「Stop acting like a human, Sera. Who cares about any of that?」

     Why?

     I had plenty of fun spending my Christmas with Mutsuki and Yume. I had been happy to be gifted a present from Mizuki. All of that was true, and yet, those feelings of fun and joy had now faded away.

     And now, without any apparent reason, I had begun to feel like crying.

     Perhaps I had gotten myself all caught up in the Christmas spirit, or maybe my excitement had distorted my emotions. I didn’t understand anything, but I felt Sorahashi-san’s presence.

     「Then you too, Master. …How about you take the mask off as well?」

     Her hand touched my scarf.

     It silently came undone and fell to the floor. As its scent faded away, I felt as if the last of my humanity had burst into nothingness.

     Who even cared anymore?

     About my friends, about my family, about being a big sister and what she called me…

     As long as it felt good, anything was acceptable. In this moment, I alone was irreplaceable. She was special to me, and I was special to her. As if to confirm that, our gazes met.

     By silent agreement, we stripped each other of our clothes. Everything that bound us to our humanity was an annoyance and a hindrance. I couldn’t wait to become a beast, not just in mind, but in body, too — so as my clothes came off piece by piece, even the feeling of my body becoming colder and colder warmed my heart.

     「Master, you’re bustier than you look.」

     「…Are you acting like a pervert on purpose?」

     「And what if I am?」

     「You know what’ll happen without even asking, right?」

     I put my hand on her neck.

     She felt so much cooler than the last time I had felt her, back when we had just gotten out from the bath. This must have been her body’s natural temperature.

     I smiled.

     「…Before that, I have a Christmas present for you.」

     I reached into my bag and took something out.

     When she saw what it was, a smile of pleasure spread across her face.

     「It’s a new collar.」

     As a Christmas present, I bought her a black collar. I had actually planned on buying her a book I felt she would like, but my instincts had told me to buy a collar. I thought that this color would look good on her.

     She stared at it impatiently.

     She was hopeless, disgusting, and… above all, adorable.

     I felt a knot in my stomach. When I felt lonely, when I was in pain, when I felt good… At all sorts of times, my body would react on its own, and I could tell how I felt from that reaction. Right now, I was so excited that I could go insane.

     I thought I was pretty disgusting too, but if I looked beautiful to her, then I was right to be.

     I gently put the black collar around her pale neck. Like I thought, it suited her well. The thing I chose for her was tarnishing her beautiful body, making her something that couldn’t be shown to anyone else. When I had that thought, I laughed.

     It was the complete opposite of the scarf that Mizuki had picked out for me.

     Even though I thought it would look good on Sera, I chose this collar for myself and nobody else.

     I quietly held my phone up and snapped a picture. The black collar, her ecstatic expression, her beautiful underwear… What a ridiculous sight it was.

     「Aha, so cute. So, so, so stupidly cute!」

     I yelled in a voice that I didn’t recognize.

     I didn’t even need to look in the mirror to know that I was smiling.

     「…Hehe. You seem happy, Master.」

     Happy?

     I supposed that was the case. Even as I sought out the happiness of others while wearing the mask of a human, I had surely also been searching for a place to act on my instincts. Those instincts — my true nature — that Sorahashi-san had dug up were so immoral that it made me laugh. It felt good.

     I gently placed my hand on her chest. Feeling that her heart was beating just as fast as mine, I could tell she was excited. Wanting to feel that heartbeat more, I slipped my hand past her underwear and was met with a pleasant, smooth sensation. It was soft, yet firm, giving off a sense of life.

     Perhaps it was by instinct that I was pleased by that sensation — that confirmation — of life. That may also have been why she had seemed to enjoy licking up my nosebleed before.

     From the perspective of others, perhaps we were strange. Well, that’s what I thought too.

     I had never intended on doing these sorts of things. How did it end up like this? I had no idea. I ran my hand over her chest. Her breathing became heavy, and I naturally brought my face closer.

     I pressed my nose to her chest and took a deep breath.

     Like I thought, it smelled like life. Maybe it was because I had been walking around outside with my coat on, but it was a scent much more pleasant than that usual one of the ocean, one that I felt like I could take in forever.

     「Master—」

     Before she could say anything, I gave her chest a gentle bite.

     Her legs jumped and hit my back.

     「Here, a punishment for saying weird things.」

     「…」

     「Does it hurt? Or does it feel good?」

     「Both.」

     I myself was becoming more like a dog. I bit her chest, licked the bite marks, and glanced at her eyes. They were beautiful, clouded with all sorts of emotions. I was sure that mine were the same.

     I pushed her underwear aside and sucked at the very center of her chest.

     It tasted of life.

     「Sera, you’re my puppy. You’ve been, and you always will be. I’ll train you until that collar wears out.」

     I tugged on the collar.

     「I’ll discipline you just like you wished, Sera. Give me a proper thank-you.」

     「…Woof.」

     Being bitten by me must have felt wonderful to her, because she licked my cheek with a melting smile plastered over her face. It was chilling, disgusting, and ridiculous. People normally wouldn’t lick other people. That was common sense.

     How absurd.

     She ran her small tongue over my entire body. She licked my shoulders, all over my chest, and gently bit my inner thighs. It was like a dog’s way of showing affection, but her actions carried more excitement than just affection. She just instinctively licked, bit, and occasionally affectionately pet me.

     She nuzzled her nose into my chest just as I did, bringing me an unfamiliar sensation that gave me goosebumps.

     「What a lewd smell.」

     「What’s that supposed to mean?」

     「It smells of life. I like it.」

     My body trembled with surprise. The feeling of her nose on my chest was awfully ticklish. My legs gradually began to tremble too, and for some reason, tears started to leave my eyes. I wasn’t particularly sad, but I wasn’t happy enough to cry either.

     She seemed to notice my tears and licked my cheek again.

     I quietly stood up.

     「Sit.」

     When I said that, she silently sat.

     We were covered in sweat and saliva, gazing at each other with animalistic faces. She was my puppy, but maybe I was hers, too.

     We were the same, both unable to escape our instincts.

     「Paw.」

     「Woof.」

     「Shake.」

     「Woof.」

     「Ahaha, so clever. Adorable.」

     I didn’t really understand why she wanted me to scold her, but after scolding her like she desired, I praised and pampered her.

     What on earth were we doing?

     We were stripped down to our underwear in the foyer, licking and licking, and acting like dogs. We must have been the only ones doing these sorts of things on Christmas. To celebrate it was supposed to be a human privilege, but we were throwing away our humanity. It had all become a mess.

     「Ah, right. I have a Christmas present for you too, master.」

     「Hm?」

     「I told you before I’d get you something, didn’t I?」

     With that, we headed to the living room. I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand, trying to wipe away the faint traces of my crying that remained.

     The heating was on in the living room, so it was warm. I looked around and saw some food on the table, probably the remains of her party. For some reason, I didn’t want to see it, so I sat down on the sofa like I always did. Maybe it was because I was only in my underwear, but it felt different from usual.

     「Here, Master. Merry Christmas.」

     As she said that, she touched my neck.

     It couldn’t be. I felt a slight tightening sensation around it. Sera happily smiled as I stared at her with widened eyes.

     「I thought I’d get you a collar too, Master. …We truly are suited for each other.」

     「…Huh?」

     I saw myself reflected on the screen of her unpowered TV. It seemed that she had bought a white collar, the exact opposite of the one I had gotten for her.

     I couldn’t help but laugh. We certainly were suited for each other. It wasn’t likely that we would both choose something as ridiculous as a collar for a Christmas present. I laughed and laughed, not knowing whether to be happy or disgusted.

     「Here, Master. Paw. …Just kidding.」

     She held her hand out to me.

     I gently touched it.

     「Woof.」

     The person I had been before was crumbling away without a sound. If Mizuki saw me now, she would despise me. Perhaps she would denounce me as awful and disgusting.

     But I didn’t care.

     「…Ahaha. Even though you’re my master, you’ll listen to what your puppy says.」

     She innocently smiled and sat on my lap.

     「We’re hopeless, the both of us.」

     She swung her arms around my neck, and within a moment, was hugging me tightly.

     Maybe, it was because we weren’t wearing clothes, but the feeling of her was so strong. The sensation of her skin pressed against mine was so pleasant that I shivered.

     「From here on out, let’s keep doing even more hopeless and pleasurable things, Master.」

     As she whispered into my ear, I could only nod.

     It had only been a month since we had become involved with each other, but I was already unable to go back to how I was before.

     What about her? She was still the same as she was before she became my dog, still the same, unchanging Sorahashi Sera. But I wondered if she had in fact changed in some way, just like I had.

     I gently put my hands on her back. The feeling of her shoulder blades, something that I didn’t usually touch, was strange. As I closed my eyes, her natural scent faded, the scent of the ocean painting over on top of her.

     I took a deep breath.

     My body, drowning in Sorahashi Sera, felt so heavy and muddy that it didn’t feel like my own. She had seeped into the cracks in my heart, becoming so attached that I couldn’t do anything about it and was unable to let go.

     At that moment, her body shook.

     We looked at each other and laughed.

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