Future Pet Shop

"Oh, a Spanish name? Mr. Bin, you know Spanish, too? That's amazing!" Sakai Kaori said, looking at Shen Yibin with admiration, her eyes sparkling.

"Uh, I don't, actually. But I've read some novels related to Spain, and a name just popped into my head that seems perfect for this little guy." Shen Yibin broke into a nervous sweat. 'My English isn't even that good, how could I possibly know Spanish? As for the name... you'll probably get it once you hear it.' "So, what do you think of calling it Carmen?"

"Carmen... PFFT!" Sakai Kaori and Sun Qian sputtered with laughter at the same time. Of course! Since this little guy loved getting stuck all the time, calling him Carmen was a perfect, if slightly mean, pun. "Mr. Bin, you're hilarious!"

"If Carmen doesn't work, we could go with a Russian name, like Tchaikovsky!" Shen Yibin scratched his head, thinking they didn't like his first idea, and came up with a new one. 'He's a Shiba, so the 'Chai' sound from Tchaikovsky fits. And the 'ka' sound is still in there, which suits his personality. Most importantly, it's a much longer name than Carmen—it's great for padding out the word count...'

"Bin, are you serious?" Sakai Kaori and Sun Qian were speechless. "Alright, I think Carmen is better. Let's just go with that." After speaking, Sakai Kaori bent down and stroked Carmen's head. 'You poor thing. You're going to be saddled with such an unfortunate name.'

"Then it's happily decided! Carmen, come here. Sit." Now that the name was settled, Shen Yibin began to train the dog. He waved his hand, signaling for it to come to his side. Even though the little guy's head was constantly getting stuck, his brain didn't seem to be jammed. It worked surprisingly well. The moment it heard Shen Yibin's call, it obediently ran over and sat at his feet.

"Okay, spin... Yes, yes, just like that... Go on, fetch the frisbee for me... Dammit, how'd you get stuck again?!" Under the evening lights, Shen Yibin kept switching up the training exercises. Carmen performed brilliantly. No matter the trick, it only needed to be taught once or twice to master it, making it much smarter than the average dog. The only thing that frustrated Shen Yibin was that during the training session, the little guy managed to get his head stuck in the bushes again.

"Sigh. If it weren't for this habit of yours, you'd probably become one of the most popular pets in our shop in no time," Shen Yibin said, patting its head in frustration. 'What am I going to do about this?'

When training was over, Shen Yibin took Carmen, Hah'Er, and the others back to rest. The next morning, he went sightseeing with Sakai Kaori again. A few days passed like this. The paperwork for Carmen to travel to China was finally complete, Sun Qian had found new inspiration and had enough songs for her new album, and it was time for Shen Yibin and the others to return to China.

"Mr. Bin, I made this grilled eel myself. You... and Sun should try some!" Sakai Kaori said reluctantly on the night before their departure, pointing at the dishes on the table.

Seeing Sakai Kaori's expression, Shen Yibin felt a little conflicted. 'This girl's daily life seems a bit dull. She only seems to liven up when I'm around. If I just leave, she'll probably go back to the Shrine and put on her serious shrine maiden face again. I feel kind of bad about that.' On that thought, Shen Yibin asked subconsciously, "Sakai, are you busy lately? If not, why don't you come with us to Yunzhong City for a few days? I just moved into a new house, so you can come see it. Sun Qian's new album is almost ready, so you could be one of the first to hear it. And we have some new guests at the shop. I bet Egg would be happy to see them too, right?"

"Hmph! Honestly, Mr. Bin, you moved and didn't even tell me. I had to find out from Sun's social media feed," Sakai Kaori said, her face a mask of grievance and dissatisfaction the moment he mentioned moving.

"Hey now, it's not that I didn't want to tell you. It's just that you're so far away, and it would have been too much trouble for you to make a special trip. Visiting now is just as good, isn't it...?" Shen Yibin was instantly flustered and had to spend quite a while placating Sakai Kaori.

"Fine, I'll forgive you this time. But you have to remember to tell me next time something happens, okay?" After saying this, Sakai Kaori turned her head to look at Mr. Liu Sheng. "Uncle Liu Sheng, are there any activities at the Shrine that I absolutely have to attend soon?"

"Well, there's nothing for the time being..." Mr. Liu Sheng agonized for a long time before giving his answer. He could tell at a glance how much Sakai Kaori wanted to go to Yunzhong City with Shen Yibin. He was torn about the matter. He understood Sakai Kaori's feelings perfectly, but Shen Yibin seemed rather dense and hadn't noticed a thing. 'Ah, whatever. I'll let the young people sort out their own affairs.'

"That's wonderful!" Sakai Kaori immediately cheered, hugging Egg happily. "We'll go back to the shop with Mr. Bin tomorrow, okay?"

"CAW! CAW!" Egg squawked happily as well. It seemed to miss life at the shop a great deal.

"Uncle Liu Sheng, could you please book our flights? Let's just book out the entire first-class cabin... Also, we need to prepare some gifts! We still haven't given Mr. Bin a housewarming present..." What followed was a flurry of instructions for flights, gifts, and travel outfits. Sakai Kaori was suddenly very busy.

"No problem... Yes... I'll get it all ready..." Mr. Liu Sheng nodded his head like a chicken pecking at grain, committing each of Sakai Kaori's requests to memory. At the very end, he didn't forget to add a reminder. "Um, well, Miss Sakai, when you come back, could you maybe... could you..." He stammered for a long time without managing to finish the sentence, his eyes just darting back and forth over Xiaoliu.

"Mr. Liu Sheng, please don't worry. When Miss Sakai returns, I'll remind her to bring you some Monkey Wine," Shen Yibin said, suppressing a laugh. 'He just wants some wine, doesn't he? In the time we've been gone, another batch of Monkey Wine has probably finished brewing in the tree hollow.'

「And so, the next day」, Mr. Liu Sheng drove them to Tokyo Haneda International Airport, where they boarded a flight back to Shanghai. Thanks to Sakai Kaori, they had booked the entire first-class cabin, which was much more comfortable than the trip over.

Upon arriving in Shanghai, Shen Yibin had planned to rest for a night before heading back, but Sakai Kaori insisted on going straight to Yunzhong City. It seemed the girl couldn't wait to see Shen Yibin's new home.

So they immediately transferred to a flight bound for Yunzhong City.