Dog-Cat War (Part Two)

There was a rinsing area next to the hot spring pool. Shin-chan squatted down, scooped up some warm water with his hands, and slowly poured it over the puppy.

The puppy was very well-behaved, standing there motionless, its white fur showing after the water and mud were washed away.

Shin-chan was taken aback for a moment. "You're not gray at all."

The puppy wagged its tail, splashing water droplets all over his face.

After rinsing it clean, the puppy looked completely different.

Pure white, without a single stray hair.

"Shiro," Shin-chan pointed to the Little white dog, "It looks just like you."

Shiro walked over, circled the white puppy once, then stopped and touched its ear with its nose.

The white puppy stuck out its nose and touched Shiro's ear.

Two white dogs stood facing each other, their tails wagging.

In the hotel lobby.

Shin-chan ran up to the fat shop owner, picked up the puppy, and asked, "Can you keep it?"

The chubby shopkeeper leaned closer for a look. "What a beautiful puppy! Where did you find it?"

"Outside the backyard wall."

The portly shop owner reached out and patted the puppy's back. "I already have four."

Shin-chan's face fell.

"However," the chubby boss took the puppy from Shin-chan, held it up to his eyes, and looked at it, "Four or five, it's not that different."

"Really?" Shin-chan's eyes lit up immediately.

"Really, my hotel is big enough that having one more dog won't make a difference."

"Oh, right," Shin-chan looked up, "It doesn't have a name yet."

The chubby boss thought for a moment, "How about we name him Kogoro?"

"Kogoro." Shin-chan repeated it, patted Kogoro's head, then turned and ran upstairs.

At night, in his hotel room, Shin-chan was fast asleep, sprawled out on his back.

Shiro was lying next to his pillow when its ears suddenly twitched. It raised its head and looked out the Outside Window in a certain direction.

The next morning, sunlight streamed in through the window.

Shin-chan kicked the blanket aside, put one leg on Uchiha Toru's pillow, and drooled a little.

The sunlight slowly moved towards his face.

When he moved his chin, he rolled over.

When he moved to his nose, he buried his face in the pillow.

When the camera moved to his eyes, he finally opened them.

"Hmm----"

Shin-chan sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around.

Uchiha Toru's blankets were neatly folded; he was no longer there.

Shin-chan yawned again, then reached out and touched the side.

"Shiro?"

Shin-chan got up and walked around the room.

No.

I went to the room next door where Maruboshi Kosuke and Kakashi lived, but there was no one there, not even Shiro.

He pushed open the door and peeked into the hallway.

Uchiha Toru just came in from outside, carrying two paper bags.

"Xiao Che, have you seen Shiro?"

Uchiha Toru shook his head. "I didn't see it when I went out to buy breakfast."

After saying that, he handed over a paper bag.

Shin-chan took the paper bag and ran towards the lobby.

"Shiro?"

The hall was empty, and the noise from the street kept coming, like people arguing.

Shin-chan walked out of the hotel.

A larger group of people wearing dog masks gathered, and their voices grew louder and louder.

A young man wearing a dog mask stood in the middle, shouting something with a red face and a thick neck.

"It must have been them!"

"Yes, who else could it be besides them?"

"Despicable! Shameless!"

A group of people also emerged from the opposite street corner.

They were all wearing cat masks, and the one leading them was the tall, thin boss from yesterday, holding up a sign that read "Cat-Style Hot Spring, the Only Authentic One."

"Don't you dog-faction members make baseless accusations." The tall, thin boss slammed the sign on the ground. "Who arrested your dog?"

"It's you guys!" A fat man wearing a Shiba Inu mask jumped out from the dog faction. "Our Ah Huang went missing last night. If you didn't arrest him, who did?"

"You didn't keep a proper eye on the dog, and you're blaming us?"

"Besides you guys, who else is there? You lost at yesterday's dog and cat festival and you're still not satisfied, aren't you?"

"Who lost? You guys clearly cheated."

The argument between the two sides grew increasingly heated, their faces behind their masks turning bright red. Some started rolling up their sleeves, while others picked up sticks from the ground.

The dog faction waved dog flags, and the cat faction waved cat flags; the flags fluttered in the morning breeze, like two armies facing off.

The two groups went from arguing to pushing and shoving each other.

A person wearing a cat mask was shoved, stumbled back two steps, and knocked over a mask stall on the roadside.

The masks scattered all over the floor, cat masks and dog masks rolling together.

You pushed me?

What's wrong with pushing me?

"They're fighting! They're fighting!"

Someone shouted, and the people on both sides exploded like firecrackers.

Some were shoving and pushing, others were grabbing each other's collars, some were wielding sticks to push forward, and others were holding their dogs and backing away.

The flags of the cat faction and the dog faction are mixed up, making it impossible to tell which side belongs to which.

Shin-chan stood at the hotel entrance, mouth agape, completely dumbfounded.

A hand reached out from behind and pressed down on his shoulder.

Shin-chan turned his head and saw that Maruboshi Kosuke was standing behind him at some point, glancing at the crowd fighting in the street.

"Walk."

"But..

Before he could finish speaking, Maruboshi Kosuke grabbed him by the back of his collar and lifted him up.

Shin-chan's feet left the ground, and the paper bag almost slipped from his grasp, but he quickly grabbed it.

Back at the inn, Kakashi and Uchiha Toru were already waiting for them in the lobby.

"Uncle, Shiro is missing."

Maruboshi Kosuke initially didn't want to get involved, but since Shiro was involved...

"Uncle?" Shin-chan- chan called out again when he didn't answer.

"Search around town during the day," Maruboshi Kosuke said, snapping out of his reverie. "Don't stray too far apart. Signal if anything happens. Meet here tonight."

The four of them split up and searched the town separately.

Shin-chan was the fastest runner, running from one end of the street to the other, then back again, stopping at every House Door to look around and call out "Shiro!"

But each time it ended in disappointment.

The sun moves from the east to its zenith, and then sets from its zenith to the west.

"Uncle, I want to go look around again."

"Let's rest first," said Maruboshi Kosuke.

"But...

"You'll need to rest well to have the energy to find Shiro."

At night, moonlight shone through the window.

Shin-chan lay in bed, wrapped in the blanket, his gaze fixed on the mask he had bought yesterday that looked a lot like Shiro's.

He turned over, facing Uchiha Toru's bed.

Uchiha Toru's breathing was steady, and the blanket was neatly pulled up to his chest.

Shin-chan made a hand seal.

A soft "bang" sounded.

A Little white dog crawled out of the bed and sneaked out.

In the room, Uchiha Toru opened his eyes.

He turned his head, glanced at Shin -Shin-chan's empty bed, remained silent for a few seconds, then lifted the covers and silently followed him out.

"Shiro" had run to the middle of the street, looked around, and then stopped to sniff.

A faint, lingering fragrance seemed to remain in the air.