It happened a few years ago, so it might be a repost, but every time I watch "The Bomber's Switch" from *Tales of the Unusual*, it leaves such a deeply unsettling, lingering bad taste in my mouth.
The protagonist, Egusa, is an ordinary college student who works part-time to pay his way through school. One day, while handing out tissue packets on the street, he accidentally bumps his arm against a local thug, causing the thug's canned coffee to spill. The thug flies into a rage and kicks over the box of tissues. As Egusa is picking up the scattered packets, ignoring the people just walking right past him, only one person stops to help him.
That person is Oda, a frail and timid-looking guy in glasses. Egusa didn't know him, but it turns out they're in the same academic department. "There are a lot of people, so it can't be helped," Oda says. "But I've known about you for a long time." He tells Egusa there's something he wants to entrust to him, and hands him a switch. When Egusa asks what kind of switch it is, Oda tells him, "It's the detonator for a bomb planted inside my body."
Egusa tries to refuse it, but Oda begs him, saying, "If I hold onto it any longer, the pressure will break me and I'll end up pushing it myself." Reluctantly, Egusa agrees to keep it. When he gets home, he searches the web address written on the switch and lands on a website. The site contains explanations of the same type of bomb and switch, along with summarized information about incidents caused by that very bomb.
The next day, thinking he really can't accept something like this, Egusa goes to return the switch. That's when yesterday's thug shows up. "You burned me, so pay up," the thug demands, snatching Egusa's wallet and checking his student ID.
Watching this, Oda steps in and confronts the thug. Even when he gets punched and is nearly thrown down a flight of stairs, Oda doesn't back down an inch, keeping his hand on the switch. Unable to watch, Egusa jumps in to stop them, and just at that moment, a passerby happens to walk by, causing the thug to back off. Afterward, Egusa and Oda become friends, and Egusa agrees once again to hold onto the switch.
A few days later, after a lecture, Egusa is watching Chiaki—a girl he secretly has a crush on—when the thug attacks again. The thug corners him, demanding that Egusa write his report for him, and threatens that if he refuses, he'll go after Chiaki. Egusa sees Oda walking by just as the thug leaves. For a second, Egusa thinks about detonating Oda to get rid of the thug, but he manages to hold himself back.
A little later on, Egusa and Oda are talking about a popular band when Chiaki joins the conversation. Egusa freezes up, but Oda smoothly pivots the situation, saying, "They're super popular and tickets are impossible to get, but I happen to have one extra," setting it up so the two of them can go to the concert together. Of course, there was never an extra ticket, and Egusa ends up having to pay nearly 80,000 yen at an auction to get one. Thrilled that he gets to go to a concert with the girl of his dreams, Egusa is chatting with Oda in front of the ticket.
Then, the thug strikes for the third time. "Today's the day, so if you can't pay up, get on your knees and grovel. If you have time to go to concerts, you have time to earn money." He forces Egusa to kneel on the floor of the cafeteria and snatches the ticket away.
Once again, Oda resists, fighting back no matter how many times he gets thrown to the floor, but he can't get the ticket back. Meanwhile, Egusa desperately fights the urge to press the switch. On the way home, despite Oda's furious anger, Egusa puts on a calm facade, saying, "I'll just honestly tell her there never was a ticket." But while talking to Oda, all of his pent-up emotions finally explode. Seeing him like this, Oda gently tells him, "I'll do anything for you. We're friends."
The next day, when Egusa arrives for his lecture, Chiaki's scream echoes through the room. Looking over, Egusa sees Chiaki's friend approaching him. It turns out that on Chiaki's desk were a pair of extreme, explicit underwear accompanied by a card reading: "Wear this and let's go to the concert together — Toshiya Egusa."
"It wasn't me! You have to believe me!" Egusa cries out in agony, but Chiaki looks at him with a gaze mixed with contempt and horror.
Then, the thug appears for a fourth time. Egusa is made a laughingstock with the underwear pulled over his head. Spotting Oda confronting the thug in the hallway, Egusa mutters, "We're friends, right? So… please die for me…" and with trembling fingers, he presses the switch.
Instead of an explosion, however, all that rings out is a deflating "beep-boop" chime.
Ignoring Egusa, who keeps pressing the switch over and over, Oda and the thug walk over—both completely dropping their previous acts.
"Great job," they say to each other, seamlessly chatting. "Six days and six and a half hours, huh?" Just as Egusa is processing this, they flash their IDs at him. They aren't students at all, but researchers from the Institute of Adolescent Criminal Psychology. This entire ordeal was an experiment to see whether someone would choose friendship or their own ego.
"Well, that was the shortest record yet," the thug says with a smirked laugh.
"Youthful ego is truly accelerating," Oda declares. "On top of that, we also gathered data showing that people will instantly swallow internet information as absolute truth just by looking at a page we created."
"Thank you for your cooperation." "Sorry for all the trouble." With just those words, the two of them walk away.
"That was fast this time."
"Man, people are terrifying, aren't they?"
Behind the two laughing researchers as they chat, the figure of Egusa comes running up, gripping a snow shovel. Then, a metallic impact rings out.
The screen cuts straight to the news:
"At 4:00 PM today, university student Toshiya Egusa suddenly assaulted a passerby with a snow shovel, inflicting severe injuries. He has been arrested for assault and property damage."
"It just goes to show that young people are carrying bombs in their hearts."