“S-spare m—!”
From that point on, it was just more of the same.
Every time something rammed into his legs, he’d scrape his cheeks, wrench his ankles, break a tooth, split his lip. He might have broken his nose, too.
Even so, the howls and footsteps of the invisible dogs wouldn’t let him stop.
He was being hounded.
They were like hunting dogs, running down their prey.
And then…
…like a surprise attack, a red light darted into view. Beside a sign that said, ROAD CLOSED, there was a glowing red light with the word Construction on it. They were relocating a water supply line.
Beyond several construction cones set close together in a huddle, there was a tapering pit about two meters deep.
No.
Kazushi gulped audibly, swallowing saliva that tasted like blood.
He’d figured it out: The invisible dogs had intentionally driven him here. They were planning to drop him into that hole.
I’ve got to run.
They’ll kill me.
Legs trembling, he tried to turn back, but then…
“…Huh?”
…a thud to end all thuds ran through his chest. It was as if all the dogs had launched themselves off the road and body-slammed him at once.
The next moment, the soles of his sneakers were airborne. The world seemed to flip, and a brief floating sensation swept over him. Before Kazushi could process what that meant, the impact sent him flying backward over the cones, and then he was falling headfirst.
When he came to, he was at the bottom of the pit, looking up at a round patch of sky. For a moment, the light of the warning lamp seemed to turn the radiating streaks of rain into red lines.
He couldn’t sense the dogs anywhere now. It could have been all in his head, a one-man play fueled by delusions and hallucinations.
The hunt was over.
He tried to squirm, but he couldn’t move. The back of his head hurt. Invisible hands seemed to be hammering a red-hot stake into it. It felt as if his skull was cracking—actually, he probably had cracked it.
The split in his head pulsed, throbbing. It felt like there was a heart embedded in the back of his skull. The blood that spilled out with every beat was rapidly weakening the heart in his chest.
I have to yell for help, he thought, but all that came out of his throat was a damp groan. He couldn’t even raise his voice, and his vision was gradually dimming.
The area was hushed and still, and he couldn’t hear any passing footsteps or cars. This road hadn’t had much traffic to begin with, and now there was a ROAD CLOSED sign urging passersby to detour.
It was entirely possible that no one would notice him until construction resumed the next morning and they found his corpse at the bottom of the hole.
Oh, I see… I’m gonna die here.
Once he’d realized that, everything suddenly seemed like too much work. Running around trying to escape had only earned him more pain, and it seemed completely ridiculous. He didn’t want to hurt or suffer or struggle, but he hadn’t lived seriously enough to cling to life.
If I die here, it will all be over, he thought, exhaling with something a lot like relief. Just then, he heard damp, panting breath, followed by the sound of small feet on gravel.
It was here. Very, very close to him.
The dog was probably by itself. Its footsteps sounded a little unsteady, but it was coming straight toward him.
Kazushi could move his eyes a little, but the red light on the street didn’t reach the depths of the pit, and his surroundings were pitch black. He couldn’t see a thing.
Then something touched the fingers of his upturned hand.
A flood of nostalgia told him what the sensation was: a moist nose, pressed against his fingertips.
It’s Chako.
He just assumed she was going to bite him. She’d chew his fingers off as payback because he’d kicked her to death. After what he’d done, he couldn’t hope for anything better.
But then a hot tongue licked the base of his little finger.
That triggered a memory.
Before she’d licked his face or hand, Chako had always sniffed him. It was as if she was checking to make sure the person in front of her was actually Kazushi.
Abruptly, a possibility occurred to him.
Could it be…?
Several remembered fragments clicked into place like puzzle pieces.
Had Chako’s eyes been weak?
Maybe she’d always sniffed Kazushi before wagging her tail or licking him because, if she hadn’t, she genuinely wouldn’t have known it was him.
Come to think of it, if she couldn’t see the ground very well, that would explain her slightly awkward gait and the way she pestered him to pick her up for steps, even tiny ones. That might have been why her previous owner had abandoned her, too.
Then wait, don’t tell me… Back then…
When Chako bit Kazushi after they’d been separated for several months, had it been because she thought he was just an intruder who’d appeared out of nowhere? With her bad eyes, she hadn’t realized it was him. If she’d only bared her fangs at him in a desperate attempt to protect Suzu…
“No…” His dazed murmur was cut off by a bloody cough.
Chako was still licking the base of his little finger. She whined softly, as if she was worried.
And then, finally, it hit Kazushi.
That was where she’d bitten him.
No, it can’t be…
If the Chako here with him now was a ghost…
What if, in the moment before she died, she’d realized that the intruder she’d bitten was Kazushi?
What if the emotion that had stayed with her to the very end wasn’t anger or resentment but guilt about the fact that she’d bitten him?
What if she’d been worried that she’d hurt him, harmed him, and she’d wanted to lick his wound and get his forgiveness so they could be friends again…?
Don’t tell me, even after she died, all this time…
Had she wanted to apologize to him? So that she’d be able to play and sleep and walk beside him again? So that they could be together, man and dog?
The scream that tried to tear its way out of Kazushi’s throat vanished into a blood-choked cough, and all that was left was a wordless groan.
It almost sounded like the cry of an animal.