Anyway, I was so scared that I couldn’t sleep and I needed someone to listen to me.
I left my parents’ house in a hurry and came back to Tokyo.
I am 24 and moved to Tokyo when I entered university.
I was back in my hometown for the first time in a long time on a paid holiday weekend starting the day before yesterday.
I travel around the country for my profession, so consecutive holidays were a rarity for me.
When I told this story, a local friend who was a good friend of mine held a high school reunion for us, and we went there yesterday. We rented out a small local pub.
On the day of the reunion, I met up with A, who was a good friend of mine at the time, and we went in early, but there were only enough chopsticks for six people on the tables in the tatami room.
There were 13 classmate in my high school. I had heard that one person couldn’t come today, so I was sure that 12 people would come.
I’ve always been a class collector (handing out handouts and teaching books), so there’s no way I could have gotten the class members wrong.
Almost all of the students, except for those who changed schools or went to private schools, have been in the same class since elementary school.
I am sure that there were 13 students in the high school as well, unchanged from junior high school.
I suddenly wondered and asked A, “Only six? And the other six?” I asked her.
Then A looked a little sad or gloomy and said, “I see, you didn’t know that. They all died.”
I couldn’t understand it at all. I asked her back, “What?” I asked her again, and she told me to sit down.
She said, “I don’t think you know this, but everyone died in the last two years. It seems like a lot has happened,” but I couldn’t understand it.
I hadn’t been informed of anyone’s death, and I really hadn’t heard anything at all.
I had hardly kept in touch with them since I moved to Tokyo, but you would think they would come, wouldn’t you?
“Why? Who? When?” I asked, and A. With a mysterious look on her face, she opened her notebook and told me each and every one of them. But I couldn’t believe it.
Six people dying in such a countryside in two years was crazy.
Moreover, the only people I heard of dying were people who were very active in the class.
Four were boys and two were girls. We didn’t interact much, but they were all athletic people who spoke clearly.
I was so stunned that I couldn’t say anything. I was a little scared because A was so nonchalant.
And the cause of death was accidental, drowning, and suicide for two people each, which I thought was impossible.
At this point, I had a bad feeling and wanted to leave, but I also wanted to meet other people, so I stayed there.
I couldn’t accept the reality of the situation, and I was too quiet.
A little later, the other members arrived and we were about to start.
I looked up and saw a woman in front of me, whom I did not know at all. I couldn’t help but say, “What?”.
I remember Mr. A and the other three members.
But I have no memory of the woman in front of me.
It’s not that I can’t remember her name, it’s just that I really don’t know her.
I said, “Eh? Excuse me, who are you?” and the woman giggled.
She said, “Oh my God, did you forget about me?”
A and the other three said, “What are you talking about, Z(me)?”
But, but, I really don’t know such a woman.
I really don’t know such a woman. I have never seen or heard her name or her figure.
Suddenly, my blood started to boil. Something was definitely wrong.
The woman was called K by other people, so let’s call her K.
For a moment I thought maybe it was plastic surgery or something, but it’s odd.
I heard that there was one person who couldn’t come today, but adding the six who died, the three including A who is here now, and myself, there are two who are not here in my memory.
But they are both boys. It is absolutely strange when there is one more girl to begin with, K.
Everyone seemed to have mistaken my silence for nervousness and were trying to get the conversation going, but I honestly didn’t care about that anymore.
Six people were dead, and I was already scared that K, whom I didn’t know at all, was a part of the class and fit in here.
We were having a great conversation in elementary school, and K was part of that circle.
But no matter where I look in my memory, K is not there. Never, that is for sure.
It’s absolutely crazy.
K called me her best friend and stayed right in front of me the whole time.
She has a normal face and looks like she is common. She has long black hair, and her clothes are normal.
But the way she talked was kind of scary.
She had a habit of using “right?” in her speech, but her “right?” was very low.
It’s like a cold voice.
I was thinking in agony, not being able to enter into the conversation.
Then, in my memory, I remembered two people who are still alive and should not be here today.
Let’s say B and C. They were a duo who were exceptionally close and had been together for a long time.
I had heard that they were in good health and had taken over their respective families’ businesses (stores) after high school.
I was wondering why they were not there, so I asked A, “Aren’t B and C coming today?” The place froze.
It was really silent.
So, despite my thought of eh, it was K who opened his mouth.
He said, “Z, B and C are missing right now.”
“No, no, no, no, it’s absolutely ridiculous, isn’t it? Why say it so matter-of-factly?”
Then the other four guys were nodding their heads and saying things like, “It can’t be helped” and “Well.”
“Did you go to the police?” and they all replied, “I don’t know.”
I was already scared of everything and I was gone early, using my poor health as an excuse.
I was even more scared that everyone was talking with normal smiles on their faces.
In the end, I never found out what happened about B and C.
It was still evening, so I ran back to my parents’ house and looked at my graduation album in my room.
I saw that there were still 13 of us, and K was not there.
But I felt as if K was a natural member of the class.
I didn’t know him, but he seemed to enjoy talking with everyone else in the class, including Mr. A. He talked about his homeroom teacher and the teachers.
It was like I was really there.
I didn’t know why anymore. I got scared, packed my bags, and went back to Tokyo.
I probably won’t contact my classmates again. I will not go back to my parents’ house.
It’s a complicated family, so I don’t need to go home.
My parents’ home, or rather my hometown, is a village, and there is a god who has been worshipped there for a long time.
I am my mother’s stepdaughter, so I have no connection to the village.
But in elementary, junior high, and high school, we had an hour of class every week where we worshipped that god.
Even as a child, I thought it was strange.
But the people in the community kept telling me that if I didn’t follow the rules, I would be afraid of what would happen to me.
Now that I am out in the world, I realize the abnormality of that village or community.
All of the six people who seem to have died didn’t really believe in that god.
They were the type of people who would scribble on the shrine.
So maybe that was the cause?.
I feel bad because I remembered it even though I had left and forgotten about it.
It seems that the ritual of bringing alcohol and other things to that incomprehensible shrine is still going on.
That village blamed all the deaths and disappearances of people on that god.
That’s why I don’t think the police force was even in operation.
When I thought about it, I realized that was already the case.
It was an unusual area where little kids would be locked up in jail for not being religious.
Now it seems to be depopulated and much worse.
I will never go back to that area. I hope my parents’ house burns down.
I just wanted to vent to someone.
Sorry, thank you very much.
