Well, maybe not yet, but he would be. No one would stop him from achieving his dream. No one.

Not even himself.

Koichi smiled. “Good. Keep that anger, Ryota. You’ll need it here.” He took a drink of his sake. “And you might make yourself useful after all.” He snorted. “Then again, probably not. Students come and go. Most never make it more than a week.”

“Hey!” Ichiro bristled at those words.

With a smirk, Koichi gestured at them with his sake. “Except you few. Somehow you keep surviving. Good for you!”

Ryuichi frowned at that. Koichi’s tone definitely didn’t match those words.

Hiccuping, Koichi headed for the stables.

“Here.”

Ryuichi turned to see Taka holding a blue kimono out toward him that was the same color as the one worn by the other boys around him. “What’s this?”

“You’re one of us now. Might as well wear the uniform. It’ll help you blend in so that hopefully you won’t get eaten as quickly as some of the others did.”

Eaten? By what?

Surely it’s a joke.

Ha ha. Mess with the new kid.

At least he hoped so.

More shaken than he wanted to admit, he glanced down to see a screaming white monkey against the light blue. It was the same emblem on Koichi’s headband.

Great. They really were insane.

Worse? They seemed to be proud of it.

And that made him feel sick to his stomach. This isn’t what I want. But for now, he had no choice. He’d earned this by breaking his friend and breaking their trust.

How fitting that he ended up with a broken group.

Pulling the kimono on, he left it open as he followed the others. They headed into the stables and went toward the sorriest-looking horses he’d ever seen.

His jaw went slack as they began saddling them. “Really?”

Koichi grimaced at him. “You want a better mount? Don’t screw up.”

That only confused him more. “I don’t understand this. Are you a teacher or not?”

“A teacher they don’t particularly like or want. Or even acknowledge.” Koichi pulled himself up into his saddle. “Like you misfits. They don’t know what to do with me, and they don’t know what to do with you. So here we are . . . demon fodder to keep the good students safe.”

“What are we supposed to be learning?”

Toru laughed. “How not to die.”

“Or get lost in the dark.” Masa kicked his scraggly horse out of the stables.

What? Surely they were messing with him.

“And if we get lost?”

Koichi gave him a lopsided grin. “If you find Ryota, bring him home.” He headed out.

Shigeru snorted at that. “You won’t find Ryota. He was eaten by a demon. Trust me. You don’t want that.”

Eaten by a what?