I heard from someone that the thing was on the roof of your house.
“Hmph. So what? What do you wanna know? I don’t have anything I could tell you.”
Is your room on the second floor? And facing the alleyway?
“So what if it is?”
It sits near there a lot. On top of the roof next to your room.
“Does it? I never noticed.”
Did you really not?
“What are you implying?”
If you’re hiding something, you might end up in a lot of trouble.
“Oh, you mean that rumor that’s been going around?”
Maybe you won’t run into any issues, or maybe it’ll end up being the exact opposite. So I’d really like you to tell me what you know.
“F-fine… I’ll tell you the truth. But I’m not to blame—I at least know that.”
Sure, then will you tell me what you know?
“I noticed it about three months ago. I was studying for college entrance exams in my room, as always.
“Then I heard this voice from outside.
“It was a sort of snicker that sounded like keh-heh-heh.
“Really got on my nerves, too, since it sounded as if the thing was taunting me.
“At first, I didn’t know anything about that old wives’ tale going around, so I just thought it was somebody laughing outside.
“I tried to ignore it, but it kept on laughing.
“Then I got fed up and headed over to open the window so I could tell off whoever it was.
“But when I looked out, I saw that thing just sitting there on the roof, not doing anything.”
Was it creepy?
“Creepy? Uh, I thought it was bizarre but not creepy.”
Then what happened after?
“Well, I didn’t know what the thing was, but I could tell it wasn’t normal, so I tried taking a picture.
“I went to grab my phone from my desk, but by the time I got back to the window, it was gone.”
Did you see it only that day? Someone else said he saw it a month ago on the roof.
“Right, it probably likes that spot. It usually curls up and perches there.
“I always wanted to take a picture of it, but whenever I got my camera ready, it always ran off.
“I don’t think anybody else has gotten a picture of it, either, right? That’s what it said online when I did some research.
“I don’t think it wants to leave any evidence it exists.”
That might be the case.
So earlier you said you weren’t to blame. What did you mean by that?
“Exactly what I said. It’s not my fault the thing disappeared.”
It disappeared?
“Yeah, about a week ago. I was annoyed, since studying wasn’t going great.
“I think it was sometime past nine at night. Then that thing started snickering again.
“I was used to it, since I’ve heard it tons of times, but for some reason, it really got to me that day.
“So I opened the window and threw my book at it, and I shouted at it to shut up and go away.
“I’ve got lousy aim, so I didn’t hit it, but I guess I scared it off, since it scrambled into the shadows.”
And you haven’t seen it since then?
“Before, I’d see it every other day, but not since then.
“It probably went somewhere else.
“Hey, you don’t think I’m gonna be cursed or anything because I scared it, do you?
“The rumors on the internet said that if you make it upset, something bad will happen to you. Nothing’s gonna happen to me, right?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Ms. Kobayashi, your teacher, said you saw the thing yesterday.
“Uh-huh, I saw it.”
“I did, too!”
Where did you see it?
“There’s this little park near our house, and that’s where we saw it. Aya, my little sister, always plays there, but she didn’t come home yesterday even when it got dark, so Mom told me to go get her for dinner.”
So you saw it at the park at that time?
“I think it was around six. I was heading over to Aya while she was on the swings when I heard a weird voice from the grass behind me.
“It was going, like, keh-heh-heh, so I just had to find out what it was before I went home.
“When I heard it, too, I thought maybe it was that thing. Everyone’s talking about it at school, and lots of people online said that’s what it sounded like. So then Aya and me looked around in the grass for it.”
Did you find it?
“Yeah, it was on top of a cinder-block wall after we walked through the grass a little.”
“It was curled up there and kinda crouching down.”
“I was surprised it was actually there, but Aya seemed happy to find it and tried going closer.”
“That’s ’cause I wanted to pet it. It had this really fuzzy brown fur, and it was as big as a cardboard box. It looked super soft, too.”
Did you do it? Touch it, that is?
“No, I tried to, but when I got close, its ears whipped up, and it suddenly leaped to the ground.”
It leaped?
“Both of us were really shocked by that. Lots of kids at school have seen this thing, too, but they all said it was just curled up and sitting down. Also, most of them saw it at night, and no one else has seen it actually move.”
How did it move?
“Well, you know how we said it’s as big as a cardboard box? I was watching it and kind of worried about whether it’d land okay, but it suddenly went from being round to being really long. It stretched out just like an accordion. The wall was about a whole yard high, and it left its back legs on top while its front legs stretched down to the ground.”
“Uh-huh, it went from being a cardboard box to really long and thin like a baguette.”
“Then after its back legs reached the ground, it started to move like an inchworm across the ground by stretching and shrinking its body. Then it disappeared into the grass. It was really fast, too. You have no idea how amazed I was.”
So do you think that scared it away?
“I think it’s still around.”
Why’s that?
“Well, one of the girls in my class said so. This morning she heard the keh-heh-heh laugh.”
I see. Thank you.
Also, did either of you see its eyes?
“Its eyes? Actually, I don’t think we saw its face.”
“Nuh-uh, I only saw its ears.”
“But it did look exactly like everyone else said. Like a bizarre cat. It really did look like a huge, weirdly shaped cat.”
It was twilight.
A lone boy made his way to a small park near an elementary school. He wore a red hood.
No one else was in the park.
In the grass behind the swing set…
The boy went over to the spot the girls had described to him. He found the grass behind the swings and walked a ways until he came across the wall.
Just the day before, the bizarre cat had been here, but the boy saw no sign of the cat now. Maybe it really has wandered somewhere else, the boy thought as he looked around.
Keh-heh-heh.
Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched, taunting laugh from the park.
“It’s here! But where?!”
The boy left the grass and headed back into the park to resume his search. Then, as he was looking around, he found something about as big as a cardboard box on top of the slide.
It was fuzzy with brown fur.
“The bizarre cat!”
The boy ran over to it.
Twitch!
It seemed like the cat had noticed the boy, since its ears pricked up as it sat curled up on the slide. It kept making that sound, “Keh-heh-heh,” but started to run away.
“Wait! Stop right there!” the boy yelled at the cat.
The bizarre cat seemed surprised when he addressed it. It flinched but stopped.
Mrooooowr.
This time it snarled like an actual cat as it raised its head and turned to face the boy.
Its eyes started to glitter.
The boy looked straight into its eyes as he said, “You have the power to answer just one question in your life with perfect accuracy. And the only person who can ask you that question is someone who’s seen your eyes.”
The boy approached the bizarre cat. As though it had accepted the boy, the creature remained perfectly still on the slide. It only stared at him with its glimmering eyes and didn’t attempt to run.
Once the boy stood in front of the slide, he took in a deep breath and looked straight at the cat.
“O bizarre cat, where is the faceless kid?”
The boy shouted his question at the creature.