The week a ring of gold fell into Ryou’s hands is but an ugly blur slipping by. And the month that follows after leaves Ryou with a gentle voice whispering honey sweet things in his ear, letting them echo in his head until they sink too deep

          I will play with you; I will be your friend.

Is a promise that Ryou hears yet unaware of what it will bring. Blackouts, and building unease, and too much haze in his head.

A golden curse tightening around one boy’s neck.

A boy that begins to miss days, and slips past the mirrors with the slightest bit of concern in his eyes. A boy that got his hair tugged by a classmate, and never saw the said classmate again. A boy that hides a piece of gold under his school uniform and  that some people start to look at with a suspicious eye.

Such boy comes home from school alone again, closing door of his room, because the year a golden ring fell in his hands left him shaky, and wondering about the missing Sundays, and about the voice in his head that responds only when it wants.

It doesn’t respond very often these days.

In silence Ryou drops his backpack to the floor of his room, and slips out of his uniform jacket, leaving it by his feet. His small hands tug at the rope hidden behind his shirt, and his heart skips a beat because he is sure he left the pendant in his drawer today.

He glances down at it. Heavy golden thing that he holds up in his hands, its frame slowly warming at his fingertips. Somehow, it makes Ryou tense up before he knows. Yet for a moment, it is as if he can’t look away-- 

Not until he catches a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye, and in a rush of panic throws his pendant at it with the smallest yelp. The item passing right through, sliding across the floor with a scraping noise.

          “Stop it--! I don’t like this game anymore”