we took the girls back to the van, who said they were not leaving yet.
There, I persistently asked them why they wanted to commit suicide, but they would not answer.
They wouldn’t answer. “Bullying? We’ll take care of them, so don’t hurry!”
The girls just shook their heads when we asked them questions.
Then what’s the cause?
“It’s… it’s nothing…”
“Nothing?!”
“There’s no point in living any longer.”
There’s that blank expression again, staring off into the distance, and since they both make the same face, they look even more alike.
“Anyway, I’m going to give you guys a ride home, because I’m sleepy too. Tell me the way home right away. I’ll take you home.”
M said in a strong tone to the girls that they wanted to get out of the car, and started the car.
The girls, who were probably local girls, kept saying “right” and “left” for the way home.
They both said “here” at the same time. They both said “here” at the same time, as if they were harmonizing with each other.
There was no house where we stopped.
“Are you sure you guys are here? I’ll walk you home.”
M said, but the girls just said “here” and got out of the car.
It seems to be just behind the shrine on top of the hill where we had just left.
It felt like we had driven quite a bit since we had been going in circles, but it didn’t seem like we had driven that far.
We all felt creeped out enough, and we felt we had done our duty, so we started to drive away.
Right after that, K said, “Look at that!”
The two girls were standing on the hill where the shrine I just mentioned was located.
The back side of the building is a hole in the woods that looks like an entrance to a climb.
They’re going to climb again.
M sounded the horn.
Then, like a scene from a movie, the girls slowly turned around.
Their heads tilted slightly, symmetrically.
It was too dark to make out their eyes, but somehow they seemed to be smiling faintly.
But to me, there seemed to be the same glistening slobber at the edges of their mouths.
I couldn’t help but think, “Run!” I shouted.
The rest of us drove off in a dash, K mumbling something again.
I said, “That’s why I couldn’t go to that shrine.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
I yelled, “They can’t reach the branches of the tall cedar tree with their height…they can’t hang…their…necks…!”
I was horrified.
“Don’t be stupid! It’s creepy!”
My other friends’ voices are muffled.
D, who had remained silent until now, said as if he had noticed.
“Hey, when is the change of clothes? It’s already November. Why were those kids wearing summer sailor suits?”
I don’t know what happened after that.
As I recall, we all stayed at M’s house that day and checked the evening paper with trepidation.
I don’t think there were any articles on the discovery of suicides or missing persons.
Only K. seemed to be unable to sleep, and he was in the corner of the room all the time with a vacant look in his eyes.
After that, I occasionally hung out with the guys from that group, but for some reason no one talked about that day.
And I have not seen K since that day.
I was never a guy in that group to begin with, and neither was everyone else.
I just kept thinking, “It’s a trap, it’s a trap, it’s some kind of trap,” as K was mumbling. “We are being taken.”
I am horrified at the thought of what I would have done if I had been taken, and horrified at myself for thinking so.
Because I was the only one who heard that muttering.
