Hi, guys! So, my first post on translation is going to be part of a ten post series, one chapter a week. The story I'm translating is by renowned author Edogawa Ranpo, a Japanese writer from the first half of the 20th century. His short stories are covered in mystery, and he's heavily inspired by western writer Edgar Alan Poe, whose name inspired his pseudonym.
Translating this story was quite challenging, especially in the case of some onomatopeias. It was also quite fun since I didn't read the story previously nor knew any of it. Which means we're going for it together!
Now, for chapter one, I hope you'll enjoy it!
Chapter One
On the afternoon of a certain day, little Satoko Tange, Midori Kimura, and Sayuri Nozaki were walking hand in hand on the lonely streets of Setagaya district, coming back from playing at a friend's house.
"Ah!", little Satoko halted in shock as if seeing something.
Midori and Sayuri also became in shock when gazing upon the direction Satoko was staring at.
Suddenly something unusual happened in the middle of the street. The iron cover of the manhole on the opposite side was making noises while being lifted little by little. Could there be someone inside the manhole?
The cover opened completely. And then a man wearing a black mantle appeared from down there. This person was wearing a wide, pitch-black hat, large glasses, a mustache springing up on both sides, and a triangulated black beard. Seeming bad like a western devil. He crawled out of the manhole and stood upright, looked in the three girls' direction and smiled grimly. Then he walks in the opposite direction, fluttering his black mantle like a bat.
"That's a really suspicious person. Let's try to follow him together.", said Midori in a low voice. As Midori's older brother, Toshio, was in a club of detectives, she also liked things related to investigation. As Satoko and Sayuri had this bad habit of following Midori's saying, at this moment the three of them started following the black mantle man.
The man passed through a vast open field and entered a further forest. On the outskirts of Setagaya district, there were plantations and a forest. As it was still daytime, entering the forest wasn't so scary. The three would go anywhere in order to see something eerie.
In the middle of the forest, there was a western-style building.
"Ah! That's a haunted house!"
"Oh, scary. What should we do?"
This building was inhabited long ago by western people, but as it turned into a vacant house, it started being called a haunted house around this area. Since the three girls lived nearby, they knew it very well.
Saying goes that during the night people saw a red ghost appear suddenly on the second floor's window. There was also a rumour that there can be heard the lament and crying of an evil woman from within the empty house. As the three girls were beginning to plan on running away, something astonishing happened.
Wasn't the black mantle man swiftly climbing the outside of the house? As if he was a snake, he climbed up to the second floor despite there not being any ladders and disappeared into the window.
Trembling, the three abruptly started running, but at this very moment, a piercing scream was heard from inside the house. Hearing this, the three looked back without thinking. A white face was peeking from the window.
"Ah!", the face screamed. It was hard to distinguish clearly from distance, but it seemed like a bobbed hair girl around their age. This girl was screaming as if it was going to be murdered at any time.
"Ah!", the face screamed. It was hard to distinguish clearly from distance, but it seemed like a bobbed hair girl around their age. This girl was screaming as if it was going to be murdered at any time.
"That black mantle man must be teasing her!", the three thought at the same time. The girl seemed to try to escape from someone's hands, sounded like struggling, then finally disappeared from the window, being dragged away. At this moment, perhaps by being grasped by the man, the screaming abruptly stopped.
The girls lost themselves in running away. And then, although returning to each of their homes, little Midori instantly told this to her father and her brother Toshio. As Midori's father called the police, the policemen ran to search the house in the middle of the forest, but the house was completely empty and they couldn't find even a person's silhouette. What on earth was the devilish black mantle man? And what happened to that poor little girl?
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