On a Saturday, a week after having lunch with Kamaishi and Lina...
I had nothing in particular to do so I was lying on my bed and leisurely reading a book .
Hm... I was bored .
Tired of reading, I rolled on my bed while Karen was playing with Rouga next to me .
"Hand!"
"Wan!"
"Sit!"
"Wan!'
"Bend down . "
"Wan . "
"Backflip!"
"Wan!"
After performing all of those orders, Karen patted Rouga's head .
Rouga was perfectly trained .
From the day Karen knew of my skills, she had been interested in Rouga and came to my room every now and then to teach her .
"Good, good . "
"Kuu–nn"
Rouga seemed to like Karen as well and happily let Karen caress her head .
I wondered if it was just my imagination, but I thought I noticed that she was enjoying Karen's head pat more than mine...
I started to feel slightly lonely .
"...hey . "
As I was gazing at Karen and Rouga playing, Karen spoke to me while holding Rouga in her arm .
"What?"
"Let's adopt Rouga . "
"Adopt her? In our house?"
"Yes . "
I contemplated Karen's abrupt suggestion .
"Is there any need to adopt her anyway?"
Rouga is already adopted through my [enslaving magic] . She could show up whenever I called her and didn't need to eat in order to stay alive .
She can still eat if she wanted to, but as long as there was magic, food wasn't important .
I didn't see any necessity to adopt her here .
"The process is not important . There's a deeper meaning in adopting her in our house . "
"I see... and what's your true intention?"
"Asking you every time I want to meet Rouga has started being a troublesome task . "
So that was your real motive . I was impressed she said it without hesitating . How straightforward .
"But what about you Rouga? Will you accept getting adopted here?"
"What does adopting mean~?"
"Hm... it means that you can be outside whenever you want . "
"Can I eat delicious food~?"
"Well, you can eat it if you want too..."
I heard that dog food was considered a feast by dogs .
Though Rouga is a wolf .
"Okay then~!"
"She said okay . "
I conveyed Rouga's answer to Karen .
For some reason, Karen was looking at me as if I was a weirdo .
"If I didn't know that you could talk to her, you'd look like a dangerous person talking with himself . "
Karen moved a few steps backwards after speaking . She was right, if someone else was to see me like that, I'd look like a strange guy talking to the air .
I mean, I would think the same thing if I saw someone acting like I just had .
Replying with an awkward smile to Karen who was still moving backward, I tried changing the topic .
"Leaving aside the adoption matter, how are you going to convince mom and dad?"
My parents didn't have anything against animals in particular, but we never adopted anything in our house . Was it possible to get their permission?
"It's okay, I have a secret plan . "
Seeing Karen's awfully confident expression, I felt a bit uneasy about the near future .
What was she planning to do?
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After eating eating dinner with our parents who had returned from work, Karen finally started moving .
"Dad, Mom, we need to talk . "
"Talk about what?"
"What's the matter?"
Taking aback by Karen's sudden yet serious expression, both of them listened to her .
Was it necessary to look that serious just because of a dog?
"I have a request . "
"Request?"
"What could be this request?"
With Karen putting on airs, our parent's further became interested in what she was going to say . Suddenly, Karen leaned down as if she was going to pick up something from the ground .
"I want to adopt this dog . "
Following that sentence, she brought up the thing she was holding under the table .
Seeing Mom and Dad, Rouga, who was being held in Karen's arms, let out a greeting bark .
"Wan!"
"Oh my! That's a cute puppy . "
"Where did it come from?"
With the cute Rouga in front of them, Mom reacted with a passive expression while Dad started wondering where it had been hiding .
I had just summoned her using my [enslaving magic] . It was normal for him to feel something strange .
"I picked it because it was cute . I want to adopt it . "
"Hm, but that's too sudden . "
"Training it would take a lot of effort . "
Almost as if she was expecting their negative response, Karen continued confidently, "You don't need to worry about that . This puppy is smart . "
She then put Rouga on the ground and started ordering her .
"Hand!"
"Wan!"
"Sit!"
"Wan!'
'Bend down . "
"Wan . "
"Backflip!"
"Wan!"
"Dead . "
"Waauun~~"
Rouga accomplished every single order from Karen without a single miss .
I didn't know she had been training her for this moment .
It did definitely bring good results .
Both of my parents couldn't hide their astonishment after seeing such a perfect show . They seemed to have enjoyed watching Rouga play .
And then, as if she was concluding the show, Rouga exhibited her last and best move .
"Breakdance!"
"Waaaoon~~!"
Rouga, who was playing dead, used her back and neck to roll around . She was making the same moves I saw in a video about breakdancing .
I didn't remember Karen training Rouga to do something that great .
When did she do all of that?
While I was being taken by surprise watching Rouga's dance, my parents had already crossed a certain point, appearing dumbfounded . Well, there was no dog in the world who could do a breakdance, after all .
"The end, bow!"
With Karen's last order as a sign, Rouga stopped dancing and sat bowed down with Karen .
I turned to see Mom and Dad's reactions at the end of the show and they were sitting in mute amazement .
"T-That's great!!" Mom was the first to scream all of a sudden and rush over Rouga .
"This puppy is really smart!"
"So can I keep it?"
"I think I can approve of it now . "
Getting mom's approval, Karen switched her sight to Dad who was muttering something like "I can use that..."
As expected from a director, he was already thinking about a way to use Rouga .
"Dad?"
"Hm? Ah, yeah, why not . "
He was faintly taken aback when Karen called him, but he didn't refuse .
With this, it was decided that Rouga would be adopted into the family .
"Good for you, Rouga . "
"Yes! Now I can eat delicious things~~!"
I patted the delighted Rouga .
Ryoga let out a cute moan when I pet her . My parents were kinda struck and approached to caress her as well .
"L-Let me pet her next . "
"M-Me too . "
I turned Rouga over to them and they started gently brushing her with their hands .
Noticing her happy and cute reaction, both of them fell for her charm .
That was fast .
"We did it!"
"Yeah . "
Karen and I exchanged a short conversation while watching our parents petting Rouga .
It looked like she was an official member of the family now .
Things would probably get lively in this house .
I couldn't help but think that after witnessing that scene .
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Bonus
You're a dog!
"Chief~! What is this~?"
"That's called dog food . It's something like a feast for dogs . "
"I'm not a dog, I'm a wolf!"
"Well, you look like a dog, so you should be fine . "
"Mu~ I am not a dog! I am a wolf... but, it smells good . "
"Try eating it . "
"Okay~ (what is this, it so delicious!!) "
"How does it taste?"
"It's so~ delicious!!"
"So you're a dog after all . "
"I feel like I can't deny that now...~"