What “thing” a man lost on a country road in the middle of the night sees… “Last to be left behind after 5 minutes”, a very short horror story
Five minutes is more than long enough to distort a person.
Is it possible to make people afraid in five minutes?
The “5 Minute Series,” published by the novel creation platform “Ebrista” in collaboration with Kawade Shobo Shinsha, is a popular series of ultra-short novels that move the heart in five minutes, collected by theme. To date, 40 volumes have been published, with a total of 1.6 million copies sold. To commemorate the series, “The Last to be Left Behind in Five Minutes,” a collaboration with horror writer Nashi, was released on October 29 and has become a hot topic.
Nashi is a newcomer in the horror world who writes mainly for the Internet and has been active in a wide range of fields, including co-producing the much-talked-about “Missing” exhibition held from July to September of this year. The book contains 10 horror stories selected by Mr. Nashi that “leave the reader in an absurd world” in five minutes.
Mr. Nashi, who is in charge of the prologue and commentary of the book, states in the “Commentary” as follows
The time required to read each work is approximately five minutes. This may seem like a short time, but it is more than long enough to distort a person. A person can die in ten seconds, and it is even possible to change a person’s purchasing behavior through subliminal effects that are interrupted in less than one second.
We would like to introduce “The Crying Girl” by Senane from among the works included in the book, and invite you to experience the absurdity of being “left behind” in a place that is out of place in the everyday world in just five minutes.
A man is stranded at a strange, unmanned obsession station: ……
It was a time when cell phones were not yet widely used.
Mr. A, a salesman, fell asleep on the train going directly home from a customer and missed his stop by a long way.
He arrived at a strange, unmanned terminal station. The last train had already passed.
I had no choice but to call a taxi. He thought to himself, “I should call a cab.
With this in mind, Mr. A inserted a telephone card into a public phone. But there was no response. What’s wrong? So he tried inserting a coin into the phone. With a dry clang, a ten-yen coin was returned. It seemed to be malfunctioning.
Oh, no.
Mr. A had no choice but to walk to another pay phone.
When he stepped out of the station, he found himself on a lonely country footpath with only a few streetlights.
Beyond the rice paddies, a few houses could be faintly seen. However, all the houses were dark. It seemed unlikely that we could ask them to lend us their phones.
But if I could get to the village, I would probably be able to find at least one pay phone.
Unlike today, pay phones were everywhere in those days. Although he thought it would be a hassle, Mr. A was not that pessimistic.
Unlike in the city, he walked alone in the dark countryside at night, not passing anyone.
The season was about to turn into autumn, but strangely enough, there was no sound of insects.
I was twisting my head inwardly, thinking that the rice paddies were unusually quiet for this time of year…
Suddenly, Mr. A’s surroundings were enveloped in an orange glow.
He turned around. There was a car there, with its high beams illuminating Mr. A. The taxi he had met on the dark country road was ________.
This road is “Deru,” you know.
Hiding my eyes from the glare, I looked at the car and saw that it was a cab. And it seemed to be empty.
Waving his hand, Mr. A stopped the cab.
The cab glided up to Mr. A’s side, stopped, and opened the door.
As he got in, the driver gave him a friendly smile and said, “I’m sorry to hear that you are all alone at this time of night.
What brings you here alone at this time of night?”
The driver was a small man in his fifties, and Mr. A explained the situation.
Mr. A explained the situation. I can’t believe that you slept through the night on a train line that terminates in the countryside. By the way, sir, where are you going?
“For now, can you take me to a hotel in the city of **?”
The driver said yes, and started the cab.
The driver said, “No, you are lucky, by the way. I have unavoidable circumstances today, and I am driving on ‘this’ road at this hour, but I usually don’t pass through here in the middle of the night, you know. No, I am really lucky.
You are lucky,” the driver repeated again. The driver repeated it again, obviously with an implication. Intrigued, Mr. A asked, “What is it about this place? The driver replied, “No, it’s really a good place to drive.
The driver replied, “Yes, there is,
Yes, there is. It’s a big deal.
He raised his head up and down in an exaggerated manner.
This road, you know, it’s a “road”,” he said.
Even without asking what, Mr. A knew what he was talking about.
By ‘appear,’ do you mean ghosts?
Yes, yes. Yes, that’s right. This place is famous among my friends for being haunted at night.
What kind of ghosts are they?
I was about to ask, when the brakes were suddenly pressed.
A girl with pigtails in a bright red dress…
Mr. A stumbled grandly and hit his head against the driver’s seat.
She said, “……! What in the world…?”
The moment he got up, he saw “it. The cab’s high beams were illuminating the road, and there was…
A girl was crouching under a tree on the side of the road.
The girl had braids and was wearing a bright red one-piece dress. She must have been about seven or so years old, and Ms. A involuntarily checked the time on her wristwatch. It was almost midnight. It was not just any little girl crying alone in such a place at such a time of night. Thinking that something must have happened, Mr. A put his hand on the cab door to run up to the girl. He said, “Don’t go!
Don’t go!
The driver’s angry voice made him involuntarily withdraw his hand.
What are you talking about? A little girl like that is crying at this time of night! This is definitely not a normal thing!
Mr. A protested.
But the driver just shook his head with a blue face.
You mustn’t go. You mustn’t go there, customer. That …… thing is out of this world.
Suddenly, I felt the blood drain from Mr. A’s face.
「さっき言ったろう、『でる』って。 It’s that thing. That’s the thing, that’s what it is. ……
The driver pointed at the girl with a trembling hand.
Seeing his frightened appearance, Mr. A regained his composure. If you think about it calmly, surely a girl crying in the middle of the night like this is far more likely to be ‘that thing’ than an incident. The driver was right, that thing must be out of this world. Perhaps, perhaps not.
But…
“Oh, woe, woe, woe. I saw something bad. I’m so mad, I’m so mad, I’m so mad. That’s why I don’t like this road.
The driver was fiddling with the gears, grumbling. The cab began to drive slowly again, passing by what appeared to be a girl.
It passed by what appeared to be a girl.
At that moment, Mr. A saw her.
The girl was looking at Mr. A with a clinging look in her eyes.
Instantly, Mr. A’s body began to move on its own. Without hesitation, he opened the cab door and ran to the girl.
He was aware that he was doing something stupid and dangerous.
But even if the girl was a real monster, and I was going to be subjected to a horror like in a boring horror movie…
─ ─ Still, I cannot abandon the crying girl.
Mr. A just couldn’t do “it” by any means.
(The story is written in the same way as the book “Crying” written by Senane.
(Excerpt from the first half of “Crying Girl” by Senane / “The Last to be Left Behind in Five Minutes” by Nashi, from Kawade Shobo Shinsha)
What was the reason why Mr. A felt he could not abandon the girl? In the second part, the reason will be revealed. And what was the shocking ending that awaited Mr. A. ……
The Last to be Left Behind in Five Minutes” (Edited by Nashi, published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha)
