"That's true. It's been a long time since the Kasukabe Defense Force had a get-together."
Hearing Shin Chan mention the Kasukabe Defense Force, Toru Kazama felt an inexplicable sense of shame.
Although it was a precious shared memory for all of them, for someone about to enter high school, it felt a little too much like dark chuunibyou history.
"You really haven't changed at all…"
But thinking about Shin Chan's personality, Toru couldn't help but smile helplessly.
After entering junior high, they hadn't attended the same school, so it had been a long time since they last gathered together.
Being admitted to the same high school as Shin Chan genuinely made Toru happy.
"The apartment's already rented. Want to come over? We can watch Magical Girl Pretty P together."
"Okay—no, wait! Why would we watch Magical Girl Pretty P?!"
"Then how about Mysterious Witch Mary?"
"Neither!"
On the other end of the phone, Toru was so flustered that his face turned bright red.
An honor student aiming for the University of Tokyo, Toru secretly loved shoujo anime—and Shin Chan never missed a chance to tease him about it.
"I've sent you the address. You can arrange the get-together. I'm fine with anything."
"Okay… I'll visit when I have time."
Shin Chan smoothly changed the topic. If you teased a tsundere too much, they might go berserk—better not to push Toru any further.
"All right, then. I'll contact the others."
After hanging up, Shin Chan took another sip of cola and stuffed a chocolate cookie into his mouth.
Unfortunately, chocolate cookies didn't go very well with iced cola. After drinking the cola, the cookie tasted noticeably worse.
"What the hell… I still need to buy some milk."
Shin Chan stood up, deciding to head to the convenience store to stock up on better snacks for his late-night indulgence.
He'd been looking forward to living alone for a long time.
It would be even better if he could run into a sexy, gentle onee-san along the way.
Thinking about that, Shin Chan suddenly found something odd.
Nanako Ohara hadn't appeared in this world at all.
Why was that?
"Shiro, I'm heading out. Be a good boy and watch the house."
After leaving the apartment and stepping into the elevator, Shin Chan had just pressed the button for the first floor when a long-unheard electronic, synthetic voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"System mission template loaded. Issuing mission…"
"Mission: The Confused Pet Girl."
"Mission Description: During spacetime repairs, multiple parallel universes were merged and timelines reset, inevitably causing anomalies."
"Sawamura Spencer Eriri has gained memories from a parallel spacetime. Help her resolve her troubles!"
"Mission Reward: Famous Sword · Fubuki."
Sawamura Spencer Eriri?
In Shin Chan's past-life memories, that name rang a bell. Wasn't she a heroine from some anime?
Parallel spacetime memories… Combined with the system's explanation, Shin Chan immediately understood the nature of Eriri's situation.
Memory synchronization in progress—
In an unknown parallel spacetime, Eriri wasn't a beautiful high school girl at all.
She was a small, cute Yorkshire Terrier.
And her owner was Nohara Shin Chan.
"…Huh?"
Shin Chan's eyes widened.
Was this some bizarre movie adaptation? Or an unholy doujin development?
What kind of messed-up plot was this?!
He finally understood the meaning behind the mission title.
Pet Girl.
Meanwhile, inside the Sawamura Family mansion, a blonde girl lay on her bed in a daze, sorting through the memories that had surfaced after a strange dream the night before.
No—this wasn't a dream.
It had been far too real.
She, Sawamura Spencer Eriri, was an undeniably beautiful girl—a Japanese-British blonde with flawless looks.
The Sawamura family held great influence in Japan. Her father was a diplomat from Sakura Country, and the Spencer surname carried enormous weight in England as well.
Family background? Perfect. Appearance? Perfect.
Yet in that "dream," she had lived for fifteen years as a dog, alongside her owner—Nohara Shin Chan.
A dream?
Impossible.
She remembered everything.
Even Shin Chan's grief-stricken eyes when she died in his arms—she remembered it all.
Thinking about it made her chest ache.
She had left that world… so what would Shin Chan do now?
And without Shin Chan by her side—what would she do?
She was a precious breed known as the "Western Princess," yet due to an accident, she'd been wandering the streets at just two months old.
If she hadn't met Shin Chan, filthy and starving as she was, she probably wouldn't have survived more than a few days.
In that other world, as a Yorkshire Terrier named Xiao Li, she met Nohara Shin Chan.
At the time, Shin Chan had just graduated from university and found an ordinary job.
Even though Eriri retained human intelligence and memories, she couldn't change the fact that she was a dog. She had no control over her own fate.
After being adopted by Shin Chan, she gradually accepted reality—and eventually felt that such a life wasn't bad at all.
As a puppy deeply loved by her owner, she was unimaginably happy.
Shin Chan prepared the best dog food and snacks for her. She hadn't liked them at first, but they actually tasted pretty good.
He bathed and groomed her regularly, held her while sleeping every night, and took her to the park and the beach on weekends.
For a puppy, this was a perfect life.
After all, a puppy only needed to be happy every day.
Of course, even a puppy had worries.
Shin Chan's worries were her worries.
In that other world, Shin Chan wasn't an anime protagonist—just an ordinary person. Because of his early maturity, his personality leaned toward gloomy.
Work setbacks, family conflicts, heartbreak… all of it weighed on him.
She empathized deeply, yet all she could do was stay quietly by his side.
As Eriri sorted through these memories, tears unknowingly streamed down her face.
They tasted bitter.
The bitterness of happiness—and the bitterness of sorrow.
Why… why couldn't she stay with him longer?
"Eriri, even if it's the weekend, you can't just stay in bed all day, can you?"
The door suddenly opened.
A purple-haired woman who resembled Eriri by nearly eighty percent stepped inside. She froze when she saw Eriri's tear-streaked face.
"Mom!"
Seeing her mother, Eriri broke down completely, leaping off the bed and straight into her arms.
The woman gently patted her back, her voice soft and soothing.
"What's wrong, Eriri? Did something happen?"
"I… I had a very, very long dream…"
So it was just a nightmare after all.
Hearing that, her mother finally relaxed, her stern expression softening into relief.
Her daughter really was too cute.