The sun was high and bright in the sky over Tokyo as Retsuko was enjoying her day off. Sitting on her bed as she relaxed in her apartment, the little red panda gazed out the adjacent window to take in the view of the cityscape. She wasn't particularly interested in what sort of buildings stood out in the distance – she had seen them all again and again after all. Actually, she was just happy that she finally got her allotted weekly reprieve from the draining chaos of the office. Now that she was getting her much needed rest, she let herself smile just a bit.
She briefly jumped when she suddenly heard her phone vibrating at her side. When she leaned down to check who it was on the screen, her fur stood less on end as she saw that it was her pink cat friend Puko who was calling. She picked it up and answered. "Hello? What's up, Puko?"
"Oh, hey Retsuko. I'm doing fine. How about you?" Puko's voice sounded on the other end of the line.
"Same," Retsuko answered with a smile, "just another wonderful weekly release to myself." She smiled even more as she listened to Puko laughing. "How's business going?"
"Um, business?"
"Yeah," Retsuko clarified, feeling somewhat confused that Puko somehow didn't pick up on the hint. "How's your overseas shipment work doing? Getting all those deliveries to your office okay?"
"Yeah, about that…" Puko replied a little slower than the average speaker, seemingly hesitating to say what she just said.
Retsuko's initially happy face lowered into an expression of apprehension. "What's wrong, Puko? Did something happen?" She could hear Puko taking in a deep breath and letting out a sigh.
"Retsuko, I…" Puko tried to say, making Retsuko shift on her bed as in a manner of asking her friend to continue. "I'm…not in Japan. I left the country a while ago."
Retsuko leaned back on the wall next to her bed, taking in this new bit of information. "Okay…does that mean you're picking up the goods now?"
"Yeah, more or less. I'll just tell you this now: It's a new and permanent part of my job now. I'll still be managing the business, but I'm going to be doing that and helping bring in the goods while overseas. I guess I'm back to what I used to be."
"Don't say that," Retsuko let out a nervous laugh in an attempt at assurance. "I think you're moving up in the world, or maybe in your case, 'out'. It'd definitely be a promotion getting to go wherever you want while doing the work you have and get paid for it. I think it's a win for you."
Hearing that gave Puko the energy to return to being her usual self, or at least let out a good laugh. "I guess so," she chuckled, which made Retsuko smile and laugh as well from hearing that.
"Well, in that case, congrats on your work," Retsuko said. "Any idea when you'll be back?" For a moment, she felt like worrying again when she didn't get an answer from her friend right away, but before she could say anything more, Puko did respond.
"Not yet, but we'll see…"
Retsuko frowned, still sensing the same nervous tone in Puko's voice. But whatever reasons her friend had for up and leaving the country for a change in her work, she trusted her, not to mention such a thing was private until shared otherwise. Retsuko was always a responsible girl, and she would continue to be for everyone she cared about.
With no other reasons to drag out the conversation further lest Puko was working at this time, both girls said their goodbyes and hung up.
In an average multilevel building, a couple guys were busy moving the last of a load boxes inside their workspace at the top of the stairwell.
"Gee man, I really wish we could've gotten the movers, or at least an elevator!" one of them, a messy-haired beagle, complained.
"You're telling me," griped the other guy, who was a colorful parakeet, "We talk about that all the time, but we never get around to actually doing it!" He panted as he put down a bigger box and pushed it into a corner of the surrounding office. "Man, Puko's really having it good out there…"
"Yeah, about Puko…" the beagle remarked, feeling calmer and more curious than stressed. "She used to man the office here in Tokyo, but now she's out. Weird, huh?"
"I know, right? And it was so sudden," the parakeet chipped in. "Just one day, she just came in looking really scared and told everyone that she was moving positions. I won't question why she'd change up her work, but it makes you kinda curious, you know?"
"Apparently, her folks had a lot to do with that," said the beagle. "They were all freaking out over her crossing paths with some tall stranger on the streets, talking about how her life was in danger and she needed to get out of dodge." He let out a little scoff. "To think a bunch of overreacting and rumors would be what does it for Puko…"
"Whatever man," the parakeet rolled his eyes.
After having finally finished his task for the hour, the beagle thought he'd go back downstairs to ground level, where the front entrance of the building was. When he got there, he took his break outside, helping himself to a bottle of aloe vera juice while leaning against the wall.
He let himself relax as he took in the ambient sounds of the breeze and cars that drove in the distance. Other than that, all was quiet and serene, a good way to wind down…his ears twitched at hearing a sound he never heard before, going off repeatedly and sounding a little louder as it appeared to get closer. He wondered what or who exactly was making that sound when he saw it…
A wide-brimmed white hat was moving above the 7-foot-tall brick wall that lined the border of the property. For a moment, he thought the hat was sitting on top of the wall, but the way it moved so gracefully meant that it was actually behind the wall…and someone was wearing it. His eyes followed the hat as it moved closer to the front gate, and then he got a good look at the hat's wearer.
It was a giraffe, a female one judging by the curvature and facial features. Her body was adorned with a simple long sleeveless dress that was white just like her hat, the skirt going down to her knees. She apparently was the source of the hat that hovered above the 7-foot-wall, making the guy gasp as it meant that the giraffe lady stood above the wall, taller than it by at least one more foot. For a second, he wondered if the woman was walking on stilts, or maybe wearing high-heels or platform shoes. But before he could process how to react to such a sight, he was caught off guard by the lady stopping in front of the entrance and turning her eyes to him ever so slightly, an exaggerated grin gracing her features. And with that look, she made that sound again…
Meanwhile, the parakeet was chilling back in the office room, nestled comfortably on the wooden floor among the number of other boxes he and his partner had brought up a short while ago. He didn't have long to enjoy his break when he caught his partner running back into the room and yanking the door closed behind him.
"What's up with you?" he asked in mild curiosity.
The beagle didn't cease his nervous behavior. "I just saw something weird just outside," he panted in a sweat, "I don't know why, but I just freaked out when I saw her!"
"Whoa, wait! 'Her'?" the parakeet interjected. "Is it Puko?"
"What? No!" the beagle exclaimed incredulously. "Puko's nowhere near as tall as that lady! That lady looked taller than the outside wall and she was dressed like some country farm girl!"
The parakeet continued to look at his friend in a confused expression. "Okay, you just met a lady who's really tall and yet that freaked you out?"
"No one's that tall, man!"
Hearing that made the parakeet respond more softly and rationally to his friend. "Dude, then maybe she's from out of country. She's probably European or American, maybe Mongolian. There are stories of really tall people who come from those places."
"Yeah, but when's the last time a story about an eight-foot-tall Japanese-looking woman came about? I didn't even realize it was a woman at first!" the beagle remarked. He turned away to look out the window, leaning back against the wall and sliding down onto the floor into a sitting position – he at least made sure to take his shoes off on the landing in front of the door and step onto the raised wooden flooring first. "But still…even while she looked like any giraffe lady, the moment she looked at me…I got hit with an ultra-icky feeling, like something bad was gonna happen."
The parakeet laughed. "Wow. Some taste in women, huh? Didn't take you for a serious ladies' liaison!"
"Oh, don't you go there!" the beagle huffed, somewhat offended but also relieved he was able to feel something other than apprehension.
"I'm joking, bud," the parakeet lifted his wings for de-escalation. "Maybe you didn't see something right when you looked at her. Didn't you say that you didn't know she was a woman earlier?"
The beagle nodded. "I only knew she was a woman when I saw her, but before that, I thought I was hearing a man's voice."
"That's it then," the parakeet quipped, "You were probably face-to-face with a guy in drag."
The beagle paused, unsure of what to say about that suggestion, but he lowered his eyes to the floor in exhausted confusion. "Maybe…" he sighed as he rested his arms on his knees. "Girl or guy in drag, that person was weird as heck, and I'm not sure how good of a talker she is." He lifted his head back up to face his friend. "Like, what kind of lady makes the same ugly sound over and over anyway?" Po…po…po…po…
Who do you think it is? What do you think it's got to do with Puko? And what do you think will happen next?