Phenomeno:Volume 03, Afterword To The Afterword

Afterword To the Afterword

…Naturally, I think having three afterwords in succession is a bit repetitive, but I was careless and forgot that there were already two before this one.Having said that, I'm going to tell a pop ghost story.

In the university I attended, there was a strange rumor surrounding a certain school building. The story went that if you were to count the number of windows from outside the building, the number would be ◯◯, yet when entering and counting all the classroom windows from the inside, the number would turn out to be one short. As a test, I tried to count and confirm all the windows on the first floor with a friend of mine, but the number was the same. As we looked at the school building from the outside, I spoke disappointedly, “It's the same, isn't it?”, when my friend suddenly spoke.

“…That window on the second floor, isn’t it strange?”

I looked and saw that the window furthest to the left of the second floor had its curtains drawn.

I felt something of a shiver at that moment. Because after all, it was a school building with no curtains in any of the classrooms. The two of us tried going into the place where the curtained window was located. It was a classroom at the far end of the second floor, but again, there was no such window with its curtains drawn anywhere inside. So then, just where was the room with the curtains we saw from outside?

“I see.”

My friend suddenly whispered, and started walking towards the back of the room. They then put their ears against the wall, and started tapping.

“It’s here. It’s closed up by a wall, but the interior is hollow— in other words, there’s a room here.”

That really sent chills down my spine. Beyond the wall where my friend stood, was a narrow space with a single closed window. There was a hidden space in a place that until now, I -- and probably no other student – was completely unaware of. Why did such a strange thing exist? Or was there an entrance somewhere?

Even though there was warm sunshine in the lunch break, that room alone, however, had a cold air hanging about it.

“Ah, that’s a weight off my shoulders.”

However, my friend was satisfied as they left the classroom, and in a panic, I rushed after. I didn't feel as if the weight had been taken off my shoulders at all, and when I caught up to my friend outside, I asked them.

“Why? What was all that about?”

In response, my friend looked somewhat pale as they turned back and said:

“That was terrifying. There was something there. When I knocked, I heard something move inside.”

--Is how the story went, but I couldn't forget the fiery glitter in my friend's eyes. It became the model for ‘Yoishi’ in this series ‘Phenomeno’ long after that happened. It’s not a pop story at all, is it? 　

Now then, this volume has been endorsed by the actress Chiaki Kuriyama-san.

The first time I met Chiaki Kuriyama-san was during the photography of the ‘New Moon Reading Hall’, the first time I got to say hello properly was in the recording studio during the reading. I remember that Kuriyama-san greeted us in a very friendly manner, as if she were a childhood friend, which instantly brightened up the occult setting (since the New Moon Reading Hall itself was a ghost story project). As someone who is usually confined to the keyboard by myself, I was dazzled by her greeting and envied her personality that she could brighten people's hearts so much.

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your wonderful words with us.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

December 2015

Ninomae Hajime

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Translator's notes and references

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