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Chapter 20: The Root of It All
The air in Eve's room was heavy, but still.
Kuro sat on the edge of the bed, shoulders relaxed for the first time in weeks — maybe longer. His friends sat quietly around him: Riku fiddling with his sleeve, Jason with crossed arms trying not to look scared, and Sera curled up with a pillow, her eyeliner smudged and eyes wide.
Eve sat close beside him. Always listening. Always steady.
Kuro took a breath.
And finally… he spoke.
"You ever hear about the woods being cursed?" he asked, his voice soft but clear.
No one answered. They didn't need to.
"...It's not a curse. It's a deal."
He looked down at his wrapped fingers.
"My parents were historians. Or... treasure hunters, maybe. Obsessive ones. They found something deep in the woods years ago. A black artifact, shaped like a heart but twisted, like roots wrapped in glass. It glowed."
Riku flinched. "That's… in the journal."
Kuro nodded. "They brought it home. Didn't tell anyone. They thought it would change our lives. They were in debt… deep. Real deep. They thought it was a miracle."
He paused. His fingers trembled.
"They didn't know it was alive."
Silence.
Kuro's voice cracked as he continued. "The artifact whispered. It offered them a deal: wealth, success, freedom from their debts. But in exchange, they had to feed it."
Sera looked sick. Jason leaned forward, tense.
"They agreed."
Kuro closed his eyes. "At first, it was animals. Stray ones. Then… a few drifters. I heard things. Saw blood in the sink. They said I was dreaming."
He clenched his jaw.
"But when they stopped paying... he came."
Kuro's voice dipped lower. "A man. Tall. Covered in tattoos. His eyes looked stitched shut, but he saw everything. And he smiled… this awful, sharp smile. Like he enjoyed it."
Eve squeezed his hand.
"He came in the night. I saw it through the door crack. My parents begged. They cried. But the trees… they moved. The branches wrapped around them. The tattooed man just stood there… watching. And smiling."
No one spoke. Kuro's breathing was shaky.
"He told me the debt belonged to me now."
Riku shook his head. "You were just a kid—"
"Doesn't matter," Kuro interrupted. "He said if I smiled, really smiled, every day… I'd keep them away. That my fear was his door. So I smiled. I never stopped smiling."
He looked at Eve.
"Until I met you."
Eve stared at him, still silent.
"You didn't ask me to smile," he said. "You just… stayed. Even when I didn't."
Kuro touched his chest.
"You made me feel love. For the first time. And now I'm scared again. Because they'll know. He'll know."
Jason stood. "Then we fight back."
Sera snorted. "With what, good vibes and sarcasm?"
Riku looked between them. "No. With the truth. We know now. That's more than before."
Eve stood beside Kuro.
"We save him," she said. "No matter what."
Kuro looked at all of them — his mismatched, oddball friends. A femboy, a goth girl, a depressed artist, a blank-faced listener... and him.
He smiled.
But this time, it wasn't to hide.
It was because they stayed.
And deep in the woods…
beneath bleeding sakura petals and whispering branches…
the tattooed man opened his mouth.
And smiled back.
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End of Season One: Paranormal roots