Page 141 of Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal
“Suchfast friends, you went so far as to invite him to live with you.”
Was there a problem he was missing? All Tenma could do was confirm, “Yes, we’re roommates.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
Lord Mettlebright held up a finger. “If you were the usual sort of student, with the perception of pavement, I might accept your answer. But you are an unregistered oddity who reduced a dragon lord to a quivering mess of tears and reckless vows. So I ask again … why Inti?”
Tenma fidgeted. “Is Lapis all right?”
“On a first name basis, are you?”
He blushed and backtracked. “Is Lord Mossberne all right?”
“He is surprisingly well, a state he attributes entirely to you. The mares and Michael are cautiously optimistic.” Argent came closer and dropped into a crouch. “And beginning to suspect that Lapis is correct.”
“He often is.”
Argent’s gaze was cool. “I will ask it again, Tenma Subaru. Why did you choose this irascible and incorrigible ingrate?”
“Hey.” Tenma didn’t like name-calling. “Should a member of the Five be bullying crossers?”
The fox smirked. “Protective of him, are you?”
“He’s my friend.”
“So you keep saying.”
“Because it’s true.” Tenma knew he was glaring. “What’s it to you?”
Argent’s tone lost some of its prickle. “I can be protective, too. Which is why I would like to know the reason you are tangling with my apprentice.”
Tenma frowned. “Because monkeys tangle. How does it work for foxes? W-wait.” His gaze swiveled to Inti. “Apprentice?”
His roommate waved to Argent with both hands, as if making an introduction, and intoned, “Reasons.”
For the next several minutes, Tenma listened to a tale so clipped around the edges, he could tell Argent was abridging and censoring. But the basics were enough to communicate the urgency of the situation.
“A rogue dragon.” Tenma pushed at his glasses, then removed them to polish the lenses. He put them back and stared at his hands. “That’s why Sentinel and the battlers asked us to keep quiet about the kidnappings. Because people might panic if they found out your people aren’t all peaceful.”
“Mightpanic?” echoed the fox.
Tenma grimaced. “Yeah, they would. Not all of them, but enough to ruin it for the rest of us.”
“We are cooperating with criminal investigation teams worldwide. Many of their agents are here in Keishi, working alongside our trackers and the reavers. But the ongoing investigation has been kept from the public.”
“Why tell me?”
Argent indicated Inti, whose tail was a firm and familiar presence around Tenma’s middle. “We are conducting an independent investigation. One Iexpectedto be an exercise in patience, but I did not account for you.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“It is far too late for denial.” Argent frowned. “And thanks to Lapis, I cannot have everything my way.”
Tenma looked to Inti. “What did I do?”
“You looked. You listened. You like me.”
