A Certain Gachapon

"Hey, hey. Did you hear about that rumor."

"Hm? What rumor?"

"That gachapon thing."

"Oh... That thing about the weird capsule right?"

Gachapon. "Gacha", as in the sound of cranking, and "Pon", as in the sound of a dropped item. A vending machine that contains small capsule toys. To use it, you insert a 100 yen, or on some rare occasion, a 500 yen. Twist the knob, and a capsule dispensed. The capsule you get depends entirely on your luck, yet many people still play it for fun.

Of course, nowadays, these typical machines contain useful items, from simple daily necessities like ramen and cloth, to obscure and bizzare item like a used panties. Well, that last one was nothing more than fake news. Yes, a simple fake news. But how fake are fake news? The fact that they sell used panties? The fact that they even sell panties this way? Or the fact that a gachapon can contain anything one can imagine?

Fake news is fake news. Fake news is rumors. And humans have the tendency to spread or engage in any rumor they hear or see. It's human nature, to seek for the unknown, simply called – curiosity.

"What was it again?"

From students in school, to those in the neighborhood. A rumor spread, a baseless rumor, yet, an intriguing one. A good example of curiosity at work.

"The four color capsules! Geez, how can you forget?"

Four, 四. A number to avoid. It can be pronounced in two ways. Either "yon, よん", the typical. Or "shi, し". The later one? People avoid. As it often associated with the pronunciation of "shi, 死", that is dead.

But does the number 4 really that bad of a number? A year has 4 seasons – spring, summer, autumn, winter. There are 4 main cardinal directions – north, south, east, west. A standard deck has 4 suits – hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades. If 4 really is a number associated with death, then why does a car have 4 wheels?

'Semantic Memory', 'Associative Learning' and 'Cultural Cognition'. Three simple psychological theory that comes down to relating a certain information based on something else. See? It's part of human nature too.

"The yellow, blue, green, red."

The rumor of a certain gachapon, dispensing 4 color capsules – yellow, blue, green, red. Inside them, is a piece of paper that reads depends on the color you get. If lucky, you get the yellow one. They are the 'happy ones', everyone likes the yellow one. If not, you might get the blue one. They are the 'sad ones', not everyone likes the blue one. If you are neither lucky, nor unfortunate, you might get the green one. They are... meh... 'neutral ones'.

But you will always be grateful for the green ones. That means you don't get the red one. The last, the fourth. They are... 'tragedy'. No one likes the red ones, in fact, they hate the red ones.

"Or so the rumor said..."

"Haha, well, in the end it's just a rumor right?"

"You're right. But hey, what would you do if you met one?"

"Hm... maybe just ignore it?"

"What... that's boring Kokocchi..."

Yes, it's all just a rumor. A baseless, speculative rumor. No one knows where it is, no one has ever seen it, no one has any evidence of it. Null. But then, that raised a question. What started it in the first place?

_______

*buzz...*

The store was empty, only to be filled with the humming of the commercial beverage coolers placed near the back. 15 minutes before his shift ends, Kazuaki stacked the final can of premium cat food high on the metal shelf. With that, his final task of the day ended with a sigh. He looked beyond the window to see hints of LED lights coming from the store across his.

"Sakamoto-san."

A male coworker called out to him, notifying that their shift swapped buddy had already arrived, ready to change. Lifting the crate box off the ground, he walked towards the back of the counter, into the locker room.

"Otsukaresama senpai."

He was greeted by two of his juniors who are about to clock in for their shift. Still holding the crate, one of the juniors opened the door to the storage room for him – he thanked her. He placed the crate next to the others in the dimly lit room. When he went back, the two were nowhere to be found, as they had already gone behind the store counter. Only him and his coworker who called to him earlier were in the room now, changing into their casual wear. After they were done, the two clocked out before opening the backdoor into the cold, yet silent winter night, before saying farewell to one another.

"Brr... Cold..."

The town was painted by the darkness from the sky, as layers of snow can be seen forming above the pavement next to the empty street. All the shops are closed, except the one like Kazuaki worked in. He put on his earbuds, listening to his favourite vocaloid music, as he strolls through the heavy snow, crunching them with each step. As the warmth from within his navy coat wasn't enough, he adjusted the charcoal scarf wrapped around him, letting out a small white puff.

Such, is a typical friday night for Kazuaki Sakamoto [ 坂本 和晃 ]. A second-year high school student of Sora High School. He took a part time job near a local convenience store to cover up his expenses for living by himself. Even though he had already been given the allowance from his family, he tried not to rely too much on it, instead, he wanted to experience the value of hard earned money and living in independence.

About 5 minutes walk from his workplace, he lived in a two-storey apartment with three units on each floor. The interior of the house itself wasn't big, but it's enough to satisfy his needs as an average high school student, not only that, he also benefits from its close distance to, and from, Sora High School.

Some time passed by and he is now inside the neighborhood where his apartment is just a bit further down the laneways. Street lights spaced out evenly illuminating the place, somehow making it look like a scene straight out of a horror movie. But Kazuaki doesn't really seem to mind about it. Maybe because he had been living around here for about two years already, starting from the beginning of his high school.

To add some ease, some houses can be seen still having their lights turned on in parts of the rooms. So if anything were to happen, he could just make some noises as loud as possible to alarm the neighbours. But well, during these two years, never had he heard of any kind of illicit rumor surrounding this place.

Remembering this, he recalled some of the talks he made with his classmates during morning classes. The rumor about a gachapon that would suddenly appear in front of someone and take their lives. Or was it that the gachapon ate the human passed by it? He couldn't recall the exact detail as he didn't really seem to be interested about some baseless rumors he heard on the school. However...

"?..."

Somehow, appearing out of nowhere, a gachapon machine was there, right in front of him, leaning against the boundary wall of someone's house. It was strange, because never in his two years of living here had he seen that particular gachapon in this area, especially the one as vivid as this. He could only conclude it as something that has to do with the recent rumor he had heard about. Adding to the eerieness, it was placed right under the street light, as if presenting itself to Kazuaki.

The machine looked broken, with its rusty metal legs, and dirty casing. One would even think that it might've been abandoned for about a decade. It stands about five meters away from Kazuaki, blocking the usual path to his apartment, making it seem like someone put it there on purpose to mess with him.

He thought of what to do. Should he just turn a blind eye to it and risk getting cursed by ignorance. Or, should he fidget with it for a moment and get instantly killed by some unknown force. Whatever it is, he knew that he had already been made to step into a one way trap.

*sigh*

Releasing a yielding sigh, he moved closer towards the gachapon, scanning its inside through the weathered acrylic case. What he saw was capsules of varied colour, primarily – yellow, blue, green and red. He looked around for a moment, looking for anything amiss. Nothing good will happen by playing around with supernatural phenomena, he knew of that, yet not having much of a choice, he chose to confront it directly rather than having a slow and painful curse.

He pulled out a 100 yen from his wallet, which is now the value of his life. Place it on the coin slot, and give the knob a twist.

*pon*

A capsule popped out from the hatch right into the metal tray below it. It was his favourite color, red.