It all started one week day night, when Toudou had questioned how much trouble a dog could be that Makishima had no time to talk to him. Someone who didn't own a dog wouldn't understand, Makishima had sneered, and Toudou, not wanting to be beaten at anything when it came to Makishima, had lied and told him that he did own a dog. He'd regaled him with stories of his dog Aki, stories he'd heard from Arakita about Arakita's dog Aki. Of course, he didn't mention Aki, Arakita's dog, was Arakita's.

After practice the next day, Toudou approached Arakita at a safe distance from their other team mates.

"Hey, Arakita," Toudou whispered. "Do you think I could borrow your dog this weekend?"

Arakita yelled, "What?"

He'd forgotten that Arakita didn't know to whisper, and his speaking voice was also his yelling voice. His teammates all glanced at them, and Shinkai made his way over, wondering what was going on, them being so sneaky, Arakita.

"Can you borrow a fucking brain?" Arakita said. "What do you want my dog for, you moron?"

"I don't need your dog specifically," Toudou explained. "I just need a Pomeranian."

"My dog's a Papillon, you dumbass!"

Shoot, was it? He'd told Maki-chan Aki was a Pomeranian. They all looked basically the same right?

"Jinpachi, if you'd like you can spend time with Usakichi this weekend," Shinkai offered.

"No, Maki-chan's too smart for that," Toudou mused.

"Sohoku's climber again? Is that what this is all about?" Arakita asked.

"Look, I told him I owned a dog and one thing led to another, and now we're supposed to walk our dogs together this weekend," Toudou said.

Arakita's jaw dropped. "You want me to let an idiot like you to take care of my dog for a whole day just so you can impress someone?"

"I'm not too bad with animals, you know!"

"It's true," Shinkai agreed. "Usakichi is very fond of him."

"Rabbits and dogs aren't the same," Arakita sighed. He thought for a moment. "You know, if you make a fool of yourself in front of Sohoku's climber you'd probably stop screaming into your phone all the time."

After a few desperate pleads and promises from Toudou, Arakita allowed him to take Aki to the park for a maximum of five hours that Saturday on the condition that Toudou treated the whole team to dinner next week.

On Saturday, Toudou biked to Arakita's house. Arakita led him to his room while reminding him of his conditions. Aki had to be returned safe and sound in exactly five hours from then. If Aki bit him, it was entirely Toudou's fault.

Arakita introduced him to Aki while he was fastening the leash.

"If he loses you, you know how to get back home right?" he said to Aki.

The dog barked as Toudou eyed the drool and thought Aki was a completely ugly and un-beautiful creature. Pets did tend to look like their owners after all.

Arakita handed Toudou a small bag of treats. "You can give her a few if she's well-behaved. And before I forget, did you bring plastic bags with you?"

"What do I need plastic bags for?" Toudou asked.

Arakita huffed and gave him a frustrated look that dissolved into laughter.

"You're really gonna blow him away today," he said, handing Toudou a couple of bags.

Toudou placed Aki into the basket he'd fastened onto his bike and waved to Arakita. As he rode away, he heard Arakita yelling, "Remember! Five hours!"

From putting Aki into the basket to taking her out to adjusting her collar, Aki had bitten Toudou no less than six times. "Just like your owner," Toudou grumbled.

Makishima met him at the train station with his dog in tow. As grumpy as Aki had been the whole ride over, once she saw Makishima's dog Josephine, she bounded over, yanking Toudou with her.

"What a….cute dog," Toudou said as he looked at Josephine. What kind of dog did Maki-chan say it was? A German retriever or something?

Makishima bent down and flashed a smile at Toudou. Not a forced smile that made him look like he was in pain. No, it was real smile that reached his eyes. For the first time all day, Toudou thought everything was all worth it. He'd treat the whole school to dinner if he could see Maki-chan smile again.

"She's a pure bred," he said, petting Josephine. Aki ran around Josephine, barking excitedly. "I thought you said you had a Pomeranian."

"Did I say that?" Toudou said, perhaps a little too loudly and few pitches too high. "I must have confused her for my other dog. Right."

Makishima scratched Aki's ears. "Either way, she's really cute."

"Of course! Pets do tend to look like their owners after all!"

It was the closest thing to a non-bike related date they've ever had. Aki, thankfully, behaved herself when Makishima was there, and Josephine was so quiet it was like she wasn't even there. Everything was going smoothly until…

"She bit me!" Toudou cried. Aki had suddenly bitten his ankle and was running circles around him. The only thing that softened the pain was Makishima's laughter.

"We've been walking around for a few hours now," Makishima said. "She must be hungry. When was the last time she ate?"

Did Arakita not feed his dog? No wonder she was so mean…

"Let's go back to my house, then," Makishima said.

Toudou made a reminder to thank Arakita for not feeding his dog.

They ended their day sitting on the floor of Makishima's room, watching the two dogs sleeping next to each other. If Toudou had been paying attention, Aki should have been asleep on the train or in his bike basket, but talking with Makishima always made him forget everything else.

"See? I told you you could take care of a dog and still make time to talk to me," he said.

Makishima laughed, then laughed and laughed with no end in sight. Toudou thought he'd won this time, but when Makishima continued to laugh, he felt something was off.

"How long are you going to pretend Aki is your dog," Makishima managed between giggles.

Toudou froze. "What are you talking about Maki-chan? Of course Aki is-"

"I see Arakita at the dog park every weekend. Why do you think she and Josephine are such good friends?"

He burst into laughter again, and Toudou felt his face go hot. There was no way Arakita was getting a free meal after pulling something like that!

"Today was nice, though," Makishima sighed after he'd laughed his fill. He leaned his head on Toudou's shoulders, and Toudou couldn't decide whether Arakita was the best person in the world or the worst.

The thing about Toudou's phone was that he never checked it while he was with Makishima.

From: Arakita

Time: 7:32 p.m.

Subject: I SAID FIVE HOURS MAX

Body: WHERE IS MY DOG YOU ASSHOLE

Next week, as promised, Toudou treated his whole team to dinner. To Arakita's annoyance, Toudou started talking on his phone twice as much as before, but one good thing came from it, he supposed. Every time they went out to eat, Toudou insisted he pay for Arakita's meal, saying it was the least he could do for setting him and Maki-chan up with each other.