Like Fish out of Water | Chapter 1

 As the quiet stillness of the countryside crescendoed into the usual lively sounds of the city, a small white pick-up truck cruised the highway full of the belongings of the Kurusu siblings, the two shiba inus were making their way to the Aokabe city to begin an exciting new life together. At the wheel was Hiro Kurusu, the older of the two, his grip was firm and his expression slightly nervous, occasionally shifting his gaze toward the young girl on the passenger seat to his left: Haru Kurusu, his little sister, who was not a day over eighteen by that point, she was fast asleep with her head against the window, her paws tightly grasping a small plush doll resembling a cat. The long asphalt street eventually led the truck into the heart of the city, the loud and busy streets were unlike anything Hiro had ever seen. Struggling to remember the long list of traffic laws that he had meticulously studied for a week, he drove around like lost puppy looking for his mother, trying (and failing) to make sense of the multitude of traffic signs that populated every turn. Eventually, his search came to an end when he spotted a tall statue on the corner of a street, it was Tomoro, a popular fluffy cartoon character of unidentifiable species. He stopped beside the statue and right in front of a run-down building that seemed to be too old to be still standing. He looked around for a brief moment, confused, he opened the glove box and pulled out a picture of what appeared to be the exact same building but in much better conditions. Haru shifted in her seat and said "Brother, are we there yet?", "Yes, seems like so. But this isn't what I was expecting" replied her brother, she stretched her arms, left her plush cat aside and yawned "Why? Is something wro-" she cut herself short once she noticed the building outside the window, ripping the picture from her brother's paw and staring at it, mouth agape, as if that would make the building magically paint itself again, "Brother, is this the building we paid almost two million Yen for?" she asked, "It is. I guess we now know WHY it was so cheap, for something in the center of the city at least..." replied Hiro, getting off the truck and walking towards the door, he took a large rusted key from his pocket and used it to practically force the door open. With a creak worthy of a horror film, the door opened dramatically slow, revealing a pathetically empty and dirty interior, with the only furniture in sight being a tiny counter and a chair that, at some point in the last two hundred years, was, maybe, pink. The siblings stared in disbelief at the remains of the property they had spent their life savings on, now knowing for sure they had been scammed, Haru walked in first, but the feeling of nearly three centimeters of dust against her paw pads made her recoil and take a step back, Hiro sighed and walked in anyway, searching for a light switch, instead, he tripped on the remains of yet another fossilized chair and fell face on the filthy floor. "Isn't this place supposed to have a second floor? I can't imagine how that's gonna be..." complained Haru, still watching her brother from outside, "By how things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if we found a corpse." replied the young dog, getting up and shaking the dust off his clothes, "Are you coming?" he asked his sister, who shook her head in disapproval, "Well, if I find anything worth keeping, it's going to be mine!" he continued, teasingly, attempting to get her to walk in, but Haru remained adamant in her decision. Defeated, Hiro made his way towards the stairs, which creaked creepily on the first step he took, and while still standing right outside the door with her arms crossed, Haru watched her brother disappear at the top of the stairs. A few seconds of silence had passed when Hiro let out a scream "Oh my God! Haru!", she sprung into action, she sprinted to the truck, ripped a box in half and grabbed a rolling pin, then she bolted right up the stairs, to an empty hallway. A wide open door at the end signaled her brother's location, so she went in ready to attack anyone, only to find Hiro sat comfortably on a fine couch neatly placed on the corner of a fantastically adorned and very well furnished living room. "What is this?" Haru muttered, as she sat right beside her brother, "I have no clue, but it's so nice to finally have somewhere comfortable to sit, right?" he said, letting out a yawn, "Yes, but... is the rest of the house like this?" she continued, Hiro's expression changed, "You know what? -he said- let's find out!", he charged out the door and checked the next room over, which was a beautiful bedroom with two beds and a TV. Haru checked a different room, finding a decently sized bathroom with a shower and bathtub. And, when checking downstairs, they found a surprisingly well-equipped kitchen, with a large oven on the very back. Even if this hadn't started well for the siblings, one thing was certain: even if they didn't know it, their dreams were one step closer to becoming a reality.