Happy Curse Day

I couldn’t feel my hand. That was usually a sign I’ve been napping for too long, or I needed to change my sleeping position at my desk. Since I had only closed my eyes for a few moments, I wanted to keep sleeping, but the odd sensation- or lack thereof- that was growing in my right hand was really uncomfortable.

I blinked one eye open as I readjusted my folded arms across my desk. From the back row, I could see our teacher, Miharu Fujimori, was writing a math formula on the board. She was engrossed in her lecture, but even if she wasn’t, Fujimori wouldn't care that I was sleeping. I was considered a lost cause among my teachers and peers alike.

I tilted my head from its resting place on my arms and glanced over to the middle row of seats. My eyes locked onto my younger sister, Eiko. She was hunched over her desk, her long brown hair was partially tied up into twintails with a pair of matching green ribbons. As her older brother, seeing Eiko fervently take notes made my heart swell with pride. I may have been a lost cause, but she was a genius.

Eiko and I weren’t meant to be in the same class. I was a year older than her, but she became very studious during elementary school. It was like a switch flipped in her brain. Eiko was on track to graduate middle school early when she heard I wasn’t planning on attending high school myself. In response, she threw a tantrum and threatened to not attend high school either if I didn’t do it with her. I didn’t have much of a choice in that situation. Eiko’s future was important, and I refused to be the reason it was put in jeopardy.

Annoyingly, no matter where I put my arm on my desk, the missing feeling in my hand continued to spread up my forearm. I lifted my head off my desk and let out a yawn.

I hope I didn’t permanently mess up my blood circulation... I thought to myself.

I leaned back in my seat and tried rolling my shoulders to help with blood flow. From between the strands of overgrown gray hair that fell in front of my face, I caught a glimpse of my classmate, Hideyoshi Kabe, glaring at me while I stretched.

What is that guy’s problem? I wondered.

I stuck out my tongue in Kabe’s direction to let him know I caught him staring. His face turned red, and he quickly stuck his nose back in his textbook.

I was disliked by most of the school, but for some reason, Kabe held a special kind of animosity towards both me and my sister. He was one of those self proclaimed “intellectuals,” so it was obvious why he disliked Eiko. She was cute, likable, and amazingly smart for her age. In other words, my sister was the exact kind of girl Kabe’s fragile ego couldn’t stand. But I could never seem to wrap my head around why he disliked me so much...

It felt like trying to stretch made the numbness in my arm even worse. With a sigh, I looked down at my hand. I wanted to make sure I was stretching my fingers properly since I couldn’t feel their movement.

I blinked a few times in confusion. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing at first. I used my left hand to brush back my messy hair, but the image in front of me didn’t change.

My right hand was discolored- gray- but not the type of blue or purple tinted gray that appears when you’ve cut off blood circulation. This was... gray.

Gray like stone.

I let out a shout as I leapt from my seat. Panic swept over me, and the drumming of my heartbeat filled my ears. I could barely hear the sounds of moving chairs as I assumed the entire class shifted their attention to me.

“It appears that Usagi has decided to join the lesson,” I heard a muffled Fujimori sternly say in my direction. “Do you have something you’d like to add?”

Fear filled my lungs and made it hard to breathe.

“M-my hand... i-it’s... it’s...” I struggled to speak. Each word I could force out of my throat used more air than I could suck in with my rapid, shallow gasping.

I was starting to understand the situation I was in.

It wasn’t that my hand had gone numb- even numbness would feel like something. Rather, that feeling... what I felt was pure nothingness. I didn’t even have the sensation of a phantom limb. It was as if my arm simply ceased to exist.

And I was starting to feel that nothingness in my foot.

“Unosuke-nii?”

The sound of my little sister’s voice snapped me out of my downward spiral. She was one of the only people who didn’t call me by that demeaning nickname.

I pulled my gaze away from my unmoving right hand and looked up. Everyone was staring at me. Whispers and groans were floating around the room, while Eiko herself had stood up from her seat. She slowly approached me, her big, red-brown eyes were full of concern- something I swore she would never feel for me again.

“S-stay back!” I shouted.

Eiko quickly recoiled as if my voice had physically shocked her. Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes.

Please forgive me, Eiko... I silently prayed, I don’t want this to spread to you!

Ichigo Azumi and Ellen Kotozume, Eiko’s friends, rushed over to her side so they could offer comfort. I looked away in shame. My sister wasn't used to being yelled at, especially by the one person who was supposed to always protect her.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Souma yelled, “Shouting at Eiko-tan like that... Have you finally lost your mind? Huh, Usagi?!”

Ikuto Souma was one of Eiko’s admirers. He had stood up from his desk and was approaching me with clenched fists. I stepped backwards to try and keep my distance from him. I may not have liked Souma- or any guy who was vying for my sister’s attention really- but that didn’t mean I wanted him to get cursed too.

“D-don’t come any clo- GUAHH!” My pleading was forcefully cut off as all the air in the right side of my lungs suddenly disappeared.

I doubled over and used my still functioning left hand to clutch my chest- as if that would somehow help. I couldn’t breathe properly. The nothingness was taking over my lungs. My gasps became mixed with frantic wheezing as my body desperately tried to breathe in enough oxygen to keep me conscious.

“Hey!” Souma grabbed the collar of my uniform and forced me to look at him. “I’m talking to you!”

“Usagi! Souma-kun! Everyone!” Fujimori shouted in frustration, “Go back to your seats right now!”

But by pulling my collared shirt away from my skin, Souma was able to see it. He saw the stone that was slowly creeping up my body. His face turned pale as he quickly let go of me.

“H-he’s cursed!” Souma shrieked.

That was all it took for the entire classroom to erupt into chaos.

My classmates screamed in terror as everyone rushed to the other side of the room. Desks were knocked over by frantic students and bags were spilled.

“E-everyone, calm down! It’s just a curse!” Fujimori called out. She was attempting to take control of the situation, but her voice was getting drowned out by the screams and shouts of her panicking class.

“Unosuke...” I heard my sister’s soft voice say.

Eiko was frozen in place, while Ichigo and Ellen were trying to gently escort her away from me.

Everyone knew that curses were harmless, and I was no exception. However, that knowledge didn’t make me any less afraid of what I was experiencing. My vision was still getting blurry. Dark spots were forming in the corner of my eyes as my brain was still being deprived of oxygen.

Haha... how crazy would it be if I died right now? My barely conscious mind laughed. I’d be the first person to die from a curse in... ah... that was a test question I missed... haha...

It’s too bad... Mom won’t be happy to see me... if I die like this...

“There is nothing to be afraid of.”

I heard a beautiful voice right in front of me. As my vision went in and out of focus, I saw a pink light.

An angel.

“It’s a targeted curse, it won't spread.” The beautiful voice said as I watched the blurry shape of her small, pale hands touch the exposed stone on my neck without hesitation. “You can tell because it's not affecting your clothes, see?”

The angelic girl’s serenity was infectious. It sounded like even the chaotic classroom had calmed because of her.

I’m still... losing consciousness... even if it wont spread! I silently argued.

“Fujimori-sensei.” The girl took her hand off my neck and turned to the front of the class so she could address our teacher directly. “Please have everyone tidy the classroom, and prepare to resume the lesson. Removing this curse will take just a moment.”

I could hear the classroom murmur in obedience, and the girl turned back to me. She dug through the pockets of her uniform as she continued to talk to me.

“Transformation curses are usually removed after the transformation is complete.” The girl said, “But it’s still perfectly safe for me to disrupt the transformation process and remove your curse.”

I was doing everything in my power to stay conscious. I felt like I was going to fall over at any moment, but my body remained upright. My legs must have become stone too.

It was hard for me to see, but it looked like the girl had pulled out a strip of paper and a black marker from her pockets. I could hear a click from the girl pulling off the marker’s cap. She pressed the piece of paper against my chest and began to write. This girl was treating me like a drawing board.

“You or your next of kin will be expected to repay all curse removal fees to the Onmyodo Institute- failure to comply may result in garnished wages or jail time.” The angelic girl’s serene voice didn’t match the heartless words of the stipulation she absentmindedly recited. “If you require financial assistance, installment plans are available through our legal division...”

She stopped writing and lifted her face to look at mine. My vision was completely out of focus. All I could see was a fuzzy white egg with a glowing pink halo cutting through the darkness of oxygen deprivation. I wasn’t even sure if this girl was one of my classmates or some sort of beautiful illusion.

“After curse removal, all details- including legal obligations and interest rates- will be printed out and sent directly to you through Zenko Delivery within 48 hours. Now then...”

The girl lifted her hand off the slip of paper on my chest, and I heard another click that signified a marker cap being put back on. She stepped back slightly and the marker disappeared- or rather, it disappeared according to my dying brain.

She took a step back, and pressed her outstretched finger against the paper on my chest.

“Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.” The girl’s beautiful voice echoed in my ears like an angelic chorus. I felt some sort of energy starting to pour into my chest from her fingertip.

“I relieve you of this duty.” she continued to chant. “Resume your proper orbit, and return the world to its natural state. This, I command-”

The girl pulled her finger back with a large, swift motion.

“CURSE! BE UNDONE!!”

In an instant, I felt a pulse of energy envelop my entire body, and the slip of paper on my chest disintegrated. It felt like a wave of cool relief washed over me. The sensation even reached the parts of my body I had lost feeling in.

Is this... what magic feels like? I silently wondered.

I was able to breathe again. The nothingness stopped spreading- which I could only assume meant my body wasn’t turning to stone anymore. I still couldn’t really feel the parts of me that turned to stone, but I seemed to have regained some use of my arm and legs.

Then everything went black.

In an instant, I lost all feeling in my body, and the world went dark. As my consciousness faded, I was able to hear that angelic voice speak one last time.

“Ah... That’s not right...” She said, “Fujimori-sensei, would you please shut down the school?”