New Year's Cards from the Past: Can You Withstand This Terror?

Hello, everyone.

It's as hot as ever...
Please take good care of your health.

Well, today I'm bringing you an out-of-season theme:
"New Year's Cards from the Past."

"Huh? What's this? A novel?"

For those of you who thought that, well, just listen for a moment.

I found a stack of New Year's cards while tidying up my room.
I picked them up to organize them, and when I checked...

From one of those cards, a "chilling" sensation
from that cold season came rushing back.

Now, let the flashback begin!!

About 10 years ago, I took my wife and children
back to my parents' house for New Year's...

On New Year's morning, my mother said to me,

Mom: "Are you cheating on someone?"

Me: "...Huh???"

As I was looked at with suspicion by my mother,
I received a "New Year's card," and
this strange experience began—

Honestly, I still don't understand it.
The meaning of the card, or the sender's true intentions.

If it were a name I didn't know,
I could easily dismiss it as a prank.
However, I definitely remember the name "Riko Yoshida."
We were in the same class in first or second grade, and if I recall,

the principal'sgranddaughter...

...Her face looked exactly like her~

This half-baked feeling of "I know her"
felt strangely unsettling.

Now? Why? To me?

A mysterious New Year's card from someone I knew in distant memories.

"Happy New Year! How are you?
I was wondering how you were doing, so I wrote this card."

If the content had been that upbeat,
I might have understood it as her just writing to all her classmates on a whim...

The actual content of the New Year's card was...

Written in pencil.
Hiragana only.

It looked like the handwriting of a four-year-old who had just learned to write,
written while being taught by a parent,
shaky, worm-like characters.

The text was...

“Happy New Year.
Best wishes for this year.”

Continuing...

“Long time no see.”

...That was it.

“What is this? 😰”

“Long time no see? We've never even
spoken to each other, have we?”

She was a classmate when I was 7 or 8,
and though we barely spoke,
we were supposed to be in the same junior high school too...

I tried hard to think of a reason why I would
receive a New Year's card from 'Riko Yoshida', but...

None. I have absolutely no idea...

I suddenly feel creeped out.
...When I open my graduation album,

There she was. She looks just like the principal.😑

Me: 'Hmm... I have no idea.'

We really had so little contact that
even now, I still don't know.

What was that New Year's card all about?

Whenever I see that New Year's card that
occasionally turns up from the back of my room,
I get an indescribable, strange feeling.😵‍💫

Since it's a good opportunity, I'm going to
sort through these old postcards along with the others.

Has anyone else ever received a postcard
that felt like this kind of horror mail...?