 | Wow, is it really okay for me to go first? I’m always in the middle or at the end of the list for European or Nordic country names, so I’m kind of happy I get to be the first one. |
 | Oh, Mr. Bul, can I ask one question? By scary story, do you mean like a ghost story? Or should it be a story where people are what’s scary? “Whatever, as long as it’s scary…” |
 | Okay, then! In that case, I have a perfect one. |
At my house,
the sun barely comes out in the winter.
Without the sun,
it gets kind of gloomy.
So I had the urge to go somewhere
where I couldn’t see any people or machines or man-made objects.
So, I got a bit of food and coffee
and went into the woods…
 | What the…? That’s scary. |
 | Whaaat!? I-I didn’t get to the scary part yet…? |
I got enough food together for a few days
and headed deeper into the forest.
The sun only comes out
for a few hours,
so you have to find a campsite quickly.
It’s nice, being among nature.
The moss in the forest makes sounds when you step on it.
The sound is different
depending on the type of moss.
Rustle rustle.
Squish squish.
Crunch, crunch.
Puff puff.
I like the crunch crunch ones the best!
The time for fall colors had ended,
and the forest had turned grayish,
but the moss and the berries on the trees still had color,
and it’s nice to enjoy the sounds and the colors
while going through the forest.
I can hear myself breathing, my clothes rustling, and my footsteps.
Also, sometimes birds calling.
Daily life and its abundance of noise
are like a distant memory.
 | On the way, I met a reindeer who was the same color as the forest, and when I waved, it returned my greeting with a look. They’re such darlings. |
 | Ah, but please watch out for elk. Since they can get crazy drunk and jump out at you… That happens to me every year, you know…? They’re way too strong... |
I was trotting along,
and there was this hollow that was just right,
so I decided to spend a few days there.
The forest is nice at night, too.
The nights are really, really long,
but the sounds and the sky are livelier than they are in the afternoons.
I would hear owls here and there,
and sometimes they would call together, as though in a chorus.
In the sky, the many stars would be spinning at an unseen speed.
Even though, from our point of view, they are shimmering dots drawn onto the sky,
every single one of them is a large star.
Space is so huge…
While I was drinking my coffee,
I would go deep into thought, and come out of it,
and just gaze at the things that were there…
I spent the time like that.
After that, I got tired, so I went to sleep!
Since I’m always pressed for time,
even if I stay up late in the forest,
it’s nice to get to sleep really early, too.
……………
…The next morning,
I woke up, and everything was pure white.
Of course, it had snowed!
Snow! Snooow!
The trees in the forest, and the ground, and the moss and those
berries that had left just a bit of color, they were all completely white!
And I was surrounded by pure white
that nobody had stepped on yet.
I was happy
and I began making tracks.
The place I would normally walk carefully in had been snowed over, and I had gotten careless…!
Slosh!!
…? The foot I was stepping forward with got lighter.
Then…
Slosh slosh slosh slosh!!
My feet were rapidly getting sucked into the snow!?
This ground was dangerous,
just thin ice on the surface
of the lake with snow covering it.
I’d carelessly stepped onto that ground,
and now my weight was causing me to sink through
the snow towards the thin layer of ice, toes first.
I wanted to call for help, but I had chosen a place without any people, so I was desperate.
And I had completely left my mobile phone behind.
All I had in my pocket was salmiakki!
Salmiakki is delicious,
but it wasn’t going to save me from my crisis!
I firmly planted the foot that somehow remained on the ground,
but my foot lost its balance on the fluffy snow.
Crack crack crack!
The ice broke dramatically!
Aagh! It’s no use…!
I’m sinking…!
Erm… Since we’re countries
I couldn’t die from this,
as everyone well knows,
so what you’re hearing might not sound scary,
but it was really scary.
Also! We suffer alongside humans!
Isn’t it the worst that you continue to suffer while you’re still alive…?
Then, in the freezing lake, my body…
It hurts! I can’t breathe…!
…is what I thought for a moment.
It felt as though something caught onto my hood.
I can’t confirm what had happened,
my body was pulled out in one fell swoop!
The sound of a splash, and a small impact.
At the same time, I felt the wind on my wet skin.
Am I… on the snow?
Did my body move from the bottom of the lake onto the ground on its own…?
…I wonder what happened.
It seemed as though someone was there.
Who could have been in this forest…?
I came to, and I was sleeping in my own house.
I thought that the things up to now were a dream,
but the clothes I had drowned in were in a dryer…
 | It must have been a fairy! A fairy helped me...! |
 | But whenever I say that, they say things like, “Are you drunk?” and, “(snicker) Colleagues... ” and they don’t believe me but I have kept it in mind until today. |
 | Isn’t it amazing that there are fairies who will help people even in an era like this? In a way, it’s not that scary, right? |
 | ............ |
 | Thanks for that atrociously fluffy story! |
 | Fluffy story!!? Oh, I’m sorry! I thought I had told quite a seriously scary story... |
 | Being helped by fairies isn’t scary...? |
 | It was pretty fluffy and it was interesting! |
 | I don’t hate it. It’s kind of nice, right? It’s fluffy just like you Finland. |
 | Fluffy, fluffy in what way exactly!? |
fluffy story,
pleeease!
Japan: A fluffy story…!?
I’m sorry,
I haven’t prepared one…
Finland: Whoa, I’m sorry!
You don’t have to tell one!