JPHorror

The Final Episode of the Anime "Black Bullet"

I watched the final episode of an anime because an acquaintance told me it was interesting. It wasn't really my cup of tea, so I was only half-paying attention while doing other things. It's a brutal world where people die easily, and the protagonist, a young boy, and the heroine, a young girl, continue to fight painful and bitter battles to protect people. The young heroine is head-over-heels for the older protagonist and acts like an uninvited wife, while he just shrugs and brushes her off with a "good grief" attitude.

Calling the Rain "Kobo Daishi's Tears"

Let me tell you a story I remembered. It's something I saw on TV a long, long time ago. If anyone living in Shikoku knows this story, I'd love more details.

First, about 20 years ago or so, Manno Pond—often called the water reservoir of the people of Kagawa Prefecture—dried up due to a severe drought. Manno Pond is a reservoir constructed by the legendary Kobo Daishi himself, a lake that practically never dried up, even when many other irrigation ponds in the vicinity did.

Welcoming Party for a Black International Student at an Izakaya

About 10 years ago, I saw a TV show. I think it was called "Kore tte Ari desu ka? (Is This Allowed?), an episode variety show featuring 130 million people," where viewers submitted things that made them want to snap, which were then reenacted in short dramas. There’s one story from it that still leaves me with an uneasy, unresolved feeling.

A Black international student named "Jason" arrives at a university, and the students throw a welcome party for him at a place like an izakaya. The students are all smiling, but Jason has a gloomy expression. Staring at the food before him, he says, "There are so many unfortunate children in the world. They die because they can't even get enough to eat. So, please never do something like this again."

Stories I Heard from a Mountain Climbing Enthusiast

I've got three mountain stories to share.

First story: An acquaintance of my parents is into mountain climbing. Apparently, this is a story he told. He’s a hardcore enthusiast whose hobby is what they call "route finding"—trekking through areas where there are no established trails. According to him, if you go deep enough into the mountains, you can see things scaling sheer cliffs at incredible speeds. Naturally, whatever those are, they are definitely not human.

[Unsettling Story] "Am I gonna die? Why?"

"Am I gonna die? Why?"
"Because of alcohol, you see."
"I'm quitting drinking."
Ferdinand
Governor of Guastalla, Italy. Terrified by a fortune-teller's prophecy, he completely abstained from all alcoholic beverages.
However, while receiving a body massage, an alcohol-based massage oil caught fire, and he burned to death.

"Does a food survey really take us this deep into the backcountry…"
"Oh, there happen to be some natives right where we need them!"
Biaka Boda
A politician in Côte d'Ivoire. He was ordered by the government to investigate the country's food situation. While carrying out that mission, he reportedly became food for cannibals themselves.

Tales of the Unusual: "And Then, It Repeats" Starring Teruyoshi Uchimura

Spring 1998 Special Edition: "And Then, It Repeats"
Cast: Teruyoshi Uchimura

Synopsis:
After a day filled with nothing but misery, including the bankruptcy of his company, the protagonist looks up at the night sky and sees a shooting star.
"I wish tomorrow would never come…" he mutters to himself.

Starting the next day, whenever the clock strikes midnight, he is thrown right back to the morning of the same day.

Remembering This After Reading the Door Story

When I was working late on my research at university, I'd hear footsteps in the hallway and someone would knock on the door. Of course, nobody was ever there… It's such a cliché story, really boring, right?

While my professor was telling this exact story during a lecture, the door to the lecture hall opened just a crack. I thought it was a late student, but nobody came in, and the door closed again.

[Shisho Series] Poison - Part 1

This is a story I heard from my Shisho.

1. "Are We Talking About Untouchables?"

It was early in the winter of my second year at university.
Shisho brought me to Takaya General Research. I had been there many times, so there was no reason to be surprised anymore, but this was supposed to be their own corporate building.
"What's wrong? Let's go."
Looking up at it made me want to sigh. It was the same detective agency, but it made me painfully aware of the gap in status between them and our own Ogawa Investigation Office.
When we stepped inside, the heating seemed to already be on. I felt a soft film of warm air, even though winter had just begun and it wasn't that cold yet. I wondered when the heater had finally been turned on at the Ogawa Investigation Office last year.
As always, the desks were lined up neatly, and several investigators were busy filling out paperwork. Since they were all familiar faces, they barely glanced at us for a second before returning to work.
Just as I was heading toward Ichikawa-san, the office worker sitting deep inside the reception area, a loud voice greeted us from ahead.
"Oh my, if it isn't Kanako-chan!"
"Welcome."
The latter voice belonged to Ichikawa-san, the veteran office worker. The one who spoke first was an auntie with flashy, heavily teased purple hair and oversized yellow-rimmed sunglasses.
"Nishina-san, what are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, what? I was just chatting with Icchan here about the recent economic climate."
Nishina-san was the woman who always brought "ghost" cases to Shisho. She was born into a family that had run a broad, long-standing business in O City's central shopping district. After taking in a husband as an adopted heir, she left the business to him and threw herself into various community roles, serving as an officer in the women's association, the chamber of commerce, and other groups. She was a busybody who loved gossip. A huge amount of information gathered around Nishina-san every day, and from that, she would handpick troublesome problems to introduce to Takaya General Research and the Ogawa Investigation Office. Naturally, the cases that ended up at the Ogawa Investigation Office were only the incomprehensible matters that a regular detective agency couldn't handle.
"Kanako-chan. Oh, and Sakamoto-kun, the assistant too. What are you two doing here together? Ah, you've finally decided to switch over to Director Takaya's place, haven't you? I knew it, I knew it. Staying over at a place like that is letting your talent go to waste, even if I feel a bit sorry for Ogawa-kun. I mean, with their top earner being poached, they can't possibly keep going. That's right, Ogawa-kun might as well come back here too. There are so many desks here, surely some are empty. You should do that. Right, Icchan?"
"Well, that's true. The director doesn't seem entirely opposed to the idea either."
"Hold on, what are you two talking about behind our backs? We just came to see the director. I called ahead, didn't I?"
"Oh, was that today? I suppose he's here unless he went off to play pachinko."
Ichikawa-san glanced toward the back of the floor.
"What are you talking about? If you try to go outside from the director's office in the back, you have to walk right past here."
Sure enough, the first-floor office was an open, two-story atrium with a clear line of sight.
In response to Shisho's retort, Ichikawa-san leaned forward as if telling a ghost story and whispered in a low voice.
"The thing is, sometimes he just disappears out of nowhere. He must have inherited ninja blood or something."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Shisho looked exasperated.
"Speaking of ninjas, Icchan, I actually went to the Iga Ninja Village recently."
"Oh my, you didn't bring me a souvenir."
We walked past the two noisy women and headed toward the back of the floor.
"Ah, come to think of it, Kanako-chan."
Nishina-san was still saying something.
"What is it now?"
"Heave-ho."
Nishina-san lifted her heavy lower body off the chair she had claimed beside the reception desk. She approached us with a jangling sound. Her clothes and accessories were so cluttered that it was impossible to tell which one was making the noise.
"Aren't you looking a bit tired lately?"
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"I've got a good eye for people, you know. It's like, somehow, you're losing your life force."
For a split second, my heart skipped a beat. In my mind's eye, I pictured Shisho going to see his primary care physician, Professor Shikada, for tests.
"Could it be because you're hanging out with such a young guy? You should moderate yourself."
She suddenly burst into a vulgar laugh.
"It's nothing like that."
I protested involuntarily.
"Really? If that's the case, maybe *you're* the one absorbing his life force."
"How absurd," Shisho muttered, trying to walk away. Just as Nishina-san stopped laughing, she grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
"Lately, I've noticed something strange about this town, you know. Haven't consultations about ghosts suddenly increased? A lot of people around me have seen or heard weird things, too. That grating, screeching noise that came from the sky the other day was one of them. It's made me do a bit of soul-searching. Wondering if maybe I've been dumping too many things on you lately."
"No, no, I appreciate it. The cases you introduce are a vital source of income for the Ogawa Investigation Office."
Shisho gently brushed her hand off.

Masako Sone's short manga "Dreaming of Spring" - A disturbing story

When the grandfather, a farm owner, anticipated based on various signs that the coming winter would be long and harsh, and bought extra supplies and expanded the basement, his sons laughed at him.
Now that the long, harsh winter has arrived unexpectedly early, the sons are grateful to their grandfather.
The adults (grandfather, eldest son, second son and his wife, the second son's wife's younger brother, and third son and his wife) take turns patrolling the inside and outside of the farm in pairs, and also take turns keeping watch through the night.
The two young grandchildren (the second son's daughter and son) are having a fun time every day because they are used to staying in the farm during the winter anyway, and the adults are spoiling them more than usual.
They are a bit unhappy that the TV and radio are broken, the telephone lines are cut by an avalanche, the only road to town is blocked by an avalanche, and the oldest aunt (the eldest son's wife), who was visiting a friend in town, cannot come back. However, they are eagerly looking forward to spring, when they can all have a picnic, go to school, and reunite with their friends.
Wary of starving feral dogs, the adults set traps everywhere and patrol while carrying guns.
Gunshots ring out almost every day, and the adults return with grim expressions.
The adults, who show gentle and reliable faces in front of the two grandchildren, discuss the future with serious expressions at night.
The eldest son gets drunk and rages, saying, "I'll never see my wife again!" while his younger brothers soothe him by saying, "Let's go look for her when the snow melts."
(At this point, the reader might wonder: Is visiting a friend in town really the truth? Is it a lie told to protect the children's ears, and is it actually an affair and elopement?)
In reality, this "early-arriving, long, and harsh winter" is a nuclear winter. The avalanches and cut telephone lines were caused by nuclear war, and "the TV and radio are broken" is a lie deliberately told so as not to shock the young grandchildren about the destruction of broadcasting stations.
The "feral dogs" are actually the townspeople who somehow survived, suffering from radiation sickness and starvation.
The family kills them to protect their own, but deliberately calls them "starving feral dogs" to protect their own sanity.
The two daughters-in-law have gloomy faces, whispering that they must hide the bodies before letting the children outside when spring comes, as the children shouldn't see them…
The third son has been losing a lot of hair lately.
He forces a laugh, joking, "I don't want to go bald before the old man, HAHAHA."
The story ends with a page depicting the contrast between the innocent grandchildren and the gloomy-faced adults, with a mushroom cloud and radioactive fallout mixing with the snow in the background.

There was an incredibly kind guy at my part-time job

I work part-time at a convenience store, and there was this guy, A, who was insanely kind to everyone. A was the same age as me, and we got along pretty well. We hung out together a few times, and he was just so nice to me and everyone around us.

Whenever A came over to my place, he would always bring drinks or snacks as a gift, and he even gave me tickets to see my favorite artist for free. Eventually, it got to the point where I felt guilty taking so much stuff, so I tried to pay him for it, but for some reason, he wouldn't accept the money. This strange dynamic went on for about a year.

Refrain

It’s more of a bleak, hopeless story than a purely scary one, inspired by an episode of the TV drama *Tales of the Unusual* called "Refrain."

The protagonist is a man who committed murder and is being interrogated by two detectives. As the interrogation begins, the man asks the detective what the date is. "Today is July 6th."
According to the man, he had arranged to meet his ex-wife—whom he divorced the day before, on July 5th—and his son at a restaurant. However, a sudden yakuza gang war broke out, and his wife and son were caught in the crossfire and killed.
…But when the date changed, he would be sent back to the morning of July 5th, forced to repeat the exact same events over and over again.
Driven to the absolute brink of his sanity after watching his wife and son die repeatedly, the man finally snapped and murdered one of the yakuza gang members *before* the incident could happen.
As a result, the time loop stopped, the date moved forward to July 6th, and he was arrested, leading to his current situation.

[Shisho Series] 'Poison, Part 1 (1/5): Are They Untouchable?'

This is a story I heard from my mentor.

1: Are They Untouchable?
It was early winter during my second year of university.
My mentor had brought me along to Takaya General Research. I’d been there often enough that it no longer surprised me, but this was apparently their own company-owned building.
"What’s wrong? Let's go."
Looking up at it, I felt a sigh coming on. Even though it was just another detective agency, the sheer gap between them and our own Ogawa Investigation Office was painfully obvious.
Inside, the heat was already on. I could feel a soft film of warm air. Winter had only just begun and it wasn’t even that cold yet. I found myself wondering when the heater had finally been turned on at the Ogawa Investigation Office last year.
As usual, the desks were neatly lined up, and a few investigators were busy pounding away at paperwork. Since they were all familiar faces, they just glanced at us for a second before going right back to work.
As I started heading toward Ms. Ichikawa, the clerk sitting past the reception desk, a loud voice greeted us from ahead.
"Oh my, if it isn't Kanako-chan!"
"Welcome."
The latter voice belonged to Ms. Ichikawa, the veteran clerk. The one who had called out first was an old lady with heavily teased purple hair and wildly flashy, oversized yellow-rimmed sunglasses.
"Nishina-san, what are you up to?"
"What do you mean, what? I was just chatting with Itt-chan here about the economy lately."
Nishina-san was the woman who always brought 'ghost' cases to my mentor. She was born into a long-established, prominent merchant family in downtown O City. After taking in a husband to marry into her family, she left the running of the business to him while she busied herself holding various executive positions in women's associations, chambers of commerce, and community groups. She was a busybody who loved gossip. A huge volume of information reached Nishina-san every day, and out of all that, she would handpick the troublesome cases and refer them to Takaya General Research and the Ogawa Investigation Office. Naturally, the ones that ended up at the Ogawa Investigation Office were only the most baffling cases that regular detective agencies couldn't touch.
"Kanako-chan. Oh, and Sakamoto-kun, the assistant, too. What are you two doing here? Ah, don't tell me you've finally decided to switch over and work for Director Takaya? Of course you have. Working in a dump like that is just letting your talent go to waste. It's a shame for Ogawa-kun, though. I mean, getting his top earner poached means he can't stay in business. You know what, Ogawa-kun should just come back here too. There are so many desks around, I'm sure some are empty. You should tell him to do that. Right, Itt-chan?"
"Well, I suppose so. The director doesn't seem totally opposed to the idea, either."
"Hold on, what are you two just deciding on your own?" my mentor interjected. "We're just here to see the director. I called ahead, didn't I?"
"Oh, was that today? Well, if he hasn't gone off to play Pachinko, I suppose he's around."
Ms. Ichikawa glanced toward the back of the floor.
"What are you talking about? If you try to leave the director's office in the back, you have to walk right past here."
True enough, the first-floor office was an open-plan, two-story atrium with a clear line of sight.
At my mentor's deadpan retort, Ms. Ichikawa leaned forward as if telling a ghost story and whispered,
"Except sometimes, he just vanishes out of nowhere. The man must have ninja blood in him or something."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
My mentor looked exasperated.
"Speaking of ninjas, Itt-chan, I actually went to the Iga Ninja Village just the other day."
"Oh, and you didn't bring me a souvenir."
We walked past the two noisy women and headed toward the back of the floor.
"Oh, that's right, Kanako-chan."
Nishina-san was still shouting something.
"What is it now?"
"Hee-yo-heave-ho."
Nishina-san hauled her heavy weight up from the chair she had claimed next to the reception desk, standing up with a jangle of metallic noise. Her clothes and accessories were so cluttered that it was impossible to tell which one was making the sound.
"Aren't you looking a little tired lately?"
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"I've got a good eye for people, you know. It's like… your vitality is fading away."
For a split second, a chill went through me. The image of my mentor going for checkups with our primary physician, Professor Shikada, flashed across my mind.
"Could it be because you're hanging around with such a young guy? You need to take things in moderation."
She suddenly let out a vulgar laugh.
"It's nothing like that," I protested instinctively.
"Really? If that's the case, maybe *you're* the one sucking *his* vitality away."
My mentor muttered "What absolute nonsense" and tried to walk away. Just then, Nishina-san stopped laughing, reached out, and grabbed his shoulder.
"Lately, I've had this feeling that something is wrong with this town, you know? Suddenly, all these ghost complaints are popping up everywhere. Lots of people around me have been seeing and hearing weird things, too. That screeching noise coming from the sky the other day was one of them. I've been doing some reflecting on myself. Wondering if maybe… I've been dumping too much on you lately."
"No, no, I appreciate it. The cases you refer to us are a vital source of income for the Ogawa Investigation Office."
My mentor gently brushed her hand away.
"If you ever run into any trouble, come talk to me. I know a lot of people, you know."
"I am well aware."
My mentor gave a wry smile and nodded.
With that, we finally made our way to the director's office.

[An Unsettling Story] The Complete Two-Volume SF Manga "Kinu-Roku"

There's a completed two-volume SF manga called "Kinu-Roku." It wasn't axed; apparently, it was planned as a short series from the start, but it was interesting enough that ending it in just two volumes felt like a waste.

It's set in a distant cyberpunk future.
Once upon a time, people tried to emigrate to Mars. Utilizing their own advanced science, they modified their bodies to survive Mars' harsh environment and successfully evolved into a new human race known as "Martians."
Earthlings, eyeing the Martians' scientific prowess, declared war on Mars. However, the war fell into a stalemate, and a long time has passed since then.

A Small Middle-Aged Man Living in My Room

This happened when I was a student, back when I went to visit a friend's place.
That friend was somewhat notorious for never letting anyone into his apartment, but I somehow managed to successfully breach it for the first time.
It was tidier than you’d expect from a single guy living alone, and there was no particular reason for him to refuse visitors.
Yet, my friend kept glancing around nervously.
From time to time, he’d mutter things like, "Ah," or, "Oh."
Finding it strange and about to press him for answers, he suddenly widened his eyes and yelled, "Whoa!"
When I asked what was wrong, he ended up saying, "Well, you see, a tiny middle-aged man lives in this room."
He wasn't the kind of guy to normally say stuff like that, so when I probed further, he told me it was a "total old-man type" who was just a little larger than the palm of a hand, wearing a ribbed tank top, traditional loose underwear, and sporting a comb-over.
He doesn't really do anything, but if you keep ignoring him, he gets sulky, so you have to keep an eye on him, he claimed.
It was the kind of story you hear from time to time, but the idea of him getting "sulky" sounded oddly cute.
"If he's like a pet old man, maybe I'd want to see him too," I said.
My friend paused for a moment with an "Ah—" and added,
"Sometimes he comes out with his hands and mouth stained bright red with blood. I was seriously terrified the first time I saw it. I'm used to it now, though."
Perhaps emboldened by my friend's shock, the tiny old man apparently started showing up in that state every now and then.
Since he makes a genuinely delighted face when he gets startled, lately he’s just been putting on a fake look of surprise, my friend explained.

The Room Without Words

Cast: Takuya Kimura / Broadcast Date

During the period of high economic growth, an antique shop seemed almost forgotten in a corner of the city.
A young man in a factory worker's uniform—the protagonist—gazing at an open-reel tape deck displayed in the window, which looked old even for those days.
He takes out cash for the price tag from his pay envelope, hands it to the shopkeeper who has come out to the storefront, and takes the deck home.

[The Shisho Series] "Poison, Part 1: 2/5" A Little Marijuana and Hashish

Right after meeting Director Takatani, we headed straight to the Ogawa Investigation Agency. We had an important job to discuss today.
"We're cutting it close," the Master said, walking with fast, heavy strides. My own footsteps felt sluggish trailing behind him. After all, the other party was the yakuza.
"What's wrong, you look down. If you don't want to come, you don't have to be here today, you know."
"I can't just do that."
"Well, it's fine by me either way."
Oh, is that so? Then I'll stick to you out of sheer spite.
As we approached the multi-tenant building and I spotted the sign for Coffee Boston, I scanned our surroundings for any suspicious-looking cars. They usually rolled up in heavy, black-painted sedans. But for now, nothing of the sort was in sight.
I climbed the building's stairs and opened the door to the Ogawa Investigation Agency on the third floor.
"You're late. They'll be here any minute," Director Ogawa said. He was the only one in the office today; Hattori wasn't around. Given the recent suspicions of Hattori acting as a spy, it probably would've been awkward if he *had* been here.
A moment later, there was a knock at the door. I hadn't heard the sound of any flashy cars outside.
"Come in."
The man who stepped inside wore a black double-breasted suit, with a pale face and glasses. It was Matsuura, the assistant wakagashira of the Ishida gang—a man we’d had far too much history with lately. He tucked a black leather briefcase under his arm.
"Finally decided to take the job?"
Matsuura walked in with sharp, rigid posture, taking a seat on the visitor's sofa without waiting for the director's permission.
"Just you?" The Master dropped heavily into the chair across from him.
"We're busy right now, you see."
Matsuura replied with his legs crossed. I remembered reading an article in yesterday's newspaper about a yakuza gang war. It reported that gunshots had been fired at the entrance of a branch office belonging to the Ritsumitsu-kai, a secondary yakuza organization in the city. Just the other day, Director Ogawa had told us about the underground turf war between the regional Hishikawa gang and the Ritsumitsu-kai. I couldn't just skim past the news as if it had nothing to do with me.
"I appreciate you taking the time to come all this way despite being so busy. So, what's the job?"
As usual, the Master didn't bother changing his tone when speaking to Matsuura. Listening from the side, even though I was somewhat used to it by now, it still made my heart race.
Matsuura glanced briefly at Director Ogawa, who was still standing nearby. The director spoke up.
"I've left this matter to Nakaoka. She will be the one to decide whether or not we take it on. After that, as the head of this agency, I'll make the final call on whether to give it a green light or stop it."
Nakaoka was the Master's alias as an investigator. However, some people, like Mr. Nishina, had grown close enough to call her by her real name without hesitation, making it feel more like an open secret. Matsuura surely knew the Master's real name too, but he didn't say anything about it.
Since Director Ogawa was standing, I hesitated whether I should sit next to the Master. But hoping to act as even a minor human shield, I quietly sat down beside her. *It's fine. I'm her assistant,* I told myself.
"We're busy, so I'll keep the explanation brief."
Matsuura pulled a small glass bottle from his briefcase and placed it on the table in front of the sofa.
"What's this?"
Judging from the casual way Matsuura had been holding it with his bare hands, the Master must have figured it wasn't a dangerous substance; she immediately picked it up.
It was a clear glass vial, about the size of a bottle of over-the-counter cold medicine tablets. The glass was transparent with no label at all, and the white cap was just as plain. There was liquid inside, which was also completely colorless and transparent. It looked like mere water, but was it some kind of medicine?
"What is this?"
"It's a drug. It's been making the rounds among the kids in this town lately."
"A drug?"
The Master held the bottle up again, peering through it toward the ceiling lights, before tilting her head and setting it back on the table. I picked it up too, but nothing stood out. It was just a bottle filled with clear liquid.
"Is it an illegal drug?"
Hearing the Master say that startled me. I instinctively set the bottle back down on the table. Drugs—such terrifying things—were something I had never laid eyes on, not even once.
"I don't know. Finding that out is the job I'm hiring you for."
"Huh? There's no way I'd know. You guys are the experts, aren't you?"
At the Master's words, Matsuura's eyebrow twitched slightly. It seemed he had taken some offense.
"The 8th Ritsumitsu-kai strictly forbids drugs. No speed, no marijuana, and of course, no heroin or cocaine."
"Are you saying you aren't involved in drug trafficking? Then who's selling drugs in this town?"
"Punks from other, smaller gangs. They don't have any legitimate rackets, so they resort to drugs."
"As if the yakuza have any legitimate rackets to begin with."
"Hey, Master."
Her remarks were becoming far too provocative, so I panicked and stopped her. Matsuura stayed silent for about ten seconds before speaking, his expression unchanged.
"Aside from them, you've got former bosozoku punks playing at being half-gangsters and dabbling in stimulant deals. Lately, foreigners have been increasing a bit too—Chinese, Iranians. Because they're all small organizations, they can't deal directly with bulk brokers, so there are middlemen at every step, and their profit margins seem small. The going rate for a single packet of stimulants is 10,000 yen, or 13,000 yen with a syringe. That hasn't changed since the old days. Rumor has it that half-gangsters looking to make a bigger profit are cutting it with fillers. That's why people say the stuff imported by foreigners is higher quality. Marijuana, meaning cannabis, can apparently be picked up at clubs in the entertainment district. Cocaine and heroin are barely traded at all because the unit price is too high; smaller organizations have a hard time moving them. And then there are hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and MDMA—so-called psychedelics—that were recently classified as narcotics, and those are on the rise too. Ever tried any?"
Asked that by Matsuura, the Master looked unimpressed.
"No way, never."
"Is that so?"
Following the Master, I shook my head as well.
"Lies. Actually, I have."
"You have?!" I blurted out in surprise.
"Back in the day, a little marijuana and hashish. Just out of curiosity. Pure curiosity. But stuff like that doesn't really work on me. Must be my body chemistry. Haven't touched it since."
The Master deliberately took her time emphasizing the "body chemistry" part.
"I see. How wise of you. Furthermore, lately in Europe and America, drugs known as designer drugs or legal highs seem to be trending—things like herbal ecstasy. They haven't made it to this town yet, but they will eventually. Unlike natural drugs derived from plants, these are chemical substances made synthetically. They're distributed either by spraying the chemicals directly onto herbs or in tablet form."
"You don't use them as a racket, yet you're awfully well-informed. Are you running a racket behind the scenes after all?"
"In our industry, if the boss says it's forbidden, it's forbidden. In our outfit, that's been the rule since the previous generation."
Matsuura spoke quietly, but perhaps feeling the subtle pressure bleeding through his calm demeanor, the Master fell silent.
"It's just my nature to investigate everything."
"So… what about this one that's trending among the kids?"
The Master pointed her chin at the small bottle on the table.
"Word has it that a strange drug has been circulating lately. Even after looking into it, it doesn't seem like other gangs, half-gangsters, or foreigners are involved. Apparently, it's only quietly making the rounds among high school and college students in the city. If it looks like it's going to become a major racket for someone, we have to keep an eye on it, so I managed to get my hands on one—but the thing is, it's weird."
"Weird, how?"
"Try opening the lid."
"Is it safe?"
Prompted like that, the Master frowned in slight disgust.
"It's safe. Go ahead."
"It's not going to vaporize or anything, is it?"
With that, the Master nudged me. It seemed she wanted me to open it.
*Eeeh,* I lost my nerve, but under the Master's glare, I reluctantly picked up the vial, feeling terrified.
Well, Matsuura—who apparently knew what was inside—was sitting right in front of us, so it couldn't be anything lethal. Telling myself that, I twisted the cap.
With a small *pop*, the lid came off easily. I removed it and set it aside. The Master peered into the opening of the vial in my hand and sniffed it, going *hmm*.
"Hmm?" she tilted her head.
I followed her lead and brought my face close to smell it, but no particular scent came off.
"When it comes to liquid drugs, you have liquid LSD, ketamine, and certain designer drugs, but this is different from any of them. Stimulants are sometimes distributed in liquid form, but this is already in a retail state. Here, let me borrow that."
Matsuura took the vial. Then, right in front of us, he casually brought it to his mouth and drank it down in one gulp.
"Ah."
The voices of the Master, myself, and Director Ogawa—who had been watching from a little further away—overlapped in unison.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Matsuura didn't change his expression at all as he placed the emptied vial on the table.
"Yes. Absolutely fine."

The Stepfather with No Blood Relation

It was a short shojo manga, but I've forgotten the title. The protagonist's father is a stepfather. Although they share no blood relation, she believes she was raised with great care. That is because her biological mother was a terrible woman who neglected her children and home, constantly running around and partying. The stepfather handled everything that a parent should do. The stepfather was always submissive to her short-tempered mother. As she grew up, the protagonist often wondered, "Why does he stay with a woman like that?" She had never once heard him speak ill of the mother, and whenever the protagonist brought it up, she would be gently reprimanded. "Your mother has a hard time, too. Let's be good and stay home together, just the two of us." While holding onto these doubts, she learns on TV about the notion that couples sometimes stay together solely for the sake of their children. While all this is going on, she happens to witness her mother cheating one day. Furthermore, she hears her mother say, "I only married the stepfather for his money." Back when the affair was exposed, her mother had been dumped by the protagonist's biological father, and the stepfather was the man she found when she was looking for a convenient tool. "He had zero charm as a man, but he was completely devoted to me and did whatever I wanted, so I made him my husband."

[Tales of the Unusual] The Ideal Sukiyaki

Overview
A story broadcasted in the Autumn 2009 special of the television series "Tales of the Unusual." Starring Atsushi Ito. Based on the short manga "The Last Supper" by Masayuki Izumi.

The Ideal Sukiyaki: Synopsis
First, spread beef fat across the entire surface of the pot. On top of that, place thinly sliced beef, and then sugar on top of the meat.
The seasoning is Kansai style.
After the sweetness of the sugar soaks into the meat, add soy sauce and sake.
It is preferable to add the ingredients at the following angles: beef at 60 degrees, leeks at 70 degrees, grilled tofu at 90 degrees, shirataki noodles at 60 degrees, shiitake mushrooms at 50 degrees, and enoki mushrooms at 30 degrees.
Since the calcium in shirataki noodles makes the meat tough, they should be placed away from the meat.
After that, add garland chrysanthemum and close the lid, waiting 3 minutes for the moisture to seep out from the vegetables.
These 3 minutes are called the time of the gods.
And the number of times to whisk the egg is nine and a half round trips.
At least three people are needed to eat it. Four people is ideal.
The protagonist, Kazuki Nishimura, has an obsession with sukiyaki. He has his own rules regarding the timing of adding ingredients, their placement, the surface area they cover, the angles, how to close the lid, and the number of times to beat the egg, among other things.
One day, he was visiting his girlfriend Shiori's family home to ask for permission to marry her.
In fact, after moving to Tokyo, he hadn't eaten sukiyaki even once in five years. According to him, eating sukiyaki alone is lonely, and eating it with just two people is unsatisfying.
He was ecstatic to be eating sukiyaki at her house, and moreover, with four people, which he considered the most ideal number.
The cooking method was Kansai style… premium meat… and familiar ingredients like tofu, shirataki, and vegetables. It seemed ideal, but he spotted eringi mushrooms, which he felt didn't belong, among the ingredients. He wanted to point out, "You don't put Western ingredients in sukiyaki!", but he held his tongue, telling himself this must be each family's unique taste.
Furthermore,
"What about that thing?"
"Later is fine, right?"
Hearing this conversation between the parents, he anticipated it was about the finale dish (shime) and felt hopeful.
Shiori's father was in charge of cooking, but since he doesn't usually cook, there were points to criticize, such as "the heat is too high" and "the soy sauce was added too early." Kazuki secretly adjusted the heat and bought time by complimenting the father's watch, pulling the strings of the sukiyaki from behind the scenes.
Thinking "pulling strings behind the scenes is kind of fun," he suddenly realized the lid wasn't on.
Even if he wanted to quietly put the lid on himself, it was too far away.
Sensing that giving instructions now would upset the good-spirited father, he couldn't say anything.
However, reminding himself that his purpose today was to get permission for marriage, he regained his composure.
Thus, the sukiyaki was completed.
He also has strict preferences for the order in which he eats the ingredients. He considers eating the least noticeable enoki mushrooms, leeks, and meat first to be the height of foolishness. Surprisingly, it apparently took him a week to figure out this single opening move.
However, the mother went ahead and took two-thirds of the meat all at once.
And the father grabbed a piece of tofu with his chopsticks and broke it apart inside the pot.
Though appalled, when he dipped an ingredient into the egg and put it in his mouth, it was delicious with the flavor of the meat soaked in.
The eringi mushrooms he was worried about weren't bad either… no, actually, they were good.
Kazuki thought it was about time to go for the meat, but when he realized, the meat was gone.
The entire family had eaten the rest of the meat in one go.
Kazuki was furious, but he managed to suppress it, sustained by the thought of marriage.
However, even after that:
When the meat got tender, they poured leftover sake into the pot; instead of finishing all the vegetables before adding the next batch, they added new ones while vegetables were still left in the pot; knowing the next batch of meat was cheap, they devoured all the expensive meat first; they served leeks that weren't ready to eat; despite his rule of using only one egg per person, they used a second one; they threw the used egg into the pot; and furthermore, it turned out that even Shiori ate her sukiyaki without using an egg. To him, this was a fundamental denial of sukiyaki. Sukiyaki without eggs, he believes, is just a sweet and spicy beef stew.
With complaints piling up, his anger finally exploded at them: "You sukiyaki amateurs!!" He declared that he could never become family with people like this.
Then the father blurted out, "Shall we get to that now?"
Realizing they were moving on to the finale dish, Kazuki decided to give them one last chance. He resolved, "If udon comes out, I will stay; if rice porridge (oziya) comes out, I will leave this place and never show my face again."
According to him, rice porridge's flavor is too strong, so udon is the ideal finale.
However, what was brought before him was:
"A black, jiggling, jelly-like sphere."
"What on earth is this?!"
Ignoring his bewilderment, the object—allegedly a natural find from the supermarket—was matter-of-factly dropped into the pot.
Apparently, salt was the ideal seasoning for them, and the udon that Kazuki considered the ideal finale was described by the family as "gross."
"Don't call this sukiyaki! This isn't sukiyaki! The sukiyaki I've believed in isn't like this…!"
Caught in the crossfire of the family's gazes, he hesitated over whether he should eat it or not…
Several years later…
Kazuki married Shiori and they were blessed with two children.
Today's dinner for them is sukiyaki. The one cooking is Kazuki.
The basic cooking method follows his old principles… but his minute obsessions are gone.
He quickly devours the boiled ingredients, and then drops the "black, jiggling, jelly-like sphere" into the pot.
He explains that eating it 1.3 minutes later, once it has turned oval-shaped, is the most delicious way to eat it.
It seems he has grown to like this object after all.

The Woodcutter's Tales

In the morning, while driving a forest road toward our work site, a hiker walking ahead of us stepped aside to the edge of the road, so I nodded in greeting through the window.
My partner in the driver's seat asked, "What are you doing?"
When I replied, "I'm just nodding because they stepped aside. Even if someone's walking, you don't even slow down," he said, "There's nobody there."
I looked back, and sure enough, there was no one. There were no places to hide, no side paths. Both the mountain side and the valley side of the road were sheer cliffs.

[Shisho Series] "Poison, Part 1 (3/5): Believe the Scientific Test"

After Nishizawa left, the Master and I headed for the university. At the Master's suggestion, we decided it would be best to confirm whether the contents of this small bottle were actually water.
That made sense. Naturally, that meant finding a laboratory equipped to test liquids.
When I mentioned that I knew someone in the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Master shook her head.
"The Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Pharmacy are Yakumo's territory."
I figured since we were just asking a student, we didn't need to be that on guard, but the Master flatly rejected the idea.
"Let's go to the Faculty of Science. I know someone we can ask."
The Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmacy were on a different campus, but the Faculty of Science was on the same campus we attended. Since it was physically removed from Yakumo Pharmaceuticals' territory, it gave us a sense of security.
"Still, what on earth is this? Do you remember hearing the name 'C'?"
"Hard to say. I don't know the name, but I feel like I've heard rumors that some kind of weird drug has been quietly spreading."
"This is news to me."
I've lived a life untouched by drugs. Sure, there were idiots sniffing thinner in high school, but it wasn't a delinquent school, so even those guys were rare. At most, maybe they smoked cigarettes.
I had been surprised to hear that the Master had smoked marijuana before. Though, the explanation that she just tried it out of pure curiosity made a strange kind of sense.
When we arrived at the Faculty of Science building, we wove our way through students in white lab coats and visited the molecular biology laboratory. There was a male lecturer there whom the Master knew well.
The Master really did have connections across all sorts of faculties and departments. No, not just connections—she seemed to have key people locked down at all the right points.
The lecturer, who was watching TV while eating a banana in the lab, didn't look the part, but muttering "I'm busy, though," he examined the contents of the small bottle anyway. I expected him to drop liquid onto a slide and look at it under a microscope, but he used surprisingly grand equipment instead.
The result was water. Moreover, it was pure water—not tap water, since it contained no chlorine, and free of minerals like calcium and magnesium.
"Probably distilled water. They boil water and turn the steam back into a liquid. We buy it from suppliers for cleaning and as a solvent. A 20-liter tank is about 3,000 yen, I guess."
The lecturer explained while chewing the rest of his banana.
"Were there any strange components in it, even in small amounts?"
"Even if you call it 'strange'… if we had to test it that precisely, we don't have the equipment here, and it's impossible without money. But hey, we normally use this as pure water for experiments anyway. Even if something was in it, it's at a level that wouldn't affect anything."
That was his flat-out verdict. Since an expert said so, for the time being, we had no choice but to accept it.
Leaving the Faculty of Science building, we decided to hold a strategy meeting at our usual cafeteria.
"Munch, munch. Anyway, let's go sniff out the rumors. It'd be great if we could find someone who actually bought and drank it."
"But it was just water, right?"
"That's why Matsuura said so from the beginning. Besides, the guy drank it. The question is, if it's just water, why is it circulating like you're buying drugs from a dealer? And look at this. Munch, munch. A tiny thing like this is a thousand yen. A thousand yen. How many bowls of this curry can you buy with that?"
"Four bowls if it's a medium size."
"Three bowls if it's a large. Alright, let's split up and investigate."
We decided to separate and go around asking questions. I also took custody of one of the two small bottles. It was the one used for the test earlier, so there was a little less in it.
I went to my own lab first. I'd been hanging out with the Master lately and hadn't been showing my face around here, so it was a bit awkward, but it couldn't be helped. After afternoon lectures ended, I called out to the guys idling around.
"A drug called 'C'? Never heard of it."
That was pretty much everyone's reaction. Next, I headed to a club activity I hadn't visited in a long time for similar reasons, and it was much the same. However, there was one guy here who said he'd heard about it from an acquaintance. He said he wasn't sure if it was this exact drug, though. Since he was a junior in his first year, I promised to treat him to a meal if he introduced me to that person, and he somehow agreed.
When we met up at a family restaurant near the university, the acquaintance turned out to be his girlfriend. She was wearing a coat, but beneath it was a blazer, so I knew right away she was a high schooler.
This bastard, he's dating a high schooler? He was a spindly, bean sprout-like junior I hadn't talked to much, but looks could be deceiving.
"This, this. This is the one I bought."
The high schooler, a girl named Misaki, wore heavy makeup, which made it expected, but she seemed a bit more flighty compared to the average high school girl.
"Why did you decide to buy this?"
"Well, a friend at school heard about it from an upperclassman. Apparently, it's a drug that lets you have funny dreams. Sounds kind of fun, right?"
"Where, and what kind of guy was selling it?"
"Just like my friend said, I was wandering around Shiramachi at night, and there was a guy wearing a weird mask in a narrow alley. He was wearing a black cloak, totally looking like a suspicious person. I thought, 'Definitely this guy,' and when I called out to him, he said it was a thousand yen."
"You talked to him? Was it a man's voice?"
"We didn't talk. He just held up one finger like this. Index finger. No way it was 10,000 yen, right? Besides, I didn't have that much. When I handed him a thousand yen, he gave me this."
"What kind of mask was it?"
"Like the kind they sell at festival stalls. Some anime character. I don't watch anime, so I don't really know."
Anime… Hearing that, I felt a sudden sense of deflation. How casual. This didn't seem to be the thing the Master and I had imagined at all.
"So, what did you do after buying it?"
"I drank it. It tasted like ordinary water."
I couldn't believe she actually drank something she bought from such a shady guy. That was the impression I had, but I didn't call her out on it to her face. She was a valuable witness, after all. Just as I thought that, her boyfriend chimed in.
"It's dangerous. You shouldn't do stuff like that. I mean, wait, have you ever bought drugs before?"
"I haven't! Not even once. My friend just got me to smoke weed once."
"Wait a minute, weed? Marijuana? Is it marijuana? You can't do that, Misacchi, seriously, did you actually do something like that? No way."
"Shut up. Whatever, it's fine."
After being subjected to that back-and-forth for a while, I finally got to hear the rest of the story.
"I drank it, but nothing happened."
"Nothing? Didn't you have a dream?"
"Hmm, I'm not really sure. I think I had one, but I don't remember much. It must've been no different from the dreams I usually have. Seriously, I felt like asking for my money back."
And so, despite treating the two of them to a meal at the family restaurant, I didn't get much of a harvest. Still, I learned that such rumors actually existed, and that the person selling them was real. Just that alone was probably a step forward.