Not a Normal Dog

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❤️Next Update — Saturday 14th October 

(Translated and Arranged by Saya)

“This isn’t a normal dog. Are you sure you want him?”

Those were the words spoken by the representative of the organisation when I told her that I was adopting the dog whom I would later call Yatsufusa. 1️⃣

She then continued to give me the details of the dog’s background.

Yatsufusa was once taken in by a non-profit animal shelter, only to have his leg broken. 

It is not certain whether it was broken deliberately or accidentally, but the fact was that no one ever took the dog to the hospital, and the leg was left untreated until it healed crooked. 

How could this happen to a dog that was taken in by an animal shelter? I asked her. 

She grimaced as though she might break down crying, before telling me that not all those places do things out of goodwill.

I had heard of such stories before; there were some shelters which would only take in animals that looked pitiful, to increase their chances of getting donations. 

The shelter that took Yatsufusa in turned out to be one of those places.

But Yatsufusa was initially deemed unsuitable for such a purpose, and he was made to go through that terrible experience so that he could become more suitable for it. 

It was the first time that I encountered someone from such an organisation, which would normally be hostile to us, to look so 

nervous. (By the way, I was a worker at a hokenjo (Note: pubic health centre) at the time.) 

It seemed to me that such an unusual behaviour coming from a person like her indicated how grave the situation was, and I felt more inclined to let her continue with her story, rather than interrupting her with too many questions.

I did ask her though why it was her and not someone from that shelter who came to our hokenjo. She simply said that the shelter had already disbanded. 

But the people who belonged to the shelter would not disappear, even if the shelter itself ceased to exist, wouldn’t they? I thought, but I was loath to say it aloud.

“I wanted to put him to sleep at a nearby  hokenjo, but he insisted on coming here.” 

I asked her what she meant by it, and she explained that after they decided to take him to a hokenjo, the dog would start barking furiously whenever they tried to contact places other than this particular hokenjo. 

If they made calls while the dog was quiet, they always heard weird static noises or experienced difficulty hearing voice at the other end of the phone.

“I think he wanted to come here to see you,” she added.

Seeing the genuine concern in her eyes, I gave a heavy sigh. 

Then I glanced at Yatsufusa.

I was in charge of looking after Yatsufusa before he was transferred to the shelter. 

He seemed to be attached to me, and I also grew fond of him. 

But my boss had warned me that if I adopted one dog, I would not be able to stop there. He had seen so many others who adopted them one after another, until their own lives fell apart. I didn’t want to take such risks.

But my decision caused Yatsufusa to be taken to a terrible place and undergo a dreadful ordeal. It would not surprise me if he blamed me for it and thought that I betrayed him. 

Ever since the woman brought him before me, he had been staring at me and not once looked away. I perceived burning hatred in his intense gaze.

“In any case, we cannot possibly find another home for him. I feel bad about this, but he must be put to sleep. There is no other choice. I hope you can take him.” 

I asked her why it was not possible to find a home for him. 

In answer, she hesitantly handed me an envelope, before quickly looking away. 

What I saw made me speechless. 

It was a photo of Yatsufusa. He was growling at the camera, his face twisted in anger, because he hated having his photo taken, but even that seemed cute compared to what was in the background. 

Some strange shapes, strongly resembling the faces of cats and dogs, floated in midair. 

“Hating the camera is fine, but every photo we take of him turns out like this. We cannot possibly show such photos to our supporters.” 

I was watching Yatsufusa even while she went on with her lament. Yatsufusa continued to glare at me.

His piercing gaze told me that he was ready to sink his teeth into my neck if he was ever released from the cage.

Perhaps she took my silence as an agreement to her decision. She took out another envelope with some money in it.

“Please make sure you hold a good kuyo (Note: memorial service. See the notes on here) for him,” she said in a hushed tone, as she offered the envelope to me.

“How about I use this to buy him his food. I have a feeling he is going to be a high-maintenance dog. If that’s ok with you.” 

I said, pushing the envelope into my pocket. 

She looked up at me in amazement. 

I had already decided his name while we were having the staring contest. 

“For better or worse, there is no other dog who is endowed with such a miraculous power. Don’t you think so? — You agree too, don’t you, Yastufusa?”

I called him by the name I had chosen for him, and he responded by giving me a low growl. 

I assumed that his response meant he appreciated his new name.

“But… you may be putting yourself in danger. So many strange things happened to that disbanded shelter too…”

She tried to talk me out of it, but I stopped her by raising my hand.

“This is for the best — for me.” 

Wondering how best to validate what I had just said, I took out a strip of beef jerky and inserted it through a hole in the cage. 

He snapped at it immediately, as if he wanted to bite off my fingers ( actually I think that was exactly what he intended to do). 

“See? An ordinary dog wouldn’t do this — they would be too suspicious to take food from someone they don’t know. I know we can get along.”

I declared with confidence.

In my mind, I was already mapping out a future with Yatsufusa. 

The woman eyed me and Yatsufusa dubiously, but after exchanging a few more words, she left. 

So, this is how I came to be Yastufusa’s dog. 

He brought me many kinds of misfortunes while he was alive.

Whenever he took a liking to a dog that was brought to the hokenjo, he would bark fiercely. 

He was ordering me to adopt the dog.

On the whole, I obeyed Yatsufusa’s orders to the letter.

However, there were times when I was tight on a budget, and I had to give up adopting some of them. 

When that happened, I would usually end up experiencing an episode of high fever, the cause of which no doctor could explain, that lasted for about a week. 

In a world where humans imposed their will on animals, Yatsufusa alone had the power to impose his will on humans. 

Nevertheless, if I always did as he wished, I would die of starvation and would not be able to look after the dogs. 

As gifted as he was, he could not understand human words, and communication with him was fraught with difficulties, but in the course of time, I was able to make him understand that we had to keep within the budget in order to sustain my life. 

But our happy life did not last long. 

He passed away three years after he came to live with me.

I wish I could ameliorate the relationship with Yatsufusa while his sprit was still imprisoned inside his body.

Right now, I am only barely managing to elude Yatsufusa’s curse by holding the other dogs as hostages. 

I confirmed this fact by taking a photo of the memorial monument built for Yatsufusa; the number of dog faces has obviously increased since the last photo I saw before adopting him. 

—————————

Note:

1️⃣Yatsufusa (八房) is a dog that appears in the epic novel “Nansō Satomi Hakkenden” written during the Edo period. 

https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Yatsufusa

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansō_Satomi_Hakkenden

Princess Fuse & Yatsufusa

Hot Dog

Have a Happy Weekend ❤️

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⭐️Funny Story of the Week:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4078242/amp/Sulking-husband-went-20-YEARS-without-speaking-wife.html