Alright, here we go, finally. This chapter was a shit ton of work, so I hope you enjoy it a little :)
Big thanks to the boys on Discord (Furrwolf#8163; add me as I friend and I´ll personally invite you to the server!) for the inspiration and to MrShurukan and TheSeasalty for helping me with the correction!
Have fun!
Beastars – Into the spotlight
Chapter 17 – Everyone has a secret
POV Kai
This new play Sanu rehearsed with us was just insanity. Almost every line he wanted to be choreographed perfectly, there was music to almost every scene, sometimes loud and powerful, sometimes dark and scary and sometimes just quietly in the background to loosen things up. The spotted hyena and his band really had to step up to the tasks they were given, but so had the actors. We gave it our all and made steady progress, but Sanu was really hard to impress in the meanwhile. Even Juno and Aoba really struggled here. It almost seemed like he had forgotten this was a school drama-club and not a professional theatre. He was obsessed with little details.
I didn´t get a whole lot of lines once again, but at least I got a lot of stage-time since my character was sneaking around in the background as a reoccurring joke most of the time. But I was in the main choreographies as well, and although I was really proud of that, practicing those was really exhausting.
"Damn…" Aoba panted, as we all met up in a circle to take a few minutes, "…and I thought that pull-ups-thing was exhausting…"
"No kidding…" Juno agreed, panting heavily as well, "…I don't know how we´re supposed to speak at that pace…"
"We could play that beat a little slower if you want" the hyena guy with the guitar suggested, "…if that makes it easier for you…"
"Maybe a little…" Aoba agreed with a little nod, "…at least until we get the movements right."
"Legoshi got it right…" Sheila chuckled, stating the obvious in amusement.
"This guy must have a secret…" Tao muttered, stretching his sore muscles, "…he´s just straight up nailing everything you throw at him!"
"I can tell you his secret…" Sheila smiled, getting looked at from all directions therefore, "…he´s more relaxed about it than all of you guys. And he´s not getting distracted all the time… ….and I get the feeling that some of you do…" she explained, before she now added with an amused little grin, "…especially by looking at him."
"Where is he by the way?" Juno asked, interrupting her with that kinda awkwardly. I had a feeling she didn´t like hearing that too much either.
"He just went into the hallway…" Mina the giraffe mentioned, "…somebody was waiting there for him and it seemed to be important."
Just in the moment she said that, the tall wolf suddenly came back onto the stage, being in quite a hurry as it seemed.
"I have to go!" he announced, looking a little stressed all over sudden, "I´m sorry, guys!"
"W-what?" Juno asked, "…but we need to practice the moonlight-dance scene once more today! I need you for that! I can´t practice that alone!"
Legoshi just shook his head a little, scratching his head while searching for a quick solution. He looked at the entire actor´s team for a moment, then his gaze focused directly on me for some reason.
"Kai can help you" he then suggested without further ado, "…he´s watched us practice that scene a couple of times before, right?"
The entire ensemble just kept staring at the wolf in pure disbelief, me included.
Aoba that dick couldn´t even manage to hide a chuckled little caught to himself as he heard that.
"What?!" I asked him in shock, as he really seemed to be serious about it.
"Come on…" he told me with a little wink, "…you don't have to do it just in boxers. Just help her with the lines and the choreography. Take your textbook if you don't know all of them."
"Dude!" I stopped him once again, as he already wanted to head out of the room again, "You´re lifting her up in the air in that part! Are you nuts?"
"I…I really need to go" he told us distinctively, "I´m sure you´ll figure something out. I count on you!"
We all just kept shaking our heads in slight disbelief, but he was not to be stopped anymore.
"Have a nice weekend everybody!" he said, as he quickly headed off the stage again. Then he was gone and they all remained staring at me, naturally.
I tried to stay cool about my situation, but my mind was completely upside down right now.
"He wants me to practice and get close to Juno?! He wants that?! Are you freaking serious?! What else could be more important for him than practicing a dance with a hot girl like her?"
Whatever the reason was, it seemed to be his final decision. He just left us to it.
I was so nervous right now I almost peed myself a little bit. Aoba smirking in amusement was not making things any better. I couldn´t even be mad at him right now, because he wasn´t wrong about it. I was in love with her, and everybody would know about it if I yelled at him.
"Uhm…" I said nervously, "…I mean…I do know the lines…but it´s up to you if you…"
In that very moment Sanu joined us from his office again.
"Okay everybody!" he announced loudly, "…we´ll do that last scene one more time, then we´ll try the moonlight-chase once again. Juno, the art-department is finished with your costume for that scene by the way, you could try it on today if you want..."
She just nodded with a little sigh.
"Legoshi could do it in his real costume as well this time…" he mentioned, looking around the room for him, "Legoshi?"
"He just left for some reason" Juno told him dryly, "…don't ask me what he´s up to again."
"What?" he asked in slight disbelief, "He can´t just skip practice whenever he feels like it! Where did he go?"
"There was a white furred vixen asking for him in the hallway" Mina explained what, "She seemed very serious. I told Legoshi about it and now he´s gone…"
"A white furred vixen?" Juno asked lowly.
The giraffe just nodded a little.
"You know something about that, Juno?" Aoba wanted to know.
She nodded slightly. "I think I heard about her when we were at that TV studio for that Beastars-voting."
"This could be something serious then…" Aoba said, "…he is a Beastar after all."
"But what are we supposed to do now?" Sanu asked, sounding slightly hysterical once again because everything seemed to be going wrong once again, "…we can´t practice that scene without him!"
"Kai knows his lines…and he´s not part of that scene…" Juno quickly told him to calm him down, and we all, me included, just stared in pure disbelief at her now because she actually really considered that, "…he can help me if he wants to."
"I…uhm…" I stuttered while she smiled at me with a motivating little smirk, "…sure!"
Sanu just looked at us skeptically, obviously knowing about the physical problems with that as well.
"We´re way behind schedule already" Juno told him, "We can´t miss out on that practice!"
Then he nodded with a little sigh. "Okay, we´ll try that. Legoshi did well in that scene last time anyway, he should be able to make that up…"
Juno nodded agreeingly and then slowly got up on her feet again. The others still were a little puzzled about this, but Aoba got back up onto his feet as well and tried motivating us to do the same.
"Let´s give it a shot!" the bold eagle chuckled, suddenly rather enthusiastic once again, "No time to lose! We have to earn ourselves that weekend!"
I guessed he was so pumped about it right now because he wanted to see me struggle and found that amusing, but that actually motivated me even more now. I wanted to prove myself and I wanted to prove him wrong.
"I can do this! Fuck you, Aoba! I´m gonna dance with this girl and I´m gonna be the star today!"
POV Legoshi
"This better be something important…" I told her in slight annoyance, as I followed her across the park in front of the school.
She was dressed as fancy as always, having that determined yet restrained pace to her walk. The students around all looked at us of course, even more because I was still in my drama-club outfit, but as I was a Beastar following someone looking as serious as she did, it was kinda expected they would be staring.
"I wouldn´t interrupt your acting-career if it wasn´t important…" she told me dryly, not sounding like she was in the best of moods right now either, "…come on, the sooner we get this over with, the better."
"Where are we going?"
"To your flat. We need your car and you should take a quick shower maybe."
"Oh of course! Of course we need to get into my flat today! Sure, come to my drama-club practice unannounced and just drag me to my flat without asking first! Are you freaking serious?!"
This really pissed me off right now.
"Where are we going exactly?" I asked her once again, trying to stay calm about it, "…and how important is that shower?"
"Some ´associates´ of ours invited you to a meeting" she kept being as vague as ever, "…and you really shouldn´t arrive there in that outfit."
"Right…" I just sighed, still shaking my head in slight disbelief, just before I pressed the doorbell to my flat as we arrived at the main entrance.
"Don't you have the keys with you?" she asked impatiently, already pushing me aside.
She had the keys to my flat as well, apparently, but before she had found the right one on her chain, Jack had already found the button for the connection to the entrance.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Hey Jack" I sighed, "It Legoshi. I´m really sorry to bother you guys, but it´s urgent. Could you let me in please, I need my car-keys and the bathroom for a minute…"
"Uhm…" he said nervously, "…this is not the best timing…are you alone?"
I took a quick look at Skye, then I affirmed: "…yeah, it´s just me, don't worry."
"Okay…" he said, and then he opened the door with the buzzer.
"I guess I wait out here then?" Skye asked with a little sigh.
I just nodded very slow and insistently, then I let the door fall into its lock behind me.
"Legoshi!" Jack greeted me, only having a towel wrapped around his waist, "Something wrong?"
"I don't know…" I sighed with a lazy shrug of my shoulders, "…sorry for disturbing you."
"Hey, it´s not too bad, don't worry…" he said, following me through the hallway towards my bedroom.
"Legoshi?" Anita asked from the bathroom.
"Hey! …yeah, it´s me" I yelled back, searching my closet for one of the noble black suits I´ve never worn so far.
"What a nice surprise…" she giggled.
"Is it a problem if I take a quick shower?" I asked her, "I promise I´ll be done in a minute…"
"Not at all…" she chuckled, "…this is your flat after all…"
I hadn´t really expected anything different from her, but her saying that just brought me to another Idea.
As Jack was on his way back to the bathroom already, I quickly got down to the safe on the bottom of my dresser and entered the combination. I never thought I would ever be touching any of that money, but today I somehow figured it might couldn´t hurt. That trick saved me once already.
I grabbed myself two of the many 10000-yen notes and put them into one of the fancy shoes the drawer provided in my size.
Then I went into the bathroom.
POV Jack
Although I was a little curious why he was done with his drama-club practice so early today, I didn´t want to bother him about that and just got back into the warm whirlpool again.
Anita and I watched as the grey wolf got out of his red and white drama-club outfit, tossed it aside and then hurried to get into the shower cabin.
While he had the water running, I pulled Anita into my lap again and put my arms around her gently. She rested her pretty head on my shoulder and closed her eyes with a happy little smirk.
This relaxing afternoon in the hot-tub was a real treat after that long week of school. Since the christmas-holidays would start in a week from now, the teachers really gave us a lot to learn for upcoming tests they all wanted to write next week. Those were tough times for all of us, but how Legoshi also managed to rock the drama-club and also attend his Beastar-stuff was a total mystery to us. I just hoped he wouldn´t collapse anytime soon.
When he got out of the shower, he surely looked a little more refreshed than before, but it still seemed like something was not quite as it should be. He seemed slightly nervous, his muscles were tense and shaking a little bit. But maybe that was from his practice, he always seemed quite exhausted after his last few practice-sessions.
"…what brings you here this early?" Anita asked now, as he started drying himself with one of the towels quickly. His now thinker winter-fur covered the scars on his back a little better in the meanwhile I just noticed, and then I noticed that I still couldn´t stop myself from staring whenever he was naked.
"I don't know" he sighed, "…some stupid meeting I have to be at. I didn´t want to skip practice because of this, but it seems important."
That apparently was all he was allowed to tell us though. And it seemed like we probably should change the topic a little.
It didn´t seem like he had a whole lot of time to chat right now anyway, as he was just focused on getting into his sleek business suit as quickly as possible.
I never thought it was possible for this guy to look even more handsome than normally, but that actually did it. With that appearance, if he would try to sell a lorry full of chocolate to me, I would probably buy it.
"Damn, Legoshi…" Anita chuckled, "…you´re looking fine in that. "
"Thank you…" he said with a little smile, just getting finished fixing all the buttons on his sleeves.
"…any particular reason for looking that fancy?"
"I have no idea…" he sighed once again, looking at himself in the mirror quickly, "…but it seems to be important."
"…wanna watch a movie with us later?" Anita now changed the topic, "…we wanted to ask Juno if she wants to come too, Jack and I would order some pizza tonight…"
"Sounds like fun…" he affirmed with a little nod, now heading out of the bathroom, "…I hope this won´t take too long anyway…"
"You´re a busy guy" I chuckled, "…they have to accept that."
He nodded once again with an exhausted little smirk, "See you later, guys…have a nice afternoon!"
"Later, handsome" Anita yelled after him.
"Later, Romeo" I added in amusement, "…take good care of yourself."
POV Aoba
Whatever the reason was Legoshi had to leave us this afternoon, the result of that was just hilarious. The little mongoose just couldn't believe his luck when Juno didn´t actually hesitate to practice that scene with him, and I clearly wasn´t the only one who noticed his excitement.
But he didn´t even do that badly, he surely knew the lines and the timing as well, and although physically he wasn´t in any reach of Legoshi, it worked out for her in the end.
I was a little surprised about Juno accepting that in the first place, but then I was shocked how close she actually let the Mongoose get to her.
The others tried their best not to constantly stare at them, I did it almost nonstop while circling in the air above the viewer-ranks. This was just too amusing to ignore.
I wasn't quite sure if anybody else noticed, but there actually was a bit of movement to be seen in his pants as he danced arm in arm with the pretty wolf girl.
I was beginning to ask myself if Legoshi actually knew about this already or if he just assumed that nobody would actually have the guts to try and get closer to a Beastar´s girlfriend anyway.
I always thought Juno would never even consider something like that, but she took her acting way more serious than that apparently.
Watching what was happening down there distracted me so much, I completely missed my cue in the musical pause the first time we rehearsed it. I messed up everybody´s flow and we had to start it all over again therefore.
"Sorry" I told them, as they all stared at me in slight annoyance of that little hiccup, "…it´s not that easy to time it right up there…"
"We´ll do it once again" Sanu told us nevertheless, not wanting to lose his good spirits, "…we already made good progress! Let´s keep that momentum!"
Everybody got back to their positions, the band started with their tune again and I prepared myself for the "majestic flight" once again. It wasn´t even that majestic, I just sailed in circles in front of the spotlights to create dramatic shadows on the stage. But it looked kinda cool, so I wasn´t too mad about not actually having lines in that scene.
Juno and Kai started over with their dance, the dance team synchronized their choreography with them when the first drum-beat dropped a moment later, and I got airborne once again just in the right time when the music suddenly became a little more gloomy and mysterious than before. Up in the air I could do whatever I wanted now, so this part was kind of relaxing for me anyway.
At first I tried concentrating on the music while this boring flight-exercise went on, then I found myself staring at the Mongoose again. He still wasn´t Legoshi, but he was trying hard to make it work nevertheless. And it looked kinda inspiring, I had to give him that.
And somehow, it looked like even Juno enjoyed this a little. She didn´t mind to smile back at him just like she always did with Legoshi, and she didn´t complain about anything either.
This was just too scuffed. I shook my head with an ironic little smile that nobody saw hopefully, then I decided to concentrate on the music and my flight route again. But just when I got my focus off the "main actors", I already crashed head first into the blue curtain that hovered high above the edge of the stage.
There just had been no time to react, and as I couldn't stabilize my flight anymore either, the only thing I could do was hold onto the curtain with my claws in order not to fall down crash onto the floor. Although it was mostly made from soft fabric, it still hurt a little and caused a mixture of headache and dizziness, so I really needed a few seconds to collect myself.
"Oh shit" I said lowly, as I noticed that I had distracted the entire ensemble and the band with that once again.
"Jesus, Aoba!" Sheila complained in slight annoyance, "…get it together, will you?"
"Sorry…" I told them, looking down towards them shamefully.
It was understandable they all were pretty annoyed in the meanwhile.
I carefully spread my wings and glided back down onto the stage floor now, still shaking my head a little bit. I could tell they all looked a little concerned about me at this point.
"I…I probably should give it a rest for today…" I told them lowly, "…I´m sorry… …not all that focused right now."
POV Skye
"…so why are we going onto the highway when the meeting is just on the edge of the city?" he wanted to know, taking a look at the time on the display in the middle of his dashboard.
"They put a tracker on the underside of my car" I explained, "…but they don't know we found it. So I gave my car to Fluffy and he´s going to lead them on a wrong trail."
"Who are ´they´ exactly?" the grey wolf asked, "…and why would they put a tracker on your car? What´s up with that?"
"The guys who invited you to this meeting. My boss was pretty sure they would have stopped us on the way, maybe even worse things than that…"
"What?!" he asked in shock, "And you´re telling me this now?!"
"You should be glad we noticed this at all!" I snapped at him, "…you know how much work it is for us to keep you out of trouble?"
"Out of trouble?" he asked, being really upset as well right now, "What do you mean out of trouble? I never went to the black-market or anything else!"
"Exactly" I told him dryly, trying to calm myself down a little, "…normally, Beastars immediately try to turn everything upside down. Those guys are expecting you to do the same, and the longer you keep them waiting, the more worried they get. Don't you understand? They probably think you´re still planning some sort attack on them…"
"What?" he said, still shaking his head in disbelief, "…you´re talking about she Shishigumi?"
At least that he got himself.
"Yes…" I affirmed with a deep sigh, "…and trust me, I really don't like this either. The whole thing was shady as hell right from the beginning, so I was hoping we could at least lower the number of their bodyguards a little by sending Boris out on that fake route with that tracker…"
He nodded understandingly, changing into the left lane now because our exit was coming up soon.
"So…they probably just invited us to screw us over…" Legoshi asked, and I was kinda surprised by his choice of words here. Even more because he probably wasn´t all that wrong about it.
"I don't know. But as the invitation sounded rather serious, we should prepare for something serious as well."
"Do you believe that?" he asked.
"I doubt they would try anything stupid once we´re in there. You are a Beastar after all, and a lot of important people know about your first meeting with the Shishigumi" I told him dryly.
"You think they are scared of me?"
I nodded distinctively "Yes, they are. And that´s actually a good thing…so please check if that Wolf that messed them up the first time is still in there somewhere. We probably need it today."
Reality seemed to hit him hard right now. He now finally seemed to understand how serious this was. I noticed how his body was tensing up as well, and that actually was what I had been waiting for.
"…I´m not too keen for this either, just to let you know…" I added, just as the lights in front of us turned green again, "…and neither is Boris. Our boss is acting pretty weird lately…"
He nodded once more slowly.
"What did they say this was about in their invitation?"
"Ten was talking about some sort of truce deal…that´s all I got to know."
"Truce deal? That sounds like some kind of gang war! What do I have to do with that?"
"I don't know, Legoshi" I sighed, "…ask them yourself."
POV Kai
I just couldn't believe this happened. Not even in the locker room after our practice session was over. I was arm in arm with her for almost an hour on stage and she wasn't totally disgusted by me.
We even got some real rhythm into the dance after a few tries and it just felt awesome in every way. I felt like the star of the entire group and I already wanted more of it. I still couldn´t understand how Legoshi could be so unbothered by all that.
"Hey Kai" Tao the black panther chuckled as he came back from the showers with a towel around his waist, "That was honestly not so bad!"
"Haha, thanks!" I told him gladly, "…didn´t think I could do that either."
"Still can´t believe Legoshi let you do that though…no offence..."
"I don't really understand that wolf either…" I grinned, "…but he´s definitely made the right choice I would say."
"Yeah, yeah…" he grinned, as I headed for the showers myself, "…little show off!"
I looked down my own body while the cold water was raining down on me, and I felt sexy. I was even more proud of my workout than usually and I also felt like I´ve earned all this today. Seeing myself like that boosted my self-esteem to a whole ´nother level once again.
Maybe that wolf was bigger and stronger than me, but he was not a better actor in my mind.
I dried myself with the towel I had taken with me, then I headed back to the lockers.
Most of the other male drama-club members had left already, just Aoba was sitting on the bench, searching for something in his script apparently. I remembered he was called to Sanu´s office right after the rehearsals, so that must be where he was just coming from.
"Everything alright?" I wanted to know, as Sanu really wasn´t looking all that contented with him earlier.
"What?" he asked in an un-concentrated way, "…oh…yeah…" he waved it off then, "…it´s all good."
"He be concerned you might crash into the curtain at the premiere as well?" I asked jokingly.
"No…" he said, shaking his head distinctively, "…flying is really not that difficult for me, I was just distracted is all."
"Haha, what got you so distracted?" I asked with a little bit of pride in my voice, "…didn´t think I would have the guts to do it?"
I really enjoyed this right now. This was at least a little bit of payback for all that bullshit he told me earlier.
"Honestly…" he confessed lowly, "…I really didn´t. But also: I didn´t expect Legoshi to ask you about something like that in the first place."
"Why wouldn´t he when there is nobody else?"
"Because she´s his girlfriend?" he asked rhetorically.
Just hearing that triggered me a little once again though. It just wasn´t like that.
"…he´s not in love with her, dude…" I told him, shaking my head a little, "…Just observe him when he´s practicing with her. She kisses him all the time, but he barely returns it…she always tries to get closer to him while the dances but he always keeps her on a little bit of a distance. I noticed the difference when I was dancing with her today…"
"I don't think it´s that easy…" he chuckled, shaking his head as well now while opening up his own locker, "You should be careful what you´re reading into this…"
"You´ll see…" I told him confidently, apparently really shocking him with that, "…sooner or later she´ll notice the truth about Legoshi. And then she´ll be mine."
Normal POV
The two lions that had waited for them in the underground garage didn´t say a single word when Legoshi and Skye got out of the car. They just signalized to follow them with a little wave and led them to a staircase.
Legoshi recognized this building. He was here before. He had been running up, and limping down these stairs once.
In front of a black double-door they all suddenly came to a halt and the lions signalized them to enter wordlessly.
They came into a meeting room with a long, oval-shaped table in the middle and at least ten chairs around it. As it was the middle of the afternoon in the meanwhile, the daylight slowly began fading already, and the dimmed lights above the table didn´t make the room much more comfortable either.
On the left side sat three more lions in black business suits, on the right side a red furred vixen with an eyepatch and two of her body-guards, both of them rather well-built bullmastiff dogs with equally fancy clothing. It all really seemed rather serious at first.
On the very other end of the table sat a red-deer in a green smoking. Like he was obliged to do with his good etiquette, he stood up as the new guests arrived.
"I´m glad you made it" he greeted them firmly.
"It´s about time…" one of the lions added dryly, apparently not all that enthusiastically about this meeting either.
"I had a slight issue with my car" Skye commented sarcastically, "…I don't think we would have made it at all if Legoshi didn´t drive us."
As Louis recognized that they already knew what the real issue with Skye´s car was, he ignored that topic for now and took a seat at his end of the table once again.
Legoshi slowly took a seat on the very other end of the table, Skye on the other hand preferred to keep standing, although there was a free chair for her available. Louis examined the situation for a moment, then, just before he wanted to say something, he got interrupted by one of his men.
"So Legoshi…" one of the lions asked him with a stupid, provocative grin on his face, "…you enjoy being everyone´s favorite little puppy?"
The wolf just turned his gaze towards him slowly, but he didn´t really feel like he had to answer that question. That childish nonsense alone already made the whole thing feel like a giant waste of time to him. There was nothing important to be discussed here anyway, at least not to him.
"…no?" the lion continued, and Louis lowly sighed about this childish behavior as well in the meanwhile, but that didn´t stop him, "…you don't like waving your fans like a nice guy but then feasting at the black-market all night long?"
Legoshi just shook his head with another little sigh, then he focused on the red-deer again.
"That´s enough" Louis told the lion coldly, but he was completely ignored once more.
"See…" he told the one sitting right next to him, "…this wolf-kid is not a regular carnivore! I told you he hasn´t showed up there one single time!"
"What exactly is your problem with that?" the grey wolf now growled lowly, slowly but surely losing his patience, "…what the hell is all this bullshit here? Wasn´t somebody talking about a truce-deal or something like that? Is this crap what I left rehearsals for?"
"Oh look at the big actor now!" one of the other lions proclaimed cynically, "Wanting to make peace with the world…can someone bring him some a garden-salad and some vegan apple juice please?"
At this point, Legoshi had lost every last bit of interest for this meeting and just got up from his seat again. This was just a pointless waste of his time, and he wanted them to know it, so he just headed for the exit with a faked little yawn into his hand.
They all stared a little dumbfounded for a moment, but then Louis stopped him just in time.
"Legoshi, please sit down…" Louis told him, taking another cold look at his men, "…we weren't calling you here to mock you..."
Legoshi stopped in his tracks and looked at the deer, telling him to get to the point with a bored expression.
"Legoshi, please…" Ten told him as well, "…take a seat."
He wasn´t moving towards the door anymore, but he wasn´t going back to his seat either for now. The vixen with the eye patch was just as non-important to him as everyone else in the room. He didn't want to be here, he didn't want to have anything to do with whatever this was about.
"…last time you came to this place, you nearly ended this clan…" Louis reminded him, "…we wouldn't invite you here just for fun…"
Hearing that made the gray wolf´s ears shutter aggressively for a moment.
"No?" Legoshi asked sarcastically, becoming a little louder now, "…I kinda figured that from the tracker you put on Skye´s car. What was that about? You wanted us here unconscious and in handcuffs, didn't you?"
"Legoshi!" Skye told him low but distinctively, shaking her head a little.
"No! I don't care! Everyone here knows it! I´m sick of this shit!" he got even more aggressive now, "…I´ve never tried to mess with anyone since I got that stupid title! What is the point of this circus? Why am I here? Can somebody please speak up already?!"
"You´re being very rude, Legoshi" Ten told him coldly, "We´re guests here, act like one."
"What?!" he asked the vixen with the eyepatch in total disbelief, "Are you serious? I´m being rude?!"
"You can´t just walk away from all this that easily…" Louis now tried to explain, still trying to stay rather serious about this, "…you´ve done a lot of damage to-"
"He killed our boss because he wanted to save a worthless little rabbit-girl from getting eaten goddammit!" one of the Lions now yelled impatiently, slamming his fist onto the table.
"HEY!" Skye suddenly yelled at him quite aggressively and very loudly, surprising not only Legoshi with that, "Don't talk about her like that you sick bastard!"
Nobody knew where that sudden outburst from the vixen came from, but Legoshi really liked that she actually had the guts to speak up here.
"Skye!" Ten told her, shaking her head in pure disbelief. Neither her, nor Louis could believe what was happening right now, but it really was just the beginning.
Legoshi shook his head in pure disbelief as well now, but not for the same reasons as Ten or Louis. From Louis he had expected to support her as well on that matter. The way those lions talked about Haru just felt like a dagger to the heart to him. And Louis didn't even react to that when those lions talked about her like she just was some kind of snack.
The wolf just couldn´t help but clench his fists as well at this point. He really wanted to leave this place before he would completely lose control of himself.
"Sorry" Skye told her boss dryly, trying to calm herself down a little, "…but I know that girl personally and she doesn´t deserve to get talked about like that! She´s more than just a meal!"
Legoshi nodded to that slowly and with a serious-looking expression, and Louis noticed that he should probably change the topic as quickly as possible.
"Can we all calm down a little now?" the red-deer asked, "…that´s not what we´re here for."
"Get to the point, Louis" Legoshi sighed coldly, coming a little closer to the table again, "Why am I here? Certainly not because you missed me…?"
That topic about Haru wasn't really out of the way for Legoshi either, but he figured that there was no point in discussing with those cats. He just wanted to get this over with.
"Yeah! That´s it! He wanted to suck off your tiny wolf dick, that´s why you´re here!" the lion commented cynically and with a dirty grin, "…oh wait, you have that little slut of a bunny doing that for you already, I forgot!"
Before he could even start laughing about his own stupid joke, Legoshi had already sprinted around the table.
His rage-driven fist slammed into the side of the lion´s head and swiped him right off the chair with that. Nobody was able to stop him. The other two lions jumped off their chairs in total surprise, but before the one next to Legoshi could grab him, the wolf had punched him in the face as well. He stumbled into the third one and nearly swiped him off his feet as well with that.
Legoshi just ignored them though and went right towards Louis now. He warned them before, now he´s had enough.
The red deer experienced a really scary déjà vu a second later, as the wolf just grabbed him by the neck with his right arm, lifted him up and pushed him with his back against the big glass-panel behind him.
"L-Legoshi!" he gasped in panic, not really being able to speak because of the pressure on his neck, "…I…I don't-"
Just as the two lions tried to attack the wolf from behind and save their boss, Skye already came flying across the table and hit one of them right in the face with a skillful and very brutal kick. That lion ended up on the floor as well and one of his teeth right beside him.
The door to the meeting-room now got opened quickly and the two lions from earlier came into the room, unable to decide if they should put their guns at Legoshi or at Skye first, who just slammed both her fists into the face of the last conscious Shishigumi member at the table.
Legoshi noticed those guns being pointed at him, but he wasn´t really that scared of that though.
"I´m sick of this shit, Louis" Legoshi told him loud and distinctively, "That guy deserved to die, you should be aware of that! …I swear to god, if Haru gets involved in this just one more time…"
Legoshi grabbed his neck so tightly that Louis was on the edge of fainting at this point, but as the risk of hitting their boss was too high, they still couldn´t shoot at the wolf with their pistols.
Skye had knocked the other three lions completely unconscious in the meanwhile. The rage that drove her right now truly shocked the witnesses. Ten especially. Skye had been restrained and professional ever since she began working for her, but now she seemed completely out of control all over sudden. It almost looked like it was something personal.
Ten now quickly decided to do something before the situation would escalate completely.
Legoshi suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck, Skye felt that pain as well a second later, then they both collapsed in almost perfect unison.
"Motherfucker!" Louis yelled in considerable panic, holding onto his previously strangled neck with both his hands, "I knew we shouldn't have sent half the crew to wait for that stupid car!"
Ten slowly lowered her dart-pistol now, shaking her head in noticeable disappointment. She neither had expected Legoshi, nor Skye to get onto a rampage like that. She never even had considered that rabbit-girl a serious topic so far.
The two lions who had come into the room from the hallway now pointed their guns at her and her body-guards with shaky hands.
"I wonder who´s car you´re talking about…" the red vixen now asked her host coldly, who just had admitted to what he had tried denying earlier.
"I´m wonder how your agents can get so out of control" Louis kept on ranting nevertheless, "…why would she go that nuts about that rabbit girl?!"
"You tell me" she replied, "…I have never gotten to meet her. Have you?"
Not wanting to answer that either, Louis ignored it and quickly changed the topic once again.
"Who is she anyway?" he asked, pointing at the unconscious, white-furred vixen on the floor, "What does that wolf need that kind of protection for?"
As this discussion wouldn´t lead to anything productive anymore today, Ten now inhaled sharply, got off her chair once again and signalized the two canines besides her that it was time to leave with a circular motion of her hands.
"…I could be asking you the same thing about those three idiots on the other side of the table…" she told him while raising an eyebrow.
She quickly walked around the table to check on Legoshi and Skye, but they both just lay there on the floor besides the unconscious lions peacefully.
"Do not even think about it!" Louis told her coldly, pointing at the exit. His men still pointed their guns at her and her body-guards, and they didn´t look like they were in the mood for funny games either. Ten didn´t want to leave them laying here like that, but she wasn´t really given a choice right now.
"Be careful on messing with a Beastar…" she told him dryly, heading straight for the exit now, "…and be especially careful with my employees."
And with that she left the room and her body-guards closed the door behind them.
Louis and the two lions watched them leave very closely, and as they were out of eyesight, the red-deer slammed his fist onto the table angrily.
"Stupid idiots" he yelled, "…can´t shut their fucking mouth´s for one fucking second!"
He couldn't believe the stupidity of those lions sometimes.
He noticed that his body was still shaking in fear a little, but there was nothing to be done about those natural instincts. That wolf could have easily killed him right there.
"Get them away from here" he ordered, after he collected his thoughts for a moment, "Far away! We need some time to take precautions!" he said, rubbing his tired face, before he added, "But make sure they don't get hurt though. That black furred bastard of a horse will fuck us up if anything happens to grandpa´s favorite boy, you understand me?"
"What´s with our guys on the floor?" one of the remaining two lions wanted to know.
"I want those dumbasses out of my sight for now…" he muttered, still rubbing his hurting neck, "They have messed up enough already."
POV Miguno
"Hey Migu" Collot greeted me, as I finally came back into the dorm with my guitar on my back, "How was drama-practice?"
"It´s fun" I said with a little smile, "…but it´s also really exhausting for everybody."
"Oh I can believe that…" he chuckled, "…and you haven't even learned for the tests next week yet."
I leaned my guitar against the wall with a little nod and laid myself down onto my matrass tiredly. It seemed like the both of us were the only ones staying in the dorm tonight.
"Where have you left Legoshi?" Collot asked jokingly, "Didn´t you take care of him properly?"
"Well…I was…" I chuckled, "…before he suddenly rushed off and left us alone midway during the rehearsals."
"What, really?"
"Yeah, nobody knows where he went all over sudden. But I haven't seen him ever since."
"So they rehearsed without their big star?"
"Yeah…" I affirmed with a little nod, "…and it was kinda weird to be honest."
"Weird how?"
"Well…Legoshi short handedly picked this really self-conscious Mongoose guy to practice his dance with Juno for him…" I explained, "…and…although she was a little confused at first, she actually really wanted to practice it with him."
"And?" Collot asked with a shrug of his shoulders, "…what´s so bad about that?"
"Well…as you may can imagine, a lot of guys are in love with that she-wolf…and so is that Mongoose. I think it´s pretty obvious she knows that as well…" I explained, and then left a little pause, "…but she even let him get really close to her in one of the scenes. And he voluntarily got a lot closer to her there than Legoshi ever did…"
That still just left the sheepdog chuckling and shaking his head a little bit. It was pretty obvious he didn't take that too seriously. He knew it just as well as me that Legoshi was the number one for her.
I could understand his thinking, I thought like that too at first, but what I saw today truly had me worrying a little in the meanwhile.
"…well, I wasn´t the only one getting distracted by that…" I sighed, before adding with a little chuckle: "Aoba crashed into the curtain during his flight."
"What?!" he asked, actually turning away from his phone now, "Oh shit, is he alright?"
"He´s fine…" I waved it off, "…I´m more concerned about our wolf to be honest. Nobody knows where he went and nobody can reach him either."
POV Legoshi
When I woke up, my legs felt kinda cramped already. I was sitting on a cold, rough floor in a weird pose and my hands were tied together behind me. I felt something warm and kinda soft behind me. It felt like someone´s back and another tail that was wedged between us. They were a little smaller than me, and since it was the only thing that would make sense, I assumed it was Skye. Noticing that she moved around very slightly, I guessed she must have woken up before me already.
Apart from the warmth of her body I felt on my back, it was really cold in this room. The floor we were sitting on were just some really old wooden planks, the walls were dirty and every bit of furniture that was left was settled with dust. The one light-bulb in the room didn´t really make it very comfortable either, and since it was completely dark outside in the meanwhile, I noticed that there must have been one more working light in front of the entrance as well. It struck me as an old, unused farm-house or something like that, but that still didn´t give me any clue where we were and how we had gotten here.
Then I remembered the last thing that happened before I woke up here. I was at that stupid Shishigumi place and Skye went completely over-kill with beating up those lions.
But then I remembered it was for good reason what we did. I remembered everything that had happened and immediately got struck by my deeply anchored hatred for them once again.
"…Legoshi?" Skyes voice asked lowly, just after I tried freeing my hands without any success.
"Yeah…where are we?"
"Don't know… …were taken prisoners by a teenager and a middle-aged alcoholic."
I took a quick look around and then I noticed him. There was a young, slightly chubby lion sitting on a chair in the very other end of the room, looking into his phone with a bored expression.
He must have heard us talking though, because the now took a short look at me, put his phone away and then got of his chair slowly. The middle-aged alcoholic Skye talked about was nowhere in sight right now though.
The teenager now came closer towards us slowly, obviously trying hard to look as frightening as possible. At first I thought he tried to look intimidating just for fun or to prove himself, but then I noticed that he really was genuinely mad about something.
"So…you´re the piece of shit-wolf who killed my father?" the asked with a noticeable but still rather immature sounding growl in his voice.
He really looked rather adorable than intriguing, but he was serious about it nevertheless.
"Sorry?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders a little while not being entirely sure he meant that for real.
"You killed him!" he yelled loudly, punching me right in the face without a warning. I really hadn't expected it to escalate like that this quickly. I´ve been hit worse before, but it still was pretty uncomfortable in my current situation. The little guy made his point, he wasn't messing around with this.
He already prepared to take another swing at me, but I already was willing to talk this over with him and tell him whatever he wanted to hear.
"Listen…" I tried stopping him lowly, looking him right in the eyes, "…I never wanted to kill him! …but he was about to kill and eat my friend, so I had to fight him!" I explained, "…I ripped a piece out of his shoulder with my teeth and left him wounded on the floor when we escaped…but I never wanted to kill him!"
"That´s bullshit!" he yelled, punching me for a second time, "He had a gunshot wound in his
head!"
"What?!" I asked in surprise, as the pain from the impact quickly faded from my face again.
"He was shot to death!" the lion repeated loudly, almost on the verge of tears now, "Stop acting like you don't know about it! You killed him!"
That really left me kinda speechless for a moment. My face still hurt a little from the punches it received, but hearing that actually struck me by far worse than that.
"I…" I stuttered, "…I…promise…I promise you, I never had a real gun in my hand in my whole life!"
The lion now just stared at me in total disbelief, and he was not even alone with that: "What, really!?" Skye asked in surprise as well, apparently not having expected that either.
That left me a little puzzled as well now.
"…is…is that the story they spread?" I asked in slight disbelief, "… …I killed a clan-leader and Louis took over that clan?"
The little lion´s eyes widened a little now. That sudden realization of the certain truth shocked all three of us a little right now.
"…that is the story everybody knows…" Skye affirmed lowly, "…but now you´ve said it..."
"…but…but where did the gunshot come from then?" the young lion wanted to know from me, and now his voice was really high pitched because of rage and tears.
"I…I don't know…" I sighed, looking him right in the eyes.
He didn´t react for quite a long moment and just kept looking the floor with sad eyes.
"Hey…" I then asked him carefully, "…what is your name?"
"R-rokka."
I nodded slowly, now looking right at him again, "…okay, Rokka…" I said, "…I promise…to all that I love…I didn´t shoot your father. I fought him, I tried to save my friend from getting eaten and I injured him quite badly…but I swear to god I didn´t pull that trigger."
Now I noticed a single tear running down the lion´s face. It seemed like he believed me, and I seriously was glad about that. I could never have lied in that situation. Not to a kid.
"…that piece of shit deer!" he suddenly cursed lowly, "He killed him! I knew it! That´s why he´s leading a clan of lions although he´s an herbivore!"
"Shit…that really makes sense!" Skye agreed with that thought, nudging me a little, "…and that would explain why he´s so paranoid about everything."
"I´m gonna kill that son of a bitch!" Rokka now growled, making fists with his hands.
I now understood what Skye´s plan was, but I also was a little scared of that lion-kid´s sudden enthusiasm to take revenge on Louis. He didn´t seem like he was in a healthy state of mind right now.
"…you should be careful though..." I told him with a serious expression, "…if he didn´t care about killing your father, he probably wouldn´t care about killing you either…"
"Pah!" he yelled angrily, "He´s just a weak little deer!"
"It´s not that easy, Rokka…" Skye told him carefully, "…he´s got a whole clan behind him. And they probably won´t believe you when you tell them about it…"
At first I didn´t get why Skye now tried to slow him down like that, but then it made even more sense to me. She tried to make him ask us for help so he would free us.
We could tell how hard he was trying to get around that problem right now. It seemed to make sense to him that it wouldn´t be so easy to kill Louis all on his own. He thought about it for another moment, and then he really looked back at the two of us suddenly.
"…you guys gotta help me!" he said after thinking about it shortly, "…you hate him too, right?"
"Damn this vixen is so clever!"
It seemed like he was really annoyed by all that clan business he was being dragged into, and I could imagine he wasn´t getting a whole lot of attention or respect from those guys either. That must not be easy to deal with at his age.
"…it´s not that easy, sadly…" I told him carefully, but just in that moment Skye already pushed her elbow into my back again so I would stop talking.
"No matter if it´s easy or not!" she said, nudging me once more, "…you can count on my help! That deer has been getting on my nerves for quite a while as well!"
She played him just like a fiddle. She told that kid just what he wanted to hear, and I almost couldn´t believe how well that worked. She acted that out to perfection.
"…yeah…me too…" I agreed, using my best acting to seem like his friend, "…it´s about time he gets taught a lesson!"
Skye acted like she was checking our surroundings now, and Rokka seemed to be getting the hint slowly but surely.
I hadn't believed it was possible, but the teenage lion still nodded contentedly and actually began examining our surroundings as well quickly. He really was thinking about releasing us, and that was all Skye wanted to reach with her fake-promises.
He looked back at us now, and this seemed to be the best moment for her to ask the all-changing question: "What are they keeping us prisoners for anyway? We didn´t really hurt anyone…"
"I don't…I don´t know…" Rokka said lowly and with a shrug of his shoulders, "…probably because they´re all stupid…"
He took another quick look around and listened to our surroundings. There still was nobody else to be seen, and as we listened very closely, we heard somebody talking on phone outside the building.
"How many are there?" Skye asked boldly.
"It´s just me and my uncle..." he sighed, confirming what she told me earlier, "…we´ve been here for almost two hours already. He told me to tell him when you´re awake…"
To that he angrily shook his head once again, "…I never get anything important to do! They all think they´re better than me because they´re older! And they´re still listening to a fucking deer!"
"That´s adults for you…" Skye hit him with her sympathetic chuckle, bringing that game onto a whole new level, "…always thinking they´re smarter and more important than you…"
"I always get the blame for everything he messes up!" Rokka continued on his rant, "…even though he´s the one who´s always drinking alcohol and messes shit up!"
Skyes tactic still seemed to be working. The teenage lion balled his fists again in silent rage, and us agreeing with him to that by nodding understandingly seemed to convince him of this more and more. He seemed to be really set on it in the meanwhile, and Skye hadn't even hit him with her strongest card yet.
"Could you make it look like we got out by accident?" she asked him in her sweet, sympathetic voice, "…I don't want you to get the blame for it again!"
"I could tell him I went on the loo…" he suggested, pointing into a vague direction now, "…you should be fine if you sneak out the back…"
"You sure?" I asked, "I have no idea where we are…"
"I don't really know either" he whispered, shrugging his shoulders a little, "…but the next city is not too far away anyway. Maybe five minutes with a car or something like that."
We both nodded understandingly.
"You guys promise to help me kill him if we get the chance?"
Without a single moment of hesitation, Skye and I continued nodding to that question.
"We´ll take revenge for what he did…" she told him in a motivating way, "…you can be sure of that!"
Rokka nodded contentedly, then he went towards one of the broken windows and took a short peek outside. There still was a voice to be heard coming from quite a distance, pretty certainly still being in a phone call.
"Alright…" he said, coming back towards us. Then he really started untying the knot of the ropes that tied our wrists together very tight and painfully, "…let´s teach them a lesson! That´s what they get for treating me like that!"
He seemed really certain about this now, not to be stopped anymore, not even wanting to think about it again.
I thought it almost was unfair to mess with his hate-blurred mind like that.
As the ropes around our hands finally loosened up, Skye and I quickly tried to get up on our feet while not making too much noise, and it wasn´t that easy since we´ve been sitting in that cramped position for so long. But we managed it eventually and stretched our bodies for a moment. My wrists still hurt and I was a little dizzy from getting up so fast, but that didn´t stop me.
Without any hesitation, I took a careful step closer to the lion who just freed us and offered him a gentle, plutonic hug.
"I´m very sorry for what happened to your father. I´m gonna make sure Louis gets what he deserves!"
He nodded shortly, still not being in too much of a wholesome mood though. I wasn't either, but I really wanted to have sealed the deal completely before he changed his mind.
"Go!" he told us, "…he could come back to check on us any moment! I don't want to risk anything!"
We nodded quickly, then I followed Skye who already headed into the direction Rokka had pointed at earlier.
"Good luck" I told him for the farewell, waving him one last time.
Then we didn´t look back anymore. We found an exit at the porch on the backside of the house, took a quick look around, and as there was nobody in sight, we quick- but silently moved deeper into the forest.
Since it had a pretty uneven terrain here, we quickly were completely out of sight from the old farmhouse we had been held at and nobody could hear us anymore either.
We really did it. We were free. We had no idea where we were and what direction we should head to, but we got out of that unnerving situation.
Neither of us looked back for now. We just kept on heading further away from that place and followed the sound of the nearby road.
As the distance seemed appropriate finally, Skye suddenly stopped and leaned herself against one of the many trees for a short moment. Then she just began laughing in great delight and relief. At first I was a little confused, then I understood that she really was just happy we made it out of that stupid situation. She wasn´t all that emotionless after all, and I really enjoyed seeing her like that for once. Her smile was kinda contagious right now, and I wasn't trying to hide it either.
It filled me with an incredible happiness as I just realized what that smile of hers really meant to me: She wasn´t just a cold-hearted agent with a professional but sympathetic facade. She wasn't just a robot who was designed to appeal to everybody. She had her little weaknesses as well, she had feelings and fears, and it was just beautiful that she showed that me, finally.
She pointed towards the direction where the road must be with a motivating little motion of her head and we slowly got back on our way again.
"We should keep a little distance to that road in case they search for us…" she suggested, just as we were about to reach the rather new piece of asphalt before us.
"Are you sure we´re walking in the right direction at all?" I asked, since she seemed quite sure about her route somehow.
"At this time of night, people rather drive back into a city, not out of…" she explained her thinking, "…and I´ve been counting more cars going this way."
As that actually made sense to me, I nodded in agreement and didn´t question it any longer. There was no better alternative anyway.
I now finally remembered that I still had my phone in my pocket, but when I pulled it out I only found out that it didn´t have a single bar of signal here and was almost completely out of charge as well. It was pretty much useless.
"They left you your phone?" she asked in slight confusion.
"…yeah…and I have my keychain…" I sighed, equally puzzled about that, "…but my wallet is gone."
She quickly checked all her pockets once more, but she still didn't find anything.
"…they have taken everything but my clothes…" she sighed, "…even my phone and my keys."
"Why…why would they do that?" I wondered lowly, "…why would the not take everything from me as well?"
"Why would you think I know that?" she asked back with a tired little sigh, "…but what I can tell you for sure is that it´s not going to be easy to get home without any money… …if we even make it to the last train tonight…"
About that statement I just quietly examined her from above once again. I wasn't quite sure if she mentioned that because that was her biggest concern right now or if she knew about one of my secrets once again. It surprised me time and time again how many things she knew about me and my life, but it would really be over the top if she knew about that trick as well. She was dangerously smart, she had proven that before, but she just couldn't know about everything.
I already had considered telling her about my secret money reserve earlier, but now I decided to postpone that until later and see what else I could find out about her first.
She had shown some genuine emotions to me for the first time ever, and really enjoyed that. And there was more. Alone how she supported me when I attacked those lions earlier really surprised me. I was convinced she didn´t just do that to protect me. I was convinced there was a story to her side as well, and I wanted nothing else than finding out more about it.
I would tell her about the money under my feet soon enough, but right now it seemed like it would just spoil further conversations and stop her from opening up to me more. It was not like we were in any inherent need for it right now anyway, we still where in the middle of nowhere.
I hadn´t cared a whole lot for her as a person earlier, but that had changed now.
POV Louis
"What do you mean they got away?!" I yelled into the phone, "You useless idiots!"
"Relax…" the lion tried to make me believe in his typical, annoyed sounding fashion, "…they´re in the middle of nowhere, three miles from port city! They won´t get home tonight anyway, you can be sure of that…"
"I know that!" I told him harshly, "…my problem with that is that I´m not sure I can trust you with stuff like this anymore!"
"Trust me when I tell you that you wouldn't have stopped them either in our situation" he growled angrily.
"I wouldn´t even let it have come to that!" I told him coldly, "…that wolf could easily have killed me today!"
"No shit…" he grunted, "…tell that to the three men they knocked out! …and don't talk to me like that, you gave me that kid to work with!"
"Why did you leave him alone with them in the first place?!"
"They were tied together with their hands behind their backs! We were out here for hours with nothing to do! He went to take a shit and they escaped! I in the meanwhile was dealing with other, more important stuff on the phone-"
"Stop telling me excuses and tie a better knot next time!" I interrupted him with an annoyed sigh, "Search for them!"
"What do you think we´re doing?" he grunted.
I just shook my head with another little sigh, then I just ended the call. There was nothing more to say.
If only somebody else had been available for that. What a stupid piece-of-shit circumstance it was that I had to select those two for a job like that. That commonly-drunk idiot was by far too irresponsible for tasks like that, and that naive kid especially.
"Why did that kid even volunteer for this?" I asked myself, "Trying to kill Legoshi? Pah. Idiot."
POV Skye
"…that kid is really gullible…" I chuckled, as I was slowly but surely getting bored and in dear need for a conversation, "…I still can´t quite believe that really worked."
He looked kinda surprised about me confessing that at first, which I took as a complement, but then he nodded with a little smirk.
"We should stay careful about him though" he said, "…he might really try to do something dangerous. I just hope he doesn't get impatient…"
I just shrugged my shoulders a little about that. I didn´t even want to waste one more thought on that stupid idea right now. I agreed with that lion-kid´s plan so he would let us go in the end.
"…that was some pretty good acting from you by the way!" I told him instead, "You should do this professionally…"
"Yeah, yeah…" he sighed with a little smirk, "…thank you."
We just kept on walking side by side each other for another moment, then it was him who tried starting a conversation.
"Can I ask you something else?" he asked, taking another quick look at me.
"What would that be?" I asked back curiously.
"In the meeting earlier…" he began, "…you said you know Haru personally?"
I nodded with a little smirk. I knew he would ask me about that eventually.
"…you´re in love with her, aren't you?" I asked him boldly, surprising him once more with that.
"W-what?!" he stuttered.
"Does Juno know about it?" I continued asking with an amused chuckle.
He just looked at me with the literal expression of "where do you know that from?"
Although he really was quite mature for an eighteen-year-old guy, and although he really knew how to deal with his sudden fame, he couldn't hide that he was kinda bothered by this particular topic. I couldn't help but smirk at him right now.
"Girls talk a lot about boys…" I explained, "…and Haru and I are both girls."
"So that´s where you know her from…" he concluded with a little sigh and a slight shake of his head.
I nodded slowly, but I couldn´t think of anything to add to that. Nothing that wouldn´t trigger more inconvenient questions.
I was hoping we would finally see the lights of a city or at least a little town behind that little hill we just climbed, but the road just went on and went out of sight again as there was yet another hill coming up.
I took another quick look at the tall, still elegant looking wolf beside me, but I couldn´t quite tell what really was on his mind right now.
Apparently, he didn´t even want to know how or when I had talked to Haru. This whole topic seemed to be quite a sensitive one for him as well.
But I struggled with that topic myself. I had thought about it time and time again. If there was anyone I could ever share this with, it was him. He has always been kind to me, although my job pretty much required me to be as professional as possible around him, he was a genuinely good guy, but most importantly: he would understand. I never even considered it before I´ve gotten to know him a few weeks ago, but I really needed somebody to talk about this if I was totally honest with myself. Today, since he was right here and we were all alone, I figured it was about time. There wouldn't ever come a better time for this, so I finally threw all my doubts over board and went for it:
"…did you…" I began lowly, now in a more serious tone, "…did you know I dated a rabbit once?" I asked after another short moment of silence, "No joke."
"What, really?"
Just like I expected, that surprised him so much he immediately turned towards me and slowed down his walk a little.
"He was quite a doofus as well…" I began telling, "His name was Jack. Gray rabbit with black stripes all over his body…"
"How…" he asked with great interest, "…how did it go?"
"Well…good…at first..." I sighed, and I noticed how I already began losing my calm a little.
"What happened?"
"…it…it didn´t work out quite like we expected. He got a job in another city, I went my own way as well…and we just barely saw each other, so we broke up in a good way… …but we still kept in touch as good friends. I knew him since childhood…and…and we always were happy when we saw each other again…"
I noticed how it was getting harder for me to speak with every word now. Although it has been four years ago already, I still had the strong urge to cry whenever I got reminded of him.
"What´s he doing now?" Legoshi asked, and I knew this would come eventually, but I somehow didn´t imagine it would hit me this badly telling it to him.
"…there…" I lowered my voice now, and I really struggled with myself if I should tell him this, "…there is a reason I hate that primitive lion-clan so much."
I didn´t think I´d actually have the guts to tell somebody, but now I did it and there was no going back anymore.
"What…they…?!" he asked in shock, saying it out loud before he could stop himself.
I just nodded slightly.
"…but unlike you did with Haru, I wasn't able to stop them. I didn´t even get into that stupid tower…"
"Have…have you tried it?" he asked carefully, still looking truly shocked.
I nodded very slightly, turning around towards him once again as he had stopped in his walk a little earlier than me. He looked truly sad about that right now. I knew this would hit him hard, but I already was glad I told him about it.
"I did…" I sighed lowly, not being able to look him in the eyes, "…but I´ve gotten to know about it by far too late."
He had noticed how much I struggled talking about this, but the way he looked at me already made me feel like he was glad I did it as well. It was the right decision after all.
Then he did something I really hadn´t expected of him: He just went a step closer towards me and pulled me into a gentle hug. I hadn't expected him to do that without asking for my permission, but what I had expected even less what how much I really needed this. The warmth of his body just felt wonderful right now. I could feel the beat of his heart on his chest and it really relaxed me. Although that really didn´t match with my normally quite professional behavior, I didn´t even try to fight it right now. I just enjoyed his act of kindness, forgetting about all that other crap for a moment. I was myself here for a second.
With him knowing about it now, it felt like a giant bolder finally had fallen off my shoulders. I knew I had found somebody who understood me now, and I knew that I could trust him.
"I…I would have shot that bastard right between his eyes if I had a gun…" I added beneath my breath, "…but you managed to stay on top of that!"
"I would have killed him too…" he told me lowly, hugging me even tighter, "…and I couldn´t ever blame you for thinking like that."
"I should have done this earlier" I thought to myself, "I should have met him earlier!"
We just stood there like this for another moment, and although I really had enjoyed it, I didn´t want it to become awkward either.
Luckily, he soon released me from his hug carefully. He took another short look at me, wanting to make sure I was alright I guessed, and then we continued walking again. He probably needed a quiet minute to calm down from that as well, and I was kinda glad about it.
I noticed there was something different about the look of his face now. Earlier, when he was around me, he always wore this polite but also slightly passive and distant posture and expression, telling everyone he was around just because he had to. That had changed now quite noticeably, and I liked it. He looked deeply contented and much more relaxed for some reason. Like it had helped him as well that I told him about that. Now it felt like he took me seriously, now it felt like he saw me more as a friend than just an associate, and I would just be a liar if I had said that didn´t mean anything to me. I just noticed how much I really needed some real friends in my life again. Somebody who understands me, somebody who cares about me.
"…thank you for telling me" he lowly began after a few minutes of thoughtful silence, "…and I´m very sorry for your loss."
"I can´t change the past…" I sighed, nodding a little, "…but I´m glad I´m not alone in this war."
"We´ll put an end to it someday…" he told me, now with a carefully optimistic smirk and a tiny bit of hope in his voice, "…and no… …you´re not alone."
POV Juno
Everything just annoyed me right now, most of all that I was left all alone once again. Although Anita and I originally had planned on joining them in his flat later, Legoshi was nowhere to be found and he didn´t answer his phone either. When I called Anita earlier to ask her if she knew something, she couldn't tell me anything either. The last time anybody had seen him was when he took that quick shower in his flat after he had abandoned the drama-club practice this afternoon.
Of course, they asked me if I wanted to join them for a movie and some pizza in his flat nevertheless, but I didn´t really feel like it without Legoshi.
So now I was laying on my bed in my dorm, waiting for my turn to finally take a shower, as my roommates prepared themselves for their Friday-evenings. The mood was quite loaded here as well, and they kept on fighting for the most stupid reasons. Even Vera had found somebody to spend the evening with, and from the way she was talking it seemed like she was really proud of herself. She still was an annoying bitch in my eyes, but I didn´t feel like saying anything about it. Her cockiness would make her fall onto her stupid face once again sooner or later anyway.
I closed my curtain and just closed my eyes for a minute, trying to get some other thoughts into my head.
As there wasn´t much else to think about right now, I relapsed todays rehearsals once again, and there was just one major feature about it: Kai.
"Why would Legoshi want exactly him to practice with me today? Wasn´t it obvious to him how much that Mongoose was in love with me as well?"
That thought quickly distracted me even further.
"Why did I let him do this?" I wondered, "Was it just because of pity?"
Somehow it made me smile a little right now. "…why wasn´t I totally disgusted by that thought?"
I actually realized why I thought like that quite quickly: It wasn't actually that bad if I was totally honest. Kai was not shy of stepping up to that task and he treated the situation quite maturely as well. I could tell how excited he was to do that dance with me, and I rarely saw that kind of excitement on Legoshi when we did it.
Legoshi never was excited about anything these days. Kai on the other hand had fire in his eyes. I´ve been looking for that fire in Legoshi´s eyes ever since, but I´ve rarely even seen a spark in them lately.
"Why was I still so excited every time I saw him? Was that what Sheila meant with getting distracted? …why wasn´t he getting distracted? Was dancing with me really just work to him? Was he not in love with me after all?"
Christmas was coming up, my dorm-mates talked about their dates at the Christmas-market in great excitement, about how beautiful and romantic their weekends would be and how beautiful the world was right now; and I, just being the most popular girl of the entire school, was laying here on my bed all alone and feeling excluded from everything.
I turned around and pushed my face deeply into my pillow for a moment. I couldn't really decide if I rather wanted to scream or if I wanted to cry right now.
"This is so unfair! How could he forget about me like that? What was so important to leave me for on a friday night? Just where is that stupid wolf right now?!"
POV Skye
"So…we´re in port city…" I stated the obvious with a little sigh, as we just had walked past the road-sign finally, "…that´s almost two hour with a car…"
He nodded tiredly.
"…and the train-ride will cost us at least 5000yen each, probably more on the same day…" I continued listing bad things.
He still didn´t seem too bothered about it for some reason. It seemed like he hadn´t even thought about the consequences of all that yet.
"Hmm…" he just said with a shrug of his shoulders, taking another look around.
The only good thing was that the train-station of port city was already in sight and we straightly kept on walking towards it.
"I doubt there still runs a train tonight to be honest…" he now suddenly stated the same thought I´ve had on my mind since quite a while already.
I just couldn´t understand how he still was so optimistic though. I was slowly but surely running out of motivation to even get to the train-station. He was right, it was pointless anyway.
"Why would they leave me just with my clothing and my stupid watch?!" I cursed again, truly being out of nerves and good spirits in the meanwhile, "…what kind of game is this? Because we shut up those annoying, greedy lions who kept on provoking us? How childish is that?!"
Although I said that really loudly, probably louder than I should have at this time of night in a neighborhood like this, he just shrugged his shoulders about it and remained rather positive.
We kept on walking towards the station anyway and eventually reached the platform we needed. On the info-board we found the right train after a little bit of searching, and the last one of today already had left half an hour ago.
"Well…" I sighed dryly, "…shit."
I took a long look at him now, hoping he would finally understand what this meant, but he still didn´t look that bothered about it.
"So…" he asked, yawning into his paw with a little smile, "…should we search for a hotel to stay the night?"
"Just what are you thinking!? Do you think this is funny, Legoshi?! We have no cash you dork!"
"…I hate to tell you this" I sighed dryly, "…but this is going to be a long night without any money."
Now his smile widened even a little more, "Who said I didn´t have any money with me?"
With that he got onto his knees quickly and began undoing one of his shoe-laces for some reason. He got out of that shoe quickly, grabbed something out from under his foot and reached it straight up towards me then. And just like that I was holding two 10000yen bills in my hands. I just couldn´t believe my luck for a moment.
He got his shoe back on in a relaxed fashion and then just looked at me with an amused little smirk.
"It´s not a whole lot…" he said, still with that now really handsome little smile, "…but it should get us home and a place to stay the night."
"And…and you couldn´t have told me about that earlier?!" I asked, shaking my head ironically and I slight disbelief he really pulled that off, still not being able to hide that stupid, relieved little smirk though.
He knew how much that had saved us of course, and there was no point in hiding it. He really enjoyed that right now.
"You little…"
"…I could have…" he chuckled tiredly, now getting up onto his feet again, "…but I figured you already knew enough secrets about me."
I couldn´t even argue with that right now. He actually was well in the clear to play that card on me. On top of that, it was literally him who saved the day once again.
Of all the things I thought of him earlier, not a single one of them was that I would actually learn something from him.
Telling him about Jack felt easily justified to me at this point. I really was struggling with myself if I should actually do that, but now I just realized how much that probably must have meant to him as well. I let him into my life a little bit, and it actually felt alright.
At first notice, I wasn´t all that sure about that hotel-idea of his though. I was thinking we could probably get a cheap rental car for that money and drive back home tonight, but then when I began wondering about where we could actually get a rental car right now, it didn´t seem all that simple anymore already. It would be quite a hassle to even find a rental car place without a working phone in the first place, let alone to find one that was open at this time of night. And then we would still have a two-hour drive ahead of us.
As I felt cold, tired and really worn out as well in the meanwhile, a hotel-room probably wasn't the worst idea after all.
I took another look at the tired, but somehow still very calming and well-spirited grey wolf, then I nodded with a little smile.
"…yeah…" I agreed with a little nod, handing the money back over to him casually, "…let´s find a place to stay the night."
POV Legoshi
I was a little shocked of myself that I really thought like that, but I actually kinda enjoyed it how she was a little nervous all over sudden. Usually, she had been on top of all our conversations, always being in charge of what happened and not shy of using various tricks or her straight forward personality to achieve that, but now the tables had turned a little on that matter. She now was depending of me and the money I brought with me, and although I really didn´t want to gain any profit from that, she knew that I probably could if I really wanted to.
But I was glad she immediately trusted me and didn't even mention anything like that.
She actually was kinda well-spirited ever since I told her about the cash, even though it still was quite a stretch until we finally found a street in this city that had a few hotels in it.
As we weren't sure how expensive that train-ride home really would be, we searched for a room under 5000yen on the info-boards in front of the entrances, and eventually we found a hotel that offered that.
She didn´t waste one single more moment and just opened the door without any hesitation. I could tell she finally wanted to rest her feet after all that walking, and I could understand her very well.
The guy behind the desk looked rather confused at us when we asked for the cheapest room they had, probably because we both were dressed rather fancy for guests in a hotel like that, but he gave us a key nevertheless. I didn´t care what he thought anyway. Our clothing, our age difference which I guessed to be at least eight years, our different species, none of that mattered to me in any way. Since she had opened up to me like that, there was no other person I knew I´d rather wanted to have around right now.
I asked myself for how long she had been holding all that in already. If she maybe just did this job because she wanted to take revenge on the Shishigumi one day or if that was just a coincidence after all. Either way, I really was glad she told me about it. Her trusting me with something like that was just a treasure to me. It made her even more beautiful. I didn´t just find her gorgeous on the outside anymore, now I suddenly liked everything about her.
I had a little bit of a deja-vu as we walked down the hallway to find our room. I already did this with a girl I really liked once, and that for almost exactly the same reason I just noticed.
"So…" Skye chuckled with an amused smirk, apparently not as nervous as I first thought she was, "… we got one bed in that room…"
In that moment I asked myself if she mentioned that because that was a problem for her or because she thought it was a problem for me. Whatever it was, I wanted to know about it before sharing a room with her. My heart already began beating a little faster, but I still somehow managed to play it cool.
"That´s fine…" I waved it off with a little smirk, "…I´ll sleep on the floor."
"What?!" she grinned at me with that beautiful little smile of hers, clearly stating her views with that, just before she unlocked the door to our room for us, "…you´re the one who had the money in his shoe, you´re not sleeping on the floor!"
Cue drama ^^
FML that was a lot of work. Hope it was worth it. Let me know what you think ;)
Chapter 17.7 is already taking shape, "Chapter 17.X1 – Mongoose on a rampage" will remain an exclusive to the Discord-Server (For various reasons…)
Talking about that Discord-Server: Everyone is welcome to join us talking about fics, memes, smut, life and other silly stuff! (Furrwolf#8163; add me as I friend and I´ll personally invite you to the server!)
Also: Two of our guys (RedLiteAlexi and Dekra) are working hard on a Christmas-Special for Spotlight, and I´ll ad that to the story as well soon, hopefully. Stay tuned for that, it´s going to be very fluffy.
Alright, I think that´s all for now ^^
Hope you all stay healthy and have a wonderful Christmas! 3
See you all soon!
~furr