Is this a boy-mom chapter? That mother who coddles her son to the extent of becoming overly attached to him in a way that crosses over into emotional incest? Gracious, I hope not. I've seen a couple of videos featuring these kinds of mothers, and it always comes across as the creepiest shit, like she's going out of her way to raise the kind of man she would like to have as a husband, and then unironically falls in love with him.
I don't know WHY I've seen these videos, strangely. I'm not a mother myself, and I don't go looking for family and mom content, so it's weird that the algorithm on our most prolific video site has recommended them to me. Right? That's weird, right?
As Yusuke staggers and shakes, that little energy compass starts to beep madly on his wrist, and he's understandably alarmed by the detection of another demon. To his horror, it goes from 200 meters to 150, getting closer every moment. He's got the impression that the entity is seeking him out, and the only comfort he receives is from the possibility that whoever it is MAYBE won't attack him in a crowd. It's little sobered by the fact that he's in no shape to fight if he IS attacked.
Honestly? Could be worse.
Kurama walks right up to him boldly, and Yusuke remains silent for a moment, giving him a cautious look. But Kurama assures him that there's no need to bristle, that he's not here to fight or run. He tells Yusuke that he's looking instead for a favor. A bewildered Yusuke repeats the word, still wary, but clearly also intrigued.
Cut to the apartment building where Yusuke has retired to tend to his many wounds. Botan is still hanging out there and firmly states that Kurama is a CRIMINAL, and therefore whatever he asked of Yusuke must be in service to some trick. Wow, Botan, you're being awfully dogmatic about how you view a guy who, by your own admission, has never been convicted of anything and is virtually unknown to you.
Apparently, Kurama had asked for a three-day grace period, after which point he'll return what he stole. Botan has noted that the full moon is in three days, which is when that Mirror of Darkness Kurama swiped is at its most potent power.
He breaks his silence to ask Botan why Kurama even bothered to come to him then, since either way, Yusuke cannot stop him. Botan admits it's a good question, and Yusuke goes on to say that the conversation he had with Kurama gave him the impression that the mild-mannered thief isn't all that evil. After an exclamation of disbelief, Botan insists Yusuke can't mean that when Kurama's "friends" nearly killed him. Yusuke counters with a little something he hadn't mentioned to her before - Kurama and those "friends" weren't exactly getting along during his first encounter with them, Kurama wanting out of whatever pact the three had for whatever reason that Yusuke never found out. He speculates that something important might have changed with Kurama that made him reconsider the whole thing, and though it's possible it's just in Yusuke's head, there was something in Kurama's eyes that was ultimately believable.
As Botan is staring in silence, Atsuko comes into Yusuke's room to announce dinner, inviting her to join them. Botan offers a polite but nervous thanks (does she even EAT?) and Yusuke complains to his mother that they're trying to have a serious discussion. Atsuko suggests that it shouldn't be so serious that he has to keep it from his mother. There's some kind of note in this panel that someone thought we were trying to get away from this comedy stuff, and I'm not sure if it's a character or YT. Either way, no sir, I love the comedy stuff and you should keep it in. Atsuko takes Yusuke aside to comment in a low voice on how pretty Botan is, and warn Yusuke against two-timing Keiko. He snaps that he's not two-timing anyone, and I really hope this is not considered part of the "comedy stuff" mentioned earlier, because I definitely think this has no business here.
Meanwhile, Kurama is standing on the railing around the roof of a building across the road from Yusuke and Atsuko's apartment, placidly staring at it. Real weird-like.
According to the next panel's label, it's three days later, and Yusuke is strolling along in school grounds with his usual surly look, uniform still torn where he was scratched by Gouki. He's healed to the point where he only has a bandaid on his cheek though, so that's progress. A sweatdropping teacher points him in the direction of the school gate, informing him that there's someone wanting to meet with him there. Suddenly, Yusuke is elated, rushing to the gate with the hope that someone's calling him out of this boring institution. He's a little surprised when he sees who's waiting for him though.
Looking a little stiff there buddy. Were you standing on that railing this whole time?
He reminds Yusuke that he's returning the treasure he stole today, and Yusuke admits with a nervous laugh that he forgot about the whole thing. A scraggly note on the panel points out boldly how Yusuke is NOT detective material, which is one HELL of a lampshade. Kurama says that he'd like Yusuke to meet someone before he gives back the mirror, and Yusuke repeats the request as a curious question. By the next panel, Kurama has led Yusuke to the Nakayama General Hospital, which Yusuke regards quizzically.
In room 501 A, labeled Minamino, a woman with fuzzy eyes and mottled hands sits up in bed and says it's nice it is that Kurama brought a friend. He tells her to take it easy and not get up while Yusuke is growing more dumbfounded every moment, puzzled all the more by Kurama's mention of a "mom". He had to come from SOMEWHERE, bro. Kurama's mother says that it's alright, and she's feeling much better today. It's here that Yusuke takes special notice of her hands, which seem to be covered in a rash of some sort.
Kurama offers to peel an apple for his mother, but she declines politely, suggesting that she may be in the mood for that later. Regardless, Kurama lifts a knife to peel that apple anyway, insisting she needs to eat, or she'll never get better. She relents, calls him "Suichi", and tisks, calling him worse than the doctors. Yusuke sweatdrops, and adopts that weird kitty-face that he's worn a couple of odd times before, still pondering over the concept of demons having MOTHERS. Really having a time wrapping his brain around it.
Later on, the boys have climbed to the roof of the hospital, because I guess roofs are probably where you can get the most privacy as a teenage boy. Maybe. Kurama is explaining to Yusuke that it's a complicated situation - to his mother, he's "Suichi" and she KIND OF gave birth to him. Yusuke rightfully questions how she could KIND OF do something like that, and Kurama answers that it was through a deception that's lasted 15 years. He says he's actually a youkai, a fox spirit, which, yeah. Duh. Yusuke just stares in anticipation.
Over a panel showing the progression from a demure pregnant mother, a swaddled infant, a wide-eyed toddler, and a precocious looking little boy, Kurama tells Yusuke that he was too weak to shift into human form or possess a body, so the only option available to him was to enter an embryo that hadn't acquired a "proper" soul yet. I put "proper" in quotes because that sounds somewhat sinister to me, like there's a possible quibble over definition, but I doubt this is really explored in the future. He estimated that in about ten years, his powers would return to him and he'd become fully INhuman, at which point he'd disappear from the little human family he'd occupied.
Kurama says this was the INITIAL plan, anyway, and when Yusuke asks a leading question about this not working out, he pauses for a moment. He opens his mouth again to ask if Yusuke noticed what were actually SCARS on his mother's arms, rather than a rash like I had speculated. Yusuke says that he had noticed, and that they looked old. This leads into a specific flashback for Kurama, who says that this happened when he was six, and that's when everything changed. Baby Suichi comes home, his mother asks casually how his day was, and he says it was okay, walking past her in the kitchen with purpose while he informs her that he needs a large can for arts and crafts. His mom offers to get one for him of the top shelf nearby, but she's engaged at the counter with what looks like a cutting board, and Suichi declines. He's already standing on tip-toe on a stool, determined to get one himself. As he's choosing, the stool wobbles and goes out from under him. He pulls open the cabinet on the way down, dishes clattering out as he grasps at anything to regain his balance. Somehow, the dishes shatter behind his head before he hits the floor, and his mom springs to put her arms between his little head and the broken porcelain, screaming his name in fear. When he sits up, she's made two tracks on the floor in the blood as she moves to sit up, continuing to bleed profusely.
Look at this badass. I would be SCREAMING, but she's smiling. Girl is a beast.
Kurama says it really shouldn't have been possible for a creature with a demon heart, but all doubt about it vanished when she became so ill - he was a son who loved his mother. This is the most adorable shit ever. He adds that now she has maybe a month to live, then holds up the mirror he stole, telling Yusuke that he can save his mother with it. Thus concludes his somewhat involved explanation of how he intends to use the mirror, and upon its successful use, how he will return it and surrender himself.
Yusuke points out that this course of action really WILL leave Kurama's mother all by herself, but Kurama says this isn't QUITE true. His mother has been seeing someone romantically, the president of a small company where she had been working part time. So he's her boss? I know this is SO not the point, but YIKES. Said boss is I suppose visiting her himself, as we see in a panel while Kurama expounds upon his opinion that once she's well, she'll actually be better off WITHOUT her doting son. Somehow. I can't imagine how that follows, but sure, Kurama.
Yusuke doesn't challenge him on this either, sweatdropping silently for a moment as he looks at the somber pseudo-youth. Then he asks Kurama why he's telling him all this.
Yusuke scratches his cheek, looking a little flustered, like he's taken aback by being labeled as "trusting". He is being just a bit pollyannish about this dude, at least, in comparison to his normally tough outlook.
Mom's boyfriend comes running up to them, gasping that he's been looking for Suichi, and impressing on him the sudden urgency of his mother's condition. She's passed out in her hospital bed now, oxygen mask affixed to her sweating face. Someone, whether the boyfriend of the doctor attending to her, says that she's in critical condition and may not pull through. It's definitely the doctor who is telling both boyfriend and son that the next 24 hours will tell, though, promising to do everything they can for her, but admitting her chances aren't good.
The full moon is shown risen in the sky outside before we see Kurama stride resolutely down a hospital hallway, saying that this is it, and he has to do this. Yusuke is trotting behind him, somehow asking in disbelief if he'll use the mirror. Kiddo, did you NOT hear all the crap he was saying just a few minutes ago? But Yusuke also says he's heard it requires a price from wisher in return, asking if Kurama knows what that will be. Kurama pauses a moment before he states that he does know, and the price is one's life.
Yusuke expresses some shock at this, as Kurama elaborates that the demonic device takes your life the moment your wish is granted, which is why it's called "The Mirror of Darkness", no one ever possessing it for long. I guess you won't have to turn yourself in for stealing it after all, huh? He's knelt down on some tiles in a shaft of moonlight, placing the mirror on the floor before him. Kurama calls to the mirror to awaken in the moonlight, and show on its surface the thing that he desires, that he may invoke it's power. It's all very mystical-sounding.
The mirror flashes with a sudden surge of the light reflected on it.
Kurama gives the mirror a solid affirmative. Yusuke babbles that maybe he should stop and think about this whole exchange of his life for his mother's, asking in a panic if it's really the best deal available to him. Kurama assures him that it is, but even the MIRROR asks Kurama if he's sure if he want's to sacrifice his life for this woman's happiness. Don't forget HEALTH, Mirror, because if you try to pull some monkey-paw shit... Kurama implies it's worth it if it makes amends for his sins and deceiving her for 15 years. I feel like an apology is more proportionate a response. And less dramatic.
Anyway, as Yusuke stares numbly, the mirror says after a small pause that Kurama's wish is its command. The light swells from it again, and the energy from it crackles around Kurama's hand outstretched hand. He groans while Yusuke watches in nervous horror, until Yusuke drops to a knee next to him and puts his hand over the mirror too. He cuts off Kurama's question about what it is he's doing, demanding the mirror take some of his life too, so that it doesn't have to take all of Kurama's. Kurama asks if he's insane, and Yusuke responds with the question of if Kurama has ever seen a mother despairing over her lost child. He insists that no woman should ever endure that kind of agony, Kurama peering at him earnestly.
The mirror gives a mighty flash, the mightiest yet.
Just kidding, of course. Kurama is surprised to open his eyes. He sits up in an initial daze, muttering with amazement that he's alive, then in fragments about the mirror, if it did what it was supposed to, and whether his mother is alive. Kurama then hurries to his feet and takes off back inside, calling for his mom. He spares not one single FUCK for Yusuke, also alive, groaning into the tiles.
Yusuke sits up too, rubbing the raw nose that he landed on a moment ago, griping about his pounding head and sweaty brow, but acknowledging that he is indeed alive, in spite of himself. As he cradles his head and stands to collect the mirror that's lying nearby, it is given an ellipse in a speech bubble, clearly still capable of speaking, but perhaps not sure what to say? Yusuke muses absently on there being one more treasure he has to collect, and how he hopes Kurama's mom is okay. Then the mirror, whether internally or out loud I'm not quite sure, marvels about how some jump in without thinking, but wondering if it would still be called "The Mirror of Darkness" if more people were like Yusuke.
Kurama arrives back in his mother's hospital room to be greeted enthusiastically by her boyfriend, who says it looks like she's going to be okay. The doctor corrects him, saying she's better than okay, and he anticipates that she'll make a full recovery yet. He certainly SEEMS amazed when he says that the will to live never ceases to amaze him. All this as Kurama sweatdrops, utterly stunned for a moment.
His mother is actually conscious, and she weakly calls to him, asking if Suichi is there. and reaching out her scarred arm. He calls back in a haze of relief before sitting next to her and holding her hand, assuring her that he's here, and promising not to go anywhere. He sheds a single happy tear. Outside, Yusuke tosses the mirror up and down, a jaunty smile on his face, clearly pleased to have done this job that did NOT end in his bones being broken horribly. Good for him!
Awwww! Mac n' cheese from the box it is!
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? VERY cute on its face - I always love it when a story manages to create a diverse set of bonds that represent more of the spectrum of human relationships than just romance, and I don't think I've seen a mother-son relationship given this kind of significance for motivation in fiction before. Often, if it's represented at all, it's more a "mama's boy" type of unhealthy attachment that the son has to overcome in order to develop independence. Here, we see that Kurama, being a demon spirit in a human boy's body, has always been precocious and independent. This isn't about him being coddled and babied to the point of clutching at his mother's skirts all the time, but genuinely giving a shit about her as a person, and valuing their relationship developed over the past 15 years.
It's also clear he feels some guilt around the fact that she doesn't know what he really is, and his suicidal impulse to give his life for hers is in his mind some sort of penance for his invasion of her family. This is the setup for a TREMENDOUSLY good conflict, because the obvious drawback to telling someone you love about a secret fundamental to your identity is the possibility of cataclysmic rejection. Kurama could be made to struggle with the decision to confess who and what he is to his mom, building up the courage to face the possibility of losing her if she is sufficiently horrified by the truth. Unfortunately, if the manga is anything like the show, I don't believe this will ever be resolved. It'll just be dropped after this, he'll just continue to lie to his mom about where he is and what he's doing, and the conflict there will just disappear. A shame, because I would REALLY like to see how it would develop and how it comes to a head.
Looping back around to what I really like about this, though - the way that Yusuke's own recent experience ties into this is really well done. The mirror jokes that Yusuke didn't really think through his interference, but I think there had to have been quite a bit of consideration about the matter to remember his own mother bawling at his funeral and connect that so keenly to the result of Kurama killing himself so his mother can live just to mourn him. At the very least, his empathic capacity averted a tragedy, and it contrasts pretty heavily with the quiet calculating Kurama planning his own death in advance to save his mother.
Sometimes, putting TOO MUCH thought into something can blind you a bit to certain peripheral consequences.
