【Japanese Horror】The Hundred Horror Tales — Episode 54: The Person Who Helped Her | Haunted Kaidan Tales
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Episode 54 – “The Person Who Helped Her| Haunted Kaidan Tales” (Full Text)
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Episode 54 — The Person Who Helped Her
Thin white smoke slowly rose into the air.
Only the tip of the extinguished candle still glowed faintly red.
No one spoke right away.
“…I don’t know,”
Aoi muttered softly.
“I think white things kinda creep me out now.”
“Probably because of that last story.”
Shūji gave a dry laugh.
“Even using towels feels different now.”
“Oh, stop.”
Miwa laughed.
“If you start thinking like that, you won’t be able to live normally anymore.”
Even as she said it, she glanced down at her own hands for just a second.
Then she looked back up and shrugged.
“But still…”
She let out a small breath.
“In the sense that… some things leave something behind…”
“I might know a story a little like that.”
Sōma looked toward her.
“A similar story?”
“Yeah. It’s not about me, though.”
Her voice lowered slightly.
“It’s about one of my mom friends.”
The atmosphere in the room tightened just a little.
“A while ago, she almost got into an accident.”
Miwa spoke slowly, using small gestures as she talked.
“She was walking with her child when a car suddenly came rushing toward them.”
“Huh…?”
Aoi leaned forward.
“She said it was really close. Like, the moment she thought she was about to get hit—”
Miwa paused.
“Someone pulled her back.”
Sōma’s brow shifted slightly.
“Pulled her?”
“Yeah. She heard someone shout, ‘Watch out!’ and then someone grabbed her arm.”
“They pulled her onto the sidewalk, and that’s how she survived.”
“So somebody saved her.”
Shūji said quietly.
“Right.”
Miwa nodded.
“And apparently… that person seemed really nice.”
“Calm. Gentle.”
“They looked her straight in the eyes and asked, ‘Are you alright?’”
She smiled faintly.
“The kind of person who immediately feels trustworthy.”
“Well… if someone saves your life, you’d probably think that.”
Shūji said lightly.
“And then…”
Miwa continued.
“She asked for their contact information right there.”
Sōma asked quietly,
“To thank them?”
“Yeah. She said, ‘I’d really like to properly thank you.’”
Miwa gave a small nod.
“And the person gave it to her right away.”
Then—
her expression shifted ever so slightly.
“…But she did say something felt a little strange.”
“She said there was a tiny pause.”
“Just for a second.”
“Right before they said, ‘Ah… sure.’”
Miwa shrugged.
“Not enough to really matter, though.”
“At least, not at the time.”
Aoi murmured,
“But still… it’s good she survived.”
“Seriously.”
Miwa smiled.
“But after that…”
Her tone lowered slightly.
“Things in her life suddenly started going really well.”
Miwa continued, her gaze lowered slightly.
“At first, it was all really small things.”
“Neighborhood problems suddenly settled down, her husband’s work started going smoothly…”
“Even her kid’s test scores suddenly got better.”
“So at first, everyone just said, ‘Well, that’s good for you.’”
Aoi tilted her head.
“But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It is.”
Miwa gave a small nod.
“But it wasn’t just once or twice.”
“Whenever some kind of problem came up, it somehow solved itself.”
“Nobody did anything.”
“It just… worked out naturally.”
Shūji crossed his arms.
“So she just had good luck.”
“I mean, maybe.”
Miwa gave an uncertain smile.
“But eventually, even she started saying it.”
“‘This feels a little too perfect.’”
The atmosphere in the room grew slightly heavier.
“And around that time…”
Miwa slowly raised her face.
“She started getting messages from the person who saved her.”
Aoi looked relieved.
“They really were a nice person.”
“Yeah.”
“At first, the messages were completely normal.”
“Things like asking if she was feeling okay, or if her child was doing alright.”
“Just ordinary concern.”
“And then, after they’d been talking for a while…”
Her voice lowered slightly.
“They said, ‘Would it be alright if I asked you for one favor?’”
No one spoke right away.
“And even the favor itself was small at first.”
“Like asking her to take the trash out a little later than usual.”
“Or telling her not to use a certain road.”
Shūji frowned.
“A road?”
“Yeah. Apparently they never explained why.”
“But she said it somehow felt like… she really shouldn’t go there.”
“So she listened.”
Miwa continued quietly.
“It wasn’t anything difficult anyway.”
“And that day…”
“Nothing happened.”
Sōma spoke softly.
“Nothing.”
Miwa gave a small nod.
“Yeah. Nothing.”
“But later…”
“She said something strange.”
“She told them, ‘I feel like something bad would’ve happened if I’d taken that road.’”
No one laughed.
“Maybe it was just coincidence.”
Miwa shrugged lightly.
“But when things like that keep happening…”
She slowly lifted her eyes.
“You start thinking about it.”
“And after that…”
“The number of those ‘favors’ slowly started increasing.”
No one moved.
Miwa continued calmly.
“At first, it was only once a week or so.”
“But before she realized it, it had become almost every day.”
Shūji frowned.
“Every day?”
“Yeah.”
“And little by little, the requests started changing.”
“It wasn’t just things like changing the time she took the trash out, or avoiding certain roads anymore.”
“They became things like…”
“‘I want you to go to this place at this exact time.’”
“Or, ‘I want you to leave this here.’”
Aoi spoke quietly.
“Isn’t that… weird?”
“Yeah.”
Miwa gave a short nod.
“She thought so too.”
“But…”
Miwa paused briefly.
“She still did it.”
No one moved.
“She said she didn’t even understand why herself.”
“She’d think about refusing… but before she realized it, she was already moving.”
“And somewhere in her mind, she kept thinking…”
“‘Well, it’s only something small.’”
Sōma spoke softly.
“It’s accumulated.”
“Exactly.”
Miwa nodded faintly.
“The fact that she’d been saved that day never left her.”
“So it became harder and harder to refuse.”
“And besides…”
She lowered her eyes slightly.
“As long as she followed the requests, everything went well.”
The air in the room grew colder.
“Nothing bad happened.”
“If anything, things got even better than before.”
Shūji spoke in a low voice.
“So what happened when she refused?”
Miwa answered immediately.
“She refused once.”
No one spoke.
“Apparently it was just a small request.”
“They asked her to step outside at a certain time.”
“But she already had plans that day.”
“So she replied…”
“‘I can’t today.’”
Silence spread through the room.
“That night…”
“Her child suddenly came down with a fever.”
Aoi gasped.
“W-What…?”
“And that wasn’t all.”
“The next day, her husband made a serious mistake at work.”
“And after that, small accidents kept happening around the house.”
Shūji lowered his voice.
“Accidents?”
“Small things.”
“But they kept piling up.”
“Things getting dropped. Things breaking. Things crashing into each other.”
“And all the timing felt wrong.”
Sōma spoke quietly.
“The cause and effect is leaning too far in one direction.”
Miwa nodded.
“She tried to convince herself it was all coincidence at first.”
“But then…”
She slowly raised her eyes.
“The next morning, she got another message.”
No one moved.
“‘Was everything alright yesterday?’”
Miwa’s voice dropped slightly.
“When she saw that message…”
“She said she suddenly thought…”
“‘Ah…’”
Miwa stopped for a moment.
“‘This happened because I refused.’”
No one said a word.
“And after that…”
Miwa continued quietly.
“She got another request.”
“This time, she did exactly what they asked.”
“And then…”
Slowly, Miwa lifted her face.
“Nothing happened.”
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
“If anything…”
She spoke almost in a whisper.
“Everything went back to normal.”
No one breathed.
“And after that…”
Miwa murmured softly.
“She stopped refusing.”
Miwa lowered her eyes slightly.
“And then…”
“She said she slowly started thinking…”
“‘How long is this going to continue?’”
No one spoke.
“The requests never stopped.”
“And little by little, they became heavier.”
“The times and places became more specific.”
“She said it started to feel like even the time she left the house… and the time she came back… were being decided for her.”
Aoi spoke quietly.
“That’s… actually scary.”
“Yeah.”
Miwa gave a short nod.
“But then…”
“She tried to stop.”
A heavy silence settled over the room.
“Not just once.”
“She tried several times.”
“She ignored the messages.”
“She stopped replying.”
“She even tried turning her phone off.”
“She tried everything.”
Shūji spoke in a low voice.
“What happened?”
“Every single time…”
Miwa continued quietly.
“Something happened.”
“Always small things.”
“But things always shifted in the wrong direction.”
“Things wouldn’t line up.”
“She’d miss things. Be late. Things would go wrong.”
“Everything stopped fitting together.”
Sōma spoke softly.
“She was being pulled back.”
“Yeah.”
Miwa nodded faintly.
“And then, one day…”
Her voice dropped slightly.
“She realized something.”
No one moved.
“She realized…”
“She couldn’t remember that person anymore.”
The air in the room froze.
“Not their face.”
“Not their name.”
“She knew they’d met.”
“She knew they’d spoken.”
“But whenever she tried to remember…”
“Everything blurred.”
Aoi whispered softly.
“What…?”
“And that wasn’t all.”
Miwa continued.
“The contact information was still there.”
“The message history was still there.”
“But she couldn’t remember the moment she’d added them.”
Silence spread through the room.
“And at that moment…”
Miwa slowly raised her face.
“She started thinking this.”
Her voice lowered slightly.
“‘Maybe… I wasn’t actually saved at all.’”
No one breathed.
Miwa let out a small breath.
“But even then…”
“She never stopped.”
No one spoke.
“Or maybe… it’s more accurate to say she couldn’t stop anymore.”
“She said the requests are still continuing, even now.”
Aoi whispered softly.
“Even now…?”
“Yeah.”
Miwa nodded.
“They’ve become less frequent.”
“But they never disappeared.”
A quiet silence spread through the room.
“And apparently, the requests aren’t as heavy as they used to be.”
“But…”
“They’ve become part of her normal life.”
Shūji spoke in a low voice.
“What does that mean?”
“She said…”
“The time she wakes up.”
“The time she leaves the house.”
“Even small choices.”
“She follows all of it.”
“It’s not really a ‘request’ anymore…”
Miwa hesitated slightly.
“It’s more like a habit now.”
No one moved.
“And then she said this too.”
Miwa slowly lowered her eyes.
“‘Nothing bad happens as long as I do what I’m told.’”
Aoi quietly held her breath.
“What…?”
“And eventually…”
Miwa continued softly.
“She started saying…”
“‘It’s scarier to decide things myself.’”
The air in the room grew cold.
Sōma remained silent.
“And after that…”
Miwa murmured quietly.
“She stopped making choices for herself.”
No one said a word.
“She said it was easier that way.”
“Because everything goes smoothly.”
Silence settled heavily over the room.
The candle flame flickered faintly.
Miwa slowly raised her face.
“So now…”
She gave a small smile.
“She says she isn’t troubled anymore.”
No one moved.
“Everything works out.”
“Nothing bad happens.”
“Her life keeps moving normally.”
Miwa lowered her eyes again.
“…But in exchange…”
Her voice dropped slightly.
“She says she hasn’t made a single decision by herself in a very long time.”
No one breathed.
Miwa remained silent for a few seconds.
Then—
“Fuu…”
The flame swayed once—
and went out.
Thin white smoke rose quietly into the air.
At that moment—
—clink.
A faint sound echoed through the room.
Everyone turned toward it.
The photo frame sitting on the shelf…
had shifted slightly.
Its position was clearly different from before.
Aoi whispered quietly.
“…Did that just move?”
No one answered.
Shūji slowly looked away.
“Probably just our imagination.”
He said it lightly.
But—
no one laughed.
Miwa stared at the photo frame for a moment as well,
before silently lowering her gaze.
Only Sōma narrowed his eyes slightly.
No one stood up.
No one touched it.
And in the silence—
only the next candle flame continued to flicker softly.
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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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