A cute puppy finds his way to the Temple, but while the goddesses adore him, Keiichi is strangely adamant about not keeping him.
Summary
Skuld learns about dolphins on TV and finds them incredibly cute, but Keiichi immediately rules out having pets of any kind. Megumi then visits and thanks him and the others for helping her out with the softball club; ever since they beat the baseball club, there's been a waiting list for all the people wanting to join. However, Keiichi is unenthusiastic, knowing well that whenever his sister drops by she usually brings some sort of trouble with her, and she proves him right.
Outside, Megumi shows everyone a cute puppy that she found yesterday and begs Keiichi to take care of him because her apartment doesn't allow pets. Keiichi doesn't want to adopt him, especially not after he bites his pant leg, but Skuld is immediately enamored by him and begs him to let the puppy stay. However, Keiichi is adamantly against a pet and, after getting the word "baka" stamped on his face and shirt by Skuld, tells the goddesses that they can keep him for up to a week while they find someone else to take him in. Megumi asks Belldandy what they will do, but Belldandy believes that knowing Keiichi, he will come to love the puppy in time.
Urd and Skuld argue over whether to name the puppy "penicillin" or "pliers", but while they're running around in excitement, Keiichi wants nothing to do with him. Urd confronts him and says that as long as he dislikes someone, they'll never love him. After she leaves, Keiichi tells himself it's so hard to like the puppy, and he still refuses to accept him. Later on, Belldandy gives the puppy dinner and gives him a name, Assam. She notes that he likes being here, and so must Keiichi.
Keiichi goes to bed telling himself he'll never accept the puppy, but Belldandy wakes him up a six in the morning the next day and asks if he would take a walk with her. Unsurprisingly, she has brought Assam with her, and the three venture into Nekomi. Suddenly, Assam runs off in one direction, and Keiichi tells Belldandy that they must follow him because he knows that dogs will sometimes lead people where they should go. Indeed, they end in a spot on a hill that provides an incredible view of Nekomi below. As Belldandy lovingly hugs Assam, Keiichi realizes he managed to see both Nekomi and Belldandy in a new light thanks to him, though his happiness is tempered when Assam bites his pants again.
For the next few days, Belldandy and Keiichi continue exploring Nekomi with Assam, with Keiichi even taking over Assam's leash one day, yet Keiichi still says that he doesn't want to keep him. However, when they're over a small bridge, Assam grabs a towel Keiichi had with him and jumps into the river below just as a distracted truck barrels past them—Assam had jumped to warn them just in time. Belldandy uses magic to lift Assam out of the water, and while Keiichi panics and looks over him, he calls him "Nihon-Maru".
At home, Skuld is distraught at what happened to Assam, but Belldandy says that he's just weak and needs to rest. Alone with Belldandy and Urd, Keiichi says he never actually hated Assam, but when Urd asks why he won't let them keep him, he doesn't answer immediately. Later on, Belldandy puts a blanket over both of them while they watch Assam, and Belldandy is able to see what Keiichi is dreaming about.
It turns out that Keiichi had a dog named Nihon-Maru when he was a boy, but was devastated when he died. Keiichi wakes up from his dream and tells Belldandy that he is incapable of loving Assam because he doesn't want a repeat of what happened to Nihon-Maru. However, Belldandy tells him that Nihon-Maru had to have been happy to have had a place in his heart and that if he fears sorrow at one's passing, he'll never be able to love at all. While he contemplates her words, Assam suddenly wakes up fully recovered from earlier, something Keiichi is joyous for.
The next day, Skuld plays with Assam outside and Keiichi builds a doghouse for Assam when Megumi suddenly appears and tells them that she found out Assam's original owner (who had named him Marone) and that they must return him. The owner comes to the Temple and thanks them for taking care of Marone and she feels slightly bad about taking him back. When Keiichi goes to pet Marone one last time, the puppy bites his sleeve, and his owner reveals he does it only as a show of affection for those he really likes.
Belldandy decides that they should all visit Marone again, and from then on, they would occasionally go to have Keiichi's sleeve get bitten up a little more.
Trivia
- Belldandy's name for the puppy, Assam, is derived from the Indian state of Assam and specifically Assam tea.
- Keiichi's orignal dog, Nihon-Maru, is named after a large warship built by the Japanese in 1591 for the daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi.