The Cursed Eye

by T L Brevis

  “He was a young, headstrong hacker back then, just entering the industry. Come to think of it, he was just as headstrong in normal situations too, and unbelievably handsome too. Anyway, long story short, this organization was eventually caught and everyone involved was arrested, including your father.

  “Well, they reviewed the information of your father’s case, and the communication between him and this organization and found that he was tricked, but was innocent. They ended up releasing him with little more than a few comments of how gullible and foolish he was but then sent him an offer to work for the police, which he accepted in order to redeem himself. He went on to do great work for them and became one of their elites. Then…” she paused and looked down towards her lap.

  “He was killed... while doing investigative work on a company,” she finished.

  Hiroshi and Makoto stayed silent, their faces solemn, while Hakku began to smile.

  “I’ve made a mistake. I went down a bad path like dad, but in the end, he fought for justice. I’ll do the same. I swear, no matter what, I will help you two, Hiroshi and Makoto. Together, we will change the world! It might be naive thought, but I guess I am my dad’s son, no matter how typical that may sound,” Hakku said happily.

  ∞

  “Good afternoon ma’am,” said Kaito in his usual solemn tone, bowing his head to Hakku’s mother.

  “You are sure about this, correct?” asked Kaito while raising his head.

  “Of course! My son and I completely agree with what you’re trying to do, so please let him work for you for however long you need him!” exclaimed Hakku’s mother, as loudly as she did the previous day, but this time in excitement and not anger.

  “Speaking of which, Hakku is just getting finished with packing and should be out here any second now,” she added.

  “We look forward to Hakku being an addition to our team as well ma’am.”

  We will definitely meet your expectations,” said Makoto formally, while even bowing his head to her as Kaito had.

  “Well aren’t you a polite young man! It seems not much changed from who you were pretending to be!” she said with a bright smile.

  Hiroshi thought it was quite on the contrary, but digressed regardless. He was just excited to get yet another person involved with their plans. Hiroshi did not intend for them to grow larger than even himself and Kaito originally but the inclusion of more people would make things much easier.

  Hiroshi did not take this as an opportunity to slack off, however. He had recently begun to think about who the possible Owari members could be, at least the main ones.

  He knew there were five from what Kaito had told him, but he began to think of their various roles.

  1. A hacker. Someone on Kaito’s level, maybe slightly below. If they did have someone better, they would have undoubtedly found out key information about Kaito and even Hiroshi by that point and would not have risked so much in their encounter to get a picture of his face.

  2. Someone to handle their vast resources. They without question would have an absurd amount of resources by that point as well. Considering how Kaito described them, they seemed to be around for quite some time, so that would have given them possibly even decades to build up finances and connections in every area they saw fit.

  3. The Noromi Users. Hiroshi knew at least two of these existed. The boy and the old man he had encountered at the Citz-Rarlton. He also presumed there would be another to act as their leader figure. Owari seemed like the type to operate better with a leader and he believed it would have also been a Noromi user, as the organization seemed to be heavily based on the eyes in the first place. The most logical assumption would be to assume the leader was most likely Kaito’s counterpart.

  Just as Hiroshi was finishing his thoughts, Hakku stumbled out the front door with a large suitcase being wheeled behind him by his right arm. His facial expression was pure excitement.

  ∞

  “Wow, this place really is a step up from what I'm used to,” said Hakku, stepping into the enormous and lavish hotel room suite.

  “Well, most things are a step up from a small dark room,” replied Makoto cheekily, in a relaxed position with his hands behind his head and a wide smile on his face.

  “You know, when you and Hiroshi revealed yourselves, I thought you two weren’t half bad, but you’re even more annoying usually than when you faked it. Well, at least Hiroshi’s a good kid. It would be hell if there were two Makotos,” said Hakku.

  “Well, that just means he acknowledges you as one of his friends. Pretty sure you and I are the only ones he’s revealed his true self to. Doesn’t make it any less painfully annoying though,” replied Hiroshi with a sigh

  “Yea, you should be grateful you get to experience this great specimen,” said Makoto as he jumped up and caught both Hiroshi and Hakku in a hug around their necks from behind, although he did have to lift his left leg a little to reach Hakku.

  “Ok, ok. Anyway, where’s Kaito? I saw you talking to him when we arrived Hiroshi, then he just walked away without a word to either of us,” asked Hakku, now in a more serious tone.

  “He said he had to take care of some things and that he would arrive here in a few hours and he also told me to just enjoy this hotel while it lasts,” replied Hiroshi.

  “Enjoy it while it lasts?” asked Hakku.

  “Yes, this sort of thing doesn’t happen often. To hide efficiently, we usually stay at low-profile motels and inns, so it’ll help if you don’t get used to this sort of thing,” replied Hiroshi.

  “Why do we have to do that? Are you guys low on funds, because I have plenty left I can help out with,” said Hakku in an assured tone.

  “It’s not that at all. I briefly told you about the organization called Owari before, but I didn’t give you much information on them except for their name. Kaito and I will explain everything when he gets back, but I will tell you the reason we need to go into hiding in these low-key locations right now, at the very least. We do not know just how far Owari’s reach has gotten.

  “Kaito is about 80% sure that they are not trusting enough to expand their organization past their murderers and few others, but because of the situation we’re in, we can’t afford to take any risks. Owari is the main threat to this world and therefore us. We must ensure that we stop them at all costs,” explained Hiroshi.

  “Alright, I totally understand now. Well, as Kaito said, let's enjoy what time we do have here. What are your hobbies?” asked Hakku.

  “Well, I enjoy learning about languages and forensic science mostly,” said Hiroshi.

  “Alright, and what about you Makoto, probably playing hide and seek or something, right. Seems like that would suit you,” said Hakku.

  “Well, that would make sense for what you know about me, I haven't had the best first impression after all, but I actually enjoy studying psychology. I do have to fabricate my personality for everyone other than the people in this room and Kaito after all. After a while of it being a necessity, I began to actually really enjoy it,” said Makoto.

  “I see. Well, all I’ve ever done is hack and code and thus it is my biggest and only passion. It looks like we’re not very compatible with this hotel. Too bad as well. This is one of the few in Japan that focuses so much on entertainment facilities,” said Hakku.

  “It’s fine. All Makoto and I did during our last break was study things that interested us anyway, so doing that again when the time comes should not be an issue. So I suppose we should get right into the next mission. As I mentioned on the car ride here Hakku, we take a break of a few months in between each case, however that is not necessary here as we were able to recruit you instead of killing you so we don’t have to factor in the police even suspecting it. We can begin right away because of this,” said Hiroshi.

  “Alright, but it’s about 6:30 pm now. How about we head downstairs for a quick dinner before we begin?” said Makoto. “I think you forgot to mentio
n that as being one of your hobbies didn't you Hiroshi?” he added in a teasing tone.

  “Isn’t it a necessity though?” asked Hiroshi.

  “Well, I think you take that necessity to the extreme a bit,” said Makoto, not wavering with his teasing tone.

  “I see, well, in that case, let’s get going I suppose,” replied Hiroshi, now smiling.

  All that could be heard from the trio for the coming hours was laughter and vivid conversation, although Makoto and Hakku mainly handled that. Hiroshi once again got the feeling that he was getting a chance to experience true childhood but he knew come the next day, it would be back to work, and as always, he would do his best to get closer to Owari’s destruction.

  Chapter 16

  “Alright Hakku, I think it is finally time I told you how we do things,” said Kaito.

  All four people were seated at the dining table in the Kyuryu Enson Hotel the next morning. All of them waiting expectantly for Kaito to begin speaking, as he had been the one to call them in for this briefing, a very rare occurrence coming from Kaito.

  “As you know, I have computing skills myself, but that alone is not enough to do what we do. Before we met, Makoto hired hitmen with his family’s wealth to essentially do what we have been doing as well, bring justice to those deserving of it. However, we have a different way of doing things. We have an ocular ability known as the Noromi.

  “You may not believe me when I say this, but our eyes allow us to kill within a minute, discover an individual’s information, and control their actions for twenty-four hours after use. This is how we are able to do what we do. However, our eyes are invisible to anyone who does not have them themselves. I realize this is quite a substantial amount of information to take in, but do continue listening. Hiroshi, go on,” said Kaito, even more serious than usual.

  “Yes. As I told you yesterday, there is an organization dubbing themselves Owari. As I also told you, they are currently the biggest threat to this world’s peace. What I did not tell you was that some of their members possess the Noromi as well. You see, every twenty-five years, two people are born with the Noromi. Most of their power was wasted however, since Noromi users are unable to see their own eyes, therefore not questioning them in the least. Another user has to come by and notify them, and that is the only known way to discover one’s ability.

  “However, this has changed in the past few generations since more and more Noromi users have been notified of their power and it has been Owari’s mission to recruit every single Noromi user at as young of an age they can, then brainwash them and transform them into perfect tools for their organization. Luckily, Kaito was able to locate and rescue me before I could become one of their pawns. As Kaito said, we will give you some time to consider this information,” said Hiroshi.

  “I believe you. Well, it would be good to get some proof as well, but regardless, I believe you. Hiroshi, Makoto, you two have been my only real friends. If you say Hiroshi has this one in three and a half billion power, I’ll believe you. Trust is going to be the most important part of this relationship if we truly do hope to change the world,” said Hakku confidently and honestly.

  “I appreciate that,” said Hiroshi with a smile.

  “Jeez, you’re another one of those freaks that doesn’t get embarrassed over this stuff too,” said Makoto.

  “Regardless, you will get your proof in due time when we take on future missions, which speaking of, we can begin with the next one today for the reasons I pointed out yesterday. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that this is our third to last mission before we take a few years off for a hiatus. Well, at least a hiatus from missions involving killing criminals anyway,” added Hiroshi.

  “What? A hiatus? I thought we were supposed to make as much of a difference as we could,” said Hakku, now sounding concerned.

  “Well, as I briefly mentioned before, detectives are currently looking into some of my previous missions. The reason they even found out about my existence was entirely because of my carelessness, and I apologize for inconveniencing our plans because of that. In short, as a result of my carelessness in previous missions, they were able to pick up on some of my mistakes and inconsistencies and determine that someone was behind them.

  As a result, Kaito decided that I should take on five more missions to test myself and see if I can carry them all out without leaving them with any evidence to suspect us other than their own hunches, so that eventually, they will get used to the idea that these criminals are dying due to coincidences and will no longer feel investigating is necessary.

  This upcoming mission will be the third out of these five, and so far it has gone well. In the first mission, I met Makoto and we worked together to complete that mission by killing his criminal uncle, and of course, you know what transpired in the second mission. So, after these five missions are complete, we will take a hiatus for a few years and when the police have no grounds to continue their investigation, their team will be dissolved,” explained Hiroshi.

  “I see. Alright, then let’s make these missions perfect and prove our abilities, or rather, not show them at all,” said Hakku excitedly.

  “Yup, for sure!” added Makoto with even more excitement.

  ∞

  “Alright, next case. Hakku, I should have you know that I have mentally prepared for many scenarios. I had nothing to do for a good few weeks, so I essentially only researched on my previously stated topics, and as I said prepared for future mission scenarios,” said Hiroshi, looking away from his laptop which was starting up into Hakku’s eyes which quickly began to face his own as well.

  “Alright. I'm here to help with any hacking you could need anyway. I’ll come along for the execution of the plan too, and give as much physical help as I can, but that’s pretty much all I can offer,” replied Hakku.

  “That is much more than enough,” replied Hiroshi.

  “Alright, as Kaito previously explained, I am able to discover other’s information. I do this by looking into their eyes in pictures and although I have not had to so far, It can also be done in person, but the process takes two hours so pictures are always the better way to go.

  “I get my missions from Kaito. He sends me the target’s picture and a description of who they are and what they have done. I use my Noromi to check for additional information. The names of their relatives, if they require medication or something similar to stay alive, and of course their address. Also, although this has not happened yet, in case Kaito either sends me the wrong name, or he is unable to get their name, I use this ability to confirm it,” said Hiroshi.

  Just as Hiroshi finished his explanation, his laptop completely finished its start-up and Hiroshi began quickly clicking through the same files he had for the previous two missions. He finally got to the folder in question and opened it without a second thought and then clicked open his target’s picture immediately after.

  “Alright, this criminal looks rather generic. A man looking to be in his early thirties, average haircut and physique and an average face. I have encountered those like this before, but do not let it dissuade you. His crimes are all that matters,” said Hiroshi.

  Hiroshi recalled that disgusting criminal he had encountered before, during his last mission before Yabuto Sofu. The wakeup call he had that truly propelled his desire to bring these criminals to justice.

  Hiroshi clicked off the picture, and clicked on the included TXT file in the folder and also opened it without a second thought.

  Name: Naru Shuzo.

  Position: Unemployed

  Crimes: Burglary of Norwegian Royal Jewels.

  Murder of five guards in the process.

  Current Inhabited Country: Japan

  “Alright, this is essentially what a normal description would be from Kaito, short and to the point,” Hiroshi explained to Hakku and Makoto.

  “This seems like an important mission. Norwegian royal jewels? Wow, Kaito must have a lot of faith in you t
o give you this mission Hiroshi,” said Makoto in a genuinely impressed tone.

  It was important from the perspective of it being an actual world-altering crime, but he felt a sense of relief as well. At the very least, he did not murder or abuse children. Hiroshi was glad that he could finally take a break from those like that, although that would not lower his capabilities or dissuade him from executing the mission like any else. That was an impossibility at that point.

  However, he also felt annoyed. Annoyed that he had to stop killing the worse criminals on the loose to handle this thief. Hiroshi bit his tongue though. Kaito gave him this assignment, this man’s robbery must have been of the utmost importance, and Hiroshi would honor Kaito’s decision.

  “I suppose. This is the first robbery mission I’ve gotten, but the robbery of a country's royal jewels is more than equivalent to a murder, so it is more than justified regardless,” that was more than a fair justification in Hiroshi’s eyes.