SCP-268-JP-██
Item #: SCP-268-JP
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Persons who are found to satisfy the condition of SCP-268-JP-A from information gathered by law enforcement, fire, and medical institutions shall be listed up and their trends monitored. Relevant individuals who are found to have disappeared under suspicious circumstances or the like, are to be investigated by Foundation agents in the recovery of SCP-268-JP, and to distribute amnestics to potential witnesses in maintaining a cover story. Irrespective of their current duties and rank, Foundation personnel with clearance level 1 or higher who satisfy the conditions of SCP-268-JP-A are to be informed of the object's properties, and are obligated to understand the object's characteristics and reporting of any potential encounters.
Recovered SCP-268-JP entities are stored in individually assigned 0.8mx2.0mx0.5m cages housed within a Containment Cell located at Site-81██. All revisions made to SCP-268-JP are to be recorded. When an instance of SCP-268-JP-A is confirmed, remove the assigned cage entirely from the Containment Cell and follow established procedures after investigation. SCP-268-JP entities that have lost their anomalous properties shall be removed from the Containment Cell, and be stored within a safekeeping locker at the same Site.
Currently, aforementioned Protocol Villain-268 is in effect as a countermeasure to said object.
Description: SCP-268-JP is a collection of books consisting of a black leather cover and an immeasurable number of pages inscribed with what would be a single sentence on its cover as its title. Currently, the Foundation has contained a total of ███ books to date.
SCP-268-JP appears randomly within Japan in front1 of "persons who have been previously saved by someone else, who later died as a result of their dangerous life-saving activity." (Hereinafter the person whose life was saved referred to as SCP-268-JP-A, the person who died as the result of said life-saving activity as SCP-268-JP-B). At the time of appearance, SCP-268-JP will be inscribed with the title "The Epic of [Expression evoking SCP-268-JP-B] Who Saved [Expression evoking SCP-268-JP-A]". With the exception of the first few pages entitled as the Prologue with a brief description on how SCP-268-JP-A was rescued by SCP-268-JP-B, all other pages are left blank. The timing of appearance for SCP-268-JP ranges irregularly from a few months to a few decades from the time of rescue, and combined with the enormous number of individuals who satisfy SCP-268-JP-A, has been found to be difficult to predict and prevent before activation.
When SCP-268-JP-A comes in contact with the appeared SCP-268-JP, SCP-268-JP-A will immediately disappear from its spot. During this disappearance, the whereabouts of SCP-268-JP-A are not known. Thereafter, new chapters are added to SCP-268-JP one by one every 24 hours. At that time, any damage or degradation done to SCP-268-JP exceeding a certain threshold will be replaced with a brand new copy, and is therefore, meaningless to otherwise destroy or incinerate said object due to this property.
The content of the added chapters will spell out a beginning without exception, a scenario where SCP-268-JP-A is in a crisis and SCP-268-JP-B is being faced with a choice to either risk their life and save them. At this time, it can be read that SCP-268-JP-A appears to retain the same appearance and memories of that of the time of the disappearance, and SCP-268-JP-B appears to be in a healthy state with the same appearance and memories of that of the time of death. If SCP-268-JP-B takes action, the rescue attempt will be a success irrespective of the situation, and SCP-268-JP-A will survive while SCP-268-JP-B will die without exception. The chapter concludes with praises being offered to SCP-268-JP-B for their actions, and the cycle then repeats itself with the next chapter having a different crisis than the previous, and SCP-268-JP-B being asked again to make a new choice. In addition, based on the behavior described in the narrative, it is further assumed that only SCP-268-JP-B retains all the memories from the previous chapters. There are also other characters such as policemen, doctors, and audiences that appear in the works, but they will only repeat fixed phrases and both parties have been shown to not be able to establish any meaningful dialogue.
After an indeterminate period of time from the time of disappearance, deceased SCP-268-JP-A entities with varying causes of death will appear next to SCP-268-JP. At that time, the chapter added to SCP-268-JP will be titled The Final Chapter and will describe the chain of events leading to SCP-268-JP-B giving up, and SCP-268-JP-A dying in a similar manner as the now appeared corpse. After witnessing their demise, the chapter then concludes with the depiction SCP-268-JP-B "disappearing into a mist". The title on the cover is then renamed to a single sentence in contempt of SCP-268-JP-B, and all corresponding anomalous properties are lost from SCP-268-JP.
As a means of reducing the risk of contact between SCP-268-JP and SCP-268-JP-A, Protocol Villain-268 has been enacted to serialize, and periodically publish/sell books that imitate the design and title of SCP-268-JP using ███ Books, a Foundation front company. Among its many discussions, the book brings up examples of people who have saved or have been saved by others, and describes them in a manner that is thoroughly critical, and insulting of them that has since lead to many civil lawsuits across the nation. Currently, the series is known in the public as a controversial piece of work that should be avoided, and has since lead to a reduction of approximately 15% of all reported incidences of SCP-268-JP.