I wasn't planning to uncover any ancient secrets today.
I just wanted to finish my homework in peace, maybe sneak a nap in the library, and avoid Rijuya melting another microwave.
But the universe had other plans.
It started when I grabbed the wrong book.
I was reaching for my boring history textbook, but someone had shoved an old, dusty thing behind the shelf. It had no title on the spine, just a dark cover with weird gold symbols on it. Looked like it hadn't been touched in years.
Naturally, I opened it.
The pages were yellowed. The writing looked handwritten. Like a journal or a record. And on the very first page, written in shaky ink, was a name:
"Rikuya of the Shadowblood Line."
My stomach dropped.
No way.
I flipped through the pages—fast. There were drawings of glowing swords, cloaked figures, strange beasts, and something that looked suspiciously like Rikuya's cursed rune.
This wasn't just a storybook. It was about him.
I ran back to the dorm with the book under my arm.
Rikuya was meditating upside-down on the couch again. I didn't ask.
"Hey," I said, waving the book in front of him. "Recognize this?"
He opened one eye. The moment he saw the cover, his whole body tensed.
"Where did you find that?" he asked, voice low.
"Library," I said. "Next to a book about mushrooms."
He stood up. Took the book from my hands slowly, like it might explode.
"This book should not exist in this world," he muttered.
"Too late," I said. "It does. And now I have questions."
He looked at me. Really looked. And then he sat down beside me on the bed, flipping the pages like they were pages of her own memory.
"Yuna," he said softly, "this story… it tells the beginning of the curse."
"And?"
"And," he said, turning to me with a strange sadness in his eyes,
"The girl in the story is the one who cast it."
I blinked.
"…Wait. Are you saying I cursed you?"
"I'm saying you look exactly like her."