Chapter 1

Under the Cherry Blossoms

Cherryton Academy

Last Day of School

Legoshi and Tem sat under the blooming Japanese Maples at the back of the school. The fountain gently flowed and their air smelt sweet and comforting as the two quietly talked about their day. Tem, the Alpaca, grinned nervously while playing with a neat-looking watch that was clasped on his left arm. He gestured back and forth and laughed at something Legoshi, the Grey Wolf, had said in response.

"Remember that game I was telling you about Legoshi?" Tem asked with a wistful look on his face.

"The Gema, right? The one about a young Rabbit getting his life turned into some sort of game?" Legoshi bit into his Egg sandwich daintily, for a carnivore, and chewed slowly while looking sidelong at his friend.

"That's the one!" Tem chirped with a happy look. "I got to level 185, I think my HP is about seven hundred now?"

"Why so low?" Legoshi asked, using a napkin to clean his lips.

"In the game, you can choose what race you want to be, they have a super large variety, and I wanted to play as an Alpaca that got super strong!" Tem grinned with a wink. Legoshi chuckled and finished off his first half sandwich before taking up a new slice.

"So it's a species thing? Because your character is an alpaca you get lower health per level and vitality?"

"That's exactly it! Per level, I get three Hp added to my total, and for each point of vitality I put in I get an extra point. So I have high endurance, high stamina, low strength, low dexterity, and average wisdom, high charisma, high intelligence, and high perception. There is also a luck factor but I barely have anything in that, and it doesn't seem to do anything for me," Tem made a sad face and laughed, "Luck seems to be one of those skills you dump leftover points into when you don't really have anything else to increase," Tem rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and looked at Legoshi sheepishly.

"Hmm, sounds like it might be low is all. What do you have it at?" Legoshi asked while a piece of bread hung out of his mouth. The wolf pushed the hanging bread in with a finger and scratched the side of his muzzle.

"Well, I have ten points in Luck, but I haven't gotten a level up in almost a year now….," Tem sighed dejectedly.

"Holy cow!" Legoshi blurts out, "Well, after getting to such a high level I can kind of see it… I take it you've completed the storyline now? Which I guess would mean that you aren't getting massive XP boosts from that anymore, right?"

"That's right!" Tem smiled with a bit of a twitch in his brow. Legoshi noticed but didn't want to question his friend since he seemed a bit embarrassed by it all. Tem fiddled with his watch for a minute and sighed dejectedly. "It looks like it's time for me to go Legoshi, my parents want me home in time for dinner and my mom wants to take me shopping beforehand…"

"I understand Tem," Legoshi stands up and stretches with his arms over his head and hands clasped together. Tem heard the taller teen's body make all kinds of popping noises that made his skin crawl. The sigh of relief that escaped Legoshi, however, made the White Alpaca smirk. "Do you want me to walk you to the station?"

"No thanks, Legoshi," Tem said with a smile getting up and stretching himself. "My mom is going to be at the front gate in a bit so I don't need to go off campus," Tem smiled and dusted off the seat of his pants.

The two young males walked casually through the open air of the schoolyard. Legoshi carried their trash while Tem talked animatedly about a girl he liked. The young Grey Wolf smiled and nodded along with his friend's words and offered vague advice about how he could express his affections to her. They finally came to the conclusion that Tem should just write a note and leave it in her bag during class sometime next week.

"Thanks for the talk Legoshi, I really needed this," Tem smiled. The teen alpaca offered his hand to Legoshi, surprising the wolven teen. "Thanks for being my friend Legoshi, I wish more Carnivores were like you… Then the world might be a better place, ya know?" Tem smiled.

Legoshi took the Alpaca's hand gingerly, but firmly, and gave it a solid squeeze. The alpaca froze for but a moment when he felt the strength of his friend around his nimble fingers, but grinned when that was all it was. Just strong enough to show his strength, but gentle enough to show how much he cared for the other male.

"Thank you, Tem, it's been my pleasure talking with you," Legoshi smiled, a little bit of his fangs slipping out as he did so. He then frowned and looked at the Alpaca. "Why does this feel like a Good Bye?"

"Hmm, it does, doesn't it?" Tem licked his lips nervously. "Well, let's not say Good Bye then, how about, Farewell? And I'll see you next school year?"

"See you next school year, Tem. Take care!" Legoshi let go and waved as the Alpaca walked over and out in his mother's car. The Alpaca inside waved at him before they drove off.

Later that day Legoshi sat down next to Jack, his best friend of ten years, and relaxed with the Golden Lab. Legoshi took out his phone and fiddled with it while Jack played a game on the Dorm Room's community console. The hack and slash of Dominion Soles became the background noise for the evening while Legoshi wondered 'round the internet.

"So, how was your day 'Goshi?" Jack asked while rolling his character out of the way of a large swing.

"It was… good." Legoshi felt his lips quirk up a bit and decided not to fight the feeling. "I'm not as depressed today as I normally am," Legoshi put his phone down, a picture of some sort of VR set displayed on the screen.

"Oh, did your talk with Tem really go that well?" Jack asked, his long floppy ears perked up while he performed a seven-hit combo on the boss.

"Yeah, we talked about a lot, and nothing at all." Legoshi leaned back against his bunk and stared at the television. Jack was thoroughly beating the boss with a massive rock sword and had barely taken any damage.

"That's cool," Jack flinched when the boss leaped through the air and swung overhead onto his character, wiping out almost half his hit points in one go.

"Yeah, he told me that he got to level 185 in Gema. Seems he beat you again jack," Legoshi chuckled softly when his friend dropped the controller and gripped his head in despair.

"That damn Alpaca doesn't have a friggin life I tell ya!" Jack wept while curled up on the floor. All the while Legoshi watched as Jack's character was thrashed to death with one of the Boss' grapple attacks.

"Well, it would help if you paid more attention to what your characters were going through," Legoshi remarked to his friend before picking his phone back up. The apathetic wolf scrolled through the internet for a while more, lazily watching his friend thrash, and get thrashed, in his game. After a few hours of that, the Grey Wolf stood up and yawned widely. Jack soon followed suit and slumped against the floor.

"Bedtime," Jack murmured from the ground. Legoshi murmured his own agreement and curled up around his much smaller friend. Being able to encompass your friend is what happens when you're almost six and a half feet tall and your friend is just over five feet.

A few minutes later they were joined by Collot, Durham, Miguno, and Voss who laid atop Legoshi's head. The group of canines slumbered peacefully and deeply for the first time in what felt like months after a strenuous time of tests and term papers.