From "Tales of the Unusual": "Home, Sweet Home." The protagonist (Yosuke Eguchi) is offered a job by a man to act as a substitute father. Thinking it's impossible to act as someone's father, he goes to the house anyway, only to be accepted as a matter of course. The wife and two boys don't seem to notice that the protagonist has replaced the real father. Gradually, the protagonist starts acting like a real father and grows fond of the family. Meanwhile, the real father is out playing around. Then the contract period ends, and the protagonist feels reluctant to leave. Confident that he has been more of a father than the real one ever was, the protagonist watches as the real father enters the house. And the family says this to the real man: "Welcome home, Daddy." The fact that the family didn't notice the switch, and poor Eguchi getting nothing in return, made it so heartbreaking to watch. Plus, the fact that this was the final story in the omnibus made the aftertaste even worse. I got into bed and spent ages endlessly imagining what happened to that family afterwards.
Actually, maybe the family *did* notice, and thought something like, "Any father is the same."
"I swear I'll never let my family end up like that," vows Eguchi, building a happy family a few years later. However, behind his back, his wife and kids get replaced by substitutes and go out partying. Eguchi spending a happy, cozy family evening with total strangers... I've just received this continuation of the story in my head.
Yeah, that's interesting.
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