"Arun, it's time"
The voice of the little black cat took the young man out of his sleep slowly. He stretched for a moment, taking a little time to sit on his bed.
"Hello, Mili... Have you slept well?" He asked, yawning.
"Perfectly good. And I ses you too. If you do not hurry, you'll be late."
Arun looked up at the clock above his bedroom door. It was already so late?
"Oh yes you're right, I thought I would have woken up sooner!" The young man said in a panicked voice, getting up hurriedly.
He was already 10 minutes late! He had certainly left work late the day before, and had trouble falling asleep because of the excitement he felt, but he did not think to sleep so much...
"Let's go !" He grabbed Mili at the same time, and left the house without waiting.
Fortunately, the trip was not very long, and he arrived at the clinic in a few minutes. However, he stopped short when he saw a line of people who seemed to be waiting for the opening. All were accompanied by pets, and obviously appeared as guests !
"Wow... Lami did not lie when she said she would advertise me..."
In front of the door of the clinic, a girl was busy talking with the customers, who were waiting impatiently for the opening. The clinic was not even open that she was already overwhelmed, and she did not know where the vet was...
"What's going on, it's been 15 minutes since the clinic should have opened, I'm waiting to have my hamster treated..." Unhappy voices came from the line of people.
"Yes, forgive us, it should happen very soon!"
"I was told that the vet was very good, but if he is not able to be on time, I'll just go elsewhere..." Another person lamented behind.
"No, do not leave, it will happen from one minute to the next!"
Myako did her best to reassure customers and watched her watch every five seconds. Where the hell was Arun?
This is the moment he chose to appear as a hero, finally presenting himself.
"I'm here, you have nothing to fear!" He said, addressing the dozen people who seemed more and more in a bad mood.
"Finally, Arun, where were you, and why are you... in pajamas?" Asked Myako a little embarrassed about the vet's outfit.
The people seemed as astonished as she was, wondering if it was really him, the gifted veterinarian that had been recommended to them.
"Uh... Let's say I woke up a little late, I'm going to change, and I'm coming in! Get the customers in." He whispered to his assistant, rushing into the building without delay.
A few minutes were enough to get everything ready : he had dressed in his white coat and was in his closet, while Myako was at the reception desk and had people enter the hall to allow them to wait in more comfortable conditions.
The poor assistant... He had not helped her arriving late today, but she had done a remarkable job in managing all those clients as well. Thank you, Lami...
He opened the door of his office and went to fetch the first person.
"Mr. Tajiro?" He asked in the hall.
A tall man in a suit got up quickly, looking serious. He held in his hands a little squirrel, red, which seemed in effect bad.
Arun led him into the closet, where he put the pet on the operating table. For such a small animal, there was no need to tie it up.
The man sat down with a sigh, visibly worried.
"So, what brings you, Mr. Tajiro?"
The man who had been silent until then finally opened his mouth.
"You see, Mr. Vet, since yesterday late afternoon, my squirrel, Kast, is less and less alive, and it seems to go wrong..." Tajiro explained. "I do not know what makes him suffer like that, but I'm really worried."
"I understand... we'll see what happens, do not worry."
Indeed, squirrels were usually much more active than that. It is an animal that goes up to trees, and that often flees humans, except in the case where it is tamed. But there, Kast barely moved, and was lying on the operating table ball.
Normal behavior would have been different, and he would probably have frolicked everywhere in the office, searching through what he found. Especially that squirrels were kind of curious, normally.
The veterinarian put on his latex gloves quickly, and approached the little animal, which did not seem to be afraid.
"So my little one, what's going on?"
"Ah, if you knew... that poisoned gift she gave me!" A small, light, nasal voice reached Arun. He stooped a little to be up to the animal.
"Who are you talking about ?"
Suddenly, the squirrel stood up, and stared at the veterinarian with surprise.
"Wowowowow, wait, how do you understand me?"
"Let's say I have a gift to understand you." Answered Arun with a smile. It was normal for an animal that had never had a real conversation with a human to be a little surprised at first.
"Damn, I'll have to be careful not to say too much bullshit, then..." the pet, who already had a rather vulgar language, said to himself...
"Do not worry about that, the important thing is that you explain to me what you have. If your master brought you here, it's for a good reason."
"Let me just introduce myself. I'm Kast, a fabulous red squirrel that turns the heads of all females!" Exclaimed the squirrel, taking a pose straight out of anime. However, he curled up on himself, moaning a few seconds later.
"Ouch, shit... I really should not have accepted this gift..." he complained, holding his stomach.
"Once again, what gift are you talking about?" Asked the veterinarian again, interested.
"Listen." The squirrel sat down to explain its story. "You see, I'm a squirrel, but not just any squirrel... A sacred squirrel, buddy, the most beautiful of all, and all the females fall for me."
In any case, he was not the most modest either... Arun said nothing else and just nodded to hear the rest.
"I'm used to receiving gifts, you see, acorns, leaves, things like that are always cool. And yesterday I was in a tranquil pine tree, and there came another female with a present! So I got up, I took it, and I ate it. At the moment I found it good, but since then I have a stomach ache, like a lot."
Arun understood the situation better. It was a food poisoning that was causing the squirrel harm. The fact that it was recent and that symptoms appeared so quickly was worrying... Some animals could easily die if they ate food that intoxicated them.
"And do you remember what it was like, the thing you ate?" Arun needed more information to target the problem. He would have liked to use his system that told him where an animal was hurting, but in the case of intoxication, it was useless.
"Well... I remember it was brown. A little brown thing, very sweet. Even sweeter than the berries I usually eat!" Answered the squirrel with energy. However, he sat there, lest his belly hurt him again.
"Was it chocolate?"
"Oh yeah, it's possible now that you say it!"
"So veterinarian, do you know why Kast is so bad?" Tajiro asked, feeling left out. He could not hear the squirrel's voice, and seeing the vet talking alone was not reassuring.
"I believe that I have understood." Arun sat up calmly, and sighed.
"It's a chocolate poisoning." The veterinarian finally stated, putting his hands on the operating table. The day was just beginning, and it promised to be agitated.