THE CURSE THAT IS BEGINNING TO UNRAVEL

Mizuki continued drawing the nature outside without listening to anyone. On the back of a galloping horse, with her body half turned backward, she aimed her bow at two creatures chasing her, preparing to fire an arrow. The struggle between the man and the creature, as the arrow was released toward the pursuers, slid away from the sky. While creating various interesting figures in her mind, she heard a squeaky sound in the air. Following the sound with her eyes, she looked in the direction it came from, and after a while, she spotted a man, wearing classic clothes and exuding an aura reminiscent of nobility, riding a balloon-shaped horse flying in the sky.

Her brain, exhausted from constantly drawing, wondered if this was just a trick of her imagination, but the man was indeed flying on the balloon-shaped horse. Mizuki followed the horse with her eyes for quite a while. Even though the man was wearing a bracelet with an invisibility feature, he couldn’t understand how Mizuki was able to see him. Mizuki, whose eyes were glowing brightly, appeared to be mesmerized. The balloon-horse slowly descended towards the area where Mizuki was sitting. If the girl could see him, there was undoubtedly something wrong. Knowing that he needed to approach her to understand the problem, the man urged his horse toward her.

Confused, Mizuki looked again at the clouds that were chasing each other. The cloud particles seemed to be suspended in the sky in shapes that bore no resemblance to what she had seen earlier, but they were slowly moving, traveling in small steps like ants. The man, having landed his horse just next to where Mizuki was sitting, dismounted with the grace of a noble warrior, his hair flowing in the wind. Mizuki had already added a new drawing to her mind, the mysterious man becoming her source of inspiration. While jotting down the ideas in her sketchbook, the man started a conversation, and they talked for a while.

The man's name was Chieko. He didn’t share much about himself, instead, he was gathering information about Mizuki. Unaware of this, Mizuki continued talking. Chieko, while sensing the energy of the spots that spread across Mizuki’s body and consumed her existence and memories, couldn’t fully comprehend what this energy was. When Chieko saw Mizuki’s drawings, he stopped listening to her and began closely examining them. He studied each drawing several times, sensing that something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. With furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, he involuntarily tilted his head to the side. After scrutinizing the paintings for a long time, a sudden realization struck him, and he finally understood that the strangeness was in the colors themselves.

With a curious tone, Chieko asked Mizuki where she had gotten these paints. He mentioned that he had never seen such vibrant and magnificent paints before. Mizuki paused, her eyes lingering on the grass beneath her, thinking for a moment before she remembered. She told him she had bought them from a shop in the center of town. Chieko thought for a long while. There was no way normal paints could create such a magnificent effect. Something inexplicable was definitely going on.

Mizuki noticed the bracelet on Chieko's arm, and a fleeting trace of a forgotten memory surfaced in her mind. She pointed to the bracelet and told Chieko that she had seen something like it before, but could never quite remember where. Chieko's gaze briefly fell on the bracelet before shifting back to Mizuki, his eyes now fixed on her. He wished his thoughts weren’t true, but deep down, he was sure that they were. Chieko described the witch to Mizuki, asking if she had ever encountered such a person. Mizuki tried to recall, but she couldn’t remember meeting anyone like that. Chieko, noticing her confusion, urged Mizuki to think harder. As Mizuki examined the bracelet more closely, something began to stir in her mind. She remembered the witch's help, and with rising excitement, she told Chieko that she had indeed met such a person. She spoke of the magical night, recalling what she remembered of it, and how the witch had tried to help her. Mizuki described how the witch had given her a cookie, which allowed her to create such flawless drawings. She even mentioned that she had thought it all might have been a dream. When Chieko pieced together what had happened to Mizuki, he felt a sharp pang in his heart, and he tried to hide the wetness in his eyes. He didn't want Mizuki to end her life in pain. Even though Mizuki couldn't see it, Chieko had been supporting her for months, silently offering help. He had made agreements with the creatures of nature, sending notes and gifts to Mizuki through them, all while knowing that he couldn’t change her fate. His inability to stop the witch and the overwhelming frustration that came with it were starting to break him. Were there no solutions that could save Mizuki? As Chieko pondered the possible ways to save her, Mizuki suddenly asked him where he knew the witch from, and Chieko found himself at a loss for words. What difference would it make if he told her the truth? Would she even believe him? He tried to change the subject, asking Mizuki what drawing meant to her. Mizuki replied with long, metaphorical sentences.

Chieko suddenly realized that what he was doing was wrong. Instead of watching Mizuki’s demise unfold before him, he now felt that it was more important to reveal everything to her, to tell her the truth as it was. Looking up at the sky, he wondered how best to explain everything. He decided to start by telling Mizuki about himself. Chieko felt the weight of his past actions like an unbearable burden as he watched Mizuki grapple with the crushing reality of her fate. He could sense the heaviness that surrounded her, a constant reminder of the dark magic the witch had cast on her. As the stars above burned with hatred in their hearts, teaching those in their grasp to inflict cruelty on one another, the moon, with its purity, tried to balance the scales by imparting magic to the few whose hearts remained untainted. Chieko, a bearer of such light, knew the importance of the balance between good and evil, yet it felt as though the universe was conspiring against him as he tried to save Mizuki. He couldn’t undo his past mistake — the time when he had helped Aimi, the witch, steal the book that contained forbidden magic, a path that led him to a dire punishment. His world was divided, torn between helping Mizuki and obeying the strict laws of his world. He was no longer allowed to cross between the worlds as he had once done, and his magic was restricted. He could only perform a handful of spells to aid others, yet despite these limitations, the weight of his past transgressions haunted him. Chieko finally gathered the courage to reveal the truth to Mizuki, explaining that the witch had cast a spell upon her, one that would bind her to the cruel fate of never being free. He could not save her entirely, but he could offer her some relief. He placed a magical bracelet on her wrist, one imbued with protective enchantments, and Mizuki felt the pain that had plagued her for so long lessen almost immediately. Yet, despite the relief, Mizuki's mind still swirled with the dark thoughts of her inevitable future, and the oppressive atmosphere thickened around them both. In an attempt to lighten the load pressing on him, Chieko turned his gaze to the clouds, but they too seemed to mock him, bringing memories flooding back to him. He could not escape them. They were reminders of the mistakes that led him to this point, and the consequence of the witch’s influence.

The witch, Aimi, had once managed to steal the key Chieko had hidden in his necklace, and through careful planning, she had gained access to the forbidden library, where the book of dark magic awaited. With the book in hand, Aimi sought to control the world with its dark knowledge, using its power to manipulate and destroy those who stood in her way. She reveled in the violation of the rules, knowing that she could now wreak havoc on the lives of others, forever altering the fate of many with her twisted spells.

Chieko had been part of this dark web of deceit, a participant in the dangerous game that had started when he helped the witch in her quest to acquire the book. The memory of Aimi’s triumph, her glee at breaking the rules, haunted him. Her lust for power, her desire to remain young and beautiful by draining the life force from others, seemed unstoppable — until, that is, she made a fatal mistake. When Aimi opened the book and invoked the power of the stars, she became entrapped by the very magic she sought to control. The curse of the book bound her, and in her quest for more power, she unwittingly became the very thing she had feared: a puppet to forces far beyond her control. Chieko could not undo what had been done, but the weight of his actions, the guilt of his involvement, would remain with him as long as he breathed. He had failed Mizuki once by aiding the witch, and now, he could only hope to make amends by easing her suffering.

Mizuki hoped, with anticipation, that Chieko would tell her she was joking or mocking her... Unfortunately, everything she had just heard was true. Mizuki had just realized the reason behind the constant pain in her heart. How could she have fallen into such a trap? Despite all the information she had learned, she had already accepted that she could not stop the overwhelming urge to draw, which consumed her being. She continued to hurl self-blaming words. Chieko, saddened by Mizuki's surrender to her fate, told her that, even though her magical powers had been taken away, she would do everything in her power to free her from this situation. Chieko warned Mizuki not to listen to the consuming passion for drawing, and to try to control her will. Mizuki, wishing that everything she had experienced so far had been a dream, would have been thrilled if her wishes came true… but she had ruined her own life. She had no choice but to trust Chieko. Mizuki promised Chieko she wouldn't draw again until Chieko found a way out of this mess. After a few more hours of conversation, Mizuki returned home. Seeing the paints and papers again, she hesitated, fearing she would lose control of herself and rushed into her room. She ate, spent time in other rooms, but in the end, she knew she had to enter that room. How long could she keep avoiding it? She would remain stubborn and keep the promise she had made to Chieko. Hesitating at the door, her feet, caught between entering and not, slowly touched the floor. She took a few more steps, her eyes locked on the papers, paints, and canvases on the table calling her to draw. She tried to reject their invitation, but she sensed the pressure they were exerting on her. To distract herself and reduce the pressure, she quickly placed the first song she could find on the record player. She easily adapted to the harsh rhythm of the song, nodding her head back and forth repeatedly, singing along with the lyrics. The pressure on her increased, but the magic of the song had such a hold on her that it had no effect. Midnight was approaching. As she sang, her head swinging to the beat, she looked into the mirror and met her reflection. Even if there was a way to change her fate, a path paved with uncertainties, she wasn't sure she could overcome it.

Her eyes fell into the black emerald-covered mirror that reflected the endless waves of her dreams. It wasn’t enough that the dozens of pirates, dragged from town to town, had destroyed the ship they'd worked so hard to build, leaving them with a tragic fate on board, alone, as merciless as the storm that raged around them. The two sinister snake figures moved smoothly around the mirror’s axis, curling all the way to the top, where their heads met in the shape of a heart. The mirror counted down the fading seconds of time, preparing for the moment to begin its function. As the poisonous spider inside the clock began to stir and scream, its call, coded in the rising and falling waves of sound, was transmitted to everyone. As the seconds continued to vanish, Mizuki waited anxiously for the clock to signal the beginning of the surveillance time. The clock, painted in dark purple on a black background, had an ancient spider within, whose awakening and screams were a matter of moments. The time was finally coming, and the mirror continued its preparations for the night ahead.

The misted glass of the mirror, which seemed to magnify a wild forest surrounded by fog, revealed that the faint smoke spreading from the mirror throughout the room was gradually rising towards the ceiling. Once the smoke gathered at the top of the room, it would cover the entire ceiling, signaling that the spider would awaken. The witch, almost never blinking, watched the darkness collecting on the ceiling with delight as the clock's hands spun quickly, consuming the minutes. After four or five full rotations, the sound of bells filled the room. The doors in the center of the clock opened first from the left, then from the right. At first, it was unclear what was emerging, but as it stepped forward, the figure gradually gained its true form and color in the light. As the beams of light washed over it from top to bottom, the shape of a small, venomous spider emerged from the clock's platform, its body becoming more distinct. Its body’s details were noticeable as the spider rubbed its eyes after awakening, struggling to shake off the grogginess of sleep. The moment it remembered how fun the night would be, it burst into mocking laughter. The witch wished for this laugh to continue endlessly. However, the laugh would soon cease, as it would be silenced by the words that would fall from the witch's lips.

Realizing that it was her turn to carry out the task, the witch found the words she needed to activate the mirror from the countless pieces of knowledge stored in her mind and spoke them aloud. The vague words rolled off her tongue, crashing against the mirror's gloomy surface with a loud noise. As the words struck the mirror’s surface, they began to form dust particles that grew larger on the glass. These particles scattered, leaving meaningless shapes drawn on the mirror, like black ink spreading on paper. As the entire surface of the mirror became covered in these stains, a protruding cloud erupted from the mirror, and the reflection of a suffering creature appeared in agonizing detail. The mirror was a device created by the witch to observe the actions of those whose lives she had drained. The creatures and objects in the room, bathed in its harsh aura, were all parts of the system the witch had designed. They were all assigned to carry out the witch's commands. Thanks to the essence of tar within them, they could feel all the pain of the wrongs they inflicted on others, and their happiness grew from the helplessness they caused. As the mirror reflected the miserable fate of the girl, the witch and her followers laughed, reveling in the pleasure of witnessing the girl's gradual demise. While the girl struggled to ease the pain tightening around her chest, Chieko's words echoed in her mind. The witch's left eyebrow arched upward as she attempted to read the girl's thoughts. As soon as she did, her heart burned with fury. It seemed as though flames might burst from her eyes. Clenching her fists, she showed her anger outwardly, wishing to completely ruin and destroy this mortal’s life. Not only had this girl met Chieko, whom she should have never crossed paths with, but she had also made Chieko fall in love with her. As the hatred growing in her heart intensified, the witch cursed Mizuki, thinking of how Chieko had fallen for this pathetic girl. The past came to life in the witch’s eyes, and a few tears escaped. The memories of the moments she had shared with Chieko felt as if they had happened just yesterday, and she could never forget them. She reflected on the pitiful state she had been in before meeting Chieko and nostalgically thought back on those days.