Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817139558323866579/episodes/16817330669161443627
“Takahiro, what are you doing for Christmas?”
“Huh?”
Mid-December. Before work, 9 p.m.
I was holding a gel-type hot water bottle, thinking it would be nice if it were a short ghost story, when my neighbor suddenly said something strange.
Christmas?
Christmas…you mean Christmas day?
You mean that?
Are you asking if I have plans for Christmas?
I couldn’t help but look over at the partition with a dumbfounded expression.
At the edge of my vision, her blackened fingertips were swaying cheerfully.
“Chicken? Want some?”
“Chicken.”
“And cake.”
“…Wait, are we talking about doing it together?”
“Huh? You can just eat it alone. Are we doing Christmas?”
“Doing it, but there’s nothing…”
What was the point of that confirmation?
Confused and at a loss for words, my neighbor continued in a cheerful voice.
“If Takahiro is celebrating Christmas, I’ll give you a present.”
“…..What are you going to give me?”
“It’s a secret.”
“A secret, huh…”
There were so many things I wanted to ask, but none of them came out of my mouth.
The owner’s brother had told me not to give homemade food. But I hadn’t heard anything about what to do if someone gave me something.
Would it be better to refuse and risk offending them, or accept it to keep them happy and risk getting something I don’t like? I couldn’t decide.
“You there?”
I hesitated for about ten seconds, unsure of how to respond.
Without seeming to notice the awkward pause, she continued in her cheerful voice.
“I’m fine.”
“…Oh?”
Perhaps my caution was showing in my attitude.
My neighbor told me in a matter-of-fact tone, as I braced myself.
“Takahiro is a good kid, so he’ll get a present.”
This time, there was a pause of several seconds.
I wasn’t hesitating about how to respond. It was more like I was taken aback.
But I accepted those words more quickly than I thought I would, and I even put them in an important place in my heart.
I thought to myself, “It’s not that serious.”
No, it’s nothing. I hadn’t really thought about whether I deserved a present or not.
In this case, that’s not what I should be thinking about. I don’t remember worrying about such things. Probably.
I punched the hot water bottle I was holding.
If I didn’t hit something, I felt like I might lose it.
I was truly glad I had the hot water bottle.
“Well, I’m not exactly a good kid anymore.”
“Huh? Really?”
My neighbor muttered in genuine puzzlement, then added vaguely,
“Takahiro still looks like a kid to me.”
“Really?”
This time it was my turn to tilt my head.
But it wasn’t a question worth pursuing further, so I nodded vaguely, even though I wasn’t convinced.
Well, from the perspective of something that isn’t human, maybe even a twenty-year-old is still a child.
But when it came to whether I was a ‘good kid’ or not, I still couldn’t help but tilt my head.
If I were really a good kid…then maybe everything would have gone better. Maybe everything would have turned out well.
And besides, a good kid at Christmas is basically someone who is glad they were born, isn’t it?
“Leave the window open for Christmas.”
“Oh, is that where it comes from…really !?”
“Because the presents have to be by the pillow.”
“Well, I guess so…but I’ll hang my stocking on the balcony, so maybe that’s better for me…”
I know. My neighbor can definitely reach my window.
Of course, they could probably reach further than that. I know that.
But whether I wanted to see it with my own eyes was another matter.
After hearing such a fact, I couldn’t just lie there quietly and go to sleep.
I voiced my request with the hope that it might work out, and after a moment’s hesitation, my neighbor said,
“Sure. Then, look forward to it.”
It seemed my request had been granted. I exhaled a deeper sigh of relief than I had expected and quickly swallowed it back.
Perhaps I felt such a deep sense of relief because it was made clear that there was no way to open the door without permission.
In any case, I now had to buy socks. For Christmas.
I’ve never done that in my life. What are Christmas socks?
Well, anyway.
It seems that this year, a black, rotten Santa Claus is going to prepare something for me.
If I said I wasn’t happy, I’d be lying. But more than that, I was overwhelmed by the thought, “What the hell is she going to give me…”
If I had to put a percentage on it, the latter was about 94%.
What the hell is he going to give me? Tell me first. No, actually, I don’t want to know.
“Want some chicken?”
“…Well, since I’m here, I’ll buy some.”
Christmas will probably be spent working at the convenience store. The working hours are different from usual, but everyone else seems to have plans or commitments, so I couldn’t refuse when they asked me.
Even if I just buy the leftover chicken and cake and bring them home, it’ll still feel like Christmas.
After hearing my answer, my friend muttered something contentedly and went back to her room without telling any ghost stories.
Wait, did she really just come to ask about my plans? …Is that even possible? Well, is it?
With mixed feelings, I headed to my part-time job.
***
At this time of year, it remains dark even after work.
At first, I thought, “If I work late at night, I’ll be able to hear ghost stories during the day” but in reality, I ended up hearing them before work, so it didn’t really make much difference.
In addition, at this time of year, I have to return to this apartment in the dark, which isn’t very pleasant.
Well, I made the decision, so I didn’t really plan on changing it.
The owner is honestly looking for a replacement for Yamao san, the old man, and has asked me if I can increase my shifts, but I’ve been making excuses to decline.
Basically, it’s not okay for me to be away from the apartment more often, so even if I could, it would only be up to three days a week.
If they push me too hard, I’ll just look for another part-time job.
Half a year ago, just paying taxes made me dizzy, but now I feel much more relaxed.
If I just live alone like this, there’s no problem. In fact, I’m even saving money. Well, I feel like it’ll just disappear again once I save it. It’s like some kind of monster, isn’t it?
As I muttered to myself in my head, the elevator door closed, and the buzzer sounded.
“………..”
In situations like this, I just get off the elevator.
Wait until the doors close and the elevator starts moving, then press the button for the upper floor again.
Most of the time, the closed elevator will head toward the fifth floor and come back after a while.
The time it takes to come back varies.
Sometimes it comes back quickly, and other times it takes forever, and you wonder what it’s doing.
Well, at least if you wait, it will come, so there’s no problem.
As far as I can tell, there’s never been anything other than humans on it.
Today, it was a bit late.
While waiting for the elevator to stop on the fifth floor, I casually looked up information about Christmas.
The internet is convenient. Most ‘normal’ things are available online.
Even if it is a kind of ideal or fantasy that cannot be contained within the concept of ‘normal’ at least you can learn about the general form of life.
The most terrifying thing in this world is not realizing that you’re ‘strange.’ Not realizing that your world is wrong.
It wasn’t until I started elementary school that I finally realized my family was probably strange.
At the time, an older teacher went out of their way to look after me (though as a result, that person became even more cunning and malicious), but at least I realized something was off.
In the end, no concrete solution was found, but it wasn’t the teacher’s fault. In fact, they were quite kind to me.
They gave me used clothes and even let me use the school’s washing machine. I think they were a good teacher.
However, since interacting too much with the teacher—or other adults—made that person even more “strange,” my “teacher” was always the free internet at the community center.
At the time, the community center had computers for searching materials, and you could access the internet just by messing around with them without any application or permission.
I used that to research what ‘normal’ was. I was a kid, so my knowledge was biased, and I probably couldn’t tell lies from the truth, so I think my research was pretty clumsy.
Still, as I researched, I managed to put together a decent facade of a human being.
I thought that having access to the internet was essential.
That person doesn’t understand anything about machines, so even if something is unacceptable when dealing with people, it doesn’t matter when dealing with machines.
Well, my cell phone was broken once in high school. That was just because I was in a bad mood at the time.
There were too many things I had to keep from that person, but there were even more things I couldn’t do without their permission.
I remember my high school friend saying, “You really managed to survive, didn’t you?” and I can’t help but laugh a little.
I’ve never been in a life-threatening situation. A mother who loses a young child is inevitably blamed by those around her.
That person was someone who found being scolded by decent adults the most painful situation of all.
While searching for “worst gifts” the elevator returned.
I got on and pressed the button for the seventh floor.
As I passed through, the fifth floor was still pitch black.
When people staying on the fifth floor occasionally ask the manager about it, they’re told, “The wiring on that floor is broken, so there are no plans to repair it, and we don’t even rent it out anyway.”
I recall hearing this twice in the past six months, and since the tone was almost the same both times, I assume they respond that way every time.
The manager is gentle, bright, and polite—a very nice person—but also very straightforward and businesslike.
I suppose they have to be that way to handle such a place.
I stepped out of the elevator.
The door to Room 705 was open.
“……………….”
It was wide open.
However, from where I got off the elevator, I could only see the front side of the door.
On this floor, rooms 1 through 4 are lined up along the hallway, with room 5 at the end.
When I stand in front of my room, 702, if I turn to the right, I can see almost the entire interior from the entrance.
So, when the door is open, I usually pretend not to see it and go back to my room unless it’s something important like going to work.
It’s just darkness, but it’s definitely not normal, so it’s best to pretend not to see it.
This time, I can’t just pretend not to see it, go downstairs, leave the building, and kill time somewhere else.
The fact that I came back late from the fifth floor was the problem.
I made up my mind.
I’ll just go into the room as if nothing happened.
I fixed my gaze on the floor and stood in front of my room’s door.
While waiting, I regretted not taking out the key beforehand and rummaged through my bag, when my ears picked up some kind of sound.
It was a muffled groan.
Out of caution, I couldn’t help but turn toward it.
It was the entrance to Room 705.
In the darkness, a pale face floated.
It was the face of a girl who had lost all color.
That must be “Sumie Yuna.”
What was strange was the position in which she was floating.
In the pitch-black darkness, the girl’s face was floating at a surprisingly high position.
I dropped the key without thinking.
The hard, cheap sound echoed through the quiet hallway like a joke.
Our eyes met.
The girl stared at me without blinking, opening her small mouth slightly,
Thud
Then, at the dull thud that came from behind me, she closed her mouth in fear.
I was scared too. I reflexively turned around.
The sound of someone knocking on the front door from the inside came from Room 701—that is, his room.
It was a single knock.
The hallway, which had echoed with the dull thud, was completely silent after that.
“…….”
I heard a scratchy sound, so I cautiously turned around and saw that the door to Room 705 was completely closed.
Beyond the closed door, I could clearly hear the sound of a lock being turned.
Ghosts lock doors, I thought, and then I finally remembered the key I had dropped.
I picked up the key at my feet and inserted it.
It wasn’t a very smooth key to begin with, but perhaps because of my trembling hands, it was even harder to turn.
Still,
Why did I suddenly start seeing things?
Until now, all I could see was complete darkness.
I thought about it for a while.
After safely returning home and locking the door behind me, I suddenly realized something.
“Ah…cause….I knew it…..”
It was such a simple answer.
It wasn’t something that suddenly appeared today. All along, that child had been on the other side of the open door.
I just couldn’t see her.
That child had been watching me all along.
“……………….”
Feeling a mix of emotions, I decided to think about something else for now.
Like Christmas stockings.
And Christmas stockings.
And, well, Christmas stockings.
…..Come to think of it, that kid was really angry.
“…………….”
I browsed some online shopping sites for a while and ended up ordering a pair of big stockings.
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