No one had spoken a word to Ryuichi, but that was all right. He hadn’t tried speaking to them either.

Mostly because he was still upset over what’d happened earlier. First, Masaru had completely vanished and refused to heed his summons, which made him furious to no end. Second, he had no idea how Kato was doing. And that made him sick to his stomach.

The last thing he wanted right now was to make any more friends he might endanger. The less said, the better.

But he was curious about one thing . . .

“Should we be patrolling?”

They stopped talking to eye him.

Ichiro burst out laughing.

Katashi shook his head.

Masa rolled his eyes.

And before anyone could answer or ridicule him for what must have been the dumbest question of all time, given their reactions, a loud snap sounded in the forest off to his right.

Ryuichi lifted his spear.

Shaking his head, Ichiro gave him an irritated smirk. “You won’t need that.”

How could he be so sure? That noise didn’t sound friendly.

At least not until a figure stumbled out of the darkness. “Excuse me for being late. There was a sale on sake, and I got distracted.” The tall, lanky man hiccuped and snickered. “And then I imbibed more than I should.” He grinned, then hiccuped again.

And wobbled before he staggered forward.

You’ve got to be kidding me . . .

Surely this couldn’t be their sensei.

But as the others bowed, his worst fears manifested. This was the man charged with training and overseeing them?

I have definitely messed up my future. Ryuichi felt like crying.

Their sensei almost fell as he came closer.

Ichiro caught him.

Scoffing, the man pushed him away. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

After more stumbling—mostly in the wrong direction—he belched, then found his students in the darkness.

He began a head count by tapping them on their shoulders while he staggered between them. “One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six . . .” He stopped at Ryuichi and squinted. “Seven?” He blinked and felt Ryuichi’s face. “Seven?”

Their sensei leaned back to try and examine his face in the darkness. “Didn’t I lose you last week?” He smiled, pinching Ryuichi’s cheeks in a rough grip. “Ryota! You came back! But you’re taller! Doesn’t matter. You’re back! Oh, how I missed you!”

Shigeru cleared his throat. “Koichi-sensei, he’s not Ryota. He’s a new student. Ryota’s still missing.”

With a disappointed sigh, Koichi shoved Ryuichi back. “Crap, I knew that trip to the canyon was a bad idea. Always lose students on that trip. One day I’ll learn better.”

His face brightened. “Since you’re new, I’ll give you the introduction. Name’s Koichi, and no, I don’t have a family name, so don’t bother trying to figure it out—you’ll only make me angry and give yourself a headache.”