What a Man Encounters on a Midnight Road: “Last to Be Left Behind After 5 Minutes,” A Short Horror Story Collection

A man is stranded at a strange, unmanned obsession station.

This is a story from a time before mobile phones became widespread. Mr. A, who works in sales, had dozed off on the train while heading home directly from a client’s office and ended up missing his stop by a significant margin. He arrived at an unfamiliar, unmanned terminus station, and the last train had long since passed.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll have to call a taxi,” he thought.

He inserted a telephone card into the public phone, but it didn’t respond. Surprised, he tried inserting coins instead. With a dry clinking sound, a ten-yen coin was returned. The phone seemed to be broken.

“Great,” he muttered.

Reluctantly, Mr. A decided to walk in search of another public phone. Stepping outside the station, he found himself on a lonely rural path with only a few streetlights casting dim glows. Beyond the rice fields, he could faintly see a few houses, but all of their lights were off. He couldn’t possibly ask anyone to borrow their phone.

“But if I can just reach the village, I should be able to find a public phone somewhere.”

It was a time when public phones were common, unlike today. Though it was a hassle, Mr. A wasn’t overly worried. Walking alone in the dark rural streets, where he didn’t pass a single person, he moved steadily forward. Although the season was nearing autumn, it was oddly quiet, with no sounds of insects chirping.

As he pondered how unusually quiet the rice fields were for this time of year, suddenly, the area around him was bathed in an orange light. He turned around to see a car, its high beams glaring at him.