Something's wrong. This world… it's wrong.
In the year 2009, at the Sunflower Children's Welfare Institute, eight-year-old Shingen Genichi stared wide-eyed at the orphanage cloaked in shadows. The place that once felt like home now pulsed with an eerie unfamiliarity.
The people — the children, the staff — were all gone. The air was thick with something unnatural, and under the dim light, even the buildings looked subtly... off.
Shingen Genichi's thoughts drifted to the strange journey that had led him here. In his past life, he was just an ordinary kid from Earth. Nothing special — until a terminal illness claimed his young life. But then… he woke up again, reborn in a country that similar to Japan,and his soul inhabiting a new body.
Since as far back as he could remember in this new life, he'd been at this orphanage. No parents, no family — just the memories of another world lodged in his mind like a vivid dream. It felt both incredibly real and impossibly distant, like peering through a foggy mirror.
As he grew, he realized something else: this world was not Earth. Though similar in many ways, it was different —disturbingly different. Parallel world? Alternate reality? He couldn't say for sure. But the differences were undeniable.
The biggest one? He had a superpower now.
He called it Physics Power. The name wasn't important — what mattered was what it could do. It gave him strength, speed, awareness. Things no ordinary child should possess.
Of course, he didn't use it often. His body, after all, was still developing. Overusing the power could hurt him — maybe even destroy him. He had no teacher, no guide. Everything he knew was based on guesswork and instinct.
Life in the orphanage had been peaceful enough. There was never a reason to go all out with his powers. A light use here and there had still made him the king of the kids. His peers both admired and feared him.
His physic power usually shimmered light blue. Occasionally, he could push it even further — into a state he called Time Null. In those moments, the world slowed to a crawl. Everything around him froze. It was thrilling… and dangerous. Each time, he noticed something off. A glitch in his surroundings. So, he used it sparingly.
But that wasn't the only sign this world was unnatural. There were ghosts.
At first, Shingen figured he couldn't be the only one with powers. Maybe others like him existed, hidden from public view — just like the heroes and villains in movies. But he hadn't expected spirits, monsters, and malformed things that existed on the edge of reality.
He'd seen them — five or six already. None like the ghosts he knew from horror flicks back on Earth. There's no Sadako, no Kayako. These creatures were grotesque, twisted, barely human. And no one else could see them.
Once, a couple had come to adopt a child from the orphanage. Shingen had noticed a strange creature lurking near them — mosquito-like, with wings shaped like human palms and a long, pointed proboscis. No one else reacted to it.
He'd named it "Mosquito," for lack of a better word. But that wasn't the scariest part — the scariest part was realizing he might be alone in seeing them.
And now… something worse had come.
The orphanage had changed. The atmosphere was heavy with malice. Shingen could feel it. It's like something was warping reality. A more powerful ghost? Maybe
Fear, anger, frustration — they all surged in him at once.
Why now?
Why when I'm still weak?
Why give me a second chance at life, only to take it away again?
"No," he whispered, clenching his fists. "Not now. I won't let it end like this. I won't die again — not before I've lived."
With that, Shingen ignited the Physic Power within him, channeling it throughout his body. Muscles strengthened, reflexes sharpened. The power surged — speed, strength, resilience — all beyond the limits of a child. He pushed himself to the edge of what his body could handle and prepared to fight his way out.
°°°°°
"Mm-hmm. Got it. Don't forget the reward we agreed on. This is confirmed Grade 1… maybe even Special Grade. I'll report if anything changes. Later, Gojo."
Not far from the orphanage, a white-haired woman stood with a calm, unreadable expression. Her figure was elegant, her aura cold and collected. Through her eyes, the air above the building writhed , it's filled with thick Cursed Energy and malevolence.
But she didn't flinch. She gazed at it almost fondly.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. " she chanted. "Purify that which is impure."
With her spell, a curtain of gray-black energy unfurled from the sky like a wave, shrouding the entire orphanage in a dome of cursed space. Without hesitation, she stepped into it and vanished.
°°°°°
"This is bad," Shingen muttered, staring at the remains of the small creature dissolving before him. Five minutes ago, he'd encountered his first "ghost" in this altered space — a twisted hybrid of a child and a dog, sobbing as it lunged.
Panic had kicked in at first. But instincts took over. A few strikes enhanced by Physic Power had taken the creature down with shocking ease.
Still, the sight of it chilled him.
The layout of the orphanage was completely distorted. No matter how far he walked, the exit never came. Like an invisible wall kept redirecting him — looping him back, over and over.
So he had no choice but to press deeper inside.
Along the way, more of the ghostly creatures appeared — each warped, all sharing traces of human children in their forms. Arms too small, eyes too large, baby voices mixed with animal snarls.
Could these be remnants of children who had died here? Or were they formed from resentment, as horror stories often claimed?
Whatever the case, they were hostile. Thankfully they weak. After the initial terror faded, Shingen handled them with ease. And with each victory, his fear lessened. When you could fight ghosts — destroy them — they stopped being monsters. They just obstacles.
"Wuwu…"
Down a corridor in the staff dormitory, he heard soft crying.Shingen halted,his every ery nerve on alert.
The sound came from a cabinet. He crept forward, senses tuned. Something felt different this time. Less cursed, More like human.
Could someone still be alive?
He braced himself and yanked the door open.
A scream rang out.
Inside, two small children huddled together, shaking.
It's not a ghost,but a Kid.
"Hey! Stop screaming! Do you want to attract them?"
His voice cut through their panic. The two paused — his tone was scolding but familiar.
"Genichi… Genichi?" the girl whispered.
Shingen blinked. He recognized her — Kumiko is her name. A sweet girl once chosen for adoption until a birthmark on her cheek made the couple change their minds. The boy next to her was less familiar, just another face in the crowd of orphans.
But they both knew Him.
After all, Shingen was a legend among the children. He'd dismantled a group of bad kid single-handedly once.after that, no one dared mess with him.
Why hadn't he been adopted? Well, it wasn't for lack of looks or charm. It was him. He didn't want to leave. Not to a family he couldn't trust, not after already losing one life.
The director, a kind woman, had once planned to adopt him herself, or place him with a trusted relative. But that future felt far away now.
For now, he must survive.
He calmed the kids and tried to get answers, but they were too shaken to say much. They had hidden after spotting the monsters. That was it.
Suddenly, a noise echoed from nearby — scraping, wet thudding, low growls.
Shingen's expression hardened. He looked at the children.
"Get back in. Hide. Don't come out, no matter what."
It wasn't ideal, but the cabinet had kept them safe so far. Protecting them out in the open would be far more dangerous.
Once they were hidden, Shingen took off down the hall — the sound of his footsteps echoing through the empty corridor.
Behind him, the twisted cries of the cursed creatures grew louder.
They were coming.
He needed space to fight,a spacious one.
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Gimme your stone to motivated me
Word count: 1,379