Chapter 67 - One Of Those Ways

Kokoro paled, "What did you do with my daughter?'

Ryota flicked a speck of dust off his fingers and sighed, "Sadly, nothing."

Ryota sighed once more, more heavier this time though, "What you SHOULD be asking is, what did she do for you?"

Kokoro cocked her head, confused, "What do you mean?"

Ryota leaned against the tree and picked Arata up to rock in his arms, "Well, when I was talking to her and she got all scared, she didn't ask about what I would do to you. It was all, ME, ME, ME, ME."

Arata grumbled and hopped onto the ground, away from Ryota's embrace. That made Ryota a little upset but he continued to speak, "You need to treat your child better, she's really selfish."

Kokoro frowned and thought about something with a far away look. Ryota didn't know what she was thinking about, but he was now wishing that Miyu was here with him to read her thoughts.

Kokoro finally decided to talk after a bit of silence, "I don't have to believe your lies. Now release me, or face the consequences."

Arata licked his paw and gave out a guffaw, "Release you? After all the trouble we had to go through to get you here, you want us to release you? Hah! You should feel honored that we're taking time out of our lives to torture you, out of everyone!"

Kokoro sneered at Arata, "So you have a guardian too? Who are you, the prince?"

Ryota chuckled and said, "I would love to be. He's handsome, so you telling me that I'm the prince means that you think I'm handsome..."

He bowed and smiled at her, showing his pearly white teeth, "I'm honored."

Kokoro clucked and rolled her eyes, acting dismissive.

Ryota leaned against the tree once again and said, "Actually, the fox isn't mine. It's a friend's of mine. And that's the reason why I'm here, because you upset that friend of mine but she doesn't want to take action. We are doing this for her."

Kokoro glared at him, "Who is it? I will apologize to her if it's necessary, you don't have to go THIS far."

Ryota lifted his body off the tree and slowly walked towards her, "Actually, it is necessary. Not for her, but for US... Because we care for her, even though she doesn't think we do. We love her, even though she doesn't think we do. And we want to help her, in any way possible."

Ryota stops right in front of her and whispered in her ear, "These are one of those ways..."