Chapter 95 - The Best Laid Plans of Deer and Men Pt. II

The rest of the day was uneventful. The two boys woke up for lunch and dinner but other than that they just rested all day, as one does in a hospital. The next morning, Gouhin did one last checkup on Legosi and then bid the two farewell. They thanked him for all that he did and for telling them a bear's weakness. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to use it.

The panda did, however, walk them to the train station before they said their goodbyes, due to the location being the black market and all. They boarded the train back to Cherryton.

Inside, they talked about how Louis was able to stay strong throughout the entire trip even though he had never wanted to go back there and the deer told his lover he was proud he pushed through it. They were already returning home. He kept telling himself it was almost over and he was so excited to find a place and begin his life with Legosi, even if they were young. That just meant they had more time. He tried to fantasize what it would be like, but he really wasn't quite sure. He was excited to find out, though.

They were lucky enough to get a seat on the train, since Legosi wasn't sure he'd be able to stand for the entire ride. The usual looks they got increased this time since he still had the bandage on his head, as well as his scars and bruises. He tugged at his neck where his scarf should have been.

Louis removed his own scarf and wrapped it around his neck. "The more things happen, the more they don't matter anymore." He was talking about the passengers giving them looks.

"We can get Himiko and Kasumi to make another one." Legosi stared out the window as he talked, absent-mindedly.

"You seem sad..."

The wolf looked over at him with tired eyes. "Should I be happy."

Louis scooted closer. "Yes, you should."

Legosi sighed, but said nothing.

"We're so close..."

The canine just wanted to curl up in a tight ball. He had burdened everyone with his actions, and now the final phase of their plan was jeopardized because of his condition. If Louis or Pina got hurt or...worse...

"How about after we get home and talk to Pina we get a hot bath running?"

"I knew you'd be open to the idea," Louis grinned.

The rest of the train ride went by uneventfully, and the walk back to Cherryton was slow and arduous thanks to the wolf's injuries. Louis tried his best to prop him up.

They eventually made it back home. "Remember, bath after Pina," the deer said.

Legosi had undressed and sat on the bed, sniffing himself. "I hope Pina doesn't mind the smell..."

"He deals with Bill," Louis shrugged.

His mate snorted at that. "So, where should we meet this time? Maybe Pina has an idea."

"I'll text him and ask." The cervid pulled out his phone and did so. "I wish we never had to leave...Home is always so much better when you're settled in."

"We can form into that big robot and just pick this place up and set it somewhere nice," Legosi suggested with his goofy smile.

"What if our new home is better?"

"Well...good!"

Louis' phone buzzed and he looked down to see what Pina said.

Pina: lets go up to that pool that legosi talked abt

Louis: Good idea. When?

Pina: 20 min

The deer looked up. "Looks like you got undressed prematurely."

"Well, I would have changed out of those, anyway. Gouhin-san's detergent smells bad."

"He wants to meet in twenty."

Legosi stood up with a grimace. "I hope it's okay to go out. Riz doesn't know we know it's him, though. I wonder how the school reported the attack?"

"If anything, they didn't."

"Seems like everything's calm, still..." Legosi threw all his old clothes into the hamper and got started picking out a new outfit.

"Exactly."

"Where are we gonna meet?" The wolf asked, as he pulled on his sweatshirt.

"The empty swimming pool you told us about."

Legosi's mouth made an 'o' shape as he nodded. "Yeah, surprisingly few animals hang around there. I guess because there's no reason to. Only an animal like me could find a place like that nice, I guess..."

"I guess..." The cervid nodded.

The former student finished getting dressed and the two animals set off. On the way there, they checked out the scene of his attack. As expected, the entire area had been scrubbed clean, leaving no trace. Not even Legosi's nose, which was now uncongested, could pick anything up other than some cleaning agents.

"Hm...I guess they were notified," Louis stated.

"And they prevented a panic." Legosi rubbed his nose and they set off again. "I guess since nobody went missing they just swept it away. There's got to be some investigation going behind the scenes, though."

"They won't need to waste their time when we're finished with this."

"Maybe they'll give us enough money to get a nice place with!" Legosi pondered, optimistically.

"You think they'd...pay us?"

"Maybe! Like, wanted posters and bounties and stuff."

"Pay us for doing the right thing…?"

"Yeah! They should!" Legosi led them to one of the buildings and they entered. It was after classes and things were quiet, as was the new normal for Cherryton.

Louis looked around, sighing. "Everything feels so different now..."

"I hope we can change it back with this..." the wolf offered, hopefully.

"I...I wouldn't be too hopeful."

"...Yeah. Not that it matters to us, anyway. I'm just thinking of our friends."

"Me, too. I feel bad for them...Especially Pina, because he's helping us."

They plodded down the empty hall, footfalls echoing throughout. "I spoke with Haru the other day at the cafeteria. She seems really sad...I feel bad."

"Sad about this situation? It makes sense. I mean, death is no happy matter."

"I mean...about us not being able to hang out..."

"Oh...She's always been lonely...I feel bad how things played out but..."

"We should do something for her!" Legosi insisted.

"After all of this is over, we can. I just want to focus, right now."

"Sure, sure." The pair passed by a couple of students who stared at them. The ex-second-year wondered if they even remembered who they were. Eventually, they found their way to the stairwell up to the roof where the drained pool was.

"Pools are...kind of disgusting."

Legosi's ear twitched as they overlooked the huge, empty space in front of them. "Why do you think that?"

"Think about it. All those animals in there...all the fur all over the water..."

"...So?"

"I dunno, something about that is gross. I mean, baths are really no better..."

Legosi chuckled. "Weirdo."

"Hey! I'm not!"

"You are." Both heads turned in surprise to see a pair of horns pop up from the pool, shortly followed by a pretty, smiling face. "Sup." Pina held up a peace sign.

Louis grinned. "Hello. Nice to see you again."

The sheep rested both his arms on the concrete ledge of the pool, placing his head on them. "Still alive. How're you, Legosi?"

The wolf looked himself over as if he had forgotten. "Sore."

The deer came over and sat down. "We're about to finish this, I'm...excited, almost."

"Like a weight being lifted?" Pina asked, craning his neck up to look at the buck above him.

"Exactly. And Legosi and I will leave and..." His smile faltered.

His partner sat down next to him and looked down.

Pina waited. "...And?"

"And...start our life, I guess."

The skinny herbivore chuckled. "You two are such dreamers."

Louis sighed. "If you want to call it that. We wouldn't have left so soon if this place wasn't being segregated. Truth is, I wish we had more time."

"Yeah, a diploma is pretty handy. I hope you two have a plan."

"We'll stay at my grandpa's until we find our own place." Legosi's voice had an innocent confidence to it.

"If he doesn't mind, which I'm sure he won't. What about...you and Bill? Have you talked about it?" the deer asked, tilting his head.

Pina bit his lower lip and looked over at Louis. "About what?"

"What...you'll do with the separation...?"

"Well, I've barely talked to him since we found out." Pina looked at his nails idly. "I think you guys know what our relationship is like right now."

"Yeah...I've been thinking about it a lot, actually..."

"Really? Weirdo..."

"No, I mean, I've been trying to see his side and think about how he feels...But we have a thing to do, and the risk is that we could get hurt. That's just how it is. Without him, there's just a bigger risk of one of us getting hurt. I mean, Legosi is injured, and you and I are far weaker compared to Riz..."

Pina nodded. "Oh, Bill definitely has a point. In fact, he's right. But like, we're also right, y'know? I've been trying to let him know we're doing this no matter what, so his help would just make it safer. Anyway, let's plan this shit out."

Louis scooted closer and dangled his legs over the edge of the pool. "I guess first thing's first. When should we do this?"

The sheep looked up at Legosi. "It'd be good to have backup from Legosi, if possible. Maybe once you're recovered enough, if that's not too much to ask?"

The wolf looked down at the sheep and shrugged. "I'll just have to see how I feel day by day..."

The deer nodded. "And next...who'll be the bait? I have my gun, maybe that will be easier."

"But if he has his attention on you, it'll be harder to draw. It'd be better to sneak up with him with the gun, I think. I'll be the bait." Pina's voice held a confidence not heard before.

"You sure? I mean, you can also have the gun if I'm the bait. Or Legosi can."

The dog shook his head, fiercely. "N-no way! I couldn't handle that thing!"

Pina added on. "Yeah, you're the only one here that took lessons. Besides, I'm better bait since my body is more sturdy than yours...no offense."

"Mmm...and I guess you should be the bait since your conviction for this is a lot stronger than mine."

Legosi looked between the two herbivores. Louis had been looking healthier lately, that was for sure, but Pina was definitely taller. Of course, his wool hid how much mass his body actually had. He seemed just as skinny as Louis, though.

"Okay, so you'll be the bait," the cervid nodded. "The only thing left really is how you're going to tip him off..."

"I'll think of a script," Pina brushed some wool out of fance. "Just have to decide when to do it. Also, when this all goes down, where should I be walking? Security is going to be tighter after that attack on Legosi."

The wolf's ears perked. "Oh yeah, how was that handled here?"

Pina laughed. "Not at all! I'm sure they cleaned it all up so as to not cause a mass panic. I bet all the higher ups are shitting themselves."

Legosi held his finger up to his chin. "The grassy area behind the gym is usually the darkest part of the campus at night. Of course, there'd be no reason for you to be walking out there at night, so he might suspect something. It's tricky..."

"I don't think he's that smart, Legosi," Louis said.

"He hid himself pretty well when I asked him." Legosi pointed out.

"But he's reckless."

"Doesn't mean he's stupid," Pina pointed out. "He's probably losing his cool now, though. That attack on Legosi was sloppy as hell." The sheep held a thoughtful expression. "Although, so was the Tem murder. Maybe he's just unhinged, but not all the time?"

"It's strange...I read the bears usually have to take these pills that suppress their strength," Louis explained. "It's like he hasn't taken them."

"His clothes did look a bit tighter around the time Tem got killed..." Legosi stared down into the empty pool.

Pina laughed. "Great! So he's even stronger than usual now!"

"We have a gun, and I won't just put one bullet in it this time," Louis said. "We need to surround him from all sides and make sure he doesn't get away in time for the police to be called."

"That reminds me. One of you should record him stalking and about to attack me. My roommate has a camera with a night vision I could snag." Pina stretched his legs out and kicked his heels against the bottom of the pool.

"Legosi can do that, since I'll be holding the gun," the deer said.

"Should be similar to holding a light steady with the subject in frame," the former stage crew member pointed out.

"Exactly. Honestly, that will be all the evidence we need then to take him down," Louis sighed.

"And then everything else will fall into place. He'd deny it without some initial evidence." Pina twiddled his fingers around him as if for emphasis.

"Then, we have it and we know, now."

"I hope they overlook the fact that you have a gun on a school campus and you're not even a student..." Legosi muttered.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," his fiance shrugged.

"Alright, anything else we need to iron out, then?" Pina pondered out loud.

Louis looked to Legosi, if he had anything else he wanted to add.

"We should wait a bit. Think it over." That was all the wolf had to say.

The deer nodded. "Meeting adjourned. Pina, is there any way you can convince Bill at all?"

"With my body, maybe."

"Truly?"

Pina snorted. "Man, I dunno! I can't even contact him anymore."

"Oh...Right. He's being immature," Louis sighed.

"He says he's afraid of me getting hurt, and yet..." the sheep stood up and hoisted himself up between the two. "Whatever, I got you guys."

Legosi laughed nervously as Pina put his arms around them both. "Ah, yeah."

"Mhm..." Louis nodded. "We'll miss you when we're gone."

"Oh, you're not getting rid of me that easily. I'm visiting when I can!"

"We can't wait. You and Bill can both visit!"

"Ah, yeah. Me...and Bill."

Louis sighed. "I'm sure once this is over, he'll see that it's fine."

Pina dragged his hands through the long wool on his head. "I just...you guys are always loving and understanding of each other and..."

Legosi put a comforting hand on the sheep's shoulder.

"And what?" Louis asked.

"You guys are, like, perfect? I know you two went through a lot of shit and Legosi tried to eat you but...I just don't get it."

"Honestly, sometimes I don't know how we do it so well, either."

Legosi met his mate's eye. "Well...we did have some arguments starting out..."

Pina raised his head up to look at Legosi. "Really?"

Legosi simply nodded, not revealing any more without Louis' consent.

"Yeah...I wasn't eating very well..." the deer mumbled.

The other herbivore stared off into space for a second, remembering the comment he had made during their game night. "...Ah."

Legosi spoke again. "We talked through it, though. You and Bill need to talk more..."

"I know..."

"Without your bodies," Louis interjected.

Pina snorted at the deer's remark. "I gotta talk with my mouth, ya dummy!"

"Eugh..."

The sheep shoved him. "ACTUAL WORDS YOU DICK! NOT DICK SUCKING!"

Louis shoved back, softly. "I'm just joking!"

All three animals laughed, seemingly forgetting about the gravity of their current situation.