It didn't take long for Kamihara Genichi to find an open hall.
Originally, this had been the activity hall used during festivals and group events. It shouldn't have been here—its location was wrong—but in this twisted, warped version of reality, it now stood directly ahead.
He ran inside.
Quick glance. Windows. Entrances. Blind spots.
Exit route secured.
He turned to face the doors just as the scraping sounds drew near.
The doors creaked open.
And then they poured in.
A mass of writhing, malformed shapes—those same childlike curses he'd fought earlier. Only this time, there were far more of them.
They shrieked in dissonant, meaningless tones as they scuttled toward him, bodies tangling over each other in a grotesque tide.
Genichi's scalp prickled.
He could reinforce his body with telekinesis—
But stamina wasn't infinite.
And no matter what power he had, he was still in the body of an eight-year-old.
"Fine. I'll thin them out first. If I start running out of stamina, I'll disengage."
He moved.
Blue energy surged.
Punch.
Crack.
Another curse shattered.
And another.
And another.
After taking down over a dozen—
He retreated decisively.
They just kept coming.
What kind of broken difficulty scaling was this?
The world slowed.
Everything froze.
Statue-like curses hung suspended mid-lunge as Genichi sprinted through them and out of the hall.
When time resumed, he was gone.
The curses stumbled over one another in confusion before eventually dispersing again, resuming their aimless wandering.
"Hm?"
He paused mid-step.
Had he heard something?
He listened carefully.
Silence.
Then—
A deafening crash tore through the night.
Like a building collapsing.
"…That was close."
Too close.
Under normal circumstances, he would never investigate something like that.
But there was no escape here.
And he needed information.
If something changed the environment, that meant variables.
Variables meant opportunity.
He moved carefully toward the sound.
What he saw made his jaw tighten so hard it almost hurt.
A giant.
A grotesque, monstrous infant curse the size of a three-story building.
Its eye sockets were hollow pits of blackness. Its mouth was sewn shut with thick, blood-dark thread—yet a low, suffocating whimper still leaked from within.
It crawled forward on massive limbs.
Toward a small building.
"…There's someone there?"
Through shattered windows, he glimpsed a figure inside, scrambling in terror.
He hesitated only a moment.
That thing—
It had to be the source.
If he killed it… would the space collapse?
The monster reached the building.
With two casual swipes, it tore the structure apart like cardboard.
When it pulled its arm back—
There was someone in its grasp.
A woman.
Young.
Screaming.
The sewn mouth split open grotesquely across its abdomen, revealing a secondary maw as it raised her toward it.
Genichi's pupils constricted.
"That's—"
Koharu Kyoko.
One of the orphanage staff.
Kind. Fair. Always patient.
She treated every child equally.
No favoritism.
No cruelty.
She didn't deserve this.
"Hey! Let her go!"
He snatched up a chunk of rubble and hurled it.
The stone whistled through the air—
And bounced uselessly off the curse's body.
Not even a scratch.
He could only watch as the enormous mouth swallowed her whole.
Something inside him snapped.
Rage flooded his chest.
He wanted—desperately—to kill it.
But the size difference—
Even if he used his speed state, what would his fists do?
What damage could a child's body inflict?
The emotional surge crashed over him.
And then—
His telekinesis exploded.
It roared inside him, violent, vast—
Boundless.
For the first time, he couldn't feel its ceiling.
A thought struck him.
His punches worked because telekinesis coated them.
So—
What if he stopped using it to enhance his body—
And attacked with it directly?
He had tried projecting it before.
The external effect had been weak.
But this—
This might be the only chance.
The curse turned toward him.
He grit his teeth.
Focused.
Dragged the surging energy toward his right arm.
The giant seemed slow—
But in seconds it had already closed half the distance.
"Move…!"
The energy responded.
He guided it into his right palm.
Left hand locking around his wrist to steady it.
"Die!"
A flash of blue.
For a split second, silence.
Then—
Half the monster's body shattered.
Cleanly.
Smoothly.
As though something cylindrical had pierced straight through it—through the curse—
And through the upper half of a building behind it, leaving a massive hole.
From the collapsing torso, a figure fell.
Koharu Kyoko.
Unconscious.
No visible fatal wounds—
But unmoving.
Genichi staggered.
It felt like someone had scooped his insides out with a spoon.
He swayed—
Forced himself upright.
The curse had fallen, missing most of its body, yet still twitching, trying to crawl.
His telekinesis was already regenerating.
Fast.
Unnaturally fast.
With that returning strength supporting him, he stepped forward.
Something was wrong.
His emotions were still raging—violent, overwhelming—
Yet deep inside, he was observing them calmly.
Detached.
Like watching a storm through glass.
It was contradictory.
And yet—
It felt natural.
Like learning to draw a circle with one hand and a square with the other. Impossible at first—
Until suddenly it wasn't.
He knew something about this state was abnormal.
But the anger was real.
It was his.
At least a thread of clarity remained.
Enough to keep him from losing himself entirely.
The mutilated curse dragged itself forward.
Inside his head—
A whisper.
Kill it.
Kill it.
He stepped closer.
Telekinesis condensed around his right fist.
From a distance, it looked like thick blue flames engulfing his hand.
The curse's body was already disintegrating—
But that wasn't enough.
He wanted to pour every ounce of fury into one final punch.
He raised his small fist.
To an ordinary person, it might have looked almost cute.
To someone with talent—
The density of that energy would be suffocating.
Time slowed again.
And as he watched—
The blue flames twisting around his fist began turning black.
A strange sensation filled him.
He could feel every particle of telekinesis flowing through him.
Every thread.
Every pulse.
It synchronized with his muscles.
His breathing.
His heartbeat.
Like inhaling.
Like exhaling.
For the first time—
He and his power were perfectly aligned.
No forcing.
No dragging.
It simply moved with him.
He punched.
The blackened energy tore through the curse's head effortlessly.
A thunderous explosion erupted.
He watched the body disintegrate inch by inch under the violent distortion created by that dark energy.
The roaring sound wasn't just the curse—
It was the ground beneath it being crushed and pulverized.
When the remnants finally faded—
His emotions ebbed with them.
The telekinesis dispersed.
And exhaustion crashed down on him.
He dropped to the ground.
His right hand burned with pain.
He bared his teeth through it.
"Tap… tap…"
Footsteps.
Crisp.
Measured.
He snapped his head up.
From the darkness, a slender figure emerged.
Long white hair, tied into a trailing ponytail.
A black uniform that did nothing to hide her elegant figure.
Relief loosened his chest.
She wasn't a curse.
She looked… human.
But—
Why did she seem familiar?
Before he could think further, she approached, expression layered with confusion and unmistakable shock.
Her voice was low, faintly husky—matching her presence perfectly.
"You can call me Mei Mei," she said, studying the exhausted yet guarded boy sitting amid the ruins.
"Why are you here, kid? Have you seen anyone else?"