Kris was sitting in the infirmary as the doctors finished the test.
"Well, I'll be. It turns out you really are an herbivore. Well, at least 70% of your genes are herbivore while 30% of them are carnivore. Guess you've been telling the truth the whole time."
Kris shrugged in response, "Well we'll be sure to let the dorm mother know and transfer you over to the herbivore dorms. Hope it wasn't too bad being with carnivores.
"It wasn't that bad," Kris said. The news of Kris's true nature soon spread like a wildfire. Even Louis managed to find out about it. Finding that out, while thinking back to his identity reveal conversation with Kris, all intrigued him and made him feel a bit sorry about how he behaved towards him back then.
Kris's transfer to the herbivore dorms was finished. A lot of the herbivores were nervous around Kris since he still carries the appearance of a carnivore. It would be a while before they got used to him, but he was okay with that. At least he no longer had to worry about living as someone he's not.
Kris went out for a little walk before going to the gardening club. He began to think back to the horrible experience, clenching his fists at the fact that those guys would force-feed him like that. Thinking about Bill made his blood boil. There was just no way he would ever be close to that tiger. Kris felt his back, feeling the scratches Bill gave him.
'That tiger's nothing but a loose cannon.' He tried not to think about all of this so much, but it wouldn't leave his head. It wasn't until he bumped into Aoba. Kris's death glare returned.
"What do you want?" He growled.
"I just wanted to apologize, Kris, about what happened back at the Black Market. I know what we did to you was wrong." Aoba answered, putting his hands up.
"Tch, do you really? Do you really understand what happened and what could've happened? Y'know action speaks louder than words, so I don't know if I'd wanna believe that for a second."
"I don't blame you. This is why I want to start over with you. I want to, this time, get to know more about you. We're club mates, and I don't want us to have a sour note in our friendship." Kris raised an eyebrow, "When I saw you in that pale state, it had me thinking of Louis and how he would've been if something bad happened to him. It made me feel sick, especially because I too wanted to see if you were really a carnivore. But now I want to make amends and accept you as who you are. I don't want to cause any hurt even to my herbivore friends." Kris started to ease up a bit and looked down. He never thought Aoba would actually come to him to apologize. Kris hasn't had an experience like that, so it actually made him smile a bit.
"I'm sorry for the way I was behaving towards you," Kris said looking back to Aoba.
"Don't be." Aoba assured, "I deserved it. I practically am dumber than a colostomy bag."
"Heh, you said it, not me." They shared a laugh.
Kris soon made his way to the gardening club only to find Haru wasn't around. He looked everywhere except the cabin. He never really thought to go in there as it had no importance to, so this was gonna be a first. He made his way over there, about to knock on the door when the curtain opened to reveal Louis standing right in front of the glass door. They both gasped as Kris raised an eyebrow and looked in, seeing Haru wasn't there either.
"Uh, what are you doing here, Louis?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Louis said.
"Well, I'm a part of this club as well. I'm just looking for someone."
"Haru is not here, she's in her dorm."
"...I didn't say anything about Haru."
Louis had the "Shit…" look as Kris raised an eyebrow. Haru meanwhile was panicking inside the cabin.
'Calm down, don't get nervous.' Louis thought, "The gardening club is participating in the festival just like us. It's my duty as a third-year to make sure she's attending so we're well acquainted."
"Uh, okay?" Kris said, eyebrow still raised, "I mean I could've done that for you since I'm part of this club. So I'm well acquainted with her. But if she's not here then, I'll do some work around here for a while."
"Kris…" Louis interrupted, "I heard you've been telling the truth. The truth about who you really are." Kris was a bit surprised by Louis's change of mood, "One day, I wanna have a talk with you. We came off on the wrong foot in the beginning, so I wanna take time to know you a bit better.
"Oh, okay."
Louis left as Kris worked on his usual gardening duties. Haru's panic turned to confusion. Telling the truth? What did Louis mean? Could it have been…?
Legosi was polishing some equipment since he was a bit early. He worked for a while until he looked at himself in the mirror putting his hand on his head.
"Am I getting taller?" He groaned as he lays on the floor.
'I want to stop growing. Ever since the Black Market, I've been scared to look at a mirror. Not only that, but I'm also scared of becoming distant from Haru and...Kris.' Legosi imagined Haru and Kris standing in front of him, 'If I adhered to the natural order, we would definitely become distant…' He put his hands up as if trying to reach them, 'But I wanna get closer to them so I can feel better about myself, even if I have to force them to comply. What a very wolf-like way of thinking...my nails are even growing.' He then saw another set of hands reaching up and looked to see Juno next to him.
"Is this a good luck ritual to energize yourself or something?" She asked. Legosi jolts in response.
"Juno?! W-When did you get here?!"
"Just now...sorry for scaring you. You're pretty early though Legosi."
"Yeah well, I'm usually never busy. So uh how's the acting team been for you? Is it fun?"
"It is but also kinda difficult for me. I don't know if it's because of my wolf self or something, but the other females have been avoiding me. The actor team and dance team are supposed to dance in the light ceremony. After my audition, I was assigned a role that I never knew about…" She paused for a bit before continuing, "I'm supposed to be a carnivorous female tyrannosaurus, and I was told "I bet you can pull off this role just fine"." She then started to mess around with her fur, looking away, "It was probably their way of teasing me, but I decided I need to dance beautifully in my role. That's why I came here early, so I could practice." Legosi was in deep thought while looking at her.
'Whenever I look at her…' He thought to himself, 'I start to consider a few things. Maybe gray wolves can be considered beautiful. At least, if they're not like me.'
"...I see. Well, I hope you do well too. In fact, I think I can help you. I was in charge of lights last year, so I can give you some advice for your role." Juno lit up after hearing that.
'Now's my chance!' She thought, "I want you to see me dance! Now!"
"What? Now?"
"1, 2, 3, 4." Legosi was counting for her to keep rhythm as she was dancing.
"I never get this part right. This is the hardest for me."
"Hmm, well I've never danced before, so I'm not sure what to say. I need to jog my memory." Legosi takes his jacket off, "Let's do this before everyone gets here. So you're supposed to raise your elbows a bit and bend your wrists..." Juno was completely awestruck.
'Legosi…' She thought, "You're so cool, I can't take it!"
"Uh...sorry if I'm being too vague."
"No, not at all! Let's get on with it!"
'She's really up for it. She'll definitely do great.'
Legosi guided Juno. All the while she felt enchanted with Legosi's hands on her arms.
"What am I feeling?" She said to herself.
"Huh?"
"My heart's pounding from touching you, yet I feel so calm. I've never experienced this before...is it just me? Do you feel it too, Legosi?"
"Yea, I do. And I know what it is...when you turn into a second-year, you're supposed to learn this in biology. It's been scientifically proven that two animals of the same species can acquire relaxation in the heart when they touch each other." Juno did not expect Legosi to go full-on nerd mode, "So if you ever feel uneasy, you can touch my tail if you'd like. I can still work on my tasks while you touch my tail."
'W-what…?' Juno thought after hearing all this. Another carnivore soon came in as if the situation was ruined enough for Juno.
Haru put her clothes back on and walked out of the cabin seeing Kris finishing up his tasks.
"Hey, Kris." Kris turns around to see her.
"Oh hey, Haru. How have you been?"
"Well y'know, the usual. What about you?"
"Could be worse," Kris said with a shrug. Haru kept thinking about what Louis had said about Kris telling the truth about something while remembering Kris telling her he was an herbivore. Was that really true?
"But anyway, I did some of the tasks for you. Figured I could do a little more while you were elsewhere."
"Thank you. Well done."
"No problem. I'm gonna go for a bit of a walk."
"Can I come too?" Haru asked with a smile.
"Sure."
They walked around the school, making their way to the large dinosaur statue that people were working on.
"I bet that's gonna look beautiful at night," Kris said.
"We'll have to wait and see." They soon saw Legosi walking and smiled walking to follow him. Kris smirked and got an idea tapping Legosi's right shoulder making him look to see whoever did that. Haru caught onto what Kris was thinking and grabbed the bucket Legosi had in his left hand.
"Yoo-hoo!" She said as Legosi quickly turned to see her, "Didn't think I would see you outside." Legosi then feels a hand on his right shoulder again.
"Is it me or did you get taller last time I saw you?" Legosi turned to see Kris who chuckled.
'Don't get nervous…' Legosi thought to himself, 'They're just friends.'
"It makes me pretty happy to see you out," Haru said.
"Well, the gardening club is gonna be part of the festival too, right?" Legosi asked.
"That is correct." Kris responded, "We were going on our walk for a while before going back to the club. Lots of things to do."
"Wanna come with and help us out a bit?" Haru asked.
"...Oh. I...don't know. I'm kinda busy with the drama club right now, so it'll be kinda difficult for me."
"Oh well alright then." Haru said, "Well good luck."
"See you around, wolf," Kris said as they walked off.
'Was this right?' Legosi thought seeing them walk away, 'I'm a carnivore, and they're herbivores. We need to maintain a proper distance.'
"Think Legosi was okay back there?" Kris asked Haru as they were carrying potted plants.
"I don't know. He's probably just focused on his tasks. You can go help him if you'd like."
"Nah, I joined the gardening club before the drama club. Gardening club priorities come first." Kris said, booping Haru's nose as they chuckle.
"You two seem happy together." The duo turns to see Louis.
"Oh hey there, Louis," Haru said. Louis pet Haru's head in response. Kris raised an eyebrow at that, seeing Louis smiling at Haru as he pets her.
'Wait...are they a thing?' He thought.
"So you two are just seeing what's gonna go on here?" Louis asked.
"Yea. Went on a bit of a walk, which I felt was needed. Especially for a fox that likes to do a lot of work." Haru said, gesturing to Kris.
"Hehe, guilty as charged."
"Heh, I can agree with you on that. He really does work hard." Louis put a hand on Kris's shoulder smiling at him. Kris smiles back, having his hand on Louis's hand.
"Y'know, looking at you now, I can't help but feel that you could be more than just a friend to me. Not like a relationship, but like family, y'know?" Louis was a bit taken aback by that as Kris kept smiling. Louis then chuckles a bit, taking his hand away. Kris chuckles as well and looks around. His smile faded a bit when he saw Legosi, who looked mad as he had paint on his face. Kris was filled with confusion.
'Legosi...are you okay?' He thought.