The Canis Melitaeus, with a life span of twelve to fifteen years and an average of 3 to 5 puppies per litter: a dog chiefly for show. It is small, and it is cute. Left to assist in a hunt, it will naturally be less effective than most other breeds. What it does is give off an appearance, that is all. They thrive on love and attention, to such an extent that they can suffer separation anxiety if taken away from their human companions. The full damage this trauma can have, however, varies upon each case.
This long haired Maltese however, looked anything but traumatized. She was in her element: standing proud and upright as her human companion brushed her. Her little body was pure white with lively, sea green eyes. This was a moment she could be content to live in for eternity.
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" The human tilted her head. She was wearing a low-cut, light purple top, and hanging along her waist was a long, similarly colored skirt that went down nearly to her ankles. "You know who made it so, don't you?"
Hinata faintly smiled as she continued to brush the Maltese's long white hair. "It's because Father made it this way," she explained, softly. Hinata was kneeling by the dog, leaning her face toward the dog's ear. Her long skirt was flowing behind her, out of which were her bare feet. It was a fair day for dogs, a god, and a human. The sun was keeping watch, and the wind was a modest friend. In the sky, various clouds appeared, often mysteriously in the shape of bones or chew toys. "Just as Father makes every day."
From what they had figured, Deus had established such solid rules and laws of the world that he rarely had to lift a finger and issue commands any more. They were not at that stage yet. Her father was still toying with his newfound capabilities as god of time and space.
It amazed her even still that this was their reality. Her father's strategy had been brutally simple: he would scare his opponents until they felt their enemy was everywhere and began to act irrationally. By staging a chain of murders from afar, he was able to garner the attention of both the media and the other Diary owners without revealing his identity. With his Breeder Diary, he could control his numerous attack dogs, and he could send them into a frenzy after targets of his choosing.
When he began to notice that he was being observed, her father took an extreme gamble. He petitioned Deus for the chance to transfer his Breeder Diary to a third party, namely his daughter. The request was granted, and so Hinata became her father's arms and legs in the fight. She fought to the point of even having to fake her own death, just to lure her target into an unsteady panic. The combined planning of Hinata and her father paid off when the spy outside their house was at last cornered in a building. The dogs managed to break through and flood inside, ripping Kurusu Keigo to shreds. It was the death of 4th that shook up the survival game.
Now the police force was aware that not even their bravest and strongest was safe. Two movements happened simultaneously within the force: they strengthened their efforts to get to the bottom of these murders, while at the same time they drew back from the cases. A passionate desire for avenging Keigo appeared in his men, but this was balanced by an equal fear of standing out and ending up with his gruesome fate.
Hinata continued to brush the white Maltese.
With 4th out of the way, the rest of the events happened so suddenly that they all began to blur together in her memory. Spurred on by her father's promises of a wonderful future if he won, Hinata proudly led her father to victory. Their attack dogs managed to hunt down each of the Diary owners one-by-one, choosing the weakest Diary owners while the stronger ones naturally collided and took care of themselves.
The smile on Hinata's face quivered and tears were streaming down her cheeks in a thin line. The Maltese turned her head to look at Hinata, who continued to brush her as though nothing were amiss. Something of an understanding reached into the dog's eyes. The Maltese turned to her human's face, lapping up the tears. Hinata would have laughed, but something was preventing that. Instead, her tears only grew, until she finally lowered the brush and dropped it on the kennel floor.
She rose and left, allowing the Maltese to follow her through the open door. Along the paved path she walked, head down, with her companion at her heels. The new Cathedral of Causality supported an extensive series of kennels, in which her father's favorite pets dwelled. The whole Cathedral was composed of different "rings." The first one was at the base and was the largest; stairs led from this one up to the next. The higher the layer, the more valuable the animal was to him. At the top, there was a small little enclosed space, where her father spent much of his time in private. His bed was in there, as well as his books and luxuries. The tiny house was connected to a wine cellar. Hinata was not allowed in this top ring; only her father and his beloved Mary were welcome.
Just in front of the small house and wine cellar was an ornate chair. It was his throne, built into the Cathedral. From time to time, he would sit there and overlook his animals and the world he had created. Before, he monitored Deus' world with a massive computer screen in the basement. Now, he monitored the world from the skies, summoning up projections of the scenes below whenever he willed.
Hinata kept walking, with her head down.
Of course, not all of his animals were dwelling in the Cathedral. That was impossible; he had grown his pack far beyond anything seen before in human history. Below, the entire world went to the dogs. Every species roamed, every rare breed her father had ever found mentioned in passing within one of his books; they all lived below in a more harmonious society than humans were ever capable of. They fought for food and territory, just as humans had, but unlike them, dogs never fought for the sake of peace. They never tried to be anything more than animals.
Hinata collided with something in front of her. It turned out to be Karyuudo Tsukishima, her father. It was unusual to see him down here, on the bottom ring of the Cathedral. After Hinata collected herself and apologized, she saw her father open up his arms wide.
A gentleman's vest in the world had been converted into a magnificent, purple pinstripe robe. This classy vestment covered up his old boots, which of course he still wore. Such old habits were a bother to part with. The sleeves of the robe were rolled up; he still wore massive blue bite guards on his forearms.
Tsukishima closed his arms around his daughter. Her body was awfully stiff, but he held the embrace.
"And to think…" Tsukishima shut his eyes and gave thought to that which he decided he would never say. "To think that I had planned on lying to her… I was prepared to lie to her, if defeat was inevitable. I would have told her that the promise I had made, the promise being lived out now, was a lie—I was planning on lying to her, so that she wouldn't have to mourn over her father's death… That way, she could move past me, even if that meant hating me." He held her tighter, but she really did not respond. The Maltese sat down by her feet. "But, I never had to make that lie…"
Tsukishima broke the embrace and took a step back from her. He then placed his gloved hands on her shoulders and, looking into her lowered eyes, said sternly, "You need to accept things as they are now." Hinata refused to look up at his face. "You can't keep holding this all against me. It's already been some time, yet you still—"
"It's been only a week," Hinata interrupted, softly.
"And that is sufficient time for you to accept the world I've made for you. After all that has happened, I thought you would know enough to accept the fruits of our labor when offered to you."
"But Mao—"
"I scarcely understand your preoccupation with that particular subject, afterall—"
Hinata jolted back. Tsukishima's hands fell to his side. She was now looking at her father, but not with the reverence he had hoped for. "I was prepared to give up everything to help you become a god," she stated. "But Mao—why did she have to give up everything, too?" Her father looked as though he was about to answer, but Hinata continued, "Everyone I cared about lost their life for us either working with us or working against us—don't you understand that, Father? All of my friends are dead, even Mao…"
Tsukishima smiled. "But, Hinata, dear, Mao is here…"
Hinata's eyes flashed. "This thing isn't Mao."
Tsukishima frowned. "I'm sorry you feel that way… It's unfortunate that you hold that view."
"This dog isn't Mao!" Hinata turned toward the white Maltese with the bright sea green eyes. She went to bury her teary face in the animal's coat. She scooped the dog up and held her tightly in her arms, before turning to look at her father again. "She… she… She can't think on our level, she can't feel like she used to be able to feel, she can't hang out, and she can't even hold a simple conversation…"
Her father crossed his arms and looked away, for a moment. "You should be happy I brought her back, at all." His voice was quiet, but it hit Hinata. He blinked away the words he would not say: "You don't need another person to talk to, other than me. We have all these years to make up for. You don't need distractions." Those were notions, however, he kept only in his mind.
He looked back at her. Tsukishima thought to himself of the ways in which he might try to make it up to his daughter. "Hinata," he began, now with a bright smile. "Let's have some dinner! Matsusaka steak, your favorite soup… I can have Murmuru cook it all up for us, in no time. We'll polish it off with a glass of my prized 30 year old wine! It will be splendid!"
Hinata shook her head. "That isn't enough, Father."
With his arm still tightly crossed, Tsukishima turned his back to her. He was frowning and had closed his eyes. "This is why I like dogs more than people," he said. "They listen." He knew it might not be advisable to say these things, but he needed to make his stance clear. "They obey."
"You give them shelter and food, and they love you unconditionally. They ask for nothing more to be in your presence. They do not wander away, to find lesser love—they are content to just be with their master. You tell them to hunt, and they hunt. They don't come crawling back, wanting anything great in return. They hunt, because they enjoy the hunt and because they want to make their master happy. Humans, I always thought, were just slow to catch on… But now I realize that perhaps they simply cannot get better."
The first week as god of time and space was eventful for Tsukishima. He was quick to lay out his world, and he was already about to start setting up the rules and laws that might soon bring real structure to his reign. It was a tough week. He kept his assistant busy, too. As he set up the rules for the world below, he set up the rules for Murmuru above. Chief among these tasks was seeing to it that she groomed and took the very best care of the brown cocker spaniel, the one with beautiful amber eyes. He had in mind to bring her up to the top ring someday, but he knew that would take some tender love and conditioning.