The days that followed passed quietly.
At least, on the surface.
The orphanage continued its usual routine. Children ran through the halls, arguments over small toys broke out, and the old caretaker scolded them with tired patience.
To everyone else, Sora was just another boy. Except for Ms Kasumi, hopefully.
Often found sleeping when he wasn't reading some strange book.
But once the sun dipped below the rooftops of Kyoto, his routine changed.
---
That night, the streets were nearly empty.
Sora walked along a narrow alley behind a row of small restaurants. The smell of cooking oil and leftover food still lingered in the air.
His eyes moved slowly from one corner to another.
He stopped.
There it was.
A faint distortion clung to the wall beside a pile of discarded boxes.
A curse.
Weak.
Probably born from the frustration and irritation of the workers who passed through this alley every day.
The creature looked like a twisted mass of arms crawling along the bricks.
Grade 4.
Sora sighed softly.
"Again?"
The curse noticed him.
Its limbs jerked as it turned toward him.
Then it lunged.
Sora didn't move.
Liquid metal slipped from his sleeve and spilled into the air like flowing mercury.
The curse reached him—
—but the metal moved faster.
It wrapped around the creature instantly.
The curse shrieked as the liquid surface sealed over it, forming a smooth sphere.
The sphere trembled as the curse struggled inside.
Sora watched for a moment.
Then he flicked his finger.
The sphere shrank slightly.
The curse's movements weakened almost immediately.
Sora nodded.
"Still working."
He turned and walked away as the metal sphere floated behind him like a silent companion.
---
This became his routine.
Every night.
A new street.
A new alley.
Another weak curse.
Sometimes two.
Sometimes none.
The liquid metal spread across the ground like a hunting net, reacting whenever cursed energy appeared nearby.
Sora didn't rush.
He didn't fight recklessly.
He simply captured.
Stored.
Experimented.
The spheres accumulated slowly.
Each one containing a curse or the refined cursed energy left behind.
Weeks passed.
Then months.
And during that time, something strange began happening across this district of Kyoto.
Curses were disappearing.
Not destroyed in violent battles.
Low-grade spirits that should have lingered for weeks vanished overnight.
For ordinary people, nothing seemed different.
But for those who could sense cursed energy, the pattern was obvious.
---
Several days later.
Late evening.
A quiet street near a small shrine.
A man stood on the roof of a nearby building, watching the empty road below.
He was a sorcerer.
Sent to investigate the recent reports.
Too many curses had disappeared from this area.
At first the higher-ups thought it was coincidence.
But the pattern had become too consistent.
The man crouched near the edge of the roof.
His eyes scanned the street.
Then he felt it.
A faint ripple of cursed energy.
He turned.
At the far end of the road, a boy stepped into view.
Young.
Calm.
Walking alone.
The sorcerer frowned slightly.
"…A kid?"
Another pulse of cursed energy spread through the air.
Then the curse appeared.
It crawled out from beneath a parked car.
A grotesque thing made of warped limbs and twisted bone.
Grade 3.
The curse noticed the boy instantly.
It lunged.
The investigator tensed slightly.
For a moment he considered jumping down.
But then—
Something strange happened.
Dark liquid spilled into the air.
Metal.
It flowed like water but reflected the streetlights like polished steel.
The sorcerer's eyes widened slightly.
The metal wrapped around the curse mid-attack.
In seconds the creature was completely engulfed.
The sphere formed.
Smooth.
Perfect.
The curse inside struggled violently.
The sphere trembled.
Then slowly began to shrink.
The curse's movements weakened.
Weakened again.
Then stopped.
The entire fight had lasted less than ten seconds.
The boy sighed quietly.
"Another one."
The sphere floated beside him.
Then another sphere drifted out from the shadows behind him.
Then another.
The investigator felt a chill run down his spine.
Each one carried the faint presence of a captured curse.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
The boy wasn't just exorcising them.
He was collecting them.
The sorcerer remained perfectly still on the rooftop.
Watching in disbelief.
The boy turned slightly as if sensing something.
For a brief moment his eyes scanned the nearby buildings.
The investigator suppressed his cursed energy immediately.
After a moment, the boy relaxed and continued walking down the street.
The spheres followed him silently.
When he disappeared around the corner, the investigator finally exhaled.
"…So that's the metal curse hunter."
He looked toward the direction the boy had gone.
A young kid.
Hunting curses alone.
Controlling a technique he had never seen before.
The sorcerer stood up slowly.
"Well… that explains the missing curses."
He took one last glance at the quiet street.
Then he turned and jumped from the rooftop, disappearing into the night.
Reporting this finding was important.