Dust danced in the stale air as laughter echoed through the corridors. Footsteps—too loud, too alive—disturbed the silence that had wrapped the house like a shroud for centuries.

Again, Kasu thought. More intruders.

He hovered through the cracked walls, pale light flickering through his translucent skin. His laughter was soft at first—mocking, cold, void of warmth. “Haha… what do we have here~?” he whispered as the group stumbled into the main hall.

Their faces—terrified, curious, foolish—blurred together. He’d seen thousands like them. Some cried. Some begged. Some ran. None ever left.

His laughter grew sharper, echoing off the decaying wallpaper. He floated down the staircase, his bare feet never touching the floorboards.

“Stay a while,” he sang, eyes glowing faintly blue. “It’s been so long since I had company.”

The students froze. One tried the door—it slammed shut with a shriek of rusted hinges. Another turned to a window—it blackened as if night itself had swallowed it whole.

Kasu smiled. He always smiled before the screaming began.

But then—

He saw her.

A girl among them, standing frozen, her trembling hands clutching a flashlight. The beam caught her face—soft features, gentle eyes, the same shape, the same warmth—

His cold chest tightened.

“...Mom?”

The word broke from him like a prayer, fragile and disbelieving.

The others began backing away, whispering, but he didn’t hear them. His pale eyes widened, filling with something that hadn’t touched him in millennia: joy.

“Mama!”

He darted toward her, a blur of light and shadow. Before she could move, his arms were around her, cold as death, yet trembling. He buried his face against her shoulder, laughing—no longer cruel, but giddy, desperate.

“I missed you! You came back! You finally came back!”

The girl froze. Her lips parted in shock, the flashlight shaking in her hands.

Kasu looked up at her, his eyes glowing faintly, tears of white mist trailing down his cheeks. “I waited so long… everyone else left, but I knew you’d come. You promised, remember?”

Behind them, the surviving students dared not move. The air was heavy, suffocating, alive with something ancient and wrong.

He turned his head slightly, the warmth fading from his face as he looked past her. The others met his gaze—and saw the cruelty return.