childrensfiction is hosting yet another story contest, and I'm definitely in! Do have fun reading this! Once again, this is a chance for me to implement another story idea I've had in mind for a while now. 

Ting tong!

Looking up from her book, Kousai frowned as she set it aside, "The door's not locked, you know, Nazo-chan." 

When no reply came from outside, Kousai got up and walked to the door, concern overtaking her usual sense of caution. Only Nazotoki visited her house, and she had a key to said house, so why press the doorbell?

"I guess there's no time like the present," she mumbled. "Better than never right?" 

With that in mind, she opened the door.... to reveal a slightly ruffled yet intact package sitting in front of the door, "...Huh?"

The brown packaging seemed to be hastily wrapped around the box like a mummy, and there were holes all around as if whatever was inside needed to breathe...

She shifted slightly. Was this a prank? Or was this a threat? With the recent events of Kousai solving a mass sleepwalking case, she could never be too cautious. She was still anxious about the attention from the media, and she didn't really enjoy the feeling, so she rather not test her luck.

Then, a mewrf came from inside the box, making her stop and stare. 

"Did... Did it just bark?" she gaped. Wait, that explained the holes; the box had a living creature inside! If that was the case... 

Only one person knew she always wanted a pet. 

"Merry Christmas, Kousai," a familiar voice made her look up to see her best friend smile at her. Nazotoki seemed amused by the guppy face her mouth was doing. 

"But I thought dogs were only available in the human world," the minor god for friendship whispered.

That was true. The Cell God realm was its own world and having a pet that could be as small as a CG was definitely impossible.

"It's not a dog," Nazo-chan shook her head, a slight twitch of her lip upwards evident to her friend. "It's something better." 

"Are you asking me to GUESS what it is, Nazo-chan?" Kousai rose an eyebrow at the minor god for mysteries. "I'm not a great detective like yourself." 

"But you've proven your smarts when you solved that case. Give yourself a bit of credit, okay?" she smiled. "Come on, it's not a problem."

Kousai highly questioned that but gave Nazo-chan the benefit of the doubt as she thought about it. What exactly could be made this way? She didn't know much about the creatures they coexisted with in the CG Realm.

But a dog... There were hybrids of the sorts, if she recalled correctly.

Huh, that was a point, so she began to delve deeper, reaching the depths of her knowledge. Most hybrids were big too, but there were those native to their homeworld. These had shrunk a lot due to the magical restrictions. The box itself wasn't big, so it was a young hybrid.

Then she tried to remember just what kind of dog hybrids there were that would be suitable for being pets, and tried to match their sounds to the one she heard-

Her eyes opened, and she gasped, "A cag? A hybrid between a cat and a dog?"

Nazotoki gave a noncommittal hum despite the smile forming on her face, "The most common of the Lupidae family?"

"Yeah," She nodded.

"What are you waiting for then?" Nazotoki smiled. "Open it up!" 

Kousai couldn't help the twitch of her lips as she kneeled in front of the box. Her hands shook. This was so nerve-wracking! It was Nazo-chan, granted, so it wasn't anything dangerous, but still...

A lifelong dream of hers had always been to own a pet. Her guardians had refused to give her one, and the CG admitted freely that even after leaving the house she had never actually gotten the motivation to get one, scared that she would do something that could hurt it.

She then felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Nazotoki smile as she said, "You're not as bad as you think you are, you know. Every yin has its yang, and you're no exception. What matters is moving forward with a great support system, okay?" 

Here, Kousai couldn't hide the soft grin forming once more, "T-Thanks." 

"No worries, what are partners for?" Nazotoki reassured her. "Don't hesitate and treasure the little one, okay?" 

"Of course!" she nodded, and so she took in a deep breath before she undid the bow and knot, opening it up just as a blur tackled her to the ground. 

Kousai's mouth was agape. This cat-dog hybrid was definitely not the same as the ones native to their world. It had bright red fur, droopy peach ears, a cute snout of whiskers and stunning green eyes-

Wait,  hold it right there. 

"This one doesn't have pupils?" Kousai looked at her friend,  a frown on her face. 

"Congenital myosis," she answered. "A genetic condition that makes the pupils unable to adjust its size which ends in blindness. But she can smell you pretty well. Does it matter if she's blind to you Kousai?" 

"Of course not," Kousai shook her head. "It doesn't matter to me. This little one didn't deserve this and she never asked for it. I won't blame her for something out of her control."

"Nice one," she smiled. "So, what are you going to name her?" 

The minor god for friendship took some time to ponder before she beamed and decided, "Fushigi sounds like a perfect name to me."

Nazotoki flushed, though it went unnoticed as the cag made a mewrf sound of agreement, and Kousai got up to turn to her, which made the minor god of mystery hurriedly shake those thoughts out of her head. 

Kousai smiled, "Merry Christmas, Nazo-chan. Thank you for everything, from when we first met until now."

Nazotoki's eyes widened before she smiled as she tipped the bill of her cap downwards, "Merry Christmas to you too, Kou-chan."

They then grinned at each other and entered Kousai's house to celebrate a holiday of happiness together as friends... and maybe more, someday.