More stories about this girl who helps her uncle in the animal hospital (it seems she’s his only assistant). It remains an odd mix of overly cute pictures, gushing emotions on the part of female characters, and serious depictions of the kinds of illnesses and accidents that can befall pets. Which I find intriguing and kind of baffling at the same time. In the first story, Yuzu meets a girl her age who brings her cocker spaniel into the clinic. The dog, Pudding, is spoiled by her permissive owner: it attacks other dogs, bites people, and runs around loose. The owner refuses to let her dog get a vaccination, alarmed at the pain the shot will cause. Things go on like this until the dog runs into the street and gets hit by a car. When her dog is in the operating room, the owner finally realizes the seriousness of the situation, agrees to learn how to be a better “leader” for her dog. In the final scene, Yuzu meets them out on a walk again, admires the dog’s improved behavior, and that it’s lost weight too, from not getting so spoiled with treats all the time.
Second story, about a cat with cancer. The girl who brings her in shares how close their relationship is, that they always “boop” noses and play a hide-and-seek game. She’s heartbroken at the diagnosis and determined to get her cat treatment which will extend its life as long as possible- even though that means it has to stay at the hospital for extended periods. Yuzu sees how the cat misses her owner (not to mention the suffering it feels due to the treatments). After going through this for some time, the owner finally recognizes that her cat’s current quality of life is not that great, and decides it would be better to just keep her comfortable at home and enjoy their last few weeks together. There’s also a repetition of that “rainbow bridge” concept in here, which comforts the owner when she finally has to let her cat go.
Third story is about a family with two girls, and two pomeranian dogs. The family is struggling with behavior problems and apparent illness of the older dog, caused by stress when they introduced the new, younger dog. It takes a while to figure out what’s going on, but when the vet gently points out that they need to give their older dog more attention, give both dogs separate space to sleep in, and make other adjustments to having a new dog in the family, things start to improve. The story also draws a parallel between how the older sister felt about being expected to always take care of her younger sister and give things up for her. When she recognizes how her jealousy and resentment is similar to the dogs’ interactions, things get better with her sibling and parents as well. Everyone reaches a better understanding.
Last story has Yuzu visiting her mother in the hospital again, but this isn’t about her mother’s condition, or their relationship. It quickly shifts to something Yuzu witnesses in the courtyard- therapy dogs are visiting some of the hospital patients. One old man in particular is quite cross and belligerent, and doesn’t want the dog’s attention, even though the dog is well-trained and keen to offer comfort, patient with getting yelled at or pushed away. Yuzu can’t understand why a person would not want to pet a cute, fluffy dog, but then she learns more about this man, that he has no family (his wife recently died) and is lonely and suffering. She is just starting to feel sympathy for him when an accident happens and the therapy dog gets hurt, and it looks like it was the grumpy old man’s fault. Everyone is shocked when later on, the dog (who is fine) readily approaches the man again. Then they find out he didn’t do it on purpose, and he is touched by the dog’s apparent forgiveness, and his manner softens towards the dog. A very touching story, if a bit melodramatic in parts.
I was looking forward to doing this puzzle- it was this image that caught my eye on the box and made me pick 
