Shigeru held his hands out. “Fine. I know he’s drunk. But we don’t really have the ability to handle this on our own. I mean . . . seriously. We go in or we pull out. Either way, I’m thinking it’s going to grab hold of one of us and make us its snack. I don’t want to be its snack.”

Katashi scratched his ear. “He has a point. Remember what happened to⁠—”

“Shh!” Toru interrupted. “We never, ever talk about that. Don’t even say that name!”

“I didn’t say the name. I’m just saying it would be wise to heed the lessons learned by the fools who preceded us.”

They all turned to stare at Ryuichi.

“What?” he asked nervously, not liking those speculative expressions in the least.

Masa screwed his face up as if considering something. “How strong are you?”

A chill crept up Ryuichi’s spine. “I don’t know.” Mostly because he wasn’t sure what they were asking about—but his instincts said that it wasn’t about how much weight he could lift.

Toru let out a long breath. “She’s getting worse. When the demon takes her over, it’s going to eat us anyway.”

“We probably should do something.” Ichiro sheathed his sword. “Fine. Let’s try to pull it out of her.”

“And put it where?” Masa’s voice cracked.

Again, they turned to Ryuichi. “Um, no. Already got a demon inside me. I’m a little crowded.” Clearing his throat, he held his hands out and tried to summon Masaru.

Who, as usual, ignored him completely.

Awesome.

Ryuichi grimaced awkwardly at them. “Really, I swear I have a demon in me. He’s a crabby, nasty thing who doesn’t need or want company. There’s no telling what he might do with an accomplice. He could be for us or against us. It’s how I ended up here.”

One run-amok Masaru.

Taka growled. “Fine. My yōkai’s a demon too. He’s one step up from Koichi. Happy-go-lucky and tends to drink, which is what landed me in our group. I was supposed to be practicing when he went psycho and made me trip my former sensei one time too many. Maybe he’ll just cuddle with a shadow demon. Or he could go on a killing quest. I don’t think we should chance it.”

“Could we put it in a jar?” Shigeru pointed at a piece of pottery on his left.

Ichiro nodded. “That might be safer. I second his idea.”

Shigeru went to the jar. “Show of hands for this.”

Everyone agreed with him—especially Ryuichi, who really didn’t want them to put another demon inside him when he couldn’t control the one he already had.

“All right.” Shigeru moved the jar next to the old woman, whose skin was now almost entirely black. “Let’s try that stupid chant Sensei taught us.”