Chapter 1. Prologue: The Puppy Dies
“Coco, please say something…”
In the garden where we used to happily take walks every day, my sister was crying.
I could feel her warm hand gently stroking my white fur.
I wanted to tilt my head at her, like I always did, but my body wouldn’t respond.
‘What’s wrong with me?’
As a cool puppy, I should be wagging my tail against her like always.
I should be gently nibbling on her fingers—just enough to make her laugh, not hurt her.
But something felt off. I couldn’t move the way I used to.
‘This isn’t right. I should be rubbing my nose against her, like I always do!’
That’s what makes her smile.
I tried to move my body, which had been feeling heavier these days.
My sister sat in a chair in the garden. I wanted to bring her the flowers she loved.
‘But my body won’t move.’
Instead of picking flowers for her, I barely managed to lift my head while resting on her lap.
Her violet eyes shimmered with tears.
“Coco. Hmm? Why didn’t you tell me you were… in pain…?”
Before I knew it, tears began to fall from my sister’s eyes, one by one.
I sniffled with my dry nose and breathed in her familiar scent.
‘It smells like sadness.’
Why is my sister sad? Whenever we were together, I could always hear the sound of her happy heartbeat.
‘Does she not love me anymore because I’ve grown weak? Because I’m losing my fur and becoming ugly?’
While I was quietly pondering with my little head, my sister suddenly pulled me tightly into her arms and whispered softly,
“Coco…”
The warmth was familiar.
Born a stray, I had never been held by anyone before.
This was the first warmth I had ever known in my life.
I nestled deeper into her embrace and murmured softly,
“…Woof.”
As she gently stroked my fur, she whispered to herself,
“If you could talk and tell me when you were sick… would we have had more than just five years together?”
“……”
“If you had been mean or a bad dog, maybe letting you go wouldn’t hurt this much.”
Plop- A tear fell on my cheek..
I’m just a silly dog who doesn’t understand half of what my sister says.
But when she’s sad, I know. Faster than even a ghost could.
Sister shouldn’t be sad. Maybe it’s because of me. I need to comfort her.
I barely managed to lift my front paw.
Ever since my fur started falling out, I had kept my left front paw hidden. Now, that thin paw touched Sister’s cheek, then gently dropped again.
When she saw it trembling in front of her, her lips quivered as she tried hard to hold back her tears.
“I love you.”
“……”
“Sister loves our Coco so, so much.”
Usually, when she said ‘I love you’, her arms would be filled with the scent of warmth and love.
Just like when she used to say, ‘Coco, you’re so silly’.
But today, it’s different.
All I can smell is the bitter scent of tears.
I tried to snuggle deeper into her arms, wanting to comfort her.
But my body no longer listened to me. It was slowly growing stiff on its own.
“Coco, Coco… my baby… You can’t die. Not now. There’s still so much I want to do for you.”
I didn’t really understand what death meant.
But hearing my sister speak with such sadness, I somehow knew, it must be something truly sad.
As her face grew harder to see and my vision slowly blurred, a vivid afterimage flashed through my mind.
It began with the moment I was born on the streets.
From the very start, life was a bit—no, maybe quite a lot—difficult.
I survived by eating scraps in the barracks of a battlefield. Many people didn’t like me there.
“Ugh, so annoying. Get it out of here. Its fur is flying everywhere.”
After the war ended, someone said they were going to eat me.
So I was locked up in a tiny room, just waiting to be devoured…
But one lucky night, I managed to slip out through a crack in the door with my friends!
“Did you hear? Some pups escaped from the breeding facility.”
“Forget it. They’re probably dead by now.”
I crept past the people puffing cigars in the yard, holding back my laughter in excitement.
No way!
I escaped—bravely—with the other fearless pups!
‘That’s how I became a scruffy but courageous stray dog.’
Still, I don’t think I was ever truly happy living as a street animal.
“Ugh, that dog smell. So filthy.”
Many people hated me, they spat at me or chased me away for no reason.
But those painful and sad memories from the past are now forgotten.
Looking back, I realize—I was actually a very, very happy little dog.
It happened by chance when I wandered onto a busy street crowded with people.
There were so many smells hitting my nose from all directions that I didn’t know where to go.
The human world had become frightening to me.
I stood there, frozen, in the middle of a street filled with square-shaped carriages and terrifying horses.
And then, right in front of me, I saw a very, very fancy carriage screech to a halt.
That day, the moment when I locked eyes with my sister, who had leaned her face out the window, was a moment I will never forget for the rest of my life.
“What’s going on, coachman?”
“La-Lady Chloe, there’s a stray dog in front of the carriage. I’ll remove it immediately.”
“…A stray dog?”
“Woof!”
Sister, who stared quietly into my dark eyes, carried a deep scent of loneliness, just like me, someone who had wandered alone with no place to call home for a long, long time.
“…Bring it into the carriage.”
“Pardon? B-but, my lady, it’s a stray. It could be dangerous. If you’d like a pet, we can find you a well-bred, adorable puppy—”
“Bring it to me. Now.”
Chloe, that was the name of the first person I could ever call my sister.
She used to say my eyes were like little black beans and that they were adorable.
She once asked me, “Why are you so tiny, even though you seem to be all grown up?”
After she washed all the dirt from my messy fur, she told me I was white and beautiful.
‘She even gave me a name, Coco.’
As for me,
I was there when my sister first started liking her fiancé.
I even sat by her side as she wrote her love letters.
Whenever she ate something delicious, I would sit on her lap, wagging my tail in joy.
Of course, sometimes I got scolded when I got too greedy and tried to steal her food!
And when she felt down, I would gently press my head against her arm, quietly sharing my warmth with her…
I was with her long enough to see the flowers bloom five times.
So what I want to say is this—
I’m grateful I got to say goodbye
to the person I loved most in this world… my sister.
With great effort, I lifted my tail just a little and let out a faint bark. Woof.
It was my way of saying—I love you very, very much too.
I wonder if she understood.
I don’t know if that little sound ever reached her as she endlessly stroked my fur.
“My baby… please, I’m begging you. If there’s a next life, be born as my daughter, okay?”
With my sister’s final words, just like that, I died.
Complete darkness finally enveloped me, and instead of seeing my sister in front of me, I saw something else—a magnificent rainbow bridge.
* * *
I crossed the rainbow bridge in a swift leap and arrived at the Puppy Star.
This place is a paradise made just for dogs.
There are countless walking trails, fun playgrounds, and piles of sweet potatoes—the very ones I always wanted to eat, but was forbidden because they would make me gain weight.
But still…
What’s the point of a wonderful place like this. My sister isn’t here, though.
I scrunched up the white fur on my paw in frustration.
Sometimes, in the Puppy Star, I would gather with my dog friends to peek into the human world.
Whenever I did, I would see my sister, always hearing people speak badly about her.
They openly called her a “villainess,” and she became completely isolated from her family, utterly alone. Her fiancé continued to torment her with cruel, despicable things.
But, but still…
My sister, as if she were the saddest person in the entire world, did nothing to fight back.
She only did the bare minimum to get by and spent most of her days lying down, unmoving.
‘There’s so much darkness surrounding her now!’
Before, whenever that darkness gathered around her, all I had to do was gently pat her with my soft little paws, and a light would suddenly appear.
And then I would get to see her face brighten with happiness again, but…
‘Since I’m not by her side right now, I can’t do anything for her, and that worries me.’
Thinking about my sister, I stopped eating and stopped doing anything.
I spent nearly a year like that—living as the saddest dog in the entire Puppy Star, until the Puppy God, who rules over our Puppy Star, appeared in front of me.
The Puppy God, a golden retriever with gleaming, silky fur, looked at me and spoke.
“Why aren’t you doing anything? Why don’t you go for walks like the other dogs, or at least try some sweet potatoes?”
“I’ve made up my mind. I want to be reborn as a human!”
“What? A human?”
“Yes! My sister asked me to be born as her daughter in the next life!”
“That’s not possible. That human—your sister—hasn’t done anything that would lead to having a baby.”
“What do you mean by ‘doing something that would lead to having a baby’?”
I tilted my head so hard in curiosity that my ears flopped around.
Even my tail, which had been about to wag excitedly at the thought of seeing my sister again, suddenly froze as I focused on his answer.
“I don’t know either. Anyway, you can’t be her daughter!”
I bared my sharp canines and lunged forward bravely.
“No! I have to go see my sister! She’ll die without me!”
“Ugh, dogs really are all the same! Well, I can let you reincarnate as a human. But I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Why?”
“Because until your sister feels <true intimacy> with you as a human, you won’t be allowed to reveal that you were once her dog, Coco.”
“Eh? That’s okay! I’ll just become close with her again!”
“And whether your sister recognizes you or not, you must absolutely return after five years.”
“Gasp! You mean I can live with my sister for five more years?”
“If you live together as humans, it will be much harder to part from her when the time comes. Are you sure you can handle that?”
“That’s fine too!”
As long as I can make my sister truly happy for those five years, I’ll gladly come back!
The Puppy God, who had been staring at me intently, suddenly changed the topic.
“Humans are different from dogs. Sometimes, they do ugly and terrible things without hesitation. Can you endure that?”
“I can! I’m really, really bad too! My sister told me not to eat snacks, but I secretly stole them! And even when she said, ‘Don’t touch the tissues!’ I still tore them up!”
The Puppy God let out a soft chuckle.
Probably thought I was seriously very bad.
“That’s why puppies are just too kind. So, as a human, you’ll need some special abilities.”
“Special abilities?”
“First, the ability to talk to animals. Second, the power to see the future.”
“Whoaa…”
“And lastly… when it comes to anything related to your sister, your intelligence will shine and soar beyond limits.”
The moment the paw touched me, my fluffy fur turned bright and dazzling.
“This is the complete blessing of God.”
After the light that had wrapped around my entire body gently faded away,
The Puppy God patted my head enthusiastically, calling me a good puppy.
As soon as that happened, the world began to spin before my eyes.
Other puppies quickly gathered around me, chattering noisily as they each said something to me.
“Please tell my big brother that I love him!”
“Can you tell my mom I’m sorry I couldn’t stay by her side longer?”
“Tell my dad to make sure he shaves regularly!”
As I listened to their loud and cheerful goodbyes, I nodded so hard that my ears flopped.
“Trust me! I’ll make sure to tell them all!”
With my newly gained ability to see the future, I’m heading back to meet her again.
My sister—the one I love most in this entire world!
