I was 19 years old.
I had graduated from high school, but I didn’t have a regular job.
Whenever I felt like it, I would hang around, working day jobs and the like.
My playmates at that time were several groups of friends from high school.
On that day, we gathered at the house of a guy in one of the groups and had a lazy time.
The guys in that group were a bunch of bad guys who were pretty well known in the area.
But I wasn’t much of a fighter, and I didn’t even own a motorcycle.
The leader of the group was a childhood friend of mine and we lived super close to each other, so we would hang out sometimes.
As the night was getting late, we decided to go and test our mettle.
None of us believed in ghosts, nor were we scared of them.
I was just in a lighthearted mood, thinking that if I could pick up a girl on the way there, I would take her with me.
One of us had come in a van, so all six of us got in and headed out.
We headed to the nearest of several spots where we could test our mettle.
It is a graveyard in the mountains, with the graves spreading out toward the top.
When we landed at the entrance, we saw a white shadow at the top of the graveyard.
Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was two people, and when I got closer, I saw that they were two young girls, about the age of junior high school students.
Her hair was long, dry, and unkempt, and I still remember thinking that it looked like a doll’s hair.
Her face was also covered with hair, and her expression was unreadable.
Their faces were different, but they both looked exactly alike.
The reason they looked white was because they were wearing summer sailor suits.
Where in the world did they come from?
To get out of that place, we would have had to drive further up the mountain.
And yet, the two girls did not appear to have any companions.
They were getting closer and closer.
If you think about it, if you encounter a group of delinquents in an unpopular graveyard like this, they should be scared too.
But the girls came to a stop right in front of us, with no expression on their faces.
I was struck with an indescribable fear.
It is not logical. Just horrified is what I think it is.
It was the same for the other members.
“Where did you guys come from?”
M, the leader, asked.
They both remained expressionless and slowly pointed to the top of the mountain at the same time.
I was sweating profusely.
Then, out of nowhere, a dog came running.
And what’s more, the dog’s eyes were cloudy white, as if it had cataracts.
I almost screamed because of the timing of the dog’s appearance, but an old man who seemed to be the dog’s owner came up behind me.
The old man seemed to live nearby, and he always takes this path as his walking course.
The six of us and the girls started walking naturally, as if we were accompanying the old man on his walk.
The old man and the girls were walking in front of us and talking about something.
The old man was kicking and kicking at a heap of dirt, and the girls were talking about something.
“This is the grave of the unmarried. You see the stupa lying there?”
Then, after exchanging a few words with the girls, he left without looking back at us.
We were stunned, but then the girls came over to us and spoke for the first time.
“Grandpa just told us that there is an even scarier place ahead.
“Grandpa just told me about an even scarier place down the road where you can find many cursed straw dolls. Would you like to go there?”
To be honest, I didn’t want to go, but I couldn’t say, “No, it’s too dangerous, I don’t want to go,” when a junior high school girl was going.
In the end, we decided to get the girls in the van and go
Meanwhile, we talked a lot. Why did he come out of that place?
It was around the time when “Rokko Oroshi” was becoming popular, in which girls were picked up, roughed up, and left on a mountainside.
“If you’re going through something like that, if there’s anything I can do to help, I will.”
Even when M tried his best to talk to them, they just shook their heads expressionlessly as they looked forward, and did not speak except to show him the way.
They did not look very rough.
But I wanted there to be a reason. I wanted to know why such a child had come out of such a mountain.
But the girls didn’t speak to each other and simply led the way.
At last we arrived at our destination, a shrine. It was the first time to come here.
It is much more eerie than the previous place.
It was a small shrine surrounded by a forest of tall cedars. They walked quickly.
K murmured.
“The girls must have come here for the first time today after hearing about it from the old man”, K murmured.
“But why are they moving so fast?
Neither of them said a word to the other in the car, yet they are going in the same direction without hesitation.”
I was horrified. However, I could not leave them here and run away.
I hurried after them, but they were so fast. We, as adults, had to run a little.
Suddenly, the two stopped. They silently pointed at a height above us.
When we looked at them, we saw that the cedar tree they were pointing at had numerous holes in it, as if nails had been driven through it.
No, if you look around carefully, you will see that almost all of the trees in the area have holes in them.
And finally, we also found a straw doll.
We were absolutely mortified, but the girls were as expressionless as ever and didn’t say a word.
“Let’s go back, you’re tired, and I’ll take you home too.”
M said to hide his fear.
But they were not afraid.
They said, “This isn’t good enough. Let’s go to a better place.”
I was immensely pleased.
“Let’s not do this again.”
At last I said.
M was try to hide his fear.
“All right, let’s go.”
With that one word, the girls turned back the way they had just come, as if they were turning back.
We hurried after them.
Only K seemed to agree with me, looking very pale and mumbling.
“It’s a trap, it’s a trap, it’s some kind of trap. We’re being taken.”
K’s pale face and his repeated mumbling made me afraid of him as well.
We all got into the van and M tried to turn on the car stereo, but it was broken or wouldn’t come on.
An uncomfortable silence ensued, but no one spoke. Only the girls’ directions echoed through the car.
