And then the dog he'd adopted from Hoshi's shop gets sick, and everything is terrible again, and he doesn't know who to turn to if Hoshi won't talk to him anymore. So when new revelations come to light and Hoshi abruptly moves out, Inukai is devastated. Plus that initial friendship connection has been rapidly turning into something a lot more tender, at least on Inukai's end. He does think Hoshi is a little bit weird, talking about how he used to be a dog, but he likes this sweet, friendly, admittedly kind of doglike guy, and having someone in his house to greet him at the end of his long work days is just.really, really nice. Hoshi latches onto Inukai, befriending him and even moving into his apartment to cook and clean for him as a way to repay what Inukai had done for him in the past. Hoshi is a regular (more or less) guy who somehow still has a connection to his past life as a dog, when he was rescued by an energetic and caring boy who smells exactly like Inukai - a heavily stressed, overworked salaryman who comes to the pet shop to look at the puppies. That could've been interesting, too, but it's actually a reincarnation/memory of former lives scenario. The setup is a little bit confusing, since the summary gives the impression that Hoshi, the pet shop worker, is currently some sort of dog shapeshifter. It's sweet and charming and the characters are adorable. It's not the best or most carefully constructed story there's a lot that isn't fully fleshed out, with some ideas that don't particularly go anywhere, and some of the chapter transitions are abruptly chopped up.

Puppies love to play