Otori woke up one morning, then looked to his right to see his puppy Hoshitani sleeping next to him again. Sitting up, he notices that his arm is trapped by Hoshitani cuddling it. He says, "Hoshitani..wake up." "Mm..five more minutes..." Hoshitani mumbles sleepily, his ears twitching.
"Come on, I'll be late," Otori tries to shake him awake with only a groan as a response. "I guess I'll just go eat some hamburger curry and orange cake all by myself today..." Otori says a bit dramatically, but it gets Hoshitani to wake up, eyes sparkling. "Curry and cake?! Let's go!" He gets up immediately, pushing Otori to the bathroom. Smiling, Otori gets ready for the day.
As he gets out the door, Hoshitani says before he leaves, "Have a nice day! Please bring back curry and cake!" Otori smiles as he leaves, closing the door behind him, "I'll be back later."
On his way to school, Otori meets up with Hiragi. They walk to school together and chat. "So...how's Akatsuki doing?" Sighing, Hiragi replies, "Same as usual. How's Hoshitani?" "Same, though I did promise him curry and cake later." "...I see." In an awkward silence, they go to class.
After school, as they walked home together, they picked up hamburger curry and orange cake as Otori promised, and went home. However, Hoshitani tackle-hugged him as soon as he got through the door. "Oof! Calm down! Sit! Stay!" Otori commands, careful not to drop anything. Hoshitani obeys, sitting down on the carpet, ears perked up and tail wagging excitedly.
Sighing, Otori puts the curry and cake on the coffee table, then checks his phone clock. "Hmm...we still have a few hours before dinner. Why don't we go to the park?" Hoshitani jumps up in joy, "OK! We'll have curry and cake as soon as we get home!" Then, he gets his leash, putting it on himself, then waiting out front. Smiling, Otori grabs the other end of the leash, and off they go.
The park is only a short distance from their house, but at this time of day, there are scarce few people and dogs around. As they walk, they spot Inumine, who immediately runs towards them. "Hoshitani! Glad to see you!" Inumine shakes Hoshitani's hand with a bit more force then necessary. Hoshitani smiles, "Inumine...what are you doing here alone?"
Inumine's ears droop, "Well...I got lost." "Ah...w-well, we'll help you, ne?" Hoshitani says nervously. "Really? Thanks!" Inumine smiles, tail wagging, stars in his eyes, then starts dancing and singing as he chats with Hoshitani. Otori shakes his head as this has happened more often than not lately. Once they got Inumine back on his way home, they both sigh as they rest on a bench with another pair of people. 'Dealing with him is tiring, even for me.'
Hoshitani looks to the left to see Hiragi and his guard dog Akatsuki. "Ah. Um...Hi," Hoshitani shyly says. Otori turns towards Hiragi then blinks. Hiragi blinks back. Akatsuki glares at Hoshitani, ears folded back, growling, "Why are you two here?" Hoshitani glares back, "We're just going for a walk before dinner. What about you?" "Same."
They glare at each other for a few minutes, growling, then they get pushed off the bench by Otori, yelping. "Alright. That's enough, you two," Otori glares. Hiragi pushes up his glasses, "Why are you two fighting anyway?" Akatsuki and Hoshitani look at each other before answering, "Instinct," at the same time. Sighing, both Otori and Hiragi decide to cut their walk short, and drag them home.
"This is getting ridiculous. You two fight every time you see each other. What's the trigger?" Otori sighs as he asks. Hoshitani answers bluntly, "You are." "Huh?" Otori blinks. "I fight to protect you since you are too generous for your own good. Akatsuki fights to protect Hiragi, especially from you for some reason. We simply oppose each other, and that's why we fight all the time," Hoshitani says.
Otori blinks again, then laughs at how ridiculously simple it was. "Oh, is that right? ...Well, I'm sure we'll work this out eventually. Hopefully before you two end up offing each other." Hoshitani is a bit confused, but nods anyway.
At home, they eat hamburger curry and orange cake. After taking a bath, Hoshitani yawns, then falls asleep on Otori's bed again, curling up. Otori was just on the phone with Hiragi, telling him what Hoshitani told him. They decide to get those two together so the dogs can fight it out as they probably need the stress relief and to see who's dominate between them. They'll watch from a distance and intervene if it goes too far.
Otori looks toward his bed, "Again?" Sighing, "Oh well. Goodnight," as he climbs in beside the pup. Hoshitani, eyes blurry, kisses Otori on the cheek then licks the other before snuggling to him. Otori's eyes widened in shock before looking at the pup again. Smiling fondly at him, Otori kisses his forehead, then goes to sleep.