A Woman in Red

This is a true story from when I worked at a certain elementary school. Every year, the first graders would cry, saying that they saw a red-haired woman peeking through the back window. In Japanese.

A First-grade Elementary School Student Cries

In almost all elementary schools in Japan, there are two sliding doors on the hallway side of the classroom—one at the front and one at the back. Each of these doors has a small window, and through these windows, other teachers or even the principal would occasionally peek into the classroom.

The elementary school where I worked was no exception. The structure of every classroom followed a standard layout, and there seemed to be nothing unusual about it.

However, there was one exception—the westernmost classroom on the second floor. While its layout was identical to the others, the atmosphere felt distinctly different. Despite being a bright classroom with south-facing windows, unsettling rumors about it were persistent.

One day, a certain student suddenly cries.

A Woman in Red

It was my first year working at that particular elementary school. In the middle of a quiet classroom, one student was crying. What struck me as even more peculiar was how calmly the homeroom teacher was addressing the situation.

Without asking, “What happened? What’s wrong?”, the teacher simply accompanied the crying child to the infirmary. The teacher had a smile on their face.

Even when I went to the infirmary later, the student was still crying. Between sobs, the child said something to the school nurse along the lines of, “There was a red woman peeking in.”

Strangely enough, both the homeroom teacher and the school nurse exchanged awkward smiles at this.

When I asked, “Was it an intruder?” both the nurse and the teacher shook their heads. The truth only came to light after the students had gone home for the day.

An Annual Event

“It showed up again this year,” the school nurse said. Apparently, every year, students in that particular classroom would cry and say, “The red woman is peeking through the back door window.” This had reportedly been happening consistently for over a decade, as far back as anyone could remember.

I continued working at that school for six more years. Every April, one or two first-grade students would cry and end up in the infirmary.

As far as I know, the same phenomenon had been occurring for a total of 16 years.

After Thirty Years

It’s been 15 years since I transferred from that elementary school. By some twist of fate, a friend of mine was recently assigned to work there.

My friend was in charge of the second grade. Their classroom was a bit removed from the infamous one, but it was still close enough to observe the first-grade classrooms.

Out of curiosity, I asked, “Did the woman in red appear this year too?” My friend gave me a puzzled look, clearly having no idea what I was talking about.

Thinking it was simply because it was their first year there, I explained the story of the red woman. To my surprise, they said they had never heard of such a thing, not even in the staffroom.

It seems the red woman, who had appeared every year, vanished sometime during those 15 years. The mystery of what she truly was still lingers in my mind.

This is a true story. Seven years have now passed since my friend started working there, and the woman in red hasn’t been seen again. Has the woman in red truly disappeared? No one knows for sure.