A pet-shop, "Sweet Puppies"

Well, it wasn't exactly Dick Tracy, but it was something! A pet store called, telling me all about a dog-napping. Someone had broken in just an hour earlier, while all attendants were out of the shop, and then escaped with a numerous varieties of dogs in tow. The caller was named Olivia Doggett, which I thought to be quite a coincidence. Feeling mildly skeptical, I couldn't help but ask: why call ODD instead of the police?

The woman's sweet voice on the other side gasped, as if shocked that I'd ask. "W-Well... I... Just like the ODD better, I guess? Your agents are always so... friendly and accommodating to my requests!"

What's that answer supposed to mean?! Was it even possible for anyone to like a crappy detective agency that's a front for one very sick voyeur's futa collection? Still, I couldn't help but marvel that the agency seemed to have a positive rapport with the locales. I immediately pinned the credit on the detectives. There was no way that Genkei was the one earning them good publicity.

I would strive to be like those detectives: friendly and professional! I didn't want to let Ms. Doggett down. With my most professional phone voice, I answered that she was in good hands; I'd be over right away to begin my investigation. I advised her that I did not have the official capacity to make arrests, nor to engage violent criminals.

"Of course! I can't imagine ODD engaging a violent criminal, honestly..."

... Part of me felt a little offended that my physical abilities were being written off before Olivia even had a chance to see me, but another part of me was happy that the idea of me locking up with some dog-napper had been immediately taken off the table. I'd been annoyed when Genkei said it earlier, but I really was a book-loving nerd. If I tried to grapple some thug, he'd probably laugh and push me to the ground, or hold me back with one hand while I flailed my stubby arms. Why was I thinking about such an embarrassing, defeatist prospect right before my first real case...?

I wanted to throw open the door dramatically and show my badge to everyone at the pet shop, but there were two problems. First off: I'd been given no badge. How was I even supposed to prove that I was part of ODD?! Secondly: energetically throwing open doors and storming into places was for hard-boiled, kick-ass investigators, while I was just a small girl with a notepad-- a fresh rookie with no prospects who'd been tricked into joining a laughably named, fake-detective agency. Instead of trying to look like a bad-ass, I'd have to settle for looking professional and respectful. I pushed the glass door open, causing the bell above its frame to tingle.

Frankly, this pet store did not look like the site of a recent breaking-and-entering case. All of the displays were perfectly in-tact and full of dogs. In fact, there were so many dogs in so many various states of storage, it was hard to believe that one could be missing. Two of them weren't even in storage! As soon as I entered, two over-sized black labs ran over, drooling and wagging their tongues. They jumped right at me! Don't judge me too harshly when I say that I found the stool the shop-tender used to tend to high up accessories and climbed it, feeling my skinny legs shaking as the dogs pawed at them. These dogs were so big! You have no idea! I'd have been knocked onto my butt if either one of those pounced me!

The shop-keeper, who appeared to be the only employee, got a big giggle, watching me dance around on top of that stool. Olivia Doggett was a pretty client, maybe about 10 years older, with a thick green sweater and white khaki pants; over the top of that, she wore a hefty pink apron with "I <3 DOGS" printed over the chest and down to the stomach. Speaking of which, she was at least a head taller than me and a bit on the chubby side. I say that to give you a mental image, not to cast judgment. Seeing her tanned skin and her black hair in a workman's bun, along with various stains from tending dogs on her apron (hopefully from food and drool exclusively), I had to admit she had a sort of charm to her.

Until she started laughing about the dogs, at least. I pleaded for her to call off her attack dogs!

"A-Attack dogs? He he he he he!" She was laughing as hard as though someone was tickling those love-handles of hers.

I repeated myself: attack dogs! What else does one call giant, savage dogs like these?!

"Oh, they're perfectly harmless. Sweet dogs, I assure you! They're trying to show you their affection, Miss...?"

I answered: Hojo. I nervously stepped down from the stool, then submitted to the attention of the dogs, who at various times licked my nice, clean pant-suit, grabbed my tie and tugged it like it was a toy, or jumped up to give me full-body hugs with their paws on my shoulders. They were startlingly huge. They couldn't possibly be normal dogs.

I straightened the drool-soaked tie and asked her to point me to the scene of the crime.

"Hmmm... Right! The crime scene." The lady seemed like a real airhead, forgetting why she'd even called me over. I noticed as well that she must be a foreigner; whenever her eyes opened up from those happy, lidded crescents, I saw sparkling green eyes watching me. The look in them... How should I put it? At first, I thought it looked a bit diminutive and sneering, but it was quite the opposite. The conspiratory twinkle in those gorgeous eyes was born from a form of affection, like how she regarded her pets, but somehow with an added lewdness to it. Every now and then, those eyes rested upon the lap of my trousers. I found myself becoming uncomfortable... yes, just uncomfortable. No other feelings in particular popped up. "Ms. Hojo, I returned from lunch to find a few of my prized puppies missing. I don't have security cameras or anything of that sort, but I just know a robber took them! All the doors were closed up; the dogs couldn't possibly get them open."

I noted with some irritation that the dogs were extremely huge and she'd made no mention of locking the doors. Was it not possible that the dogs had simply applied their weight and pushed the doors open?

"Uuuum... No, no! I don't think that could happen," the lady answered, making it apparent that the thought hadn't occurred to her.

Doing my best to keep professional, I questioned her once more: out the back door, right? Leading into the alleyway? If they'd gone out the front, towards the shopping street, certainly we'd have witnesses to the crime?

"Certainly!"

At least she wasn't fighting my reasoning. I told her that I was ready to begin right away. I'd need to investigate the back alley.

"Certainly!" she repeated, tilting her head with a cute smile. "But there is one other thing I'd like to give you to help in your investigation, Ms. Hojo. Will you step into the back room with me...?"

I had no reason to refuse, although I felt a profound sense of unease building in my belly. What came next showed me just how inadequately I'd prepared for my first day on the job with ODD...