“Stop it!” Around him, the others were still chanting. Not only did he have to worry about a death demon residing inside him, but now something else was taunting him too. “Get out!”

Don’t be afraid, little one. The dark shape transformed into a beautiful woman. She reached out to him.

Breathless, he stared at her and her flawless skin. She held a smile more radiant than the sun. Her red kimono fluttered in a spectral wind. “My precious boy.”

Why did she seem so familiar?

She’s your mother.

No. Every part of him denied what Masaru told him. It was a trick. A delusion—or illusion.

And yet Ryuichi wanted nothing more than for it to be true. To be real. For her to be here with him.

Knowing better and yet unable to stop himself, he reached out to her. The entire time he heard Masaru’s laughter in his head.

I want this to be true. Please. But he was so afraid. What if this creature really was his mother? Was his mother a demon too?

He couldn’t bear the thought of what that would mean for him. The horrid consequences.

Closer and closer his hand came to hers, making Ryuichi’s heart pound harder. All his life, he’d wondered what a mother’s touch would feel like. He’d craved it more than the air in his lungs. The food that filled his belly.

To feel that warmth and love from someone who cared for him with all her soul.

Just once . . .

Her hand drew closer to his cheek.

One inch, and he wouldn’t have to wonder anymore.

Taka pulled him back. “It’s a trick!”

“An illusion.” Shigeru struck her down, right in front of him.

Ryuichi cried out as if the blade had run through his own heart. No! How could it be?

He’d come so close to feeling her touch.

Now he was vacant again. And it was their fault! Tears welled in his eyes as grief consumed him.

“Ryuichi!” Toru shook him. “Snap out of it! It’s not real.”

“But so very telling.” A twisted, black version of the merchant’s wife rested her hand on Ryuichi’s shoulder.

Ryuichi no longer had the will to resist. The sensation of utter defeat consumed him and deepened. He was tired of being played with. Of feeling like a pawn. Of being nothing. No one.

I have no name. No one will claim me.

“Ryuichi, you have to fight. She’s feeding off your pain. The worse you feel, the stronger she becomes.” Shigeru shook his arm.

It was useless. Ryuichi no longer cared to fight back. “Why bother?”

Life was pain, and it was miserable. There was nothing here except utter despair. He’d been fighting since the day he was born. And for what?

More ridicule? Shame? Defeat?