Track 1

Woof woof, woofoofoo~

Hold on, Shumai! Don't pull me so hard!

Ahaha! Shumai, you're in such a good mood. Well I get it though. After all, today is–

The HAMA Doggy Festival!

A big event with food and shops especially for dogs. Apparently they're having a dog run too. I promised to go with you, didn't I Shumai?

Woof!

The weather's great too. I'm really glad that our schedules worked out, Renga.

Yeah. I did my best with all the studio hopping and schedule changes! I really wanted to go!!

There were days where I got totally lost and didn't know where I was but–

Fufu, there were lots of nights where you came home completely exhausted too. You did well, good job~ Maybe Renga deserves a treat today too?

T-the great Renga was able to go along with you today, t-that's already like a reward…!

Woooof ♪

Looks like Shumai also wants to tell you that you did a good job.

Shumai…! Let's have a good time at Doggy Fest!

Woof!

….woof woof.

Oh. We can go past the HAMA Police Station as a shortcut, right? Thanks for letting me know, Shumai. You even remembered the way there, good boy ♪

… The HAMA Police Station.

R1ze's next job is the "One-day Police Chief" event, right?

—A request for a collaborative event with the police, I see.

Yup. I, the mayor for HAMA Ward 0, will act as a police chief for a day. The rest of the morning group will act as my subordinates. Our job is to participate in the event.

Why would the police station bother reachin' out to us? 'Sides, there's a really scary-lookin' guy in our group. Are they ok with working with a mafia member?

……..

The Lurong family also does clean up around HAMA, which the police also benefit from. So it looks like that won't be a problem.

Huh, Liguang, your family runs a cleaning company too? Linxing-san never mentioned anything like that…

………..

Ahaha, what they clean up is stuff like dirty work. Right Liguang-san?

…Be quiet, you little brat. You're part of that too.

Oooo scary. I'm being bullied~ Renga-san, this guy's scaring meee.

Liguang…! Don't bully Ten! He's younger than you!

…Tch. So loud…

W-well.. in any case, the focus of this request is Kafka right?

That's right. I think they want to put my position and title as ward mayor to use in crime prevention.

I get it. When I hear the president's coming, I straighten up my back and try to give off the vibe of "I didn't do anything wrong!!!"

Yes, indeed, I have never asked to put a curse on anyone with the help of a vengeful sorcery app… No sir, I've never ever done that…..

(Yachiyo-kun, you're saying something kinda scary…)

This will be Kafka's time to shine. I'm looking forward to it.

How impressive it is for Kafka to be able to serve as a One Day Police Chief. Seeing my younger brother grow up so well makes me very happy.

Stop that. The whole "big brother" act isn't allowed. Hm…Maybe I should add that to the company rules.

Ahaha…. but there was more to the request, wasn't there?

Yes. There's also an event aiming to promote the police dogs protecting HAMA. We've been asked to participate in that as well.

Each R1ze member will be paired with a police dog. We'll join in activities like "obstacle jumps", and "scent identification" where the dogs will identify the owner of an object from how it smells.

They also requested that we perform alongside the police dogs as part of the one-day police chief event.

A performance with police dogs…?!? That's amazing, I'm so excited…!

Isn't that great. You'll get to work with dogs.

….I've heard that HAMA's police dogs are particularly excellent. More citizens in HAMA should know of them.

So there are no objections to their proposal, yes?

Alright, let's proceed then. About our schedule after this…

We're meeting the police dogs next week, right?

Mhm. I think we'll be at the station the whole day.

Police dogs… they must be really cool…. I'm so happy that we'll be working with dogs. I'm really excited for it Kafka!

Yeah. I knew you'd be happy with the event. As a dog lover myself, I'm really happy too.

…Woof?

Woof! Woof!

H-hey, Shumai? What's wrong? Doggy Fest isn't over there.

Maybe he wants to walk down that road instead? I guess we've never taken this route before.

Doggy Fest will go on the whole day, so how about we take a bit of a detour? We can see where Shumai wants to go.

This is… where I….

Renga?

…..

(....An alleyway. Come to think of it, the soup kitchen that Chief-chan and Renga volunteer at sometimes does their work around this area…..)

(....Is this where Renga grew up?)

Woof!

Did you figure out that I grew up here? That's amazing, Shumai!

(I knew it….)

M-maybe we've got some sort of psychic connection since we're friends? Haha, that'd be nice….

Ah… or maybe I still smell the same… as I did back then….?! What if I do…..

….You always smell good Renga. You're an ambassador for a perfume after all.

Kafka…..! That's right, that perfume has ingredients that are gentle on dogs. It's supposed to be a scent they'll like!

In any case, you're amazing Shumai~! *head pat pat, chin rub rub.*

Woooof~

(A dark, garbage-filled street where the sun doesn't even reach. It's an awful place to live. Renga grew up in such an unsanitary place…)

…When I was little, I lived here with a stray dog.

Eh?

Seeing Shumai here now reminded me.

He was skinny and very small, just like me…. He stuck by my side after I shared some of my food once. Whenever I felt lonely, he was there for me.

…Woof.

I.. see.

We were only together for a few months… In the end, a passerby decided to adopt him. He was my "lifesaver", y'know.

"Lifesaver"?

Yeah. A long time ago, I… got caught up in a crime that involved a dog.

A dog attacked me and I suffered pretty bad injuries… it brought me to the brink of death for a while.

….!?

(I had no idea Renga went through something so terrible…)

Did that turn out okay? Someone saved you, right?

Yeah! The dog I befriended brought his owner to me.

Thanks to him, I managed to survive. Well, I've always been pretty strong!

…….

Honestly, at the time… I had kind of given up, thinking "well, I guess I'll die like this".

But now I get to work as a ward mayor, and I get to go on walks with Kafka and Shumai. So I'm really happy!

I'm glad that I didn't die back then.

(Die…)

…Renga. By the way, how old were you at the time?

Uhm… how old was I? That was before I met Kiba, so…. 7 or 8 years old. Wait no, 9 years old….? I don't really remember.

(That's around the same time I almost died….)

(While I was on the verge of death in the hospital, Renga was in the same condition. In this alleyway, without anyone knowing… But, Renga didn't receive good medical attention like I did.)

(He didn't have an illness or anything like that, it was only because he was born here and got caught up in that crime… Just because he was helpless in this society… he almost died.)

…..

….Kafka?

(Am I any different from them? When we first met, I… also thought Renga was just a deadweight. To be honest, I was planning to fire him if he didn't change.) 

(If I had done that, Renga might have… been helpless once again. The Nishizono family was in a rather dire situation, after all.)

I… could have been the one to hurt Renga.)

(What's up with Kafka? He looks so worried all of a sudden…)

…Even though you got involved with that crime, you still love dogs, don't you?

Y-yeah! After all, I was friends with a stray dog. And although I was bitten by a dog, it was also a dog who saved me and let me survive.

Plus… I feel bad for the dogs who are being used to do bad things.

Yeah. People who use dogs for criminal purposes deserve to die a thousand deaths. Or maybe being paraded through the streets in humiliation would be a better punishment?

W-woah… Kafka, you say really scary things sometimes…

(Renga has put both that accident and nearly dying in the past, huh? Looks like that didn't traumatize him, I'm glad.)

I hope that you'll continue to love dogs forever, Renga.

? Yeah, there's no way bad people would be dog lovers!

…Yeah. Renga, you really are cute.

C-CUTE?!?

No, between the two of us, Kafka's way cuter than me…. Agh, what am I even talking about!!

Ahaha! This is what I mean, right Shumai?

Wooof!

Damn it, not you too, Shumai…! The great Renga is the coolest model ever, you know…!!

Alright, it's about time we head to Doggy Fest. Don't blame me if all the food you want is sold out!

Yes yes.

(...If I were healthy back then, I wonder if I could have found Renga and protected him in the Oguro Household.)

(I wonder if I could've stopped him from growing up in a cold and dark alleyway like this… without needing to switch places with that Kiba guy.)

…….

(I will never let Renga get involved with crimes like that ever again. I won't let him fall into danger again. I'm here now, so–)

(I need to protect him.)