[Hei files away Riku and everything he's told him he knows is very relevant...and it's just as he feared. But he keeps those strong emotions in check.]

Sure seems that way.

[Now to find out if Hei's other suspicions are correct or not about an old comrade being back from the dead.] So, um, aside from all the trouble of losing your belongings, what's it like being an animal? Has this Mao person you spoke of transformed into a lion also? What form was he before arriving to--wherever it is that you are?