Item #: SCP-581-JP
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-581-JP is to be stored in a low-threat item storage locker at Site-8122; its surface must not be viewed continuously for more than one minute. Experiments require permission of a Security Clearance 3 or higher personnel.
Description: SCP-581-JP is a Polaroid photograph featuring multiple human males, all of whom appear to be approximately eighteen years old, dressed in school uniforms, standing in rows. In addition to ordinary age-related deterioration, the faces of all subjects are missing; burn marks, presumably caused by cigarettes, remain in the missing portions, which are not recoverable with current technology. While it was not possible to identify individual subjects in SCP-581-JP due to these defects, they are presumed to be the 19██ graduates of ████████ High School in ████████, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. However, none of the corresponding individuals have claimed to remember taking this photograph.
When a vertebrate animal with camera-type eyes continuously views SCP-581-JP for more than one minute, the subject begins to perceive a hole in the face of every vertebrate. Concurrently, the subject loses the ability to distinguish all vertebrates by their faces. The subject initially expresses fear at the perceived hole in other entities' faces and intense confusion that they continue to survive in such a state. After some time, the subject gradually regains composure; once calm, the subject thereafter begins to show a keen interest in the holes.
Testimonies from those exposed to SCP-581-JP indicate that the holes appear to be present in the area from the forehead to the chin of each host, in a manner that causes the body parts that should be in place to disappear. While the holes vary in size and shape between hosts, their edges appear to have third-degree burns, with partially exposed bone and flesh. The affected individuals also claim that the holes are evidently deeper than the width of the host's head, despite the fact that they do not penetrate to the occipital side.
These holes cause no inconvenience to their respective hosts, as they can only be observed by those exposed to SCP-581-JP. As for the reason for being interested in the holes, the affected individuals uniformly stated "to see whatever is in them", while also expressing a strong desire to "mess up" the other entities' holes by shining light on them, expanding them, filling them in, or otherwise. Attempts to "mess up" the holes are in vain, as in reality it only results in contact with the host's facial surface. The means to reverse this anomalous perception remains undiscovered to date.
Recovery Log 581-JP: On 199█/█/21, Saitō ████████, a teacher at ████████ Private Junior High School, was brought to the Foundation's attention for his unusual death by thrusting his hand into his own face; SCP-581-JP was subsequently recovered from his office desk. Despite the fact that the cause of death was severe brain damage inflicted by ████████'s own hand, it was observed that there were no apparent wounds on his face and that his hand was present in his head as if it had been there from the beginning. Although ████████ had been warned by his school prior to his death about his inability to distinguish between students' faces, he was perceived as a general eccentric person, which presumably prevented his anomalous perceptions from surfacing for a long time. ████████ was identified as one of the graduates of ████████ High School, who are the subjects of SCP-581-JP.
The following is a document recovered with SCP-581-JP. It was written in rough handwriting on a notepad and was found on ████████'s office desk.
An individual is not a face. Face is not individuality.
Then what is individuality? What is an individual? What is I?
The answer resides "inside" the hole.