Mogara-sama 

“Mogara-sama.” That’s the name of a supernatural entity and the story surrounding it, which briefly became a hot topic on a website famous in certain circles for collecting urban legends.

It is said that “Mogara-sama is humanoid,” “No, it is formless and appears in various guises,” It has no face,” “No, it does have a face, but it’s simply unrecognizable”… and so on.

Many fans of supernatural stories have endlessly discussed Mogara-sama, and other tales based on it have also emerged.

However, the stories about Mogara-sama seem to share several essential commonalities.

1. If you perform the ritual, Mogara-sama will appear in your dreams.

2. Mogara-sama takes the form of a black shadow. (Or brings a black shadow with it)

3. If Mogara-sama picks you up, you will be taken to a place of unspeakable horror.

4. There is no way to avoid being picked up by Mogara-sama.

The stories about Mogara-sama spread across the internet, radio, and social media, starting with its initial urban legend submission site, and temporarily sparked a dark frenzy among occult enthusiasts.

Stories of people encountering Mogara-sama kept pouring in, and some even began linking actual missing-person cases to it.

But such fervor tends to fade quickly. The story of Mogara-sama had died down within less than a year.

…Until the next one appeared on the urban legend submission site.

My name is… I’m sorry, but I can’t reveal it here.

This story chronicles the horrors my friends and I experienced in high school, and the memories of the dreadful days that followed.

…Let me make one thing clear from the start: no matter how far-fetched it may sound, this actually happened, and it’s a story set in the same world as “you,” the reader. Therefore, I don’t know what might happen to you once my story ends.

If you feel even the slightest fear or you want to stay in a world far removed from the supernatural, please stop reading right now.

…Well, since I don’t want this preface to drag on too long, I’ll begin.

Back in high school, I had two close friends whom I’ll name “A” and “B.”

A was a cheerful jokester. He was always cracking jokes and naturally became the center of attention in class.

B was kind and considerate, always watching A and me goof around with a gentle smile.

I remember back in high school, I was always hanging out with those two until the sun went down.

One day after school, just like always, we gathered in the classroom and chatted aimlessly.

“Hey, do you guys know about Mogara-sama?”

I’m pretty sure it was B who brought it up first. He loved the occult and would occasionally tell us stories he’d found on urban legend websites.

“Mogara-sama?”

“What’s that?”

A and I listened to B’s story about Mogara-sama. But honestly, I only thought that it sounded fake.

“Hey, why don’t we try performing the Mogara-sama ritual right now?”

“Huh?”

“B, you actually know about that?”

“Yeah. I was digging through the site’s logs and stumbled upon it by chance… What do you think?”

“…Well, I guess it might be a way to kill some time.”

After all, I don’t think A and B took Mogara-sama seriously either. Their faces clearly showed they were doing it for fun.

“…Sorry, I’m heading home… I’ve got somewhere I need to stop by.”

“Oh, right.”

Back in high school, due to some family circumstances, I had to get home early to do the shopping and cook dinner. And honestly, as someone with no interest in the occult, I couldn’t care less about Mogara-sama.

“Oh well! I’ll let you know the results tomorrow!”

“See ya!”

“Say hi to Mogara-sama for me!”

…That day, I said those things and parted ways with A and B.

Then, the next morning, I ran into A in the classroom. I asked him about yesterday, and he said:

“Mogara-sama? Oh, nothing showed up. That’s no surprise.”

Then B said something similar, so I thought that those Mogara-sama rumours were just nonsense and completely erased them from my mind.

It was one day, some time after A and B had performed the Mogara-sama ritual.

I saw B, who sat diagonally in front of me, nodding off.

(That’s unusual for someone serious like B…)

Coincidentally, B had seemed a bit down lately and had mentioned “having bad dreams.”

(Well, he’s probably just sleep-deprived. I’ll just leave him be. If anything, I can let him look at my notes later.)

At that moment, I was feeling pretty casual about it, but…

“…Whaaaaaaah!?”

B suddenly screamed and tumbled out of his chair. The entire class fell in an unnatural silence.

Even the teacher, who was leading the class, seemed so startled that he’d forgotten to get angry.

“…B. Are you okay?”

“Y-yes…”

To me, B didn’t look “okay” at all. His face had gone beyond pale; it was as white as a sheet.

And from then on, he kept dozing off and waking up in a state of fear, over and over again.

After school, A and I, who had finally realized something was wrong with B, were worried about him and pressed him to tell us what had happened.

At first, B was reluctant to talk, but eventually, perhaps worn down by our persistence, he finally began to explain what was going on.

“…Lately, I’ve been having weird dreams.”

“Weird dreams?”

“Yeah… I’m being chased by a black figure, and I’m running for my life, trying to escape from it.”

“…That’s just a dream, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… I thought so at first too, but the dreams feel incredibly real. It’s like I can even smell things… Besides, take a look at this.”

With that, B slowly rolled up his pants to reveal his knee. There was a slight scrape there.

“…I got this scratch when I fell in yesterday’s dream. But when I woke up… I had a scratch in the exact same spot.”

“…isn’t that just a coincidence?”

I said that to B, but the strange coincidence between his dream and reality was starting to give me the creeps.

“…I have similar dreams every day. Lately, I’ve actually been afraid to go to sleep…”

“You’re probably just sleep-deprived, and your nerves are a little on edge. And that scratch… it’s just a coincidence. Maybe you bumped into something while you were sleeping? …What do you think, A?”

Then even A, with an uncharacteristically somber expression, began to speak.

“…Actually, I’ve been having dreams just like B’s lately, too.”

“…You’re kidding, right?”

“It’s true… And just like B, I’m being chased by that weird black thing.”

“…”

We all fell silent. The season was about to turn hot, and even though I’d been sweating slightly on my forehead just a moment ago in the classroom bathed in the light of dusk, now I could even feel a chill.

“…Hey, what if we get caught by that black shadow… What would happen to us?”

“…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say a word to them, who were trembling with fear.

A and B have been having nearly the same nightmare over and over every day. What’s more, A says the dreams have begun to bleed into reality.

“…This must be Mogara-sama! It has come to take us away!”

“C-Calm down!”

“Hey! I only started having these dreams after we performed the Mogara-sama ritual! A black shadow appears in my dreams… It’s just like in its story, isn’t it!?”

“…It’s true, I also started having nightmares after we did that ritual.”

“Even you…”

At that time, I still didn’t believe in the Mogara-sama story. But A and B were terrified beyond belief.

Whatever the reason, wanting to help my distraught friends, I explained the situation to their parents and asked for their help.

Of course, their parents didn’t take the story seriously at first either, but seeing their beloved sons in tears and terrified, they probably realized this was no ordinary matter.

On the next holiday, they arranged for a purification ritual at a small temple on top of a mountain, all to calm A and B.

I prayed for their recovery, but due to certain circumstances, I couldn’t accompany them to the ritual. Therefore, what follows is the story I later heard from A.

Apparently, as soon as A and B entered the temple gate, they were greeted by the head priest, who looked extremely stern.

He looked at them and, before their parents could explain the situation, reportedly said:

“…This is beyond my ability to handle. Please leave.”

Upon hearing the priest’s words, A and B’s parents realized the situation was truly out of the ordinary and desperately pleaded with him to perform the purification ritual.

They also reportedly cried out and begged the priest for help. Their desperate pleas must have moved his heart.

“…Very well. I don’t know if my powers will be enough, but I’ll do everything I can.”

A and B were led into the main hall, where salt and sake were sprinkled around them. They were then instructed to calm their minds, properly sit, and close their eyes.

“…Do not open your eyes under any circumstances. And pray with all your heart for the Buddha to show you mercy.”

Amid the solemn atmosphere, the purification ritual began. It is said that A prayed fervently in his heart to the gods and Buddhas, pleading for help.

However, shortly after the ritual began, B suddenly tried to leave the room.

“…I’m going home.”

“W-what are you saying?!”

“I’m going home! …I can’t stay here!!”

With an expression unimaginable given his usual gentle demeanor, B began to thrash about, screaming incoherently and insisting on going home. His parents rushed to restrain him, but he reportedly continued to resist with tremendous force.

To the speechless A, the priest said:

“This is the work of a demonic spirit that has possessed this boy… We must exorcise it as soon as possible, or something terrible will happen!”

Once B had finally calmed down, the ritual resumed. A and B were told to close their eyes again and pray to the gods and Buddhas, but A couldn’t help but be concerned about B’s earlier frenzy, so he peeked through half-closed eyes to check on him.

And A nearly let out a scream. Behind B, at a distance so close it seemed to be right on top of him, stood a black figure.

Of course, the figure wasn’t a member of B’s family. In fact, A couldn’t make out what its face looked like at all. Then A had a sudden realization.

(…Could there be a black figure behind me, too?)

At that moment, A felt the air in the main hall grow suddenly icy. He also felt a creeping sensation down his spine, as if something were running its fingers along his spine, and a fishy stench began to fill his nostrils.

Unable to bear it any longer, A, with cold sweat and tears streaming down his face, kept praying for the presence behind him to go away.

(Go away! Go away! Go away!)

Then, the priest suddenly shouted at A in a sharp voice.

“…Don’t waste your energy on extraneous matters. For now, just pray that the evil spirit will leave.”

“Y-yes!”

Brought back to his senses by the priest’s words, A refocused on offering his prayers to the gods and Buddhas.

…How much time had passed since then? A said it felt like a very long time, but it might have actually been surprisingly short.

When the priest finished the ritual, A noticed that his body felt lighter. Moreover, the black figure that had been so terrifying, the chills, and the unpleasant stench had all vanished.

(…Is it over now?)

When A looked over at B, he seemed limp and dazed, but appeared to be unharmed.

“…We’re saved! Thank goodness!”

A said he felt a deep sense of relief.

The purification ritual had ended safely, and A, B, and their parents, all feeling relieved, reportedly expressed their deep gratitude to the priest. However, even then, the priest’s expression remained stern.

“…Father. What exactly was it that was possessing my son?”

In response to B’s parents’ question, the priest apparently could only shake his head.

“…To be honest, even I don’t know what was possessing them. But I could tell it was something extremely sinister and powerful… Please don’t let your guard down for a while.”

After saying this to A and B, the priest handed them small bell-shaped amulets.

“…Make sure you never let these leave your side… They should offer you some protection.”

And with the final advice to lead a lifestyle that strengthens both body and mind, the ritual finally came to an end.

…After hearing about the whole incident from A, I felt a chill run down my spine.

“…But hey, I guess that means it’s all over now, right?”

In fact, A looked really healthy, and I could tell he was sleeping and eating normally.

“…I’m really glad, A.”

“Yeah… B seems to still be feeling tired and has been skipping school, but I’m seriously relieved.”

“Once B’s back on his feet, let’s go out and have some fun somewhere.”

“Sounds great! I want to go to the arcade! There’s a game I’ve been wanting to play for a while!”

…A and I were laughing just like we always did, but the day the three of us could go to the arcade never came.

After the exorcism, B developed mental health issues and stopped going to school altogether.

“…I guess that’s only natural after going through such a terrifying experience.”

“We should prepare a bit, so we’re ready whenever he comes back.”

A and I were worried about B, so we went to his house to check on him, but he never showed his face. In fact, it seemed B wasn’t even letting his parents see him… He’d drawn the curtains tight and had been holed up in his room the whole time.

“…”

“Is he okay?”

Seeing how completely B had changed, we felt a pang of sorrow.

…But those days soon came to an end.

That’s because we received the shocking news that “B had died.”

“W-what!?”

“Why… B…”

It seemed B had committed suicide by jumping off the roof of his apartment building. His death was so sudden that I attended the funeral without being able to process what had happened at all.

(Why did B…?)

The word “Why?” raced through my mind. I imagined A was feeling the same way.

We decided to visit B’s parents. However, they seemed to be openly reluctant to see us.

With no other choice, A and I made up a flimsy excuse that B lent us a video game or something like that, and were finally allowed into his room, but…

“…What the hell is this?”

The walls of B’s room were covered in eerie black patterns. My brain couldn’t process this unexpected situation for a split second, but the moment I realized what those “black patterns” actually were, I felt shivers all over my body.

They were writings in pen.

“D-did B write this? All of it?”

“I don’t know, but…”

B had been in his room right up until his death. These eerie writings must have been written by him.

“”Black,” “dream,” “come,” “go,” “black figure”… What the hell is this? What does it mean?”

“I don’t know! …And I don’t want to know!”

Although B had been an excellent writer in life, the writings covering the wall were so messy they were barely legible. It gave off a strange, unsettling feeling, as if he’d been forced to write with his non-dominant hand…

(…So this was why B’s parents didn’t want to come here…)

“H-hey! L-look at this!”

When I turned around at A’s scream, which sounded almost like a shriek, I saw a tattered, rusty piece of metal lying under B’s desk. Looking closer, I realized it was a small bell.

“…This is one of the amulets we got at the temple. Look.”

A showed me the amulet he was wearing around his neck.

“…You’re right. I didn’t recognize it at first.”

“…Hey, why is mine practically brand-new… while B’s amulet is all tattered like this?”

“…”

B’s amulet was rusted and blackened, as if decades had passed.

Ever since we’d entered this madhouse of a room, we’d been feeling a chill run down our spines, but I think the moment we noticed the amulets was when we were hit by the strongest chill of all.

“…What on earth happened to B? What do these writings mean? …What’s coming, and where is it going…”

“It’s him… He’s the one who came after us.”

“…Who’s him?”

“…”

A must have been too afraid to say it out loud. He never once tried to say “his” name.

“M-my amulet is still intact. So we’re fine… We’re fine, right? B just had bad luck, right? Right!?”

“…Y-yeah.”

All I could do was give a vague affirmation to A, who was clinging to hope with all his might.

After learning of B’s mysterious death, A began acting strangely. He had lost the cheerfulness and vitality he once had; his cheeks had become gaunt, and his complexion was sallow and dark.

“Lately, B has been appearing in my dreams… He says he’s coming to pick me up, along with a black shadow. Hey, what should I do!?”

If things continued like this, A would go mad just like B. Feeling this, I consulted with his parents and visited the priest who had performed the ritual.

When the priest heard about B’s death and A’s condition, he turned pale.

“…So it was no use after all. I’m sorry, but my powers are not enough…”

“What is this “him” A keeps talking about? …Is it Mogara-sama after all?”

“…I know nothing of this Mogara-sama. However, what is tormenting this boy is certainly not a god or a Buddha. Nor is it a typical demonic entity… I cannot say any more than that.”

“No way…”

Seeing me hang my head in disappointment, the priest said,

“…But since I promised to do everything I could… I will take A in at this temple for a while.”

“Huh?”

“This temple is located at the foot of a sacred mountain. Here, even that demonic presence shouldn’t be able to appear so easily.”

It was just as summer vacation was about to begin.

“Y-yes! Thank you so much!”

“That’s great, A!”

A, I, and his parents were all completely relieved as we left A at the temple and headed down the mountain.

Throughout the summer vacation, we talked on the phone every day and messaged each other on social media.

“Life at the temple means early mornings and pitch-black nights. There’s nothing to do, I’m so booooored.”

…By the second half of summer break, A had recovered enough to crack jokes like that. I was truly happy to see his cheerful, past self back again.

Then came the last day of summer break. I’d been going through a lot personally and hadn’t finished all my summer homework yet, so I was in the middle of a final push. It was well past midnight, and before I knew it, the date had changed.

(Oh man, at this rate, I’ll have to pull an all-nighter… I might fall asleep at the opening ceremony.)

As I was fighting with my homework while thinking about that, my phone started vibrating.

“Huh? …A call? Wait, at this hour?”

I looked at the screen, and it was a call from A. But it was 3:00 AM.

Up until now, I’d received messages from A late at night before, but I’d never once gotten a call from him. Plus, the ringtone was going on for an unusually long time.

I worried that something might have happened to him, so I decided to answer the phone just in case.

“…Hello?”

“What the heck! You’re awake, aren’t you! You didn’t answer at all, so I thought you’d already fallen asleep!”

A sounded cheerful on the other end of the line. …Unnaturally so.

“…What time do you think it is right now? Besides, don’t they go to bed early at the temple? Won’t you get in trouble for making a call like this?”

“Forget about that! B just showed up a little while ago!”

“…Huh?”

A’s sudden words made me let out a startled gasp.

“B came to pick me up. We’re heading out together now!”

“W-what are you saying… B is…”

A’s cheerful voice was unnerving. He kept talking to me with the same high energy as back when the three of us used to go out together.

“A! Get a hold of yourself!”

Desperate for A to come to his senses, I tried to reason with him, even as I trembled. Then, I suddenly noticed a strange sound coming from the other end of the line.

“…Hey, A? For a while now, I’ve been hearing a weird sound. What is that?”

I could hear something scraping behind A. It sounded just like someone was running a piece of cloth across the tatami mats.

“Ah! It’s B!”

With those words from A, the call suddenly cut off.

“Hey! A!? A!”

No matter how many times I called back after that, A didn’t answer.

I thought it over afterward, but I grew worried about his unusual behavior, so I explained the situation to his parents.

The next day, I skipped the opening ceremony and rushed to the temple with A’s parents.

…But looking back now, I regret going there at all.

Waiting for us at the temple was the priest, his appearance completely transformed.

His body was lying in the hallway near A’s room, his face a hideous sight, contorted with terror, and for some reason, it looked as if it had been blackened by soot.

I searched for A together with his parents. But he was nowhere to be found.

Later, the police, who had arrived after we contacted them, searched the entire area thoroughly, but they still couldn’t find A.

However, it seems the ground around the temple had become muddy from yesterday’s downpour, and they found footprints belonging to A and the priest. They also said there were other footprints of about the same size as A’s.

And that was all we ever found out. In the end, the priest’s death was ruled a “natural death,” and with A’s whereabouts still unknown, the truth vanished into the darkness.

B’s mysterious death, A’s sudden disappearance.

…Wanting to bid farewell to a place filled with all sorts of haunting memories, I enrolled in a university in a big city far from my hometown.

Unlike life in the countryside, city life was hectic and full of fascinating things. University lectures, club activities, part-time jobs… As I grew accustomed to city life, I had completely forgotten the past.

Then, something happened one night. For the first time in a long while, I had a dream about my high school days.

Dressed in my school uniform, I seemed to be on my way to school. But the scenery around me wasn’t that of my rural hometown; it was the station concourse of the city where I currently lived.

In the dream, I didn’t question this discrepancy at all.

Well, dreams are often irrational, and it’s not particularly strange that they end up being a patchwork of memories.

…But let’s go back to my dream. I was heading toward the platform to catch a train.

Just then, my eyes happened to fall on the station’s coin lockers, and when I saw a figure standing there, I was so startled that I stopped in my tracks.

“…A!!”

He had his back to me, so I couldn’t see his face, but that was unmistakably A. The person I’d seen more than I could bear during high school.

(A… It’s been a long time.)

Although our parting was tragic and sad, A was my closest friend during high school, along with B. College life is fun, but I think the times when the three of us were just goofing around were when I was happiest.

My eyes began to well up in the dream. I was about to call out to A… but the moment I thought that, a question crossed my mind.

(…What on earth is A doing in a place like that?)

A was just standing there, facing a space enclosed by coin lockers and the station wall. He had his back to me, so I couldn’t even see his expression. Amid the surrounding commotion, the area around him alone seemed to be in a state of stillness, as if it had been cut off from the rest of the world.

(A… Why aren’t you moving at all?)

With that question still on my mind, I woke up.

It was some time after I’d had that dream about A. One day, while walking through the station on my way home from college, a figure caught the corner of my eye.

(Huh!? Is that…!?)

It was A, from behind. It was just a fleeting moment, so I couldn’t be sure, but it felt like A was wearing the exact same clothes as when I last saw him… that is, when I left him at the temple in the mountains.

Moreover, his height seemed unchanged from before. And just like in my recent dream, A appeared to be standing with his back to me, facing the space enclosed by the coin lockers and the wall.

(No way… that’s ridiculous…!)

The suddenness of it all made my head spin. I frantically searched for A through the station concourse, where people were coming and going. But he was nowhere to be found.

(…Maybe it was just my imagination. Of course it was.)

A was missing; his death hadn’t been confirmed. But instinctively, I realized that he would never return to this world.

Even if, by some miracle, A were still alive, it would be impossible for him to appear looking exactly the same as he did back then.

(…It was probably just someone else who looked a lot like him.)

Convinced of this, I retraced my steps to the coin locker where A had been standing, just to be sure. That’s when I noticed an indescribable, strange, fishy smell lingering in the air.

Furthermore, even taking into account that the station concourse wasn’t particularly well-lit to begin with, the spot where A had been standing felt strangely dimmer than the surrounding area.

“…”

A shiver ran down my spine, and I immediately ran away from there.

…And that was the true beginning of the horrors for me.

Ever since I saw A in real life, he’s been appearing in my dreams every night.

In my dreams, he still stands with his back to me, or his face is hidden by a wall, so I can’t tell what expression he’s making. But one thing is certain: he’s gradually getting closer to me.

At first, A appeared at the train station in the town where I live. Next, at the fast-food restaurant in front of the station; then at a nearby bookstore, a railroad crossing, and the convenience store near my part-time job… The places where he stands are steadily getting closer to my house.

In my dreams, A doesn’t actually do anything. In fact, he doesn’t do anything at all; he just stands there. But that’s what makes it so terrifying.

“What if he does something to me someday?”

“What if he turns around?”

…Just thinking that makes my heart feel like it’s going to jump out of my chest.

And what’s most terrifying of all is that, even in reality, I’ve started to sense A’s presence just as I do in my dreams.

On my way to college, on my way to my part-time job… I’d catch a fleeting glimpse of a figure that looked like A, and I’d panic and turn around, over and over again. I couldn’t see him clearly in those moments. But I knew it was him.

(…Please, leave me alone!)

I was practically on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It’s no wonder, I was living in constant fear of going to sleep at night. Even during the day, I was on edge, worried that A might appear.

(Maybe I should just go back to my parents’ house…)

I thought about it, but going back home wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem.

Besides, my parents’ house was also the place where those dreadful memories of A and B lingered. If things got any worse than they already were, I wouldn’t be able to keep my sanity.

One day, perhaps because I looked so utterly haggard, my college friends threw a drinking party for me “to take my mind off things.”

Honestly, I was in no state to get drunk, so I didn’t really want to go, but I couldn’t let their kindness go to waste.

(…Maybe it’ll be okay just this once.)

With that in mind, I decided to attend a drinking party for the first time in a long while. But, as expected, I just couldn’t get into the spirit of things, so I slipped out of the venue before midnight and headed home.

I barely managed to catch the last train and arrived at my local station. I lived in a college district, so even in the middle of the night, there were still quite a few people around the station.

However, since my apartment was a short walk from the station, the area was completely deserted at that hour and deathly quiet.

My face was flushed from the alcohol, but my mind was perfectly clear.

(…I should hurry home and take a shower.)

As I walked along, lost in those thoughts, I spotted a black shadow under a streetlight right near my house.

(Hmm… what’s that?)

A silhouette sharply outlined against the darkness by the pale blue streetlight… it was A’s back.

“W-whoa!?”

I let out a scream without thinking. But it happened so suddenly that my body was frozen in place, unable to move.

Then, without taking a single step, A began gliding across the ground toward me, still facing away!

The sound of his sneakers scraping against the ground grew louder as they drew nearer.

“Waaaaaah!?”

Finally, my body started moving, and I was able to sprint from there at full speed.

I ran straight back to the station, went into a 24-hour internet café, and trembled there until morning. Right then, I just didn’t want to be alone.

(A has f-finally come!! And all the way to a place so close to my house!!)

Sure enough, A had been gradually getting closer. And suddenly, I realized the true nature of that mysterious sound I’d heard when he went missing.

(T-that sound I heard over the phone back then, it was like something scraping against tatami mats… Could that have been the sound of B sliding backward toward him?)

Just before going missing, A had said that B came to pick him up. And now, A has come to pick me up!

(What should I do… What should I do?!!)

At this rate, A will reach my house by tomorrow night… If he catches up to me, what on earth will happen to me?

After spending the night at an internet café without getting a single wink of sleep, I had no choice but to head home.

(…What if I run into A again?)

With that thought in mind, I took a different route than I had that night. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, but I made it home safely without running into A. Still, my mind was far from at ease.

(A is surely… coming tonight…)

I crawled straight into bed, pulled the comforter over my head, and kept shivering uncontrollably.

(Please! A! Don’t come!)

Pray was all that I could do. Then, late at night, just as the clock struck midnight, someone rang the doorbell.

(N-No! Go away!)

I was completely buried under the comforter, even up to my head. But from the entryway, the intercom kept ringing over and over: “Ding-dong!” “Ding-dong!”

At that point, I got too scared to ignore it any longer. Reluctantly, I peeked through the peephole. And then…

“Whoa!?”

Sure enough, there was a black figure I couldn’t recognize as A. And for some reason, A was standing with his back to me, ringing the intercom in an unnatural posture.

I jumped up and scrambled back under the covers. Then, as if to mock me, the sound of the intercom grew louder and more intense.

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong

Ding-dong…

…All I could do was cry, trembling inside my futon. But the intercom wouldn’t stop ringing. On top of that, I thought I could hear a faint voice.

“I…come to… up…”

…At first, I didn’t understand what he was saying, but it seemed like, “I’ve come to pick you up.” Yet the voice had a strange tone, it didn’t sound like it was coming from a human at all.

And apart from the owner of that strange voice, a familiar voice came through next.

“Hey, we’re here to pick you up!”

“Let’s go play!”

…Those were the voices of A and B. The two of them were calling out to me gently, just like back then.

Hearing A and B’s voices, a wave of warmth washed over me.

I just wanted to see their faces. I wanted to see them and spend my days playing innocently, without a care in the world, just like back then.

…Before I knew it, I was staggering toward the front door. And just as I was about to unlock it, at that very moment…

“If a stranger comes, you mustn’t open the front door.”

“Oh, okay!”

Hearing my mother’s voice, I nodded without thinking. Then it suddenly hit me.

My mother had passed away from an illness several years ago. And since both my parents worked when I was little, and my mother often stayed out until late, she used to tell me:

“If a stranger comes, you mustn’t open the front door.”

Before I knew it, the incessant and annoying ringing of the intercom had vanished, along with the ominous aura drifting in from outside the front door.

“…I’ve been saved… Thank you, Mom…”

Realizing that my late mother had saved me, I shed tears of relief and gratitude…

…The supernatural entity that attacked me was undoubtedly Mogara-sama and A.

But I hadn’t performed the Mogara-sama ritual. Back in high school, I’d only heard the story from A and B. And yet, Mogara-sama came to pick me up.

…Come to think of it, one common thread in the Mogara-sama stories that I heard from B was that “he appears in dreams.”

Mogara-sama must cross over through dreams. And just hearing the story is enough to become infected, like a virus.

…And there’s another common thread in the Mogara-sama stories. That is, “There is no way to avoid being picked up by Mogara-sama.”

I’m sure this is true as well. Because I heard it. With my late mother’s help, Mogara-sama’s presence had faded, and just as I felt relieved and looked outside the front door

“I’ll be back.”

…I heard A’s voice, laughing as he said that. In that instant, I realized: I hadn’t escaped yet…

…In short, I’ve written this long story here because I was hoping “they” would go after someone else instead of me.

That’s why I apologized at the beginning and warned anyone who didn’t want to be involved with the supernatural to leave right away.

…Even now, I’m filled with guilt toward you, who are reading this.

But I don’t want to die yet. …No, actually, the thought of Mogara-sama and A coming to pick me up is far more terrifying than death itself.

Where the hell do they intend to take me…? I’m so terrified of finding out.

That’s why I’m praying that someone else will be sacrificed so that I might be spared.

…Some will surely condemn me as a terrible person. That’s only natural.

But you, who have already learned the truth about Mogara-sama, will come to understand how I feel. Surely, in the near future…