“You think?! Oh ho, look at that, guys. She ‘thinks’! Could’ve fooled us, freak.”

The Yokai feels her stomach lurch again. Not from hunger, but from fear. She stops smiling. “I’m sorry,” the Yokai repeats. “I’m just lost.”

“Yeah. We know exactly where you’re trying to go. There ain’t no way in hell we’re letting ya, so don’t even bother trying to play nice with us!”

One of the lights descends so close to her face that her vision is blurred. The Yokai squints through her fingers and sees that it is the brightness of the other lights that is also blinding her. They dance around her in a wide halo of light. They are singing:

“Lost little Yokai

Looking for a friend

Wandering in a wilderness

She cannot comprehend!

Looking for the others

That she cannot befriend

Posing as a human fool

Or tryin’ to pass off as a ghoul

Dumb and stubborn like a mule

So she must meet her end!”

“Little? I’m not …!” The Yokai looks down at her body. She is about half the size of an average human. She can practically feel herself shrinking under her lengthening white robe. “Stop! Stop it!” she cries.

“Ha, ha, look at her now!” the voices cackle. The Yokai can sense them pointing invisible fingers at her. “She’s shrinking! Let’s make her shrink until she disappears!”

Without warning, they swarm her. She waves her too-long sleeves across her face, swatting fruitlessly, as they attack. Some fly past her ears, the chainsaw-buzzing startling her each time. Others sink invisible fangs into her robe and rip the clothing away. More lights come at her, attacking her exposed skin. Soon she is naked. She makes a hopeless attempt to cover her bare parts while pressing her hands against the missing chunks of flesh they take out of her. She collapses into the grass, crying, huddled into a ball for protection.

“That ought to get the message across,” says one of the lights. “Only real demons can get past us. And even then, you gotta be ready to take us all on!”

Another voice laughs. “Yeah, stupid! No freak like you is going anywhere! We’re like that new restaurant: ‘oni only!’”

“Oh, geez,” says the first voice, the ringleader. “Do not mention that restaurant.”

“Why not? The boss seems to like it. Says they got good eatin’.”

“Shut up! We can’t talk about that place in front of her. She’s a wannabe. This ain’t no place for creatures like that!”

Curled up in the grass, the Yokai weeps. The first light lowers itself down to the grass and nips at her toes, savouring the blood. She cries out again.

“Ha! I think she gets it now, chaps. Guess the freak speaks yumego after all. Come on; let’s get out of here. The smell of her is making me sick.”

“Yeah. Good.”