Beside the hot spring pool was a washing area. Shin-chan crouched down, scooped up warm water with his hands, and slowly poured it over the puppy.
The puppy was very obedient. It stood there without moving. Once the water and mud were washed away, the white fur underneath was revealed.
Shin-chan froze. "You're not gray at all."
The puppy wagged its tail and shook water all over his face.
By the time it was clean, the entire puppy looked completely different.
Pure white, without a single strand of another color.
"Shiro." Shin-chan pointed at the white puppy. "It looks like you."
Shiro walked over, circled the white puppy once, then stopped and touched its ear with his nose.
The white puppy also stretched out its nose and touched Shiro's ear.
The two white dogs stood face to face, both wagging their tails.
In the inn lobby...
Shin-chan ran up to the plump owner and held up the puppy. "Can you keep him?"
The plump owner leaned closer and looked. "What a beautiful little dog. Where did you find him?"
"Outside the wall behind the yard."
The plump owner reached out and stroked the puppy's back. "My family already has four dogs."
Shin-chan's face fell.
"But then again." The plump owner took the puppy from Shin-chan's hands and lifted it up to look at it. "There isn't much difference between four and five."
"Really?" Shin-chan's eyes lit up at once.
"Really. This inn is big enough anyway. One more dog isn't a problem."
"Oh right." Shin-chan looked up. "He doesn't have a name yet."
The plump owner thought for a moment. "How about Kogorō?"
"Kogorō." Shin-chan repeated it, then patted Kogorō's head before turning and running upstairs.
That night, inside the inn room, Shin-chan slept sprawled out in all directions.
Shiro lay beside his pillow. His ears suddenly twitched, and he lifted his head, looking toward a certain direction outside the window.
The next morning, sunlight shone through the window.
Shin-chan had kicked the blanket aside. One leg was resting near Uchiha Toru's pillow, and a small puddle of drool had formed.
The sunlight slowly crept toward his face.
When it reached his chin, he rolled over.
When it reached his nose, he buried his face into the pillow.
When it reached his eyes, he finally opened them.
"Mm..."
Shin-chan sat up, rubbing his eyes as he looked around.
Uchiha Toru's blanket was folded neatly, and he was already gone.
Shin-chan yawned again, then reached out and felt around beside him.
"Shiro?"
Shin-chan got up and walked around the room.
Nothing.
He went next door to Maruboshi Kosuke and Kakashi's room and checked there too. No one was there, and Shiro wasn't there either.
He opened the door and poked his head out into the hallway.
Uchiha Toru happened to come in from outside, holding two paper bags.
"Toru, have you seen Shiro?"
Uchiha Toru shook his head. "I didn't see him when I went out to buy breakfast."
After saying that, he handed over one of the paper bags.
Shin-chan took the bag and ran toward the lobby.
"Shiro?"
The lobby was empty. From the street outside came a steady stream of noisy voices, as if people were arguing.
Shin-chan walked out of the inn.
A group of people wearing dog masks was gathering, their voices growing louder and louder.
A young man wearing a dog mask stood in the middle, shouting with his face and neck red.
"It must have been them!"
"Right! Who else could it be?"
"Despicable! Shameless!"
At the street corner opposite them, another crowd surged out.
They were all wearing cat masks. The one leading them was the tall, thin owner from yesterday, holding the sign that read, Cat Faction Hot Spring, the One True Orthodox.
"You Dog Faction people shouldn't slander others." The thin owner slammed his sign down. "Who caught your dog?"
"It was you!" A fat man wearing a Shiba Inu mask jumped out from the Dog Faction side. "Our Duso disappeared last night. If it wasn't you, then who was it?"
"You failed to watch your own dog, and now you blame us?"
"Who else could it be besides you? You lost at the Dog-Cat Festival yesterday and couldn't accept it, right?"
"Who lost? You were clearly the ones who cheated!"
The two sides argued more and more fiercely. The faces behind the masks had all turned red. Some people started rolling up their sleeves, while others picked up wooden sticks from the ground.
The Dog Faction held little dog flags, while the Cat Faction held little cat flags. The flags snapped in the morning wind like two armies facing off.
The two groups went from arguing to shoving each other.
A person wearing a cat mask was pushed, staggered backward two steps, and knocked over a roadside mask stall.
Masks scattered all over the ground with a clatter. Cat masks and dog masks rolled together.
"You pushed me?"
"So what if I did?"
"They're fighting! They're fighting!"
No one knew who shouted it, but both sides exploded like firecrackers that had been lit.
Some shoved. Some grabbed each other by the collars. Someone raised a wooden stick and squeezed forward, while others hugged their own dogs and retreated.
The Cat Faction and Dog Faction flags tangled together until no one could tell which belonged to which side.
Shin-chan stood at the entrance of the inn, mouth open, completely stunned.
A hand reached over from behind and pressed down on his shoulder.
Shin-chan turned and saw that Maruboshi Kosuke had appeared behind him at some point. He glanced at the crowd brawling in the street.
"Go."
"But..."
Maruboshi Kosuke didn't wait for him to finish. He grabbed Shin-chan by the back of the collar and lifted him up.
Shin-chan's feet left the ground, and the paper bag nearly slipped from his hand, so he quickly hugged it tight.
Back inside the inn, Kakashi and Uchiha Toru were already waiting in the lobby.
"Uncle, Shiro is missing."
Maruboshi Kosuke originally didn't want to get involved in this matter, but if Shiro was involved...
"Uncle?" Seeing that he didn't speak, Shin-chan called again.
"We'll search the town during the day," Maruboshi Kosuke came back to himself and said. "Don't spread too far apart. If anything happens, send a signal. Gather back here tonight."
The four split up and searched through the town.
Shin-chan ran the fastest, going from one end of the street to the other, then from the other end back again. He stopped at every doorway, checked, and called out "Shiro."
But every time, he was disappointed.
The sun moved from the east to overhead, then from overhead toward the west.
"Uncle, I want to search one more round."
"Rest first," Maruboshi Kosuke said.
"But..."
"You need to rest properly so you'll have the strength to look for Shiro."
At night, moonlight shone through the window.
Shin-chan lay on the bed, wrapped into a ball with the blanket, his gaze falling on the mask they had bought yesterday that looked a lot like Shiro.
He rolled over to face Uchiha Toru's bed.
Uchiha Toru's breathing was steady, the blanket properly pulled up to his chest.
Shin-chan formed a hand seal.
With a soft poof—
A little white dog crawled out from under the blanket and secretly ran out.
Inside the room, Uchiha Toru opened his eyes.
He turned his head, looked at Shin-chan's empty bed, stayed silent for a few seconds, then lifted his blanket and followed soundlessly.
"Shiro" had already run to the middle of the street. He looked left and right, then stopped and sniffed.
In the air, there seemed to be a faint, barely noticeable scent lingering.