The Return of the Curse

Hi. My name's Kairi Chiyoko. My life was pretty mediocre up until one day at school when I was fourteen. Daisuke was acting so depressed in class.

And…he ended up getting thrown onto cleaning duty by our resident reporter Masaki. Personally, I think our newsboy's a jerk.

Hiwatari, too, was acting strange.

Finally I got home to an ordinary dinner. The strange part was actually after dinner. I was writing out some music notation when suddenly my sight went blurry!

"Hey! What gives?" I squinted at the paper. "Since when does sight just fade all at once like that?"

My mom suddenly called me over to the TV. There was a news program about some thief named Dark!

I squinted at the TV, trying to see. I couldn't make out any pictures. I just couldn't see anything clearly, only blobs of color.

My sight didn't come back until late that night. At least, I assume it was sometime during the night; when Mom woke me up with the phone in her hand, I could see clearly, if you ignore the part where I'm always bleary-eyed in the morning.

"I called your grandmother," she said.

"Mmm? …Which…" My brain hadn't quite woken up yet, or I'd have remembered that I only had one grandmother living.

"My mother. She always had that one story that she loved telling to me. I hadn't believed it, so I don't remember it well enough to tell you myself. After that thief turned up again, though, I think it has some truth to it." She put the phone into my hand.

Putting the phone to my ear, I mumbled, "Hmm?" I'm not a morning person.

"Honestly," my grandmother's raspy voice came through the receiver, "why your mother had to go waking you up to hear this old thing is beyond me."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Anyway, try to wake up and listen carefully to the story of the Chiyoko curse."

That woke me up, at least a little. "Curse?"

At school, Masaki was going on about how Phantom Dark had caused accidents. Risa defended him, and then Daisuke ran out.

Risa called me later. "Do you think you could come with me to watch for Phantom Dark tonight? I'm not sure Niwa could come."

"Uh…I could come…I'd have to ask my mother first, but sure. I'm not sure I'd be of much use in spotting him, though."

"Great! I'll see you tonight at eleven-thirty!" And with that, she hung up.

I sighed. The Chiyoko curse…will make sure I never see him clearly. My sight had already gone dim, so evidently Dark was already out and about.

We found each other near the church. I almost didn't make it as far as I did. Dim sight equals near-blindness at night.

I ran into her, actually.

"Oh, there you are!"

"Sorry, I don't see very well at night." Suddenly, my sight came back! "What the?" I blinked.

"What is it?" Risa asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

Then we spotted Daisuke! As soon as he spotted us, he started running!

Then my sight went dim again. "Okay," I protested, "now I'm confused!"

Risa took hold of my hand and walked over to the stranger that I couldn't see clearly. It was, evidently, Dark himself!

He was talking to Risa, inviting her out on a date, and he didn't seem to have noticed me, possibly because I hadn't said anything. Then some light show happened above us, and when it was done, my sight came back again!

Risa looked…preoccupied. Which was fine with me, I could just find my own way back home.

A/N: The story of the curse will be told in the next chapter.