Stories that land

A strange visitor during summer break

Tomoike recalls a two-week stay with an older relative when he was in elementary school.

Before the story

The original account introduces Tomoike (友池) as a solo comedian. He recalls staying with an older female relative for about two weeks as a schoolchild.

In the room

I was in elementary school when I spent about two weeks at an older relative’s house. On the first night, I was working on my summer homework when I felt a strange, floaty sensation.

I looked around. There was a man in uniform with a mustache, saluting me. To me, he looked like a ghost. He had a bunch of stars on his shoulders, so I figured he was a sergeant. And he was tiny—about six inches, or 15 centimeters, tall.

What was that? I was terrified.

The next night, while I was studying again, the sergeant came out of the wall and saluted. I decided I hadn’t seen a thing.

But it happened night after night. By the seventh night, I was used to it. I even caught myself thinking, Where’s the sergeant tonight?

Late that night, he floated in and saluted. I’d ignored him every time, and suddenly I felt bad about it. So I saluted back.

His stern face opened into a smile. Then he disappeared.

Illustration of a uniformed figure against a dark green background.

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