Let's Dance with Ghost Stories, and You Dance on the Stairs Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The Curse, Taken Root

TLed by: TanoshiKara

"I hear it's been trending! The 'Curse of The Bones' thing!"

 

It seems like Aunt Yuka is off duty today. She is having dinner together with us. And those were the words she suddenly said while passing me my rice.

 

What is that curse?, or so my mother interjected.

 

"It seems like it has spread around the school with the blackboard scribbling incident as the trigger. Seems like it's popular in the school to stuff 'Bones' into a friend's desk or bag."

 

"I wonder what bones those 'Bones' are. It feels like a nasty prank..."

 

"No way they're people's bones. Probably chicken bones and the like, gathered from the trash of a butcher's shop or something"

 

"Probably! It's not like the forensics team investigated them, but I think so. Did Tomohiro-kun get those 'Bones' as well?"

 

"Uh-huh. I get those sometimes as well. Like in my desk and my shoe locker."

 

"I wonder why kids like these kinds of weird games. Do not involve yourself with these foolish games, okay, Tomohiro?"

 

Not only did I get involved; I am the instigator.

 

I endured my reflexive urge to smirk. 

 

The only thing, however, that I was curious about was the follow-up report about the 'Curse of The Bones' that my aunt heard about.

 

"You sure know a lot, Aunt Yuka. Did something like a report come in again?"

 

"Uhh, it's not like that. It seems like an officer at the station did call the school to ask about the situation after that. They then said that recently, rather than the scribbling, the 'Curse of The Bones' was getting widely popular on campus."

 

"It is true that it has been widely popular. Well, it might just be temporary though."

 

"But I sure understand their feelings! For some reason, I was drawn to things that were not really clean when I was a kid sooo. I cannot say it right now because we are eating, but when we were kids, we sure did nasty pranks using various things that were not clean!"

 

Knowing what those pranks were, my father burst into laughter.

 

"...Then, it looks like the incident is about to come to a close with the conclusion that that scribbling incident was not the act of a weirdo but someone's prank?"

 

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, who knows? Well, that is what it comes down to, I guess." Aunt Yuka gave a vague reply while biting on some deep-fried food.

 

From how I see it, that is not a way to deceive others in order to hide something but just her losing interest in the incident as it has lost its criminality.

 

Seeing this cleared my doubts that the police had, perhaps, covertly investigated our ridiculous prank.

 

Anyway, the 'Curse of The Bones' had taken root in the school as a phenomenon. Even if I do not act, bones will still be exchanged here and there, and the curse will permeate on its own. I have nothing to fear if that blackboard scribbling incident gets forgotten.

 

"Well, it is a kid's prank, right? It happens a lot. Were there any talks about curses or divine punishment when Aunt Yuka was still going to school?"

 

"Uh-huh, there sure were a lot! I think that it was perhaps a tradition of ghost stories being passed down through different generations."

 

"Then, the 'Curse of The Bones' will not just be a temporary trend...but will remain in the school and be passed down as well...?"

 

"Might be the case! Ahahah!"

 

We will be able to get some pocket change from the curse for life if it is not temporary and will continue on forever.

 

If it becomes like this, we might get a ten thousand yen bill—no, perhaps even more than that. If only this curse would just spread to the other schools as well. Ahahahahah.

 

"Say Tomohiro-kun, are the boys not that afraid of curses?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"Hmm, you see, girls are quite afraid of superstitions like curses and divine punishments, and they work wonders. Were there any in your school as well, Big sis?"

 

"Ahhhh...I forgot, but there were a lot. I do not remember the curses, but there were a lot of charms. Perhaps it was because there were many romantic relationships; there were a lot that went if you do this and did that during this time; if this condition is met, then your love will be mutual."

 

My mother and my aunt recalled their nostalgic times back in their days while talking at length about charms.

 

Listening to that made me think that generations going through puberty, regardless of era, have an underlying knack for such things to get popular in the first place. This convinced me about why the school's ghost stories get passed down, by word of mouth, across different eras.

 

"Ahahaha, girls really do love charms."

 

"Hmmmmm, but do you know? Tomohiro-kun, if you write charm in kanji, it becomes 'Curse (Charm)1'."

 

I was a little shocked.

 

I did not know that...

 

That means 'Curses', including the love fortune of girls, have been widespread in schools ever since long ago. We intentionally came up with a new 'Curse.' However, even if we did not go out of our way to make one, new curses are being created, cultivated, and permeated daily.

 

"Ahahaha, curses seem stupid, huh. They work wonders precisely because the world's full of kids. Weird rumors and such spreading like wildfire is proof that our minds are still premature."

 

"Ahahahah! But, Tomohiro-kun, it is better not to make fun of curses that much, you know? Just as the phrase 'Eight million deities' suggests, many deities are enshrined in all kinds of areas throughout Japan. That is why making fun of curses will eventually be the same as ridiculing one of the deities."

 

"Is that how it is? After all, this is a prank-like curse that started out as the prank of someone in school, though? 'The Bone' sounds ridiculous, and there is no way that exists."

 

There is no way something like 'The Bone' exists. In the first place, we were the ones who created it, and its name was decided in the most random way possible. How can such a haphazard existence be treated like a deity?

 

I tried to laugh it off, but my aunt had a rare serious expression on her face.

 

"Deities are born every day. Did you know that?"

 

"Eh? Deities are born?"

 

"Deities are existences that possess things after all. Deities possess all things when they are born... For example, was there an episode in an old movie? The one about how the divine object that African natives worship is an empty bottle of soda. I think that it was probably some ruffian on an airplane that threw it. The natives were then surprised, seeing something sparkly that they had never seen before fall from the sky; they thought of it as a deity and worshipped it."

 

"Ahahahaha, sure sounds weird. Even though the person who threw it thought of it as trash."

 

"Right, that is the point. Deities are what the believers perceive them as. The empty bottle of soda is like that. Even if the person who threw it thought of it as trash, it will become a holy existence if the worshipers believe that it houses a deity and it will house a real deity."

 

"Then, will a deity possess the 'Curse of The Bone' as well if there are people who believe it...?"

 

My aunt nodded while grabbing another one of that deep-fried food.

 

"It will. I think that it was merely a student's mischievous mind that created the fictional existence known as The Bone. However, if there are already people who believe in the curse, then a deity has already possessed the existence known as The Bone...... In other words, it can be said that there already exists a Curse Deity called 'The Bone'."

 

"...................................."

 

To us, 'The Bone' is the very definition of an empty bottle of soda. However...a deity will possess that empty bottle if the people who took it seriously were to truly believe in it. In other words...a Curse Deity known as 'The Bone' will really appear.

 

...Ahahahahahahahaha...? How ridiculous. Will a deity with such a cheap naming sense really? Become a deity? And come to exist?? Ahahahahahahaha...

 

In the first place, we only spread the name 'The Bone' and the impression that tons and tons of bones creak out from all around if a person gets cursed.

 

Just what kind of appearance would it have if it were to exist as a deity? There's no way it would have an appearance. We never did decide on one after all.

 

 

 

However, just like how the 'Curse of The Bones' would spread on its own even without us doing anything, the appearance of 'The Bone' was also about to be selfishly decided without us doing anything.

 

Lunch break. Several of the boys gathered at someone's seat. That student was absent today because they were sick...It seemed like they were taking this opportunity to scribble on that student's seat. After they finished scribbling and left, everyone went to take a closer look at that student's seat and made a racket, so we took a look as well.

 

Their desk had lots of pencil scribbles. The word 'Bone' had been hastily scribbled all over the desk. There was no doubt that anyone would feel the insanity unless they knew that this was a prank. That was how it went.

 

Rather than that, I was shocked to find weird Teru teru bouzu2-like art in the middle of that sea of words. However, it had a clear trait that was different from the well-known Teru teru bouzus that are used as charms to pray for good weather...... Its face was that of a skull's. Unlike a Teru teru bouzu, it did not have hands and instead had skeletal feet, peeking out of its mantle-like clothing. It was clear that this weird Teru teru bouzu scribble represented 'The Bone'.

 

I could not even begin to describe how pathetic such a weird appearance was...In the first place, we did not specify its appearance even once. That was why this joke of a Teru teru bouzu was, most likely, merely the visual that the people, who were scribbling earlier, came up with on their own.

 

...However, whether it was because this Skull Teru teru bouzu was easy to draw; It had taken root with no regard for the wishes of its creator, us.

 

The bones we had brought to school before would get retrieved by someone else if they were thrown in the bin, resulting in their use for another prank once again so the teachers would confiscate them immediately after their discovery. It seems like some pranklover brought bones of a different kind, different from the ones that we scooped up from the butcher shop, but their numbers slowly decreased, making interactions of curses using 'Bones' difficult. As a result, the thing that flew about in their place was this Skull Teru teru bouzu art.

 

Draw this inauspicious Teru teru bouzu on a scrap of notebook and stuff it into someone's desk or bag. Everyone had pencils for a notebook, so it was way easier for this 'Curse' to permeate the school as compared to the 'Bones'.

 

And, when we realized it......everyone was about to recognize this ridiculous Skull Teru teru bouzu as a symbol of "The Bone"'s appearance.

 

Since this Teru teru bouzu has no hands, 'The Bone' also had none. A new setting was invented—when one gets cursed, their hands will also get torn off.

 

It's kinda interesting how 'The Bone' has since left our hands and keeps evolving on its own, or so we laughed among ourselves.

 

......Hiroyuki and Tooru were laughing, but...for some reason, I felt a vague sense of unease. But it looked like I would get called a sissy, so I could not say anything.

 

It is because it turned out as Aunt Yuka had said. Even if the curse was just a prank to us, its creators, it is a really serious curse to people who believe in it. Aunt Yuka's analogy—the empty bottle of soda that the pilot threw while flying in the air, got picked up by the natives, and became sacred—was right on point.

 

...If that is the case.........how much will the 'Curse of The Bone' evolve if this situation keeps progressing endlessly...?

 

What we created was, most likely, only its name. It has since gained an appearance and enveloped itself in a body made out of various settings and episodes. If 'The Bone' becomes a completely established existence......what will happen next?, I wonder.

 

Don't tell me it will gain the power of curses......rule over the school as a Curse Deity and curse students indiscriminately, just like the setting we made up at the start. And will it then use that power of curses to inflict harm upon the students in the end? How ridiculous...No matter how I see it, it will not go that far.

 

I would like to think that, but I have started to feel a sense of unease towards 'The Bone', which has gone way past our initial predictions and is constantly evolving...

 

1 - Charm (お呪い [o|ma|ji|na|i]) has the same Kanji as Curse (呪い [no|ro|i])

 

2 - A small paper doll Japanese people make and hang outside doors or windows to hope for good weather.

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Feel free to comment/pm me if you find any mistakes. Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.