When I was in kindergarten, I visited the countryside where my grandparents lived and met a mysterious creature. It was a relaxed, rural town where everyone living around there was as close as family, so my parents didn't worry and let me go out to play by myself. White clover was blooming along a shallow river where you could only catch crayfish, and I was sitting by myself making flower crowns, which my mother had just taught me how to do. Being a child, I didn't look at my surroundings and was completely absorbed in the flower crowns in my hands.
Then suddenly, a translucent arm reached in from the side and snatched away the flower crown I was making. That human (?) had a light green, see-through body, and the scenery on the other side of it looked blurred. Its height was a little bigger than me at the time, so I think it had the build of an older kindergartener or a first-grader. It had no eyes, nose, or mouth—just a wavering outline shaped like a human.
Thinking about it now, it didn't look human at all, and it makes me keenly aware of the terrifying nature of a child's ignorance. But back then, I wasn't scared at all and started talking to that green human. It didn't reply no matter what I said, but I didn't mind and just kept talking to it unilaterally, making lots of flower crowns and handing them over.
When I got tired of making flower crowns and started playing by dipping my hands in the river or looking for pretty stones on the riverbed, that person put their feet into the water and flapped both legs back and forth to make splashes. The movement of the translucent legs and the splashes were so pretty that I begged them repeatedly to do it again and again. The sensation of touching that human was, I think, similar to touching a water balloon. It was squishy and soft, and although my hands felt like they were touching water when I touched it, I had the sensation that they weren't getting wet.
After that, I got hungry, so I went back to my grandparents' house and told them I had made a friend, but neither my parents nor my older brother would believe me. "Just a child's daydream," "There are no kids around here, let alone a green human," they laughed, and I remember being shocked that they wouldn't believe me.
I stayed at my grandparents' house for about five days, and during that time I played with the green human every day. When I told the green human that I was going home the next day, I cried hard because I was lonely. When I repeatedly said, "I don't want to go home," that person grabbed my arm and pulled me into the woods on the other side of the river. It was a woods I had gone to with my dad to catch bugs, and it shouldn't have been all that large, but at that time, no matter how much we walked, there was no sign of us getting through the woods.
When I got tired and started crying because the arm pulling me was gradually getting scary, that person let go of my hand. I don't remember hearing a voice, but at the time, I felt like that person had apologized by saying, "I'm sorry." The strangest thing is that at that moment, I thought about maybe going far away with him (I somehow thought he was a male). For a split second, I thought, "I'll never see my mom, dad, or brother ever again, but that's fine." It's strange how I knew we were going far away, and how I knew I would never see my family again, but at that time, I definitely thought that.
After sitting in that place and resting a little bit, we started walking through the woods holding hands again. I had assumed we were going to "far away" where he lived, but as soon as we got out of the woods, my grandparents' house was right in front of us. The house wasn't located near the woods or the river, and there was no way we could have emerged from the woods right next to the house like that. My grandmother and mother were hanging out the laundry in the garden, and they immediately noticed me and came over. Even though we had been holding hands, he was gone before I knew it.
The next day, my family got into the car, and on the way home, I had them take a slight detour so we could drive past the riverside. But he wasn't there. When I asked about it later, I found out I had been playing by the river alone, and that farmers working in the nearby fields had kept an eye on me whenever they passed by the river, which was why my parents hadn't worried. As soon as I got home, I drew a picture of that time in my sketchbook, and since my parents remember it too, I don't think it was a dream.
My grandfather passed away a few years ago, and my grandmother passed away the other day, too. They are going to sell the house. I stayed at the house for a while to sort through my grandparents' belongings and went to the riverside many times, but I couldn't meet him anymore. Ever since I was in kindergarten, every time I returned to my grandparents' house, I went to the riverbank over and over again, but he wasn't there.
However, while we were sorting through the luggage, my dad told me something. Apparently, my grandparents had believed my story. They used to say, "Little [Name] met a kappa." He wasn't the kappa with a dish on its head that you often see in pictures, and he didn't have webbed hands or a shell, but somehow, nowadays, I think, "Ah, I guess I met a kappa."
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