Episode 6 – [Familiar someone]
Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817139558323866579/episodes/16817330669161435913
“I heard this from a friend.”
This happened when we were in elementary school.
Apparently, there was a strange suspicious person hanging around my friend’s school for a while.
We were always told, “Don’t go with strangers.”
But this suspicious person always looked like someone we knew.
According to the students who were approached, they looked like a “familiar adult” such as a parent, relative, homeroom teacher, or friend’s parent.
However, their physiques were different from the original people, so the students immediately noticed something was off and none of them followed them.
For example, a man over 180 centimeters tall with a slim build would have the face of a mother.
They would then say something briefly from a distance and stand there waiting.
After receiving reports from parents, the school distributed a letter warning students not to follow anyone, even if they recognized their face.
It was clearly odd, but since the situation didn’t improve even after involving the police, this was apparently the only response they could take.
The strange suspicious person was quickly categorized among the students as a monster or urban legend.
The idea that it’s important to go home in groups apparently spread naturally over time.
“Maybe they can’t decide on a face unless they target one person.”
“They’re trying to deceive people, but they’re too stupid to do it with their body.”
“Maybe they’re just not very capable.”
A few of the group enjoyed making their own crude analyses.
Just as you say “pomade” when you encounter the Woman with the Split Mouth, you should respond correctly to Kashima san’s questions.
If you’re with a group, you won’t encounter “familiar someone” and as long as you don’t follow them, there’s no problem.
In this way, “familiar someone” was treated as a supernatural being that could be driven away as long as you handled it correctly.
The teachers and parents must have been puzzled.
If it were just a rumor that the students were enjoying, it would be fine, but it was a real, suspicious person who couldn’t possibly be human.
The solution of “as long as you don’t follow them, there’s no problem” was also unclear as to how much of it was true.
My friends also saw the teachers gathering for a meeting a few times.
However, they said they don’t remember any other responses besides the initial announcement.
By the time rumors and warnings had spread, about two months had passed.
Fortunately, my friend never encountered the suspicious person.
By that time, most of the people who claimed to have “met” the person were lying.
The show-offs would inevitably say, “I met the familiar someone” and the gossipy girls would gather in groups of a few and giggle as they talked about “familiar someone.”
It was fairly easy to tell the difference between those who had actually encountered the person and those who hadn’t.
No one could remember what the “familiar someone” had said to them when they were approached.
Those who were lying would insert some random line there. That’s how you could tell.
Well, there might have been some who pretended not to know.
Since scary lines made it sound more believable, most students would insert lines they had picked up from other ghost stories.
Those who knew what the “familiar someone” was really saying could become heroes without question.
That was the atmosphere in my friend’s class.
At that time, my friend had a childhood friend, a boy named S-kun, who often walked home with her.
Perhaps because they had different hobbies, they didn’t play together much despite having known each other for a long time, but they weren’t exactly on bad terms either.
Their houses were diagonally across from each other, so they could walk home together all the way. These days, whenever their schedules aligned, they would always walk home together.
One day, S-kun quietly confided in my friend.
“You know, I remember what the ‘familiar someone’ are saying.”
My friend was initially surprised, not by S-kun’s words themselves, but by the fact that S-kun had brought it up.
As far as his friend knew, S-kun was a rather timid boy.
He hated scary stories and was the type to run to his parents or teachers first if he encountered a suspicious person.
There was no way he would boast about something like this. Naturally, his friend thought it was a lie.
Since they hadn’t been able to go home together that day, he must have said it as a joke.
As his friend tried to laugh it off, S-kun said in a cheerful voice,
“They say, ‘Say ‘OK’.”
His friend instinctively thought it was better not to ask.
He was sure it was better not to ask. But at the time, his friend didn’t know how to stop the conversation.
He didn’t want to ask, but he couldn’t interrupt. That was the atmosphere.
S-kun was unusually excited as he continued, gripping the shoulder strap of his school bag.
“Familiar someone tells me to say ‘It’s okay.’ And when I say ‘It’s okay,’ good things happen.”
“Good things?”
“If I say ‘It’s okay,’ then it’s okay, right? Because I said ‘It’s okay,’ good things happened.”
It didn’t make any sense at all, so I didn’t understand.
But I was aware that I was hearing something unpleasant.
“So, my mom is here now !”
S-kun looked really happy. His voice was filled with genuine joy. He had a brighter smile than I had ever seen before.
Without listening to his friend’s words, he ran straight to the gate of his house.
I still didn’t understand the meaning of “so.”
Perhaps it was better that way.
I heard that S-kun’s mother had left six months ago. She was so depressed that his friends remembered it well.
I was relieved that she had finally started to feel better recently.
Behind the gate he ran toward happily, there was something that looked like S-kun’s mother.
It was a tall, thin man’s body, but it definitely had S-kun’s mother’s face.
Apparently, she had a very gentle expression.
“—–Was it scary?”
“…Yeah, it was scary.”
Urban legends are scary, aren’t they? I’ve forgotten what was popular when I was a child.
Was it Kisaragi Station? I’ve never been part of the group, so…I’ll stop talking about this. It’s sad.
A supernatural being that says, “It’s okay,” and asks for permission.
Well, it’s probably not good…nothing. Nothing is good about it.
A supernatural being that asks for permission is definitely bad. It’s as bad as a scam that abuses browser push notifications.
However, in this case, it’s possible that it was really good for S-kun.
If my prediction is correct, the “familiar” is trying to get “approval” from people connected to that face while using it.
Since S-kun said “Okay,” it must have turned out okay.
Probably, it became okay to use the face.
His original mother didn’t come back, but for S-kun, that was probably enough.
…Actually, wouldn’t this be scarier if S-kun had grown up to be a middle school or high school student…?
“…Did that friend hear any more about what happened afterward from S-kun?”
“Hmm. I don’t know.”
My friend let out a soft groan in response to my question, which I asked out of curiosity.
He didn’t seem to be trying to avoid the question, but he didn’t seem to have a prepared answer either.
Even though I think it’s fictional, I asked the question because I hoped that even though it’s a bad thing for most people, it became a good thing for S-kun.
Even after encountering the woman in the white dress, I still think this story is fictional.
However, this is purely a gut feeling, so it might actually be different.
It’s possible that I’m just rejecting it due to an instinctive aversion.
In any case, it doesn’t seem worth pursuing further, so I’m just listening to half of what she says today.
Even though I’m only listening to half, I can’t help but ask questions when something catches my attention.
“If it’s going to happen, I hope they can just get along.”
“Get along?”
“…If it’s going to be a good thing, it’d be better if it stay close afterward, right?”
“Ugh…hmm?”
My neighbor was groaning like she’d eaten something with an odd taste.
Well, I know that nine times out of ten, it won’t turn out well, so I don’t have any thoughts about how to react. Probably, or rather definitely, S-kun’s family will end up in a bad situation.
But I’m free to wish for a happy ending on my own.
“If they stay on good terms, won’t it be scary?”
“……..Well, in that case, you’d say, ‘It’s scary that S-kun is on good terms with such a mother.'”
I thought he was being blunt, so I blurted it out in exasperation.
Through the partition, I heard a cheerful laugh.
After a while, the laugh turned into a thin metallic sound, and he called out to me with a laugh.
“Takahiro.”
“What?”
“Say ‘Okay.’”
“……………….”
From the edge of the partition, a crooked eye stared at me.
Without realizing it, I furrowed my brow. I kicked the partition lightly with my balcony sandals.
“No way.”
I forced the words out of my dry throat.
Upon hearing this, my neighbor laughed again and left with a cheerful greeting.
After hearing the sound of the window in the neighboring room closing, I let out a loud sigh right there.
It was a meaningless, mocking kind of sigh.
Or perhaps it was just playful. But once you get on board, there’s no turning back.
“……………….What a mess.”
It was ridiculous to stand there in the cold for no reason, so I quickly returned indoors.
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