She had a collar around her neck and a leash attached to it — completely inappropriate for school. It would be major trouble if anyone were to see her like this. I hurried to try and take the collar off of her, but she avoided my reach.

     「Gosh, Kurumi. Recently, you haven’t been very master-like at all. If you keep acting like this, it’s all gonna go back to normal, you know?」

     「We’re not going back to normal. I’ve always been normal…」

     「Liar.」

     I’d hoped, just a little, that maybe she wanted us to be normal friends too. But what she wanted from me wasn’t so simple.

     「I know you want it. Why are you trying to act normal?」

     「You’re wrong.」

     「No, I’m not. Just look…」

     She showed me her phone.

     Displayed on it was a picture of me on that day, smiling while Sorahashi-san was acting like a dog. When in the world did she take that?

     「If you’re so intent on keeping up this lie, maybe I should just show this to our entire class. Then you’ll be able to put this all behind you, yes?」

     「Wha- what are you saying?」

     「Indeed, what a wonderful idea. I should hurry up and—」

     If my classmates were to see that smile of mine, they would surely find it abnormal. It was a smile that reflected unbridled pleasure and a penchant for sadism. To imagine others seeing me like that…

     A shiver went down my back.

     Before I knew it, I had pushed her down.

     Her phone fell slipped from her hand, hit the floor, and slid away. When the sound of that subsided, there was only silence.

     That silence was but temporary, though, and soon our breathing began to boom loudly into my ears. As I straddled her, I could feel the sensations of life from her stomach — its expansions and contractions timed in unison with her breaths.

     I remembered the surprise I felt a long time ago when I touched a dog. I knew that it was a living being, just like us humans, but when I could feel the movements that produced its breaths, that’s when I truly understood how alive it was.

     And now, I felt that same surprise.

     In the end, humans, too, were beasts.

     The sounds of our breathing, so intertwined that I could no longer tell them apart, clung to my ears and wouldn’t let go. As I heaved like a dog, I urged my trembling hands to tug on the leash. She furrowed her eyebrows for a moment, and then smiled.

     「Why? Why? …Sorahashi-san, I thought we’d make good friends.」

     「…Truly?」

     「…What?」

     「Did you truly want to be just friends with me? Did you think you could? Even with that look on your face?」

     I brought my hands to my own face.

     I was smiling. Without a doubt, the same sort of smile that had just been displayed on her phone. Why was I, right now, making that face?

     Even when I tried bringing my expression back to normal, I couldn’t. In the first place, I couldn’t even recall what sort of expression I usually wore anymore.

     「You’ve looked so pained as of late. …In truth, you were longing for this, but your sense of reason got in the way and prevented you from doing so, didn’t it?」

     「That’s not…」

     「It’s not wrong. This is only strange because of how you deny it so. But why? We’re not doing anything bad.」

     There’s no way this wasn’t.

     At the very least, I knew this was wrong — that we looked like perverts, that we had gone crazy. Even so, my heart was pounding. It was so excited that I myself was failing to keep up. And not just my heart, but my stomach, too, was pounding, and I felt like I was about to cry.

     I wanted to.

     —Wanted to what?

     No, that didn’t matter anymore.

     It was all cracking open. My common sense, my reason, everything I was up until now. In this moment, the real me that I had been desperately hiding, desperately ignoring, couldn’t help but smile. Perhaps I was hopeless. If so, I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I didn’t want to, but now I had no choice.

     「Say, Master?」

     I shattered.

     I had fallen apart, broken into pieces.

     「Please… teach this naughty puppy a lesson.」

     I was hopeless.

     I had shut this away once. I had thought it was just a fluke of my imagination.

     With ease, she tore away the lid on my heart. It was her fault in part, but in the end, this was the real me — so it was my fault as well.

     When that dishwasher had been installed, I had lost one of my roles. Nobody called me “Onee-chan” anymore, and I no longer understood my place in the family. My seat had changed, and my daily routine no longer felt right. When I gazed into the re-arranged kitchen, I had realized that I was no longer needed. That time that had been created and set aside for family brought me pain — even more so because it had been done with love and compassion.

     Now that I was no longer the big sister that protected Mizuki, I felt empty.

     But in truth, it wasn’t that I was empty.

     Whether or not I was wanted, common sense, normality, the worlds we belonged to… When all that was stripped away, the only thing left was me.

     「A puppy asking herself to be disciplined… Now that’s a first.」

     My voice lowered. Truly, I was so stupid.

     I tugged on her leash.

     Her face was so close that I could feel her breath on my skin.

     This was no longer a show of gratitude. It was simply what she, and what I, wanted to do. There were no more excuses.

     「Come on, you lecherous puppy. If you want to be taught a lesson that badly, then I’ll give you what you want.」

     I got up and pulled on the leash.

     「Hurry up and stand.」

     She tried to stand up on two feet.

     I smiled, pulling as hard as I could.

     A weak breath echoed out.

     「That’s not how puppies stand, is it? Could it be that you’re still trying to be a human?」

     「W-woof.」

     「Good, just like that. Good job. You’re doing so well.」

     I stroked her head while she got on all fours like a dog. It was unimaginable to think that the face that was accepting presents with a smile just earlier was making an expression like this, ecstatic and full of desire. How shameful, I thought. I, and Sera as well. We were like beasts, unable to escape from our desires.

     「We’re going to go for a walk, just like this. There’s nobody around, after all.」

     「Woof, woof.」

     「Does that make you happy? I’m glad.」

     I picked up her phone from the ground. The screen was still on, so I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures.

     A princess, huh?

     Thinking about how little that title suited her, I couldn’t help but laugh. Who could see her now and think to call her that? I was sure that all the students that gave her gifts would be disappointed to see her like this.

     It was the same for me, though.

     If Yume and Mutsuki saw me like this, the fallout would go beyond just our friendships.

     Right now, though, I didn’t care about any of that.

     Pulling the leash, I walked along with her. There was no sign of people, but it felt like anyone could appear at any moment. Doing something like this at school was insane.

     My heart was pounding. She was a person with whom I could never compare, and here I was treating her like my puppy. That truth alone sent shivers down my spine. But more than that, the sight of her unable to resist indulging in pleasure was unbearably cute.

     When I gently stroked her back, she shivered.

     We walked straight until the turn of the hallway.

     「What an enjoyable walk. Feels nice, doesn’t it?」

     「Woof, woof. Woof…!」

     「Ahaha, you must be happy. I’m glad. Let’s walk until you have your fill, okay?」

     We turned the corner and continued. Right then, I suddenly noticed that I had candy in my blazer’s pocket. Come to think of it, I had received it during my lunch break. It was Mutsuki’s favorite, made 100% from honey. I tore open the packaging.

     「Here, Sera. Have a snack.」

     I put one in my palm and offered it to her. She looked up at me, slowly bringing her face to my palm.

     Rather than taking the candy, she licked my hand, kissed my fingertips, and then smiled. Honestly, I didn’t understand this at all. Even if she had a desire to be scolded, there was no need to become a dog. But maybe it was because I couldn’t understand it that it was desire.

     Certainly, we ourselves couldn’t comprehend our own desires. Just like how I couldn’t.

     「How is it?」

     「Woof.」

     After licking my hand for a while, she finally put it in her mouth. I stroked her back. She didn’t want to be just scolded — she wanted to be pampered as well. I wanted to grant her wish to the best of my ability.

     Just looking at that shameful sight of her made both my heart and the pit of my stomach feel tighter and tighter.

     As we were in the middle of this, I suddenly heard a sound separate from our breaths.

     Tap. Tap. Tap.

     Without a doubt, those were someone’s footsteps. All of a sudden, my blood went cold. I immediately went to open a door to a nearby classroom, but it wouldn’t budge. It seemed to be locked. When I tried the other classrooms, they were locked as well.

     My heart was going to burst.

     This was bad. It would be massive trouble if anyone found out. Even if we tried to play it off as a joke, the collar and leash were too extreme.

     I turned my gaze to Sorahashi-san. She was staring at me without the slightest bit of nervousness. At the sight of those eyes, I regained a little bit of my composure and wrapped the scarf I was wearing around her neck. Then, I hid the leash inside my uniform.

     A few seconds later, someone appeared from around the corner.

     「What are you two doing here? If you have nothing to attend to, hurry up and go home.」

     That voice belonged to my math teacher.

     「We just wanted to take a look around the school. It would be pretty lame if we couldn’t show the new students around next year. Right, Kurumi?」

     「…Yeah.」

     Sorahashi-san, who had at some point stood up, spoke.

     「I see.. Well, just don’t stay out too late.」

     「Yes, of course.」

     Of course things had ended up like this.

     After watching the teacher walk out of view, I collapsed on the spot.

     「Ahh, that was close. I thought we were gonna get caught…」

     「Ahaha, that was quite thrilling.」

     「Sorahashi-san, how can you be so calm?」

     「Hm? Well, you see…」

     She smiled and gazed at my face.

     「I had faith that you would somehow handle it just like that, Master.」

     「…Huh. I’m not actually that great with being put on the spot, you know?」

     「But the truth is that you did manage it.」

     「That’s because you’re a great speaker, Sorahashi-san.」

     「Not enough to be worth mentioning.」

     Giggling, she pulled away from me.

     「So, Master. On days when I want to do this, I’ll wear this collar. I’ll be in your care, okay?」

     The teacher wasn’t there anymore, but when she called me Master, I tensed up a little.

     「…Fine, I guess.」

     「…Ah. But you’re the master, so whenever you want to do this, you can just tell me.」

     I felt like things were spiraling out of control.

     I put my hand to my chest. My heart was still beating incredibly fast. I felt like it was going to leap out of my throat, and I was having difficulty breathing.

     「…For now, let’s head to the station. I’m going to buy you a present.」

     「What will it be, I wonder? I’m looking forward to it!」

     With that, she quickly made her way back to the free space. I slowly followed her from behind. Observing my reflection in the glass of a classroom door, I looked a little different from before… Or at least, that’s the feeling I got.

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