The Public Toilet

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I went into a public toilet.
It was a Japanese-style toilet.**

I hate Japanese-style toilets, but there was nothing I could do about it; so I squatted down. Then I noticed a message written on the wall in front of me.
"Look Right!!" It said.
What the hell? I turned my head to the right and saw another message on the wall that said, "Look Left!!"
Wow so bossy! I thought, but I turned my head to the left as instructed, and this time it said, "Look Up!"
Nervously I looked up at the ceiling and saw a message written in large red letters that said,
"Don't Look Behind You!!"
With a pounding heart, I slowly turned my head around and looked behind me......

And luckily, there was nothing there.



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** See this link for the proper way to use it.
I actually hate Japanese-style toilets too. lol
But in the days when people wore kimono, this type of toilet was most appropriate.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Eh, the toilet looks like a squat toilet? I hate squat toilets cos I get leg cramps when I use them, but I read they are better for one's health than the sitting types, especially for pregnant women (daily squatting aids in smoother deliveries). Anyway, I think the person in the story doesn't have the ability to see ghosts, hence even if there is indeed a spirit behind him, he can't see it anyway, lol. Thanks for the regular updates, Saya-san :) Awesome stories :)
Unknown said…
something will come out from the toilet because he look behind :o
Unknown said…
Maybe, just maybe, there's actually something behind him. But when he turned his head around and looked behind him, that something following his head movement, just maybe
You guys need to read more carefully!:D
Stephanie T said…
Does it have something to do with the message changing? If you look straight ahead, turn your head right, then left, wouldn't you end up where you started? So the message changed?
Unknown said…
oh! I think I got it, please excuse my bad english.
At first the person is looking at the wall in front of him/her than he/she turns right, then turns left, when the person turns left is looking at the first wall again, but... the message is different!
So that means that there is something inside the bathroom with him....
Well,that's my hypothesis
hollow.nerd said…
Okay.I was thinking he just couldn't see them.Yet.Behind him was a door, isn't it? So chances sth was waiting him behind the door....
n. said…
Hmm when the person saw the message in ceiling he/she lift his/her head up as if he/she read the message in front of him/her so 'behind you' means something below. it was in the toilet, i guess. sorry.
Ekky Sanyotho said…
He actually looking up, right?
so, when it says, "behind you", it is actually below you..
Luckily that person doesn't look below him/her..
Disturbed Child said…
1) When he looked right, and then turned his head to the left, it means that he's facing the first wall again. The message has changed :/

2) I'm not really sure about this but if he looked up (facing the ceiling), and the message said don't look BEHIND you, wouldn't it mean the opposite direction (the floor/ toilet)? Maybe something's going to crawl out...

Saya, why won't you give the answers anymore? I can't figure out the going to bathroom at night one...
Anonymous said…
Well, the person doesn't end up looking at the first wall, but at the ceiling. But who would be tall enough to write on the ceiling? There's the theory of looking right and then looking left at the original wall... but if I look to the right and the wall tells me to look left, I'd probably look at my left wall rather than the wall in front of me.

Or, alternatively, since the person is squatting down, that person's sight-line is too low to see the thing floating behind him.
Unknown said…
Well this one is tricky but i got this that, after looking up then looking behind means looking down/below it means something under her.

Am I right saya? sorry for my bad english =w=
Anonymous said…
LOL! I feel something is wrong when I read 'Look Left!'. Since he is LOOKING RIGHT at that moment and left means back to the front!

The message is changing! First scary part. >_<

The look behind means to look at the toilet that he is using right now!! [I'm actually move my head following the story so I know it for sure... I mean behind you when you are looking up means under you...right?]

The thought of something coming from under you [covered in you-know-what] when you are doing your business is just plain creepy! >_<
Unknown said…
but don't you have to look at the back of the toilet when you enter and then turn around to use it?
Unknown said…
I think that it has something to do with the Japanese Style toilet...?

I've just tried squatting down and trying to look behind me and I almost broke my neck / fall down! An idea then popped up... is she the girl from Exorcist?!?! Haha
Yudhi said…
well I guess the theory that he was suppossed to look below is true,

but the messages itself is tricky for me, if I was that person, I would do the same, because "behind me" for me is behind my body, not behind my head...
..
...or maybe, just maybe the messages just want to tell that it's not appropiate to look inside the toilet during the...uh..process(?)
Anyway, good story Saya san!
ally said…
Hahahaha, my brother said that butt is another word for behind. So when the person said there was nothing there, it means that poop didn't come out from her BEHIND. That could be the meaning of the vague message on the ceiling.... or maybe not.


Sorry Saya san~ XD love your blog!
noino said…
There are two things not good here...
1. The writing changed
2. When looking up.... "behind you" could also mean down.... in the toilet....

...oh god.
Lone Plague said…
So since they hate using them, I assume they barely use such toilets. If that's the case, they must've have entered the stall and went into position while facing the wall that's opposite to the stall door, the thing would be "behind" the narrator would actually be behind them.
Huh, I really can't agree with the "should've looked down to the toilet" theory, because since the messages were clear directions, if it really meant not to look down, it'd have said "Don't look down".
But yup, I also think the first message has changed. Maybe something would show up if she DIDN'T look behind? That's my guess :p
KAYYYY said…
Hi, Saya-san! I've been too scared to comment on your blog but got the courage to so here goes... Could the messages be telling the person to submissively snap their neck maybe? I love your blog so much and I love all the hard cryptic stories you send out to your readers! Keep up the good work :D
Unknown said…
Hi Saya,
my interpretation was that the person has been following all the instructions except the person did not obey the last instruction because the last one was a negative sentence...DON'T look behind you.
So I think the ghost was in front of the person when the person turned around. if the person followed the instruction and didn't look behind and stayed looking at the front...the person would have seen the ghost.
So there is nothing there before because the GHOST IS IN THE FRONT!
which the user will find out after s/he turns back to front hehe
Unknown said…
Saya san , T^T why did you disabled the mouse right click function ??
Now I can't read multiple story at once... T^T
( i want to use it as ' Open in new Tab ' )
A girl said…
Nothing there as in there is no wall?? o_o So confused
Nunu. said…
Hi Saya-san.
Ok, this one really got me stumped.
I don't really agree with the "look below" theories. Because the narrator only moved his head after reading each message, not his body. "Don't look behind" for me would refer to behind the narrator's body, not behind the back of his head.

Hmmm.. maybe the message referred to something that attached itself to narrator's back, or something that was standing reaaallllyy close to narrator's back. He must have twisted his body to see behind him, and that something also follow his movement, so that's why he did not see anything.

I'm not sure I got this right. I'm curious to see more theories from other posters.

nunu
~桔子~ said…
I agree with most of the comments that the instructions on the wall has changed because from front>right>back to left = front wall.
Then when the last message told him NOT to look behind, but he still look behind..I am guessing since he disobeyed the msg, something will happen will he turned back to the front wall heehee:P

(But who would be so silly to follow instructions/ messages written on toilet walls? O.o )
japanesepage said…
Oh my god i'm very sorry but when I saw the part when the guy who used the toilet said 'i turned back and luckily there was nothing behind me' i think it means that there are literally nothing behind them, like there was no wall behind them, which is mean all this time they were using the toilet without walls and expose whatever they do in the toilet to other people who happens to passing by. I'm very sorry but I cannot think of another reason saya san
Dethyl said…
I think people need to remember that in some cultures (like for me it's Chinese), "front" means where your face is looking at.

So if only my head is turned to the left, my front is my body's left but in Chinese when someone is talking to me, they will call that my front. So in that case, "back" is behind my head, in other words by body's right.

Maybe it's similar in Japanese?
sardine god said…
Ah I hate squat toilets. They still exist in my school.

Anyway I think the person's supposed to look what's INSIDE the toilet, and what s/he did was look to the other wall behind his back. Cause the opposite of up is down, right. //shot

Reminds me of that creature inside that toilet that offers blue/red toilet paper, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe that's the thing waiting in there?! :o And more creatures in the toilet - I saw one in an episode of Yami Shibai (that horror anime). Because of toilet creatures I'm so convinced of this answer, lol.
Reader said…
he/she/it turns the head around. is it like 360 degrees? is it means that he/she/it is a ghost?
Jazmin's words said…
Ah.... it was inside the toilet XD
Unknown said…
The person used the toilet wrong, hence why he/she didn`t see whatever was there. She/He was supposed to look in the other direction.
Unknown said…
The person used the toilet in the wrong direction, hence why she/he didn`t see whatever was there.
Anonymous said…
I really don't get it... There's a lot of interesting theories here, but none of them makes me understand this story.

But I disagree with the theory that the inscription changes: If I sit on a toilet and the front wall (or, in normal cases, the door) says "Look right", and I look right, and then there's a note saying "Look left", I look *past* the front message to my left side, where it says "Look up". So no changing message. But still no explanation to the whole thing. And if the narrator uses the toilet the wrong way, I'm completely lost...

Is it some joke like "Toilet Tennis", where on the left wall it says "Look right" and on the right wall, it says "Look left"?

Saya, do you have an explanation? Would you share it with us when you're less busy? Anyway, this story is a nice mindfuck, it keeps me thinking for days now...

Cheers, Doc Sanchez
Anonymous said…
Saya, will you ever cone out with the offical answer? Been really curious!!
Hi everyone! Thank you for your messages and sorry I haven't been able to respond to them.

I just wanna say that, I don't have a definite solution for this story or anything, but I think many people would say that it's the fact the first message changed when the narrator read it for the second time which makes the story creepy.
Unknown said…
I wonder how long the message has been there? Maybe someone before this girl saw something behind her when she read it o.O
Unknown said…
Wonder if "Don't look behind" means not to turn your head 360 degrees in order to see what's behind, which will cause death.
If so, it serves as a good joke.
Unknown said…
can i copy and translate this to indonesian language? i'll give the linkback
Unknown said…
"Do not look behind" means that something will appear in front if you do look behind.

Basically, the moment he switches back to looking in front, he's done
Daminite said…
I don't know about the rest of you but if I saw instructions like that I'd of looked all the way left not back to front.
Daud Rotama said…
My opinion:
When he/she read the message: "Don't look behind you", and when he/she turned to look at his/her behind, of course it's a wall and nothing's there. But the real thing comes after it...

After he/she turned his/her head back to the front, then there must be something there (his/her front). When his/her head was facing the back wall, it means that the message "Don't look behind" was meant: "Don't look behind you, because you'll never know what's coming from your front."

My opinion tho :)
Unknown said…
there should be a door behind him right? instead there was nothing. hmm..
Anonymous said…
Yusni, I didn't even think about where the door would be situated! For the sitting toilets, the door is usually situated in front of the toilet seat, but what are squat toilet stalls like? It's been so long since I've been in one that I've forgotten where the door would be in a squat toilet stall.