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A cryptic story!


I work in a pub in the evenings.
That day I had to work until late and couldn't catch the train I usually use. I had to get off half-way at an unfamiliar, near-deserted station.

It was the day before a payday, and I was broke. I went into a park and tried to get some sleep in there until it was time for the first train to come.
But it was so freezing outside that I began to have a pain in my stomach. I ran to the park's public toilet.

A short while later, someone came into the cubicle next to mine. It sounded like the guy was talking on the phone as he walked in.
Although there were traffic noises from outside, inside the toilet was very quiet, so my ears picked up bits of their conversation.


"What? Yeah, I know that. Hahaha! Oh, sorry, sorry. What?"

".....ber you.....di....no.......rec...."

"Aww, yeah, I see what you mean, man. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Huh? Yeah. Hahaha! No way, why? Hehe. Hmmm, is that true?"

"......ch.......t...again"

 "Are you sure? I see....damn, maybe you're right. Sorry, just a second!"

Crinkle crinckle... Just as I came out of my cubicle, I heard the dry noise as the guy pulled down the toilet paper, and at the same time I clearly heard the words that the person on the other side of the phone was saying.

A bolt of fear shot through me and I fled from the place. I made a full sprint to the station and waited there until the shutters opened.
I was creeped out to the bone. Even now whenever I think about it, I grow afraid of the night.

Comments

I'm not sure if I've given you enough hints to figure this one out.

You do have to have a certain knowledge for it.
amy said…
I'm stumped! Maybe it's the type of public toilet where its a single stall?
Umbrella2 said…
I don't understand.. does the 'other people on the phone' crawls into the toilet and whisper something to the man? I'm sorry if this is so stupid but I don't really get it... orz.
Anonymous said…
I'm trying figure out what the person on the phone is saying... I think something like: "you did not record" "watch it again"
Not sure how it could be scary. Maybe if he was checking a recording on his phone, he couldn't have been talking on it at the same time? I'm lost on this one :P
Sydney Pacione said…
Hmm, I'm stumped! Do we have to know about Japanese culture to know this, Saya?
Tenshi said…
Uwa, this one is hard! There are very few clues indeed, Saya-san...
Hmm, I could think of a few hypothesis, but don't think I'm quite right.
Anyway, I can't help but see the last phrase said in the other side of the phone as "Check it again", to which the guy agrees to do so. The first can be something like "Remember you".. di(ed)? Idk, really!
A few of my theories:
1- The guy in the other side of the phone was referring to the "protagonist" in his stall, to which the other was unaware of, so he's like "There's someone near, check it again"... who knows what for. But this doesn't make sense with the "scared of the night" part.. unless the 'died' is actually a thing.
2- The other guy is some sort of criminal (that "ber" could fit for robber, stabber, bomber.., or 'remember you did not..'), and the other can be maybe telling him he forgot something so he should check, or again telling him someone might be listening...
3- Kind of silly, but.. the person asks him if there's someone else with him, and he's like "No way, why?", maybe because he's listening to some no(ise) (indi)rec(tly?), when he came out, turns out... That guy was being 'attacked' by Aka Manto and didn't realize x3?? *I said it was silly*
This is pretty much all I could guess. Looking forward to the actual answer, though!
Anonymous said…
This story is hard :( i'm at a loss here. I made assumptions that the guy was either a ghost or a hit-man... please do tell :)
Sheep said…
I think its something along the lines of "The number you have dialed could not be reached"
"Hang up and try again"
Anonymous said…
Is the narrator a girl?
If it is, maybe they're filming girls on the toilet and the guy was picking up the day's batch?
Unknown said…
Maybe he wasn't talking on the phone? That's about all I can think of, really.
Anon, I think the phone guy said 'remember you' and maybe 'did not recognise'? the second bit does look like 'watch it again'.
Unknown said…
Oh my gosh, I think sheep got it. Oh man, that would scare the crap out of me.
Sydney Pacione said…
Woah, if Sheep is right then that's really creepy! Uwaaa
Tomiko said…
My guess is that the guy on the other cubicle is filming the girl protagonist, and stream the record directly to his friend. He talked to his friend at the same time and his friend reminds him to ensure the quality of the recording is good (probably they plan to put it in video or sell it online.. who knows.... there're just so many perverts out there)

That might explain why the guy on the other cubicle finishes round the same time the girl does.. since he has already got the recording he wants...
unlucky_guy said…
[Sheep said...
I think its something along the lines of "The number you have dialed could not be reached"
"Hang up and try again"

2 May 2014 08:32]


woah i think you may be right about this.
Anonymous said…
Not getting it. Even if it was like Sheep said, don't understand why she/he is so scared
Anonymous said…
"Not getting it. Even if it was like Sheep said, don't understand why she/he is so scared"

yea if what sheep said was true then wouldn't it just be a strange person. no reason to jump to further/paranormal conclusions. You would probably run away from there for safety, but it wouldn't really creep you out to the bone?

this one has stumped me @@
Unknown said…
I think the person that went into the bathroom is a ghost, and they are just replying that night they died and have no clue about it. I don't think ghost or monsters use toilet paper to whip their ass with if there is a meal next to them.
Rei said…
My theory is different from everyone else's :O I think maybe the fact that the narrator heard the 'phone voice' clearly after there was the sound of crinkling could mean that the phone voice wasn't on the phone--it was a guy the 1st guy had gagged with some plastic material (maybe a bag over his head?). So the sound of the crinkling wasnt tissue, it was of the gag being moved away so he can talk.

The narrator could've inadvertently walked into a kidnapping case. All the same, I also can't wait to hear the answer > u <)
nunu said…
This one got me stumped.

The only one I can think of is that the narrator thinks a person need to use both hands to pull the toilet paper. And there's no way somebody is going to put a cellphone on the floor. So, the other person must be talking to 'somebody' in the toilet instead of through phone.

Yeahh, not sure I got this one right. Each time I read a cryptic story, it's really, really hard not to immediately look at the comments to see if anybody got the answer.

This is a good one, Saya-san. :D Thank you for this story.
Restive said…
This one got me stumped! I think Sheep got the part about "The number you have dialed could not be reached," "Hang up and try again" though.

My personal theory is that the guy beside his stall is only *pretending* to be on the phone, and he was about to do something horrible to the protagonist. The protagonist escaped in the nick of time 0_0
Altria Wu said…
For me, I simply thought that the man talking on the phone is mentally insane. There's nothing paranormal about this cryptic. ( in my opinion, though. )
I have a few theories ( excuse my bad english ):
The protagonist is a "he". Public toilets in parks should always divide into gents and ladies.
The man had been talking on the phone since he walked in the public toilet, combines with the fact that the number he dialed could not be reached ( Sheep also mentioned above ), so the error message had been repeated numerous times. Therefore he was talking with himself the whole time.
When he excuse himself to get some toilet paper, if there was a human on the other side ( of the phone ), that person would wait for him. But it's not. At the same time, the protagonist could heard the message clearly, so he got freaked out.
Noone would dare to be close with a madman at night when nobody's around.
Anyway, thanks for your hard work translating this, Saya :D


CompyDex said…
I think I got the answer on this case.




Looks like the guy in the other cubicle is a killer. What does sheep said was right. It means the other guy was not talking to a person but uses the art of deception (talking to himself so the protagonist won't mind him) to wait for his prey ( The protagonist) to come out from the cubicle to kill him/her. Luckily the protagonist came up with this conclusion so he/she ran to escape from his/her terrible fate.



*Hey Saya, I've been reading some of your blogs, especially the cryptic ones. Please keep up the good work.
BlueRio said…
This one is pretty hard..but i guess Rei's theory is right...
Anonymous said…
I think sheep is right. And if the number couldn't be reached, who was the man in the other stall talking to?
Chariot said…
Narrator was afraid of words of the person on the other side of the phone. Sheep may be right, but I don't think that narrator is afraid of night because of this. But I don't have a better theory.
CY said…
The guy actually abducted a person, gagged the victim and dragged him/her into the toilet. The guy talks to the victim when killing him/her. So, the person is probably has mental issues.

Man, I watched too much horror films.
Tia said…
I also agree with Sheep's theory, its spot on with a kidnapper/psycho killer/stalker scenario! I just put his idea in perspective and the whole thing plays out perfectly in my head, excellent work Sheep! ;)
This story is seiously creepy, it is one of those fears i have actually on the rare occassion that i end up being alone somewhere. I've had my fair share of encounters with creepers so i can really relate to the protagonist of the story :O
If the narrator moved a second later, who knows what could have happened? Once again, you made our imagination run wild Saya-chan! Thanks for the spooky story! :D
Anonymous said…
If I'd be the protagonist, and hear someone talking like that, my first thought wouldn't be "Omg he is a killer!!!" I would just think that the person is a bit nuts, or really, really bored. :D

I hope Saya tells us the real answer to this!
Ion said…
I think sheep is right on this one. It leaves a lot open to interpretation as to what scared her though. Really scary!
cranky said…
I agree in thinking the guy on the phone is some sort of stalker/killer, after all it does say that inside the bathroom it was so quiet the protagonist could hear the outside traffic. If the guy on the phone was just some regular guy, wouldn't he tinkle? Or do number two? He fakes a phone conversation while sitting still, then makes "bathroom" noises when intentionally crinkling the toilet paper. (Making muffling the noise of pulling out his weapon?) Smells fishy to me.
Anonymous said…
Following Sheep's theory, I believe the error message said, "The number you have dialed is not in service. This is a recording." and "Please check the number and try your call again."
Anonymous said…
I've considered Sheep's theory and I do know this is an actual error message in existence.

"We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again."
Misa said…
So I was skimming the theories people had... Here are two big ones that may be a good possibility:

Sheep said: Sheep said...
I think its something along the lines of "The number you have dialed could not be reached"
"Hang up and try again"

CompyDex Said: Looks like the guy in the other cubicle is a killer. What does sheep said was right. It means the other guy was not talking to a person but uses the art of deception (talking to himself so the protagonist won't mind him) to wait for his prey ( The protagonist) to come out from the cubicle to kill him/her. Luckily the protagonist came up with this conclusion so he/she ran to escape from his/her terrible fate.

When piecing two and two together, it seems like a very valid answer... But then again...

I really am looking forward to the answer for this one!
inukochi said…
I'm not sure if I'm correct about this but uhm... I think that someone "on the other line" is giving that guy "on the phone" a BJ or something......... omg am I even allowed to say this here ;A;)

It's not really a scary story---well it is sort of!
Kuroi said…
I wanted to tell you that I have officially read every post on your blog. I enjoy it very much and look forward to more.

As for this cryptic story... I think the other comments have said enough. You can't even feel safe in a bathroom...
Unknown said…
please sayaa teell uss, i'm really courious
when you tell us to have certain knowledge i thought of
1. what crinkle noise usually occur in toilet, relates to something that is creepy
2. certain knowledge about public toilet such as its stall, or the room itself, or something else, (or specifically - park toilet - or toilet in japan?)
3. crinkle is the dry noise? is happened as the same time as the pulled down toilet paper noise also the same time as he heard the actual phone noise, does this sound correlates??
what's this certain knowledge and the explanation of the story is the biggest mistery to me ahahaha
can't wait
Unknown said…
what's this certain knowledge got me intrigued,
i happen to have some thought
1. first of all, what is the crinkle noise? it could relates to something creepy that has happened before on public toilet stall, a sex or violence act
2. perhaps something we should know about public toilet, or maybe specifically public toilet in japan
3. the crinkling noise, the pulled toilet paper noise, and pressumed phone call noise that happened to be heard by the narrator at the same time maybe correlates?? so he can take a conclusion about what happened
so curious about the explanation from saya
can't wait
Mimi said…
Hello, Saya. I haven't been here for some time. And I don't comment as often as the other people around here, but I hope you are doing fine. :)

This one is a difficult one to decode. I'm at a loss. Everyone has such good theories..
CRRobbins said…
It seems this case has come to a close. A man in the next stall over having a conversation with the wrong number recording. Certaining very unnerving and even more so for the setting. I have no doubt it would drive someone away in fear as their imaginations ran away with them literally.

Whether he had malicious intent or was merely deraged seems to be something we could only conjecture without certainty due to the Main character taking leave of the place before anything further could occur. I'd say the damage was done; Fear being something that attacks not your body, but your mind.

I find the whole thing to be amusing even if things didn't escalate to a physical altercation. I don't socialize with people in the restroom and most certainly wouldn't wait around for someone who was conversing with a recording. :p

Thanks again for another wonderful, cryptic tale!
ryuu said…
the person in the the other cubicle was crazy that's why he ran like the Flash =P out of that place. i think the message he heard was something like "the number you dialled is not in service" and/or "the number you dialled cannot be reached" and/or "this is a recording" something like that.
Everyone has been waiting for me to give a definite answer to this cryptic story, but I'm afraid there is none.

However,I based this translation on
a guess that the person on the other side of the phone is a recorded message, that says "The number you have dialled has not been recognised. Please check and try again."
said…
この話がよく分かりませんでしたが、電話の会話はリングを思わせます。私にはこう思いました: "Remember you did not record it.”そして"Watch it again.”もしかしてリングの呪われたビデオをダビングしなかったのでしょうか。それで相手に心配をかけていることもおかしくありませんね。そして最後に相手の最期を聞いたのではありませんか。他のコメントも見ましたが、話し手が女性だとは思いません。だってもし女性だったら、隣に男性を聞けばすぐお手洗いを去るのではありませんか。今度の話が理解出来ないからこそ怖いと思います。ありがとうございました。
Tripoda said…
Nice story. Saya, may I translate it in french and publish it on my own site? Hope you'll answer quickly.
@Tripoda: Go ahead,my friend. Would be nice if you could provide a link back to my blog. Thanks for asking first! :)
Dozing zombIE said…
i think the protag just realized that the cubicle next to him was empty and the door is opened. thats why he can hear the phone clearly, which would be saying "the number youve dialed could not be reach" as pointed out by previous poster.
Sadae said…
The broken words can be interpreted in many different ways. My only objection to the "remember you did not record" and "the number you dialed" theories is that there is a broken "sound" before "di...". There is a lost word (or words) there. This one is really tough. Great cryptic story, Saya-san!
Anonymous said…
Maybe the person just got freaked out because after realising it was a pre-recorded error message, she just recognized her own phone message, which would mean that the person tried to reach her phone and that he made it on the second try.
Anonymous said…
I'm starting to think that maybe the other guy is actually talking to his victim who was trying to call for help but instead got the error message, rather than into the phone himself? And the noises were in fact some kind of strangling?
Anonymous said…
could you please translate this comment Saya? i only understand the lines is from the ring? i still don't get what he heard from the phone afterward :/
Pixie said…
Especially given Saya's input, I definitely think it's a phone error message. THe rest is up in the air (we don't have any more information on this person, and we don't know what would have happened because the narrator ran away).

He didn't hear anything different afterward. When it says he heard the words clearly, I think it just means that he recognized the error message. But it's definitely a strange person who talks to an error message like they're a real person responding back to them. It's suspicious if they're doing it on purpose, or maybe they're not in touch with reality. Thus, the narrator was scared and ran away. Not because of some new words on the phone but because he realized the person was "talking" to an error message, or pretending to.
Petzie said…
My my my... i thought the "...ch .....t ..again" was "touch it again" hahahha,, oh well, this cryptic story is far beyond my brain can take hahaha., but i think the crinkle crinkle sound is weird aomehow... yet noone mentioned anything strange with that and the fact that the narrator is afraid of the dark right afrerwards means naybe it got sumthin to do with ghost?



Terrific story once again, saya san! Banzaaaaiiiii~~!
Unknown said…
He didn't wash his hands after using the bathroom 0_0