"It's the first day of November, which means it's election season!" The reporter, Caren Cockatiel, is speaking in front of a camera while a crowd forms around NQ Main Street. "Shortly before the All Hallow's Fête, Bugsworth 'Bugs' Bunny announced that he is dead set on running for mayor. Look, there he is now!"

Cruising into view is a sleek, black limo with a golden rabbit hood ornament and a license plate that reads "ACME". The roof of the car has an attached megaphone speaker, which starts to blare out in Bugs' voice. "People of Acme City, thank you for all your support. As mayor, I vow to make this city safer and greater than all others, a true Sapient utopia. No more will any of us suffer from poverty and misfortune, forced in a fight-or-die environment like our primal brethren—from here on out, we are going to prosper!" The passenger windows slide open, and from them money flies out by the bundle, bills floating through the air onto the street. Residents rave about in a mix of confusion, excitement, and curious greed as they rush to grab the bills.

Meanwhile, in Apartment 203, Wile E. and Pepé are watching the news broadcast from their television. "Who does this bastard think he is, throwing money around like candy while we're struggling to get by?" Wile grumbles.

"Rich people have a tendency of being tone-deaf when it comes to social issues," Pepé replies. "Besides, the bills are probably fake."

"Would you look at that?" the TV reporter exclaims with a chuckle, dollar bill in her wing. The camera closes up on the bill, showing a portrait of Bugs' face in place of the usual historical figure. She flips it to its backside, revealing a campaign slogan: "Vote Bugs Bunny for a Bigger, Brighter Future!"

Astonished, Wile says, "Huh. Didn't expect that, to be honest."

As the news reports drone on, Ralph enters, sifting through a stack of mail. "Bill… Bill… Spam… Hey, a letter from home!" He finds among the pile a small, paper-wrapped package. "Hey, skunk boy. Looks like your Christmas present came in early."

Ralph drops the package on the couch beside Pepé. The skunk reads the label. "To: Pepé; From: Sylvester". He unconsciously let out a small gasp. It must be… Yes, it is in here.

"I'll open it when I have the time. Right now, I still have orders to catch up on." He slips out of the couch, taking the parcel with him into his lab. "Don't interrupt me unless it's urgent, s'il vous plaît." He slams the door shut, creating an awkward silence marred only by the sounds coming from the television.

A second later, Ralph cuts through the tension with an abrupt change in subject. "Oh, hey, Speedy's throwing a Día de Los Muertos party tonight at the funeral home. You wanna come with?"

Wile, upon hearing the words "funeral home", perks up. "I'm down for it. But, um, what's Día de los Muertos?"

"'Day of the Dead'. It's a Mexican holiday where people pay their respects to the ancestors, friends, and relatives who have passed on. Contrary to the name, it's a pretty lighthearted event. Speedy can catch you up on the details if you're curious."

"I see. Explains the funeral home."

"Speaking of, there's a rumor spreading around about the neighboring cemetery, and I think it'd be fun to look into it."

Thinking about Herman and the possibility of his true identity being revealed, he starts to worry. "What kind of rumor?"

"Well, what I heard from the old hag in 310, the story goes that the West Quarter Cemetery is…"


"Haunted?"

In the ACME Looniversity schoolyard, Sylvester Jr. and his friends are in a circle, chatting about the rumors going around. One of these friends, a female piglet with a poppy flower hairclip in her dark pixie cut hair, is especially shocked by what she's heard.

"Yeah. Mama heard from a customer about some graverobbers who were chased off by a ghost in the cemetery last night. Apparently, they were trying to dig up Mr. Roost's grave."

Junior turns his attention to Egghead. "This whole thing sounds silly. I mean, why would anyone want to rob your dad's grave?"

Egghead is silent at first. In less than twenty-four hours, the rumor of his father's ghost haunting the cemetery spread like wildfire. He cannot figure out what might have caused this. Did the graverobbers spread the rumor themselves, or was someone else there to witness the event? Whatever the source, the possibility of Mr. Blakesley's secret being revealed could put him at great risk.

However, Sylvester's question is one that he himself has thought about nonstop since last night. "They probably think he had something valuable on him. As a bodyguard, he would be responsible for holding onto his client's possessions and secrets. I can't confirm the validity of my theory, but I can imagine that being the case."

The piglet gulps nervously. "Goodness! If he really has such a thing, he must be unable to move on until he can ensure its safety."

"Poppy, there's no such thing as ghosts," Junior insists, his quivering voice betraying his brave façade. "Egghead's smart enough to know better than to trust superstitions. Right, Eggy?"

"Actually," Egghead cuts in, "I'm open to the possibility of them existing to some degree. There may not be anything to explicitly prove their presence, but there hasn't been much to disprove it, either." As out of left field as it might seem coming from him–someone who, in the past, would scoff at the notion of ghosts–but ever since his father's passing, he has been looking into various topics of the occult and paranormal. While he cannot form any solid conclusions on his beliefs, the grieving part of him wants to hang onto the idea of his dad still being present, even if in spirit.

Poppy cuts in with, "Well, ghosts or no ghosts, there's still crooks running amuck in the area. Are you sure it's safe to go back after what happened?"

With a tiny smile, Egghead answers, "Yes, I'm sure of it. Because Mr. Blakesley is there to protect it."


Day turns to night in Acme City, cloaking the streets in a blanket of darkness. Stars sparkle dimly in the clear skies looming over West Quarter, and the waning moon shines upon the cemetery. The funeral home is made lively with the celebration of Día de los Muertos. Inside, the lobby is decorated with calaveras, refreshment tables, and an altar upon which to leave ofrendas for the spirits of relatives and ancestors past. Wile and Ralph enter, realizing that they are among the few non-rodents in the room.

Ralph, more familiar with Speedy and his familia, blend into the crowd seamlessly, joining in on the fun. Wile E., however, cannot find much enjoyment, try as he might. He approaches the altar, adorned with candles, sugar skulls, and Aztec marigolds, along with crosses and other forms of Christian imagery. He ponders over what to offer, but is drawing a blank. Around him, the Mexican mice share stories of the times they had with their deceased relatives, from silly anecdotes to heartwarming moments. He envies their optimism. What joy is there in death?, he wonders.

Unable to tolerate the noise and festivities for another moment, Wile steps out for some fresh air. In the cemetery, among the tombstones, he spots Herman sitting at the foot of an angel statue. The timing seems too convenient. "Hey," Wile greets him tersely. "Shouldn't you be inside?"

"I could ask the same of you," Herman retorts. "To answer your question, I was doing some patrolling. The weather is nice tonight, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." Wile approaches the statue and sits beside the wolf. "Anu… Herman, how do you feel being surrounded by… all this?"

Herman takes in the coyote's question, answering with: "When you've lived as long as I have, death is around every corner. And when death becomes a constant part of your life, you become numb to it. Immortal or not, those of us who work and live among the deceased find ways to cope with the morbidity of the situation. Many of us gain a sense of humor towards it to get by, myself included. I may not look the part, but I've been told by others that I'm the most twisted person they have met." He lets out a laugh.

"As a hitman, I'm able to stay detached from my targets, so death itself shouldn't bother me. But when it comes to Mom and Dad's loss… the pain is too much to bear." Wile glances in the direction of the muffled festivities resonating from the building.

"You don't have to celebrate Day of the Dead the same way the Gonzaleses do. Everyone grieves differently, and some take longer to heal than others. That said, it is possible to grieve for too long, and it's unhealthy to keep reopening old wounds. Bearing grudges, clinging onto a lost love… one's heart can only bear so much pain before they succumb to it."

"Sounds like you've had experience."

"Not me personally, but I do know someone like that. He lost the few people he cared for, and in his loneliness, he grew desperate, clinging onto any and all remnants of the past. We only get to meet every century or so on average, but I'm willing to bet he hasn't changed one bit in that regard." Herman cracks a wry smile. "Thankfully, you won't have to worry about carrying that sort of burden."

Wile, upon hearing those words, thinks back to his own past experiences. Since adolescence, he had been pursuing the Road Runner, trying and failing to catch it for years. Even near-victorious moments were short-lived, and again the bird would slip away. He recalls his father's own attempts, filled with even more failures. If I hadn't chased the Road Runner all the way here, would I have become like Dad?, he asks himself. Wile's penchant for fanaticism is a double-edged sword: it creates purpose and drives him to survive, but it also eats away at his sanity and prevents him from seeing the bigger picture. Wait…

Now that he just thought about it, he realizes something: when was the last time he thought about the Road Runner? Ever since he started living with Ralph and Pepé, his focus shifted further away from his life's goal of catching the bird–of avenging his father–and towards other things. This epiphany creates a bittersweet taste in his mouth. Even with what Anubis said of his father's last words, he cannot help but feel a sliver of doubt. "Herm… Anubis… Would Dad forgive me if I don't succeed in granting his last wish?"

Herm-Anubis, his golden eyes glimmering with a warm tranquility, rests one hand on the coyote's shoulder. "If what your father told me still rings true, he will support you in whatever path you take. I'm certain that's what he would want. Walk wherever your heart leads you, and his spirit will follow."

In that moment, Wile E.'s heart feels lighter, and subconsciously his lips curl up into a relaxed smile. Then he parts ways with the wolf god. After grabbing some food and drink from the refreshments table, he approaches the altar. Mom, Dad… please continue watching over me. I'm going to make you proud.


AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hello again! Back with a new chapter, and quite swiftly, too! I initially planned to extend this with an inclusion of various scenes, most notably of Pepé reading the journal, but with Wile and Herman's conversation taking so much of the chapter's word count, I decided to cut it off at the current point and use what I started of the Pepé scene to kickstart the next one. (That one may end up being a "flashback"-heavy entry, similar to "Sins of the Father", depending on how I approach it.)

As for the obligatory AN trivia, I have one that might pique the curiosity of some. Those who read/watch Beastars may be curious about how Acme City compares in terms of the whole "carnivore/herbivore" divide. For starters, the divide doesn't really exist, partly because omnivores exist, and partly because, unlike Beastars, Acme City is set on Earth (an alternate Earth, but still Earth). More importantly, Sapients and non-Sapients exist simultaneously, and the former classify themselves separately from the latter. While standards of whether Sapients can eat other Sapients vary depending on one's region and lifestyle, it's generally agreed upon that Sapients are free to eat non-Sapient animals. As far as the issue of prejudice goes, discrimination among Sapients tend to be more based on species (see the "cats vs. birds" discussion Sylvester mentioned in "Let's Rock the Heist" for a brief example).

Diverging a bit from the previous subject, I have a funny story regarding the previous chapter. While writing the cemetery scene, I was doing a bit of research on marionettes, and as it turns out, Ancient Egypt did have marionettes and puppetry back at the time. Considering the nature of Herman's powers and the fact that I listed puppetry as one of his hobbies in my character notes, this was a serendipitous coincidence.

I think I've blathered on enough for now. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, even if the direction it's taken is vastly different from what one might expect from the simple premise of "be gay, do crimes". There are still many mysteries to uncover, so I hope you'll stay tuned for what's to come!

12/16/2021 UPDATE: Cut out a bit of description from the middle part of the first scene and altered Pepé's dialogue to fit the changes. The snippets removed I plan to use in the next chapter, though that is not a guarantee.

2/1/2022 UPDATE: Cut and replaced the latter part of the schoolyard scene. The tl;dr version is something that seemed like a good idea at the time didn't make much sense in hindsight, so I changed the dialogue to better match the surrounding context (past, present, and future).