Hito and Sengoku stayed in a traditional Japanese house as paying guests. They had come to Tokyo for high school, and the graduation was close.
Their house was on the other side of the block Ryota lived on. If one had to carry an injured Shiba Inu in their arms and walk the distance to Hito's house, it would take around ten minutes.
Sakura was asleep by the time Royta knocked on the door. Sakura was no more than four pounds, so carrying her was easy. he wanted her to lie on a bed till she would recover, but that asked for a veterinary doctor.
The closest vet was twenty minutes away, in the city's downtown. While waiting for someone to get the door, he lifted Sakura's cheek, the blood had dried into her mouth.
Sakura was aggressive, just like any other Shiba Inus, he feared he pushed his luck when he lifted her nose to look at the fang hanging loosely from her gums, but she remained sound asleep.
Staring at her broken nails all the way from his house to Hito's house, he still had not found a way to calm his anger. What the heck was he supposed to get treatment with five-hundred yen?
The door clicked, then swung open. A guy taller than Ryota stepped out, rubbing his eyes. "Today is a holiday, you know? And the movie marathon last night just—" Hito opened his eyes, revealing his blue irises.
Sakura struggled in Ryota's arms, then she opened her eyes. After smelling Hito in front of her, she wagged her tail, then whimpered.
Ryota shook her in his arms. "You will be alright."
"Wait right here," Hito said, shaking his bluish-black hair. "I will get Sen." He turned back into the house but then stopped. "Sen and the bike."
***
Purchasing a house for three years would be senseless, but buying a bike would save you some time and last for more than three years. Sengoku had purchased a Honda CBX in late 1978, the model of the first batch.
He had once told Ryota that he would like to buy the latest model, and perhaps he will when he gets admitted to the Japanese Naval Academy the next year.
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and their smell was rich. A few petals fell on Ryota from the tree above him. Right in front of him was the veterinary clinic.
As he took a bite of a ricer cracker he had purchased from the money Uncle Oji had tossed at him, a petal swept down his finger and rested on his lap. That petal was so similar to the metal cherry blossom tag on Sakura's collar.
He kept the rice cracker back into its pack, then picked up the cup of instant ramen. On the other side of the bench were three riceballs, saved for Hito and Sengoku who were inside the clinic.
He sat as if the whole bench belonged to him, spreading the food on both sides of the table and slurping the cup noodles. After swallowing another blob of noodles, he caught Sengoku walking towards him.
He had a file in his hands, still dressed in his pajamas called jinbei. His hair was messed and his brown eyes demanded sleep. Ryota put the cup noodles aside and pulled the pack of crackers in his lap.
As Sengoku closed in with a frown on his face, Ryota offered him a riceball filled with fish. He snatched it and dropped himself on the bench.
"Thanks, I needed this." He gobbled down the riceball; Ryota returned to his cup noodles.
"Have a rice cracker if you would like," Ryota muttered, slurping the hot noodles.
Sengoku finished the riceball and took a cracker. "This is getting worse day by day."
"How is she?"
"The worst since third March 1981." He took a bite, chewing at his slow pace. "You are coming with us to the house today."
"What is her condition, Sen?"
Sengoku sighed, throwing the remaining cracker in his mouth. "Three nails, two loosened. Her fang is hanging somehow, but it will break the moment she tries to chew on something."
Ryota dropped the chopsticks into the cup. "And internal damage?"
"Her eye was saved by an inch, or it would have scraped when she hit her head. One of her hind legs is broken, and the other one is injured. She would not be able to run till she recovers. And her tail…" His voice drifted off.
Silence accompanied them for a few seconds before Ryota slurped some noodles. "What about her tail?" he asked, rubbing his lips.
Sengoku leaned forward, staring at the cracker in his hands. "Why don't you join our PG? I will pay your rent if I have to."
Ryota dropped and lowered the chopsticks. "It is not about the money."
'It is about my self-respect.'
He wanted to leave the house since he was thirteen. But he had no money, no future planning, and no idea of how he would survive in the cruel world. And when he had the latter two at the age of eighteen, he still did not have money.
Sengoku had already done a lot for him – pay for his food when they were eating out, pay for his ticket to the movie theater, and buy tickets to a theme park for the three of them. Not to mention the number of books Sengoku had ordered from the States just so Ryota could enjoy the works of writers like Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Agatha Christie, Poe, and Lovecraft. What about the Blu-rays Sengoku purchased so that they could run their Weekend Movie Marathon?
"Anyway," Ryota said as he drank the remaining ramen soup, "where is Sakura staying?"
"No dogs allowed in our PG. Hito is making the arrangements for her stay and care."
"Money?"
"I told you, Hito is making the arrangements."
This could not be considered a debt, but Ryota did not want this charity either. Only if he had earned enough from his few short stories published in literary magazines. He got a total of seventeen thousand yen advance from his twelve published short stories, still not enough to pay Sengoku back.
Only if he could find a publisher and get his novella published… maybe he could grab a bigger advance, and what if his novella sells? Sengoku said that it was good.
"I will pay you back," Ryota muttered, more to himself than to Sen. "Thanks for everything. I will definitely pay your money back."
Sengoku smiled, then patted Ryota's shoulder. "Sure. When you earn enough from your writing, repay every single yen."
The amount might go up to a hundred thousand yen.. or more.