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Yuki sighed as he dumped the waste in the outhouse after dinner. So he would die, then. He washed his hands in the cold stream until he could no longer feel them.
A small figure stood by the path to the main house. Yuki started, then relaxed. It wasn’t a girl. Koh was staring fiercely at the older boy.
“They can’t send you,” he said angrily. “You can’t go.”
Yuki crouched in front of the child. “Koh, were you being a mouse? It’s not polite to listen to other people’s conversation.”
“You can’t go,” the boy repeated, tears welling. “You can’t go, because then no one be kind to me.” He scrubbed at his eyes, the moisture smudging the dirt on his face. “If Yuki gone, I’m not see him, and I’m not see Mayu, and no one be kind.”
Reaching out a cold hand, Yuki ruffled the boy’s hair. “I’m sure he will not take me. I’ll come back.”
“Mama say he kill you,” Koh sniffed, using the collar of his shirt to wipe his nose. Yuki gently tugged the garment away from the mucus and wiped Koh’s nose with his handkerchief. Koh inhaled shakily. “Her say if you go then you die and you family, too.”
“Koh—“
“Papa, him not like to be tricked,” Koh warned, tears escaping the corners of his eyes. “Him get mad and eat you.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Yuki promised emptily. “I’ll tell him I have to look out for Koh.”
He pulled the child into his arms. Koh threw his small arms around Yuki’s neck, pulling him tight. Yuki felt snot and tears soaking into his shirt and wished he could find some sort of childish exaggeration in Koh’s fears. He patted the boy’s back with one hand while Koh sobbed. Yuki felt like crying, himself. What had he done to be sent to a Fox?