When I was young, I often spent time alone. My family lived in an old house in the countryside, and there were no children my age around.
I had one younger brother, but he was still very small, so it wasn’t like we played together. After my brother was born, my father, mother, and grandfather didn’t pay as much attention to me as they used to, so I felt a little lonely. Anyway, during that time, I spent my days playing alone.
My house was an old country-style house with many small rooms. In the southwest corner, there was a storeroom where old tools and small items were kept. I would go into that storeroom and play with the stored items as if they were toys. That was my joy back then.
I don’t remember exactly when I found that mirror. It seemed to have been a hand mirror originally, but when I found it, it was a plain round mirror without a frame or handle. It looked quite old, but it had little rust or cloudiness and reflected beautifully.
Then, I can’t recall when exactly, one day when I looked into the mirror, I saw an unfamiliar girl behind me. I was surprised and turned around, but of course, there was no girl behind me. It seemed that the girl existed only in the mirror.
I found it strange, but I wasn’t scared. She was fair-skinned with long hair. The girl looked at me over my shoulder through the mirror and smiled. “Hello.”
Eventually, we started talking to each other. I called her Nana-chan. My parents saw me talking to someone in front of the mirror and seemed creeped out, but they didn’t take the mirror away. Besides, the adults couldn’t see Nana-chan.
One day, I told Nana-chan that I felt lonely because I didn’t have any friends to play with. Then, Nana-chan said, “Come over here and play with me.” But when I asked her how I could come over, Nana-chan looked troubled and said, “I don’t know.”
Later, Nana-chan added in a low voice, “I’ll try asking.” I wanted to know who she was going to ask, but I felt like I shouldn’t ask, so I remained silent.
After a few days, Nana-chan said with joy, “I figured out how you can come over here. Let’s play together in this world.” I was happy, but since I was always told by my parents to consult my grandfather or mother before going out, I said, “I’ll ask my mom.”
Then Nana-chan looked slightly troubled again and said, “You mustn’t tell anyone about this. If you do, something terrible will happen. We might not be able to see each other anymore.”
I thought, “I don’t want that,” but I was also scared of breaking the rule, so I fell silent. Then Nana-chan asked, “So, shall we play here tomorrow?” I replied, “Yes.”
“It’s a promise,” Nana-chan smiled and extended her little finger toward me. I matched her finger with the tip of my little finger and touched the mirror. It felt slightly warm, just a little bit.
I couldn’t sleep well that night. I didn’t tell my parents about Nana-chan. As I lay in bed, still in the darkness, various questions arose in my mind.
How can I enter the mirror? What kind of place is it? Why wouldn’t Nana-chan come over here? Can I come back here?
Thinking about such things, I gradually became anxious. And Nana-chan started to frighten me a little.
The next day, I didn’t go to meet Nana-chan. Not the day after that, nor the day after. Ultimately, since then, I stopped going in and out of the storeroom.
Time passed, and I left home to attend a high school in town. After graduation, without returning home, I started working in a nearby town and eventually got married and started a family. By that time, I had completely forgotten about Nana-chan.
After getting married, my wife became pregnant, and I had to stay at my parents’ house for a while. Since doing household chores was troublesome, and being alone in the empty house was lonely, I frequently visited my childhood home, finding various reasons to do so.
That day, I had dinner at my parents’ house and decided to spend the night there. I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom.
While washing my hands in the washroom, I casually glanced into the mirror. The partition in the middle of the hallway was open, and I could faintly see the storeroom in the darkness beyond. At that moment, I thought, “Oh?”
I remembered that I had closed the partition when I came to the bathroom. When I looked back, the partition was indeed closed. However, when I looked at the mirror again, the partition was open, and the white door of the storeroom seemed to emerge from the darkness.
My whole body was covered in goosebumps. And then, I felt like the door moved slightly. In that instant, I remembered Nana-chan. I instinctively thought, “This is bad,” but I couldn’t take my eyes off the mirror. The door was definitely moving.
Even when I looked back again, the hallway partition remained closed. In the mirror, the door of the storeroom was more than halfway open. Beyond the open door, something white floated in the darkness of the storeroom. Despite feeling an unprecedented fear, I stared at that white figure. It was the smiling face of the nostalgic girl.
At that point, my memory cuts off. When I came to, it was morning, and I was welcoming the morning in my futon.
I had a creepy dream… That’s what I thought, and I started to feel somewhat uncomfortable being at my childhood home. Although it was my day off, I immediately decided to return to my own home.
In my home’s condominium, there is an underground parking lot for residents. Even during the daytime, it’s dimly lit down there. I drove my car in and parked it in my designated spot. As I looked into the rearview mirror, I saw Nana-chan’s face right behind me.
Startled, I turned around to look, but there was no one in the back seat. When I returned my gaze to the mirror, Nana-chan was still there, staring at me intently from within the mirror.
Nana-chan, with her fair complexion and long hair tied on both sides, looked exactly the same as she did in the past. Overwhelmed by fear, unable to divert my gaze, I trembled as I looked back at her face. Eventually, Nana-chan smiled sweetly and said, “Hello.”
“Why didn’t you come here then? I was waiting for you all this time,” I said, unable to find the right words and remaining silent. Nana-chan, still smiling, continued, “Hey, let’s play over here now.” She reached out her hand towards me beyond my shoulder, as reflected in the mirror. “Let’s play over here…,” she said.
“No!” I couldn’t help but shout loudly. “I’m sorry, Nana-chan. I won’t go over there anymore. I can’t go!” Nana-chan remained silent, her hand still extended. I gripped the steering wheel tightly, trembling, and spoke in a softer voice than before, “I have a wife. A child is about to be born soon. That’s why…”
At that moment, I lowered my head and fell into speechlessness. I stayed in that position, trembling, for a while, but eventually, I timidly looked towards the mirror. Nana-chan was still there. “I see… I understand. You’ve grown up, ○○-chan. You can’t play with me anymore,” Nana-chan said, sounding a bit lonely. “It can’t be helped, right?” Nana-chan smiled happily.
It was truly an innocent smile. At that moment, I thought that Nana-chan had forgiven me. “Nana-chan…” “Then, I’ll play with that child.” Before I could fully comprehend those words, Nana-chan disappeared. Since then, Nana-chan has never appeared before me again.
Two days later, my wife had a miscarriage. Since then, up until now, we haven’t been able to have children.
Now, I’m really torn about whether I should tell my wife about Nana-chan.
