Light Impulse

Do I know you?

Wednesday's were usually slow, but now the days were shorter and the evenings colder even less customers would come in at the end of the day. He walked through the store to check the supply and spotted an empty spot among the dog shampoos. He worked at this pet store part time to pay for his tiny apartment. He couldn't really afford much more while paying for college too. Almost all of them had decided to stay in Tokyo after Toman was disbanded a couple years ago, so it felt only natural to stay too. Getting into the groove of regular high-school life had taken some adjusting after living in chaos for so long. He laughed softly and shook his head at how ludicrous the course of their lives had been. He could hardly believe that they were all working towards future goals now, instead of having to focus on how to change it, in order to save the ones they loved. The jingle of the doorbell interrupted his train of thought and he quickly picked up the dog shampoo before walking back into the store. 

"Excuse me," a young woman said while rummaging through her bag, apparently trying to find her wallet.

"Good evening, welcome," he said politely while putting the shampoo on the counter.

She looked up at him, her coat and scarf a little askew. "Good evening," she said, half bent over from reaching into the depths of her bag. "I-, uhm," she started, but her eyes locked on him for a moment before she started looking around the store. "This is a pet store, right?" she asked. 

"Yeah, please, come in," he said and for a moment he could swear she looked familiar. Half of her red curls were tied back into a messy bun and he could spot faint freckles dotted across her nose. She looked a little dishevelled and was clearly looking for something. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked, still racking his brain trying to recall why he felt like he knew her somehow.

"I don't really know what to do, actually," she said, looking a little worried. "I think I found a little stray dog and it's hiding. So I want to see if there's something I can do. I looked up the nearest pet shop and that was yours," she explained as she started walking around while looking for some sort of guidance among the shelves.

He followed her along a parallel isle. "Can you tell me what happened?" he said as he slowly followed her around the shop.

She looked around while biting her bottom lip before turning to him. "I was walking towards the bus stop near the bridge and I spotted something moving into the bushes. At first I thought it was a cat but when I got a closer look it actually seemed to be a small dog. It looked all scruffy so I tried cooing it over but the more I tried to approach it the further it went into the undergrowth," she explained, waving her wallet in the air as she talked. 

He watched her as she spoke, the situation clearly got her quite worked up as her cheeks were flushed red and her hair was a bit of a mess. He spotted some twigs hanging from her scarf and glanced at the clock quickly. "Listen, do you think you could go back and keep an eye on it for a little while? I can close up shop in about an hour. I can come help you out as soon as I leave. Here," as he walked up to her he grabbed some canned dog food from a shelf nearby.

She nodded and held out her hand, her lips pressed together trying to take in every detail of what he said.

"See if it will respond to a food lure. If it's hungry enough it might approach you. Or at least leave some food out in sight so you can keep an eye on it," he said calmly.  He looked around quickly and grabbed a small leash. "If it's calm enough, you could try to put a leash on it so we can at least keep it safely with us without risking it running into the road," he added and put the lead in her other hand.

She looked at him a little longer for the first time and seemed to pause for a moment.

He noticed her squint her eyes at him a little bit before nodding slowly.