The children quickly began arguing about who would be the next seeker.
"I won! So I choose!"
Daisuke declared proudly, puffing his chest.
"Not fair!"
Yumi protested immediately.
"You cheated!"
"I did not!"
"You ran when Sora-nii wasn't looking!"
Mika tried to calm them down while Satoshi simply stood there nervously, watching the argument unfold.
Sora, meanwhile, slowly stood up from the porch steps.
His job here was finished.
He stretched his arms above his head lazily, joints popping slightly from the lack of movement.
"Alright, you guys continue. I will come back later."
The four children immediately turned toward him.
"Huh?"
Mika blinked.
"You're leaving?"
Satoshi asked quietly.
Sora nodded.
"I already played one round."
Daisuke crossed his arms.
"But you said only one round!"
"Yes. That is what I said."
Sora walked past them toward the back door of the orphanage.
He had fulfilled his promise. His responsibilities were completed.
No reason to linger.
Behind him, the children groaned loudly.
"Sora-nii is lame!"
Daisuke shouted.
Sora raised a hand without turning back.
"I accept that title. But don't say that in front of others."
The door slid open with a soft sound.
The noise of the children arguing about the next seeker slowly faded as he stepped inside the building.
For a moment he paused in the hallway.
The orphanage felt quieter compared to the lively yard outside.
Sunlight spilled through the windows, painting long rectangles across the wooden floor.
Sora slipped his hands into his pockets and walked slowly toward the stairs.
His thoughts returned to the earlier problem.
Reversed Cursed Technique.
Bone structure.
Reinforcement.
If he could stabilize the metal flow through the skeletal system without destroying his organs…
Then the physical strength boost would be enormous.
But the failure rate was also enormous.
Sora scratched his head.
"...Maybe I should start with the ribs first."
A pause.
Then he shook his head.
"No. That's a terrible idea."
He climbed the stairs lazily toward his room.
Outside, the children's laughter echoed faintly across the yard.
Inside, the quiet returned once more.
And with it started Sora's endless experiments.
---
— 10 minutes later —
Sora was outside the orphanage with a grocery bag in hand.
He couldn't stop his caretaker from giving him chores to do.
He had started his little experiment but was interrupted.
"Next time, I will do it outside."
Grumbling to himself, Sora left for the market.
The streets were bustling.
People were working or going to work.
A sight that reminded him of his bland past.
---
Sora walked along the busy street, weaving through the crowd without much effort.
Office workers hurried past him with tired expressions.
Shopkeepers called out to customers.
Delivery trucks stopped and moved again in an endless cycle.
Everyone seemed busy.
Busy chasing something.
Money.
Responsibilities.
Deadlines.
Sora watched them silently.
His silver eyes drifted from one tired face to another.
Men in suits rushing to offices.
Workers unloading heavy crates.
Shop assistants bowing repeatedly to customers.
A strange feeling surfaced in his chest.
Recognition.
He had lived that kind of life once.
A life where every day followed the same dull pattern.
Wake up.
Work.
Return home.
Sleep.
Repeat.
A tasteless existence.
Sora frowned slightly.
"...No thanks."
He shifted the grocery bag in his hand.
"I refuse."
The words came out quietly.
Almost like a personal vow.
"I already got a second life."
His lips curved slightly.
"I'm not wasting it like that."
---
The market district was lively as always.
Fresh vegetables were displayed neatly on wooden stalls.
Fishmongers shouted the price of their catch.
The smell of grilled food drifted through the air.
Sora walked through the market with practiced familiarity.
He stopped at a vegetable stall.
"One cabbage."
The elderly vendor nodded and wrapped it neatly.
Next was tofu.
Then rice seasoning.
Then eggs.
Sora moved efficiently from stall to stall, finishing the task much faster than most adults.
Within fifteen minutes, the grocery bag was full.
He checked the list once more.
"...Done."
Mission accomplished.
Sora turned and started walking back toward the orphanage.
---
The streets gradually became quieter as he moved away from the market.
Residential buildings replaced busy storefronts.
The afternoon sun hung lazily in the sky.
Sora walked with slow, relaxed steps.
Then—
A faint sound reached his ears.
"..."
He stopped walking.
At first it was barely noticeable.
A soft noise.
Like something struggling to breathe.
Or crying.
But it was creepy.
The sound carried a strange distortion.
It was neither human nor animal.
Something in between.
Sora slowly turned his head.
The noise came from a narrow alleyway between two old buildings.
Dark and empty.
And faintly polluted with cursed energy.
Sora sighed.
"...Seriously?"
He adjusted the grocery bag in his hand.
Liquid metal wrapped around his skin, creating a protective layer.
"I just wanted to go home."
Another weak cry echoed from inside the alley.
Something was definitely there.
Something not human.
Sora stared into the shadows for a moment.
Then he reluctantly stepped toward the alley entrance.
"...Fine."
Then Sora walked into the alley.
Not cautiously.
Not carefully.
Just casually.
As if he had simply decided to take a quiet walk.
But there was underlying tension in his muscle.
The grocery bag swung lightly in his hand while his other hand rested inside his pocket.
The narrow alley was dim even in daylight. Tall buildings on both sides blocked most of the sun, leaving the ground covered in long shadows.
Trash bins lined the walls.
Old cardboard boxes were stacked carelessly in a corner.
A faint smell of damp concrete and spoiled food lingered in the air.
Sora walked deeper without changing his pace.
The earlier strange cry echoed again.
Weakly distorted.
Almost like a broken recording.
Sora didn't react much.
He simply kept walking.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Then he stopped.
His eyes drifted slowly across the alley.
Something felt off.
Not the cursed energy.
That part was obvious.
It was something else.
The environment.
Sora tilted his head slightly.
"...Quiet. Almost dead quiet."
Too quiet.
An alley like this should be full of vermin life.
Mice running through the trash.
Cockroaches hiding under the boxes.
Flies buzzing around the garbage.
But there was nothing.
Not a single small movement.
Not even the faint rustling of insects.
The entire place felt… emptied.
As if something had driven every living creature away.
Or eaten them.
Sora sighed softly.
"...Yeah, that's definitely suspicious."
He walked a few more steps.
Then he saw it.
At the far end of the alley.
A figure.
Standing unnaturally still near the wall.
For a moment it almost looked human.
Then Sora's eyes adjusted to the shadow.
And the details became clearer.
The creature's body was pale.
Not the healthy pale of skin.
But the color of something that had never seen sunlight.
Its surface looked strangely smooth, yet dry and cracked in places like old clay.
Its limbs were long and slightly crooked.
The head tilted at an uncomfortable angle.
Two hollow eye sockets stared forward without blinking.
And below them—
A mouth.
Wide.
Too wide.
Filled with jagged teeth that looked uneven, like broken glass embedded inside flesh.
The creature twitched.
A slow, unnatural movement.
Its head rotated slightly.
The hollow eyes settled on Sora.
Silence filled the alley.
For a few seconds neither moved.
Then Sora scratched his cheek lazily.
"...Wow."
He looked at the creature with creeping chill up his spine.
"You look like your mother spat on you when you were born."
The curse let out the same distorted cry as before.
Sora gulped again.
"...And you are noisy too."
The grocery bag shifted in his hand as a thin line of liquid metal quietly slipped from his sleeve and dripped onto the ground.
Sora looked at the creature with the same indifferent expression.
"I just came back from grocery shopping."
A faint metallic ripple spread across the alley floor.
"So let's finish this quickly."