The lilting notes of a harmonica drifted softly over the grass.
When the song ended, Matt said tenderly, "This song is dedicated to my beloved Sora."
"Oh, stop it. Don't say things like that." Lying with her head in Matt's lap, Sora lightly thumped his chest.
"Ah, my heart! It hurts! I'm dying, I'm dying!" Matt cried out and toppled backward onto the grass.
"Stop fooling around. Get up," Sora said with a sweet pout.
"I can't. I can't get up." Matt was acting like a little child.
"No, get up right now. Tell me, what will it take to get you up?" She crawled over and lay shoulder to shoulder with Matt on the grass, their eyes meeting.
"If-if my princess would give me a loving kiss, I think I could recover completely, no matter how badly I was hurt." Matt rested a hand on Sora's shoulder and spoke with deep affection.
Seeing the tenderness in Matt's eyes, Sora couldn't help closing her own and leaning toward him.
"Damn it, I can't take this! I'm going to beat him flat!" An indignant roar came from the nearby woods. Its owner's eyes had already turned bloodshot.
"Calm down, Tai. You need to calm down." The Matt who said this had laughter in his eyes.
"Damn it, could you stay calm if you were me?" Tai growled. Suddenly noticing the smugness in Matt's eyes, he finally remembered that the person beside him really was Matt.
"Damn it, I'm going to beat you flat!" Tai swung his arm and punched at Matt's head.
Matt certainly wasn't going to stand there and take it. He blocked Tai's fist and said with an infuriating expression, "Calm down, Tai, calm down. This has nothing to do with me. I'm a victim too."
"You're a victim?