Koichi smiled at him. “You walk in both worlds, Ryuichi. You are tied to both. While all of us feel the call of darkness, you were born to it. And you have the bitterest choice of all to make.”

“Which is?”

“To be the Kage-Mori or the Kage-Taru. You can’t be both. Either you serve the darkness, or it serves you.”

The power of life and death was in his hands.

“But I’m just a kid.”

“And Jounetsu Jigoku is just a hot spring. Kid or not, you have to be ready. The shadows are coming for you, Ryuichi. Either you stand and fight, or they’ll disembowel you.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Koichi breathed a sigh of relief as they finally made it to the camp in the mountains where the monks lay hidden. He wasn’t exactly sure why they preferred living this way, but who was he to question anyone’s life choices, given the mistakes he’d made?

As they neared the camp, Keiko took the form of a young monk. Something that was a bit unnerving. It’d been a long time since Koichi was around benevolent shape-shifters. He’d grown too used to things that tried to eat or kill him over the years.

Ryuichi had remained uncharacteristically silent for the last few hours. He wasn’t sure if the boy was trying to come to terms with everything or if he was simply tired.

Either way, Ryuichi hung back and watched quietly.

“What do you think, young master?” Keiko was surprisingly chipper, given the amount of time it’d taken them to get here.

“They don’t appear to be very productive, do they?” Ryuichi finally said.

Koichi arched a brow at the strange comment. “Neither are you.”

“Because we’re riding.”

The boy completely missed the point. But he wasn’t in the mood to argue. Reining his horse to a stop, Koichi dismounted and waited for Keiko and Ryuichi to join him. They surrendered their horses to the monks at the well-kept stable before Koichi went searching for Master Yamato.

Which was good, as it gave him time to see many of the faces of the students he’d managed to save. Honestly, he’d forgotten how many he’d helped.

“Master Koichi.” Taru bowed before him.

He had to bite back a smile at the first student he’d sent here to hide. “Taru. You look good.”

“Thanks to you.” He glanced around to the monks, who were laboring about the camp. “And the monks who’ve been so kind to allow me to stay here. It’s much better than being chased by demons.”

Koichi couldn’t agree more.

Ryuichi eyed the student, who was five years his senior. “But that’s your job. You’re supposed to be on patrol, not here . . . hiding.”

“He’s following my orders, Ryuichi. I sent him here.”

Ryuichi seemed confused by that. “Why?”

“For his protection.”