“Ah, bribery." He grinned at his niece. "is there anything it can't do?”

“She beat lightly on his chest with her fists. "I want a partner, not a protector.""Can't I be both?""You're enormously exasperating sometimes, do you know that?"He grinned. "And you love me anyway.”

“Crumb,” he said.“What?”A slight grin appeared on his face and then he reached out, without the napkin, and before I knew what he was doing, he smoothed his thumb over my bottom lip. Every single muscle in my body locked up and became painfully tense. My eyes widened and the air caught in my throat. The touch was slight, barely anything, but I felt it in several parts of my body.“Got it.” His grin spread.”

“Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way he can't do anything to you because you're a mile away and you've got his shoes.”

“You can't see the forest for the trees, Kanade. You say you don't do anything for him... So then tell me why Arou always gets that grin on his face when you're around? Forget about what those girls say...and trust in Arou's smile.”

“Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here!”