The Cursed Eye

by T L Brevis

  Hiroshi nodded in response, trying his utmost best to not let his excitement show on his face.

  "First off, as you may have noticed, I can activate and deactivate my Noromi at will, but you cannot; since that is how it is for all users who have not undergone a certain exercise.”

  Hiroshi nodded quickly this time, eager to learn of this mysterious process to gain more control over his eyes.

  "Well, we obviously must change that. If our guess is correct, Owari has at the very least one member with a pair of Noromi, and if that member is able to track us down, he will discover your identity as the final Noromi user."

  "Wait a second, during your explanation of the Noromi’s uses, did you not tell me that they found my address by looking at my picture with one of the Noromi’s abilities?"

  "Yes, but as I said, I looked through their files to discover their scheme, and there I found that the person's picture they actually used was your father's, so as of right now, your face is still unknown to them but they do know your name. So, to keep it that way, you will have to learn to conceal your Noromi at most times."

  "Alright, how is it done?" Hiroshi could not resist asking by this point.

  "Well, as I said, it is an exercise, well of sorts anyway. It is essentially meditation. You will have to sit in almost complete silence for five hours and clear your mind. It might take a few attempts as it did for even myself, but rest assured, eventually you will overcome it.

  “However, since this motel is on the noisy side with cars constantly passing through, I decided to rent a soundproof booth for us for two days. The reason it has been rented for so long is that the five hours necessary to have a blank mind must be consecutive and not in total, so this might prove challenging, as it did for even me, who was considered a natural at using my Noromi by all accounts.

  “The reason for this exercise is to ensure you can reach a certain level of discipline, and once your body recognizes that, you will be able to control when your Noromi is activated at will, and it will open up your eyes’ ability to learn their techniques. That is the most widely accepted theory by Noromi users in any case. Much is currently unknown about the specifics of the Noromi, but we know enough that we can effectively make use of its abilities, which is much more than sufficient.

  “In any case, we leave in 30 minutes, and do pack all of your things, we will also be switching motels after this."

  Hiroshi did as he was told and they left on time without a hitch. They arrived at the soundproofed room, originally intended for music production, and Kaito left Hiroshi in the completely soundproofed section, which essentially boiled down to a room with a microphone and soundproof foam covering its entire surface area. Kaito did not join Hiroshi in this room but instead watched him from behind the glass in the room, originally intended for listening to whoever was recording themselves in the booth.

  Hiroshi was visibly struggling for a while, which was to be expected. Kaito did not let up however, he stared intently at Hiroshi the entire time, never taking his eyes off of him for so much as a moment.

  Hiroshi was having a difficult time attempting to clear his mind. All of the events that had recently transpired had left him constantly in deep thought, so getting rid of those thoughts was, needless to say, going to be a tricky task.

  Hiroshi began thinking about not thinking, which ended up being a never-ending vortex. He quickly discovered that was futile, then began to envision those scarlet eyes he had seen the night before, about how much he so absolutely desired to use their powers to enact his revenge. He simply could not be stopped here. This minuscule exercise would not prevent him from reaching his goal.

  He took his new perspective and drowned it; down to the bottom of his being, the rest of his thoughts following. His burning desire to complete this task was all that remained, not a thought, but a part of his very subconscious.

  This blank lasted for exactly five hours. Hiroshi was not one to waste time. He compared this newfound ability to snap himself out of the trance to the ability some people had to wake themselves up in the morning at a specific time without any sort of alarm; simply out of willpower. Much like many of his other apparent gifts, Hiroshi chose not to question this one either.

  He opened his eyes, and without any confirmation, he knew he had done it. He felt a new portion of his brain almost being unlocked or opened in some way, with the muscle memory of how to perform a new action also feeling like it had suddenly been acquired.

  He felt multiple new abilities open up to him. He now knew how to activate and deactivate the Noromi, but he did not know which of the others was for which ability. Regardless, he still felt elated in the moment and again, chose to not think too much of it.

  Hiroshi began to form a smile and stood up. After seven hours of waiting, Kaito finally saw his newfound student stand up and step towards him, eyes finally a dark brown color. A slight smile began to form on Kaito's face and he muttered something softly under his breath.

  "Perhaps he will be able to tackle what I have planned for him after all.”

  ∞

  "What next?" Hiroshi asked with a smile as the pair stepped out of the recording studio and began a steady stroll.

  "An example," Kaito responded, reverting to his usual tone.

  Kaito quickly began to look even more solemn than usual, even with a hint of hostility in his eyes, so Hiroshi knew things were going to get serious and this "example" he was referring to would not be something to take lightly.

  They returned to their new motel and Kaito promptly pulled his laptop out from a drawer under the coffee table, concealed by a tablecloth. His laptop was jet black in color and had a few markings signifying its worn state.

  Kaito unlocked the laptop with a password so lengthy and comprising of so many different numbers being entered in quick succession, Hiroshi had no opportunity to even hope of guessing what it was even if he tried.

  "We are going to kill someone tonight," Kaito said in a much more serious tone than what had been previously established as the norm.

  Hiroshi was shocked, and it showed on his face.

  Kaito's serious expression wavered the slightest bit and he reassured Hiroshi. "Rest assured, he is a criminal. A serial killer who has murdered over twenty innocent people, some of which children and teenagers. He was hired by Owari to do these things."

  Hearing the word “Owari” was enough for Hiroshi to see red and almost before Kaito had even finished, he responded.

  "Alright, I'm definitely in."

  "Good, pleased to hear that. Also, am I right to say that you felt yourself being granted abilities, but did not know which was which, or how to use them?"

  Hiroshi nodded yes.

  "Well, due to the extremely quick adaptability and learning ability of the Noromi, the second you simply lay eyes on a fellow user making use of an ability, you will then be able to use it as well. Simply look into even a single one of my Noromi while I complete each task, for its entire duration, and you will be granted said ability. However, we must proceed swiftly.

  “I successfully hacked into the local Police Department's database to find this man's information, and they plan to arrest him first thing in the morning, so we must carry this out tonight. I will do everything I told you I would earlier, but while I am doing it, you must be looking directly at my eyes."

  The thought of accidentally making eye contact with Kaito while he was using the instant kill ability entered Hiroshi’s mind and he began to feel anxious.

  "Oh, and if you are afraid that the effects of these abilities will be cast onto you as well, do not bother. The Noromi's effects do not work on other Noromi users, and keep that in mind when we encounter Owari in the future as well,” Kaito said as if reading his mind.

  Hiroshi had been reassured once again and began giving his utmost attention to the task at hand. After confirming that Hiroshi was prepared for the two hours ahead, Kaito proceeded to open an anonymous browser
and opened these "Police Databases” he had spoken about. He clicked open some folders on the website without skipping a beat, then he reached a folder titled “criminal profiles.” He paused for a moment and clicked on it, scrolling through many more folders until he reached a folder titled, “Yu Kikumura,” which he clicked open the same as the others.

  Kaito dragged his cursor to about halfway through the folder and double-clicked a PNG file, and there the criminal’s face was. Yu Kikumura was an average looking man with wild black hair, much messier than Hiroshi’s, as well as dark brown eyes, looking into the device which had taken his photograph with a cold and unfeeling expression.

  “Alright, let us begin,” said Kaito.

  For the subsequent two hours, Hiroshi stared directly into Kaito’s eyes, colored the same red he had seen before, while Kaito’s vision was locked onto the eyes of the criminal staring blankly back at him. Hiroshi had no intention of stopping until the two hours had elapsed.

  Others his age might have whined about boredom but of course, Hiroshi was far past that point. He did not have time for unnecessary thoughts like that in his situation. Not when what he needed to accomplish was looming over his every thought.

  It was the longest two hours of Hiroshi's life since he was literally counting every second of it, but eventually, it got to the single digits. Three. Two. One. The moment Hiroshi hit one on his countdown, he felt a sensation in his head. It was like a sharp realization hit him, and could only be described as pure enlightenment, but at the same time, this new ability he had only just learned felt as natural as raising his right arm. Hiroshi, as he was told he would, now knew how to find other's information with his Noromi.

  “Looks as though it was a success. Excellent work Hiroshi,” said Kaito, obviously attempting to sound as cheerful as he could.

  “Alright, as I said, we must not waste any time here, we are leaving to find Yu Kikumura. No need to bring anything, simply follow me.”

  Their new motel was located slightly outside of the nearest city, so they would have to travel a good few miles to get to Kikumura since he was located somewhere in the middle of the city.

  The pair walked about half a mile to the nearest train station, purchased their tickets and waited patiently for the train to arrive. Their train pulled in about fifteen minutes later. They boarded it and arrived at their destination without any issues.

  “Hiroshi, Kikumura's apartment is just a few blocks ahead. Do not draw attention to yourself and do attempt to blend in, if you do just that, this should go on without a hitch.”

  They walked for a handful of minutes, and sure enough, a building matching the description Kaito had given Hiroshi was in sight. They swiftly entered and took the elevator to the 8th floor, arriving at a dimly lit corridor.

  “That is it Hiroshi, that is his apartment,” Kaito whispered, pointing at the dimly lit apartment unit numbered “39” at the very end of the corridor.

  “First, we take out the security camera. Luckily, this is not a very wealthy area, so there is only one camera per floor in this building. No one can know we were here, as I am sure you are well aware.

  “I have done adequate research into how the security cameras in this area work, and luckily they are quite simple to disable. Each camera has a capture card inside of it, which must be changed every day.

  This card also holds all of the data on the camera for that day. All I have to do is remove that card, break it in half, and place it back and there will not be any record of us ever even being here. This area is so faulty, no one will even think twice about it.”

  Kaito then did just that. He took out a screwdriver he had put in his back pocket and slowly stepping over to the camera, slipping on gloves, he removed the card. Snapping it in half, returned it to its rightful place.

  Hiroshi swiftly, but silently stepped over to Kaito, making sure to not make any noise once a glaring realization hit him.

  “What about the security guard watching the cameras currently?”

  “Oh, It seems you have thought ahead quite well. I suppose I will not have to explain to you the reason why we must make our way downstairs again, do I?”

  “Well, to clarify anyway, we are going to go down to his office, which we can find the location of right here on the building map,” said Kaito, pointing to a map of the apartment building plastered to the wall on their current level, as presumably many others were on the other levels.

  Not even wasting a second after clarifying their next move, Kaito hurried over to the elevator and entered with Hiroshi in mere moments after tapping on the “/” key.

  In less than a minute, they rushed over to the security room and now stood directly in front of its door. Kaito tried the doorknob, and luckily it was unlocked. The pair burst into the dimly lit, dinky little room to find a middle-aged man staring back at them, petrified.

  “P-P-Please don't hurt me, I s-saw you both on the c-cameras, please t-take anything you w-want in here.”

  “No need for that sir, I would like you to answer a few of my questions, then we will leave without any issues.”

  The man was now visibly perplexed, but that expression was nothing compared to the sheer terror on his face completely outshining it, so of course, as expected, he complied immediately.

  Firstly, what is your name.”

  “Fu-Futaki Mochihito,” the man blurted out in response, his eyes darting around the room, anywhere except for meeting Kaito’s own gaze.

  “Is it correct that your wife’s name is Aiko Mochihito?”

  Futaki Mochihito froze and now looked directly into Kaito’s eyes.

  “Is it true that you live about three miles from here?” Kaito asked.

  The man’s eyes widened and he could not resist staring directly into Kaito’s eyes while he spoke.

  “About fifteen bus stops from here, correct?”

  The man had an expression of pure shock and fear, but then it switched. His face became blank and scarce of any trace of emotion. He simply stared forward and any sign of the shocked and afraid man that Hiroshi had seen moments prior was completely absent.

  After a few seconds, the man stepped over to a nearby drawer and pulled a pen out of it and proceeded to begin writing on a piece of paper on his desk. He simply wrote the words, “I regret to inform you that I, Futaki Mochihito formally resign as the security guard of this complex.”

  After doing so, the man left the building. Kaito stepped towards the key rack on the wall to his right, and carefully took the one labeled “39” without laying his hands on anything else.

  Hiroshi was mesmerized by the display Kaito had just put on, but then a worried expression dawned on his face.

  “It slipped my mind to look at your eyes while you were doing it, now we're going to have to wait an entire week for me to have another opportunity to learn it,” Hiroshi said in a very disappointed tone.

  “Oh, I failed to inform you about something.”

  “What is it?” Hiroshi asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

  “Well, I failed to tell you that you can actually get rid of the cooldown on your Noromi abilities, but for quite a large cost. You take away whatever period is left on the cooldown from your very own remaining lifespan.”

  “But what is one week of my life in the grand scheme of things if it means that I can be of help to you improving your abilities. This move will be well worth it.”

  “Wait, but why didn't you just tell me to look at your eyes before you used your ability, did you forget that as well?”

  “No. Although I never hope you will have to use it, at least having this ability to get rid of the cooldown of your other abilities is essential. So on top of watching me control and kill this man, you have to see me reset my cooldown of the control ability as well.”

  Hiroshi agreed to that without any hesitation. Kaito nodded, and Hiroshi looked directly into his eyes, now a bright red in contrast with the dim room. Within just a
second, the same feeling of enlightenment enveloped Hiroshi and he had gained yet another ability.

  ∞

  “Alright, now that we have that settled, let us actually return to Kikumura's apartment and finish what we came here to do in the first place.”

  With that, the pair made their way back up to the 8th floor, and with the camera being disabled and the guard being taken care of, the two had no distractions left.

  They slowly made their way to the end of the hallway, carefully ensuring, yet again, that they were not making any sort of noise. They arrived at the door to Kikumura's apartment, a faded brown color with many cracks in it, attesting to its quality.

  “Three, two, one,” Kaito whispered, much more quietly than he had previously. He simply slotted the key into its rightful hole and turned it very slowly and soundlessly.

  When they entered, the scene of a small apartment with grey walls, basic furniture, and a television, all with tears and other signs of extreme wear, poured into their lines of vision. They peered around carefully and after a few seconds of examining the place, they knew that Kikumura must have been in the only room with a door in the entire apartment.