Story translated from Japanese by editor Reki of Yoru Shinbun. These are all original translations from the Japanese source material.
This was an experience from someone I know.
He lived alone in an old wooden apartment in Suginami Ward, which was built around 40 years ago.
Its probably the same situation as everywhere else where you don’t really talk to your neighbours and your only interaction is when you pass them in the corridor. Seems like most people experience this too.
He has been living there for almost half a year and has not even seen the face of his next door neighbour.
One day, he happened to pass his neighbour who asked him,“Hey you, could you please stop scratching the walls in the middle of the night? Its really noisy and we can’t sleep.”
He had no idea what that meant and replied,“I have never done that, in fact I’m asleep at midnight.”
However the neighbour didn’t believe him and threatened him,“The next time you do that, I’m calling the landlord.”
Of course he didn’t understand what the neighbour was talking about and returned to his room. What a troublesome neighbour, I don’t want to get into any more encounters with him.
The next night, he got home exhausted after work and went straight to bed. He was deeply asleep when he was woken up suddenly by a large banging sound. Surprised but still extremely sleepy, “Its the neighbour…. What on earth is he doing in the middle of the night?” he thought as he tried to go back to sleep.
It was the sound of something scratching.
(Is it mice?) he wondered as he looked around the room dimly lit by moonlight. He spotted a figure crouched near a wall.
There sat a boy who looked around 5 years old. He was facing the wall towards the neighbour. The boy started scratching the bare walls with his fingers. Scritch… Scritch…
What the neighbour said was true!
He continued to observe the boy from his bed and eventually summed up his courage to ask the boy, “Boy, what are you doing?”
The boy slowly turned his head towards him.