The Cursed Eye

by T L Brevis

  “You see Hiroshi, if a person is controlled by two different Noromi users, they will only accept the orders of the first. As an added bonus, even though the boy did not actually get an opportunity to make use of his ability, he still got a one-week cooldown on it. So that essentially sums up what you just witnessed.”

  This explanation only slightly alleviated Hiroshi of the sheer shock he had experienced, but nonetheless, Kaito had once again surprised him with his intelligence. Hiroshi liked this. He still had someone to look up to directly, which was an excellent piece of extra motivation, even if Hiroshi would not be discouraged from his goal regardless.

  Hiroshi thought about how foolish Owari must have felt for having their plan utterly and unequivocally backfire on them. Instead of them obtaining proof of Hiroshi’s face, Kaito and himself had his own counterpart’s face. It was disheartening that they had confirmed his identity as the final Noromi user, and two members did remember his appearance by memory, but nonetheless, it was a major victory for them, at the very least compared to Owari.

  “Alright, well enjoy your last night here because we have accomplished our task. Make sure to finish up your remaining money. Order room service or something of the like,” Kaito said.

  Hiroshi responded with a smile and a “sure” and so the two went upstairs to their luxurious room in the Citz-Rarlton for the final time.

  ∞

  “Oh, so Kaito isn’t the cocky fool we always thought he was. Well, isn’t that interesting,” Mugen Ito smiled.

  “Well, Kaito must be feeling quite pleased with himself, but knowing the truth about him is much more valuable than his brat’s face will ever be. Maybe he is the idiot we thought he was after all,” Mugen Ito added.

  “Yes, but the point still remains that he now has my face, and proof that I have the Noromi, and we got barely anything other than that knowledge out of it. I was meant to be the surprise factor of this organization, the only Noromi user Kaito had not yet laid eyes on. And I was willing to throw that away for my counterpart’s face, and the best we got in that regard was his face in mine and Tanaka’s memories,” said Naoto Watanabe. “And let us just be honest here, soon it will fade from even that, and Tanaka won’t be alive long enough for it to matter for him,” he added.

  “Hey, listen here you brat. I'm the only reason you even found out about those eyes of yours. You’d still be living a pointless and meaningless life without what I’ve done so don’t take your anger out on me,” Shoji Tanaka barked.

  “I'm just being realistic here Tanaka. Regardless, apologies for my behavior everyone,” Naoto Watanabe said solemnly, bowing his head to the group.

  “Apology accepted Naoto, but let us cease this beyond useless time-wasting caused by arguing amongst ourselves. That was one of the firm points we established within this organization. We have done a stellar job to avoid it, but do not allow it to happen again,” Mugen Ito said, narrowing his eyes and speaking with a deathly serious tone this time, as his eyes flared a rich, but cold scarlet.

  Naoto Watanabe bowed his head once more, followed by silence and overwhelming tension in the air.

  ∞

  “Well, yesterday was interesting, as one way to put it, do you not agree, Hiroshi? I would say we won the day relatively comfortably,” said Kaito. Seated on his 5-star hotel, neatly pressed bed for the final time, he stared at the pristine ceiling above, topped with a glamorous chandelier.

  “Well, you could put it in that way, however, at the same time… That boy,” responded Hiroshi.

  “What about him,” Kaito asked curiously, slowly moving his gaze over to the troubled Hiroshi standing and looking into the mirror above the cabinet before him.

  “He’s leagues ahead of me… It’s not even a contest. What have I been doing this entire time?” Hiroshi said, tone being raised, and beginning to grit his teeth.

  “What about that boy gives you that impression?”

  “He clearly orchestrated the whole thing. He was the one to control the waiter, and even ordered the old man to leave after you outsmarted them,” said Hiroshi hurriedly, just wanting Kaito to understand his clear inadequacy as soon as possible.

  “I think that’s hardly enough to go off o-”

  “No Kaito. I know he did. The aura of sheer confidence and intelligence he emanated when speaking to me… I may be advanced well beyond my years, but he’s on another level from even that. He was going toe to toe with even you,” argued Hiroshi, sounding more and more defeated with every passing syllable.

  “Well, Owari has probably had this kid since he was born, and have been training him to be a manipulative killing machine his entire life. You will get to his level soon enough.”

  Hiroshi simply responded with a reluctant nod.

  Chapter 8

  “We shall now go into more detail on our previous blunder. Kaito now has access to Naoto’s face. Originally, we agreed that we were going to be patient and bide our time until they slipped up. We then fell into Kaito’s trap by jumping the gun. Well, no use making a fuss about that now I suppose. We will think about this rationally and in a manner where we will not waste any time or resources. How do you all recommend we proceed from here?” Mugen Ito was speaking to the others.

  “I suggest we lay low for a few years, this time actually abiding by the sentiment. We can truly focus on expansion during that time. Kaito will most likely expect this, but that does not negate its positive effects on us. Moreover, it is not like Kaito has the capacity to do much about it,” said Toyo Takahashi.

  “Just what I had hoped to hear. However, just to be safe, let us observe Kaito and his boy for a while longer. If there are two more Yabuto Sofu-like situations, and they are not major setbacks for us, and instead only involve the negatives for Kaito and his brat, we will put our full focus towards expansion. This will most likely be the case as long as we refrain from engaging Kaito in such an open manner again. All in favor?” asked Mugen Ito.

  There was a simultaneous nod from all in the room.

  “Then it is settled.”

  ∞

  Hiroshi and Kaito were seated in opposite armchairs facing each other in yet another rundown motel. An almost laughably common occurrence by this point. This time, in the outskirts of Osaka. Each had their laptops on the specified organ and seemed to be very occupied with something.

  “Alright Hiroshi, that is the last of them. I usually like to give you these criminals’ pieces of information one by one. However, I realize you have been rather eager to catch up to this other boy, so I forwarded you about five of them,” said Kaito with his familiar solemn tone and expression.

  “Thank you, Kaito. I will not disappoint you.”

  “Good.”

  Hiroshi tightened his grip on his laptop and left the living room. He entered his newest bedroom to spend the following ten hours staring at the faces of the disgusting men Kaito had sent him information on.

  One was a millionaire who had sexually harassed his assistants to no consequence due to threatening their jobs and even families. Two were regular serial killers he had been used to dealing with by then, which had sadly desensitized him to their vicious acts, but the final two made him sick to his stomach. Moreso than he ever thought possible.

  Hiroshi felt as though he might vomit while reading about these final two. They were twisted brothers who had been kidnapping, assaulting and murdering children no older than ten.

  They had also been live-streaming it on the deep web for other appalling people to watch. Their disgusting platform was how Kaito had even found them in the first place. They were fools, perhaps they thought they were being some sort of sick entertainers, but it had backfired immensely for them.

  The worst part was that they were fooling everyone. They were both ministers who were very highly respected. How could scum like this not be noticed? This justice system was broken beyond repair. Hiroshi was going to tear it down and build it from the ground up along w
ith Kaito. That was the only way it could be. This had been allowed to go on for far too long.

  Hiroshi clenched his fists as hard as possible. His nails dug into his palms to the point of near bleeding. He vowed that he would make this twisted duo suffer before their deaths, and make them leave this planet as quickly as possible.

  Hiroshi glared into their eyes, more focused on the process than ever before. They were smiling in their dress suits, pretending they were innocent, and faking everything during the day, while going into their twisted dungeon to torture these poor children by night.

  Hiroshi’s eyebrows were narrowing more and more, and his eyelids began to water. He needed to put a stop to this, and he was getting more and more motivation and anticipation to put these sick dogs down by the second. They reminded him or Hirai Ryushi, the one who had opened his eyes to the suffering of the children by the hands of those he hunted down, and these brothers were the personification of the sick ideology that plagued Japan which he hoped and prayed would end.

  He was formulating his plan right there. It did not matter what type of home they inhabited, what family they had, or anything else he was going to learn during this process. He was creating plans for all of them while not easing up on his focus toward eye contact with them either. Every possible scenario was being explored. Hiroshi resented the fact that he would have to wait for even a second to begin, even without the hard facts.

  Hiroshi was livid beyond repair. He had never gotten so emotional, and even less often angry. Now with all of the veins on his forehead threatening to burst and his face bright red in anger, Hiroshi was past reason. He was going to truly enjoy the murder he was to carry out. That thought was the only thing in these four hours that managed to bring a smile to his face.

  At long last, he was finished with the process, and he was definitely excited about it. It transpired that the brothers were living in an expensive mansion together, equivalent to Yabuto Sofu’s in terms of size.

  These disgusting criminals apparently had a tendency to favor expensive items. Well, those materialistic things would not aid them in the least where they would be going. The two’s names were Yamashiro Shotaro and Ogino Shotaro.

  The brothers had a two year age gap, one being forty-five and the other one being forty-three. That was more than enough information for Hiroshi. The fact that they lived together was even better for him as well.

  They say, “kill two birds with one stone?” Well, Hiroshi would make that four birds with one stone. He smiled to himself.

  The Following Day…

  Hiroshi was walking with his hands buried deep into the pockets of his jeans. He was making his way to a fundraiser that the Shotaro brothers were holding to raise money for “Less Fortunate Children”.

  Their hypocrisy made Hiroshi sick, but nonetheless, he could use it to his advantage. He had dirtied his clothes and face, reminding himself of a time he had done the same. The preparations were set. He had planned exactly what he was going to do and how. It was just a matter of arriving there.

  After approximately fifteen minutes of walking, Hiroshi arrived at his destination. There were streamers and signs all plastered with the name of the fundraiser, along with the names of the Shotaro brothers. It was held in a square filled with these unfortunate children along with their parents, if they had any that was, along with many other passersby, so it was quite simple for Hiroshi to slip into the crowd.

  Hiroshi had found out the structure for the event simply from visiting the events page on the brothers’ website. He slipped through the crowd just in time for the section of the event where the brothers would inquire about the children’s backstories. This was Hiroshi's golden opportunity.

  The brothers began with the segment and Hiroshi waited with bated breath until about three of the children were finished with their stories. It all reminded him of the immense importance of carrying out this mission.

  Hiroshi raised his trembling hand and was called upon almost instantly. He made sure to sound as nervous and innocent as possible as he spoke, eyes being filled with crimson.

  “Yes son, so what is your story?” asked one of the brothers with a warm smile.

  “W-Well, you see, my parents weren’t able to come today, because they’re both working two jobs for me and my b-brother,” Hiroshi dragged out his words while keeping a direct gaze with Yamashiro Shotaro, whose face turned blank for a fraction of a second, before returning to a concerned and warm expression.

  “S-So I'm trying my b-best at school to show them how much I love them and am happy that they are trying for me and my b-brother,” Hiroshi finished, switching his gaze over to Ogino Shotaro’s eyes, whose face had a similar reaction to his brother’s.

  “I'm so sorry about that, well take some food, water, and other things to bring home. We hope it will help you and your family,” said Ogino Shotaro, almost completely copy-pasting what he had said after each and every story he had heard that day.

  Hiroshi went up to the stage to collect the items, as the other children before him had. Reluctantly, he shook the hands of the repulsive men before him and went on his way, pushing two large bags of food in a trolley.

  5 Hours Later…

  BREAKING NEWS:

  The widely loved Shotaro brothers, ministers of Osaka, were just shockingly exposed for being child predators and murderers. The twisted-pair uploaded a video of their disgusting acts to their website by mistake. The police stormed their home but found no trace of them. The authorities are currently on the lookout for them. If you have any information on their whereabouts, please contact your local police department, Thank you.

  Hiroshi smirked as he switched off the television, “Ah, everything is going according to plan. I hope everything else will go smoothly as well. I suppose only time will tell though,” Hiroshi’s smile grew as he thought to himself.

  15 Hours Later...

  BREAKING NEWS:

  The Shotaro brothers who were recently found to be child predators have just been reported dead. Their bodies were found in a local river. They were found to be very mutilated, and they were almost unrecognizable except for their distinct and widely recognized matching birthmarks on their right shoulders. The police are working to find their killers as we speak, but I think we can all agree that this has been a very strange but eye-opening day.

  2 Days Later:

  BREAKING NEWS:

  The Shotaro brothers’ murderers have been found. Their names are Iwai Unkei and Utsumi Kyoshi. These two men have previously been convicted of sexual harassment, but upon further investigation of their apartments, the Shotaro brother’s blood, along with the blood of several missing women were found. The two were convicted of first-degree murder on the brothers, and are on trial for the potential murders of other victims. We will keep you informed.

  “Well, it looks like everything went excellently,” Hiroshi thought to himself with a wide smile, while watching the news report.

  “It looks like I have to hand them everything for them to even do their job, this justice system is still broken,” thought Hiroshi, smile now fading fast.

  “Hiroshi, I saw the news reports over the past few days. I am quite curious to hear the specifics. Do tell,” said Kaito, stepping into the motel’s living room.

  “Alright, I’ll explain it. I attended an event the brothers held for children in need after finding the event planner. I arrived right on time for a segment where children could share their stories. I proceeded to tell a cliché tale about my parents working several jobs to support my family.

  “I ensured that I maintained eye contact with them for five seconds each while drawing out my words. I made them hand me bags of food, as they had for the children before me. After receiving them, I quickly left the event and made my way to an apartment building. Iwai Unkei’s apartment building.

  “I went door to door on every floor, giving food away, until I reached the 9th where I had emptied the first bag. Unke
i was living on the 5th, and I treated my visit to his door like any other. I drew out my dialogue about wanting to help people in the building and so on for five seconds while he looked uninterestedly back into my eyes.

  “I did something similar a few blocks down at Utsumi Kyoshi’s building, only this time, he lived on the 7th floor so it was a close call for me before I would have looked suspicious skipping floors to reach him,” Hiroshi paused.

  “Well, I'm sure you would like to know what exactly I did with my control abilities?”

  “Yes, that and, why would you waste a whole three weeks of your life on this?”

  “Simple; because I want to make a point to myself that I do not stand for people like them.”

  “Regardless, continuing on, I used my abilities on the Shotaro brothers in a simple way. I made them record their next terrible act, instead of live streaming it, of course not involving murder, but something minuscule in comparison to that, still being more than enough for the press to have a field day.