Omake / Recollections And Memories 5 / Temporary Pet

"Okay, but why?"

Itsuki glared at what Motoyasu decided to bring in today. He was always on the receiving end of scrutiny whenever the roommate decided to bring in something. Most of the time, it would have been on the weirder side of things. Mainly, they arrived in the form of heavy discounts that Motoyasu noticed and bought impulsively. Other times, they would be gifts from his friends, which made Itsuki question what type of friends he had.

However, this occasion had been unique, but just as equally perplexing. His childhood friend, Ren, and his other roommate, Naofumi, were all looking at each other, making sure that everyone was seeing the same thing. Sure enough, none of them were hallucinating.

"So, let me get this straight," Ren groaned. "You went off to get groceries, only to return with a dog. A dog of all things. You didn't even bother to get the groceries."

"Okay, I might have forgotten the groceries, but look how cute he is!" Motoyasu held up the puppy, panting as if he was trying to sell himself to the roommates. "I couldn't leave him there to be abandoned! I feel bad for the little guy!"

"Your heart was definitely in the right place, Motoyasu," Naofumi said, coming to take the puppy out of his friend's hand, "but we can't keep a dog here. That's just some more expenses to our roof, not to mention we probably don't have any room for one more."

"Aw, c'mon! I thought you would be on my side, Naofumi! Surely, we can keep him!"

"Did you forget that one of the landlord's rules was to have no pets here?" Ren sighed, crossing his arms. "You might be able to hide the dog for a week tops, but it's going to slip out at some point and we'll get in trouble. When that happens, we're the ones that get dragged in as well."

"Yeah, that too," Naofumi nodded. "Even if you say that you'll be the one to take care of it, we'll end up getting dragged into problems, one way or another."

"Didn't you know about that rule?" Itsuki asked, tilting his head. "Weren't you the first guy who rented out this place out of us here?"

"Eh, I just signed whatever terms and conditions they wanted me to sign. I didn't actually bother reading what they were trying to enforce, so that's actually news to me."

"Ugh, seriously?"

"Be careful. It's habits like that that might cause you to be abducted to some mysterious snowy mountain. You might think it's some normal job for a mountain rescue, only for you to figure out that the workplace is more than meets the eye, only because you didn't bother reading the fine print."

Itsuki slowly burrowed his eyebrows at Naofumi.

"... O-Oddly specific."

"Never mind that." Ren shook his head, adjusting his attention over to the puppy. It looked right at home in Naofumi's arms, but it wasn't something they should have gotten used to. "It doesn't change the fact that Motoyasu brought home a dog. What the hell are we going to do about this?"

"Well, we can't just abandon the poor puppy after it just got abandoned."

Itsuki reached out to rub the dog's head, making it squirm in its playfulness. With the adorable way that it looked at him, it was tugging at his heartstrings, but rules had been rules. Its fur was so soft though, making him confused why someone would abandon a fluff ball like him. Or her.

"Why can't Motoyasu just put the dog back?"

"Don't be stupid, Ren," Itsuki nudged.

"But if it's for a short time, I think we can take care of it." Naofumi knelt down to let the puppy roam freely, but it kept jumping back up to his lap. The three roommates chuckled, seeing its charming display, while Ren sighed, looking to be disinterested. "Of course, until we find a better place for the puppy to stay. That shouldn't take long, right?"

"I could ask some of my friends," Motoyasu said, "but they aren't going to be readily available to pick up a dog. Though, I could definitely find someone if I'm given a week to do so."

"You better. You're bringing this problem to our hands, so you should be the one to fix it all up," Ren groaned. "I don't want to be cleaning up after a dog, after all."

"Oh, don't be like that, Ren. Isn't it really cute?"

Itsuki pushed Ren over to the temporary pet, having no signs of a real struggle against the motion. His friend stumbled to Naofumi's side, giving a chance for him to see the dog for himself up close. A dark hazel pelt and a wet snout that was curiously pointing towards Ren, they both gave signs of friendliness.

Honestly? The dog looked docile enough, but as Ren reached out to reluctantly pet the animal for himself, it uncharacteristically snarled so suddenly. If he didn't move his hand back quick enough, his palm would be tightly embraced by its deceptively sharp fangs. Repetitive barks of aggression followed soon after, leaving disdain in Ren's mood.

All in the meanwhile, he frowned directly at the person holding the dog. Surprisingly, he wasn't affected by the dog's rough movements, as if it was trying to be wary of Naofumi while fending off against Ren. It truly left the friend in a daze.

"Don't feel sad, Ren," Itsuki chuckled, patting his friend's back. "I'm sure you'll find a dog that likes you one day."

"The way that you say that makes me bitter for some reason," Ren pouted, crossing his arms.

"Huh? You don't have good relationships with dogs?" Motoyasu asked.

"No, I don't," Ren grunted, backing up to give some distance between himself and the animal. The dog started to calm down once he got far enough. "For some reason, they're the complete opposite to me as they would be with Naofumi. Dogs just seem to love Naofumi for some reason, not to mention a lot of other animals, but I've never had a good experience with dogs ever. They always end up hating me on the first encounter like I killed their father or something."

"... That, as well, was oddly specific," Itsuki muttered under his breath. "Am I missing a joke or something here?"

"What? I'm just using the first metaphor that came to mind."

"And why exactly was that the first thing that came to mind?"

Ren shrugged.

"You know, I always wondered why Naofumi was really good with animals," Motoyasu pondered, glancing over to the aforementioned roommate. He was trying to calm down the puppy, successfully at that, from its hypered energy against Ren. "It just seems like every animal that we come across, they just really like him."

"I don't feel like I'm doing anything special, just treating the pets the same as always."

"Well, at any rate, this dog isn't any different, for me and for you. I'll be off to my room since I won't be able to come in any close proximity to it without endangering my body."

Ren departed from the group, heading back to do whatever he would do by himself. Probably booting up some Brave Star Online again. It left the other three roommates with each other, deciding what the course of action was. Itsuki was given the dog to look after as Naofumi spoke with Motoyasu. He glanced over to watch as Itsuki played with the dog using his hands and a baby voice.

"So you're saying that this dog got abandoned?"

"Yeah. Cardboard box and the whole deal. I don't understand what's stopping these people from simply handing them over to shelters or animal societies. Are they really that lazy to stop by there?"

"Well, we can't really speak for whoever chose to leave the puppy there. Maybe there were some circumstances that we don't know about."

"I guess you're right, but if we can't keep the dog here, I need to start talking with my friends as soon as possible."

"No, what you have to do is do what you actually were supposed to do."

"... And that is?"

"The groceries?"

"Ah. Right." Motoyasu backed up and grabbed the keys off the kitchen counter. He waved his salutations to his roommates, backing up the walk of shame. "I'll, uhm, do that immediately."

"Don't come home with a dog this time! Or any animal, for that matter!"

"Alright, alright! I already know that!"

Naofumi, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all took turns taking care of the dog.

For the time being, Naofumi thought it would have been a good idea to name him Doggo, but the name was so terrible that Motoyasu and Itsuki both unanimously agreed to reject it from the table. Naming conventions apparently weren't Naofumi's strong suit, so the other two collaborated on the name, much to Ren's disagreement to even provide it a name in the first place.

He argued that a name would only make it more difficult to part from it, but he ignored his remarks and ended up calling the dog Azuki, since the colour of his fur somewhat resembled those of adzuki beans. A few others were on the table, but everyone ended up agreeing on this name.

By the way, Ren's naming convention was as bad as Naofumi's, but in a different direction. Itsuki wasn't sure if it was out of spite either. He had been bothering his childhood friend a bit, trying to see what type of name Ren would have given it, only for the answer to come out as Sandstorm, following the same lineage of thought as Azuki.

In any case, the few days were relatively incident-free, especially with Ren keeping his distance away from Azuki. There was always someone to help take care of the puppy, set aside for a few hours where everyone had been at school or work. Itsuki would typically find himself swamped with balancing everything throughout the days, but Motoyasu said that a friend of his was interested, but needed a few more days to get everything in the house set up for the dog.

If it was for a day or two, Itsuki decided to skip out on his band practice. If he had to be honest, he was primarily there for moral, not for practice. He was already really talented in his part to play, so the club leader didn't mind if he needed to go home earlier for a few days. Itsuki didn't tell anyone, but when he opened the door to the apartment, he felt like he was seeing something he shouldn't have been seeing.

Naofumi was out for a class, while Motoyasu was at his job, leaving Ren to be the only one at home with the dog. Naofumi asked him that if it ever came to that, simply provide Azuki some dog food they bought on the side, along with some water. There was no need to even get close to the dog, but Itsuki found himself frozen when he glanced into the dining area.

"You don't need to be scared. I won't hurt you, boy. Just stay still, nothing's going to happen."

Ren was kneeling down, trying to get Azuki's attention. His attention was so captured by the dog that he didn't hear Itsuki open the door behind him, but Itsuki didn't have the might to say anything about it. He silently watched as Ren did his best to get closer to Azuki as he ate.

Azuki was certainly less aggressive this time around, but it might have been because he was eating. Whatever it was, his friend thought this was the perfect opportunity to get closer.

"That's the spirit. Just let me pet you and we can go our separate ways, Azuki."

Azuki started growling immediately when Ren entered its personal space, but he was persistent in pursuing the pet. His hand slowly approached the dog's head, but as it came closer, the dog turned his head and bite forwards as if Ren's hand was another part of its meal.

Ren was fast enough to pull out in time before the dog peacefully went back to its food.

"Damn it. No good either, huh." Sighing, he crossed his legs and leaned forwards in a slump. His cheeks puffed up in a somber pout. "Naofumi makes it look so easy. Why can't dogs like me? I just want to pet them, but they keep trying to attack me. Is there a reason you don't like me in particular, Azuki?"

"Arf!"

"Something about me that you can't stand or…?"

"Arf! Arf! Grrrr…!"

A silence filled the room, followed by a defeated growl.

"... What the hell am I doing with my life? Why am I talking to a dog?"

Itsuki felt like he shouldn't say anything. Instead, the best thing to do was to preserve Ren's pride here, walking back out the door and coming back in a few minutes. With that in mind, he slowly backed out and carefully made sure to not make any sounds as he put himself into reverse shift.

Unfortunately, the dog had different plans in store. The way that he had been standing was which Ren's back was towards Itsuki, leaving the dog having a full sight that there was someone else in the room. Itsuki didn't see the possible problem until Azuki turned his head, looking directly at him.

And barked.

"Huh? Why are you…?"

Ren turned his head and everyone froze.

The two friends looked at each other in an atmosphere most unbreathable between the two. One side didn't want to speak for being caught as a spectator, the other side as an unexpected participant. Itsuki counted at least a minute before the silence was eased out by Ren's glaring statement.

"... How long?"

"... I, uh, just got here. What are you talking about?"

"... Cut the shit. Tell me."

Itsuki averted his gaze and gulped. "You were trying to pet Azuki."

"... Please don't tell Naofumi or Motoyasu."

"Lips were sealed from the very beginning. Believe me."

Ren groaned as Itsuki went over to Azuki. As difficult as Ren was making it out to be, Azuki allowed Itsuki to pet him rather normally as he happily finished up the food.

"Wait, why don't you want the other guys to find out? I think it's sweet that you want to get closer to Azuki, even if Azuki hates your guts. I'm pretty sure that they'll think the same way."

"That they'll hate my guts?"

"No, what!? I meant the fact that it was sweet!"

"Well, that's not the image I want to have here and it's…" Ren turned his head, blushing a bit. "It's embarrassing. I don't want to deal with any possible repercussions and besides, it won't look cool if I'm trying to fawn over a dog over to my side."

"You really think Naofumi and Motoyasu care if you're cool or not?" Itsuki chuckled as he sat down, letting Azuki snuggle up in his lap. It slightly made Ren envious, but there was no real need for something out loud for people who already know that.

"Don't be stupid. Of course, I already know that." He stood back up, strolling over to the kitchen area to grab a drink. "I already know that Naofumi and Motoyasu are different in that sense."

"Then why do you have to keep up the facade at home? It's a home for a reason, but this time around, it's a place where we actually relax. No reason to keep up society's expectations for us, since it's a place where we can unwind and be ourselves."

"If I get too used to it…"

A sip followed slowly afterwards.

"You don't even have to try much. Your social problem already causes you to distance yourself from other people."

"Are you trying to start a fight with me?"

"I'm just saying that you already unintentionally make yourself look like one of those cool loner types. The ones that you would see as protagonists in some television shows. I mean, have you heard the rumors about you at school?"

"No, not really. I don't talk to many people at school to begin with."

"You'll be surprised at how much of a topic you actually are. To what an enigma that you may be in their eyes, only for the truth to be that Ren Amaki was actually afraid of dogs. Quite the trivia."

"What!? I'm not afraid! They hate me! Have you been paying attention!?"

Itsuki stood back up, holding Azuki in his arms as he walked over to his friend. The dog was seemingly docile again in Itsuki's grasp, but Ren shuddered to think what might happen if he made any movements towards him. It wasn't necessarily fear, but perhaps it was mere precaution. Like a flip of the coin, the dog's mood could change without any other explanations.

Nevertheless, Itsuki leaned forwards, letting the dog be the one to get near Ren instead.

"Then prove it. He seems all for some headpats right now."

"He's already giving me death glares. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Because you're not giving him his headpats!"

"I feel like you're entirely disconnected from the situation at hand here."

"And I feel like you need to move that hand of yours. C'mon, he won't bite. You've been helping in feeding him, right? There shouldn't be a reason why Azuki would hate you now."

Ren groaned at Itsuki's persistence, but perhaps there were some reasons for that. In showing that he wasn't a bad person to the puppy, and that he wasn't interrupting his meal time, it was possible that Azuki saw Ren in a better light now.

However, the puppy started growling the moment that Ren lifted his hand.

He lowered it back as the growling stopped, but when he lifted it up again, the growling continued in tandem. It seemed like the closer the hand was, the louder the growling. As Ren slowly went up and down with his arm, adjusting the volume of the growling for them to hear, all he did was stare at his friend with a blank deadpan expression.

"You were saying, idiot?"

"Alright, maybe that was a slight miscalculation."

"You weren't even doing mathematics there, buddy."

Itsuki sighed as he pulled Azuki away and let him go to roam to the dining area.

"Maybe if Naofumi gave you some pointers, you could get along with Azuki."

"He doesn't even know what he's doing when it comes to animals. They just flock to him like he's one of those fairy tale princesses."

"That's an image I didn't want to imagine," Itsuki groaned.

"And besides, I told you already. I don't want to mention this to Naofumi or Motoyasu, no matter how much you try to reason it out. It's just my personal preference, alright?"

"I mean, you're already cool to me. Even if they found out and started to judge, would it even matter? Anything you do has to be cool in its own different way."

Ren averted his gaze, being flustered for a bit. "Y-You're just saying that."

"No, really! Even if you're not acting up, doing all those cool poses and saying all those cool stuff, I still think that you're really—"

A hand suddenly reached for Itsuki's collar, pulling him closer to see Ren's empty eyes. It was entirely possible that Itsuki wasn't being mindful of what he was saying, noting how quickly Ren's emotional shift was.

"Please don't talk about that. I thought we went over this already."

"R-Right. It slipped. My bad."

Ren exhaled, pocketing his hands from his release of Itsuki. Azuki was putting as much distance between them, so there wasn't much left for Ren to do except to return to his room. He decided to leave the clean-up of the dog's eating plate for Itsuki to deal with. A full week hasn't even passed yet and he was already feeling pretty tired dealing with the dog.

"Oh my God! He's so adorable!"

Motoyasu's friend, who was predictably another girl, fell in love with Azuki at first sight and from the way that the puppy was wagging its tail, it was a reciprocated feeling. The four friends watched as she carried Azuki into her arms with a huge smile on her face.

"I can't believe you came across this cute puppy, Kitamura! I'll definitely make sure to take care of him. He's going to have the best home ever with me!"

"I hope so," Motoyasu chuckled.

"He's got too much energy, so make sure you look after him properly," Itsuki added in.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure my siblings would love to keep him company."

Ren slumped on the table, as Naofumi sat across from him. Motoyasu and Itsuki were talking with Motoyasu's friend, giving Naofumi a small opportunity to speak with the younger friend.

"It's a bit of a shame that Azuki didn't open up to you during the week."

"Yeah, well. I'd be stupid if I didn't expect that. It's whatever."

It was not whatever.

Every moment Ren had by himself with Azuki, he tried his best to bridge the gap, only for each attempt to result in a failure. Itsuki's various pushes never helped in the slightest and by the end of the experience, all he wanted was his wasted time back. He should have known that there was some unsaid law that prevented him from getting close to a dog, but he didn't listen.

At least this was a learning experience, if anything, to not make any advancements to one, if a dog ever showed up in his life again. He'll probably just thrust the animal over to Naofumi and call it a day. There shouldn't have been any issues in doing that.

"Do you like animals, Ren?"

"I think they're fine. Why?"

"It's because I feel like you've been trying to get closer to Azuki. Though, it would have been nice if Azuki did end up being friendly around you to prove to you a point."

"Hold on. Did Itsuki tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"... Never mind." Ren shook his head, glancing back at the dog in the girl's arm. "Anyways, what point are you talking about?"

"I kinda wonder what I was trying to mean there. Maybe if you opened up to Azuki with some food in your hand, it could have worked out."

With a gentle smile from Naofumi, Ren could only grasp at straws to possible interpretations. There was no way that Naofumi casually forgot what he meant there, but there was no intention in digging further down than he needed to see.

Though to what Naofumi was saying in the latter half, he could try once more before it was all finished up. He remembered there was a bag of food pellets that they hadn't emptied out yet, so he stood up and grabbed it out from one of the kitchen's cupboards. There wasn't enough to warrant giving to the girl as a gift, but there was a small handful remaining. He slipped a couple out and walked over to the entrance area.

"Hmm? Did you want something, Ren?" Motoyasu asked.

"Just a parting snack for Azuki."

He held it out to the dog who leaned forward to smell the food. It looked like it was suspicious of Ren, but after the girl held him a bit closer, the dog took one of the pellets into his mouth. Using the opportunity, Ren reached out and felt the dog's head for the first time.

It didn't growl and more importantly, its head felt softer than he could imagine.

Maybe he should have gone off to talk with Naofumi in the first—

"..."

The dog suddenly bit down on Ren's hand very tightly.

Motoyasu and Itsuki looked with blank expressions, blinking at the incident, while Naofumi turned his head away, trying to not be labeled as the instigator. The girl merely glanced at Ren's hand and slowly panned over to his frozen face. The seconds certainly felt like minutes in the empty ambience before she spoke up in concern.

"Hey, uhm. Are you—?"

She didn't get to finish her sentence.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"