In modern society, unseen spiritual disasters called "Cursefalls", occured. Catastrophic outbursts of malice energy caused by emotional disasters like hatred, despair, or mass trauma. These summon Curseborn, supernatural entities feeding on negative emotions.
To combat them, a society known as The North High School trains Awakened, people who have survived two things, a "Reckoning" is an intense spiritual trial that unlocks a personal cursed weapon, technique, or form tied to their life's desperate moment near death.
Secondly, a "Awakening" where a person randomly at a unpredictable time gains their ability to be able to fight the Cursefalls and unlocks their malice abilities, or techniques.
But it comes with a cost…
They say your life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die.
That's a lie.
What flashes… is every regret you've ever buried.
I was thirteen. Just another second-year student. Failing math. Cracking dumb joke at lunch. A walking cliché. My friends call me average. I never argued that. I wore it like armor.
Then it appeared.
A curse.
A crawling, stitched-together nightmare of limbs and eyes and hatred.
We ran. Of course we ran.
But the hallway sealed itself shut. Doors slammed. Windows locked.
Like the world wanted us dead.
Then I saw it.
A janitor's closet. It was barely open. I didn't even hesitate. I shoved my friends in, one by one.
"Go!" I screamed. "Run!"
But the curse was fast.
Faster than fear. And when I turned… I knew.
I wouldn't make it out.
So I stood there. No power. No training. Just a shaking human between death and the people I cared about.
The last thing I saw was my best friend looking back at me. I smiled and yelled like a dumb action hero:
"Run!"
And then the hallway exploded. Fire. Shattered glass. Ringing ears. And then—
The pain vanished. So did the fear.
What replaced it was something powerful.
A warmth bloomed in my chest, like blood turning to flame. In my hand appeared a weapon, a spear made of blood, pulsing with my heartbeat.
I launched into the air. Faster, higher, stronger than I thought possible. And drove that spear through the curse.
It shrieked.
But I screamed louder.
I beat it until it stopped moving. Until the nightmare ended.
Until the only thing left in the hallway was me and silence.
That was the day I stopped being just Kim Kurozawa.
And to this day, I still don't know…
Was I saved?
Or just…
Cursed?