71 His Friends (4)

The next morning, Iris heard the abominable alarm again, but it was a bit later than usual. While wondering what happened, she woke Kyro up and got through her morning routine. In her bowl lay a couple insects, and with a sigh she ate some of them. Who knew that the best way to have a girl go on a diet was to feed her insects? She was certain that her food intake had halved since she started eating those things.

Once she was done, she annoyed Lucy for a bit, who was still sleeping on the bed. He didn't even bother to open his eyes upon her approach, swatting her away with his giant paw.

"Iris!" Kyro suddenly called from the living room.

'Yes?' She ran over to him, puzzled about what he wanted from her. He wasn't yet at the door, which meant he should be in a hurry. It was already past the time he usually left for work last week. 'Is something the matter?'

Right as she thought that, he brought out the pet carrier. 'Oh, hell no. What is it this time?' It was easy to run away instantly, but she pushed herself to stay still. Her fur stood up and she screeched in dismay, but did not move from her position in the middle in the room from which she saw the carrier.

"Iris, come here," he called in a soft voice, and with all her instincts screaming to go the other way, she slowly walked to his side. From there, she glowered at the carrier. That thing never brought her anything good. Every time she got into it her hair grayed a bit more.

Noticing her distress, Kyro caressed her head, speaking softly to her. "It's all right, nothing will happen to you. We're just going to the vet to—"

At the word 'vet', Iris' head snapped in his direction. Did he really just use the word she thought he used? What the hell did he want with a vet? She was perfectly healthy so there was no need to see any doctors!

"Hey, hey, don't fret it. You scratched yourself all over during your adventure the other day and we need to see if you didn't catch anything. You don't want to get sick, right?"

His words made sense, but that was little assurance. Iris wasn't fond of doctors, so the idea of visiting a veterinarian was even more abhorrent. Couldn't she just like wait and see if anything happened? Doctors are scary…

"You were brave enough to run away, so a vet will be no trouble to you. I'm certain."

'You're alone on that,' Iris told him with a glower his way now, then walked into the carrier. Her steps were slow, feet raised almost to her chest as if to avoid touching something disgusting.

"Good girl!" Kyro patted her head with a smile and closed the carrier's doors. His good mood was sadly not contagious. Iris didn't have any wish to go anywhere, let alone some horrible place like an animal clinic.

It happened, though. Some half an hour later, he brought the carrier out of the car and took it into a small building with some name Iris wasn't quick enough to read. There was no need, however. The inside smelled of cleanliness and dry food.

Against her better judgment, she stood up and looked around. Yet there wasn't much she wouldn't have been able to guess without entering. On the left, there were shelves with specialty cat and dog food, all of them with explanations for what type of ailment they were best.

To her right was the waiting area. It had a more general selection of all types of dry food, along with a greater variety of pets drawn on them. She saw a couple hamsters, some rabbits, parrots, and a snake.

The waiting area itself was empty, same as the position at the counter. The vet wasn't present, and Iris breathed a sight of relief. Maybe he hadn't made an appointment and it'll show up that the vet doesn't work on Mondays? It'd be great!

Moments later, though, an assistant noticed them. The young man quickly came over and asked what they wished for. Once Kyro told him that he had an appointment for a check-up, Iris screeched at him in a loud voice. Why couldn't he ever forget to do something?

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. Mrs. Giene should be done soon. When we came, a distressed owner was already waiting at our door, begging us to save his cat. There was a problem with its breathing, and he was certain it was going to choke to death at any moment."

"Could his pet be saved?" Kyro asked politely.

There were a few chairs and a table where he could put the carrier, but he didn't, and Iris felt a little glad for that. She didn't want to be left alone in this place. It was disturbing enough like this, but she was certain it'd become ten times as bad if she was left alone in a cage.

"Yes. He brought it just on time. Mrs. Giene has already removed the stuck object and is now monitoring the cat to make sure nothing else is wrong with it," the assistant explained. "In the meantime, have you come only for the check-up, or do you want to buy anything extra? We could do that while waiting."

At those words, Kyro looked around. Iris followed his gaze and saw it moving past the dry food, dismissing it at first glance, various tablets for vitamins, and cat toys. Then, however, his eyes stopped. Through the bars of the carrier, Iris couldn't see it well and grumbled in annoyance. He just had to choose the item she couldn't see.

"Do these come in other colors?"

"Yes," the shop assistant said cheerfully. "I think we have four different variations. There should also be a blue one, a red one, and brown. Maybe black? Let me check."

While the youth lifted up some boxes, reading what was written on them, Kyro laughed lightly. "Good. I'm not really fond of such bright neon green."

"Understandable, understandable. Here you go, these are all the different variations."

When he took the objects out, Iris finally saw what they were - collars. Her heart instantly shuddered, and she let out a low whine. This… this was wrong!

Somehow, she never thought she might have to wear a collar. For other people's pets, it was normal, but… She was no normal pet! How could she actually wear something like that?!

Among humans, it was only used for stuff she only heard about in rumors, and on the Internet. Well, that second one didn't count. One could find anything on the Internet.

ANYWAY, she wasn't accepting this. No way!

Without a better idea, Iris started screeching like a banshee. Maybe if she distracted him for long enough he'd forget about it?

'You vet, whatever's your name, hurry up! Your patient here can't wait any longer! I'm afraid to know what my roommate will decide to get next if you don't hurry up!'