Human? Animal?

Through the crack in the door, a pair of glowing green eyes watched Bai Yuze and Yukino.

Watching the two of them, the creature couldn't help drooling. It was ravenous.

But before it could react, Bai Yuze's cleaver struck the doorframe.

"You've been sneaking looks for this long. Why not come out and chat?"

Bai Yuze moved to shield Yukino behind him, then calmly pulled the cleaver out of the doorframe.

Bai Yuze knew there was no escaping now. He could only fight to the death. Better to strike first than sit around waiting for his doom.

Bai Yuze kicked the door open, revealing the monster inside in all its entirety.

But Bai Yuze didn't care what it looked like. Whoever struck first could stand and talk; whoever struck last would lie down and cry.

Awooo!

The monster inside let out a howl, but the sound it made was positively... wise.

"That sound...? Could it be...?"

Bai Yuze looked closely and realized the monster inside was a dog chained up with iron links. He couldn't help remembering the monster Yuigahama Yui had told him about.

"I remember Tuanzi saying there was a vicious dog the size of an adult in the basement. But haven't you shrunk a bit?"

The dog before him was about the size of a medium-sized breed. It could be aggressive, but as long as it didn't bite him somewhere vital, it wasn't much of a threat.

"Could you be the front desk attendant's dog?"

Bai Yuze suddenly remembered that the front desk attendant had asked him to bring his dog back. Could this be the one? Had he just beaten up the poor man's dog the moment they met?

Suddenly, Bai Yuze seemed to lose his mind.

He held a finger out to the dog's mouth and said with utmost seriousness,

"Oi! Bite me now, and we'll call it even."

Yukino was stunned by Bai Yuze's charming stunt. What was he trying to do? Was his rabies vaccine about to expire?

The dog couldn't speak, but it understood people. It didn't even dare open its mouth, afraid it might accidentally hurt the human in front of it.

After all, a gleaming cleaver was still pressed against its neck. If it so much as broke the human's skin by accident today, it'd be lucky to keep its head!

It remembered that humans called this sort of thing "entrapment," but wasn't the human in front of it being a little too brazen? He wasn't even pretending!

"Not going to bite? What a shame."

Bai Yuze didn't want to bring along a creature whose temperament he couldn't be sure of. He'd been hoping the dog would bite his hand, giving him grounds to defend himself in the name of justice.

Unfortunately, the dog knew when to yield and refused to open its mouth, no matter what.

"Are you the front desk attendant's dog?"

As soon as Bai Yuze asked, he felt pretty stupid. He was asking a dog a question. Did he expect it to answer?

It actually did!

The dog reached out a paw and drew a character on the ground.

"Huh?"

"You really can?!"

After a moment of surprise, Bai Yuze pulled out the key from his pocket. The front desk attendant had handed it to him personally, and Bai Yuze hadn't touched it much, so the key still carried the attendant's scent.

Sure enough, the moment the dog caught the scent on the key, it began bounding around.

"Looks like you are. Your owner wants me to take you back, so you'd better behave. Otherwise, don't blame me for holding back."

After threatening the dog, Bai Yuze heard Yukino ask,

"Not holding back? Are you going to beat it up?"

Yukino was afraid of dogs, so she hid behind Bai Yuze and only dared to peek at it. She also recognized the dog. It was the same one she and Yuigahama Yui had encountered.

"Heh. The front desk attendant told me to bring his dog back, but he never explicitly said it had to be alive."

Bai Yuze pretended to sharpen his cleaver, then gave the dog, which was lying on the ground, a cheerful (skull-splitting) smile.

"Are you sure you want to bring it along? The vicious dog Yuigahama and I encountered seems to have been this one. It might have shrunk because it was recently reborn and hasn't returned to its full size yet."

Yukino remembered Bai Yuze saying that when monsters fought each other, there was no point to it because both sides could come back to life again.

But then she remembered that the Male Corpse had probably obtained the Zhenxie Guiqi—the Scalpel. It made even less sense that this dog was still alive!

"That chain around its neck is pretty unusual."

Bai Yuze's words interrupted Yukino's thoughts, and she turned her attention to the dog's chain.

Bai Yuze was hacking at the chain with his cleaver, but no matter how hard he struck—even hard enough to send sparks flying—it remained completely intact.

The dog lay on the ground, praying it would make it through this and that Bai Yuze wouldn't accidentally hit it.

"This chain probably isn't paranormal, so there must be another way to remove it."

Just then, Yukino seemed to think of something. Fighting her fear, she slowly moved closer to the dog.

Awooo?

The dog seemed to sense what the girl was thinking and lifted its head to look at Yukino.

"Do you have anything in your room that looks like a note?"

Worried that the dog wouldn't understand, Yukino even gestured with her hands.

At last, her efforts paid off. The dog understood what Yukino meant, went back inside, and soon came out with a piece of paper in its mouth.

"You understand people so well. I'm starting to wonder if you're actually a real person wearing a dog's skin."

Bai Yuze remarked, then reached out and took the note from the dog's mouth.

[Pet Guide]

[1. Pets are not allowed in residential homes, but the basement is not managed by the residence.]

[2. Pets cannot speak. Before getting a pet, please make sure that the pet you choose can speak.]

[3. Pets include all animals. As long as you can take care of them, you may keep any pet you like.]

[4. You must find a chain for your pet yourself, and it must never be removed.]

[5. Keep your pet well fed. It's best not to find out what they might do when they're hungry.]

Bai Yuze read the note carefully several times. Only after confirming that it was written in the same handwriting as the rules above did he believe it.

"What strange instructions. Is it dangerous to have a pet?"

Yukino looked at the rules on the note, then at the dog lying on the ground.

"Having a pet shouldn't be dangerous, but the ones being kept as pets are another matter."

"What do you mean?"

Yukino was puzzled, but Bai Yuze's next action answered her question.

Bai Yuze pried the dog's mouth open. Inside, beyond its white teeth, were unmistakable braces...

"As you can see, this isn't a real 'dog.' It's a person! A living person being kept as a 'dog'!"

Bai Yuze sighed. How could there be animals in a residential home? Unless someone was keeping a person as an animal. After all, in a certain sense...

Humans were animals too...