Should we hide in that café for now? It says that pets aren't allowed, so we can wait inside for Yuzu to leave, and then turn back and run in another direction.
Good idea! Let's go inside. Order anything you want to drink, my treat.
Soon after we enter the café, Yuzu passes by outside like I said she would, and she didn't notice that Nana Shiraishi and I were secretly observing her.
After successfully throwing Yuzu off our trail as planned, Nana Shiraishi receives a call and says that she needs to go home to help her younger brother with some homework. I have nothing to do, so I decided to go to Mahjong Soul Shrine to play with Ichihime to kill time. Halfway there, I run into Yuzu with the Alaskan again.
PLAYER, why are you all alone? Where's Nana?
She returned home first because she had something to do. You should try to help her overcome her fear another day.
Argh... fine then. Orio, it looks like I can only return that thing to Nana at school tomorrow.
The Alaskan called Orio seems to understand Yuzu's words. He lowers his ears and growls before placing the hair tie in his mouth onto Yuzu's hand.
So were you chasing after Nana to give this back to her?
Yes, Nana dropped this when she was running away, and Orio wanted to return it to her after picking it up.
Haha, such a good boy.
Orio turns to look at me just as I reach out to stroke his head, shocking me with his reaction speed.
It's alright. Just stroke his head if you want. He won't bite you. Even if you stick your fist in his mouth, he'll just keep his mouth open and won't do anything to you.
R-Really? But I don't have the courage to really stick my hand in his mouth...
Arf!...
Oh... He's surprisingly docile, completely unlike what his appearance suggests.
Yes, he just looks impressive. He's actually very well-behaved and is even a little simple-minded. He likes to rush up to everyone he sees and greet them.
Even if other dogs bark at him, he just thinks they are inviting him to play with them. Argh... fortunately, he's strong enough, or else others would bully him since he has such an innocent personality.
It's a shame that Nana ran away so quickly. If she knows how well-behaved Orio is, she'll probably be willing to play with Orio no matter how scared of dogs she is.
I'm not so sure about that. She proudly announced that she's cowardly enough to be scared of all dogs. But since Orio is so well-behaved, we really can try to get them to spend some time together... By the way, am I imagining things? Why do I feel like Orio isn't that happy?
Arf, arf...
You're quite astute. Orio is feeling a little down because he's really fond of Nana and says she feels like one of his kind, so he's sad that they couldn't play together this time.
She feels like one of his kind? What do you mean?
I'm not so sure either. I don't always understand what he says.
(whisper) ...Hmm? Hits it off with anyone right away... enthusiastic... doesn't get angry even if people have a bad attitude... energetic... runs really fast...
As I gently stroke Orio's head, the image of a certain person starts to overlap with Orio in my head...
Pfft! Hahaha...
Why are you laughing?
I just thought of something that makes me happy. I understand now. I think Orio is a good judge of character and is actually quite wise.
Argh? This is bad! PLAYER has managed to understand Orio before me!
Why do I get the feeling that you just insulted me... Think carefully. Don't you think Orio and a certain person are quite similar in how they can hit it off with anyone right away?
Now that you mention it... Oh, I understand now. No wonder Orio wants to play with Nana so much. If they are one of a kind, then Nana must be able to accept Orio. This is great! Now we have a chance to help her overcome her weakness!
I'm starting to see some hope now too. I'll try to help you convince Nana to spend some time with Orio later, but let's not disturb her again today.
Well, we still have some time... If you don't mind, Orio, do you want to play with me?
Arf?! Arf, arf!
Haha, he looks so happy once he heard that he can play with someone. Let's go to a playground.
I decided to cancel my original plans and play with this enthusiastic and good-natured dog until dark to make him feel better for not being able to play to his heart's content with Nana Shiraishi...
Arf!
Slow down! Yuzu, can you get him to run slower?!
That will be hard. Orio gets carried away once he starts running.
Orio is going to run wildly again. I don't know if my body can take more of this...
