【Japanese Horror】The Hundred Horror Tales — Episode 43: I Woke Up Older | Haunted Kaidan Tales
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Episode 43 – “I Woke Up Older| Haunted Kaidan Tales” (Full Text)
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Episode 43 I Woke Up Older
The thin white smoke slowly drifted up toward the ceiling.
The tatami room had grown just a little darker than before.
The candle flame flickered quietly.
No one spoke right away.
It felt like the story from before was still lingering somewhere in the room.
Outside, the only sound was the faint chirping of insects.
After a while—
Aoi spoke softly.
“Hey…”
“It’s not really a scary story or anything…”
“But I had something kind of strange happen to me.”
No one interrupted.
Still staring at the candle, she continued.
“This might’ve just been a dream…”
“But…”
“It didn’t really feel like one.”
“One morning…”
“My mom woke me up.”
“Aoi, you’re gonna be late!”
Like always.
“So I just got up all sleepy…”
“Still kinda out of it…”
“But something felt… off.”
The candle flame wavered gently.
“My eye level…”
“It was different.”
“Like…”
“…higher than usual.”
At first, I thought
“I was just half asleep.”
But when I got out of bed and started walking—
“It felt even weirder.”
The desk, the chair…
“Everything looked kind of… smaller.”
She lifted her hand slightly.
“So I thought something was wrong…”
“And I went to the bathroom.”
“And then…”
“I looked in the mirror.”
Aoi gave a small, awkward smile.
“And my face looked different.”
“Like… more grown-up.”
“And, um…”
“My eyebrows were thinner too.”
“Honestly…”
“I was like, ‘Who is that?’”
But—
“It wasn’t a completely different face.”
“I knew it was me.”
It was definitely me.
But still—
“Something was off.”
“I was a bit taller too…”
“And my face…”
“It looked calmer somehow.”
“Not like a kid anymore.”
Aoi stared at the candle.
“And then I thought…”
While looking in the mirror—
“…I looked like an adult.”
I heard a voice behind me.
“Aoi.”
“What are you doing?”
“Hurry up.”
It was my mom.
I turned around.
“Mom…”
“Something’s weird.”
She frowned a little.
“What are you talking about this early in the morning?”
“Are you still half asleep?”
She said that while putting a towel back on the shelf.
I looked at the mirror again.
It was still wrong.
My face,
my height—
everything felt off.
“This isn’t me.”
I said,
“Mom…”
“Don’t I look weird?”
She glanced at me for a second.
Then she answered like nothing was wrong.
“The only weird thing is your brain.”
“Forget that.”
“You’re going to be late for high school.”
For a moment, I didn’t understand what she meant.
“…What?”
She was already heading back to the kitchen.
“Come on.”
“Wash your face.”
“Put your uniform on.”
“You’re seriously going to be late.”
“High school.”
The word kept echoing in my head.
High school?
I looked at the mirror again.
Same face.
A stranger’s face.
But still—
mine.
I left the bathroom and went back to my room.
Even my room felt different.
The textbooks on my desk,
my notebooks,
my pencil case—
I didn’t recognize any of them.
There was a uniform hanging on the chair.
A navy blazer.
A white shirt.
A plaid skirt.
I picked it up.
Then I saw the school emblem on it—
and froze for a second.
I knew that school.
It showed up on TV sometimes.
Around here,
it was known as a really good school.
I just stood there holding the uniform.
Why?
Why would I be going to a school like this?
Or—
was this a dream?
But it didn’t feel like one.
I could feel the floor under my feet.
The weight of the clothes in my hands.
Everything felt real.
My mom’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Aoi!”
“Are you still not ready?”
“You’re going to be late!”
I stared at the uniform.
I hesitated for a moment.
But I didn’t know what else to do.
So I put it on.
It fit perfectly.
That made it even scarier.
I left my room and went to the entrance.
When I opened the shoe cabinet,
there was a pair of loafers I didn’t recognize.
I put them on.
I looked at myself in the mirror by the door.
Still the same—
unfamiliar face.
But it was definitely me.
I opened the front door.
The air outside felt normal.
The sky,
the road,
the houses—
everything looked the same as always.
Except for me.
I started walking toward the station.
That school was two stops away by train.
As I walked,
I kept thinking.
Is this a dream?
Or is something really wrong?
Either way,
there was only one thing I could think about.
If this was a dream—
I wanted to wake up.
Because there was no way
I could understand high school classes.
When I got off the train,
I saw the school.
A big campus.
I had seen it on TV before.
It was famous around here.
I stopped for a second.
Was I really going there?
But the students around me walked toward the gate like it was nothing.
So I followed them.
I passed through the gate.
I could hear voices from the field—clubs already practicing.
When I stepped inside the building,
the hallways were filled with students.
Everyone looked a little older than me.
But no one looked at me like something was wrong.
That made it feel even stranger.
As I walked down the hallway,
I looked for my shoe locker.
For some reason,
I knew exactly where it was.
My name was there too.
I took off my loafers and changed into indoor shoes.
Then I went up the stairs.
The second floor.
Even there,
everything felt strangely familiar.
I stopped in front of a classroom.
The sign on the door read:
Class 2-3.
I took a small breath and opened the door.
A few students were already inside.
One of them waved at me.
“Morning.”
For a second, I didn’t know who it was.
But my body moved on its own toward my seat.
When I sat down, she smiled.
“You’re a little late today.”
Her voice felt familiar.
Her face too.
But I couldn’t quite remember.
“…Morning,” I said quietly.
I looked inside my desk.
Textbooks.
A notebook.
Everything was already there.
Then I heard a voice behind me.
“Aoi.”
I turned around.
A boy was standing there.
He was tall,
with slightly long hair.
He spoke to me like we were already close.
“Hey, did you know we have a math quiz today?”
I froze.
“…What?”
He laughed.
“What’s that face?”
“Did you forget?”
“I told you yesterday.”
Yesterday.
That word made everything worse.
Yesterday?
I wasn’t even here yesterday.
He leaned slightly on my desk and came a little closer.
“Aoi, are you okay?”
“You seem off today.”
“I’m fine,” I said quickly.
But my voice shook a little.
Then the bell rang.
The teacher walked in.
Class started.
Equations filled the blackboard one after another.
The teacher kept explaining.
But I couldn’t understand anything.
The numbers,
the symbols—
none of it made sense.
I opened my notebook,
but I couldn’t move my hand.
Everyone around me kept writing,
solving the problems like it was normal.
The only sound in the room was the scratching of pens.
I started to feel scared.
Is this real?
Or am I still dreaming?
But I could hear my heartbeat.
My palms were sweating.
I stared at the board,
but everything felt wrong.
I didn’t understand anything.
Why am I here?
Before I realized it,
my eyes were burning.
A drop fell onto my notebook.
I couldn’t stop it.
The girl next to me looked over.
“Aoi?”
The boy behind me pushed his chair back.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Even the teacher stopped.
“Nakamura?”
Everyone in the classroom turned to look at me.
I couldn’t say anything.
I just kept crying,
staring down at my desk.
The teacher walked over.
“Are you okay?”
I shook my head slightly.
“…I don’t know.”
I didn’t even know what I didn’t understand anymore.
The teacher paused for a moment.
“Let’s go to the nurse’s office.”
The girl next to me stood up.
“I’ll go with her.”
She helped me up,
and we left the classroom.
We walked down the hallway.
My head felt fuzzy.
And before I knew it,
I was standing in front of the nurse’s office.
The door to the nurse’s office opened.
It was quiet inside.
White curtains.
A faint smell of medicine.
The nurse looked up from her desk.
“What happened?”
The girl who came with me answered.
“She suddenly started crying during class…”
The nurse looked surprised for a moment,
then gave a gentle smile.
“I see.”
“Let’s have you rest for a bit.”
I was guided to a bed.
The curtain beside me swayed slightly.
She placed a hand on my forehead.
“No fever.”
“Do you feel sick?”
I hesitated.
“…I don’t know.”
She just nodded.
“I see.”
The girl said,
“I’ll go back to class,”
and left.
The room fell silent.
From far away,
I could hear the faint sound of a lesson continuing.
I sat on the bed,
staring at my hands.
My fingers.
My arms.
Still—
they looked like someone older.
I let out a slow breath.
Is this a dream?
Or is something really wrong?
The more I tried to think,
the more everything blurred together.
Then—
suddenly,
my head spun.
My vision wavered.
I grabbed the edge of the bed.
And in that moment—
something brushed against the back of my mind.
Not words.
But something like a voice.
Distant.
Faint.
Like someone speaking from far away.
I couldn’t hear it clearly.
But somehow—
the meaning formed inside me.
Not yet.
Something like that.
And then—
another faint whisper.
“Did it slip in?”
I looked up.
There was no one.
The nurse was still at her desk,
reading something.
But that voice—
it wasn’t hers.
I pressed my hand against my head.
Something felt… out of place.
Like something had slipped inside.
“…What was that?”
I whispered.
No one answered.
Then—
my vision turned white.
The strength left my body.
For a moment,
it felt like I was falling.
And then—
I woke up.
I opened my eyes.
The ceiling above me—
it was the one I knew.
My room.
My bed.
Everything was the same as always.
For a moment,
I couldn’t move.
Everything from before
kept spinning in my head.
The classroom.
The lesson.
The boy.
And that voice—
“Did it slip in?”
I slowly sat up.
My heart was still beating fast.
Morning light filled the room.
My desk.
My bag.
Everything was where it should be.
I got out of bed and ran to the bathroom.
I stopped in front of the mirror—
and looked.
It was me.
The usual me.
Not the older version.
Not that unfamiliar face.
Just—
me.
“…Was it a dream?”
I touched my cheek.
It hurt.
It was real.
But somehow,
it didn’t feel like just a dream.
I still remembered everything.
The classroom.
The air.
That school.
I stood there for a while,
thinking.
Then—
I smiled a little.
“That school…”
“It’s supposed to be really good.”
“And…”
I hesitated for a second.
“That boy…”
“He was kind of cute.”
I let out a small laugh.
If that really was—
a glimpse of the future—
then maybe…
I’m kind of looking forward to it.
Aoi smiled,
a little mischievously.
Then she reached out toward the candle.
She took a small breath.
And blew.
The flame flickered—
then went out.
A thin trail of smoke rose into the air,
curling gently,
as if it were dancing.
Another candle
had gone out.
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The Hundred Horror Tales is an original Japanese horror anthology inspired by the tradition of Hyaku Monogatari.
Five storytellers gather around flickering candles to share chilling tales—urban legends, ghost stories, folklore, daily fears, and real encounters.
Can you endure until the last flame goes out?
Follow for more:
• Twitter: @KaidanTales
• YouTube: @HK_Tales
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