Matt could not believe his eyes. Someone reported him to the MR department. He felt so small as he was sitting in the chair. His boss was judging him for something that he did not do. Things in the report were twisted to make him look bad.

"Sir, it's some kind of misunderstanding." The beaver silenced Matt with a stern look.

"Mr. Leaper. We don't tolerate that kind of behaviour. The only reason why you still have a job is that it is an anonymous complaint. I hope that someone just misunderstood your interaction with Mr. Savanna." Beaver pressed a button on his phone. "Could you ask mr. Savanna to join us?"

"Of course, sir." Mechanical female voice sounded in the room.

"I'm really disappointed in you. I wrote a recommendation letter for your certification and now you do something like that. I hope that you'll not pass those views to your kits." The beaver was really angry. They were waiting in an awkward silence until the door opened and the spotted hyena walked in.

Liam's head hung low and looked around the room nervously, trying to figure out what was going on. He folded his ears when he saw Matt.

"Am I in trouble?" He sat in the chair next to Matt.

"Of course not." The beaver smiled warmly.

"We just want you to comment on some report that we got about Mr. Leaper." Mr. Parked handed him another copy of the email to read. "And don't worry about voicing your opinion. Management is here to support you and make you feel safe and welcomed."

Liam looked from the beaver to bunny trying to find an answer to what was happening. Then looked at the paper. His eyes narrowed and he was getting more angry the longer he was reading. His upper lip was raised but made sure not to show teeth. His nostrils widened and looked one step away from snarling. He took a deep breath to compose himself and his muzzle relaxed.

"Let me guess. If i say that it is true, he'll lose his job." He said with a flat almost mechanical tone.

"Yes because our company doesn't tolerate speciest behaviour." The beaver said with a fatherly smile. Matt dug his blunt claws into his palms expecting to be fired in a few minutes. He knew that no one would listen to his side of the argument.

"Sorry, sir. But that's just stupid. It all happened but not like it is described in the report." Liam said with an annoyed tone. Matt turned his head so fast that he was afraid that he would break it. The beaver looked disappointed.

"Are you sure? The report says that he does not value your idea and always corrects you." Mr. Parker prodded as if he was looking for something.

"His ideas were just better and I was venting my frustration that I wasn't able to find the solution on my own." Liam said casually.

"Please do not say that. At our company we value every idea." The older beaver was talking like a teacher that wanted his student to open up.

"No." Liam said with a sour look. "His ideas were objectively and mathematically better. We're working at a tech company. I can even give you performance charts comparing my solution to his. His solution would win every time."

"How about his flinching when you approach him?" The beaver asked with a hope in his voice.

"Matt has few issues but I don't believe that it is because he's speciest. He's just not used to bigger mammals approaching him. He always tries to invite me to have lunch with his friends, value my opinion during brainstorming sessions and is nice in general. It would be really hard for him to be speciest at the same time." Liam said calmly

At that point Mr. Parker was the one with a sour expression.

"Thank you for your clarification. You can both go back to work." The beaver said and started typing something on his computer.

Liam was angry as they left the office. Matt wanted him to calm down before getting back to work.

"Can we talk?" The bunny asked as he stood in front of the empty phoneroom, initiating him in. Liam just nodded and followed the bunny. As soon as the soundproof door closed, he let go of his pent up emotions.

"He wanted to fire you to show how progessive he is!" Liam was panting from anger. Matt's nose was twitching, his eyes followed the movement of Liams claws and the bunny tried to stay away from the hyena.

"If I was a dick, you would lose your job. And you did everything correctly. He would not give you a chance to defend yourself." The hyena was pacing around.

"Th… Thanks for your help." Matt said with a shaky voice.

"Well, you are prejudiced towards predators but it isn't a reason to fire you." Liam said as he was venting his frustration.

"Hey! That isn't true." Matt was defending himself. That statement stopped Liam's venting and he looked at the bunny.

"Really?" The hyena raised his eyebrow.

"You treat everyone equally so you aren't speciest but you are clearly scared of me. Your nose is twitching like crazy." Liam pointed it out and crossed arms on his chest.

"I… I'm just not used to big predators because I normally hang out with prey." Matt was annoyed by that accusation.

"Because you're too afraid to get to know any predator. You wouldn't discriminate against them but hanging around with one is just too much for you." Liam's venting was now turning into an argument with Matt.

"It's more because of the convenience. My friends are around my size category. It just happens that they are prey. I don't get out of my way to become friends with someone just because of their species to prove that I'm not a speciest. Doing that would be speciest because I would only care about what they are, not who they are. It's exactly what your friend Sara is doing." Matt many times heard how she was talking down to Liam. That made Liam pause and a brief glimpse of sadness showed on his muzzle.

"Yeah. She acts as if I'm too stupid to deal with problems and she's the only one that can save me." He sighed.

"I let her hang around because I thought that she was harmless. She is probably the one that sent that complaint. She's so set on being the hero that she doesn't notice how speciest she is" Liam got rather quiet and started gently scratching the desk that was in the room with one claw.

"You're like her. You don't see your own issues" Matt wanted to say something but Liam interrupted him. "I can prove it to you. If I am wrong, it should be easy for you to answer."

The hyena looked Matt in the eyes. "Tell me his name."

"What?" Matt furrowed his brow confused. "Who are you talking about?"

"You said that you know the names of every kit in the orphanage. So tell me the name of the fox that scratched you." Liam said with a sadness in his voice and looked at the desk, focusing on the place where he was scratching.

Matt was frozen in place. His nose stopped twitching from the shock and wide eyed stared at the hyena. His heart was racing as he realized that he did not know that boy's name.

"It… It was a busy day and…" Matt got interrupted.

"Was it too busy to make sure that distressed kit was all right?" Liam sighed.

"I'm sorry. I know how bunnies feel about foxes. With your fear of predators and just being scratched by the boy, it wasn't a fair question. It was an intense situation" Matt didn'tt know what to say so they stayed in an awkward silence.

Liam added another claw to the scratching and his ears folded. He needed to know and he would not get another chance like that.

"Was I hired because of the Mammal Inclusion Initiative?" He said without looking at Matt.

"Sara thinks that is the reason why I got in. Mr. Parker's attitude seems to suggest that too." Liam sounded heartbroken.

Liam's distress snapped Matt out of his shocked state. His ears lifted curiously. "Do you think that you deserve to be here?"

"Yes… No… I don't know. It's my first serious full time job and I worked hard to get it. But I have made so many mistakes since I was hired" The hyena's head hung low.

Matt was taken aback. He saw MII as a good thing. He didn't expect that it could have such an effect on mammals that were minority in specific fields.

"You were the best candidate. Don't worry it is normal to make mistakes. You're just getting used to how things work here." Matt said with a smile. The bunny was in charge of interviewing candidates and Liam was the best. "The MII has been in effect for a month. We hired you before that."

Liam smiled and his tail wagged gently. They looked at eachother and the room was filled with an awkward silence again.

"It's lunch time. I think we should get something to eat." Liam finally said.

"Yeah." Matt opened the door and stopped. "So would you like to join us for lunch?"

For the first time Liam did not just refuse which gave Matt a hope."Ok but you'll let me pick the table."

"""

The company had many teams responsible for different parts of the software. For the first time since Liam was hired the whole team ate together. Liam picked a table in the corner of the room and himself sat in the corner. He asked his teammates to sit in an L shape on the opposite side from him so everyone would be in front of him. Herbivore animals pulled out various salads. Everyone got nervous when Liam pulled out some kind of sauce with meat in it.

"I'm glad that you finally joined us." Emma said with a smile. Liam shrugged.

"I'm used to eating alone. After that horrible meeting with the boss, me and Matt chatted and I decided to give it a try." Liam tilted his head down and looked at the table before eating some of his sauce. Everyone noticed that weird behaviour but no one wanted to point it out. They did not want to offend him on their first lunch together.

"Yeah. What was that about?" Owen asked. Gopher was happily chewing on some roots.

"Oh he wanted to fire Matt for being a speciest." Liam almost killed 2 mammals as Matt and Tom started coughing to get the food that they prematurely swallowed out of their windpipes. They didn't expect to hear that.

"Really!?" Ewe was shocked

"Yeah. There was an anonymous complaint that Matt is speciest against me." All of them looked at the bunny who was still coughing. "The whole thing was so stupid."

Liam was the only one facing the room so he saw a gray bunny approaching. Sara winked at him and smiled.

"Sorry guys but Liam promised to have lunch with me so could you leave?" She was really smug about it.

"No, I didn't. Could you stop bothering me?" Liam brow furrowed and her smile disappeared.

"Really. After what I did for you." She glanced towards Matt.

" You should be more grateful." She winked again.

"Just leave me alone. I'm fine and I don't need your help." Liam narrowed his eyes. She looked angry and without a word walked away.

"She put up less of a fight than I expected." He blinked confused.

"I'm not getting fired. Everything is fine. Can we move on to some more pleasant topics?" Matt suggested as he finally got his breathing under control.

"""

Matt was not sure what he was doing and why he was doing it. He was sitting in his car in a parking lot in front of the orphanage. He was not planning to visit it that day. Before he noticed he took a turn and was on the way to the orphanage. His argument with Liam probably had something to do with it. He was so disappointed in himself that he did not know the boy's name. He needed to correct that mistake. But the same feeling that wanted him to correct it, kept him in the car. Was he doing it for the right reason?

On one hand it felt like completing a collection. It would bother him that he did not know everyone's names. He told himself that he would feel the same if it was a bunny kit. However when he finally got to the orphanage, he was not so sure anymore. The only reason he was in that situation was because the boy was a fox. So a situation like that would not happen if he was a bunny. Was it right for Matt to just go in and make himself feel better about that situation?

On the other hand he could just check how the fox was doing. Liam was right. The boy was distressed that day and Matt did not check on him. It was something that had bothered him since he was made aware of it. He could try to justify it. He did not want bunny kits to worry. They saw what happened and him missing for a long time could put a sour mood over the event. He forgot about the fox when he was playing with kits and the next day he was babysitting. He had a lot on his mind.

It started raining. It was a soft spring rain. Gentle tapping on the windshield was relaxing. View of the orphanage got distorted and let Matt focus. He needed to make sure that the kit was fine. He could sort out his feelings and reasoning later. He got out of his blue hatchback and with fast pace went to the orphanage. He got a little wet but he did not mind. He smiled when he heard laughter coming from the brick building.

He thanked gods that Monica was the first teacher that he saw. The white doe narrowed her eyes.

"Hello, Matt. What brings you in today?" Matt was always visiting on Friday. He was also visibly worried. His ears hung low and had a soft smile that was not reaching his big brown eyes.

"Did something happen?" She asked while getting closer to him. She rubbed his shoulder.

"I'm here because of the fox kit." He slowly rubbed his hands together.

"Oh." Monica pulled away with a disappointed look. "Do you want to file a complaint?"

It happened from time to time. Sometimes kits were roughhousing and bumped into an adult who was visiting the orphanage. Some mammals could not understand that it was an accident and were filing an official complaint. Depending on the situation it was a complaint about orphanages lack of proper upbringing or it was about kits themselves. Latter was much worse for the kit because it could end up in his record. The record that potential parents would see.

"What? No!" He said wide eyed. "I… I'm just wondering if he's all right." His ears got pink. "I was so busy that I forgot to check on him before leaving." He looked really ashamed of that. "Is he ok?

Monica was caught off guard by that. Her expression warmed up and laughed.

"Sorry. I should have suspected that you would pull off something like that. We don't get mammals like that too often." Matt ears were getting redder by each second. After initial outburst of emotion the doe's got serious.

"He's fine.. I guess." Seeing confusion on Matt's face she continued.

"He just stays in his room and doesn't talk with anyone. He was always quiet but before the incident he tried to explore the place. Now he stays in his room unless it's time to eat or for his classes. Good thing that we teach kits at the orphanage or we might have a problem with getting him to school." She sighed.

"I'm not sure what we're going to do about him. The director's trying to get another orphanage to take him but it'll take a few months." She rubbed her arm and looked away. "It's easier that we don't have to deal with him."

Matt bit his lower lip showing his buckteeth. The boy did not leave his room because of him. Teachers did not want to invest their time into someone that was going to leave soon and was a lost cause. They should at least give him a chance. He had to do something about it.

"What can you tell me about him?"She looked at him suspiciously, judging what she could and should say. She rubbed her chin.

"Not much. He was abandoned shortly after he was born. The handycapped kit was probably too much for the mother. He's a scratcher. There was information in his file that he scratched a few mammals. His claws are getting long so we'll have to ask someone predator to cut them. When he's outside of his room he always walks on two feet by leaning against the wall. His gait is rather bad so it takes him a long time to get anywhere. He seems to like school. He goes to classes on his own. He doesn't answer when the teacher asks him and doesn't do his homework but gets good scores on tests. He's listening for sure." She was thinking for a few seconds. "I think that it is all I got."

Matt nodded. His mouth was dry. There was some obvious information that was missing. "Eh… What is his name and how old is he?"

"Kyle. He's 7 years old." He said casually not knowing how much that information meant to Matt. The fox was already the size of a teenage bunny so Matt expected him to be older.

"Can I see him?" His voice was shaky but there was determination in his eyes. Monica blinked wondering if she heard it right.

"Sure. You just have to be careful. He's a scratcher after all. He has his own room. It's one designed for handycapped kits with his own bathroom. That's mostly the reason why he doesn't leave his room. Follow me." She started walking.

Kyle's room was at the ground floor in the corner of the building. Matt's heart was racing as he was standing in front of the door. Monica knocked on the door and they heard some movement inside.

"Kyle. You have a guest. He's coming in so don't be surprised." She looked at Matt and said quietly.

"I will be around. Call for me in case of any trouble." She patted his shoulder.

"Good luck." The doe went back to her work.

Matt's nose twitched as he opened the door. His ears stood up scanning for any sound of danger. Room was big and specious. From supports bolted to walls, he suspected that it was designed for kits in wheelchairs. Curtains were partially pulled over the window making the room darker than it should have been at that time of the day. He looked around and could not find the fox.

"Kyle?" He called for the boy and heard some sound coming from under the bed.

He laid on the floor a few feets away from the bed. First thing that he noticed were shiny icy blue eyes staring at him. The kit was in the corner and was trying to back up even more but walls were preventing that. His paws slided on the wooden floor and he was breathing fast. The boy observed every movement with his big scared eyes. Matt heat sank at that display. He smiled softly.

"Hello. My name is Matt. It is nice to officially meet you." Matt still felt tense being alone with a panicked predator in the room but they kept his distance away from the bed. The boy's fur was a mess. It was most obvious on his tail. His claws were getting long and should be trimmed.

"Your name is Kyle, right?" He asked and waited for the answer. The kit just stared at him unsure what was happening.

Matt tried to think back to his training. He should not force the fox to do something that he is not comfortable doing. That meant that getting him out from under the bed was out of the question at that point. So at first he just tried to lay there but awkward silence and stared down with an adult was doing more harm than good. At some point the kit glanced at the bandage and Matt tried to pick up a conversation based on that.

"Oh don't worry about it. I know that it was just an accident." He tried reassuring but again, it did not have any effect.

It didn't have any positive effect on the kit but Matt was getting more and more comfortable. He was forgetting that he was in a room with a predator. His mind was focusing on any ideas that would make the fox relax. Chatting wasn't working. He remembered something that Monica said.

"Give me a moment. I will be back soon." He stood and got out of the room.

Monia was helping kits clean up as Matt ran out of the room "Oh. How did it go?"

"Poorly but I have an idea. I will be right back." He said with happy determination on his face. He ran to his car. It was still raining but he parked rather close. He grabbed his bag and went back inside. He was panting when he reached the boy's room. He took a few deep breaths and knocked on the door.

"Kyle it's me again. I'm coming in." He didn't want to spook the kit.

The bunny pulled a laptop from his back and set it on the floor.

"I heard that you like going to your classes." He looked at the fox who was still in the corner looking scared.

"So I figured out that we can watch something fun together." He just kept talking to get Kyle comfortable with him being around.

"Recently they added to the pawflix my favorite kithood cartoon 'The magic classroom'. It's about a teacher that has a magic classroom that can change the world inside it. That way kits can learn in person about various things. One time they become super small so they can see atoms, other times they have goggles that let them see sound waves. Of course magic isn't real but it's a fun way to learn about science." He found the show on the pawflix, set the laptop on the ground and angled the screen in a way that it would be comfortable for the kit to watch. He laid on the ground next to the bed and pressed play so they could watch the show together.

It was an episode about sound waves. He was watching it but was more focused on the kit. At the corner of his eye he could see that Kyle was glancing between him and the screen. As the time went by the boy was focusing more on the show. The fox was vigilant but Matt could tell that he was really enjoying the show. As the episode finished Matt looked at the kit.

"Did you like it?" The fox was visibly confused but not as scared as he was at the start. Then he finally nodded. It was a small and careful movement but Matt could make it out. It was still early and Matt was happy that he was getting through to the kit.

"I have time to watch one more." He said with a smile as he pressed play. The kit's eyes shined in the darkness as the screen flashed with colors and they watched the show together.