Chris had been barking at the rear door and seemed startled by the front passenger door. Then a hand reached out and grabbed his collar. Something flashed.
“Chriiiis!!”
Chris was being taken away!!
Hinata caught up to the car and dove for all he was worth.
He struck the arm reaching out from the passenger door and landed on top of Chris, flattening the Shiba Inu to the ground. Hinata clung to the struggling dog’s collar and stayed low, pressing himself to the asphalt.
Just overhead, the car door slammed shut. The white car then sped off, driving past the train station and out of sight.
“Hinata! Chris!”
Hinata could hear Mayuka’s voice calling them. He was still on the ground, holding Chris. The dog was whining sadly. Hinata’s heart raced, and he breathed heavily.
“Hinata, are you all right?” Mayuka asked fearfully, bending down beside him. “Hinata? Chris? Are you alive?”
Groaning, Hinata lifted his head a little. “M-Mayuka… Did you get the number?”
“Huh? What number?”
“The license plate number on the car. I was in such a panic that I didn’t check…”
“Neither did I! I just heard Chris barking, so I turned around and ran to catch up. I didn’t see any numbers!”
Hinata got a firm grip on Chris’s leash and slowly sat up.
Oooh, my elbow hurts. And my knee is bleeding… His head was swimming. He was afraid to look at his own blood.
Several people who had been walking around or working at nearby shops came over to help.
“Hinata, are you all right?”
“Oh no, your knee is bleeding…”
“Someone let the vet clinic know!”
“I’ll go!”
Soon there was a crowd around them, and the area was buzzing with activity.
Within moments, Yuusuke was running over from the clinic.
“What happened, Hinata?!” His face was pale as he crouched down beside him. “W-was it a traffic accident?”
“N-no, it was Chris… This car nearly took Chris away. It drove up from behind, and a hand came out and grabbed Chris’s collar…”
“But you didn’t get hit by the car?”
“N-no. I jumped because I was trying to get Chris back…”
Someone nearby said, “Um, should we call an ambulance?”
Huh? Hinata felt a little burst of panic. No, we don’t need all that!
“I-I’m fine. I don’t need an ambulance,” he stammered.
“Let’s get you home, then. Up you go.”
Yuusuke picked Hinata up off the ground. Hinata quickly handed the leash to Mayuka. It was embarrassing, but there was no escaping his father’s grip, and he wasn’t in any state to walk anyway…
With Hinata in his arms, Yuusuke bowed to the crowd around them.
“I’m sorry to have worried you all like this,” he said. “I’ll take him home now…”
From there, he walked back to their home above the clinic.
Suzune took Hinata to the bathroom to scrub both his elbows and his right knee clean, then stuck large bandage pads on them.
“Don’t worry; Chris isn’t hurt at all. And you just got a few scrapes, so you’ll be fine. There’s nothing to worry about,” she told him as he sat on the couch. She gave him a pat on the shoulder and looked him in the eye. “What in the world happened out there?”
Hinata exhaled. He was glad to hear that Chris was all right. And now that his scrapes were hidden under bandages, he felt much better about them.
Chris nudged Hinata’s shoulder with his snout and whined a bit every now and then.
“Well… I was taking Chris on a walk toward the station when this white car came up from behind and passed us. Chris suddenly got excited and started to chase after it… Then the car stopped, and a hand reached out and tried to pull Chris inside. I panicked and jumped on Chris to make sure that didn’t happen.”
Yuusuke marveled at his son’s story. “You managed to get Chris back?! That’s really something, Hinata…”
Now that Hinata thought about it, it was surprising for him to do something so bold. When it seemed like Chris was about to be taken away, he had simply acted, without stopping to think about it for so much as a second. I’ll never leave Chris behind again. I’ll never give him up…
“I was walking in the opposite direction,” explained Mayuka from her spot beside the sofa. “When I heard Chris barking, I turned around and saw Hinata chasing after Chris, who was chasing after a car. Then the passenger door of the car opened, and someone grabbed Chris…so Hinata jumped at the hand, snatched Chris back, and fell to the ground!”
Suzune tilted her head back and exhaled. “As your mother, that’s terrifying to hear. But I’m glad you’re all right… And, Yuusuke?”
“What?”
“I’d say this deserves a mention to the police, wouldn’t you?”
Yuusuke folded his arms to think. “You’re right. After all, it was an attempted kidnapping.”
Suzune shook her head. “It was Chris who was nearly kidnapped, not Hinata. So I guess it would be more like attempted theft.”
“Chris is property?” Hinata scowled.
“Unfortunately, according to the law, yes,” his mother explained. “And because you were hurt, maybe it would count as assault. Or maybe not, since you didn’t get struck directly…”
“Tell you what; I’ll run over to the police station and ask Officer Iwata for advice,” Yuusuke said, getting to his feet. “I’m sure he’ll be willing to hear me out.”
“That’s a good idea. You do that, and let’s tell Grandpa about it, too. He did ask to be informed immediately if anything strange happened with Chris.”
Suzune went over to the dining table to get her phone.
Officer Iwata rushed to their place at once and listened to what Hinata and Mayuka had to say. Then he went back outside to find witnesses from around the shopping district and get their stories, too.
After a while, Shunya showed up, looking tense. Yuusuke and Suzune had already gone back downstairs to reopen the veterinary clinic. It was now fully dark outside.
“I heard you got hurt, Hinata. How are you feeling?”
“Grandpa! I’m sorry for worrying you.”
Hinata rushed over to his grandfather. Chris barked and sidled up against Shunya’s leg. Shunya bent down and gave the dog a good petting.
“There, there. Looks like Chris is fine, at least. I’m so glad it wasn’t any worse… Did you scrape yourself there?” he said, noticing Hinata’s knee.
“His elbows, too,” Mayuka interrupted.
Shunya sighed. “You poor kid… What about you, Mayuka?”
“I wasn’t that close, so I’m fine!”
Shunya murmured about how glad he was, then took a seat on the living-room sofa. “I rushed here so fast that it’s left me all tuckered out…”
Hinata and Mayuka sat down in front of the sofa to tell the same story they’d recounted several times already.
“Hinata was really cool. He protected Chris!” Mayuka finished proudly, as though it were her own accomplishment.
“Well, that’s quite an achievement… And I’m very glad it didn’t turn out worse.”
Shunya’s eyes crinkled as he beamed and patted them both on the shoulder. Then he sighed again. “But if Hinata’s getting into danger, I don’t know if I can continue to keep Chris here…”
Huh? Hinata flinched and then sat back down. The movement caused his scraped knee to smart, but at the moment he had more important concerns.
“That’s not true! It’s fine. I’m Chris’s partner, and we make a good team. Don’t we, Chris?”
Chris had been restless since the incident but seemed to realize that now was the time to make a good impression, and he gave one big, brave bark to show Shunya how serious he was.