Kaito got off the bus and took a deep breath of the fresh, mountainous air. It was a crisp and chilly morning, but quite refreshing. He stretched, having just spent 7 hours sitting on a bus. A quick glance around revealed marvelous scenery. He stood atop a relatively steep hill, next to a lone bus stop. Just down the hill, about 50 meters away was the first building. Past it, another 100 or so meters and the village began. “Home sweet home…” he remarked with a joyous smile.
As he descended the lightly snow-powdered hill, he couldn’t help but marvel at the scenery he missed so much, having spent the past 2 years in Kyoto. The village was small, only housed roughly 200 people. It was housed on a mountain range, enshrouded on all sides by snowy peaks. A thin layer of white snow covered the entire village. Down the hill and past the small, makeshift transportation office, made from a shipping container, from which a gentle snore was heard. A smile crept up on his face.
His grandparents lived at the heart of the village, but he figured that a quick stop at the convenience store to grab some essentials is in order, and so he walked with a playful bounce to his steps. The village was so quiet, and peaceful. The howling of wind off in the distance was the only sound he could hear besides the gentle crunch of snow beneath his feet. Such soothing calmness, so different from a metropolitan.
It was a relatively early morning, just around 9 o’clock. He reached the convenience store, and as he went to grab the handle, the door flew open, slamming against his hand and shoving him aside. “Ouch!” He grunted. Through the door a young girl ran, in haste. A piece of bread hung from her lips.
“SHORRY!!” She called out as she dashed off in haste.
His hand was uninjured, for the most part, a small bruise would be all that’d be left of this encounter, he had no reason to let this ruin his mood. As he stepped through the door, he noticed a wallet on the floor. He knelt and picked it up, at that moment an older woman’s voice came from behind him.
“Oh my oh my! Haruka is still a total goon, isn’t she?” He glanced over his shoulder.
“Ah, Miss Tanaka! That was Haruka? She has grown…”
“That she has…” she smiled. “I can bring the wallet to her parents later.” He nodded. “Oh, yes, please.” He handed it over and as he did so, he noticed an ink stain on his hand, it vaguely resembled a moon crescent. He dismissed it and went about his business. Shopping was taken care of, and he left the store in haste, eager to see his grandparents.
As he took a few steps out the door, a chill ran down his spine. An uneasy feeling. He glanced over his shoulder to see the old lady from before, staring at him through the shop’s glassy doors. He shuddered momentarily. Her gaze seemed unfocused. ‘What…?’ He perplexed momentarily, and then tried to dismiss the oddity of this event with logic. ‘Did I too forget something?’ He tapped his pockets.
Wallet, keys, nothing seemed to be missing. He smiled, gave the old lady a thumbs up and then turned to leave. Before he could as much as take another step, a body slammed into him. He lost his balance and felt his tail bone impact the pavement beneath. “OUCCHH!!!”
He glanced at what, or rather, who ran into him. It was Haruka, she was spread on the ground like a starfish. “Ow ow ow… You’re real…” “huh?” He responded.
“Oh, nothing…” She slowly sat up. “Sorry! I lost my wallet and was in a hurry.” She bowed her head down out of shame.
He struggled to get up, the pain from the fall was stinging, but it was okay, he’d be fine.
“Oh. Yeah, uh, Miss Tanaka has it.” Haruka’s eyes grew wider, filled with terror, she glared into his eyes. “You… oh…” He squinted at her.
“What? Is uh, is something wrong?” She shook her head, as if snapping back into reality. Her lips curled up into a gentle smile.
“Oh no, it’s fine. Arigato Kaito-kun!” She swiftly got up, stretched, and dashed off, in the opposite direction from the store.
He rubbed his sore tailbone for a moment.
“What a weirdo…” He concluded and continued to his grandparents’ house where he rested for the day. During the dinner with his grandparents, he inquired about Miss Tanaka’s well-being.
“Kaito? Why would you suddenly remember Miss Tanaka? Oh dear… She… passed away a year ago in an unfortunate accident, by the shrine… A small avalanche.” His grandmother responded. Realization set in. His body shivered, his skin crawled.
“Ohhm… Uh, no reason. I ran into Haruka earlier and I just remembered that Miss Tanaka used to frequent her parents.”
His grandfather nodded.
“Little rascal that one is. But a good girl, though, a troublemaker. Screams wolf…”
Kaito shrugged. “Is she planning to go to college? I could probably try to get her into our journalism department.”
The rest of the evening was peaceful. And as evening greeted him, exhaustion from the long trip settled in. He noticed however, that the ink marking on his palm would not wash away, no matter how hard he scrubbed. A strange first day, almost unbelievable even. ‘That does explain the look on her face.’ He thought, as he lay in bed, going through the events of the day. ‘But she talked to me… Ughh!’ His body shivered once more.
‘No no no it’s fine! Don’t think about it… Sleep…sleep…’ His eyelids got heavier, and at last he succumbed to exhaustion. As the clock stuck 01:00, a voice awoke him.
“I returned the wallet.” The voice was cold, it pulled him right out of his dream. He jumped up, in panic he frantically glanced around his small room. It was empty.
“Ahh! Ha…hah… M..miss Tanaka?” His heavy breathing was the only sound he could hear in the dead of night. “Haaahh… fuck… What a fucking dream to have…” He slumped back down on his bed.
His heart was drumming against his ribs.
“Chill… Relax…. Fuck man what the hell…” After half an hour of restlessness, he figured he may as well go grab some water and catch a whiff of crispy, night air. Down the stairs, and to the kitchen. The house was quiet, as was the rest of the village. He pushed the kitchen window open with a creak, and leaned against the windowsill, enjoying a glass of cool water and the refreshing cold air on his face.
“Hahh… Better.”
For a few minutes the quietness was refreshing. And then a flash of light in the distance caught his attention. Just across the narrow gravel path that led through this part of town, behind the trees, someone was walking around with a flashlight. He watched it curiously, until the light shone in his direction. He ducked instinctively, and then doubts crept up in his mind. ‘Why am I hiding? I live here…’ He raised himself up and peeked out the window once more.
Darkness greeted him. No movement. No flashlights. Nothing. The village was dead quiet. “Who was that…” he pondered. As he gently pulled the window shut, a sound followed that sent his body into stupor. A creak echoed through the silence of the night. A creak, that came not from his window. He gasped and swallowed in an audible gulp.
Slowly he turned his head to glance over his shoulder in the direction of the living room. His movement was so slow, and the night was so quiet, that he could hear the creaking in his joints as he tried to peek. Silence… Not a hint of movement. A gentle draft of chilly wind sent his body into panic attack. The front door was definitely open. Someone had opened it. ‘Run. Hide. Check. Run. Grab a knife…’ His mind raced, and for a knife he reached.
With his breath out of control, a knife in hand, and panic settled in his heart, he slowly walked to the living room. His hand trembled, his knees shook.
“W..w…who…who goes… there??” His voice was shaky and terrified. A lump sat in his throat. As he rounded the corner, his grandmother’s gasp frightened him. “Goodness Kaito! Don’t sneak up on me like that.” He leaped back in fright
“AHHH!! AAhhh! Haahh! Grandma???” She shook her head.
“Silly boy what are you doing crawling around at night? I heard you walk down, thought you went on a midnight walk or something. Silly boy.” He tried desperately to catch his breath.
“Haaahhh.. no.. uh… I just had a… nightmare and went to uh, get some water…” He explained, lowering the knife. She glanced at his barely visible shape in the darkness. “Well, close the window! And go back to sleep.” Her soft steps led up the stairs. He relaxed.
“Hahh… Chill… damn it..”
He finished his glass of water, but before heading back to his room, something pushed him to check the front door. A gut feeling that he had to do it. He approached the door and turned the handle. As he pushed on the door, it swung open. “She forgot to l…” He paused mid sentence as his gaze fell upon his grandmother, standing in the path leading to their house. “Kaito? Kaito dear… Who just entered our house?”
His eyes widened, like a frightened animal. He froze in place.
“G…grandma…?? Yo..you just did…” Her silhouette in the darkness, but a gentle voice replied.
“No I didn’t. I’m right here you silly boy. Stop playing jokes on me, who was it???” in that instant, a voice came from the stairs behind him.
“Kaito? That isn’t me… Close the door and come here.”
His eyes welled up.
“G..grandma??? What the hell is going on…??” He spoke in a trembling voice.
“Kaito! Whatever is in the house, that isn’t me! Run.”
The same voice from the steps spoke again.
“Kaito, close the door, it’s scaring me, whatever that is. I’m inside already.”
Frozen from fear, he grasped the handle. ‘What do I do…’ A creak of the wooden stairs behind him made every cell in his body scream ‘flee’ and so he did. He dashed through the door into the dark of night. Luckily, he happened to be wearing slippers, but the cold snow still melted on his bare skin. The night was cloudy, the moon hardly provided any light. The cold night’s air pinched at his skin, the thin pajamas hardly provided much warmth.
He ran to the side rather than toward the path where another one of his grandmas was. He trusted neither, only his intuition to make a run for it. Through the tree line and out onto a different path. A gust of wind pierced him, chilling his insides. “Brrr…” He shuddered. “What in the actual hells is going on here…”
He glanced down at the darkness from which he had emerged, he now stood on a different path, although difficult to navigate in the dead of night, he knew the village well enough to get by, but where would a man go in middle of the night? He contemplated his choices. ‘shrine… abandoned house… Haruka’s place? Maybe library…?’
Where shall he go?
Full AhoyAlpha: Purr Ahoy!
Pyrite Aetherson: you can never go wrong with a shrine! the power of hydaelyn compels them!
Atheris Hispida: Abandoned house sounds like a perfect death trap. Anything but that!
Vikiridi Mikwel: Shrine is where you catch a case of a creepy demon fox stalkers though
Celeste BlanchefleurLich: “Just a tip for any young men in the audience. Turning up at a girl’s house in the middle of the night, in your pajamas and with a knife in your hand is a good way to end up on some kind of list somewhere.”
Bunbun Bunnikin nods to Pyrite Aetherson.
Cin NamonAlpha: Picking up Haruka at her place and then hiding at the shrine
You burst out laughing at Celeste BlanchefleurLich.
You agree wholeheartedly with Celeste BlanchefleurLich.
Cin NamonAlpha: Hence I wanna see her reaction :3
Yukina IsozakiRaiden: Huh? Shrine? I hope it ain’t my shrine they plan to hide in!
Vikiridi Mikwel: Are you a demon fox by chance?
Full AhoyAlpha: yes I wanna see Haruka’s reaction too, eyes as big as cannonballs i hope
“Haruka knows something…” His busy mind concluded.
“But… not in the middle of the night…” He pondered as he walked through the darkness. The wind was picking up, a storm appeared to be approaching. Light snow began to fall. He walked aimlessly, lost in thoughts and his own fears, guided by his desire to not freeze to death. Although the shrine seemed compelling, Haruka’s house would be warmer, and his toes were freezing from strolling around in the middle of a winter’s night.
As he strolled, he ridiculed himself. “I can see the headlines… Young Man found frozen to death in the mountainous village of Asagiri.” At last, he found himself standing outside the gate to her house. He assumed it to be roughly two in the morning.
“Ughh… She’s gonna kill me… Or ridicule me, or both…” He pushed the gate of her half-height fence open, it squeaked loudly. His gaze darted to the upstairs window where something moved.
Through the frosted window, Haruka stared at him in awe. He locked his eyes with hers for a moment, and stood still, not knowing what to say. After a brief moment of eye contact, she at last reached for the lock on the window, and pushed it open.
“Kaito?” She inquired, bumfuzzled.
“Yea…. It’s uhh… it’s a long story…”
“Shut the gate.” She called out and left. He did so, and a moment later found himself in the comforting warmth of her house.
“So… Care to explain?” He sat, hunched over on a stool in her kitchen, grasping to his frozen toes, trying to warm them.
“I woke up… from Miss Tanaka’s voice… and then…” He proceeded to explain the events of the night that he had witnessed. She listened attentively, occasionally fighting to suppress a smile, occasionally gasping, but curious.
“So I am NOT insane as most consider me!” She remarked at last as he concluded his story.
“Sure it’s not a dream?” He called out, and then whimpered from pain as her nails dug into his skin when she pinched him painfully.
“So…” She began, tapping her finger on the table nervously, only a single candle’s light illuminated the kitchen and them. “Miss Tanaka’s spirit won’t find peace since she died in an accident, but I have a hunch…”
“Oh yeah?”
“Well…” she proceeded.
“She was the shrine maiden as you know. But since her death, nobody’s gone to the shrine… You know how superstitious the folks around here – are.” She continued.
“And well, not many see her spirit roaming the city, but all those that do, say the same thing. It’s like she’s trying to lure them to the shrine…”
Kaito shook his head. “Nope… Not going there! You can stop.”
Haruka ignored his remark. “No, listen. She might just be… lonely.” She shrugged.
“Or maybe she wants to kill you… Who knows, truly… I mean, I’m not a shaman.” She sighed.
“So…?” She shrugged again. “We go there, and see if we can put her spirit to rest… I DO want my wallet back, but didn’t want to go alone.” She remarked.
“Uhhh, no.”
“Uhhh, yes??? Unless you want to be haunted for the rest of your life – duh!” She mocked him.
“I’ll get you father’s clothes at least, so you don’t die on the way to the shrine, it’s a bit of a walk and a storm is starting.” She said, throwing a quick glance out the window.
“Ugh… I wish this was all a dream.” He commented as she left the kitchen.
“Look, at least nobody’s died to a vengeful spirit yet, so how bad can it be?”
She returned with some warm clothes.
“Where are your folks anyway?” He inquired curiously.
“On vacation, returning in a week or something. Hopefully they don’t find a frozen to death boy in the house. That’d be a tough one to explain.” She put her coat on and nodded.
“Well, ready?”
“No.”
“Perfect! Always wanted to go on vengeful spirit hunt together with someone.”
“How are you… why are you like this…?” She glanced over her shoulder, as they navigated the dark, winding path.
“What do you mean?”
“So… relaxed and playful when you’re seeing… whatever that is.”
“Ghosts… I see them occasionally… We’ll be FINEEE!” She spoke in a cheerful tone and continued onwards.
At last, they reached the shrine. Despite the heavy snowstorm all around, the shrine stood untouched. Surrounded by a short wooden fence on all sides, it had not a single spec of snow on its roof.
“Creepy…” Haruka remarked as she bravely walked closer to the shrine. The moment they crossed under the Torii gate, the wind no longer bothered them. At the shrine, atop the stairs, they could now see her wallet.
“There you are, lovies.” Called out an old woman’s voice.
A chill ran up Kaito’s back when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Came to pray? Confess young love?” The elderly woman’s voice spoke once more.
“Uhm….” Kaito hesitated. Fear consumed him more with each passing second.
“Minus the love.” Called out Haruka as she glanced over her shoulder. “Just to pray, for the well being of the village in this storm.”
“Ahh. Delightful young people.” The old woman responded. Kaito no longer felt her hand on his shoulder.
As soon as he found himself free of her grasp, he jogged up to catch up to Haruka who had not stopped for a second and kept walking toward the shrine.
“Could’ve waited…” He shuddered.
“Why? She didn’t kill you… so it’s fine.”
“And if she did?”
“Then what good would waiting be?”
“I uhh… yeah I suppose… So… what do we do…?”
Haruka shrugged. “Miss Tanaka? What is your story?”
The old lady materialized before them on the stairs. First a shimmer, and then, there she stood.
“Oh youngling. It was a chilly night much as this one… Heavy storm was upon us. I prayed to the gods for the well being of the village, and when I was leaving, an avalanche came down.” She summarized her death to Haruka.
Kaito shuddered. “That’s… unfortunate.”
The elderly shrine maiden remained silent. She watched the young man and woman slowly ascend the steps of the shrine to the altar. At the top step, Haruka bent to pick up her wallet. The woman watched them. Haruka then took another half-step toward the altar and folded her hands together. Kaito watched as the elderly woman’s grimace morphed into a pleased smirk.
He swallowed audibly and followed Haruka’s example. He prayed for their safety, for the shrine maiden to find her peace, and for the well being of the village in the storm. When both reopened their eyes, the elderly woman no longer accompanied them.
“Huh…?” “Miss Tanaka?” Called out Haruka, but her call fell on deaf ears.
“I… guess that’s it…” Haruka replied and then joyously skipped down the shrine’s stairs.
A week later, the headlines in the newspapers read. ‘Young couple found dead in the forest of the Asagiri village. Caught in a blizzard and frozen to death, bringing the total death toll of the massive winter storm up to 444.’
Audience prompts for this tale
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So, what about japanese style horror story. Japanese food was good today, so good jp horror is great continuation of it
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I would like the story to be in a very small town where a rumor of haunted houses is running wild.
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“Um….how about an antagonist that has a hint of the surreal? Something truly otherwordly and inexplicable. Those are often the most frightening.”
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Well, since we already have a pretty horror and thrilling theme, what would fit most would of course be some snowstorm preventing people from leaving the town
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