I was dreaming in my sleep, but I suddenly noticed that it was somewhat noisy outside. It was a kind of sound that might be made, say by hitting a thin iron pole with a wooden stick or something. That kept ringing incessantly in regular rhythm. I was awaken from a dream by the sound, well, I thought so at that point.

Just as I came awake, I felt someone entering my room.

The room had a sliding door by the foot of the bed, and there was the next room with a door that would open into the corridor on the other side of the sliding door. So, I first thought someone who has gone to take a bath or something in the night came into my room by mistake on the way back. What! I should have locked the door, but I probably forgot to do thatÉ oh my god, I have to shout and let that person know this is a wrong room. But my voice failed me. Then, when the door opened silently, there was a slender woman dressed in kimono standing. She was a beautiful woman with small face who looked great in kimono as wearing her hair upswept, and she apparently was about 30 years old. But she somehow appeared to be giving a gloomy feelingÉ why, it was scary. After struggling frantically to give out a cry for a while, I finally found my voice and awoke.

I immediately turned the light and TV on. I was so scared that my heart was beating violently, but in a while, I somehow fell asleep again before I knew.

But, that same sound soon caught my ear again.

And then, the sliding door opened noiselessly for a second time.

However, this time, it was a boy with bobbed hair and a little girl taking hands with each other that were standing there. Despite that I was so frightened at the first time, I now calmly thought "well, is here" without having no fear at all for some reason.

Then I even pulled my blanket off and told them to come next to me.

The boy was wearing a kimono, which was so short that his legs were showing, and he had narrow eyes with single-edged eyelids and a small nose. From his soft skin, I imagined he would be about 5 or 6 years old. In a word, his face looked like that of the image of Reiko drawn by Ryusei Kishine. As we were in a position just as if I was lying down with my baby, the boy suddenly grasped my hand. It was actually my wrist, to put it more precisely. He then tickled me in the inner side of wrist with the forefinger.

It was a lovely gesture, but because it tickled, I told him "Hey, stop that." I felt like if I had a child doing mischief. Yet, he was importunate that he did not let my hand go easily. As I could no longer stand the tickle, I got out of the bed and crawled up to the wall on the other side of the room on my knees to get away from him. But it was at that moment, I realized something. I moved a few meters away from the bed, but the boy was still in the bed. But his arm was getting longer like a long-necked monster to follow me.

OH MY GOD!

There I woke up again.

What I experienced in that night might be scientifically explicable in many ways. Well, I probably was dreaming, especially because the experience of staying at the hotel of zashiki-warashi was still fresh in my memory at that time.

However, I have never seen such a vivid picture till then, and it was my first time to hear such kind of sound. Moreover, I heard the same sound and saw a figure in the same way after awakening once; it was the first time that I have ever had the same experience twice in repetition. Even now, I still have a clear recollection of what happened in that night, and also remember the feeling of my hand grasped by the boy.

I wonder what it really was. As a matter of fact, when I was falling into a doze again after that incident, I actually heard the same sound for the third time. But for fear that I might have to go through the same thing over again; I jumped out of bed right away. After then, I could never go back to sleep again until the sky gradually grew light. The garden where, I assumed, the sound has been coming from was actually very peaceful, and as I then heard chirping of birds, I felt relieved and fell asleep.

This hotel dates back to the Edo period. The Asano-yu in Hakone has been widely known as a great hot spring since that period, but on the other hand, I suppose that it is also a spiritual site as there are shojin-ike, rokudo-jizou, magai-butsu, and graves in the neighborhood. In addition, when I woke up in the morning and took a look at the garden, I found out that there was a small shrine right on the extended line from the foot of the bed.

Moreover, to tell the truth, I was refused to stay at the hotel at first as, they said, there was no vacant room. But I finally got a room after imploring them desperately on the pretext that I was collecting materials for my report. Taking that into consideration, I suppose that they usually would not take a guest in that room where I stayed as there probably was a long, complicated story behind it.

So while having breakfast, I was tempted to ask someone about it. But, even if I simply ask "Is this room haunted?" to a veteran parlormaid, I doubt if she will frankly tell me, and I am pretty sure that she will then bring it into the conversation and chuckle with other parlormaids after my departure.

But, I wonder if I really have brought SOMETHING with meÉ. By the way, I have been staying at several hotels even after that, but there has been no sign of such kind.

Translated by Maiko Noda