*Ring*
The school bell rang, and all the first graders excitedly left the class. Yoshi left the class along with her one and only friend in class.
"Akari, come with me. We can go and eat at my favorite restaurant" Yoshi shouted with excitement as she wanted to eat with her friend.
Akari sees Yoshi climbing into the luxurious car while she's speaking, with nervousness, she is about to decline.
"If you are going to decline, at least promise me that we can go there this Sunday. Okay?"
This surprised Akari but still " Sh-"
Yoshi blushed as she stopped Akari from calling her by her family name "It's Yoshi! Don't call me by my family name."
"Yoshi, I can't come today, dad isn't feeling well these days, I should take care of my brother. But, I will try this Sunday"
Yoshi understood her circumstances and said "Okay, then. Since you should take care of your brother. I won't force you. Bye bye. Remember, you are still coming this Sunday"
"O-Okay" Akari nervously replied.
Inside the car, the driver looked through the rearview mirror and saw Yoshi close the door. He asked, "Young lady, where should I go now?"
Without any hesitation, Yoshi exclaimed in excitement
"Of course, I'm still going to Dominos! "
Akari seeing the rolls Royce leaving looked around the surrounding kids forming groups as they were waiting, she felt nervous. She's alone once again, she waited for her mother to come and soon enough, her mother picked her up in a modest car.
While driving back home, Akari asked "Mom, Yoshi invited me to a restaurant this Sunday. Can I go?"
Akari's mother, Mrs. Nitta didn't mind as Yoshi is the first and only friend of Akari. "Oh, sure but remind me that day, and I will give you extra pocket money. Also, I want to meet her again, bring her to our home when Dad gets better"
The Nitta's aren't rich but they are upper middle class family that lives comfortably. Wanting to give the best education to Araki, They enrolled her in a high-class private school where all rich kids are present but since all the other kids are wealthier than them, Akari couldn't fit in well with the other kids who grew up in super luxury. So, she never made friends until she met Yoshi. Yoshi quickly became close friends with Akari.
At least, that's what Mr and Mrs Nitta believed.
Seeing Akari being down and nervous, Mrs. Nitta asked "Is it still about the 'monster' on your father's stomach? As I said, He's just having a Flu and it's not serious for now. He will be alright"
*Honk*
"Yoshi called them curses" Akari murmured as the car in front of her honked.
"What were you saying just now?" Mrs. Nitta asked as she heard her daughter say something when she heard a honk from the car in front of her.
"N-Nothing" Akari replied as she knew how ridiculous that would sound. Looking outside the car, she could occasionally see and hear the curses murmuring and haunting people.
'Those curses are the reason she became friends with me..'
She can remember it clearly.
When Akari was in kindergarten, she used to talk about ghosts and monsters she saw all the time. But, adults dismissed her and the kids around her listened to her first but soon lost interest in it as they could not see them and called her weird.
She realized only she could see and hear the ghosts and monsters talking, they were scary but she was more frustrated that she couldn't do anything about it.
Slowly, she became alone in school but she didn't find it bothering her. At least, until She appeared. As she left the school and waited for her mom, Yoshi approached her.
"You can sense them, right?"
It was the first day Yoshi enrolled in the primary school.
Akari thought the kids around her spread the rumors to Yoshi. So, she pretended to not know anything about it.
"See wh-what?"
Yoshi pouted to her answer "Liar, If you can't see them. Why did you avoid all the curses in the hallway when you were coming out?"
That's when Akari realised, she's not the only one who can see the monsters and ghosts.
From then on, Yoshi would say so many crazy things like how the monsters are called cursed spirits, how she knows only a few spells, how her grandma teaches about curses, and so on. She would not speak to any children except her in the class and Akari is alone too. So, she listened to Yoshi even if she was crazy.
Akari understood no one could do anything about the 'curses'. So, she listened to Yoshi's ramblings thinking Yoshi was having the same frustrations about it.
The car stopped in front of Nitta's residence. The mother and daughter pair entered the residence and entered the living room. That's when both of them are surprised for different reasons.
"Dear? Why didn't you call me? I could have picked you up at the hospital. Are you completely fine now?"
Mrs. Nitta bombarded her husband with questions looking at her husband being healthy. He's been sick until yesterday.
However, To Akari. Her dad grossed her out. She could see the big cocoons with warts stretched from his stomach to his chest.
'There are even more now?!'
And even more cocoons with warts have spread from his stomach and are stretching over his skin. They are squirming here and there as if trying to reach out.
"I'm perfectly fine now. Could you believe it? I'm never so glad I can breathe properly again but still, it's a little suffocating sometimes but I'm better than before. Even the doctors said I've recovered in record time. However, Arata is acting a little weird, did he throw a tantrum?"
Akari nearly cried but the moment she saw her brother in the corner crying. Her eyes immediately widened in fear, she just noticed a cocoon had burst open and a curse crawling towards her brother.
"fl~flu~, dlu~, fluuu~, my husband~, chi-children~, ewahh~wah~hehe~hihi~"
It is an amalgamation of warts, innards, and different noses on a caterpillar, leaving a trail of pus and blood as it's heading towards her brother. Its hideous look was enough to make Akari vomit but now, she couldn't care about it, especially when her little brother was in danger.
"I will protect my brother! "
Akari shouted for courage and immediately ran towards her 2-year-old brother and hugged him.
The curse recognized Akari and Arata could see and recognize it. It immediately burst open into a bipedal creature with warts, mouths, and noses all over its blob-like torso while running towards the pair of siblings as it rambled as deadly puss released from its back melting the floor.
"Can see~, see~, see~, flu~, flu~"
Akari hugged her brother tightly to protect him at any cost. She's scared as hell but if it means to protect her brother. She decided she was even ready to get hurt.
The atmosphere darkened as if it had become night. The room became drenched in Omnious aura.
"Akari? What happened to you suddenly?"
Mr. Nitta is confused about the sudden development. His wife responded
"She thinks you have a monster on your stomac-aAAHHHHHHH!"
Mrs. Nitta screamed out in terror as she saw the hideous appearance of her husband and the hideous monster running towards her children. Even Mr. Nitta just then noticed something producing on his skin and the monster running towards his children.
However, the sight of the 'monster' and the growing, squirming warted cocoons on his hands and stomach is too much for his mind as he just recovered from his disease. He immediately fainted on the spot.
"EahhhHh!"
Mrs. Nitta screamed in horror closing her eyes in fear.
However, At that instant, both the curse and Akari froze on the spot.
They both felt something is coming, something extremely dangerous, even Akari felt that the curse in front of her is nothing compared to the overwhelming presence approaching this room. She trembled as the presence approaching her is so strong her legs gave out she lost the courage she previously had.
The cursed spirit too sensed it. Its instincts made it turn away instantly and run.
Mrs. Nitta seeing this felt confused but then she and Akari heard a familiar voice.
"Don't touch my friend! Exorcise "
A huge blast of cursed energy came from the tip of Yoshi's finger evaporating the cursed spirit from existence. Of course, for everyone else, it looked like the cursed spirit had just erased from existence.
"Y-Yoshi, I-Is that you?"
Akari trembled, she could feel it. Yoshi is the dangerous presence she sensed. Now that she asked, she once again sensed Yoshi is back to normal just like she knew her.
"Yes, Didn't I tell you already? I am a strong Sorceress"
The driver entered the room while holding a mobile and informed Yoshi
"Young lady, I informed the managers in the association. They should come here soon. Is everything sorted here? "
"Tell them, Mr. Nitta is cursed. I will keep the Curtain as a landmark"
The driver is a normal human, he rarely comes across scenarios like these. So, he needed Yoshi's assessment. He immediately reported it and after that, called Kairi to report her about the sudden situation.
Mrs. Nitta and Akari saw them speaking nonchalantly. Mrs. Nitta didn't understand anything she witnessed but she knew she was traumatized and Yoshi saved her.
Akari on the other hand realized Yoshi is not lying when she said she's from a sorcerer clan all the time. Yoshi used to dump her frustration on her like how her grandma didn't teach her any more spells. She thought Yoshi's making things up. Only now, she realized. Yoshi never lied to her.
"H-How do you know that I'm in danger?"
"You are my friend. So, I always look out for you"
Akari didn't say anything, she placed her brother down gently and ran towards Yoshi and hugged her, holding her tightly.
"*Hic*I-I was sc-sacred!! Th-Thank *Hic* You, Yoshi *Hic* Waa~"
Akari cried her eyes out. Sensing Curses and not being able to do anything about them all this time and the incident now, that's a lot to take in for a 6-year-old. She felt so relieved now, she couldn't contain the emotions she's been holding back all this time.
Meanwhile, the driver explained the situation to Mrs. Nitta.
"My husband is cursed?!! Wait, is that why there are those... Where are they?" Now that, she's no longer in danger, she couldn't see them anymore. Her husband looked normal but she knew she saw them. The hideous things covering him.
The driver calmly explained "You can't see them. Only sorcerers can detect curses and such. Until now, you were close to death's door. So, you could see them, now that your life isn't in danger anymore, you can't see them"
"Curses can kill people?"
"I'm no expert but from what I know. This is the best outcome. Don't worry about your husband, the government department that deals with these things can help your husband return to normal"