T-kun transferred to our school around May or June of the fifth grade. It was an awkward time in the middle of the first semester, and he was a quiet guy who didn't stand out in any way.
What left an impression on me was how pale he was.
He wasn't an albino or anything like that, but since all the kids in the countryside of Kyushu were tanned dark, he just felt somehow unusual.
He seemed to struggle to make friends.
It wasn't quite bullying, but he somehow got left out of the circle of kids.
He was that type of kid who was always by himself in the corner of the classroom.
One day during summer vacation, I was wandering around the neighborhood and saw T-kun, so I called out to him.
When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "Nothing much."
We talked for a while, and just as I was about to say goodbye, he invited me to come over to his house.
I had no plans anyway, so I decided to tag along.
He led me to a newly built apartment building that was about fifteen stories tall—a place I'd heard about as being somewhere only rich people lived.
When I asked if he lived there, he answered, "Yeah."
The entranceway used an auto-lock system, which was still rare in the countryside back then, and T-kun explained to me how it worked.
There was no one else home. A luxurious-looking sofa set was placed in the living room, but moving boxes from a moving company were scattered around messily.
It felt strange to me that even though about three months had passed since he moved in, he still hadn't unpacked.
T-kun brought out cake and cola from the kitchen.
"Help yourself," he said. Even though he was usually timid and quiet, this time he felt strangely pushy, almost aggressive.
"I'll show you something good," T-kun said, dragging a large cardboard box out from the other room.
"Look, see? It's a doll." With that, he opened the box.
I thought T-kun was joking.
No matter how I looked at it, it looked like a living human being. A boy around five years old. Plump with a round face.
It gave me the impression of having the kind of physical appearance common to so-called mentally disabled children.
"It's a doll," T-kun repeated, seeming to sense the awkward atmosphere from me.
Then, he lifted the bottom of the box and roughly dumped the contents out. There was a dull thud, and its head crashed against the floor. Yet the doll kept its eyes shut and didn't budge an inch.
"See?" T-kun said.
The doll had skin as white as T-kun's.
Just like my younger sister's French doll at home, when you sat it up its eyelids opened, and when you laid it down they closed.
Another thing it had in common with the French doll was that its eye color was a clear blue.
"Go ahead and touch it," T-kun urged.
It had a soft, squishy feel. The skin was chillingly cold.
"You can pinch it if you want." I did as I was told.
"Harder." I twisted it with all my might.
"See, it doesn't move, does it?" The place I pinched had a red mark.
"Then what if we poke it…?" I pointed at the metal fork that came with the cake.
"Go ahead, try it.
As hard as you can." T-kun pulled up the doll's shirt to expose its stomach area.
The tip of the fork was quite sharp.
Even so, the doll didn't react at all. Blood was oozing from the spot where I poked it.
For a while, T-kun and I played around by bullying the doll like that.
Before long, T-kun suddenly started snapping.
I think the trigger was something like the doll moving or blinking.
"Hey, stop moving, you're just a doll. You idiot."
He grabbed the doll by the hair, slammed its head against the floor, and kicked it right in the solar plexus.
Whenever the doll couldn't help but groan a little or show signs of pain, T-kun became so excited he was impossible to stop.
He was like a completely different person from his usual self.
Then he suddenly left the room and came back with a vinyl rope, the kind used for packing luggage.
"Time for some punishment."
T-kun wrapped the rope around the doll's neck and had me hold one end.
"Don't let go, okay?" With that, he wrapped the other end around his hand and gave it a hard yank.
"Don't move at all, you're a doll." The rope dug into the doll's neck.
Blood vessels bulged, and its face turned bright red.
"T-kun, this is getting crazy…" When I tried to loosen the rope, he said,
"I told you not to let go, it's fine, it's a doll."
Just then, the doll suddenly started thrashing.
It groaned "Ooh, ooh" as it pulled against the rope and thrashed its legs.
"Hey, idiot, stop moving."
T-kun said this as he pulled the rope even tighter.
Terrified, I couldn't let go of my end.
Suddenly, the doll dropped heavily to its knees.
Shouting "Woah!", T-kun let go of the rope, and I fell backward onto my buttocks.
"This guy pissed himself."
The doll collapsed onto its back with its eyes bulging, and a puddle of yellow liquid pooled between its legs.
T-kun kicked it in the flank.
"Gross. Whatever, forget this guy.
Let's go to the other room. They've got a Famicom."
Around that time, only one or two kids in the class owned a Famicom.
I had never even touched one before.
T-kun had several types of gaming consoles besides a Famicom, all connected to a TV set up just for him.
We played games there until evening.
As we were leaving, I peeked toward the living room, and the doll was still lying there with its eyes bulging.
T-kun walked me down to the ground floor.
"Hey, if you want, do you want to come over and play again?"
He asked with his usual timid demeanor.
"Yeah, I'll come. Let's play games together," I answered.
T-kun smiled brightly and said, "Really? It's a promise."
I think I visited T-kun's house three or four times, just as we promised.
Not once was there any answer from inside.
T-kun didn't show his face on any of the attendance days during summer vacation either, and on the opening day of the second semester, the homeroom teacher announced, "T-kun has transferred schools due to his parents' circumstances."
During this New Year's trip back home, when I met up with an old friend, I asked him, "Do you remember T-kun?"
My friend thought for a moment and answered, "Wasn't he that guy with the strangely white skin?"
So at least a student named T-kun really did exist.
I had thought the whole thing was just a childhood dream or delusion.
That apartment building seemed to have had a little exterior remodeling done, but it was still standing in the exact same place.