"Woof~"
It wagged its tail, as if it understood Nobi Hiroshi's words, its front paws leaped high, and its eyes sparkled with hope.
"You're really smart, aren't you?"
"But since you're my dog now, I have to give you a name. How about Coal Ball?"
Nobi Hiroshi raised a finger, naming it based on his first impression of the target.
This dog was thin and small, and its whole body was dirty, just like a Coal Ball.
"Wuwu~~"
As soon as he finished speaking, the chicken leg in the dog's mouth instantly lost its appeal. Its head shook like a rattle, its pigtails sweeping through the air like waves, clearly resisting the new name Hiroshi had given it.
Unfortunately, the stubborn resistance was meaningless; it would still be called what it was called.
"So excited! It seems you really like this name, then let's go home, Coal Ball."
Nobi Hiroshi smiled, straightened up, picked up the vegetable basket, and strode home.
Coal Ball, resigned to its fate, looked dejected, trudging behind its owner with no human rights. It could only bow down to the evil force.
At home, Yuzi had already recovered. She took the vegetable basket and swayed her hips into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
She didn't say much about Hiroshi bringing home a strange puppy.
She simply instructed him not to let Coal Ball relieve itself in the house.
"Lie down, don't move!"
"You're so dirty, you shouldn't be carrying any bacteria, right? I should have taken you to the pet hospital beforehand."
In the bathroom, where water was gushing, Nobi Hiroshi knelt down, holding the showerhead and turning the water pressure to maximum, aiming it at the dirty Coal Ball for a thorough rinse.
Turbid wastewater flowed along the tile grout into the drain. Hiroshi meticulously cleaned Coal Ball's body, ensuring every corner was spotless.
"Wuwu~"
Coal Ball enjoyed this special attention. It closed its eyes, letting the water gently wash over its fur, as if undergoing a comfortable baptism.
As the large hands continuously rubbed, the fur, originally covered in grime, gradually revealed its original purity, looking radiant and delightful to anyone who saw it—the number one pet in the pet world.
"No, you're a female."
After the bath, Hiroshi took a towel to dry Coal Ball's body, lifted a small paw, and flipped it over to examine the belly area.
Empty, flat as a board, which conveniently saved on the cost of a spay surgery.
"Wuwu~"
With a pink, fleshy paw, Coal Ball shamefully covered her privacy, rolled over, pulled away from Hiroshi's demonic grasp, and bolted out the door.
Like a little wife who had been wronged, her figure hid far away.
Nobi Hiroshi scratched his head in confusion; while a dog with pigtails was novel, he wasn't hungry!
He wasn't so desperate as to emulate his neighbor, Third Brother, in showing affection to animal friends, unless it transformed into Quan Niang on the spot.
After scalding it with boiling water, Nobi Hiroshi threw the prepared towel onto a bamboo pole in the courtyard to sun-dry; it would belong to Coal Ball from now on.
"Why are you hiding from me? I just confirmed your gender, that's all."
"Come on, follow me upstairs."
Pulling Coal Ball, who had hidden behind the table leg, Nobi Hiroshi carried her to Nobita's room.
The satellite locator's clicking and whirring of taking pictures were incessant, and the tatami on the floor was covered with photos of the African region.
Nobi Hiroshi entered, holding the dog, and asked about the progress of the exploration of the demonic realm: "Doraemon, have you made any progress yet?"
"Sigh, it's still too early. We've taken tens of thousands of photos and haven't found any clues."
Doraemon sighed, resting his head against the cupboard, his entire head feeling huge.
"Hiroshi, the little dog in your arms is so beautiful! Where did you bring her from?"
Nobi Nobita saw Coal Ball in his arms and eagerly came over, reaching out to pet her.
Hiroshi took a small step back, dodged the sudden attack, released Coal Ball, and picked up a photo from the tatami to examine it.
His own dog couldn't be petted by others; only other people's dogs could be petted by him.
"This is a little dog I found on the road. She's not familiar with this place yet, so don't scare her."
"Sorry, sorry, I just really like little dogs. Oh, what's her name?"
Nobita awkwardly withdrew his hand, scratching his head, not expecting Hiroshi's possessiveness to be so strong that he wouldn't even let him touch her.
"Coal Ball," Hiroshi said indifferently.
"Coal Ball? Why that name?"
Nobita rubbed his eyes. The dog lying on the floor was clearly a sleek, white-furred little dog. How was she related to Coal Ball?
"Because I like to call her that."
Not intending to explain further, Hiroshi petted the dog with his left hand and looked at the photos with his right, feeling quite content.
The fluffy touch made the tedious and eye-straining task much more pleasant, as he brushed down her unique white pigtails.
"Alright, our top priority now is to speed up the investigation. Nobita, stop daydreaming."
Doraemon, looking at the many stacked photos and then at Nobita, who was speechless over the name, reached out and patted his back.
"Oh right, we need to find the demonic realm quickly, or we'll definitely get a bad outcome!"
"That Gian just loves to make trouble for people."
Nobita grumbled and continued working. The room fell silent for a moment, except for the whirring and clicking of the machine.
What the few of them didn't notice was Coal Ball, under Nobi Hiroshi's palm, stretching her neck and looking around at the photos scattered on the floor.
Just now, when she heard Nobita mention the demonic realm, a glint flashed in her eyes...
...
...
At lunchtime, everyone came to the dining room to eat, and Coal Ball was as elegant as ever.
She ate with the manners of a noble, raising her head and chest with every bite of food, chewing slowly, and swallowing it down.
"What a well-behaved dog."
"Nobita, look at her. Now do you realize how rude your eating habits are?"
Nobi Tamako seized the opportunity to criticize the wolfing-down Nobita, whose behavior was no different from that of a primitive man a thousand years ago.
"Yes!" Nobita stopped his chopsticks in shame.
But wasn't Nobi Hiroshi, sitting opposite him, eating in the same way?!
"Slurp~ Slurp~"
"Aunt Tamako, today's ginger-fried pork is so delicious!"
"Really? Then eat more!"
Nobi Tamako smiled and helped him with the dishes, indulging Nobi Hiroshi's extremely rude eating habits.
For a boy, eating like this was called bold and unrestrained. What was wrong with that?
"Damn it, I'm the one who gets scolded every day. It's so unfair!"
Nobi Nobita clutched his bowl and chopsticks in frustration, muttering softly while drinking tomato soup, his tone filled with helplessness.
He always felt that Nobi Hiroshi was the biological child, while he himself only suffered unfair treatment. The difference between the two was simply obvious.
Double standards definitely existed.
However, there was one point that Nobita got wrong, and it was a huge mistake.
Could the treatment between a father and son be the same? Not at all!
Well, as long as he could figure out this point, all his confusion would naturally be resolved.
Unfortunately, the current Nobita couldn't understand the relationship. Perhaps only when he saw the day in the future when Yuzi gave him a younger brother or sister would Nobita truly awaken.