Author's Note:Hello Lads and ladies.
I am starting to feel like I am letting a part of myself and maybe even you guys down, but for the life of me I cannot really shake that feeling even if it's ridiculous. I am being praised by all sides for not only my work, but also for the miraculous advancements in therapy I am making. And for all of it I am doing pretty good, even if somedays I feel worried about my future and all that. And part of me is scared that the updates on Rewritten are gonna become more spaced out and one day I'll set it on an endless hiatus as I move on to do different things. Which I am doing my best to avoid.
This chapter here is 500 words shorter than the average I try to go for, which I am beating myself up for already, but I didn't want to artificially elongate it in any way.
I wanted to update you to say that my schedule is probably gonna turn into a chapter every 2 weeks. I can work on the chapter every work day, and I only get an hour which means 500 words per session for me. I hope all of you are doing good, Enjoy the Chapter.
Editor: SuperAverageFoxyboy
Enjoy!
-Portal
Chapter 8: The United Academic Board
A bubbling sound emanated from the large glass vase. The colorless liquid inside reacted to the amount of fur, feathers, and scales dropped into it. Various school presidents situated themselves around the large circular table. In its center sat the small podium on which the vase stood. Slowly the bubbling seized, the liquid slowly turning blue.
"This meeting is now in effect!" boomed the voice from the megaphone of the smallest member of the board, the mouse principal Hector of the Barite Academy.
Every UAB meeting was held in the Townhall, Meeting room B-5 on the first floor. The actual meeting area was a circular middle floor surrounded by elevated rows of seats organized by different species. There were important officials and representatives of all species groups: large and small breed carnivores, herbivores, mammals, reptiles, and avians. The care of children and youth was one of the highest priorities of the city's responsibilities. Even the ones who normally weren't interested in politics were present during meetings of the UAB.
"If I may," Gon began to speak out, "I'd like to preface this by saying how grateful I am for all the support Cherryton has received from the likes of this assembly. I understand the difficulty it is for everyone of all shapes and sizes to be here right now."
"Mr. Gon!" the small mouse interrupted, "There's no reason to beat around the bush. We all know what we need to deal with." Hector sat on the small desk placed on his section of the board table. He leaned forward to speak into the megaphone placed in front of him, making his voice loud and clear for the rest of the table.
"You must be aware that even with all these numbers of academy representatives combined, the Cherryton school consistently produces some of the highest numbers of great minds and talents. And yet, for some reason, there hasn't been a single Beastar in your school for over five years, now. I think we can all agree that is very strange."
"Well, we, the Oliver school, have at least one Beastar per year." spoke principal Ellis, representative of the aforementioned Oliver school.
"That's the same for the Dorpal school as well." spoke one of the other representatives.
Soon, almost all of the other representatives nodded in agreement. Despite how prolific of a school Cherryton is, they're the only school that has yet to consistently produce a Beastar.
The whole room began to erupt with noise over what should be done about this. And eventually, what started out as a simple discussion turned into blatant yelling and arguing.
Gon narrowed his eyebrows and grabbed at his forehead, the chattering and murmurs mirroring the worries of what a catastrophe this whole mess was. As much as he and many others may preach about coming together and supporting each other, they really were just empty words. The entirety of the UAB, or the All-Organism Council as it's better known as, is truly just one big joke. It's made up of nothing more than bickering children in adult bodies.
Complaints after complaints come spewing out of everyone's mouths. Of course, being able to express these complaints is why this board even exists. So that they may come together as a group and solve these problems. But when no one is willing to listen to one another, it just becomes more senseless noise.
"Everyone, please compose yourselves!" Gon shouted. "Look, I understand the importance of the Beastar and what that is supposed to represent, but what I cannot understand or agree with is forcing the weight and responsibility of that title onto literal children! These are teenagers, and that is a very difficult time in their lives. You've all experienced youth, so you should all know! It's a time where you study for tests, fall in love, question your own self-worth. And it's when you begin to be at odds with your own feral instincts. And despite that, our system dictates that we place an overwhelming burden on a single student. It is my belief that heroes are not found. They are born! And even Heroes need time to grow up."
There was a sudden awkward silence in the room as the board tried to make sense of the tiger's loud speech.
"S-so my point is that my students are important to me, and I fully intend on watching them grow!"
Hector was the first of the board members to reply. "How very feline of you. You'd make a good speaker on Laissez Faire. Perhaps it's because of your attitude that there have been two murders now within the Cherryton School?"
Upon immediate mention of this, the room once again lit up with conversation.
The murder problem had caused nothing but trouble. Making students uneasy, parent's scared for their children's lives, two families already devastated at their losses. Gon felt guilty enough, but now he would be the only principal with two students dead at a table full of pure-blooded bureaucrats wanting a solution. How would they effectively deal with a rogue carnivore on school grounds?
"While you're off pretending like that never happened, the culprit is probably still in school while pretending to be a harmless student! And this is where I'd like to introduce my next point... I suggest that we focus extra resources on the protection of your next Beastar candidates."
Gon looked on at him with confusion. "Were you not listening to a word I just said!? We can't be-"
"It's been five long years, Mr. Gon. You can't just keep letting this go. Every year, you compile a list of all potential candidates, and yet you never pull through. The time for Cherryton's next Beastar is now, Gon. And the way I see it, what better time for that than now? I think you should nominate the student who captures the murder culprit as the next Beastar of the Cherryton School! I'm sure that'll be more than enough for a birth of a hero."
"Wha... What the hell...?" Gon couldn't believe his ears.
"Well, it does sound like a good idea. It is simple," said one of the representatives.
"I suppose it is. I have no qualms," spoke another
Once again, the rest of the board was quickly in unanimous agreement.
"How could any of you possibly agree to this? It's preposterous! Besides, you want me to ignore the needs of the rest of my student body in the favor of a chosen few who may not even want or get that role! You've got to be kidding me." Gon sunk into his chair, disappointed in his colleagues. "We can't value one student's life over the other! We need to concentrate on collateral security measures."
"Oh, stop with that complaining." Zenya's long neck bent down from his seat, irritation in the giraffe's face.
"Nothing you say justifies you blatantly protecting one student who might be above average, but you leave out all the others. What should I say to those families when their children get murdered? What should I tell them? That they were collateral damage?"
The eyes of the other board members switched between each other. There was a silent disturbance in their ways of thinking. The groups of representatives began to loudly debate the tiger's counterargument, a small part of the group beginning to agree with him.
"That's beside the point." sounded Herman, the goat being the principal of the Zeika academy, trying to calm down the loud chatting.
"How so? That's what you're asking me to do. To protect one student and ignore the rest in order to keep up with this ludicrous system." Gon's statement left the rest of the table in indecisive murmuring. He heard a few voices of agreement, a few of denial, and another few cursing him an idiot under their breath. Even if he truly cared about the board's happiness, right now silence was the best option that he kept in mind.
"You would tell them that they died for the greater good, their lives being a sacrifice for the future of this society." Gon looked at Herman, his brow shooting up.
"That's just cruel..."
"Plus, what if Louis dies?" Hector openly mentioned the primary candidate now. Normal school board policy forbids the mentioning of names. But everyone, including the guests in the outer rings, knew that Louis was the most eligible candidate in years as well as being the son of the renowned Oguma.
"What if someone decides to attack him in times like these? While the perfect cover story is on the news. We have enough carni-" Hector's microphone was suddenly turned off, leaving the mouse to talk into empty space.
The principal of the Insiger academy, a female northern wolf, had switched off the button with a judgmental glint. Quiet arguing ensued as the wolfess whispered at the mouse to think of what he was saying. Whatever he was about to say, he was going to anger someone. The carnivore to herbivore tensions was at an all-time high. To go even further would be a dumb risk nobody needed to take.
The microphone switched back on, letting the mouse continue without making aggressive statements.
"Ahem… what I was going to say was that I want to know what would happen if he was, in fact, killed in a situation like this. It has been many years since we have had another sublime Beastar, and the current sole holder of that title isn't growing younger. What would happen with the city if we don't have another Beastar?" Hector's question got Gon to think. Nothing was truly explaining that away, as much as he wanted. The few Beastars they had in the years never progressed as far as the legendary sole Sublime Beastar of Edobutsu. The black shadowy vigilante that was in all forms of media: Mangas, shows, children's television, and diverse magazines. Gon slammed his fist on the table.
"I have worked in the school system for more than 20 years now. I have always done the best I could to keep my students safe and sound. From all that arose in those years. And I have never been disappointed in my decisions." The rest of the board couldn't counter that. The sole reason why Cherryton had so many top talents was the work of administration, the school is historically known for the best principals of any school in the city. Gon being on that list, no doubts given-
"I will take full responsibility for my school. As I have and always will in the long years that I am principal at the Cherryton academy. And I will protect my students. All of them." The rest of the board remained silent. Looking among each other with a mixture of annoyance and a slight hint of bureaucratical defeat. Hector's small black eyes very carefully looked back at the Gon.
The mouse glinted at the tiger for another moment before continuing the meeting.
"Due to us not finding a middle ground on the Beastar protection, I would like to propose a collateral measure as mentioned by Principal Gon. Please all of you turn the page to section P-45."
"You saw that new movie trailer? Looked pretty cool from what I've seen so far." Aoba leaned against the wall next to the back entrance of the male dormitory. He was casually talking with Bill. The two have grown to become best of friends ever since Tao had joined the club and connected the trio.
"Total Predation? The one with that deer chick?" Bill asked, the eagle nodding.
"Looked cool, but nothing too special. Might watch it during the next city trip." The tiger looked down at his phone. Another message from Hayato.
From any type of information, smuggled wares or other luxury indulgences that were normally out of reach for the general student populous of any school, that rabbit named a price and one could get it.
It was all fair game to him, even giving Bill that small vile of rabbit blood, from sources he didn't mention. In the different groups that Bill was in, he had been introduced to a number of different animals. Hayato being one of the few that he actually build up a long-lasting kind of friendship.
And the smuggling kind always had open eyes and ears. If one were to look at a broad spectrum of students, one was to find incredibly small numbers of them reading the newspaper or listening to the radio frequently. If one were to ask Hayato, he too would claim that he was part of said broad-spectrum, but a smuggling ear was always open.
The article on his phone was about rising numbers of carnivore aggression and speculation of a rising in predation causes. Suddenly his mood to watch that movie dropped. His expression turned a bit sour, looking at his phone in annoyance.
"Kinda going off the beaten path here, but how are you dealing with the situation right now?" Bill asked solemnly. Aoba was taken aback in surprise by the nature of the question, something so personal that the tiger usually didn't talk about. Bill doing the usual guy thing. You don't talk about it and think about it while you're alone.
"Eh… I don't really know to be honest." The eagle looked down, sober and deep in thought.
"I never really thought about it. So far I didn't notice any big change I could tell you about. Strangers take their distance, but our friends stay close. It's just how life is." Aoba's explanation seemed simplified and meaningless, but for some reason, it affected him differently than he had expected.
"It's been going through my mind the last few days, that's all. Didn't plan on making you uncomfortable. Sorry if I did." Just as Aoba's explanation was oversimplified, so was this one. It had made Bill borderline depressed to notice how most of the herbivores he could see around him, even the ones he used to call friends during regular times, took a distance to him. He had made conscious efforts to counter-act this. Being more friendly, speaking quietly to not upset their ears, and taking acceptable distance from anyone at all times. While on the other hand, his pride in being a carnivore started to question its own right to exist.
He cherished so many more herbivores than he first thought. The entirety of the Drama club became a larger part of his life than he ever would have thought. Hell, his best friends all came from that club. To know that herbivores took a distance to him for what he was born as caused a mix of anger and shame. Anger for the unfairness of one monster lashing out and all carnivores being punished for it. And shame for the fact that he really liked being a carnivore. He liked being strong, he liked being tall, and he liked the taste of meat. Was it so wrong to be proud of one's self for what one was? Was it so wrong to be proud of one's own strength? Why did he have to be so careful about speaking freely about his pride in his kind just because someone else was weaker than him? Was that fair? To them it certainly was.
"I just don't know how these god damn plant eaters can go along and declare us dangerous like that. We never hurt anybody or did anything to justify such claims." Bill looked into the trees around him. It was a nice and warm morning on a Saturday, leaving the two carnivores with nothing to do. They had met up at the back of the male dormitories to enjoy the morning, possibly even getting outing permits to go see the city. But on the warmer day than the last, they decided to just enjoy the sun.
"I don't know Aoba… it just… feels weird." Bill wasn't an emotional talker. He was part of the male stereotype, keeping to himself when it came to problems. But this was the first time he outright felt ignored and shunned. An ugly combination of feelings that continuously worsened his mood. Aoba reached out to place his arm on the tiger's shoulders, but stopped, not wanting to make things awkward with the touchy-feely notion.
"I don't want to tell you, man. I'm sorry you're going through that." Bill continued to look through the trees, his feelings annoying him to the fullest. Pesky thoughts kept pulling on his mood. He needed to distract himself.
"Hey Aoba. On second thought, that trailer did seem pretty cool. Wanna go get outing permits and watch it?" Aboa looked at the tiger and shrugged. The typical guy 'I don't really mind' kind of shrug. The tiger nodded, standing up straight.
"Alright, let's go."
"And here is the art storage." Legosi pointed at the large paper structures that towered over the rest of the warehouse-like storage room of the drama club. The wolf was tasked with showing Pina the storage, the dall-sheep itself following along without really listening. As Legosi had reached the dinosaur statues, Pina had discovered the foam swords used for a pirate play about a year ago.
"En-garde! Hah!" Pina swung around with the plastic toy resembling a pirate's cutlass. Legosi peeked over his shoulders, watching the sheep carelessly punch and swipe through the darkness, looking like a beam of light in the darkroom.
"ahem… Pina?" The sheep turned to the wolf, slight irritation in his face.
"Did you get all of that?" The wolf asked meekly, the sheep looking around with a comically puzzled expression. He gave his usual coy smile.
"Of course. I am the best listener around! Storage room blah blah, costumes and materials blah blah, paper statues blah blah." He motioned into different directions as he spoke. Pointing into the parts of the room that Legosi had mentioned during the little tour the wolf was giving. He smiled at the wolf, arrogance sparkling in his eyes. "You may continue with your tour, little pup."
Pina took another swipe at the darkness, hitting a tower of boxes, which immediately started to tumble and fall. The sheep suddenly felt a pair of strong arms around his stomach, flinging him out of the way, avoiding the heavy boxes by only a few inches. The sheep tumbled to the floor, cushioning the fall with his arms. He looked up from the sudden maneuver only to see the grey wolf looking over him with a careful eye in the dimly lit area of the warehouse.
"Are you ok?" The question sounded from Legosi, his voice full of empathy and care. Pina was perplexed. In all the years at school, he had never once seen a school that perplexed him as much as this one. Herbivore club presidents that defended their carnivore members? Carnivores that actively wanted to help herbivores for no reason other than to be helpful?Either all of you are the best actors I have ever seen, playing some elaborate prank on me, or this school is the most equal-sided as all the ones to exist.
Pina stood up, answering the question with a quiet "Yes."
He scanned the wolf in front of him. He stood slightly hunched for the two to be closer to each other's eye level. The average wolf wouldn't even turn their head down, talking while quite literally looking down on all animals that weren't canine.
"What the hell is up with this school?…" Legosi turned his head slightly, his ear flicking in confusion.
"Huh?"
Pina laughed at the wolf, looking around him as if he forgot where he even was, which in many ways he seemed to have. In what universe did he stumble into. No one was reacting like he thought they would, and usually, he was pretty accurate with his assumptions of people's reactions. But now, he felt so disconnected from his surroundings, no one coming even close to being as he thought they would be.
"All of you are so weird. You all act with so much empathy and kindness and… Care. No one is like you guys are. At least no one I met." Pina looked at the wolf quizzingly,
"I think you just never were at the right school. No school is like the Cherryton Academy." Pina looked at the wolf with fascination. He had heard stories about him in the cafeteria when he first got here. About the hot wolf in the drama club that was in a loyal relationship. Which wasn't weird for wolves, but for the age bracket.
Normally, they would switch between partners in their teens frequently, only really mating for life after finishing school. But this wolf here was different, by many aspects it seemed.You are one of those pure-hearted and loyal kinds, aren't you?… all of you dogs. Maybe you really aren't acting.
"You are one good-looking fella, ain't you?" Pina leaned forward, the type of sparkle In his eyes that made any girl's knees weak. Legosi's eyes widened a bit, his smile growing into an awkward position. His mind jumped into overdrive as he tried to understand what he was getting at.
"U-uh, sure. I guess so...yes..." Legosi dragged out that last word, his arm moving in front of him in a comical gesture of eagerness.
"T-too bad I'm taken. I am really in love with my girlfriend." He put a special emphasis on the girl part of girlfriend, trying to make it as clear as he could. First times for all things… but why always me?
Pina burst out laughing at the awkward wolf that had completely misunderstood his question. Legosi's ear once again flicking in confusion as the dall sheep was now busy holding his stomach in laughter.
"Oh man-" Pina once again laughed like he just heard the funniest joke of all time. "You can't...Hahahahahaha… You got to be joking…" Pina drew in another bit of breath, once again breaking out into more laughter.
"For a cunning predator, you really are funny." Pina recovered from his laugh attack, straightening his back, to see Legosi's face full of confusion. Once again the sheep broke out in a peel of laughter with no end in sight, just losing it.This school sure is a place of wonder… wondrous animals of all shapes and sizes. A deer as assertive as a lion, and a wolf as awkward as a gecko…
"Did you really think I meant it that way…" asked Pina while recovering from the last bits of laughter that just had rocked through his entire body it seemed.
"W-Well…" Legosi rubbed his elbow, his tail wagging slightly in relief, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Before he continued, the sheep held up a finger, resting his other hand on his knee as he took deep breaths to fully recover.
"You sure are funny, pup." Pina looked up at Legosi, suddenly a sultry smile decorating his face.
"If you decide you swing that way, or you just want to experiment, call me." Pina's hand gestured a phone, holding it up to his head. He watched in real-time how the gears in Legosi's head turned, his eyes widening in realization. Pina laughed again, softly slapping Legosi's arm.
"Don't worry. I'm just mucking about... Or am I?"
Somehow, Legosi grew even more confused.
"… Well, now that we have that out of the way… I wanted to ask about the club. What's it like and all that jazz."
Legosi looked into the darkness around him. The few light bulbs that were on only gave dim lighting in the storage shelves. Everything was arranged in a few rows, all standing at different angles to each other, emitting a disorganized feel to it all.
"I don't know how to explain it," Legosi admitted, smelling the damp air around him, the smell of conditioned wool ever present In the current vicinity.
"It's a group of extraordinary animals… All of us are different from normal. You have to be special in some way to be chosen." Pina's brow shot up.
"Chosen?… you're chosen for the club?" asked Pina, Legosi nodding.
"That's how Kai explained it to me. That all of the members are different from normal. Kai was raised by hyenas even though he's a mongoose, Louis is the son of a wealthy business magnate, and I…" Legosi trailed off for the sliver of a second, barely grasping himself before delving into the complicated matter of his family.
"A-After all, it's just what a friend told me… I don't know if there is any truth behind it. I mean you seem fairly normal to me…" a hint of pain struck through Pina, so small that anyone normal person would have missed it. But Legosi could see It clear as day, the same way he saw the sadness on his grandfather's face. Pina reverted back to his superficial behavior, pouting at him.
"Me? Normal? You got to be kidding. I am a perfect specimen of my species and a good lover on top." He puffed up his chest, resting his hands on his waist. He imitated the pose of a superhero, a charismatic smile on his face with a sultry hint in his eye as he put an emphasis on the word "Lover."
"Everyone wants a piece of me. Every herbivore, carnivore, large breed, small breed, girls… and even boys." He winked at Legosi, whose cheeks faintly started to turn to a confused red.
"Does she satisfy you?"
"What?"
"Your girlfriend. Does she satisfy you?"
Legosi only barely reacted to the repeated inquiry about the wolf's love life. He slowly got used to the questions that seemingly came from everywhere. He thought that it might just have been a male thing, to obsess over love and sexuality. Everything was a contest to carnivores at least, and it seemed that herbivores seemed to not be different in the slightest in that department.
"She does…" He sighed dreamily, and an arising stiffness in his nether regions causing him to stomp the ground. Pina looked at him in surprise and chuckled.
"That good?" Legosi simply nodded, no words defining the happiness that every thought of her brought, from either seeing her smile or the expression on her face amid passionate Acts of love. Thoughts of her were a sacred thing needing to be cherished.
"Well, I'll put wolves on my ever-growing hit list. If you do understand what I mean, eh pup?" He smiled coyly, the wolf dismissively shaking his head.
"How much do you get around? You seem so…" Legosi paused to search for the right word. "Promiscuous."
Pina laughed out loud, Legosi amusing him more and more.
"That's the nicest thing anyone ever said to me… second nicest." The sheep corrected himself.
"Ever since my first time… I just can't get enough of it. And hey, everyone I've been with seems to be very happy with my 'natural talent.'" Pina winked again, Legosi looking ahead blankly, feeling like an idiot for even asking. Things didn't need to be as complicated as he made them, sometimes it was just a factor of enjoyment.
"Doesn't it ever feel… lonely? To not have anyone to return to at the end of the day and talk to?"
Pina's pose straightened, the sheep no longer slightly leaning backward. The cheeky smile leaving his face for a noticeable period of time. Legosi immediately felt terrible for what he had done. Why do you have to play pretend therapist, you idiot? He looks traumatized!
"I…" Legosi gasped, trying to find any words to lift this terrible weight of the situation that he miraculously fished out of thin air. "I-I didn't mean-" The sheep looked back at him with a content smile.
"It's alright, pup." His tone was weirdly somber, the superficial tone going up and away into the cool air of the warehouse.
"Let's change the subject. You weren't done with your tour?"
Legosi excused himself multiple times, Pina, in response only repeating that all was alright. The wolf continued the tour, feeling guilty for causing such a strong reaction out of nowhere. He apparently had a talent for causing things like that without any plan. For the rest of the tour, Pina listened intently yet still seemingly stuck in thoughts of his own.
