Muraki suppresses a glare, but looks away instead. "I was wrong to phrase this as I did, but I meant no malice in it," he says. "But you are not the only one who is without another of his kind here, and you were off the mark when you thought me a human."

The phage purrs in his mind, begging the chance to be manifested, but he shuts his ears to this suggestion. He might not have much for humans except as sources of energy, but for animals and animal-like beings, he has nothing but care, and this bothers him deeply.