The Enigma of Amigara Fault

"The Enigma of Amigara Fault" is a horror manga that appeared as a backup story in Junji Ito's "Gyo".

Plot

In the beginning of the story, a young man named Owaki is hiking towards the Amigara fault, a mysterious formation that emerged from a mountain during an earthquake. He meets a young woman called Yoshida, also on her way to the fault. As the reach the site, they see a huge crowd and university scientists, all there to see the strange wall of human-shaped holes, all in the same pose. As they wonder at the formation, Nakagaki -another spectator- strips to his underwear and climbs to one of the holes, proclaiming "This hole, it was made for me" and steps into the hole. Due to the perfect fit, it is impossible to turn around, and he can only continue moving forward. The scientists rush to the site with an optic cable camera, but find no trace of Nakagaki, who has apparently shuffled over thirty meters into the mountain. An attempt is made at a rescue, but the second man is only able to go about five meters into the hole before having to come back.

Others also enter the holes during the rest of the day, all claiming the holes are their exact shape, as they turn out to be. Yoshida reveals she saw a glimpse of one hole and immediately knew it was meant for her. The two find the hole, and terrified, seal it with rocks. Owaki takes Yoshida in to his tent for the sake of comforting both of them, and they share an intimate time. Later, Owaki has claustrophobic nightmares about the holes, of a time in the far past when the holes were created as a punishment for criminals who committed completely unredeemable acts. He sees people going through the holes and eventually being stretched beyond natural boundaries, whilst still somehow alive, forcing to keep going forward without rest.

As Owaki sleeps, Yoshida tears down the makeshift barricade when the pull of the hole becomes too strong, and enters. Shocked by the disappearance of his friend, Owaki is unable to resist the attraction of his own hole and goes in.

The epilogue of the story takes place months after the first occurrence. A group of scientists have found the other end of the holes, which are not human-shaped, but described as being formless. As one scientist peers into one of the holes, he is shocked to see one of the people moving towards him, now so hideously, grotesquely deformed by the tunnel they are no longer recognizable as human.