Tokyo Literary Masters: Starting from the Late 1980s

Ochiai Masayuki immediately sat up straight, his hands trembling as he picked up the first document.

His pupils contracted sharply the moment he opened the cover.

There are no long descriptions of scenery, nor lengthy inner monologues.

What comes into view is an extremely standard, even more standardized industrial-grade script format than many professional screenwriters on Fuji TV!

【Scenario 1: Hospital Ward (Interior/Day)】

Characters: Miho, Mom, Dad, Grandma

[Close-up: The fluctuating green lines on the electrocardiogram monitor.]

"this……"

Ochiai Masayuki suddenly looked up, staring at Kitahara Iwa in shock.

Who says novelists don't understand screenplays?

This format is textbook perfect!

"This piece is called 'Grandma'."

Kitahara Iwa took a sip of coffee and calmly introduced, "A story about family, exchange, and... human greed."

Ochiai Masayuki lowered his head, turned to the first page, and began to read the script.

The script's title is just two simple words—"Grandma".

The story begins with a sense of oppressive realism.

A bus slowly traveling on a country road.

The Hashimoto couple, along with their ten-year-old daughter Miho, were on their way to visit her critically ill grandmother at a hospital in the countryside.

But the atmosphere in this family was not warm.

The wife kept complaining bitterly, showing indifference towards her mother-in-law's impending death, and even feeling that she was a burden.

[Mrs. Hashimoto: Honestly, shouldn't taking care of that old woman be the eldest son's responsibility? Why do we, the second sons, have to go? It's such a waste of gas money.]

[Mr. Hashimoto: (Hesitantly) Keep your voice down, the child is still here... Besides, your brother's family doesn't have any children.]

Their daughter, Miho, has a pair of large, pure eyes like a fawn.

Not wanting to listen to her parents' argument, she silently sat in the last row of the bus and stared blankly out the window.

She had never met her grandmother, but her father told her that her grandmother loved her very much when she was a baby.

They arrived at the hospital quickly.

This is a somewhat dilapidated rural hospital. The fluorescent lights in the corridor flicker, giving off an ominous atmosphere, while the wards are even more gloomy.

Miho mustered her courage and lifted the curtain, seeing her grandmother lying on the bed, emaciated.

It's like a skeleton covered in skin, sending chills down your spine.

But at that moment, she was surprised to find that the pair of withered fingers moved slightly.

[Miho: Mom! Grandma's hand moved!]

[Mother: (Impatiently) Don't talk nonsense! The doctor said she's in a vegetative state.]

At this point, the parents were called out by the doctor for a talk.

Miho was the only one left in the gloomy hospital room.

Just as she was so scared that she wanted to run away, a gentle voice suddenly rang in her mind.

[Grandma (voice): Miho...don't be afraid...I'm Grandma.]

[Miho: Is it really Grandma speaking?]

Grandma: Yes, it's probably because Grandma is dying and her soul has left her body. I only have enough time to live until tomorrow night.

Grandma: Miho, death isn't scary, it's just... I have regrets. I want to see my little brother, whom I've been separated from since childhood, even just for a moment.

Grandma: Please, lend me your body for one day, okay? I promise I'll be back to you by 5 pm tomorrow.

At first, Miho refused out of fear.

But the kind-hearted little girl finally softened at her grandmother's repeated, pitiful pleas.

Miho knelt by the bed and took her grandmother's hand.

Miho: Okay... but you must come back on time.

Grandma: Thank you, Miho. Thank you.

Upon seeing this, Masayuki Ochiai couldn't help but hold his breath.

As a director, he was all too familiar with this kind of tactic; kindness is often the shortcut to hell.

There weren't any fancy special effects in the script.

But then the camera shifts.

The Hashimoto couple came in and woke up Miho, who was sleeping by the bedside.

Miho woke up, but her eyes had changed. Her once innocent and timid eyes had suddenly become deep and world-weary.

The real Miho is now trapped inside that eighty-year-old body, writhing in excruciating pain.

[Miho (in her old body, inner monologue): It hurts...it hurts so much...Mom and Dad, don't go...I'm so scared...]

[Mother: Miho, hurry up! What are you daydreaming about!]

[Miho (Grandma's spirit): Okay.]

The ward door closed.

Only the desperate cries of the ten-year-old girl echoed in the empty room, but no one could hear them.

the next day.

Miho left home with her backpack, but instead of going to school, she ran straight to the station.

The young body felt no pain and was as light as a feather.

As she passed a stone bridge, she saw hopscotch squares drawn on the ground and couldn't help but jump up and down.

This is an eighty-year-old's most instinctive longing for a healthy body.

She was sunbathing in the park, playing with beanbags made of pebbles wrapped in a handkerchief, humming an old nursery rhyme: "One, two, three, wrapped in cloth, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old sister, holding flowers and incense in her hands..."

Upon reading these lines of description, Masayuki Ochiai felt a chill run down his spine.

It was a bright and sunny scene, and the nursery rhymes were innocent and lovely, but after learning who was inside this body, every movement seemed so eerie.

As Miho sang this part, she suddenly remembered something. She looked up at the setting sun, and a seriousness and anxiety beyond her years instantly appeared on her youthful face. She stuffed her handkerchief into her pocket and began to run frantically towards the station.

Camera angle change.

After a long tram ride, she arrived at a remote town.

Relying on her memories from decades ago, she wandered through the alleyways and finally slipped into the courtyard of an old house.

As Ochiai Masayuki looked at the description in the script, he thought to himself, "Is this the person she's been longing to see? Her younger brother is actually living here..."

The sliding door was open.

Inside the house, a middle-aged woman was feeding porridge to an elderly man who was bedridden.

But the old man seemed to have difficulty swallowing, and he couldn't hold the porridge in his mouth. The porridge spilled all over his neck and soiled the bedding.

The woman had clearly lost her patience; she slammed down the bowl and began to loudly berate the old man.

Then, the phone rang in the entryway. The woman cursed angrily a few more times, "That old geezer, so troublesome," before getting up to answer the phone.

Taking advantage of this lull, Miho slowly approached the corridor, took off her little red shoes, and went into the room.

She gently knelt down beside the old man, carefully examining his wrinkled face, her eyes filled with deep affection.

Then, she reached out her small, ten-year-old hands and grasped the old man's withered, large hands.

[Miho (with heartbreakingly tender eyes): Masao, it's me... it's Tomoko.]

[Miho: I came to tell you that I wasn't angry with you about what happened back then. Your parents decided on your marriage partner, and you couldn't go against their wishes... I understand, and I've never blamed you.]

The old man stared blankly at the unfamiliar little girl in front of him with his cloudy eyes.

At first he was confused, but as the familiar tone and expression came over him, murky tears slowly welled up in his eyes.

Miho took out a handkerchief from her pocket and gently wiped away his tears. Then she picked up the bowl, scooped up a spoonful of porridge, carefully blew on it to cool it down, and fed it to him.

This time, the old man gently opened his mouth and obediently swallowed.

His lips trembled with excitement as he tried to say something, but only a low, gurgling sound came from his throat.

Miho gently stroked his aged cheeks with her small, tender hands and continued to feed him porridge tenderly, her little face showing a peaceful and joyful expression.

Upon seeing this, Masayuki Ochiai's eyes widened in shock.

"It wasn't my younger brother, but someone Grandma liked!"

"I never expected the plot to develop like this!"

However, good times are always fleeting.

Just then, the woman who had gone to answer the phone returned.

She screamed in surprise when she saw this.

[Woman (angrily): Whose child are you?! What are you doing?!]

Miho jumped in fright, scrambled to her feet, stammered a few words, and tried to leave, but the woman grabbed her collar: "Why aren't you at school at this time? How did you get in? Were you trying to steal something?!"

The woman ignored all explanations and took her directly to the nearby police station.

When Miho's mother arrived at the police station after being notified, it was already 4 p.m.

Miho was being supervised in the office by a female police officer.

Miho's mother, her face ashen, stormed in and roughly searched Miho's schoolbag, then...

Snapped!

A resounding slap landed heavily on Miho's face.

[Mom (hysterically): Skipping school! Breaking into someone's house! What are you trying to do! Are you crazy?!]

Upon seeing this, Ochiai Masayuki subconsciously touched his cheek, a strong sense of irony welling up inside him: "This slap... not only landed on my daughter's face, but also on the face of her most hated mother-in-law."

"This unsuspecting daughter-in-law is beating her own mother-in-law. Every conflict in this script is filled with dark absurdity."

The policewoman was startled and quickly stopped Miho's mother.

But Miho's mother wouldn't let it go and wanted to hit her again.

Taking advantage of the chaos as the policewoman and her mother were wrestling, Miho seized the opportunity to rush out the door.

By the time the policewoman turned around, the man had already disappeared.

[Scene: Inside a taxi (interior/dusk)]

After escaping from the police station, Miho flagged down a taxi and anxiously urged the driver to take her to the hospital in the countryside.

The sky outside the window was gradually darkening, and Miho's life was beginning its countdown.

Miho sat in the back seat, gripping her skirt tightly with both hands, silently praying, "Miho... hang in there! You have to hang in there! Grandma will be back soon!"

Masayuki Ochiai gripped the edge of the script tightly, his heart pounding in his chest: "Hurry! We're going to be late!"

At this moment, he was completely immersed in the story and sincerely hoped that his grandmother could rush back to save Miho.

However, Kitahara Iwao's scripts are always full of malicious obstacles.

The taxi stopped halfway down at the foot of a deserted mountain.

The driver turned around, looking at the meter and the little girl with suspicion: "Little girl, how much money do you have?"

Miho trembled as she pulled out her wallet.

The driver frowned, grabbed all the coins from the box, and said coldly, "You only have enough money to get this far."

[Miho: Please, Uncle, drive a little further! I have an emergency!]

[Driver: Get out. I'm off work too.]

Miho was ruthlessly kicked off the bus.

At this moment, the last rays of the setting sun were about to sink into the valley, and it was past five o'clock in the afternoon...

Looking at the dim sky, Miho gritted her teeth and plunged headlong into the thorny mountain path without hesitation.

[Montage Editing]

On one side, Miho (Grandma's spirit) was running wildly through the dark mountains.

The tree branch scratched her tender cheek, drawing blood. She also lost one of her newly bought little red shoes, and her feet were cut raw and bleeding from the stones.

On one side is a hospital bed.

Miho, trapped inside the old woman's body, had been struggling in agony for a full twenty-four hours.

[Miho (old body, close-up): (ECG alarming rapidly) Grandma... come back... I'm in so much pain... I don't want to die...]

Ochiai Masayuki was sweating profusely as he watched, feeling as if he himself was running through that forest.

The plot, which tugged back and forth between the touching feeling of keeping a promise and the tension of a life-or-death race, made him completely forget to consider other possibilities.

"Keep going! You have to catch up!"

Masayuki Ochiai silently shouted in his heart.

Finally, before it got completely dark, Miho rushed into the ward. She threw herself at the bedside and grasped the withered hand.

[Miho (Grandma's spirit): I'm sorry, Miho, I've made you suffer...]

The scene shifts.

The electrocardiogram monitor showed a straight line.

The next day, Grandma passed away peacefully.

Seeing this, Masayuki Ochiai breathed a sigh of relief.

"call……"

Upon reading this, Masayuki Ochiai let out a long sigh of relief and slumped onto the sofa, as if he himself had been the one running wildly through the mountains and forests.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and a huge weight was finally lifted from his heart: "Thank goodness... although the process was so thrilling it could have stopped my heart, thankfully, humanity hasn't been completely extinguished."

"Although Grandma cherished her youth, at the last moment she still risked her life to keep her promise for her granddaughter..."

Ochiai Masayuki looked up, his eyes filled with a hint of admiration, but more so with confusion: "However... Kitahara-sensei, if I may be so blunt..."

He pointed to the script on the table, his tone hesitant, and said, "This script is indeed excellent, with a tight plot and a very effective portrayal of the tension of life and death. But... isn't the theme a little off?"

"What we wanted was a chilling or fantastical experience that would send shivers down the audience's spine. But this... feels more like a rare, heartwarming, tear-jerking masterpiece, doesn't it?"

"Is it a bit... to put such a touching ode to family love in a late-night show to scare young people?"

Before Ochiai Masayuki could finish speaking, his words caught in his throat.

Because he noticed that Kitahara Iwa was looking at him with a half-smile on his lips.

"A touching hymn to family love?"

Kitahara Iwa chuckled, put down his cup, pointed to the script, and said, "Ochiai-san, the story—isn't finished yet."

"besides?"

Ochiai Masayuki paused for a moment, a strange sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

So he swallowed hard and turned the page on what seemed like a perfect happy ending.

On the new page, only a few large, bold characters stood out like a tombstone: 【Thirty Years Later】

The same funeral hall.

The person in this memorial portrait is Miho's mother (the mean Mrs. Hashimoto from back then).

The one kneeling before the altar to thank the guests was Miho, who was already middle-aged.

She wore her hair in a bun and was dressed in black, exuding elegance and poise.

The guests departed.

In the empty mourning hall, only Miho remained, facing her mother's portrait.

Voiceover: [Miho (monologue): My father died young from food poisoning. My mother was bedridden for ten years, unable to move, experiencing the coldness of human nature, and finally died in the same painful way as my grandmother.]

Miho slowly raised her head, her face showing no sadness, but rather a barely perceptible smile.

She took out an old handkerchief from her bosom and skillfully tied it into a sandbag.

Then, in front of his mother's portrait, he gently tossed and caught it.

She hummed a folk song from thirty years ago: "One, two, three, wrapped in cloth, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old sister, holding flowers and incense in her hands..."

Upon seeing this, Ochiai Masayuki's pupils dilated instantly, and his heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly.

This is a folk song that only grandmothers sing... which means that the one who died in her sickbed back then... was the real Miho!

For the past thirty years, the one who has been living in the body of her granddaughter is that grandmother!

The last few lines of the script are piercingly incisive:

Miho: I did something that I'm ashamed of.

Miho: I still didn't make it back...

[Miho: I have things to do, because this is so unfair. I want this woman to suffer too!]

The camera zooms in, focusing on Mrs. Hashimoto's portrait.

[Miho: Am I the only one suffering? Isn't that so unfair!]

The camera lingered on Miho's well-maintained face, which exuded a chilling aura.

The End.

Clang!

The script slipped from Masayuki Ochiai's hand and fell onto the coffee table.

At that moment, he felt as if all the blood in his body had frozen.

This is hardly a heartwarming story.

This is a 30-year-long usurpation of someone else's place!

There are real evil spirits among us!

Because of her own selfish desires, the grandmother made her ten-year-old granddaughter die in extreme pain in her place, and then comfortably occupied the granddaughter's life for a full thirty years!

What kept her alive was the desire to take revenge on her daughter-in-law from back then, and to personally orchestrate a decade-long ordeal!

"this……"

Ochiai Masayuki looked up at Kitahara Iwao, who was calmly sipping his coffee, and said in a trembling voice, "Is this... the true evil of humanity?"

"Compared to those ferocious monsters, isn't this extreme malice, cloaked in warmth and hidden among the closest family members, even more chilling?"

Kitahara Iwa put down his cup and said calmly.

Ochiai Masayuki took a deep breath and, trembling, rearranged the script as if it were some dangerous explosive.

His eyes were filled with awe: "Teacher Kitahara...you are simply a devil."

"This plot twist, this analysis of human nature... this is absolutely a textbook example of a horror mystery short story! Even Hitchcock himself probably couldn't have done it this well!"

This is utter horror disguised as family affection!

The betrayal of loved ones and the despair of being trapped in a dying body are more terrifying than any ghost!