At Suma Beach

Suma Beach

(Translated by Saya)

From a 2 chan (Now 5 chan) thread.

797 ：１ : 04/07/14 08:22 ID:Bbq5U+//
Three days ago, yes, it was on Sunday.
I went to Suma Beach*1 with Tokui and Yoshioka.*2

The place isn't too far from home, so we went there by bike, and as we rode past the bus stop by the beach, we saw a group of four punks*3 who had their motorcycles parked by the side of the road.

If you try to avoid such people you will only give them an excuse to pick a fight with you, so we pretended we had no interest in them and tried to walk past them while deliberately chatting to each other loudly about random things like "You know that game we played yesterday..."

798 ：2 : 04/07/14 08:26 ID:Bbq5U+//
And then, as we tried to walk past them, the back of my bike accidentally rubbed against one of their custom motorcycles.
"Oops," I thought, but there was a chance that they hadn't noticed it, so I didn't stop and just walked on. But:
"Oi, you there! What do you think you're doing to my motorcycle! What's with you, walking away without saying sorry?" they said, and surrounded us.

"You have some guts, don't you? Not scared of us at all,right ?"
 One punk wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"Yes, I am scared, I mean you look so strong, I'm scared to death that I was afraid to talk," I said, trying to ingratiate myself with him.

Then suddenly, one of them climbed onto his motorcycle and grabbed Tokui's arm.
"Hey, I'll make your bike faster for you," he said, and kick-started the motorcycle, dragging along Tokui who still sat on his bike. 

Strange Ability

Tokyo Metro

(Translated by Saya)

This is a cryptic story! :D

I often use Tokyo Metro.
Every morning, I saw a homeless guy hanging around inside the metro station who kept mumbling something to himself.

I one day sidled up to the wall beside him, and listened in on his mumbling.
An old woman walked past in front of him, and the guy mumbled,
"Pig."
Was he just bad-mouthing people, comparing them to animals?
The next person who walked past was a businessman. The guy mumbled,
"Man."
Ah, yes, he does seem to represent an ordinary man.
On another day, I sidled up to him and listened in on him again to while away the time.
A tired-looking scrawny man walked past before our eyes, and the guy mumbled,
"Cow."
Cow? He looks more like a skinny bird to me.
Next, a typical fat man walked past, and the guy mumbled,
"Vegetable."
Vegetable? He must be mistaking him for a pig.

I went back home and spend some time in contemplation.
Perhaps the homeless guy could tell what sort of things people would get reincarnated into in the next life?
Keeping the theory in mind, I observed the guy for a few more times. The more I observed him, the more I became convinced that my theory was correct.

One day I mustered the courage to ask him about his ability, and begged him to tell me how he came to possess the ability.
The homeless guy, after looking at me with dull, lifeless eyes,  held his hand over my head without words.
That was the last time I saw the homeless guy. When I went to the station the next day, he was gone.
Was he a wizard?** Or perhaps even a god?

Now I had the ability too.
But it was different from what I had expected.
It just revealed to me what the last things people had eaten before I saw them.
It was such a ludicrous ability that I burst out laughing.

--------------------------------
**A wizard - Sennin in the original text. The word denotes a man who has become enlightened and immortal through special discipline (Wikipedia).

The Grass is Always Greener

(Translated by Saya)

(Saya's note: from what I understand, this is a plot summary of a short story or of a manga)

A woman marries a handsome novelist.
There is another man who loves her, but he is a dull and tedious man whose only redeeming feature is that he is kind-hearted.

The woman tries her best to be a model wife for her husband, but despite her
efforts his creative talent starts to wane. Before long he gives up working altogether and chooses to lead a life of drunken debauchery.
Naturally they soon become financially challenged, and the woman takes up odd jobs here and there to save themselves, but it does little to improve their miserable situation and succeeds only in turning her beautiful face into an old, careworn one.

Don't Sleep with Your Legs Uncovered

(Translated by Saya)

*WARNING* THIS STORY IS SAID TO BE CURSED

This is a story that really happened to my mother's friend.

"Finally, today is the last day! Why do I have to sleep all covered from head to toe in such a hot weather? "
A man grumbled to himself as he lay on the bed. I will call the man as Yoshioka (pseudonym) for convenience.
Why did he have to do such a thing?
He had a very good reason for doing so.

About a week ago, his friends called Kawahara (pseudonym) and Sasaki (pseudonym) came to visit him in his apartment.
They were having a random conversation about their school, when Kawahara suddenly said,
"Shall I tell you a creepy story?"
It was at the height of summer, so the other two agreed to it saying "I hope it will make us feel a little cooler." **

Then Kawahara started telling them the following story.
"Once upon a time, there lived an old couple.
The wife had bad legs and she was confined to bed most of the time.
The husband was the one who mostly looked after her.

PSP

PSP (Playstation Portable)

This is a cryptic story! lol

I had never imagined that there would come a day when I would get to play the role of a hero like that.

It was late at night, in downtown, that I stumbled upon the incident.
"Stop it, please...." A girl whimpered.
"Hey, come on, don't be so cold, lady. Come with us and we'll get nice 'n warm together!" Three thugs stood surrounding the girl.

"Stop right there, you dirty thugs."
The words of provocation were out before I could stop them.
It was too late to take them back.

The thugs flew off the handle. One of them even held a knife in his hand.
Then....I will counter them with this! 
With my left hand, I brought my PSP out of my pocket.
"PSP Kick!" Without a moment's delay, I drove a powerful kick into the solar plexus of the thug in front of me who was holding a knife. The thug doubled over with agonizing pain.
"PSP Back Fist!" With a single blow to his face, the man with Mohican haircut was struck down. The move fractured his nose and he fell down unconscious.
"PSP Elbow!" I smashed the skull of another thug.
"PSP Chop!" I slashed the carotid artery of the last remaining person.
Those were what you would call One-Hit KO Moves.
In less than a second, I created four bloody lumps of meat lying and squirming all around me.
 "Next time you'd better look who you are dealing with before you pick a fight."
I wiped their splattered blood off the PSP and whispered to the precious console that had brought me victory:

"Thank God I have a PSP."

Grandmother's Diary

(Translated by Saya)

Ever since I was a small child, I had been very attached to my grandmother.
I would visit my grandmother's home often, even after I became a middle school student.

My grandmother was my father's mother, but my father died of an accident when I was little.
My grandfather died early too, and so my grandmother said she was very fond of me, since I was the only blood relative that was left to her.
But my mother was somehow on bad terms with my grandmother, and so she never set a foot in the grandmother's house.

Every Sunday morning, I would pay a visit to a shrine with my grandmother.
She was a very pious person. She never missed a day without going to the shrine; come rain or shine, she would visit the shrine on every Sunday, ever since my father passed away.
I loved going to the shrine with her. I still remember vividly the warmth I felt when we joined our hands.

A Shrine

My grandmother would always press her palms together, make a deep bow, and then close her eyes for a long time to pray.
I would always do a very brief praying, and then for the rest of the time just watch my grandmother's serious face.
When she finished, I would always ask her, "what were you praying about?"
But she only smiled and never answered me.
I didn't feel too bothered by it, and would soon start thinking about the ice cream my grandmother would buy for me on the way back; and we then would go home together, happily chatting with each other all the way.

Lily

(Translated by Saya)

Three years ago, my ex-girlfriend, who was the same age as me, died in an accident.
For the next three years I didn't go out with anyone, but recently I met a girl whom I fell in love with. I told her all about my ex-girlfriend, and in time I came to love her nearly as much as I loved my ex-girlfriend. Finally, one day I confessed my feelings to her and we started going out.

And then my ex-girlfriend's death anniversary came around, and I decided to visit her grave with my "present" girlfriend this time.
In front of her grave, I said:
"I fell in love with someone again. I wonder if you will forgive me?"
My present girlfriend became tearful as I uttered these words.
Afterwards we had dinner together and I went back to my own house and she went back to hers (we lived on our own, separately).

When I arrived home, I found one lily lying on top of a table in the sitting room.
Lily was the flower which my ex-girlfriend loved the most when she was alive.
I had never given a spare key to anyone, and although I always buy a bunch of lilies to take to her grave, I buy them on the way to her grave and had never brought them home.

I thought it must be a sign from her that she had forgiven me. 

Help Me!

(Translated by Saya)

A cryptic story for you! :D

When I was little, one of my friends went missing while we were playing the game of tag.
That day I went back home but I heard he never came back.

I suddenly remembered about the roof of a certain apartment building that was reachable by climbing some stairs.
Moreover, I recalled there being a narrow gap between those buildings.
What if he fell into the gap?
I felt compelled to go and examine the place, and went up to the roof of the apartment building straight away today.

And just as I suspected, he was there.
I looked down the gap, and he yelled "Heeeelp Meeee!"  as he frantically waved his hand.