Funeral

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(Translated and arranged by Saya)



942: 04/01/26 20:49

A few years ago, around midnight, I got a call from S, who was my girlfriend at the time. 

She sounded quite flustered, and I couldn't really understand what she was saying. 
Since it seemed she was already outside, I told her to come over to my place and talk to me in person. 

S came to my place by taxi; I was surprised because she would normally never do that. 
I invited her to come in but she was so nervous and fidgety that she didn't sit down immediately. 

I told her to calm down and tell me what had happened. 
She started talking after she poured herself some tea.

This is a summary of her story:
After work, she had dinner outside and came back home at around 11:30 p.m.
She'd had some yakiniku *1 so she wanted to have a bath as soon as possible. 

She put down her bag at the front door, and opened the bathroom's door before turning the lights on.
But as soon as she opened it, some wisps of smoke wafted over her face, and it made her hand - which had been searching for the light switch - stop dead in its tracks. 

She peeked inside and saw the bathtub covered over with a black cloth.*2 Laying on top of the cloth were a bouquet of white flowers, and a few lighted candles. 

And in the middle of those things, among thick clouds of smoke made by incense sticks,  there was a black-and-white photograph of herself in a frame. 
She saw her smiling face illuminated in the dark by the candles. 
But the eyes of the portrait, as well as the background, were blacked out.

Her mind went totally blank for a few seconds. 
Then her legs started shaking, and her mind became wild with questions. 

A funeral? Who did this? When? For what reason? How? 

The front door was locked. And the windows...they were also locked. 
So where is the person who has done this now? 

It was then that she heard some faint sounds from the closet. 

They were dry sounds like papers falling to the floor one by one. 

She grabbed her bag and was out the front door even before she knew what she was doing. 
She ran for her life to the national highway*3 , and called me from there. 

"What if it's a burglar... I am worried about the fire." 
She said; so we decided to go back to her room together. I took a lead pipe with me for protection. 

Her room was on the second floor of a two-storey apartment building.
We went up the stairs and arrived at the front door of her room. 
We stood there for a while straining our ears; there was only silence all around us and we could detect no movement inside.

We opened the door.

Immediately, the smell of incense*4 assailed our nostrils. We turned the lights on and entered the bathroom. 

The bathroom was left exactly the way she described it. But all the candles and insence sticks had been blown out. 

I went inside and observed the portrait. The eyes were blacked out with some type of ink. It looked crudely done as if a child had doodled on it. 

"Aaaahhhhhhhhhh!" 
I heard a scream from behind me.

I stepped out of the bathroom and found S standing frozen in front of the closest, with her hand covering her mouth. 

A large amount of hair had fallen off the upper shelf of the closet and scattered on the floor. 
There was so much hair that even just the one on the floor would have equalled to the whole hair of one adult, or more.

S just stood there looking stupefied. 
Somehow her foot was drawing a circle on the floor. 

It was more than I could handle alone.
I called 110 (*police number). 

"So that sound was the sound of hair falling..." She muttered behind me. 
She continued to mutter those words over and over again until the police arrived. 

No items seemed to have been lost, and the place was basically undisturbed apart from the bathroom and the closet. 
Probably for those reasons, the police only asked us some cursory questions and left without having done much investigation. 
I thought they would take fingerprints but they did no such thing.

However, they questioned S again and again to make sure that the items left in the bathroom and the large amount of hair didn't belong to her, and took those things away with them.

From the following day onwards, S moved in with me to my room, but we broke up half a month later, partly because we realised we were incompatible as partners. 
But the main reason for the break up was that S obviously changed since that incident. 

She was often depressed, and she would burst out in tears at least once a day. 
She would sometimes refuse to go to work. She would often skip meals, claiming that food seemed all tasteless.
A few times I woke up in the middle of the night and found her sitting in front of a table and staring at a mirror.

After the break up, any news about her was brought to me by her younger brother, who happened to be my colleague at work: 
As days went by, S's behaviour became increasingly erratic, and her family decided to take her to the hospital. 

At the hospital, they found out she had cancer. 
By the time she got her results, it was past cure; she passed away in less than a month after that. 

I attended her funeral out of respect for her. 
I saw her portrait on the altar, which showed her happy, smiling face. 
The colour photo looked so different from that gloomy photo of her we saw in her bathroom.

I saw her body too. She looked healthier than I had expected, and her skin was smooth. 
But later I was informed that she looked well because of the makeup applied by an embalmer. 

"My sister was so thin but she looks so healthy now because of the makeup and the cotton they put inside her face." 
Her brother's eyes welled up with tears as he explained it to me. 
"She has a wig on too. She lost all her hair because of the side effects of the drugs." 

Just then I remembered those words S kept muttering under her breath while we were waiting for the police to arrive, and felt chills down my spine.


948: Anonymous: 04/01/26 20:59
Good one. 
But how did the police deal with it in the end?

949: Anonymous : 04/01/26 21:02
I can only think that someone broke into her room and did the handiwork. 
Didn't the police find out how it was done ?

950 :942:04/01/26 21:07
>>948
I think the police visited the room only once. 
They said that S probably forgot to lock the front door, and while she was out, someone entered her room. 
I remember they gave her some general advice, such as "make sure you lock the door properly before you leave," or "we suggest you stay in a different place for a while." 
They also told her to let them know if something unusual happened again. 
But I didn't think it was appropriate to report to them about her strange behaviours...

I am starting to feel upset now...
S, please forgive me...

952 :942:04/01/26 21:10
>>949
The police hasn't contacted me. 
I wonder too if S heard something from them.

953 : Anonymous:04/01/26 22:13
S might have done it herself, either consciously or unconsciously. 
There are many possible explanations for her actions, and the hair could have been taken from a wig. I can't imagine how a total stranger could have prepared a black and white photo of her. 
I don't know if it was a real photograph that she owned or it was a print because you didn't make that clear in your story...

958 :942:04/01/26 22:55
>>953
Yes. 
I think it would make the most sense to assume that she did it all by herself. 
Perhaps she knew she had cancer and she decided to set those things up on display. 
But what message was she trying to convey by it, and whom the message was directed to? 
But whenever I try to figure out those questions, I get overwhelmed by my emotions. 

960 :942:04/01/26 22:58
P.S. 
I am not sure if the black and white photo was a real photograph or a print. 
Because the frame was without a glass cover, I could clearly observe that the eyes had been blacked out.



----------------------------------
Notes: 
*1 Yakiniku --- literally, grilled (yaki 焼き) meat (niku 肉). It refers to Japanese style BBQ. In a yakiniku restaurant, customers usually grill their meat at their table by themselves, which cause their clothes to become smelly; hence S wanted to have a bath as soon as possible. 

*2 Bathtub --- Japanese bathtubs usually come with lids, so I think that's why they could set up the display on it.  

A bathtub with a lid


 *4 They burn incence at funeral in Japan.(See Japanese Funeral Etiquette for more information  )





Comments

Saya_In_Underworld said…
I am sorry everyone, it took me so long to update my blog since the last time, and I even said I would post something in August but didn't 😱✨ I have been caught up in many things that are happening in my life! I hope I can be more consistent in the future...

Anyway thank you for your love and support for this blog! I appreciate every comment you leave here 💕💕💕Lots of love💖💖💖✨
Anonymous said…
Hello, Saya!! I miss you so much!! So glad that you've been doing very well in real life :)

The story is indeed bizarre. The police should dust the photo, candle etc for fingerprints, so they know who did it.

Thank you for the story and happy halloween!
Saya_In_Underworld said…
Happy Halloween!😊⭐🎵

This isn't a really scary story but it left a deep impression on me⭐

Thank you so much for your kind words 🌸✨
Sunny said…
Ooooooh. Just in time for Halloween. This wasnt scary though saya san. Get me something that scares me like the paper thin girl in between the walls
Saya_In_Underworld said…
I don't post only scary stories here😆✨ I want to translate only those stories I like, because if I don't I wouldn't be motivated to continue this blog.
Anonymous said…
That was so scary!!!! If she did it herself, I wonder why?! And why was she staring at mirrors at night?! I feel sorry for that girl :(

The police being useless again xD Seems to be common in these storys.

Thank you for this amazing translation!
Saya_In_Underworld said…
I am glad you like the story!😆💗✨

That's funny 😆⭐ It's true the police tends to be useless in those stories! LoL ✨

My pleasure!💖💕✨Thank you for your comment⭐✨
allucinator said…
Oftentimes, the bathroom is where you contemplate things. Perhaps she set that funeral and just forgot about it as if it was caused by short term memory loss by depression, yet this is too much for a short term memory loss.

Was she wearing a wig during the incident? Perhaps, she was diagnosed with cancer earlier prior to the incident. Perhaps 'twas an omen that got the best of her.

One can attribute all the things (including all the elements of dissociation) to depression (that may have occurred prior the incident), yet the incident is still eerie.
allucinator said…
It's alright. Glad to know you are doing well. Take care. ☺️

The story isn't scary, yet it is somewhat disturbing.
Saya_In_Underworld said…
@allucinator Thank you so much! I hope everything is going well with you too😊🌸✨
Saya_In_Underworld said…
I hope I am not behaving like a crazy person when I am depressed 😆⭐✨ Unfortunately, I am always forgetful 🤣🎵✨
Yukari said…
Great to hear from you again! <3

The boyfriend says that S changed after this incident.
But maybe everything he describes was already going on before and she had only pretended everything was fine when they met. So he only noticed the truth once they were living together.
It would make sense to me since the cancer was so advanced that it was already too late when it was diagnosed. It must have been in her body for some time.
So maybe her subconscious set up the display in the bathroom to send some kind of twisted warning, or react to something it instinctively knew, long before the conscious mind was told by the doctors.

It reminds me of a story I read some time ago, where a woman started to hear voices in her head that told her they were former doctors and wanted to help and something was very wrong with her. So she went to see (IRL) doctors, had a brain scan, to find out where the voices were coming from and the brain scan actually found a tumor. She had had no symptoms, and the operation saved her life. She heard the voices one last time after the operation, just saying "Glad we have helped you. Bye bye."

Maybe S was experiencing something vaguely along the same lines.
Saya_In_Underworld said…
Aww such an interesting story! I heard that brain tumours can make you have hallucinations like that? 😆✨ Thank you so much for your interesting comment!
Saya_In_Underworld said…
But yes, I hope I can post a scarier story soon😆💖✨
George V said…
怖ったですよ。Nice one for Halloween season. Lesson to learn here, if something strange happens, go in for a medical exam. It may save your life.
Saya_In_Underworld said…
よかった。うれしいです。😆✨
When I read this story, my first thought actually was someone cursed her.

Thank you so much for your comment!
George V said…
I meant to ask you, what is a good book collection of Japanese Urban Legend in Japanese?
Saya_In_Underworld said…
A generic term for it or a specific book?
George V said…
Just looking for a good book on Urban Legends, so I use it to work on my Japanese.
Vita said…
Eerie... I know the commenters in the story are suggesting the girlfriend did it herself, but if she got home at 11:30 and called the boyfriend around midnight, thats a really short time window to set up a display like that. It feels supernatural to me.

Glad to see that you are doing well Saya! This story was posted on my birthday so its like a little gift :^). Thank you as always for your translations!
Saya_In_Underworld said…
I don't know any books but I have just found this site!

https://ameblo.jp/ponnpokopopoponn/

It's a collection of short horror stories (many of them are urban legends) for children!

I am hoping that because they are for children, they are written more grammatically correct than others.

I hope you will like it😊🌈✨
Saya_In_Underworld said…
Good point😆🧡✨

Oh Happy belated Birthday dearest 🎁🎂🎈🎉
I hope you had a lot of fun 🌈✨🎵

Thank you so much for being so sweet too!💖✨✨⭐
George V said…
ありがとう。Given my knowledge of kanji, things written for children is probably my speed. Thankfully, I am good at hひらがな。
Saya_In_Underworld said…
I will give you the link to some more children's stories too.

It seems they have ふりがな up to the stories for the fourth grade elementary school students, so you can enjoy reading them without worrying about kanji.

どういたしまして!
George V said…
Cool. I would try to write it in hiragana, but I have yet to figure how to make this Alma Linux Laptop do it. Windows, and iPad no problem.
Saya_In_Underworld said…
I am not sure how it works, but it says you have to either install Ibus

https://qiita.com/LemonLeaf/items/68a15edf87c7f402b1f1

Or fcitx

http://freebsd.sing.ne.jp/linux/03/07/04.html

To be able to use Japanese on Alma Linux.

I am sorry it's all in Japanese 😅but I hope you will figure it out!
Anonymous said…
hi Saya! cool story as always! this reminds me of your other story about fugue state. Then again this kind of thing does happen albeit very rare in real life, whatever the cause and motive may be.
Saya_In_Underworld said…
Oh I had to search for that story!😆⭐ Here it is

https://sayainunderworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/memory-loss.html?m=1

Thank you for your comment!💞✨
Wendi said…
Wow I got to read this story right on Halloween! It's really my type, creepy and so much to think about. It would be sad if it were really S who did it, but I can't ignore the idea of some kind of ritual was held to curse her, and it worked. That'd be even more twisted ^^!
Saya_In_Underworld said…
Oh cool!😆⭐ Happy Halloween!🎃✨

I definitely thought someone cursed her when I read it for the first time!

I am glad you enjoyed reading it!💖🌈✨👻
welcome back Saya!
it's nice to see you again :))
btw, the pic is very scary :')
Saya_In_Underworld said…
Thank you so much! 😊💓✨I was surprised to find a picture so suitable for this story! 😆⭐✨
Anonymous said…
I don't think she did it.
I believe someone cursed her and made her got cancer.
Or maybe a supernatural being took a pity on her and tried to give her an early warning on her cancer.

Cool story, Saya-san. Thank you. :)

- nunu -
I like your second theory because I like to imagine the majority of spirits and people alike are benevolent.😆✨

Thank you for commenting💓✨