Asura contacted Ryo to tell him that Miko returned back to the forest. After all, he had been searching for her for days, and would probably feel relived. However, with the communication talisman sent back, it simply said, "okay". Asura was stunned. Ryo seemed to be the most patient with Miko, and even he seemed to be mad now.
"Look, Miko, I don't mean to pry, but what exactly did you do to your brother and Ryo? Miru wouldn't reply even though he had seen it, and Ryo seemed mad." Asura asked. Miko sighed and explained the whole story. After which, Asura clicked her tongue in irritation. She now understood why both of them were this mad. Miko hung her head low, afraid that Asura would cast her out just like them.
"Look, I'm not going to blame you even if its mostly your fault because we have been through this before. I throughly agree with what Ryo said, and I think you at least owe them an apology. As for what you plan to do henceforth, I'm not sure..." Asura sighed.
Later that evening, Asura organised a dinner at her tree, inviting both Ryo and Miru over. They obviously didn't decline since they were mad at Miko, not Asura. Asura sided with them on this matter, so there was no need for them to make her explicitly say it. They arrived at dinner time, taking time off from work early. They sat down and were about to eat, when Miko sat down in front of them. They paused their meal momentarily, before ignoring her and continuing on. Seeing what had happened, Miko began to speak, "Look, I am sorry that you feel that I don't care about you guys.. I know that I have made alot of bad decisions, but I want you to know I will always care about you. I know you don't approve of my relationship with Takei, and I know why, but I hope his identity would not be the reason why you are against him. If he was a fox like us, you will all accept him without hesitation, right? Miru, you told me before that I should only judge others by their ideals and values, as that is what shapes their personality. Their personality on the inside is what is most important as it represents their outlook on life. Takei is fun to be around, and he is nice to me. So why won't you all accept him?"
Both Ryo and Miru paused and looked at each other. Then, Miru placed his chopsticks down and replied, "The main problem is not the fact he is not a fox, but rather the fact he is human. If you wanted to be with some other beast who could cultivate to immortality, I wouldn't mind. However, being human, he will die and continuously repeat the reincarnation cycle for god knows how long, and its painful to wait so long just to catch a single glimpse of him before he reincarnates again. Then, there is also his past-"
"Stop, I know where you are going on about. You want to say how he had several other previous lovers, how he used to steal and cheat others. But that was not his fault! He was abandon by his parents at a young age, and cheating and stealing were his only ways of survival! There was once he was beaten up so badly for a piece of bread that he cluldn't anything for three days and nights! He had many other lovers as he craved love and attention, all meant to be given by his supposed parents who were never there for him! He just didn't learn how to love properly, so he appeared as a selfish and crude man! But, he is actually very kind, gentle and caring on the inside, and you will come to like him more when you discover that yourself. So, give him a chance, and you will find that he is different from the others."
The table went silent after hearing Miko's words. It was true they never cared so much about him, since they were prejudiced against humans at a young age, either by the stories of other foxes or their own unfortunate experiences. Afterall, many humans simply saw them as beautiful monsters, beautiful and alluring when obedient or dead, as their parts were often shiny, powerful, and potentially beneficial for their cultivation and health. However, such beasts like them, although beautiful, have more sentience and intelligence compared to their wild counterparts. So how could they simply bow down or be killed by a human just like that? Like any human, they are able to feel lust, anger, hatred, bliss, so on and so forth. It was humiliating for them to be a pet!
When humans captured them, a special leash would be tied to their necks, only allowing them to switch forms as it drained their power. In their beast form, they were mere pets, but in human form... they would be subjugated to far worse, being an out for the lust of humans and their vanity if they were female. If they were male, they risked being a piece in gambling dens, where they fight with other beasts sometimes to the death just to earn money for their masters. They could not use their powers either in certain tournaments, as humans feared they would escape, so they had to fight much like their wild counterparts. This humiliating life by the humans were what made beasts hate them to the core. Even worse, humans had the guts to say that they were treating them well like this, as if they were actual pets! This was why many beasts avoided humans, and killed them if given the chance. However, even if they held more power than humans, they could not go on a massacre as there was a heavenly law set in place for that. They could only kill humans if they had hurt them first, such was the law.
For humans who owned sentient beasts, they were usually those who had the ability to cultivate, and usually stayed in the capital or central town. They had cultivation constitutions that allowed them to control the beasts. Those beasts were a symbol of their wealth and power, as well as their status. Many ordinary civillians did not know of them as sentient beasts, but rather totally ignorant of that fact! Very few knew why, but it was because if civilians could own sentient beasts, the hierachy of the whole human race would topple! This led them to make those civilians think that cultivation was required to tame the beasts, when really all it took was that leash!
Miru, Ryo and Asura thought about Miko's words. What she said was true, but the question was if it was really worth it to sacrifice immortality for a single lifespan with a sweetheart?