Akari had noticed one thing—
the curse did not always begin with touch.
Sometimes, just being looked at was enough.
The college corridors felt longer today. The lights were the same, the people were the same, but there was a strange tension in the air—as if everything was holding its breath. Akari was walking with her friends, but her attention kept getting stuck on one thing: eyes.
Ren was walking ahead. Straight back, calm steps, as if the world hardly mattered to him. Kaito was beside him, shoulder to shoulder. Between the two of them, everything was said without words.
And then there was Mika.
Mika’s eyes would not leave Ren.
For the first time, Akari looked closely at that gaze—it was not a normal crush. There was hunger in it. Possession. As if even looking was a way of claiming someone.
“Why is he ignoring me?” Mika said softly, but there was poison in her voice.
Ren turned back.
Just for one second.
And that second was enough.
Mika’s breathing suddenly became fast. Her eyes widened, as if she had seen something—or felt something. She put her hands over her eyes.
“Mika?” Yui asked nervously.
Mika lowered her hands.
Under her eyes, beneath the skin, faint black veins had appeared—as if ink was mixing into her blood.
Akari’s heart sank.
“You two didn’t… kiss, did you?” Kaito asked jokingly, but his smile froze when he saw Mika’s face.
“No,” Mika almost shouted. “I didn’t even touch him.”
Akari said nothing.
She was starting to understand now.
That night, Akari searched the internet. Urban legends, Japanese curses, old folklore—everything. But one thing was common:
A curse that begins with the eyes.
She read one line that stuck in her mind:
“Where desire exists, the gaze is not meant only to see.”
The next morning, proof arrived.
Yui was sitting in the library, quietly reading a book. Her eyes kept drifting toward Ren—secretly, with guilt. She had never spoken it, but love had always lived in her eyes.
Ren suddenly looked up.
Their eyes met.
Yui quickly looked away—but it was too late.
The pen fell from her hand. Her breathing faltered. On the pages of the book, a faint black imprint appeared, as if someone had touched it.
“Yui, are you okay?” Akari rushed to her side.
Yui slowly looked up.
“Akari… I think… my eyes are burning.”
Tears came out of her eyes—but they were not clear. There was a faint black shine in them.
Everything became clear then.
A new rule of the curse had appeared.
Now, a kiss was not needed.
Not lips. Not touch.
Just two eyes meeting—
if there was love, desire, or obsession in them—
the curse would spread.
Eyes were no longer just a way to see.
They had become paths.
And the most dangerous thing?
To follow this rule,
no one had to be evil.
Just…
having love was enough.
The Black Kiss had evolved.
And now—
no one was safe.
no one was safe.
