The Father

Muneshige Motonari and Ginchiyo Tachibana had a son named Mitsunari, and they were a happy family. Muneshige had been fighting cancer for the last eight years until he had finally passed away.

Pure sadness spread between Ginchiyo and her son, Mitsunari. A week finally passed, and Muneshige's funeral service was starting tomorrow. Before tomorrow came, Mitsunari was making his way outside when he called his mom to help him feed his pigeons.

Ginchiyo was lying down in bed when Mitsunari called her to help him feed his pigeons. Then Ginchiyo heard Mitsunari turning on the shower in the bathroom.

"Honey, if you're going to feed your pigeons, turn off the shower and wait until you finish feeding them," Ginchiyo called out. There was no reply so Ginchiyo got up and walked to the bathroom. She carefully opened it and saw Muneshige taking a shower!

Her eyes widened, because her dead husband was supposed to be at the funeral home while people put make up on him! She couldn't believe her eyes so she began running outside into the backyard. Mitsunari was feeding his pigeons.

"Oh great, you're here," Mitsunari said, as Ginchiyo interrupted him.

"Mitsunari! Oh my gosh," Ginchiyo said, terrified.

"What? Why are you so scared for?" Mitsunari replied.

"Y-y-your father…I saw him….showering," Ginchiyo told him, shaking.

A chill ran up Mitsunari's spine. "Don't scare me, mom!" he shouted.

"Go see for yourself!" Ginchiyo shouted.

They both quietly walked back into the house. The shower was still on, so they walked to the bathroom. Mitsunari carefully opened the door, as he saw his dad washing the shampoo off his hair.

"Ahhhhhh," screamed Mitsunari and Ginchiyo. They were so scared that they ran all the way to their cousin's house. They told their cousin what happened and this is what their cousin said:

"You guys need to go back home. It's just your husband and your father. Maybe he's visiting for the last time."

Mitsunari and Ginchiyo had no other choice but to go back home. They secretly looked for Muneshige, but they couldn't find him anywhere.

The next day, their cousin, Masanori, flew on an airplane and came to their house so he could attend Muneshige's funeral. He was pretty tired, so he told Mitsunari and his mom that he wanted to rest until six or seven in the afternoon. When he wasn't so tired anymore, he would call Mitsunari to come and pick him up.

Mitsunari and Ginchiyo agreed, so they both left to the funeral first.

Meanwhile, Masanori slept in a guest room. Around six o' clock, he heard chickens clucking outside, so he looked out the window. He saw Muneshige running after the chickens! He was catching them and putting them into their cages!

Masanori got so scared that he ran all the way to a gas station. He quickly called Mitsunari to come and pick him up at the gas station, but he didn't tell Mitsunari what he saw.

After the funeral, Masanori told some old people what he saw. They all left to Mitsunari's house, and when they got there, the chickens were in a cage inside the house. One of the old peoples sensed that Muneshige's spirit was present, so he quickly did a tiny ritual. He found out that Muneshige didn't know that he was dead. Muneshige thought that he was still alive; that's why he had showered and put the chickens away, just like he used to when he was alive….