Ghost Stories 100 Tales #Final Night: A True Experience

Good evening.
I am the Vtuber and poet, Pagusuke.
Thank you for reading my ghost stories and 100 tales.

When writing the 100th story, I thought I would write something Vtuber-like.
However, nothing came to mind.
It has been four months since I became a Vtuber.
It has been nothing but fun.
I have been able to encounter many people's poems and works, and talk on streams.
I have been spending a very enjoyable time.
So, this time, I will talk about my own true experience, which is the furthest thing from being a Vtuber.

This is a story from when I was traveling in Shikoku with a senior from my club.
It was the beginning of April, the second night after we set off on April Fool's Day.
The first night was exciting, but by the second night, I was at the limit of my physical strength.
The travel plan was just a pipe dream.
Even though I had experience with long rides of over 100 kilometers, doing it for two consecutive days drained my energy more than I had imagined.
Since we were students, the accommodations during our trip were all cheap inns without meals.
The inn that night was the narrowest of them all, with just enough space to move around once two futons were laid out.
The senior collapsed as soon as we arrived at the inn, and I, the junior, went out to buy dinner.

The outside was dyed in the colors of the sunset.
I picked out some bread that looked nutritious at a nearby supermarket, bought milk for myself and beer for my senior, and returned to the inn.
After that, we both went to the large public bath to wash off our sweat, and that night we finished our dinner in silence without making any noise and went to sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night.
Even though I am on a trip like this, I cannot sleep soundly when someone else is in the same room because I get nervous.
I thought this awakening at night might also be due to that tension.
I decided to just play with my smartphone until morning so as not to wake my senior.
When I tried to reach for my smartphone charging by my pillow, my body would not move at all.
I was experiencing what is known as sleep paralysis.

Only my eyes could move.
Because my body could not move, my sharpened senses caught a sound.
A sliding sound, likely the sound of a sliding door opening.
Had my senior gone outside before I woke up?
But it was strange for someone who had just returned.
I did not hear the sound of the door connecting to the hallway opening.
What could my senior have been doing in the narrow space between the door and the sliding door?
Thoughts raced through my mind, but none of them made sense.
In the first place, I could see my senior sleeping right next to me in the corner of my eye.

Then who opened the door?
While still lying down, I stared at the door at my feet as if looking down at it.
Slowly, a foot stepped in through the gap in the door.
Judging by the hem, it looked like they were wearing the same inn yukata as us. The skin was lustrous and had a better complexion than my own pale skin.
Likely a woman.
When she took another step, the owner of the foot appeared.
A woman with long hair.
Her face, hidden by hair hanging in front, looked a little older than my senior as far as I could see through the gap.
Although I had calmly grasped what she looked like, I could not understand why this situation was happening.
Whether to run or confront her, the anxiety of not being able to move my body began to build up here.
I had to wake my senior up.
I tried to make a loud noise, but no voice came out.
The frustration of not being able to do anything.
I kept my gaze fixed on the woman, following her.
Thinking that if there was a gap, I might find some way out.
Thinking that maybe a miracle would happen.

The woman came to my feet.
Our eyes did not meet.
The woman was staring only at my feet over the futon.
It felt like an hour had passed.
A tension so great that time felt that long.
The woman bent down casually, pulled back the futon, and grabbed my foot.
The thought that I might be able to do something vanished.
My other foot, which was not being held, hung limply.
Martial arts were of no use at all.
Damn it, let go.
Curses filled my head.
While holding one foot, the woman returned toward the sliding door.
I was dragged along.
My body fell off the futon, and I passed through the sliding door while hitting my body and head against the walls and floor.
I understood that the opponent was not human.
But this feeling of helplessness tore my self-esteem as a martial artist to shreds.
Ah, whatever happens, happens.
Take me wherever you want.
I gave up completely.
There was nothing more I could do.
I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.

That was when I woke up.
I was so exhausted that I had to muster all my strength just to lift my body.
When I looked around the room, my senior was sleeping in the same position as I remembered.
There were no other changes, and I was convinced that it had been a dream.
I am quite optimistic.
I felt angry at myself in the dream for giving up.
I thought, I could have done something more.
Covering up that feeling of helplessness.
When I tried to lift my body, my foot hurt.
My left foot, which I had injured during practice.
It hurt terribly, to the point where it was difficult to move.
It was the same left foot that was pulled in yesterday's dream.
Laughing it off as 'no way,' I gathered my strength and lifted my upper body.
That was when I noticed.
I was facing the opposite direction from when I went to sleep.
When I turned around vigorously, I saw the sliding door.
The open sliding door.
A chill ran down my spine.
Could it be that the woman had tried to take me away, changed her mind, and returned me to my original place?

I think it was a dream that the woman pulled my foot.
However, my sleeping posture is not so bad that I would end up facing the opposite direction.
My senior is not the type to play pranks, and he was a heavyweight athlete with a completely different build from the woman that night.
After that, I was afraid of when that woman would appear again while traveling through Shikoku, and perhaps due to the tension, I never had a night where I could sleep properly.
Perhaps because of that, my body did not recover, and the knee I had injured worsened to the point of leaving lasting effects.
Now I have retired from active duty and only go to watch practice occasionally.
I cannot explain what that woman was.
I didn't have the courage to ask the inn staff, and I couldn't tell my senior and ruin the fun of the trip.
Even now, on cold days, the foot that was dragged that night aches.
I think it is an unrelated dream, but I cannot help but resent that woman a little.