The three ‘humans’ went to a quieter part of the hospital, where they could sit and hold their conversation in peace. Ella made sure that there was staff still nearby in case something unexpected happened. Prauza, who remained on guard, made sure that Nini and Fonmi were away from Eddie’s reach.

“Okay, let’s start,” said Ella, in her most cheerful voice, while taking out a piece of paper and a pen. “My name is Ella Allen, and this is Spencer Smith. We’re students from Illemore City College, working on a study on how the presence of pets affects those with mental illnesses in the city. Please give us your name and why you’re here.”

“As I said earlier, my name is Edward Bennett, also called Eddie,” said the patient. “I’m here because you asked me to. Very nicely.”

“I don’t mean why you’re here with us, Mr. Bennett,” said Ella, now starting to realize why Eddie is in the hospital. “I mean, why are you here in the hospital? Like, what condition do you have? What kind of treatment do you get?”

“Oh, that. You should have told me sooner,” said Eddie with a smile. However, the next part was a little hard for him to put into words.

“I… have trouble when it comes to following instructions. I get therapy for it under Doctor Thomas, as you’ve heard from the nurse earlier.”

“What do you mean by ‘trouble with following instructions’?” asked Ryne, who was now curious. “Do you… disobey people?”

“Oh, no. On the contrary,” answered Eddie. “People, or rather my friend, think that I follow them too closely. Sometimes literally.”

“Really? You don’t look like it, given what happened earlier,” said Ella.

“Truly. I can’t even lie,” said Eddie. “If you ask me something, I’ll answer according to what I know. If you tell me to do something, I’ll likely do it as long as I can do it.”

“That’s rather unusual,” said Ryne.

“It is, isn’t it? Some people like it, though,” said Eddie.

“I bet. Some might even take advantage of that,” said Ella.

“Well, getting back to the topic, have you been with animals before?” asked Ryne.

“Yeah. There’s a cat that I’m usually with, and I also play with the police mascot a lot when I have the time,” answered Eddie. “You know him? Sir Whipplesnaps?”

“Oh, that dog. The one who always barks at people who aren’t the officers,” commented Ella.

“Oh yeah, I remember an officer telling me something about certain people it doesn’t bark at much…” said Ryne. And then a look of realization flashed on his face. “You’re one of those people! Mr. Bennett! You’re from the Mayor’s office, right?”

“Ahaha, I see Officer Fisher has been at it again…” Eddie said sheepishly. “Yes, I am.”

“Yes… And the other person is a Mr. Miller? Right?” asked Ryne.

“Yeah. Mallory Miller. He’s my friend,” answered Eddie.

“Wait… Mallory Miller? Don’t tell me it’s the Spiritbooks head, Mr. Miller?” asked Ella, remembering her application for a study grant.

“Yup, that’s him.”

While Ella was still a little star-struck, Ryne was already thinking about the information that he had just gathered.

Prauza’s wary of him, but it’s not like he’s feared by animals or anything… I really would have to look into this, he thought.

Just then, a man with white hair approached them. “I knew it. You were here.”

“Oh, hello Mallory,” Eddie replied to the man.

“Don’t just ‘hello’ me as if nothing happened,” said Mallory. “You didn’t report to work earlier. You know how Gi… I mean, Mayor Gibson is.”

He had to edit that last part because he realized that there were other people with his friend, namely Ella and Ryne.

Eddie laughed then said, “You don’t have to be so formal.”

“And why not? There are other people here. It’s not like they don’t exist just because you ignore them,” said Mallory. “And why are you even out here? You’re not even done with your session with Doctor Thomas.”

“Right… They’re asking questions about me and how animals affect me. They said it’s for a study of theirs. They’re from the local college.”

“Is this true?” asked Mallory.

“Yes, sir,” Ella said, recognizing the air of authority that Mallory carried with him. “My name is Ella Allen, and this is my classmate Spencer Smith. We’re studying the effects of animals on mentally ill people.”

Ryne could only nod, a little speechless at how closely the man resembled his human appearance. The other cats were also somewhat awed, especially Prauza, who had stopped becoming aggressive and started approaching and sniffing Mallory in curiosity.

“Well, that’s adorable,” said Eddie, noticing the gesture made by the feline. “You really are a cat magnet, aren’t you?”

Mallory stared at Prauza, who had started becoming excited over Mallory’s presence and meowing incessantly. “It’s… not like I like the attention, though,” he said to Eddie.

“If I could have that attention, I’d be pretty glad,” said Eddie. “But that one hates me for some reason.”

He went on to prove the point by attempting to pet Prauza and getting scratched as a result.

The white-haired man sighed. “Well, you already have Sir Whipplesnaps.”

His brown-haired friend pouted slightly. “He’s not as soft and small, though.”

He then looked as if he remembered something, and said, “Speaking of him, this guy here, Spencer, is it?”

“Uh, yes,” said Ryne, panicking a little since he took a bit longer than he should to respond to his name. “That’s my name.”

Eddie turned to Mallory again and continued what he was saying. “So, Spencer here was told by Officer Fisher that the two of us were close with Sir Whipplesnaps. Isn’t that funny?”

“Wait, that’s not what I…” Ryne tried to correct Eddie about what he had told him but was largely ignored.

“That blasted Fi- I mean, Officer Fisher,” said Mallory as he rubbed his forehead. “He never seems to be able to hold his tongue from chatting too much. He even told me about some man who had almost the same… face…”

He leaned toward and looked intensely at Ryne, who returned a look of confusion. “Could it be… you?” he asked.

“Well… he did tell me the same thing about you when I talked with him. Or at least, I think who you were talking about is the same person I was thinking of… I’m sorry.”

The businessman stepped back a little, giving Ryne some room to breathe. “No need for apologies. I’m not angry, anyway. I just find it… unusual.”

“And funny,” said Eddie.

This time, it was Ella’s turn to keep the charade of holding an interview. “Um, guys, sirs, if it’s not too much, we would like to continue the interview.”

“Oh, I apologize for being the cause of the interruption, then.”

“A-Actually, you don’t really have to say sorry, either. I’m really honored to meet you in person!” said the girl who now felt like she was melting. “I really like the titles your company puts out. They’re all really worthwhile reads.”

“Thank you. We do our best,” said Mallory.

In her excitement, Ella couldn’t help but ramble. “I submitted a personal study of mine there about this city and the legend of how it’s built by cats and people. I actually plan to research on the legend of the so-called ancient cities and why there’s such a story.”

She then realized too late that she had been talking too much, and was going to apologize when the company head said, “I see… Now I remember where I’ve seen your name before. You were the one who wrote that interesting paper.”

“Y-You read it?! Oh my gosh!”

“Calm down, Ella,” said Ryne, trying to keep her from uncontrollably crying tears of joy. But upon seeing that he couldn’t, he turned to the two other people and said, “I’m really sorry about that. She’s really an academic at heart.”

“I figured,” said Mallory.

“Anyway, getting back to our interview… I would like to ask Mr. Bennett how he feels when he gets to play with his, uh, cat and the police dog.”

Mallory raised an eyebrow when Ryne mentioned Eddie’s cat, as his friend actually didn’t have any. But he let him answer the question.

“What I feel, huh? With the cat, I feel… nice inside. Actually, the same goes with the dog! I feel happy and less stressed.”

“I see…” said the cat-human while he wrote the answer down. “Um, do you think that it helps you live with your condition? I mean, the one where you follow what people tell you to?”

“I think it does… I don’t think it helps me cure it, though. But still, it makes it bearable.”

“Understandable,” said Ryne. “Hm… I guess that’s it for now. To be honest, we weren’t very prepared since we’re cramming it. Would it be all right if I got your phone number in case anything comes up?”

“Sure, all right. I may be too busy, though, but you can try,” said Eddie. “Or you can ask Mallory here to push me. I’ll give you both our numbers. I’ll even put in Katie’s number, just to be sure.”

“Edward…” Mallory wanted to stop his friend from carelessly giving out phone numbers, but figured that as long as he knew who got them, it was all right.

“W-Who’s Katie, if I may ask?”

“She’s my assistant. Her name is Caitlyn, but Edward calls her Katie.”

“I see.”

“I would advise you two against further cramming, by the way. It doesn’t do much good, especially for potentially useful studies such as this you’re doing. After all, I do have a friend who could benefit,” Mallory said, referring to Eddie.

“Thank you. I’ll take your word for it.”

“Now, if you will excuse us, Edward here has a session to continue.”

“That’s all right. Thank you for your time, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Miller.”

“No worries. That was pleasant.”

The two men went into the hospital building again, leaving Ryne, Ella, and the cats outside.

On the way to the doctor’s office, Mallory said, “Eddie, why did you tell them that you have a cat? You don’t have one, and Gibson would kill you if he found out you did.”

Eddie just smiled and said, “What do you mean I don’t have one? I have you, don’t I?”

“I’m not a pet.”

The brown-haired man continued his explanation. “Actually, what they asked was if I have been with animals before, so I said that there’s a cat I’m usually with. Normally, they’d think that it’s a pet.”

“Well, that changes things.”

That issue may have been taken care of, but there was still that one that Mallory specifically came to the medical institution for.

He lowered his voice to a very soft whisper, knowing that his friend would still be able to hear him. And even with the volume, the intensity was still there. “By the way, what has gotten into you? Why the dogs? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“I… I don’t know.”

The faint shadow that he had been seeing over Eddie grew darker. He still didn’t know what it was, exactly, but he was sure at this point that it was connected to what his friend was hiding. He had to get to the heart of it, or else there would be more needless death.

And that wasn’t part of the plan.