“I assume that girl’s an acquaintance of yours…or is she not?” Senpai frowned thoughtfully. You could practically hear the gears turning in her head.
I could give her a clear answer on this one. I was absolutely certain I’d never met the girl before. She was a complete and total stranger. Although I didn’t possess a mind so brilliant that I could remember every single person I’d met, nothing had come to me even after pulling my hair out and wracking my brain in an attempt to remember her. I was drawing a blank. I’d definitely never seen her before. I couldn’t see how I had anything to do with this unfamiliar girl.
What’s more, she was a foreigner, probably a Westerner. Although it was difficult for a Japanese guy like myself to guess the age of a Caucasian, I thought she was probably somewhere around my age, either in her early twenties or late teens. Wearing a kind, warmhearted expression, her pretty face was reminiscent of a flower in bloom.
Neither her eyes nor her hair were particularly unusual colors, but appeared to be shades rather common for Westerners. That hair extended slightly below the shoulders, generally worn loose rather than kept back, although she would bind it with a cheap-looking hair tie once in a while.
No matter what, there was always an ancient camera in her hands. It gave her a vivacious air, somehow, like a newspaper journalist. Her casual attire showed a disinterest in fashion; many of her outfits were clearly secondhand. She was such a normal, happy-looking girl it seemed weird to call these photos of her “ghost photographs.”
Highly intrigued, Senpai crossed her arms and fell into deep thought. Finally, she said, “I wonder who she is. I’ve never heard of anything like this before… I’m certain she must be related to you somehow. After all, no one else has ever seen the Girl in the Photos. I checked online to see if anyone else shared a similar experience, but no hits came up.”
Well, that was less than helpful. I really, truly did not know this girl. Based on their genetic traits, I felt like Senpai was way closer to being “related” to the girl than I was.
After thinking good and hard, Senpai held her head in her hands, its distinct features revealing her own foreign ancestry. She cried out, “Gah, I just don’t know! This is too far out there! It would have made things way easier if the Girl in the Photos presented a threat, like putting a deadly curse on you. That’d make this a standard ghost story! But as things stand, I have no idea what this girl is trying to do.”
I didn’t want to die of some curse! Sure, this was a pretty creepy situation, but it seemed ultimately harmless, so at least I wasn’t living in fear. I was simply curious what was up with the pictures…and the girl in them. It was also a bit depressing to think photos like this would appear in any book I cracked open for the rest of my (hopefully long) life. If at all possible, I wanted to do something about this supernatural phenomenon.
“If only you knew who that girl was… Could you try figuring it out? If I know her name and nationality, I might be able to find something online, you know?”
Senpai’s question had me at a loss. All of the photographs I’d found thus far shared almost the exact same layout. There were minor deviations between each photo, but the overall image didn’t change. There was a girl in the center. The shots were extremely zoomed in; close-ups of her face or the upper portion of her body consumed the majority of the frame.
When a background was visible, it was usually just a boring, gray, concrete wall. A nondescript environment that only vaguely evoked speculation that she could be in a hospital, prison, or research institution.
No one other than the girl ever appeared in the photographs, and she didn’t do anything to offer insight regarding her personality. She was either daydreaming, staring at me, or sleeping. They were simple photos akin to the ones used for passports and resumes. Without the sleuthing skills of a great detective, I had no hope of discerning her identity.
“Hmm… Okay, I guess her identity is just one of the things we’ll have to start looking into. I’ll give you my full support, so don’t worry. Let’s make the most of your miraculous encounter with the occult in this cut-and-dry modern world we live in! Let’s give it our all, partner! Put ’er there!”
Showing absolutely no signs of calming down, Senpai forced me into a handshake and began swinging our arms up and down. Admittedly, it was probably rare to encounter such a bizarre phenomenon in the 21st Century, a time when science flourished. I bet senpai didn’t want to let this chance (if you could call it that) slip her by.
Although Senpai was a weirdo who made it no secret she was only doing this to sate her own curiosity, it felt kind of nice getting the whole thing off my chest. Keeping it to myself was starting to wear me down.
“All right! With that settled, let’s start our investigation with a few tests.” Senpai began carefully checking the book, still in her hands, one page at a time.
“Hmmm… It doesn’t look like any pictures are stashed in this one.” Senpai took her time, examining it carefully. “The cover is intentionally designed so that you can’t remove it, which makes sense, since it’s a library book. I don’t see anywhere a photo could be hiding.” She proceeded to hand it to me and continued, “So next, I want you to try. Unless you’re a top-notch magician, it really will be a supernatural phenomenon if you pull one of those photos out of this book. Oh, I’m so excited!”
I held the book Senpai had just confirmed as photo-free. As she said, it was physically impossible for a photograph to slip from its pages—unless of course, Senpai was feeling mischievous and had decided to play a stupid trick on me by slipping a photo in right before handing it over. I’d never spoken to her before now; I didn’t exactly trust her a hundred percent. On the other hand, that meant there was no reason for her to tease or deceive me.
Honestly, I’d never get anywhere if I kept on doubting every little thing.
Feeling a little nervous, I popped open the book and briskly thumbed through the pages.
“Well? Well? Is it there? Where’s the photo? Actually, hold up! I wanna document this! I’m gonna record it on my smart phone, so gimme a sec! This is so cool! I hope I get to witness the big moment…!” Senpai was so excited she was practically vibrating—it was downright annoying, but I was too preoccupied with my own issues to pay her any heed.
As I casually flipped through the pages, like I would any other book…I found it.
The photo appeared, tucked into the fold right down the center of the spine.
Cold chills ran down my back.
“Huh? No way! Are you kidding me?”
Senpai got her phone out of her pocket, but filming proved a bigger challenge. The phone slipped right out of her hands. She flailed after it, eyes wide in amazement. I was struck speechless. Just like always, a photo had appeared in the book I was holding. It was flipped backwards, so I instinctively touched the photo to turn it around. The photo was of none other than…
“L-Lemme see! I wanna see! C’mon, ███!” Senpai cried, her piercing voice growing suddenly distant.
As the sound of her cries faded, a lukewarm sensation slowly engulfed my entire body. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, like I was being cupped inside a giant hand.
My gaze fell upon the image imprinted on the small, standard-sized photo.
The mysterious “Girl in the Photos” looked back up at me, wearing a faintly troubled smile.