This is a story about my friend who got into a car accident on his way back to his parents' house during the New Year holidays. It was deep in the mountains, late at night, with no other cars passing by, and since he didn't have a mobile phone back then, it was the worst possible situation. As he trudged along the mountain road, he spotted a car parked by the roadside. Thinking he was saved, he rushed over, and behind the car, an elderly couple was drinking sake while grilling mochi inside a snow dome (kamakura). He wondered why they were doing such a thing in a place and at a time like this, but he called out to them anyway and explained that he had an accident. The two kind people invited him into the large snow dome to let him warm up. Even when he asked them why they were doing this, they skillfully evaded the question and he couldn't find out, but the old man offered to lend him his car. However, he told them it would take hours just to go to the nearest gas station and back from here, and he couldn't leave them behind in such a mountain. "Actually, our house is right nearby, so we'll be fine," they told him. "The only reason we brought the car out was to transport this shichirin stove and the shovel. Besides, if I went along for such a long drive, my lower back would start hurting." "My driver's license is in the glove compartment of my car, so just return the car to the address on it," the old man said, and both of them insisted they would stay right there. He felt bad about it, but since it was a generous offer, he handed over his university student ID to prove his identity and borrowed the car.
Sorry, I'm bad at explaining things, so I'll just write it straight from my friend's story, using the first-person perspective. Less than an hour after driving off, I almost got into another accident... A deer jumped out in front of the car. Because I slammed on the brakes, I heard things rattling and falling in the back. I got out of the car to check if there were any scratches, and while I was picking up the things that had fallen, I found the old man's jacket, so I borrowed that too and started driving again. Even though it was the old man's jacket, I instinctively started searching for my own cigarettes, and when my hand brushed against a brown envelope, I almost got into another accident again. It had "Suicide Note" written on it. I stopped the car and checked the inside. I thought there might be some kind of mistake, but inside it was written that they wanted to help their son's family with the insurance money, and at the end, there was a signature that seemed to be the names of the elderly couple. I checked the name using the old man's driver's license in the glove box, and it certainly seemed to be a genuine suicide note. Moreover, although they had said their house was nearby, that was a complete lie; they were actually people from outside the prefecture. I panicked and turned back. I thought about all sorts of things, but I couldn't come up with any good ideas or words. Anyway, I hurried back, almost thinking I might crash again. When I returned to the scene, the snow dome had turned into just a round lump of snow, and their shoes were neatly lined up outside. They must have closed the entrance from the inside with snow, but I frantically dug and broke apart the snow dome anyway. I woke up the sleeping couple by shaking them, and seeing me stuttering—"Um... well..."—in front of the dumbfounded couple, the old man seemed to grasp the situation. He only said, "You... figured it out, didn't you?", and the couple drove me to the gas station. During that time, no one said a word. When we arrived at the gas station and got out of the car, I ended up apologizing, saying, "Thank you so much for the trouble, and I'm sorry for everything." To that, they replied, "No, we're the ones who are sorry... We'll... do it another time," and drove off. Once again, no words came out of my mouth.
That was the story. Sorry for the poor explanation. It was a suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, you understand, right? My friend said he couldn't bring himself to look at the obituary section of the newspaper.
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