Beastars – Into the spotlight
Chapter 3 – The push out of the shadow
POV Legoshi
This Halloween-party was a lot bigger than I first thought it would be. Nearly half the school was here. They really have made an effort with this. A lot of students wore costumes, there were tables with snacks in every corner, they had carved Halloween decorations into pumpkins and the sound system was really good as well. They even took care of appropriate lighting and built a little stage out of some wooden pallets I noticed.
When I made my way through the crowd I looked out for familiar faces. It wasn't really that hard to find them, because the loudest and most noticeable ones among the students where the actors from the drama club. Just typical actors. I wasn´t quite sure if I wanted to get spotted among them though. Word had spread that I played Romeo in the meanwhile and I wasn´t really in the mood to answer silly questions.
This place really was getting on my nerves quickly. It only has been three minutes and I already wanted to leave again. The music wasn´t really my type, people were talking and laughing very loudly and it took forever to get through the crowd. I already thought coming here was the wrong choice after all. I just could have faked a bad stomach and stayed in my dorm with Jack. But that was just too weird earlier, and going back now would come across odd as well I figured. It really put me into a tough situation right now. "Why does this have to happen just to me all the time?"
Then suddenly, everything changed. An almost intoxicating smell crept into my nose and blurred all my senses for a moment. I couldn´t quite remember where I had smelled that before, but it was just as enjoyable as it was familiar. This smell awakened unspoken desires inside me.
"Legoshi" a friendly female voice from behind greeted me with a happy little chuckle, "You came!" She laid her paw onto my shoulder smoothly, and when I turned towards her, I really got surprised for a second.
"Juno!" I greeted her, "Hey…"
I was so confused by her smell for some reason. It was just a slight difference to how she smelled normally, but it really made me feel happy and sort of relaxed for some reason. She looked just as good as ever, wearing her famous red dress and glittery make-up tonight. The aura around her was just really nice. It was really strange to me that I never felt like that before when I was around her.
"…yeah, I came." I told her with a little smile, "I promised I would…"
She had two fancy glasses of ´something´ in her left paw and reached one of them over to me, not even asking if I wanted one. Weirdly, I just took it without even thinking about it twice. There was probably something alcoholic in that drink, which I normally kept my distance to under any circumstances, but I wasn´t too afraid of it right now somehow.
"Wh…what is that?" I asked curiously.
"I don´t know" she chuckled light-heartedly, "Just picked it up from the buffet over there…Come on! The others are over there, let´s join them!" she said while grabbing my arm and pulling me with her enthusiastically.
I felt a little overrun by all that, but I followed her nevertheless. Her scent was just so nice right now, I wanted to be around her.
"It´s about time you show up here, Romeo" Bill laughed out loudly when we arrived, "Looking good tonight, guys!"
"Hey guys" I greeted them with a forced little smile.
He had a glass of drink in his paws as well already, and pretty much immediately the others from the drama-clun raised their glasses to drink with us as well. It almost seemed a little staged to me, as if somebody was shooting an ad for some sort of champagne or something, but probably I was over-exaggerating again and it was just good timing.
"Glad you all made it" Kai announced excitedly, "Cheers to that! I´m so excited for our little show later!"
Since I didn´t want to get noticed in a negative way tonight, I clinked glasses with them and drank a few sips of the unknown liquid. It definitively had alcohol in it, not too much, but enough to be noticed. It also tasted sweet and a little fruity. I figured it was some kind of cider. Not too bad really.
"Yeah, are you guys ready for our little improve later?" the tiger asked us excitedly after finishing his glass in one go. He really seemed to be in a fantastic mood right now. Probably not the first glass he had been drinking.
"Yeah" Juno agreed with him and smiled at us, "I´m so excited! Tonight is going to be so much fun!"
I still wasn´t quite convinced about that, but somehow I was thinking rather positive than negative right now. Maybe this could be the first party I didn´t want to leave after just ten minutes of standing in a corner lonely.
For now though, I remained standing beside them and listened to their conversations silently. Bill and Aoba talked about some car-related stuff or something like that. Kai and Juno quickly rehearsed their lines for their improvisation-show later and seemed to be quite excited about it.
Soon later, a tigress arrived us and kissed Bill quickly, before she turned towards us right away. She must be his girlfriend which he was talking about all the time.
"Hey!" she greeted me right away, "I´m Samantha, so Nice to meet you! You must be Legoshi from the drama-club, right?"
I shook her paw with a nod and a little smile.
"Bill told me about it, you are playing Romeo?" she asked me with great interest.
I nodded again.
"That´s right" Juno affirmed with an excited giggle, "And I´m Juliet!"
"Two wolves in the main roles? Wow that sounds so interesting already! You can call me Sam!" she told her, before she hugged the other wolf with a welcoming smile.
"I´m Juno" she introduced herself right back excitedly.
"…and Aoba as Mercutio?" the tigress continued excitedly, "I´m so hyped for the premiere! This will be so much fun!"
"Y-you think?" I asked with a proud little smile.
"Totally! Bill told me how much effort you´re putting into this. It´s a little sad that Louis doesn´t play a role as well, but he said it will still be great to watch!" she explained.
I nodded with a polite little smile and took another sip from my drink.
"Bill?" his girlfriend asked him, "Which role did you play again?"
I almost slipped a little grin there. I liked how she knew everything about the actors except for what her own Boyfriend did.
"Come on, Sam" Aoba chuckled with a big grin as well.
"Tybalt" Bill sighed with a rather annoyed expression about her asking that, "…Juliet´s hateful uncle…how often do I have to tell you that exactly?"
"I´m sorry!" she told him, "I was just asking, okay?"
Bill just ignored her and turned towards his own conversation again.
"I´m sorry" she chuckled towards us, "He can be quite a dick sometimes…"
Both of us, Juno and I, found ourselves nodding to that in agreement, and when we noticed we both couldn´t hide a little chuckle either.
"Is he like that in the drama-club as well?" she asked with a little grin for herself.
"I do not always agree with him" I answered, "…but that just makes us more dynamic I think…"
"But you two are not getting into a fight again, are you?"
"So she had seen that second performance of ´the grim reaper´. That´s why she remembered me, probably. "
I thought about my answer for a moment.
"Well…" I then chuckled with a little smirk, "We are, actually, but this time it´s more choreographed…and less bloody."
"Bloody?" she asked in shock, "There was blood last time? I didn´t even notice that!" she explained, "…I was sitting too far away, probably…"
I just waved it off quickly, realizing that this really was a topic we shouldn´t talk about right now.
"It wasn´t that bad" I told her, hoping this would get rid of the topic just as quickly as it came.
"I haven´t seen Bill bleeding after the show…" she told us, "…and he didn´t talk to me about it either..."
I just waved it off once again. I should have never said that in the first place. I didn´t want to get Bill and I into trouble for this yet once again. But of course, as always with my luck, exactly that seemed to be the first interesting topic I ever started at a party in my whole life.
"Even I have never heard of this" Juno now put into the conversation, "What did I miss in that show?"
Samantha just pointed at me and then they both just kept looking at me as if demanding a detailed explanation.
I really shouldn´t answer this question though. This could get Bill into serious trouble probably, and although he kinda earned it a little, I didn´t want to endanger everything the drama-club had been working on in the last few weeks.
"It´s really not that bad" I told them once again, "…when he put his arms around me on stage, he wasn´t all that careful with his claws. I just had a few little scratches on my back…nothing dramatic."
"Shit, why did I say that?" I did exactly what I didn´t want to do. I got into detail. "Just why did I feel so comfortable here tonight? Why wasn´t I more nervous right now?"
"´Little scratches´ …that were bleeding?" the tigress asked with a not entirely convinced little smirk, then she suddenly showed us her paws and the really sharp claws they were equipped with, "You´re not seriously trying to make me believe that, Romeo, are you?"
There really was no way of fooling her. She was a tiger as well, she knew what she was talking about.
"Can we see it?" Juno asked excitedly.
"Yeah!" Samantha agreed with her with a big grin, "Come on, Legoshi, show us your back!"
"Heh…" I chuckled unsurely, really wanting this to end already, "…maybe not here. You can´t really see it anyway" I lied.
"Come on" she teased mercilessly, "As a lead actor you can´t be shy of showing us some fur!"
"He even has a scene were he´s shirtless" Juno told her with a girly giggle, "We´re going to see his back anyway…"
"Shit. She was right. I had totally forgotten about that. That was a real problem."
When we practised that scene in training I always kept my shirt on because it wouldn´t really make a difference, but in the real performance, everybody would see the scars on my back.
"Yeah!" Samantha grinned, "We´re going to see it anyway, so what´s the big deal?"
"What are we going to see?" Els asked with great interest as she just joined our little group with a happy smile.
"Oh hi Els!" Juno greeted her happily, "Glad you made it!"
"Hey guys!" the goat greeted us, hugging us quickly one after another, "What did I miss?"
"Legoshi just wanted to show us the scars on his back" Samantha told her, "He was bleeding after his fight with Bill during the second performance of the grim reaper…"
"Oh…yeah" Els remembered, "He was bleeding pretty badly, I´ve seen it from the side of the stage…"
"Oh great! Perfect timing Els!" This really wasn´t working in my favour either.
"It was really not that bad" I waved it off again, hoping to finally get rid of the topic that way.
"Yeah, yeah…sure Romeo" Samantha grinned, "I´m gonna get you out of that shirt at some point tonight, just so you know…"
I just shook my head with a distinctive little smile. She simply nodded, still with that little grin on her face, but I didn´t give in and eventually got away with it.
Although I wasn´t quite expecting that to be working, that really seemed to do the trick for now. That got rid of the topic finally. Hopefully they would have forgotten about that later.
POV Haru
I just couldn´t sleep. No matter how hard I tried, how often I was rolling over on the matrass, it wasn´t happening.
I took another look at the alarm-clock besides my bed. It wasn´t even 10 yet. And tomorrow were no classes. We even were allowed to stay out longer tonight because of the Halloween party.
"What was I doing? Why was everybody out there having fun and I was laying here all lonely?"
I went out of my bed and opened the window. Then I listened into the night. It definitely was a lot busier outside than usually at this time of night. I still didn´t want to go to that party though.
I wanted to talk to somebody nice, somebody who respected me for who I was, somebody who didn´t need the attention of a lot of people. So naturally, I wondered if Legoshi was still up.
"Maybe he wasn´t asleep yet either", it suddenly came into my mind, "Maybe he was still in his dorm. I could ask him if he wanted to take a little stroll through the park with me. Or hang out in the gardening-club…"
Just the thoughts about that raised my spirits enough to get me out of bed again. Without further ado, I put on some suitable clothing, took my keys with me and left the room to search for dorm 701.
POV Jack
I surely was a little surprised when somebody knocked on the door at this time of night. Everybody who lived in this dorm had a key, and the housemother shouldn´t have anything to complain about either.
I went for the door nevertheless and asked what they wanted.
"Hello" a thin female voice asked through the door, "I´m sorry for disturbing you, I just wanted to ask if Legoshi is still up?"
Before I asked any further questions, I simply opened the door to talk face to face to her. I had a slight foreboding who this could be, and it indeed was her.
"Hey" I greeted her with a friendly smile, "I´m Jack, one of his roommates" I introduced myself quickly, "Don't worry, you´re not disturbing anyone, but Legoshi isn´t here I´m afraid…"
"No?" she asked with sad eyes.
"He went off to the Halloween-party about half an hour ago" I told her, "I´m sorry to disappoint you."
"Oh well" she sighed with a little shrug of her shoulders, "…he keeps on surprising me every day…"
"Oh, me too, believe me" I chuckled in amusement.
"I´m Haru by the way" she introduced herself with a little smile.
"So nice to meet you, finally!" I told her, shaking her paw carefully.
She nodded with a polite little smile.
"Is there something I can tell him if he should come back?"
"Well…not really. I was hoping he would go out for a stroll in the park with me since it´s still so early. I was alone in my dorm and really bored…"
"It´s the same story with me, basically…" I sighed, "…I wasn´t really in the mood for that party tonight…"
"You mind if I come in for a minute?" she asked. It seemed like she didn't have much else to do either.
"No, not at all!" I told her happily, "Come in!"
I closed the door behind her and followed her into the room.
"Oh wow" she chuckled, as she took a little closer look at our dorm, "It´s quite tidy in here considering that five guys live in this dorm…"
"You think so?" I asked, offering her a chair to sit on, "…I mean…what were you expecting?"
That made her think for a couple of moments. "…you´re right. I´m not quite sure why I was expecting that. I was surprised by how organised Legoshi was the first time already…"
"Organised?"
"…the night after he saved me from the Shishigumi…" she began hesitantly, "We missed the last train back to school…so we had to search for a place we could stay the night…"
I noticed that she probably didn´t want to get this far into detail here, but now that she started it, there was no going back really. I nodded with an understanding little smile, signalizing that I´ve heard about that already.
"…and he had some money for emergency situations in one of his shoes …" she said, "…I wasn´t really expecting that to be honest."
"I always asked him what that was good for" I chuckled, "I never believed he would ever need it, but there we go, he was right about it…"
"Yeah" she chuckled in amusement, "Grandpa´s advice paid off…"
Our conversation halted here for a moment.
"How since are you at this school?" she wanted to know then.
"This is my third year now."
"Oh, so you know Legoshi since the beginning?"
"Yes. I know Legoshi for a very long time already…" I told her, "He always way my best friend since childhood."
"Really?"
I nodded again, "And I can tell you: In all these years I´ve never seen him change that much. Ever since he met you his life had drastically changed…"
"R-really?" she asked.
I just nodded silently but with a little smile. Then I quickly went towards the little drawer besides my bed and searched for the copy of the school-wave, which had Legoshi´s picture and the little article about his performance in "the grim reaper" on the front page. I handed it over to her and she started reading it carefully.
"…he never told me he was in the school-paper" she said after she was done reading.
"Well…he wasn't really proud of it. He was rather scared of becoming too popular…" I explained, "…Legoshi prefers to live in the shadows normally. He isn´t one to brag or get into trouble, usually…"
To that she just nodded in agreement. "I´m really a little surprised he went to that party" she mentioned once again.
"Why don't you go join him?" I wanted to know, "I bet he´s glad to have some company there."
"Why didn´t you join him" she asked in return with a little chuckle.
I really didn´t want to tell her the precise reason for that right now. It was too easy to prattle something away in my current state of mind.
"That…that is a good question actually…" I said therefore.
That left her thinking for another moment.
"Would you stay with me if we went there together? I don´t want to be alone there you know?"
That really came out of nowhere as well for me. I still wasn´t really in the mood for partying, but since it was her who asked me, and Legoshi already wanted me to come with him as well, I had a slightly different view on that right now. Now it suddenly felt like I wouldn´t just be some second-class company in case nobody else was there to talk to.
She waited for my answer with a motivating little smile, and she actually looked quite cute like that I just noticed. I could see now why Legoshi liked her so much. Although she was quite a small animal, there was something really beautiful, mysterious and powerful about her. I couldn´t really describe it, but I surely liked it.
I took another quick look at the clock of my alarm, then back at her again. I somehow really wanted to go there now.
"…only if you promise you won´t leave me all alone either" I told her then.
"Come on" she said, waving me with a little smile as she got off her chair and went towards the door already, "I´m sure it´s not too bad when we´re not alone!"
POV Juno
Bill was right about the tiny drop of rabbit-blood. It simply worked wonders. It seemed to genuinely relax him in my presence, and he also was so much more confident all over sudden. He wasn´t hiding in a corner which he normally tended to do and he even drank a second glass of cider with us when we asked him to.
Not too much later, Bill loudly announced our little improvisation show over the microphone and quite a lot of people, almost all of them I was pretty sure, went towards the little stage they had built for us. Since I had a part in that show too, I went towards the stage as well slowly but surely, and Legoshi even followed me with the others. Then he waited in the first row for the show to begin with Els, Samantha and a few others.
On the stage itself, Bill; Aoba; Kai, who wanted to prove himself as a solid stage performer tonight; and I quickly got together in a circle and discussed the rough plan of our performance once again.
"This is perfect" Bill told us excitedly and with a little wink, "Romeo is in the first row! That´s the perfect promo for our premiere!"
We all looked a little confused about that at first.
"Kai! At the end of the last sketch, can you pretend to first push me and then Juno off the stage?" he asked him, "Act like you kick us of the famous balcony?"
"What?" we all asked in shock.
"I´ll be fine, don't worry" he waved it off. Then he turned towards me: "…and Legoshi will catch you! He´s standing right there in front of the stage" he pointed out with a little grin, "He pretty much has to catch, and don't tell me he isn´t strong enough!"
We weren't entirely sure about that idea. Even Kai seemed really nervous all over sudden, although that was exactly his kind of thing normally.
But from a comedic perspective it seemed to make sense. And Bill was right about the rabbit blood as well, so maybe he would be right on this one as well! This would push Legoshi out of the shadows even more.
"Let´s do it" I told the others with a motivating smile, "It would surely make a great finale…"
They seemed to be thinking about it once again.
"Alright" Kai agreed hesitantly, "But don´t blame me if you crash onto the floor."
I shook my head confidently.
"Yes, perfect" Bill already celebrated enthusiastically, "This will be awesome!"
"Everybody knows his part?" Aoba now asked with a little smirk.
We all nodded to that.
"Rock´n´roll!" he announced then, and we all quickly put our hands together in the middle.
Bill discussed some last changes with the DJ and the light-technician and then they went on their way quickly. This was it, now there was no turning back anymore.
A few moments later, Bill went towards the microphone-stand again.
"Hey guys!" he greeted the other students enthusiastically, "Thanks for coming! The guys from the drama-club and I just wanted to do a little improve-show tonight that might raise your mood even higher or…might want to make you drink even more tonight… "
He waited a moment until the other students stopped chuckling in amusement.
"…not quite so sure about that yet to be honest…" he said ironically, "…either way, I also hope you come to see our premiere of "Romeo and Juliet" in two weeks as well. We´re putting a lot of work into this and we have some really talented newcomers in the main roles this time…" he explained while pointing just at me, because I stood right beside him on stage.
"…anyway, enough of the shameless self-advertisement!" he then announced, doing a little hand-signal for the technicians, "Let´s get this thing going!"
With that they queued a quite strong and danceable beat and the spirit immediately motivated everybody to move. We wanted to get the people into the mood for something light and funny first of all, and when we started dancing it seemed to work just perfectly. The music wasn´t much different from what it was before, but now it was way louder and the light was mainly on us now. Our performance was on its way, and I already felt this was going to be good. This was so much fun already.
POV Jack
When Haru and I joined the crowd, the drama-club seemed to be mid-way in their little improve-performance already. Juno wore a red dress and just like the other actors danced like there was no tomorrow on the stage. I wouldn´t lie, it was quite catchy right from the start. People in the audience were dancing along, and when they were done with the musical performance, they began acting out a very funny conversation how it could have happened with some of the lecturers and professors of the Cherryton Highschool. It was kinda silly to be totally honest, but I could understand why so many people were laughing. Some of them where pretty drunken already as well, but the mood was good nevertheless.
Haru and I were looking for Legoshi in the back at first, because we initially believed he would be found there, but we had no success with that for now. So instead of walking through the crowd and annoying everybody, we decided to watch the show as well and search for him later.
"…Now what is that I see in the hallway" the mongoose on the stage said, who impersonated the notorious Housemother lady quite accurately, "Those feisty students again, listening to loud music and acting out Shakespeare outside the theatre? That is not allowed! That will have serious concequences…"
"Oh Mercutio!" Juno acted out some lines I was pretty sure were from the Romeo and Juliet play Legoshi was in as well, "Have you seen Romeo the old dork?" she asked in an ironic way, "…did he fall off the balcony once again?"
The whole audience laughed about that already.
"What, Balcony!" the mongoose still acted out the housemother in the background, "There are no balconies here! This is a hallway! Students are not supposed to stand around here! This is going to have serious consequences!"
I too slipped a little giggle there. We weren´t the only ones who had a discussion like that with the housemother. Judging by the laughter from everyone, most of them found that familiar.
"…I don´t know, Juliet!" Aoba the eagle told her with a shrug of his shoulders, "He was here just a minute ago, I think he…maybe he drank until he passed out again because of that annoying mongoo…mandrill in the hallway…you know…that talking obstacle that won´t ever shut up?"
"Come on, Mercutio!" Juliet told him, "She´s really not that bad, is she?"
"Is she not?" he asked back ironically, "Tell me, Juliet, is she not annoying?"
"It´s past midnight and one of the students is missing!" the mongoose playing the housemother now yelled loudly, dogmatically resting his arms on his hips, and that just seemed so familiar as well, "You better make sure he gets into his dorm or there will be serious consequences!"
While the audience was laughing once again, I suddenly spotted him, finally. Legoshi was in the first row right next to the stage, not in the back. And I believed I knew why. Since he was part of the Romeo and Juliet performance as well, I was pretty sure there was a reason why he was standing there right now.
"There he is" I pointed out for Haru, "You see him? Right in front of the stage?"
She nodded silently but kept on watching the stage-play with great interest.
The other students still where laughing about every little joke of the performance, but the big finale still seemed to be coming.
"Tybalt" Juno asked Bill the tiger, still being in her role of Juliet, "I know he is a Montague and he´s not one of your ´dudes´, but have you seen Romeo lately? It´s really urgent you know?"
"Pah!" Tybalt told her, acting like he was seriously mad about right now, "The bastard threw a blue shell at me in the last round! Kicked him off the balcony therefore…"
"What?" Juliet asked in shock, while the audience was laughing very loudly once again.
"He´s earned it" Tybalt grumbled, "Stupid Montague!"
I had to confess that I really enjoyed this at this point. This was just funny as hell and a pretty neat promotion for their premiere of the actual piece. I was hyped for it now. They were so lively and likeable on stage.
"The only one kicking students of the balconies is me!" the mongoose playing the housemother yelled, "And I will if you don't hurry up and get your roommate back into his dorm!"
"Chill out you hyperactive clown! Go get yourself some Valerian or something!" the Tiger told him dryly but with an ironic little smirk, "He´s gonna be fine! And he´ll be kissing your ass once again soon anyway, won´t he?"
"That´s no way to talk to an accepted authority!" the mangoose yelled back, hardly holding back his laughter as well, before suddenly kicking him off the edge of the stage.
A little shock went through the rows at first, but they clearly knew what they were doing, because Bill landed safely on the ground and remained stable on his feet with a re-assuring little grin.
"Hey!" Juliet yelled at him now, being the only one illuminated all over sudden, "Calm down, he was just trying to point out that you´re an annoying little…"
In that very moment, the mongoose threw her off the stage as well with a big push and the spotlight followed her very closely.
"Ahhh!" she yelled dramatically.
They acted this out so well. Now we all knew exactly why she has been standing exactly there on the stage all this time. When she fell off the edge with that little yelp, she fell onto nobody else than Legoshi, who reacted just in time and almost failed to catch her before she ended up on the floor. But he just managed to do it and remained stable while holding her in his strong arms.
A really big applause broke loose for that just a moment later.
After they had calmed down again, it took him a little while to react, but what he did then perfectly rounded up that climax of the show. He just kept on surprising me today.
"Juliet!" he panted with a little smile, "My love! What happened?"
"Romeo!" Juno panted, "The housemother kicked me off the balcony!" she told him, putting her arms around his neck while he still held her in his arms.
"Oh…I thought Tybalt lost in Mario Kart again" he chuckled.
While everybody was laughing tears around them, he brought her back towards the stage and put her back onto her feet carefully.
Juno then reached out her paw for him and pulled him up onto the little platform as well. A short moment of silence appeared, Bill had climbed onto the stage again as well in the meanwhile, and then they brought it to an epic finale.
"Oh Romeo!" Juno whispered, "I´ll make sure we finally get a railing for that balcony! We have to prevent those Hazards from happening! We´ll get ourselves killed one day!"
Just a few of the other students understood that pun sadly, but I liked it nevertheless.
"Oh Juliet" Legoshi sighed, "That´s a great idea! You´re right, that happens far too often!"
There still were just the two wolves in the spotlight right now.
"Oh Romeo" Juno said once again, "I´m so happy you´re alright!"
And with that she kissed him right on the mouth. In front of all these people. And I wasn´t even too sure if it still was just acting, because Legoshi seemed to be genuinely into it at the moment. They just stood there, arm in arm, and kissed each other, accompanied by a lot of excited applause and screaming. There was no point in denying it, that looked very believable. They already delivered a very good performance of their roles.
"What are you doing?!" the mongoose asked loudly, still staying in his over-exaggerated role as the dorm-keeper, "A male and a female student kissing in the hallway? This is not allowed! This is going to have serious con-"
In that very moment, Legoshi released Juno quickly, turned towards the mongoose, picked him up with a savage little grin and tossed him right into the arms of the crowd below him. Luckily for the him, some other quite strong mammals stood right next to the stage and caught him easily, before an even louder applause broke loose.
"Just what was going on with him? Since when was he so self-confident? He transformed into a real beast on stage all over sudden!"
I felt good for him on one hand, he finally stopped hiding himself, but I also felt horrible for Haru right now. It seemed like she had been expecting that intense kiss just as much as me right now, which was not at all of course.
That became even more clear, when she suddenly grabbed me by my wrists and pulled me away from the crowd with her.
I felt so bad for her right now. I wasn't quite sure why Legoshi was doing this in front of half the school, maybe he really was just good at acting or maybe he was a little drunken, but I could understand how hard that must have been for her to watch right now. I had the impression that she had been pretty serious with him as well.
We just straight away left the party and headed into the darkness. Not knowing what to do, I just stayed by her side silently. We stopped at a nearby bench, being well out of reach from anybody, and then she finally found her voice again.
"I…I don't understand" she said with a deep sigh, "…he seemed so annoyed by her…why is he doing that all over sudden?"
"Yeah…" I agreed with a little sigh, "…I don´t understand it either…he´s full of mysteries sometimes…"
"He looked quite confident on the stage…" she whispered, "…even that I never expected…"
POV Legoshi
I couldn´t deny it. I felt pretty cool right now. Especially considering that I wasn´t prepared for for all this. I surely would have tried to avoid it if I had known about it, but I figured the others just expected that from me as well. But now that they pushed me into it, I really was glad it happened. Now I knew I really was accepted as a lead role actor and the people where actually interested to see our performance.
They kept cheering for us for quite a while, even more after they carried Kai back to the stage and put him back onto his feet. He wasn´t harmed or anything and he still seemed in a great spirit when we took another quick bow together and enjoyed the applause that hailed down on us.
Juno still had her arms around my shoulders and I still didn´t mind about it. Everything just felt like it should right now. Her smell, her touch, this whole situation being on stage with the other actors, it just was a great feeling, I couldn´t deny it.
"Thank you!" Bill told the audience over the microphone loudly, "Glad you´ve enjoyed it! Let´s raise a glass to Romeo and Juliet and have an awesome night everybody! See you at the premiere!"
It got really loud for us once again. Bill went to the edge of the stage quickly, got handed a tray with filled glasses from somebody and then started giving them out to all the actors on the stage.
When everybody had one, he tossed the empty tray behind him and raised his glass into the air. We raised our glasses as well, clinked them with each other and let the sweet cider run down our throats. Everybody in the audience who had a drink did the same and that felt really special too. Then the DJ faded in a beat once again and the whole crowd got into motion again.
That all was such a surreal experience for me. For the first time ever, I really felt like I was included in something. I was not just standing on the side, I was right in the middle. I´ve never been in the middle of anything, but I liked it somehow, I would lie if I said I wasn´t enjoying it.
"Wow" Bill´s girlfriend Samantha greeted us once again a few minutes later. We had climbed off the stage in the meanwhile and just stood in little groups with the other students, "…that was really good, I wasn´t expecting that! And Damn you two look good together!" she told us excitedly.
"Thank you!" Juno answered with a proud little giggle.
"Gotta say" Kai agreed while joining our little circle, "That went better than expected…"
"Yeah…" I told him with a little smile, "…Sorry for tossing you off the stage by the way. Thought it fit the moment…"
He gave me a pretty solid punch into my shoulder with an ironic grin, but he wasn´t actually mad about it at all I believed. And even if he was, I figured he had earned it anyway.
"…at least they caught me" he chuckled, "And I have to admit: it did work pretty well there."
"Not a bad housemother impression I must say" Samantha told him in amusement, "Pretty accurate…"
"Thank you" Kai told her contentedly, "Let´s hope she never finds out about that…" he added with a guilty little grin.
"That can be accomplished for a small fee" Samantha ironically told him with an evil smirk.
"Oh really, can it?" Kai asked back, "How nice of you…"
"Hey guys!" Bill suddenly greeted while joining us excitedly, "That was great, wasn´t it?"
We all nodded with happy smiles.
"Hey Legoshi" he said jokingly, "We really should play a round of Mario Kart someday, shouldn´t we?"
I nodded in agreement, although we both knew that would probably never happen.
"As long as you two don't get into a fight because of it…" his girlfriend picked up that old topic once again.
"Oh, we would never get into a fight because of anything" Bill told her with a little grin, "…except when we´re in a staged choreography…right Leg-"
"Right! Legoshi" Juno giggled, totally ignoring what Bill said, "Didn't you say you wanted to show us your back?"
"Legoshi said he was bleeding last time" Samantha told her boyfriend with a serious expression, but I couldn´t quite tell if she was being ironic or not. She genuinely seemed a little mad about that. I could see on Bill´s face that he´d rather get rid of that topic as well as quickly as possible.
"Just a little" I waved it off once again nevertheless, "It´s not too bad really!"
"Yeah" he agreed, "I really just grabbed his back a little too firmly."
"Sure you did…" his girlfriend told him in a snappy way. It still didn't seem like she believed us. It didn´t seem like that at all.
"He´s fine!" Bill told her, being slightly annoyed as well now, "Just look at him, 160 lbs. of strong bones and muscles. He doesn´t seem terribly affected by it right now, does he?! I bet he doesn´t even feel it anymore!"
"I really don't" I immediately supported what he said, hoping it would defuse the suddenly very intense situation a little.
I took another deep breath and that intoxicating smell from Juno instantly relaxed me once again.
"I know you´re fine" the tigress said after a long sigh, "I can see that…"
"So what is the problem?" Bill wanted to know.
"The problem is that you get into fights all the time!" she snapped at him, "And I still think it´s because you drug yourself with-"
In that very moment Bill made her stop talking by kissing her mouth and hugging her very tightly.
"Very interesting. So I´m not the only one who found out about this."
She tried to fight his grip it for a moment, but he didn´t release her that easily anymore and it seemed to be working out quite effectively. Soon later she seemed to have forgotten what she was mad about it.
"…Right…" Aoba chuckled, who just had joined us with a fresh glass of cider in his hands, "That seems to be very convenient…"
"Doesn´t it?" Juno chuckled light-heartedly, "That´s one way to solve an argument…"
"Talking about that" Aoba grinned at Juno and I, "That was just fantastic on stage! Just talked to some other students, they´re all hyped for our performance now!"
"R-really?" I asked, actually glad about hearing that.
"You may still not believe it" he told me with a little wink, "But you actually have quite the presence on stage. And you really did well right now, I wasn´t such a big fan of the idea at first to be honest…but you reacted just in the right way!"
"Thanks" I told him with a little smile.
"Cheers!" he said with a chummy little smirk, raising his glass and patting my shoulders shortly. Then he spotted somebody else he wanted to talk to and excused himself from us with another little wink.
"See?" Juno giggled, "Told you people would like it."
"Yeah…" I agreed, looking just at her now for the first time since we got off the stage.
All the others around us were busy with something else right now and it was just the two of us keeping each other company right now. She really looked good tonight. And she looked happy.
I really began wondering now why I never even considered it. She genuinely seemed to like me. I could probably do anything I want with her and she would be into it. And there was no risk that I might try to eat her. It really got me thinking all over sudden. "Could it hurt to try and gain some new experiences?"
Since tonight turned pretty much all my expectations upside down, I seriously wondered what else would happen if it went on like that.
"Would you dance with me, Legoshi?" Juno asked me with a little smile, elegantly offering me her paws.
I quickly looked at the half-filled glass I still held in my hand, then I simply emptied it and put it onto one of the tables that stood not too far away from us.
Then I took her paw and nodded with a little smile. "There was nothing wrong about a little dance, right?"
POV Jack
I had no idea where she wanted to bring me all over sudden, but I followed her nevertheless. I just wanted to be there for her. And I didn´t know what else to do with myself either.
We went through the otherwise empty corridors, up the staircase and then through a door I´ve never really noticed before. It was the entrance to the gardening-club as it turned out, and I was in for a real surprise when we entered it. Although it was quite dark by now, it looked really well taken care of.
"W-what are we doing here?" I asked her, quickly getting more nervous as she unlocked the sliding glass-door to the little shed we had arrived at.
I took a look around and noticed the little bed that stood in one of the corners.
"Well…" she said lowly, "We´re pretty much alone here…"
I was pretty sure there was not a chance that I could have understood her wrong, and exactly that was what really confused me.
"Wait…" I whispered, "…you brought me here because…?"
"You were nice to me all evening…" she told me softly, patting down onto the matrass, signalizing to take a seat beside her, "…you didn´t leave me hanging at the party…and I would have sex with you right now if you wanted to…"
"W-what?" I asked, truly being shocked now she said it so plainly, "Why would you…why do you do that?"
"I could really need it as well right now to be honest…"
I just couldn´t believe what I just heard. I was kinda curious to be honest "...but...was that normal for her?"
"But…but Legoshi is my best friend, I would never do that to him."
"Well, he did it to me, didn´t he?" she asked back.
"I…I…" I stuttered, not knowing how to explain it, "I…I don't know what´s gotten into him tonight…" I then told her, "…but I know one thing for sure: Legoshi loves you! He always talks about you. And he always tells me how annoying he finds Juno because she´s so attached to him!"
"So why did he kiss her back then?" she asked dogmatically, "Why did he look like he really was enjoying it?"
"I…I don't know…maybe they really were just acting…they´re playing Romeo and Juliet after all…"
That left her thinking for a moment. Her shoulders dropped even a little more now.
"…I…I know they´re acting" she sighed, resting her hands on her knees, "…but it seemed so real to me…"
"It really did…" I agreed, "…but I really don't think he meant it like that…"
She nodded and we just remained sitting on the tiny little bed in her gardening hut.
"Maybe I really just overreacted…" she stated a minute later, "Sorry I pushed you like that. I tent to get easily stressed make stupid decisions because of something like that…"
I nodded understandingly and looked her in the eyes with a little smile.
"Thanks for not turning away from me" she told me, patting my head and ears carefully.
"That´s who I am" I sighed with a little smile, "Always there for the lovesick…"
When I said that she suddenly put one of her paws onto my knees and gave me a quick little kiss on the cheek.
"You keep hanging in there" she told me with a warm little smile, "You´re a generous boy and deserve a really nice girl to take care of you, and you will find one someday. I´m really sure of it."
I was not quite sure why, because I´ve heard this quite a lot before, but when she said it I actually believed her.
"Thanks" I told her with a tired little chuckle.
My energy was really at a low level at this point, it really had turned into an eventful evening, but I was glad I didn´t do anything stupid right now. I was a little curious when she first said it, I couldn´t deny it. I may even have considered it for a tiny little moment. But I made the right decision in the end. Now I really hoped that Legoshi wouldn't do anything stupid either.
POV Aoba
"Dude…" I told him, as he joined me sitting on the stairs outside the hall, finding me here just by chance as it seemed, "What the hell is going on with Legoshi tonight? And what´s going on with you, where have you been?"
"Just had a little argument with Sam" he waved it off with a tired little sigh, "Had to get her away from the party for a while. You know how she gets really angry very quickly sometimes…"
I nodded understandingly. I knew about that problem just too well from personal experiences.
"Not gonna lie, you look kinda done for tonight man…" I told him then.
"We ended up having pretty rough sex…" he explained, "And she thought it was funny to use her claws on my back so I would notice what that's like…"
"What, really?" I asked with a little chuckle.
"Not really a turn on, let me tell you. She wasn´t drawing any blood, but it hurt like hell and surely wasn´t pleasant either…"
I nodded with a painful expression. The thought of that wouldn't turn me on either.
"Anyway" he changed the topic, waving it off once more, "Went quite well our little show, didn´t it?"
"I expected a lot of things to happen…" I agreed, "…but not what Legoshi did tonight. That really was unexpected. What the hell happened to him?"
He hesitated for a moment instead of just shrugging his shoulders, which I didn´t really expect either.
"Juno has a tiny drop of rabbit-blood in her perfume" he confessed.
"What?!"
"I didn´t expect it to work that well either, but…"
"Dude! Bill!" I told him, rattling his shoulder, "Are you out of your mind?"
"It worked out, didn´t it?" he asked back, "People are pumped for our performance. Even without Louis in the lead role."
"I…I mean…" I stuttered, totally baffled he actually did that, "Yeah it worked out…Legoshi even kissed her on stage…but…"
"Don't tell me those two don't match perfectly! Not just in their roles…"
"I…yeah…they do, but…"
I noticed how Bill moved his shoulder-blades with an uncomfortable expression once again. It seemed like his back still hurt quite a lot because of his girlfriend´s claws.
"…do you think it´s getting real between them?" I asked him then.
"What, Romeo and Juliet?" he asked, before affirming that question with a little nod, "Yes, it will. Just brought them two fresh glasses of cider, split a Viagra-pill between the two glasses, crunched it really finely."
When I heard that, I nearly spilled some of the cider I still held in my own hands. "This was really getting too far now."
"Wha…what?! Bill, are you serious?!"
"Come on!" he said, rubbing over his back again, "Just helping out here..."
I just remained shaking my head about all this. I knew he went a little over the top sometimes, but that I really didn´t expect. "Just what was driving him to do all this?"
Side by side, we silently sat on the stair for a couple of moments and just let the fresh night air cross our fur and feathers.
"Where the hell did you get Viagra from?" I asked him after a short moment of silence between us, "…dude, you´re 18, what do you need Viagra for?"
"Stole it from my parents once" he grinned, shaking his head a little "I don´t need Viagra you dick."
I just shook my head in disbelief but with a little grin. It still wouldn´t get into my head what he wanted to accomplish with all this.
"This will be interesting in any case…" I sighed after another little moment of silence, "…this will get ugly when Legoshi finds out about the rabbit-blood, let me tell you. He´s just not in love with Juno, I´ve been telling you all along."
"Yes he is" he still tried avoiding the simple truth with a little sigh, "…you´ll see, he just needed a push in the right direction."
Damn what a cheap cliffhanger. Sorry about that. Just had to end the chapter here, it had gotten really long already.
Anyway, I´d be glad to know about your honest opinions/criticisms! Let me know what you think.
See you soon for more 😉
Have a great day and stay safe!
~furr