As soon as Hinata got home from school, he ripped off his shoes in the entryway.
“Chris, I’m home!”
An energetic bark came from farther back in the house, and the moment Hinata opened the living room door, Chris came bounding toward him.
“Here I am, Chris. Let’s go for a walk.”
Hinata tossed his backpack onto the sofa and hugged Chris, rubbing the dog’s soft, fluffy back. Chris eagerly smushed his snout against Hinata’s face.
Chris was a Shiba Inu with a light-brown coat and a curly tail—and he was Hinata’s partner. The dog had only arrived four months ago, but he was already an irreplaceable member of the family.
“All right, time to walk. I’ll go get your leash and walking bag, so… Stay!”
Chris did as he was told and sat down on the floor, watching Hinata expectantly.
Good job, Chris! We really understand each other! Hinata thought. He was eager to take his dog on their daily walk. However…
“Hey, Hinata, are you listening to me?”
No sooner had he locked the door and reached the bottom of the stairs than he ran into Mayuka.
Mayuka was Hinata’s longtime friend and classmate. Hinata tended to be shy and withdrawn, and Mayuka was one of the few friends with whom he felt like he could be himself.
However, she could be pushy at times. And at this particular moment, Hinata was fed up with it. He finished descending the last step and reached for the glass door on the left, which led into the Marron Veterinary Clinic.
“Hiiinaaataaa,” Mayuka called out sulkily.
Hinata spun on his heel. “Yes, I heard you! It was the only thing you would talk about at school today!” He held up a finger. “Last night, you walked past the haunted mansion behind Tenso Shrine and saw a mysterious light in the window. And now you want to go back and check to see if it was really a ghost. But you’re too scared to go alone, so you want me to help. Did I miss anything?”
Mayuka grinned and shook her head to indicate that he’d gotten it all.
Hinata continued, “Then I’m not going!”
“C’mon, Hinata… You’re already taking Chris on a walk. It’s just a little detour. Please!”
The white dots of Chris’s eyebrows drew together in a look of consternation. He seemed to be saying “Please don’t fight, you two…”
Hinata turned away from her in a huff and opened the glass door into his parents’ veterinary clinic. The entrance had two sets of doors so that any pets brought in couldn’t escape the lobby. Once the three of them were inside, the inner automatic doors opened up.
“Dad!” Hinata called out. Yuusuke, his father, was standing behind the reception counter. The fall afternoon’s soft, welcoming light filled the lobby, making it feel warm and comfortable—nothing like a haunted mansion.
“I ran out of Chris’s poop bags. Can I have some more?”
“Ah, of course. Is it walk time?”
Yuusuke was the clinic’s nurse and groomer. He was in charge of trimming the pets’ coats and helping to manage their health. He had been a rugby player back in college and was tall and well-built, but his mannerisms were always gentle and kind.
Mayuka put her hands on the counter and exclaimed, “Mr. Yuusuke, we’re going to see the haunted mansion at the end of our walk! I saw an eerie light when I passed by last night…”
“H-hey, I said I’m not going. Dad, the bags…?”
“But, Hinata! I won’t be able to sleep at night unless I know whether it was really a ghost! Please, won’t you come with me?”
Yuusuke chuckled as he handed his son a plastic bag. “Ha-ha-ha… Mayuka, I can’t tell if you’re actually scared or if you’re enjoying all this.”
“Of course I’m scared! It might be a real ghost,” she said, pouting. Hinata sighed.
“She’s definitely just having fun…,” he said.
“I agree,” said a new voice, startling Hinata and Mayuka. They spun around to see their classmate, Rui Takeuchi. He was sitting on the lobby sofa, holding a large brown striped cat on his lap. He pushed his glasses up and fixed his gaze on Hinata. “But you’re scared, aren’t you?”
Hinata blinked a few times in surprise before recovering. His face drifted down to the floor. “I—I don’t really like spooky stuff…”
Why does everyone like telling scary stories? I just don’t understand it. The only one who gets me is you, Chris…
He glanced over at the dog, who whined with apparent sympathy and wagged his tail.
Rui smirked. “I do. When I was little, my grandma would tell me scary stories at bedtime.”
Everyone knew what a grandma’s boy Rui was. His classmates would occasionally tease him for being old-fashioned. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He stroked his cat’s back and peered into his eyes. “Sometimes I wonder if Chachamaru’s tail will split in two, and he’ll turn into a nekomata.”
Just then, Chachamaru’s tail twitched, startling Hinata. Chris, too, watched the cat’s tail with interest.
Mayuka pointed an accusatory finger at Rui and said, “A two-tailed nekomata is just a cat monster—a Japanese youkai. I’m talking about ghosts.”
“Both youkai and ghosts are fantastical and mysterious, so I don’t really see the difference. Incidentally…”
Rui rummaged through his shoulder bag and pulled out two plastic capsules.
“…I’m collecting youkai figurines. You can have these, Hinata.”
Hinata took the gift with hesitation. What are these things…? he wondered.
“You get these at random from capsule machines, so I have a lot of doubles. In fact, I have three of both of those, so don’t feel bad; I really don’t need them. They’ll be good luck charms.”
Hinata opened the capsules and took out the tiny figurines. One looked like a koma-inu, the lion dogs that stood guard outside of Shinto shrines. The other one seemed more like a bird. Both were very oddly shaped.
“This one is called Hakutaku, and the other one is Amabie. Both of these youkai have the power to repel evil. You should take them with you when you go to the haunted mansion.”
“Th-thanks… They’re very…cute…”
Hinata thanked Rui. He then put the figurines back into their capsules and stuck them into his pocket.
Rui beamed, pleased that his gift was appreciated.
The door to the examination room slid open, revealing a middle-aged woman with a corgi.
“Thank you so much, Doctor,” she said.
“All right, Koko, you take care,” called out another woman from over her shoulder. It was the presiding veterinarian of Marron Veterinary Clinic, Hinata’s mother, Suzune.