15 Oct Replaced

A 2ch thread from December 2011 about… um… Well, about confusion, we’ll say. To aid in your reading, #OP is always the original poster - the 'main character,' if you will. #2ch is just a generic handle used to specify someone not the OP posting. #2ch is not all the same person. With that said, please enjoy this story. #OP I want someone to hear this. I seriously feel like I’m going nuts here. #OP I recently proposed to my girlfriend. We’d dated for about five years, starting in college. I got the okay from her, and we were on the way to a happy marriage. But, since I couldn’t yet get the money and we were unsure when to have the wedding, we decided to just register our marriage first. So I got the marriage forms, filled out the necessary bits, and sent them to her. But in the blank for her name, she wrote a name which I had never seen before. #OP It wasn’t that I had been dating her all this time without knowing her real name. I typically referred to her by a nickname, sure. But we had been in the same class in college, and we had laughed seeing our names together on the roster. #OP I honestly didn’t know what to think. But those were the facts. I recognized my girlfriend’s name as being “Hanako Satoh.” But she wrote something completely different; we’ll say “Elizabeth Ijuin.” It seemed like a rather obnoxious name, really. Of course, I asked her about it. “Huh? What’s that name?” “What? My name?” “Isn’t your name Hanako Satoh?” “What’re you saying?” That’s the exchange we had. #2ch Do you have her as Hanako Satoh in your phonebook? #OP ^ She’s on my phone under her nickname. Feeling I must have been making a ridiculous mistake this whole time, I backed off for the moment. I came to doubt my own mind somewhat. Deciding to take a look back at my memories, I found some old photographs. They were pictures of me and my girlfriend together. But the girl in the photos was not the girl I had been talking to. #OP However, it was the girl in the photos who I couldn’t recall. In my memory, I had been dating the girl calling herself “Elizabeth Ijuin” for five years. Hanako Satoh had vanished into thin air. I felt like I was going to throw up. #2ch You still want to get married? #2ch Maybe show the pictures to Elizabeth? #2ch She just took off her makeup, I bet. #2ch Did you have an accident or something? Sounds like memory loss, or dissociation… #OP ^^^ Oh god. Would that be wise? ^^ That doesn’t explain her name changing! ^ No, I’ve never hit my head or anything. Had my foot broken by a bike, sure. #2ch Does the nickname stem from “Elizabeth” or “Hanako”? #2ch Maybe she just wrote some other name she has? #2ch Think about it, it’d be really obvious if her face changed. I can’t say anything but that there’s something wrong with you. Tell a friend about the situation. #OP ^^^ She had a stage name of sorts for a rakugo club. I called her a variation on that. ^^ I don’t think she’d write a nickname on a marriage form… ^ I suppose… I’ll try getting in touch with a friend from college. #2ch How long ago were these photos from? It’d help to figure out when the switch occurred… #OP The photos were taken during our third year of college, so four years ago. Oh, but I knew there was a girl named Hanako Satoh since my first year. #2ch Have you always stayed close? Never gone long-distance at any point? #OP No occasions that I think are worth mentioning… The longest we’ve gone without seeing each other at all is about two weeks. That was for a family trip. #2ch In Korea, they use aliases on marriage forms, trials, all kinds of official stuff. Because they really do have two names. #2ch Tell us everything since the time you met. #2ch Which girl is in the most recent photo you have? Hanako, or Elizabeth? #OP ^^^ Seriously? I mean… Well, I guess I’ve never asked if she’s Korean… I guess I could check… ^^ Nothing really special’s happened since we met… She did rakugo in a club and I came to listen, and I thought it was neat. Since we were in the same class, we became friends and started dating. ^ The only other recent photos I have are phone photos. I upgraded my phone about a year ago, and all the pictures on it are of Elizabeth. #2ch But her name and face are different? You can’t explain that… #OP Indeed… I can’t. I’m going nuts here… Gonna go for a smoke. #2ch I’m getting confused… Is it that you were dating Hanako Satoh, but she was replaced by Elizabeth? Or that you were dating Elizabeth, but she was replaced by Hanako Satoh? #2ch What do you call Hanako by, OP? Even if it was a nickname, if she got replaced, wouldn’t she find it odd? #2ch If the nickname came from a stage name, then she could’ve become Elizabeth then. It must have been Elizabeth from the start. #2ch So her face is completely different? #OP ^^^^ I thought she was Hanako Satoh, but she became Elizabeth. ^^^ I’m afraid to to tell the details, sorry… ^^ Maybe… But the pictures were from when we were dating… ^ I think they look very different. I don’t think makeup could be it… But then again, I don’t know anything about makeup. #2ch Why don’t you ask her directly? #OP I’ve been in disarray after yesterday. I’ll ask her again later. #2ch Maybe it’s OP’s personality that’s been replaced… #2ch People can get their names changed, y’know. Maybe she killed somebody? #2ch Maybe she had a husband but got divorced? #OP ^^^ I am doubting myself a little… ^^ Can you do that? Don’t you need to go through a whole process and such? ^ But both her names changed…? #2ch “Isn’t your name Hanako Satoh?” “What’re you saying?” What happened after this? Did she show any signs of distrust or being unsettled? #OP At the time, I was just thinking “Huh? Do I have her real name wrong, since I always call her by her nickname?” So I didn’t want to probe too deeply. Of course, my head was filled with question marks, but I just tried to smooth it over. Because if it were my mistake, I thought she would get angry at me. Remembering her name wrong would be outrageous. #2ch Oh god… Maybe you’re in an alternate dimension. But they were sloppy in falsifying your memories… #2ch ^ Always possible. There’ve been people who feel like they’ve suddenly woken up from a long dream. #2ch Did you send the marriage form? #OP ^^ Um, that’s freaky, guys… ^ Marriage registration is a pain, and I haven’t done it yet due to various hang-ups. Plus now, I’m a bit scared to… #2ch I keep thinking about this and getting nowhere. You gotta contact someone you can trust right away. #2ch Sure you weren’t wrong from the beginning? Also, upload pics. #2ch The current girl is someone who’s long stalked OP. Wanting to marry him at any cost, she talked to a hypnotist. She took OP to him, he used his hypnotism, and here we are. …Maybe? #2ch I don’t suppose this “Elizabeth Ijuin” might be little more than a figment of your imagination? If that’s the case, I don’t think there’s any doubt you have schizophrenia. Or perhaps “Elizabeth Ijuin” does exist, but all the outrageous events you write of here are completely wild fantasies. If that’s the case… I still don’t think there’s any doubt you have schizophrenia. #OP ^^^^ I emailed a friend earlier, but still no reply. ^^^ No pics. I don’t know how to do a mosaic effect. ^^ Can hypnotists actually do that sort of thing? ^ Nobody likes a copypasta. #OP Got a reply from my friend. Incidentally, here’s what I sent: “Remember [nickname] who I’ve been dating? Was her real name “Hanako Satoh” or “Elizabeth Ijuin”?” His reply: “I think it was something Satoh, yeah. Did you break up?” I figured it was Hanako Satoh I was dating… #2ch Caught up. First of all, you gotta tell us any episodes from dating Hanako to now, in chronological order. Sort things out in your head. Sounds like you’ve got some serious memory issues. #2ch Which one’s cuter, Hanako Satoh or Elizabeth Ijuin? #2ch But does OP still love this Elizabeth Ijuin? #OP ^^^ I’ll try to remember and post some things. ^^ I guess if I had to say, the one in the photo is cuter… ^ Of course. I’m all set to marry her. #OP I sent my friend a photo of Elizabeth. Contents: “Do you know who this is? And do you know the name “Elizabeth Ijuin”?” #OP In my first year of college, Hanako Satoh was in the same class as me. Even at welcoming parties and such, we didn’t really come into contact. In second year, I saw her at a rakugo performance by one of the clubs. I thought, “Ah, she’s that girl in my class.” When she got off the stage, I think I said to her, “I never realized you were in the Ochiken club, Satoh.” I’m fairly sure I called her “Satoh” then. #OP I realized I was interested in this girl. Being a literature major, I asked her to teach me about rakugo and borrowed some books. On Christmas that year, I confessed to her. She put on a show for me after doing sexy things in my room, haha… #OP Got a reply. “Don’t know her. And “Elizabeth Ijuin”? Hahaha, what kinda name IS that?” Note that while “Elizabeth Ijuin” is just a name I made up, the real name sounds just as bizarre. #2ch Maybe ask your friend if he knows Hanako Satoh’s number? #OP Done. #2ch If her face is the same, then maybe she uses a different name for official things than she uses normally. Is she a foreigner? #OP But like I said, her face is totally different. #2ch The Capgras delusion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion Maybe OP’s case is a little different, but doesn’t it sound similar? #OP I read the article. It seems different, but similar. Maybe I really should go to a psychiatrist. #OP Reply from my friend. “Her number’s ***-****-****, right? [Her number from college, but it’s different now, so this is useless info.] ‘Course, she’s your girlfriend, so you’ve spent loads of time together, but I’ve never gotten to talk with ___ once…” #2ch Contact that club she’s in? #OP I don’t know any members I can contact. She might know, though. I’ll meet her tomorrow and ask… Too scared to today… #OP I called the old number just to be sure. Indeed, it’s not in use anymore. #OP Okay, posting some more things I remember. After going out on Christmas of my second year of college, we went to visit a temple for the new year. I think I wrote something like “I pray we’ll always be happy together.” She might have written Hanako Satoh, but I can’t remember for sure. She gave me chocolates on Valentine’s. Around this point, our rooms changed around and we ended up together. In third year, we were in the same seminar. I remember seeing her on the roster and saying “I’m glad we’re in the same seminar.” Fairly sure the name there was Hanako Satoh. #2ch What about trips? Never wrote her name when signing in or anything? #2ch So basically, you don’t remember anything from college about “Elizabeth” at all? #OP ^^ Yes, we went on trips. To Kyoto, to Izumo… And I think she wrote her name while booking hotels. But I can’t really remember if it was Hanako Satoh. ^ It’s not like I can recall everything perfectly, but I think so. I don’t remember finding any incidents odd before… #2ch What’d you call Satoh and Ijuin, respectively? Both the same? #OP ^ What did she call me? Just by my first name. It’s been that way since college. It was my last name at first, but then she used my name once we started dating. I’m almost wishing to be diagnosed with something at this point. Not being able to explain all this is what’s making me go nuts. #2ch Thanks for the quick reply. But learn to read! I asked what did YOU call HER! You called Satoh by her nickname (stage name?), right? And Ijuin by the same nickname you used for Satoh? #OP She’s had the same nickname since college. And I’ve called both Hanako Satoh and Elizabeth that same name. #2ch What’s she doing now? #OP She’s in her room, I think. We’re both renting rooms closer to our respective workplaces. #OP In the same seminar in third year, our members went flower-viewing. The friend I emailed earlier was one of those members. I called her by her nickname, so it spread throughout the group. In summer, we went to the beach. And we went boating in the mountains. By this point, I think I stopped using her real name altogether… But when attending the seminar, the professor definitely called her name. And I don’t remember thinking anything was odd then… Also, we went to Kyoto together this summer. #2ch Does it feel like the memories you had thought were spent with Satoh are now memories with Elizabeth (upon seeing the name Elizabeth), and you’re wondering who Satoh is? Or is it just the name Elizabeth compared against it being Satoh in your memories that’s confusing? #OP In my memory, the girl I’ve been dating now is the one I’ve dated since college. But her name in college was Satoh, and now it’s Elizabeth. And in photographs from my college days, I’m with a girl I don’t recognize. #OP There’s the photo taken in Kyoto, and one at Izumo Temple from autumn of this year, and it’s the same girl in both. I don’t take many pictures, so that’s all I have. #2ch You say you don’t recognize her, but don’t you know both Satoh and Elizabeth’s faces? You know Elizabeth’s current face, but don’t recognize the old Satoh? #OP I don’t know whether it’s Satoh or Elizabeth, but I don’t remember the face of the girl in the photos. But the one I went on the trip with was definitely my girlfriend. #OP This is wearing me out. I’ll check on various things tomorrow. Though talking about it here has gotten me more nervous. And that’s considering I felt like throwing up before starting the thread… Maybe nothing’s been resolved, but you’ve been helpful nonetheless. Thanks for listening, everyone. [The thread ends, but someone starts up a new one for him. Please click the 'Read More' box to continue.]