A classroom where we held a single pen together and called upon a spirit through Bunshinsaba.

We did not turn off all the classroom lights.

We left just one row of fluorescent lights on.
Outside the window, it was already dark, and from the hallway we could occasionally hear kids from other classes talking.

There was a single sheet of paper on the desk.

In the center was a circle.
Around it were numbers and letters.
On one side was Yes.
On the other side was No.

And one pen.

Two people held that pen together.

“Bunshinsaba, Bunshinsaba.”

If someone laughed first, the mood broke.
Still, we tried again.
We lowered our voices even more.

“Oide kudasai.”

Spirit, please come.

After those words ended, the classroom became strangely quiet.

No one knew whether a ghost had really come or not.
But if the pen moved even a little, it was no longer a joke.

Who pushed it?
You put strength into your hand, didn’t you?
No, I really didn’t move it.

Even the kids who had been laughing closed their mouths at that moment.

When Cine21 introduced the 2004 film Bunshinsaba, it described Bunshinsaba as “an incantation used to summon a ghost.” The article explained that when two people hold a pencil together and place it on a sheet of paper, the pencil moves in response to the chant and is said to deliver the ghost’s story.