Daruma-san / The Bath Game
At first, I thought it was just a joke.
They said that if you sit in the bathtub at dawn, wash your hair with your eyes closed, and keep saying,
“Daruma-san fell down,”
something would appear.
A woman who slipped and died in the bath would come to mind, they said.
More precisely, the moment she slipped, her eye was impaled on the faucet or the edge of the tub—and that scene would appear in your head.
And the moment you see it, the game begins.
That day, I was alone.
My parents had gone out of town, and I was the only one at home.
I wasn’t scared at all back then.
I thought most ritual-type ghost stories on the internet were made-up nonsense.
Past midnight, I went into the bathroom.
I left the lights on.
I filled the tub with water and wet my hair with the shower.
Then I closed my eyes.
“Daruma-san fell down.”
At first, I almost laughed.
“Daruma-san fell down.”
The phrase itself sounded silly.
It was like the Japanese version of “Red Light, Green Light,” something kids say—but whispering it alone in the bathroom made me feel stupid.
Still, I kept going.
“Daruma-san fell down.”
Shampoo foam dripped toward my eyes.
I rubbed my hair with my eyes still shut.
Then a scene entered my mind.
It wasn’t something I i