New beginnings: my very long journey to love

As the doors of the bus slid open, one thought rushed through my mind: Finally, my true chance at love. Sure, I’d never had a crush in middle school, and there was that awkward phase where I questioned my sexuality, but that was all behind me now. This was my future. At least, that’s what I thought—before everything got a lot more complicated.

Renji slumped beneath the cherry blossom tree, letting out a loud, dramatic sigh. “Aaaahhhggg…”

Haruto, standing nearby, looked over with concern. “What’s up?”

“I spent the whole day looking around, trying to find someone I actually like!” Renji groaned. “And?”

“Nothing! Not a single click!”

Just then, a shout echoed across the field. “Natsumi! I have something I want to confess!”

Renji’s attention snapped to the distant grass field, where a couple stood in what appeared to be the middle of a confession. “Hey, Haruto, what’s that?” Renji asked, his curiosity piqued.

Haruto shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, that? Yeah, everyone’s betting those two will get together. I mean, it’s pretty obvious they like each other.”

Renji frowned, still looking at the scene, then pointed at something in the air. “No, I mean that.”

Haruto squinted at the empty space Renji was pointing at. “Uhh… You mean the sky?”

Renji shook his head vigorously. “No, that thing!”

Haruto blinked, clearly confused. “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyway, I’m gonna go fade into the background now. See ya.” He casually strolled off, probably never to be seen again.

Renji stood up and looked again. There it was—a dark cloud, practically clinging to Daiki, who was attempting to confess his feelings but kept doubting himself, eventually walking away without saying a word.

Renji’s heart raced. “What… was that?”

As Renji opened the door, he called out, “I’m home.”

A lazy voice from another room responded, “Sup, kiddo.”

At the same time, a muffled sob echoed through the house. "Whyyyyyy!!!”

Renji sighed. “Is she watching anime again?”

“Yup,” his father replied without looking up.

Shaking his head, Renji pushed open his sister’s door. Inside, a tragic sight lay before him—a crumpled mess of a human sprawled across the floor, sobbing dramatically.

“Why’d they have to kill him?!” she wailed.

Renji exhaled through his nose. “Let me guess. You were watching a cartoon, and your favorite character just died?”

At this blasphemous statement, his sister sprang to life, eyes burning with rage. “IT’S CALLED ANIME, AND YOU KNOW THAT!”

“Right, right.” Renji held up his hands in surrender. “I’m making food in twenty, you want any?”

“Yeah, just leave it at the door. Also, get out!”

Transition to dinner.

An awkward silence hung over the table as Renji poked at his food. Eventually, he broke it. “Hey, Dad… you ever seen, like, a really ominous, evil-looking cloud around someone?”

Without missing a beat—and with his mouth still half-full of food—his father casually replied, “Oh, you mean a Love Curse?”

Renji nearly dropped his chopsticks. “A what?”

His father then launched into an overly detailed, painfully complicated explanation about Love Curses—their origins, history, and some boring philosophy nonsense—but because I’m lazy, here’s the short version:

A Love Curse is the spiritual manifestation of people’s doubts and fears about relationships—specifically, the fear of pursuing one. These spirits feed off misery, so their goal is to keep potentially happy couples from forming, whether by whispering insecurities into their minds or creating misunderstandings that spark unnecessary drama. Since they’re spiritual entities, they basically act like ghosts.

The reason I can see them? Because I’m part Love Spirit.

Love Spirits are different from Love Curses. Instead of feeding off doubt, they are the physical manifestations of hopes and dreams—the collective wishes of people wanting to enter a relationship. Their job is to help love blossom. But, well… a lot of them got lazy and started asking, What’s in it for us?

So now there’s a rule: A Love Spirit must defeat 100 Love Curses and save those couples from a lifetime of loneliness before they can find their own true love.

…Yeah. Guess who just got roped into that job?

His father put his chopsticks down and let out a sigh.

“Point is, being a Love Spirit isn’t easy. You can’t just beat up the Curse and expect everything to work itself out—you also need to make sure the couple actually gets together, preferably around the same time.”

Renji blinked. “Wait. How am I supposed to beat up a ghost?”

“Curse,” his dad corrected.

“Right… so again. How?”

“With your magic powers, obviously.”

“???”