Chapter 1: The Shadow Whispers

The city never truly slept. Neon lights bled across the crowded streets, voices overlapped with the screech of tires, and the scent of fried food drifted from alleyway stalls. For most, it was comforting—a reminder of life that never stopped.
For Ori Saito, the noise only made the silence in his head more unbearable.
He walked home with his bag slung loosely over his shoulder, eyes down, ears ringing with the same faint whisper he had heard for as long as he could remember. It wasn’t human. It never was.
From the corner of his vision, his shadow quivered, stretching unnaturally against the streetlight. A jagged shape rippled where it should have been smooth. Ori’s steps faltered.
“Not now,” he muttered under his breath. “Stay quiet.”
But the whisper returned, faint, curling against his thoughts.Hungry…
Ori clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms. No one else could hear it. No one else ever noticed. If he told anyone, they’d call him crazy—or worse.
So he learned to smile in class, to laugh when his friends laughed, to act like a normal second-year high schooler. But deep down, Ori knew the truth: he was cursed.

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It should have been just another walk home. But fate had other plans.
“Ori!”
The panicked voice jolted him. His classmate, Aiko Tanabe, ran toward him, her eyes wide. She stumbled back, pointing to the mouth of the alley behind her.
Ori turned—and froze.
A figure dragged itself out of the darkness. Its limbs bent wrong, its body dripping with thick black smoke that writhed like worms. Its mouth was too wide, filled with jagged teeth, and its empty eyes locked onto Aiko like prey.
Ori’s breath caught. A curse…?
The creature lunged. Aiko screamed, tripping over herself as it closed the distance.
And that was when Ori’s shadow moved on its own.
It slithered forward, stretching unnaturally long, coiling around his feet before erupting outward like a beast unleashed. The whisper in his mind became a roar.Let me devour it!
Ori staggered back, clutching his arm as searing pain shot through his chest. His shadow split into jagged tendrils, slamming into the curse. The monster shrieked as it was dragged into the void of darkness below.
And then, silence.
The alley was empty. The curse was gone. His shadow shrank back into place like nothing had happened.
Ori panted, sweat dripping down his face. Aiko’s terrified gaze pierced him.
“Ori…” Her voice shook. “What… are you?”
His throat tightened. He wanted to explain, to deny, to run—anything but this. But before a single word escaped, a calm, unfamiliar voice echoed through the alley.
“You finally revealed yourself.”
Ori whipped around.
At the end of the alley stood a boy he had never seen before. He wore a black uniform embroidered with strange golden patterns. His sharp eyes glowed faintly under the flickering streetlight, and in his hand, he held a paper charm inscribed with runes.
The boy smiled faintly, almost amused.
“Ori Saito,” he said, as if speaking a truth long known. “The vessel of shadows.”
Ori’s breath caught. Vessel? Shadows? Who was this person?
The boy took a step closer, his charm pulsing with dim light. “You’ve been hiding it well. But the curses are restless. And you… you’re not ordinary.”
Ori’s fists trembled. His shadow stirred beneath him again, twitching violently as though reacting to the stranger’s presence.
“Stay away,” Ori warned, his voice breaking.
But the boy didn’t listen. He stopped just a few feet away, his gaze unwavering.
“Whether you like it or not,” he said quietly, “your curse has already chosen. If you don’t learn to control it… it will control you.”
For the first time, Ori realized his secret might not just be his alone.
The whispers in his head deepened, low and hungry.Devour him too…
Ori’s world, once fragile and normal, had already begun to crumble.
And the shadow inside him was only just awakening.

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Thanks for reading Chapter 1 of The Cursed Boy! This is where Ori’s journey begins, caught between a world of curses and the shadow he carries within him. I’ll keep updating, so look forward to the next chapter