A Curse Cast In Color

◆ Third Person

A chilly, frostbiting February morning. Within the small room, in the company of her husband Tokitsugu and a woman she trusted as a midwife, twenty-three-year-old Ayahi Aishi had just given birth to a beautiful, healthy girl.

“She’s beautiful, Ayahi,” Tokitsugu says as his beaming wife shows him the baby in her arms. “She looks just like you. What do you want to name her?”

“I’ve always liked the name Tsukasa,” Ayahi replies, holding her daughter gently. “What do you think, Tokitsugu?”

“It’s a good name,” Tokitsugu decides. The baby opens her eyes and smiles at them. And that’s when Ayahi sees something unsettling.

As she is well aware, her eyes are brown, much like her husband’s—though Tokitsugu’s are a darker shade than hers. But the baby’s eyes aren’t brown, dark or light. They’re gray—the color of ash.

“Tokitsugu,” Ayahi says, “look at her eyes. They are gray. What is the meaning of this?”

Tokitsugu gasps. “I don’t know,” he says. “Both of our eyes are brown, and no relative I can remember had gray eyes. What…”

And then something even more unsettling happens.

The baby’s eyes change.

In an instant, the gray of the child’s irises morphs into a violet haze, which then flickers into teal, deep navy, and finally sapphire as the baby starts to cry.

“What—?!” Ayahi is startled. Beside her, Tokitsugu almost knocks over his chair as he rises and crouches next to his wife and newborn daughter. “What is this?”

“She’s crying,” he says simply. “Maybe… this is how she’s feeling. Blue.”

“Then… her eyes are like this because she’s sad?” Ayahi stares in shock. “So when her eye color changes, it’s because her emotions are changing?”

“Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve.” Tokitsugu smiles, trying to lighten the mood in the room. The midwife has already left—before the baby’s startling change. “Maybe… You suggested Tsukasa, so what if we give her that name, but write it as ‘color’ and ‘eye’?”

“It would be an unusual reading… but it’s a good idea.” Ayahi smiles at her husband. “So Tsukasa Aishi she is. Give me the papers.”

They take the name registration form they’d previously retrieved from the registry and write their names, along with the name of their daughter. In Ayahi’s lap, Tsukasa wails faintly, before falling quiet. She looks up at her mother—and smiles. As she does, her irises shift into brown.

“What… does brown mean, I wonder?” Tokitsugu scratches his head for a moment, then snaps his fingers. “Either safety or happiness. Probably the first one, since babies instinctively recognize their mother—the one who'll feed and protect them. Of course, I'm just theorizing," he adds quickly, glancing at Ayahi. “I don’t know anything besides theory.”

Ayahi smiles. “It’s OK. It’s a weird thought for me too—to have a baby like this. But she’s my daughter, so I’m happy she’s alive and well. And with such beautiful eyes…” She reaches out and lightly pokes Tsukasa’s cheek with her finger. The child grins, and her eyes turn azure—but Ayahi doesn’t seem to notice. “She’s so adorable, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is.”

Suddenly, the door bursts open. A woman stands there in a ragged black cloak, her hair reduced to threadlike strands, her face so crumpled it's impossible to tell her age. She points a bony arm at Ayahi and croaks, voice rasping:

“I’ve found you at last, Ayahi Aishi! Thought you could run from me forever?”

Ayahi turns pale. “You—! What are you doing here?!”

“Who is this woman, Ayahi?” Tokitsugu gasps, looking at the woman who, clearly, is at death’s door. When his wife doesn't respond, frozen in shock, he repeats louder: “Who is this woman, Ayahi?!”

Still pointing at Ayahi, the woman turns her cold gaze to the defenseless baby in her arms. “And you’ve had a child, even!” she snarls, a devilish smile spreading across her face. “Well, then. I cannot reach you in my state, but I can reach your baby!”

Ayahi’s face contorts in horror. “No! Please, don’t do anything to Tsukasa!”

But it’s too late. The woman opens her mouth again, and when she speaks, her voice drips with venom:

“I curse your child! Because of your sins, this baby will never know true love!”

And with these words, she crumples on the floor, the same twisted smile on her face—satisfied with the catharsis of cursing the child of the woman who brought her down.

And from there, years pass. Tsukasa Aishi grows, makes friends, and strides out to the bright world, but never—not once—feels romantic love.

Until one day, everything changes.