by T L Brevis
THE CURSED EYE
T. L. BREVIS
Copyright © T. L. Brevis, 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form on by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Afterword
Introduction
“How utterly horrifying?”
This was the phrase Hiroshi Tadao found himself mulling over for most of his waking moments. Wake up. Get ready. Go to school. Return home. Eat. Sleep. The same, generic routine as most students his age. Everyone seemed to be blissfully unaware of the abundance of crime occurring on their own home soil, or worse, ignoring it purposefully because it did not affect them personally. Countless murderers were allowed to roam free due to this lack of care. Even the child Hiroshi with likely the most limited information in the country could tell as much from the evening news.
With that kind of restriction, despite the clearly absurd amount of criminals in Japan, and Hiroshi’s extreme desire to improve the situation, he was powerless to do a thing about any of it.
So there he lay on his average-sized bed, in his average-sized room, waiting for his golden opportunity to change things to finally arrive, having the same thoughts as he had for any number of days prior.
Chapter 1
It had been one month since that day, the day when Hiroshi Tadao's life changed permanently, unequivocally so.
Hiroshi was a 10-year-old boy who was quite skinny, had naturally messy dark brown hair he barely had the patience to comb, and dark brown eyes. He almost always wore one of the white shirts he had received from his school as part of his uniform, no matter the occasion, paired black jeans – the exact same style he had multiple pairs of. He sat on a rickety armchair in a shabby motel and reflected on what had occurred on the day in question and of course before then.
Hiroshi had been an exceptional student, a prodigy of sorts. He was constantly completing assignments years ahead of his time and was constantly promoted to more difficult classes almost every year, much to his parent's delight.
He had taken a particular interest in Forensic science and did his utmost best to discover all he could about it through his limited resources, and had also taken quite a fascination to a number of languages and worked tirelessly to at the very least gain fluency in them. With a very competitive spirit, he was always majorly outdoing his peers. His parents had been very loving and supportive of him and never failed to tell him how proud they were of his accomplishments on every opportunity they were given.
His father was a Japan native, however, his mother was an immigrant from England, and he greatly resembled her.
They inhabited a humble home. It was just outside of Tokyo near a quiet road. They only had one neighbor residing in a home of equal size next to them, and no others for a few hundred meters. The open area between them, Hiroshi had heard, will boasts apartment complexes in the coming years.
Hiroshi recalled a point in time where he and his family had all taken a trip to a field not far from home. The way they lay on the soft grass, his mother’s auburn hair flowing wildly in the wind, staring up into the tranquil blue and white sky was perfect. Nothing his genius had ever or could ever have done could have come close to replicating it.
He also recalled another point in time when his parents had taken him out to a nice restaurant after he had yet again topped his class in a final examination. Hiroshi was not foolish enough to be tempted by much, but food was a different story. It was one of the few pleasures he allowed himself on his strict mindset.
Hiroshi was disciplined enough to study, do laundry, and even cook by himself, without having to be told by his parents. His level of genius was truly something to behold, but even Hiroshi himself could not pinpoint the reason for it. His parents were of average intelligence, so what had caused this phenomenon? Hiroshi found himself contemplating it from time to time but never allowed it to be more than a passing thought. He assumed it was some God-given talent, what else could it have been?
However, despite all of this, there was no way for Hiroshi's intellect to predict the events that would befall him. No amount of chores or 100% test scores would aid him in this situation.
∞
It was an average night, like any he had known before. He was flipping through a book on proper sentence structure in English as he hadn’t brushed up on the language in quite some time, when he suddenly heard the sound of glass breaking downstairs. If Hiroshi were to guess, he would assume it was the glass from the living room window judging by the area where the sound had come from.
This was followed by a flurry of other various sounds, seemingly competing with one another to be the loudest. The most notable of these were his mother's screams, furniture being knocked over, and perhaps the most unnerving, another man's grunts mixing in with his father’s. Then, he heard the distinct sound of either a knife or sword being unsheathed, sounding exactly like in movies or television shows. Hiroshi froze at that moment. He knew what would follow, he was not a naive child as his appearance would make apparent. At that moment, he knew his parent's lives would more than likely come to an end, and most likely his own as well.
He felt the warm tears streaming down his face from their wide and horrified source. His chest felt heavy as his heart overworked itself more than it ever had prior. He felt it difficult to keep breathing steadily, and he somehow began feeling light-headed while having a headache simultaneously.
He heard the futile attempts of his father to fight back, but of course, he was just postponing the inevitable. He heard two last bone-chilling consecutive wails of agony from his mother and father, accompanied by bone-rattling slicing, even after their moans of despair had long ceased.
Then, silence; an eerie, distinctly disturbing silence.
Another thought entered his mind. A memory he suddenly recalled vividly. His mother was in the hospital when he was seven years old. She had some sort of illness, he did not manage to recall the name of, that was life-threatening. She required someone of a similar blood-type to her to donate a kidney. Hiroshi was tested and he immediately accepted the request. That was three years in the past, he wished a solution that simple could be utilized again. He wished he could have saved his father and her once more.
Hiroshi snapped back into reality as Kaito handed him a generic, obviously store-bought meal. Hiroshi’s face sunk even more. He had rarely seen these as he lived miles from a convenience store. He could still practically taste his mother’s home-cooked dinners he would still eat despite being fully capable of cooking them himself. He would never have the pleasure of making that choice again.
Kaito Yamamoto had discovered him in his home just a few minutes after the tragedy, saying he had followed the shrieks for help he heard to its source. Hiroshi knew he was done for when he heard footsteps up the stairs leading to his bedroom. There was a sudden banging on his door as the man presumably remembered of a p
ossible witness in the house and returned after Hiroshi had heard him leave minutes prior. He was relieved by the pleasant surprise, to say the least, although it did take a while, and a lengthy explanation by Kaito before Hiroshi trusted him enough to go with him.
As for appearance, Kaito was in his late thirties, although he looked to more so be in his early thirties, with neat and straight black hair, almost too dark to appear possible, black eyes, a decently muscular physique and skin an almost deathly pale. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black jeans to accompany it, quite a jarring combination, but Hiroshi hardly cared.
The pair were in a cheap motel, with faded beige walls, furniture littered with holes, and two beds, each sporting crumpled bed sheets and an untidy arrangement of pillows. Kaito took a seat, holding his own meal on the armchair opposite Hiroshi’s, with a table separating them.
Kaito had told Hiroshi directly after the tragedy that he sympathized with him and would adopt him so that he would never have to experience the hardships of orphanhood, on top of the tragedy. Kaito was a traveler and was apparently camping around Hiroshi's house when he had heard the shrieks for help from his parents.
Hiroshi recalled that he did not have aunts, uncles or grandparents, or at least they were never introduced to him or mentioned by his parents either. Hiroshi obviously accepted, there was no real choice after all.
So that was how Hiroshi had ended up there, hundreds of miles from his home, in a cheap motel, living one day to another with his new caretaker.
"You know Hiroshi, I think it is about time I told you the truth, it has been a while and I think it is about time. No use hiding it after all," said Kaito taking an even more serious tone than his already solemn way of speaking.
"What is it?" asked Hiroshi, hiding his true feelings of overwhelming curiosity and a slight uneasiness behind the same type of tone Kaito was using.
"I will tell you who killed your parents.”
Hiroshi's eyes widened ever so slightly, so as to not seem overly excited, but his heart was beating so quickly, it rivaled the heights it had reached that tragic night.
"It was Owari," said Kaito after a decent pause, in the same overly solemn tone.
Hiroshi's eyes widened even more.
"Who is Owari?"
"It is an organization."
Hiroshi's interest was piqued and he continued to prod for more.
"What is this organization about?" Hiroshi asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, a near-impossible task with the overwhelming emotions that threatened to envelop him.
"It is about... This." At that moment, Kaito's eyes were turned from pitch black to a bright crimson, with a black pupil floating in the middle.
"W-What?!" exclaimed Hiroshi, almost leaping from his seat.
"Well, I suppose I should tell you what this is... It is known as Noromi," said Kaito pointing at his eyes, more solemn than ever, but seeming like a weight had been lifted off his chest. After a pause, Kaito continued. "I was not entirely certain, but the fact that you were able to lay eyes on these means that you have a pair of your own. You see, only those with the Noromi can observe others with them. Mirrors, devices, and anything of the like cannot allow one to see Noromi either. It can purely be observed only by the naked eyes of another Noromi user."
"What do you mean you weren't sure; wouldn’t you be able to notice mine as well? Are they hidden?" asked Hiroshi confused, but now not bothering to conceal his intrigue and curiosity.
"Yes, I did notice them, however, I thought you might have had access to that information somehow and could have been attempting to fool me. contact lenses can quite effectively mimic the Noromi. In any case, I am absolutely certain now, so there is no need to pursue the topic further."
"Anyway, what did you mean these ‘Noromi’ eyes are what this organization ‘Owari’ was about?" asked Hiroshi cautiously.
"Let me give you the necessary information about these eyes first," said Kaito, once again pointing accordingly at his own eyes.
"It is quite the long story, so do get settled in. It all began many years in the past, it is unknown when, possibly even at the beginning of Humanity. Well, when it began is of little importance, but what did begin was a cycle. A cycle where every twenty-five years, two people would be born with Noromi.
“Up until recently however, most users of the Noromi did not survive, since for the majority of humanity, more than half of the human population have been impoverished, and even if a Noromi user was not in poverty, they would mostly live entirely mediocre lives, not knowing of the power they had, due to no one being around to help them discover and nurture their gift.” Kaito re-adjusted himself in his seat, and sat up straighter, to set a more serious tone.
“That brings us to the events of last month. Owari broke into your home, slaughtered your parents and were preparing to kidnap you to use as their slave for your Noromi, then they heard my approach and must have fled, perhaps due to a lack of preparation for my appearance.
“I was also not completely honest in saying I was camping near your home. I in fact breached their digital databases and discovered their intentions to kill your parents, and then kidnap you for grooming to become a mindless tool.
“Now you must be wondering how powerful the Noromi is to be this sought after, well I think in the next minute or so, you will fully grasp why it is definitely worth the trouble.
“The Noromi has the ability to inject an undetectable poison into anyone's body to cause their brain to completely shut down within one minute of injection, usually directly on the sixty-second mark. This poison is injected through eye contact with its intended victim in
any period of time, even a fraction of a second is enough for its effects to be put into motion. This ability has a one week cooldown timer on it.
“Next, it also gives the user the ability to control their victim’s actions for 24 hours, the same requirement of eye contact, only this time, five seconds of eye contact is required and this ability also requires one week to cool down. The victim will later forget of your control and think they acted on their own accord.
“Lastly, perhaps the most lethal if put into the wrong hands, which it was, that being what ultimately caused your parent's deaths. The ability to know details about a person by looking either directly into their eyes, or at their eyes in a picture for two hours straight. The information you can discover includes: their address, name, age, gender and their basic necessities for survival, and although a tedious process, it is a small price to pay for any information on a person, and this ability similarly has a one-week cooldown timer on it.
“And this, I assume seemed well worth it for the Owari member who found your address through this method."
"So Owari has a member with the Noromi as well?" Hiroshi asked.
"Very observant Hiroshi, and this, as I am certain you have already begun to surmise, means that at least three out of the four Noromi users from the previous two generations are known to us. Myself, you, and this Owari member who murdered your parents, and Owari might even have the other member as well, the other one who is your age."
"I'm glad, I hope they do have both the members, because I will have my revenge for my parent's deaths, and for the countless others they have undoubtedly murdered in cold blood. It does not matter whether the other one my age is a child or not. If they could commit these heinous crimes alongside Owari, I will show no mercy for them either,” Hiroshi spat in disgust.
"Glad to see the enthusiasm, especially since because of these events, I am afraid we are now going to be permanently stuck together. However, I vow to teach you how to use those eyes of yours as well and hope that one day, you might be able to surpass me and help defeat Owari, whichever may come first."
Hiroshi felt a weight being lifted off his chest. He was truly fortunate to have Kaito by his side. His face sunk again though. A cold and resentful stare etched onto his face. He had to take revenge on Owari. He f
inally had an object to focus his revenge on and he would not fail at achieving it. If he did not have his vengeance, he would never be able to move on. Owari would regret what they had done that night.
Chapter 2
The events of the previous night had been eye-opening, to say the least, for Hiroshi Tadao. He discovered who had murdered his parents, along with his inescapable destiny to eventually defeat them with his evidently extremely rare ocular abilities. He did not mind though. Even if it was not so clear cut, he would still gladly hunt down Owari to the edges of the globe and even give his own life to fulfill his ultimate desire for vengeance.
He still, however, did not know how his eyes fully operated but was eager to learn everything he possibly could from Kaito regarding them, nevertheless. In just one night, he decided his life's goal was to take revenge on Owari, and nothing would ever persuade him otherwise.
Lost in his thoughts, Hiroshi nearly leaped from his armchair when Kaito snapped his finger loudly in front of him.
"So, I assume you would want to learn how to use the abilities I mentioned?" Kaito asked with an ever so slight smile.