Locked and wounded. (A Hololive fanfic)

Chapter 4: Not leaving home.

(Arato's POV.)

It's been two days since that nasty incident that Sora experienced at Gandher's mansion. Here I was, sitting on my couch inside my house, Gandher sitting on the couch opposite of me, Sora wasn't here, I told her to lock herself in her room until I was done with Gandher.

"So... I called you here because I wanted to talk to you about our partnership." I said, and he looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Well... You see, it's been nice working with you but... I called you here to tell you that I'm officially ending our partnership." I then said in the most professional demeanour possible.

"W-what?" Gandher stuttered out. "But why?"

I paused for a bit, Sora asked me to never bring up that I knew about what he did to her, and I wanna abide by that request.

"Well... I've been planning this for a while now but I found a new business partner to work with, and I've been preparing to start a partnership with them for quite some time" I responded. "So, I'll say it again. It's been really nice working with you for the past six months, you really helped me get my business off the ground, but this is where I'll cut ties with you." I added.

Gandher looked appalled, it was understandable since I was one of his major sources of income. "Look, I understand what your reaction is for but my decision is final." I said. "I sincerely hope you recover from this loss."

I looked at his face, it was a mixture of shock, confusion, and anger. He tried to reason with me to make me change my mind, but my decision was final, I wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

"This meeting is over, you can go now." I told him. He really wanted to stay and practically beg me to keep working with him but I was done, it was either because I wanted to work with Maxx and Maxxy, or it was because I wanted to keep him away from Sora so that she could forget whatever hell he put her through. And I feel like the latter fuelled my motivation to cut contact with him.

Once Gandher was gone, I sat alone on the couch for a few minutes. Taking in what just happened today before I let out a sigh and stood up, heading to Sora's room. I reached her room and knocked on the door three times, afterwards I waited for her to answer.

After a few seconds I heard shuffling before Sora opened the door, a sheepish yet warm, affectionate smile plastered on her face as she invited me in. I went in and we both sat on the edge of her bed.

"I hope from now on, you won't have any problems with your former owner." I told her.
"But... Did you really have to do that for me..?"
"Like I said before, I was planning to break off the deal with Gandher for a while, and when you told me what he did to you, I felt that it was urgent that I did." I replied. "So, don't worry about him causing you any trouble, if he does, just tell me, okay?"

Sora's warm smile widened as she nodded, happy that she can trust me, and I couldn't help but smile, happy that she trusts me.

(Timeskip, a few months later... Arato's POV.)

It's been a few months since I called off the partnership with Gandher, things have changed radically for the better since then, Sora was more happy and open with me than ever before. And now I'm just teaching her all the stuff that I know, from healing magic to using a gun. Though for that last one, I did encounter a bit of a problem...