“Saki-chan!” Uika half-jogged as she reached their favorite garden bridge, at the same time a certain Togawa Sakiko walked towards her with a half-smile. “I’m sorry, I’m so late… Did you wait long?”
“Not at all. It was not even that long.” Sakiko gave her a small smile.
“Uu… Work got delayed and all that… I’ll treat you to food today, okay? No declines!” Uika clapped her hands together in apology, then flashed a charming bright smile. “Making you wait for an hour is definitely long! So let me make up for it, ‘kay?”
Sakiko only frowned at her, followed by a sigh. “All right. There is no reasoning with you, nonetheless.”
“Yay~” Uika gave her a bright grin. “Let’s go?”
“Wait, Uika.” Sakiko briskwalked towards her, pinched the hem of Uika’s skirt with her thumb and index finger, and gently tugged at her. “Come over here with me.”
“Sa- Saki-chan? You don’t have to tug me, I’ll walk with you.” Uika let herself be dragged along as she quietly followed Sakiko into a corner of the brushes near their usual garden bridge.
Sakiko let go of Uika’s skirt and quickly turned to her with a small ‘shh’. Uika nodded and closed her mouth as they quietly walked further into the corner. In just a few moments, they were approaching a medium sized cardboard box.
Inside it was a small puppy, curled around, sleeping. Uika peeked into the box closely, the puppy, seemingly noticing the presence of humans, opened its eyes, stretched a little and turned to look up at them, its small tail wagging left and right.
The dog was probabably about 3-4months old, it had droopy ears, and a cute short but thick tail. It was probably a golden retriever.
“Eh…?” Uika blinked as she turned to look at the front of the box that had written ‘Please pick me up.’
“…Who would be the rude person to do such a thing? Not to mention, the box said ‘pick me up’ but it was hidden all the way here, where no one would find it.” Sakiko let out a short huff, then crouched next to the box, Uika followed in suit. “…I do not feel so well knowing that I would be leaving an animal here after finding it.”
Uika blinked and turned to her. “Are you going to take it home?”
Gold eyes narrowed, eyebrows furrowed. “I would if I could.” Sakiko slowly shook her head, her hands slowly turning into tight fists.
“Then I’ll take it home.” Uika smiled at her. She reached into the box and patted the puppy’s head, it immediately barked once and enjoyed the head pats as its tail wagged faster. “You’re so energetic, hehe.”
“Does your apartment building allow animals? How are you going to take care of it if you are busy with school and your group’s activites… as well as our band?” Sakiko barraged her with a few questions.
“I didn’t say I’ll take care of it alone, just that I’ll take it home.” Uika grinned at her.
“I somehow have a bad feeling about this.” Sakiko narrowed her eyes at her.
“You’ll have to come over every now and then to care for it too. Is that fine?” Uika grinned at her then turned back to the puppy. “There, there, there, you want to play with Saki-chan too, right?”
The dog barked twice and followed Uika’s hand movements and laid on its back for belly rubs.
“…What if I refused?”
“Who was it the one who said they won’t feel good about leaving an animal here?” Uika teased her a little, and Sakiko only pursed her lips in a straight line. “Sorry. Ehe.”
“No, it is fine. Okay, I’ll do it.” Sakiko sighed and turned to look at the dog, then Uika.
Uika laughed as it gave the small puppy a few more belly rubs, one of the puppy’s legs kept on kicking air as it enjoyed the rubs.
“…They are kind of similar, somehow.” Sakiko smiled a little.
“…Had some happy thoughts?”
“There is no way.”
“You just smiled.”
“I was not smiling.” Sakiko stood up and turned her face away. “…Shall we go now?”
“Ah, but our plans…” Uika stood up as well and frowned. If she had dog ears, they would be droopy now in sadness. “Let’s just order some take out at home, then?”
“All right.” Sakiko nodded. Uika motioned to pick up the dog. “I’ll do it.”
Uika stopped midway as Sakiko immediately picked up the dog and carried it in her arms. “Ah, but your clothes would get dirty…”
“It is fine. Compared to mine, yours are…” Uika only looked at her worried. “Lead the way.”
“O-Oh… Yeah. Okay.”
Sakiko watched as Uika smoothly folded the cardboard box and brought it with her.
Uika called her manager who immediately picked them up, not totally worried about the dog, and drove them to Uika’s cozy apartment.
“Your agency sure does give you a lot of room.” Sakiko looked around the 3LDK, the puppy quietly resting in her arms, shaking scared at the new surrounding. “It is okay, do not worry.”
Uika smiled and gave the dog a few chin rubs. “I told them that a 3LDK is too much, and it’ll just be me, but they don’t really care, I guess…”
“I’m starting to think that we should have brought this dog to a clinic but…” Sakiko turned to Uika who had just removed her cap and sunglasses. “It would cause an uproar if a popular figure like you went to one, I suppose. I will take the dog to one in a few days.”
“I’ll go with you. I’ll make time.” Uika smiled, she still said it even though she knew that Sakiko wouldn’t want her to.
“No. You really should be more aware about your popularity.” Sakiko watched Uika lay down the folded cardboard box, unfolding it to its original shape. She then placed the puppy inside temporarily, it had stopped shaking, thankfully to familiar four walls. “…We should give it a bath.”
“Yeah… The fur is pretty dirty, also seemed very hungry.” Uika looked at the dog that immediately curled inside the box, resting. “Let’s think of a name.”
Sakiko blinked as she turned to the puppy in the box, then to Uika. “All right.”
“I’ll go to the store and buy some stuff the dog will need. Do you want to give it a bath?” Uika offered. Sakiko was about to retort but she quickly added, “The people in this store already know me, it’ll be fine. They won’t make a scene.”
Sakiko could only sigh. “All right.”
“The bathroom is here. I’ll bring you a change of clothes before I go out to the store, you can start.” Uika led Sakiko to the bathroom on the first floor of her home. “I have some dish soap to clean the dog with for now. I’ll bring it to you too.”
The simple bathroom had a bathtub and shower on one half, and the other half contained the sink and changing room. It was extremely spacious, but the shower and bath has a separator door for privacy.
“All right.” Sakiko nodded to her and walked towards the bath’s control panel and adjusted the water temperature to tepid.
The bathtub quickly filled up to at least 1/4 of its size and Sakiko turned off the faucet. She gently felt the water with her hands, then the realization suddenly hit her.
“What are you doing, Togawa Sakiko? We both know we don’t have the time and money to care for a dog. We can’t just entrust everything to Uika just because we know that she’ll do anything for us.” She sighed, hand still inside the tepid water as she stayed crouched next to the tub.
Uika peeked through the separator with some towels and a change of clothes in hand. “Saki-chan? Are you okay? Should I do it?”
Tired golden eyes turned to look at purple ones with conviction.
“I’m fine. You can leave it there.” Sakiko immediately stood up from the side of the tub and followed Uika to the main bathroom. “You can go now.”
The two of them left the bathroom as Sakiko quickly took the dirty puppy from the box, all the while Uika followed her around in worry.
“Uika, it’s fine. Go on.” Sakiko cradled the puppy in her arms.
“O- Okay. I’ll be back quickly!” Uika smiled at her and watched Sakiko’s back as she entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
Sakiko knelt next to the bathtub once again and gently placed the puppy into the shallow water. It barked once with such a small voice but didn’t move around.
“Sit.” Sakiko tried, and to her surprise the dog tilted its head to one side, then sat down. “…What a wise puppy.”
The puppy barked once again, and started panting. Sakiko took the shower head and made sure the water isn’t too cold or too hot. She gently sprayed water over the puppy’s head, making sure to avoid its ears, eyes, and nose.
Woof! Woof!
The puppy played around the water as it tried to catch and drink the water pouring from the shower.
“Ah. Don’t be too playful!” Sakiko tried to gently hold the puppy down but it still played around. She giggled a little and watched the dog prance around happily, as well as accidentally splashing some water directly to her face. “You remind me of someone.” She wiped the water from her face then smiled.
Uika, who was standing outside the bath heard her giggle, and breathed a sigh of relief. She left to buy supplies with a smile.
Unexpectedly taking a lot more time than expected, Uika heaved two heavy plastics of supplies and food, and other things, up to her apartment unit… and returning to an adorable scene of a certain Togawa Sakiko sleeping on her couch, and their new puppy curled next to her stomach, her signature twintails nowhere to be seen.
Uika slowly put down the stuff she had just purchased somewhere around the kitchen counter. She tiptoed back to the living room. She trailed her hand onto the back rest of the couch as she looked at a sleeping Sakiko and puppy. She gently reached for Sakiko’s silver hair, running them through her hands as she slowly neared her face to find its scent.
She closed her eyes and let her hair drop from her hand. Uika swallowed as she stared at Sakiko’s sleeping face. So pretty… Purple eyes trailed down to her eyebrows, those peacefully resting eyes, and her lips… Uika quickly shook her head left and right and stood upright.
“I guess being bathed, and doing the bathing would indeed tire someone out.” Uika suddenly yawned as she looked at the two peacefully sleeping. “Okay, no, we can’t sleep yet. Have to prepare…”
Sakiko suddenly felt something wet touch the tip of her nose.
“Ah! Stop!”
Golden eyes opened as she blinked once, then twice, to adjust to the mellow light of the living room, before being met by a pair of innocent orbs, and another pair of worried purple orbs.
“Ah… Sorry, Saki-chan. I just finished feeding him, and he jumped onto the couch and disturbed your sleep…” Uika gently took the puppy into her arms. She gently patted its fur. “You can’t do that when someone is sleeping, okay?”
Worf!
Sakiko closed her eyes for a few moments before slowly getting up. “It is all right. Also, ‘he’?”
“Oh yeah! I asked a friend, and she said that the puppy we picked up is a boy… We should think up of a name for it.” Uika smiled as she put down the puppy to the marbled floor who started rubbing below its ears with both hands. “Take that~”
The puppy leaned towards the floor as it enjoyed the ear rubs, its ears flapping.
“A name…” Sakiko sat up on the couch and watched as Uika and the puppy played around. The puppy flipped onto its back and Uika gave it belly rubs as she laughed. “They’re extremely similar…”
“Did you say something?” Uika turned to her with a big smile. She picked up the puppy and held it up towards her, front paws up as it stood on its two feet. The puppy suddenly opened its mouth, tongue out sidewards, while Uika smiled at her, eyes circle with a cute glint and a bright smile.
“…A name, right?” Sakiko fixed her skirt… and then remembered she had borrowed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from Uika.
“Ah. It’s a bit refreshing to see you in shorts and a t-shirt, Saki-chan.” Uika grinned. “Looks good!”
Red stained Sakiko’s cheeks for a while, before she fake caughed to brush off her embarrassment. “…It’s a bit of an odd feeling but… I suppose I have settled onto it as well.” Sakiko nodded as she looked down at her current outfit. “What name do you want for this dog?”
“Why don’t you think of one, Saki-chan? Technically, you’re the one who picked him up.” Uika smiled at her again then started hugging the puppy that was still standing on its two feet. “So fluffy… I bought some dog shampoo too. Wonder if it’ll be good for his fur?”
“A name then…” Sakiko quietly swallowed the lump that was in her throat. She felt her body heat up as she looked away. “…ka.”
“…Hm?” Uika blinked as she looked at Sakiko excitedly. That if she had ears and a tail, she would have evidently have been another one of the dogs.
Uika. The image of a cute golden retriever Uika embarrassed her as she panicked out of turn. “…ika!” Sakiko slightly raised her voice and Uika only turned to her surprised.
“…Ika?” Uika blinked as she turned to the puppy. “But she’s gold though?”
“I- It’s fine, isn’t it?” Sakiko faced Uika once again, her eyebrows furrowed as she insisted. “U- Unique names are good for dogs.”
“I wonder if it’s really like that…” Uika raised an eyebrow, then turned to the puppy. “You like your name, Ika-kun?”
Woof!
“Oh, you liked that? I guess you like it because Saki-chan gave it to you?” Uika smiled as she put down the dog on the floor. “Ika-kun~”
Woof! Woof!
The dog barked and jumped in joy.
Sakiko only closed her eyes and placed a palm over her face. “Why did I…”
“Saki-chan.” Uika called for her.
“Yes?”
“Let’s take care of Ika-kun, okay?” She gave her a bright smile.
Sakiko felt a certain warmth in her heart, as she gave her a small smile and a nod.
“Of course.”
(To Not Let Her Be Forgotten/END)
Sakiko dried her hands on the towel hanging over at the cabinet after putting the last plate she had washed onto the drier. She heaved a sigh as she wondered about what she was doing with her life.
“Adopt a dog at this time? This is ridiculous.” She closed her eyes and inhaled, a familiar scent quickly going into her senses.
“Saki-chan.” Uika wrapped her arms around Sakiko’s waist, leaning her jaw onto Sakiko’s right shoulder.
“Uika?” Sakiko tried to turn to her side, but she couldn’t look at her.
“…I know a lot of things has been going on with you, but I won’t ask.” Uika leaned her nose onto Sakiko’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “But please, promise me that you’ll tell me when the time comes, okay?”
Sakiko swallowed as she pursed her lips tight… before exhaling. “Understood. I will.”
“Thank you, Saki-chan.” Uika smiled and stayed in the hug. “Let me stay for a while.”
Sakiko nodded, and hesitated to touch the hands that were around her waist. She held her own hands instead and placed them over her heart.
“No, it should be I, who should be thanking you, Uika.
Thank you, Uika.”
(END)
