For a good amount of Maki's life, she often wondered what she would be doing in the future. There was absolutely no doubt that she would go into medicine, her parents had made sure of that. Her end destination had already seemed set for her.

Along the way though, something changed. For one reason or another, she was persuaded into joining an idol group, of all things, and found herself taking it far too seriously than she thought she would. She performed in front of people, always making sure to keep a smile on, practiced until she couldn't even lift a bone in her body, stayed up late into the night composing songs instead of studying.

It... it was fun, she was realized. But there was also no doubt that the reason it was so fun was because of the people who made up ยต's.

She had resigned herself to endless amounts of studying and thought friends would have no place. She would have no time for anything considered normal for high school studies, sticking her nose into the books and going to cram school. Instead, Maki met people she didn't think she would ever meet, becoming lifelong friends with them in the process. It surprised her how natural she had come to regard her friends as, well, friends.

And, over time, she had even come to regard one of her friends as someone... much more precious. It was a long and arduous process that Maki could say (with the added bonus of hindsight) was made infinitely more complicated because of her stubborn self. With the help of her other friends though (however much she was loathe to admit their involvement at times simply because of how much she had made a fool of herself at their suggestions), Maki had managed to push past the fear of rejection and (awkwardly) confessed her feelings. It was with the greatest joy that she discovered her feelings were reciprocated as well, and Maki never forgot the way Hanayo smiled so brightly at her.

Hanayo... was a constant source of strength, always quietly encouraging her even when Maki felt herself backed into a wall with deadline after deadline, exams on top of exams, hours all mixing into each other that she didn't even know where her days went anymore. Maki was ashamed to admit that sometimes she took it for granted, feeling like what she did in return for Hanayo paled in comparison to everything Hanayo had done for her. She couldn't have asked for anyone more understanding, more patient, more wonderful than Hanayo.

And now, after so many years later, she was finally an accomplished doctor in her own right, with Hanayo at her side. And also, she was in dire need of a vacation. Hanayo proposed visiting her grandparents in the countryside, and Maki agreed all too easily, ready for a change of pace.

... except her change of pace came with her sprinting as fast as she could down their expansive yard, shrieking for dear life as their terror of a dog chased after her with a running hose in his mouth.

She turned to see where Hanayo was-a blast of cold water hit her dead on in the face. Nearly falling but managing to right herself in time, she whipped her head away, sputtering and still running, zigzagging all over. "H-Hanayo! Gohan, stop-Hanayo!"

Unbeknownst to the chaos happening behind her, Hanayo only continued to hum softly to herself as she tended to the flowers in the garden. Maki hoped establishing a direct line of sight with Hanayo would aid in her telepathic messages for help. Unfortunately, the water spraying at her face deterred her from trying too long. And, the more she ran, she farther away she was getting from Hanayo.

But, the length of the hose wasn't infinite! With how far Maki had run out, there had to be an end in sight. Banking on that to get her hopes up, Maki continued to run as hard as she could and zigzagging back and forth so her dog couldn't crash into her and knock her down. Even as her legs and lungs burned for her to stop, even knowing that their dog was only chasing after Maki simply because she was running, she stayed moving.

She could do this, she had been through worse. Even with the occasional jet of water hitting her, she was doing good, just a little more-

Maki felt the pebble under her shoe, felt her feet kicking out from under her, felt nothing but sheer panic as she saw the ground rushing up at her-

She crashed to the ground. Thankfully, thankfully, she managed to land on the grass and not the rough dirt. Not that it didn't hurt like hell though.

Except now her dog was in her face, spraying water at her. She desperately reached out, wrestling the hose from her dog. He quickly ran away as soon as she pointed the hose at him, barking loudly. Within several seconds though, the water flow began to lessen before stopping completely. Maki looked up and found Hanayo waving at her across the field, a camera in her hands.

Here was Maki Nishikino, utterly soaked because of her dog and sitting in the middle of a field with a hose in her hands, wondering exactly when and how her life came to be like this.

"I'm home!"

It was like everything happened in slow motion, as Hanayo watched Gohan barrel straight out of her arms. Maki snapped her head up, normal expression transforming into one of confusion before finally settling on horror upon realizing what was about to happen.

The both of them were too slow too react, as their dog rushed toward Maki.

Even with the impending sense of danger, Maki couldn't help but think he looked like an oddly stretched piece of mochi-

He barreled straight into her, knocking all wind out of her and pushing her down against the wall, eagerly licking at her face afterward.

Hanayo rushed over, pulling him back, trying not to laugh when he turned to lick at her face as well, too excited to care anymore.

"I... I still need to get used to that," Maki could only say dazedly afterward, groaning.

"Maki-chan, Maki-chan!" Hanayo came running into the bedroom, excitedly bouncing on her feet. Maki put her book down, looking up at her. "Look, look!" Hanayo gestured to the door. Maki already knew what to expect when she saw their dog standing there, waiting outside. When he noticed Maki's attention was on him, his ears went flat against his head, his body shaking as he wagged his tail.

Hanayo called out, "Do you want to come in?"

Nothing happened. Maki looked at Hanayo with a raised brow. Hanayo tried once more. "Gohan, want to come in?"

Their dog hesitantly stepped forward until he was exactly right at the invisible line that separated the bedroom from the hallway. He moved his head upward and opened his mouth-

Maki narrowed her eyes just as Hanayo giggled. "W-wait, what was that?"

Hanayo laughed and skipped over to the entrance. Maki slowly trailed after her, watching them in bewilderment. "Gohan, again!" Hanayo shouted with a clap of her hands. He looked at her before making the same sound once more, a soft cry.

"Woo woo."

Hanayo let out a gleeful squeal and he took that as his affirmative to come right in, bounding straight into Hanayo's waiting arms. Maki was still staring, stunned, before she shook her head in exasperation, reaching out to ruffle his head.

Hanayo... was being extra affectionate today, nipping along Maki's neck. Hanayo was warm where she was on top of Maki as well, adding to her contentedness. Maki certainly wasn't complaining, especially as she felt her neck being nuzzled. Hanayo had always indulged whenever Maki got in these moods and it was only fair for Maki to return the favor.

Hanayo's nose touched her neck, leaving trails of wetness.

Oh. Oh.

Maki jolted awake from her nap on the couch. She didn't open her eyes though, groaning once she realized exactly what was going on. She pushed Gohan away from her face, rolling over and hiding it from receiving more licking. He whined, nudging her back with his nose.

When she felt him move away, Maki rolled onto her back, turning her head to look at him. Gohan let out a bark, putting a paw on her arm. He whined again, looking at her pleadingly.

Maki rolled her eyes, letting out a loud sigh before she made herself comfortable. After she did, she patted her chest. Gohan eagerly took the invitation, jumping up onto the couch. She patted her chest again and he laid himself against her, fluffy fur all in Maki's face. She sighed, absently raising her hand to scratch at his head as he settled against her.

It was comfortable, she had to admit. She couldn't quite go back to sleep so easily after jolting awake but she was more than content to just lay there, especially with a heavy mass of fluff on top of her. It was getting just a little bit too warm though.

She looked down, watching Gohan sleep. If she had to move, she would wake him. However mixed her feelings were about this dog, she would still feel more than guilty waking him up.

So she stayed there, even when the urge to shift and change position became stronger and stronger. "He'll get off soon enough," she grumbled, still absently patting his body. She closed her eyes, too content to move now.

The front door rattled.

In an instant, Gohan snapped awake, knocking his head against her jaw. Maki yelped in pain but before she could recover, he immediately kicked off of her full force, barking loudly and rushing away. Seconds later, the front door opened and Hanayo's voice rang out.

"I'm back!"

Maki answered back with a weak shout, curling into herself to soothe the pain.

Never mind her mixed feelings, she still hated this dog.

"Okay, really though, did we need more?" Maki couldn't help but ask as she looked down at the puppies sprawled all across her legs. Gohan had claimed the outside of her right leg for himself, laying against it with his back. On top of both her leg and him was a puppy using them as a pillow, snoring away. With all the other puppies spread across her legs, it looked as if she had an extra fluffy white rug covering her. It certainly felt like it.

Hanayo giggled, shifting slightly to lean closer to Maki from where they sat on the floor, leaning against their sofa. The puppy in her lap moved as well, scooting forward onto Maki's leg and falling asleep once more. "But they're so cute!" Hanayo said.

Maki looked down at the puppies, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "... maybe," she grudgingly said, reaching down to scratch the ear of the puppy now in her lap. Hanayo giggled again, giving a small pat to Maki's arm.

However much Maki had protested, there was absolutely no doubt that Hanayo had utterly fallen in love with these puppies. If Hanayo was happy, Maki was also more than happy, however much she thought otherwise when she had been woken up to the shrill cries of helpless puppies in the past few weeks. They were only lucky they were cute.

One of them let out a yawn, opening its mouth widely and letting out a little cry as well before settling back down, pushing against her leg with its delightfully soft paws.

... they were horrifically cute.

Maki bent down, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Hanayo's head. Too exhausted to even move away, she rested their heads together. She moved her hand and laid it on top of Hanayo's, their fingers tangled together as they both softly petted the puppy in their lap.

"There's... too much for us to take care of," Hanayo spoke up then, voice quiet. Maki pushed her lips together before sighing again.

"Yeah," she only said, trying to push down the painful pang that hit her when she thought about not even having one of these puppies in the house. She didn't want to think about that right now though, not with all of them sleeping so peacefully. "We'll... we'll figure that out." Hanayo nodded, her hair tickling Maki's cheek. Maki closed her eyes, a content smile gracing her lips.

Her phone on the couch behind them buzzed at that moment. Maki didn't even need to look to know who the message was from. There was only one person who it could even be, when Hanayo had revealed to their friends about their new fluffy riceball additions. Instead, she let the quiet sounds of her new family lull her away to sleep.

"We're... we're gonna all keep all of them," she mumbled, too tired to realize what she was saying. "I'm never letting go of them... ever... I refuse to give one to Eli..." she trailed off, snoring lightly now.

Hanayo laughed, wondering exactly when Maki would realize she was the one who was more attached to their child and grandpuppies.

A/N: this second part exists because I keep getting sent dog videos. Thank you for reading.