Hank felt so much sadness inside Rio, for he knew in her heart, she was dying.

  I want to help.

  He placed his hands on her shoulders, to pry her tear-stained face from his chest. When she found his body removed from her embrace, she took a step back for balance. She glared at him with death-ray eyes, made more intimidating by the lack of her round red glasses.

  Hank noticed this, and pulled her back in. She threatened him next from the depths his soft-knit pullover shirt, wanting to stay buried in it forever.

  "I swear, Kon'aro, if you say one word to Milton about my feelings toward you, I will kill you."

  Rio jabbed Hank with a switchblade fingernail as she cussed him out in Japanese. Even so, when she paused to press it against his chest, he captured it and brought it to his lips for a kiss.

  Rio spoke in misery as he suckled her fingertip. "I'm really sorry, but he's all I have. Without him, I am nothing."

  Hank snatched her other hand to kiss all its fingers. With suddenness, she worked free of his grasp. She held him by the temples with both hands, getting high up on her toes to plant kisses on his lips.

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  "You did this to me," she said into his mouth. "Now say it, or I'll eat your tongue."

  Hank gulped on their spit as he tried to speak between kisses. "Kokoro kowareta toki…" he began.

  Rio heaved down hard on his neck, forcing his mouth close to hers, thrusting her tongue in deep.

  He broke free to finish his praise. "… Anata wa kirei."

  "Oishī! Sore ga suki!" she blurted, quite by surprise, as Hank gasped for air. "Daisuki! Now say it!"

  "I love you, too," he said.

  Rio delved into his mind, swallowing hard on Hank.

  Anata o tabetai.

  Oh my God.

  HUMILITY is known as the greatest of all Virtues.

  It thwarts the Sin of Pride, from which all Sin is born.

  The humble among us are the most trustworthy and most loyal.

  They also are the ones who are at peace with themselves.

  So who better than Hank—the most humble of us all—to save us from damnation?

  Milton better be right. That's all I've got to say.