Description

Netsuke.A college student named Kaoru is helping to clean her grandmother's shop when she notices a strange box in a cabinet. Her grandmother explains that it contains a pair of netsuke (small Japanese ornaments) that even her husband never allowed her to touch. She opens the box; the netsuke are of matching faces, and she fashions them into earrings. That afternoon, she is waiting for a train, when she hears a distant voice whisper "Give it back". Finding no one trying to get her attention, she dismisses it as her imagination. As she takes an evening stroll, two shadowy figures in traditional clothing stare at her from across the river. She hears the whisper again, "Give it back". The figures follow her along the river, until a bus arrives and blocks them from view. Kaoru takes the opportunity and ducks into a nearby alleyway. When she looks to see if the coast is clear, the figures are rounding the corner towards her, shouting "GIVE IT BACK!" She flees, but they gain on her fast, stretching out their arms to reach her. She sees a bus come to a stop ahead of her and makes a break for it. It is then revealed that the netsuke have been doing the whispering; they now say "Give back my face!" The hands swipe at her shoulder, knocking one of the netsuke off of its earring and shattering it on the ground. She reaches the bus and turns back to see the figures stopped to pick up the fragments. Moments later, at the shop, Kaoru tries to give the remaining netsuke back to her grandmother, who mentions a visitor for her. Her grandmother then notices the visitor at the door. Kaoru turns around and sees someone in traditional clothes... with hollow eyes and a shattered face...