のんのん (Pixiv)

I come home from school as exhausted as ever. I open the front door and sluggishly make my way up to my room only to be intercepted by a large golden labrador. It began jumping up at me and licking my face. "Okay, okay, Bud! I'm sorry I ignored you, I was just tired. You can get off me now!" Bud — the name of our dog — hopped down and began panting, wagging its tail back and forth.

I continue my journey to my room and collapse onto my bed. Bud jumps next to me. "I hate English..." I complain. "We're in Japan; why do we need English? I bet you're living the dream not needing to know any languages." Bud stares into my eyes, still panting. "Yeah, you're right. I guess barks count as a language." Bud barks in response. "Did you just understand me?" I jolt up in surprise. Bud tilts his head. "What am I doing?" I fall back onto the bed. "I think I'll just close my eyes for a bit..." I say to bud. I can feel his weight shift closer to me.

"..."

"Y/N!"
"Wah! I'm up!"
"Are you sure about that?" Futaba said sarcastically. "Can you give Bud a walk? I have a lot of homework right now and by the looks of things you aren't doing anything. You can get your guitar restringed while you're out there."
"Yeah, sure. Just let me get changed. Where's mom and dad?"
"They called not too long ago saying they'll be staying at work for a few extra hours. It's your turn to make the dinner by the way."
"Got it," I say. "Now get out. I'm getting changed."

~

"C'mon, Bud." I close the door and make my way towards the mall to do maintenance on my guitar, Bud following close by on a leash. The walk wasn't too eventful — it was just a walk, what did you expect? Some young children came up to give Bud a pet (which he loved) but that was it. I was almost at the mall when I hear someone familiar.

"All right... I'll win this time!" I search for the voice and find the Light Music Club standing on the opposite side of the road.
"I guess I should say hi," I say to myself and cross the road.

"Hey, everyone!"
"DOG!" Yui shouts. She immediately runs over to Bud and pets him like she had been separated from a family member. "Good boy!" She smothers him and Bud gives her a sloppy lick in return, making Yui giggle.

"Nice to meet you too," I mumble. "So what are you doing here?" I ask the rest of them.
"We were cleaning out the storage closet in the Music room and stumbled upon Sawa-chan's old guitar," Tsumugi explains. "She told us that we could sell it and use the money for the club."
"What about you?" Azusa asks.
"I'm heading to the music store myself. I'm gonna get my guitar restringed."
"Woah, you play guitar too?!" Yui asks, still suffocating herself in Bud's coat of fur.
"I did, but I haven't touched it in three years." I see Ritsu smirk.

"Oho! So our music was that good that it made you pick up the guitar again?"
"Yes, that is correct," I said.
"Aha! That'll teach you for doubting our club!"
"Stop shouting in the streets!" Mio thwacks Ritsu on the back of her head with a magazine.

"What's that?" I ask Mio.
"Hm? Oh, I saw this ad for a storage cabinet and was thinking it would be great for the closet."
"The club's budget should be able to cover the expenses and it would be useful to have," Azusa said.
"Then should we go to the hardware store first?" I suggest.
"Only if I get to walk Bud!" Yui demands.
"Fine, you can walk- wait how did you know his name?" I ask astounded.
"He told me."
"He what?"
"Bud told me his name was Bud!"
"You can speak to dogs?"
"You can't?"
"I- You know what, never mind. Let's just go."

~

"I don't think animals are allowed in here so I'll just wait outside," I say to the girls.
"We'll try to be quick!" Mio reassures.
"Let's see. The furniture aisle is..." Ritsu scans the signs hanging from the ceiling as I walk around trying to find a seat.

"I never liked shopping anyway," I mumble to myself. "Everyone I shop with takes WAY too long." My eyes draw themselves to Bud. "She can't really speak dog, right?" He stares into my eye and mine into his. "Say something..." Bud tilted his head. I sigh. "What am I doing..?"

"Come look at this!" I hear Yui's voice echo from the store.
"What do you think's going on?" I ask Bud, slightly worried.
"So many screws!"
"Nevermind," I mumble.
"These are all screws!"

"She's causing a ruckus..."
"Bang! Bang!" I hear her shouting.
"What is it this time?"
"Quiet down!" Mio barks. "Go wait outside!"
"You're dumping her on me?" I mutter. Yui walks out of the shop with a dejected look on her face. However, it immediately brightens as soon as she sees Bud.

"You always know how to make me feel better, Bud!" Yui scratches Bud behind the ears.
You haven't even known him for an hour!  Although, watching this does put a slight smile on my face.

I decide to strike up a conversation. "Do you have any pets?"
"Sadly not," She replies, still petting Bud. Does she ever get tired? This is an inhuman level of petting! "Although, a lot of people on my street have pet dogs, so I just go and pet them!"
"Why does that not surprise me?"

"Oh, yeah! You play guitar, right?"
"I haven't played in a few years, but yes, I do," I reply.
"Were you any good? Why did you stop?"
"Well, I'd like to think I was alright, although I don't normally play fast songs like your band. It's normally a slow beat for me."
"We do slow songs too!" Yui interrupts.
"As for why I stopped, I guess I just kind of fell out of it. I was preparing to entire high school at the time so I dropped it to focus on my exams. I guess I never picked it back up after."

"Oh," Yui replied. "Don't worry! Playing guitar is like riding a bike! Your fingers will remember the movements as soon as you start playing again!"
"Thanks for the reassurance." I smile again. She may be a bit... a lot of an airhead, but she's got a good heart.

"Ah!" Yui gasps. "While we're waiting for the rest to get the storage cabinet, how about you practice now? You can use Giita!"
"I..."
"Please?" Yui takes her guitar case off of her back and unzips it, handing me her guitar.
"But I don't want to embarrass myself. I haven't played in years!"
"You'll be fine! If I can learn to play guitar in a week with Sawa-chan then you can pick it back up instantly! And if you want, I can teach you!" Bud barks in agreement. Wait... I think I'm learning to speak dog!
I'm getting off-topic.

"I guess I can give it a try." I comfortably position the guitar and take the pic from Yui. I pluck a memory from a few years ago about a song I used to play constantly. I think it goes like...

I gently strum the strings of the guitar and move my fingers along the fretboard. The start of it goes smoothly enough, but halfway through I begin to fumble.
Was it the fifth or seventh fret next? Was that supposed to be a G chord? No, that string was supposed to be muted!
I gradually come to a stop.

"Woah!" Yui gasps once again. "That was a lot better than I thought you would do! Sure you messed up near the end, but for the first song you've played in years, that was really good!" I smile.
"Thanks!" She's got a good heart. "But I feel like I could have down a lot better."
"You're focusing too much and your screw-ups! Keep a positive attitude and focus on your achievements instead! Don't you think so, Bud?" He barks in confirmation. How does she do that so easily?
"I thought you were supposed to be an airhead?" I return her guitar to her.
"Giita! Never cheat on me again!" She cries into her guitar.
"I revoke my previous comment."

"I think I'll head back into the shop, now. Take good care of Bud for me!" She runs towards the shop entrance once more. "Wait!" She skids to a halt. "If I'm to be your teacher then I need some way of contacting you!" Yui takes out her phone and a crumpled piece of paper she had in her pocket. She began to write on the paper and gave it to me when she had finished. "Bye-bye, Bud!" She waved to him as she ran back into the store!"

I stare at the paper in my hands. It was her phone number. "I don't have my phone on me right now. I'll copy that down later." I slide the piece of paper into my pocket.

I hear a bark next to me. "What is it?" Bud looks to the store and then back to me. "What..?" He stands up and sniffs the pocket that had the piece of paper. He then barked and licked the side of my face. "Are you saying 'good job'?" He barks in response. "How do you know what I'm saying?!" He puts his paw on my lap. "This is extremely freaky!"

"Are you alright?" Ritsu asks.
"Uh... yeah. I'm... yeah, I'm good."
"Okay... Well anyway, we're heading to the music store now. Are you ready?"
"Yeah. I'm coming now." Do all dogs understand what humans are saying? I'll have to ask Yui later.

~

"I wasn't planning to lose four times in a row after that," Ritsu murmurs.
"Victorious scissors!" Yui shouts triumphantly.
"Why did I have to take part in the rock, paper, scissors? I'm not even in your club!" I complain. "And I was walking a dog!"
"Calm down," Ritsu said. "You didn't lose, did you? And besides, Mugi is outside with Bud while you get your guitar fixed."
"That doesn't make it better!"

"Whatever," I give in. "Excuse me, sir. Can you please fix this guitar up for me?" I hand him the guitar case.
"No problem! I'll get right on that! Anything else?"
"Can you tell us how much this guitar will sell for?" Mio asks.
"Sure thing! Let me make an estimate."

Another employee comes over and takes my guitar off the hands of the employee behind the counter. He opens the case and studies it, looking for anything he'll need to clean or replace.

"Y/N!" Yui shouts. "You should take better care of your guitar! It has a hole in the center."
"I'm... sorry?" She's joking, right?
"You're joking, right?" Ritsu asks.
"Of course not! I couldn't live with myself if Giita had a massive hole in his stomach!"
"Yui... look behind the counter." She directs her attention to the shelf behind the counter.
"I can't believe they're selling broken guitars!" Yui is just as astonished as I and Ritsu are, but for the complete wrong reason.
"Do you know what an acoustic guitar is?" I ask her.
"No, why?" How is this girl my teacher?

"We'll explain later." Ritsu saves me from my mind giving up and shutting itself down.

"All done, sir!" The person behind the counter returns and hands me my guitar back. "That'll be 7000 yen." I take out my wallet and give him the money. "Thank you, sir."
"Thank you," I repeat.

"I have an estimate ready." The other employee calls out. We turn back to the employee behind the counter. "Thank you for your patience. I'd like to buy it for 500,000 yen." Wait, what?

"U-Um..." The employee began to notice that no one was saying anything.
"Thank you." Mio turns and begins to leave the store.
"Hold it." Ritsu grabs her shoulder.
"B-B-But... 5,000,000!"
"Calm down. Don't add a digit."

Ritsu pulls the employee aside and speaks with him quietly. "Why is it so high? Is it to please Mugi?" What does Mugi have to do with this? She's waiting outside.
"No, it has nothing to do with her."

"This is a model from the early 1960s." He explains. "They didn't have standards for the shape or materials then. They tested many designs before settling on the current one. Your guitar's fretboard is made of jacaranda, a very valuable tree. This is one of the key reasons for the high price. Unfortunately, this guitar's tailpiece has been switched, so it was devalued for not being an original design. The stock tailpiece provides better playability, so many prefer it. It's not much of a deduction though. And you told me it's been shelved for a long time. As such, the scratches and wear-and-tear are minimal, making it a very well-kept guitar for its age. That's why I gave it that price." We all stand dumbfounded, trying to recall at least two seconds of what he had said.
"A-Anyway, it's a valuable guitar!"

~

"It's so thick!" Ritsu exclaims as Yui begins to take a bite out of her burger.
"It's the special burger."
"I'm not talking about the burger." She directs her attention from the envelope of money and to Yui.

"Why didn't you get anything to eat?" Tsumugi asks me.
"That's cause I'll be making some food when I get back home," I reply.
"You can cook?" Mio asks.
"I'm not an expert but I dabble. My parents normally work extra hours so I and my older sister divide up the chores. It's my turn to cook tonight."
"I'll keep that in mind," Yui spoke with a mouthful of 'special burger'.
"Why do you need to 'keep that in mind'?" I ask.
"And please close your mouth," Azusa adds.

"Anyway, I'm sorry about having to get an outside table." I apologize. "I just didn't want to leave Bud outside by himself and have the potential of him causing a ruckus."
"It's fine, no worries." Mio dismisses.
"Besides," Yui swallows the burger that she had in her mouth and continued. "We get to sit next to Bud! Do you want some burger?" She says ripping off a piece of the patty giving it to Bud.

"You got so many fries," Mio said to Ritsu.
"Look at how much money we have." Ritsu flaunts the money to the rest of the group. "I ordered XL! Keep the change!"
"You used the money?!" Mio interrogates.
"No, it's out of my pocket."

"But should we really keep it?" Azusa asks.
"Sawa-chan's the one who told us to use it for the club," Ritsu explains.
"Oink, oink!" Yui exclaims.
"Oink, oink?" I say confused."What have I missed exactly?
"It's nothing," Mio reassures. "It's just the fact that 'Light Music Club' sounds like 'pig'." (A/N: 'Light Music' in Japanese is 'Keiongaku' — shortened to 'Keion' — and 'club' in Japanese is 'bu'. 'Pig' in Japanese is 'buta'. 'Bu' and 'buta'. Get it yet?)
"Let's get back on topic!" Ritsu said. "If we split the money five- er, six ways, it's just over 80,000 yen each!"
"I'm not in the Light Music Club," I say. "You all use the money for yourselves."
"You mean you're not tempted?" Ritsu asked.
"Oh, of course, I am. I just have good morals."
"That's even more money! 100,000 each!" Ritsu said to Azusa; she begins to lose focus on reality as a result.
"I've been eyeing some effects pedals." She mumbles.
"Thought so," Ritsu said smugly.

"Unlike you, Y/N, Azusa's been bought off," Yui said.
"That sounds like a compliment, but I don't like the tone of your voice when you said that."
"Idiot!" Mio shouts. "Stop showing off the cash!"
"See? 100,000 yen for you too." Ritsu pushed the money closer to Mio.
"Oh no..." I know how this will end.
"100,000 yen... With that much money, I can buy bass multi-effects, a new amp..."
"Thought so." I sigh.

"For me, a double pedal... And I've gotta have a floor tom too." Yui, on the other hand, sat giggling.
"Please, more..." She muttered. I'm sorry, what?

"You know, Tsumugi," I start.
"Please, just use Mugi. Everyone else does."
"Okay, Mugi. You're acting very calm about the large amount of money sitting in front of us. What's with that?"
"Why wouldn't I be calm?" She responds.
"I guess... everyone else has been tempted by riches."
"Oh, that doesn't bother me."
"Right..." So strong willed.

"Well, I think I'll head out of here before I, too, get tempted. I also need to start preparing the dinner." I stand up and untie Bud's leash.
"Goodbye," Mugi says.
"Bye." I turn to the others. "Bye?" I repeat. "It's no use. They're too lost in thought. I wonder what they're thinking about?" Maybe, they're thinking about buying a larger desk for my room? No! Stop thinking! Just leave already!
"Tell the others that I left. Whenever they break out of their delightful daydreams, that is." I ask Mugi as I begin to take off down the street.

"Bud!" I hear someone calling. I turn to see Yui running up to Bud, dropping to her knees and caressing his soft fur.
"Seems like you've broken out of your little spell," I say. "The rest of the girls on the other hand..." I look back to see them all hunched over the envelope, peering inside.
"Of course!" She said. "I can't let you leave without saying goodbye to this good boy in front of me! Isn't that right?" Bud slobbers all over her face in response. Yui giggles.
"Good grief... I know Bud is your... well he's your bud, but we need to get going."
"Just a bit longer." She rubs behind his ears.
"I don't think Bud wants to go either..." I sigh. "I'll tell you what. Would you like to walk Bud home?"
"Can I?!" I was hoping she would say that she couldn't because she needed to get home or something. She didn't take the bait.
"Uh, sure." I sigh and hand Yui the lead.
"Let's go, Bud!"
"Yui, you're going the wrong way," I tell her. "And you forgot Giita!"

I run back to the table and grab Yui's guitar. "Sorry to leave these three with you, Mugi," I say.
"Oh, no problem," She said. "They'll snap out of it soon."
"Yui will also be heading home, so please inform them of that too when they snap out of it. Bye... again." I wave and run back to Yui.

~

"Yui," I start. "I'm curious. How do you know how to speak dog?"
"Oh, it's quite easy." She said. "It all depends on the tone of the bark, the length of the bark, and the pitch of the bark."
"That's it?"
"Well, there are a few more factors, but those three are the main ones. Things like howls are pretty easy to translate when you know the main factors first." I can't tell if she's messing with me or not.
"Okay... And what about the dogs' side? Can they understand Japanese?"
"It depends on the dog, really. An older dog would understand more Japanese than a young pup. Same with wild dogs. They don't spend a lot of their time around humans so they can't discern what we're saying too well. And there's also a bit of love involved. If you love your dog and if your dog loves you, then they'll be able to tell what you are saying much easier. For example, you and Bud must have a very strong bond because, from what I have seen, he has listened to your every order."
"But what about you? You could tell what Bud was saying and Bud could tell what you were saying and you both haven't known each other for even half a day at this point."
"I'm the Dog Whisperer!" She says triumphantly.
"I don't doubt that..."

"Can you give me a demonstration of the 'Dog Whisperer' at work?" I ask.
"Sure!" She kneels, now face-to-face with Bud. "Okay Bud, what would you like for dinner?" Bud barks. "He said he would like some teriyaki."
"He did?"
"Bud, spin if what I said was correct." Bud does as she says.
"No way!" Calm down. it's just a coincidence. "Ask him about his favorite toy."
"Bud, what is your favorite toy?" He barks once again. "He said his favorite is a small blue squeaky bone with green paw symbols imprinted over it." It's true. I always see Bud playing with his blue bone.
"How?!" I exclaim. "There's no way you'd know about his toys!"
"I'm the Dog Whisperer!" She repeats, louder this time.
"I don't know whether to be impressed or call an exorcist."

We walk for a bit longer until we reach our destination.
"This is my house," I say to her.
"Nice!" She said. "I only live a few blocks away! That means I can visit Bud anytime I want!"
"With that performance you did a few minutes ago, I don't think I have the right to stop you." I take the lead off of Yui and head towards my door.
"Bye-bye!" She calls out. I wave in response and make my way inside.

I close the door and