I´m really sorry for the long wait. Been working on some Aggretsuko stuff as well, gonna publish that soon as well if you´re interested.
Thanks to the boys from discord for still keeping me sane and big thanks to Dekra for correcting it and saving me from a freaking catastrophe.
Hope you enjoy it a little.
Beastars – Into the spotlight
Chapter 19 – Dangerous but beautiful
POV Kai
The audience loved the performance. They loved it ever since the first time Miguno counted in the drum beat at the very beginning and played the first chord on his guitar. They loved the choreographies, they loved the music, they loved Aoba flying above the audience, being the quirky, funny guy once again, they loved the beautiful red-furred wolf girl in her mostly golden costume, elegantly moving around the stage to the beat and they loved the guy dancing with her most of the time. Legoshi.
"Fucking Legoshi! I´ve done nothing but study his part of the script for the last five days, memorized every single one of his moves, messed up three tests for this shit and now this! I didn't get to play the lead role."
I hated this. I hated all of this. I wanted to be the star! I had been anticipating this ever since he told me to prepare for eventually taking over his role, and now it didn´t happen.
"´It´s good to have backup in case something goes wrong, but this role was meant to be for Legoshi!´" the stupid pelicans words rang though my ear the entire time.
It frustrated me so much, I even considered just leaving the stage. It was not like my role mattered a whole lot anyway.
Legoshi had even apologized to me when Sanu said that before the show. In the last few rehearsals before the premiere, the wolf had just been like a robot anyway. He barely talked to anybody, not during breaks, not afterwards, he just did his job like everybody expected him to, and then he just left.
The only, really noticeable difference in his performance was the fire between him and Juno that everybody had loved so much: It had totally vanished. Now they were just performing like it just was for the show.
But the audience still adored him when he was on stage. He hadn't even undressed himself down to his underwear yet and they were totally excited. This was just so unfair.
"Why couldn´t my life be as easy as his?"
POV Jack
Legoshi playing Odysseus was just as impressive as he was in his earlier roles already.
We had front row tickets once again of course. And once again we watched the spectacle in total delight. After they got to the point of the storyline where they stranded on the island, and got introduced to the awfully friendly and scarily sympathetic, but also really powerful character Juno played, who invited them to party with her, Miguno and his band created a really funky beat to match the crazy purple lights and the actors began with the most-crazy dance performance I´ve ever seen.
Juno´s role of Calypso, the Nymph who Odysseus would fall in love with later, took over the lead for the dancers this time, the Mongoose who always did funny stuff in the background was walking around while doing a handstand, Aoba landed in the middle of stage, being illuminated by a spotlight for some quite legit breakdancing, and with the haze crawling through the entire room I wasn´t quite sure anymore if I was on drugs or not at this point. I thought it was just awesome what they pulled off again, although the plot wasn´t as good as in Volpone in my opinion.
"Halfway in and he´s still fully clothed" Voss commented with a dirty little chuckle, adding ironically: "…something must be wrong."
Pretty much just when he said that, Legoshi suddenly got completely surrounded by the dance-team. They began dancing in circles around him now, pretty much covering him from our view for a little while.
When he finally got revealed again, he just had some wraps of fabric around his mid-section. I was pretty sure he still had his boxers on below that costume, at least I really hoped so, but otherwise this was all he had on his body this time.
He also had a bottle in his hands now and acted like he had been excessively drinking alcohol from it.
"Told you" the fennec fox on Collot´s shoulder grinned. We nodded with a little chuckle, as the entire audience was getting a little hyped about this as well.
Throughout the song he stumbled towards the front of the stage now, slowly getting into the main focus of the performance once again. Miguno and his band now slowly but surely got a little quieter with their song until they faded it out completely. Now all the other actors suddenly collapsed very dramatically and almost perfectly at the same time.
Legoshi now dramatically stumbled across the stage like a drunk would do, until at one point he stumbled over his own feet and pretty convincingly landed face-first on the floor.
He waited a moment for the audience to calm down a little, waited for the lighting to change and then slowly lifted up his head again like he had woken up on the morning after.
"…the fuck happened…" he asked, getting a few chuckles from the audience again.
"…no idea man…" Aoba answered lowly, who was laying on the floor himself a little further back on the stage, sounding equally hungover, "…but these island-people freaking know how to party!"
POV Kai
While the audience laughed about that stupid patter, something unexpected happened and therefore changed the mood quite drastically. I first noticed it by some shadows moving across the stage from all sides, then something in the audience moved as well. I wasn´t the only one getting distracted from it, as they all suddenly interrupted the premiere-performance in one of the most important scenes.
To me this whole performance had felt a little weird all along for some reason, but now it just got totally messed up: While Legoshi was still laying on the floor because of his role, he suddenly got surrounded by a group of adult lions in black business-suits. We all held our breaths as he looked towards them and then stared right into the barrels of several handguns. Handguns that definitely weren´t part of our script, just like the Lion-guys holding them.
"The show is over…" one of them told him loud and clearly, "…I highly suggest to come with us now, Legoshi."
No one in the room moved a single muscle. We all just stared in pure fear, apart from Legoshi, who now slowly but surely got back up on his feet, raising his hands carefully.
Two more of the gangsters emerged from the audience now and came towards the edge of the stage, pointing their guns at him as well.
Whoever he had messed with earlier, this seemed like a done deal right now. Nobody even tried to do something about this. Those guns looked alarmingly real to me.
But then, everything changed all over sudden.
"Legoshi!" a female voice suddenly yelled, coming closer quickly, "Get down!"
She was a white furred vixen dressed in a black suit, and she arrived on the stage mid-air and with quite some momentum. With a really awesome-looking foot-kick she hit one of the lions right in the face and made him crash onto the floor really brutally. She must have been about the coolest woman I´ve ever seen in my life. I surely wasn´t the only one staring at her right now, but there was so much more going on around us.
Pretty much at the same time, another wolf arrived by the edge of the stage now and slammed his entire body weight into one of the lions who stood there and pointed their guns at Legoshi as well. The chaos that triggered changed the whole situation.
Legoshi had actually listened to the vixen when she told him to get down, and now he was in attack-mode himself. He lunged forwards towards one of the big cats and landed a pretty substantial blow on his face, sending him to the ground as well quite effectively. It quickly turned into a little bit of a brawl on the stage, but Legoshi and that vixen just annihilated those lions with their speed and agility. He punched them in the face so hard they really struggled to get up just after one single hit, and that white furred ninja of a fox was flying across the stage like a cannonball.
The other wolf, who had attacked the two lions in front of the stage was in a bit of a tough spot now though. They simply pointed their gun at him now, and by the look on his face it was obvious that they didn´t want to play any more games at this point. One of them came closer and closer towards him now and it seemed pretty pointless for the other wolf to try and attack him. What the feline wasn't expecting though, just like nobody else would ever have expected, was Bill, who appeared to had gotten off his seat in the audience and sneaked up behind him.
"HEY!" he yelled loudly, and immediately got everyone´s attention with that. The lion turned around and Bill punched him right in the face, sending him to the floor as well, "…how dare you interrupt a performance like that?"
As the two remaining lions on the stage were distracted by that as well now, Legoshi and the badass white furred vixen did the very same thing with them. The wolf used his pure strength to put the lions to the ground, the white vixen did a really high front flip and slammed one of her feet right onto his forehead on her way down. It almost looked like they were doing this regularly.
Then she grabbed one of the guns the lions had dropped onto the floor and pointed it at them.
"I´m sorry Legoshi…" she told him, panting a little from the fight, "…I´m afraid you have to come with us now, this is very serious."
He took a quick look around, looking really displeased about it, but then he nodded slowly.
He took another quick look around, as the other lions still lay on the floor groaning in pain lowly. The audience still held their breaths at that spectacle.
It seemed that they had accepted their defeat at this point, as they just tried to get up on their feet again and began to leave the stage with angry little growls. It seemed like they weren't exactly allowed to kill him, because they could have easily done this with their guns if they wanted to. And Legoshi seemed to know that as well.
"Kai!" he suddenly called me out, waving me towards him quickly. I carefully came a little closer.
"…I need to go…" he said a little lower, putting one of his hands on my shoulder with a motivating little smirk, "…you know my lines. I count on you!"
I had expected a lot of this to happen right now, but not that. He wanted us to continue with the show.
Totally overrun by this sudden development, I just nodded shortly.
That was all he needed apparently, as he now quickly followed the white furred vixen towards the edge of the stage where that other wolf guy was waiting for them. He also pointed his gun at the remaining lions, who now picked up their handguns and slowly began leaving the room as well.
"You assholes better get off our stage now" Legoshi told them coldly, as he jumped down the edge of the stage, landing right next to Bill who was still standing there as well I just noticed.
Legoshi then actually turned towards the tiger and patted his shoulders shortly. "Thanks, Bill!" he told him with an honest little smirk, "Good work."
It was true. I hadn´t actually realized it earlier, but Bill actually helped somebody out for once. The fight probably wouldn't have ended that well for them if he didn´t distract the lions like that. And Legoshi wasn´t the only one who was thankful for that.
The other wolf now offered to quickly shake Bill´s paw with a thankful and the tiger nodded towards him as well proudly.
There was a moment of wholesome silence, but it didn´t last very long.
"Let´s go…" the pretty white vixen the black suit told them, taking the lead towards the left side exit of the audience room. There was another distinct moment of silence, and Legoshi interrupted it quickly just before leaving the room after his mates: "…she meant you guys!" he told the actors and the band with a motivating smirk.
A subtle but also confused little applause broke loose for him now, as he was about to follow the other two canines again, but then he got stopped yet once again.
"Wait!" somebody else now yelled from the audience, standing up from his seat in the first row. It was the principal as it turned out, "…what is going on here, Legoshi? They can´t just continue the performance without y-"
"Yes. They can…" he replied dryly, turning towards him abruptly, "…and they will."
"Legoshi!" Gon stopped him again, "They held a gun to your head! This is not going to-"
"Shut up!" the wolf now yelled at him loudly, and that caused yet another moment in which everybody in the room held their breaths, "…it´s because of you I´m in this whole mess!"
Then he pointed at the stage. "…they have been working hard for this! They won´t just end the premiere-performance because Bambi and his clan wants to mess up my reputation, trying to scare me with fake guns! I´ll handle this and I´ll be fine!"
He took a deep breath after that little outburst, then he tried to calm himself down a little.
"Let them go on with the performance. They deserve it!"
He took a quick look towards us once again and most of the other actors nodded to that as well, luckily.
The audience carefully supported him with a gentle applause as well, and it seemed like Gon was so shocked about getting told to ´shut up´ like that, that he just sank back down into his seat.
The almost naked wolf still looked dead serious about it. It kinda felt like he was about to enter a real gunfight pretty soon, but right now he had very different things in mind:
"Don't let this bullshit distract you!" he told everyone in the room loudly, "…I´m really sorry I have to leave now, but they can continue the show without me! Please give them the chance!"
He took another quick look around, then he announced: "Miguno, give us that awesome song again! Aoba, to the skies! Kai…" he said, looking down his own body shortly, "…I think boxers will do…"
The audience now chuckled a little and the actors all nodded confidently.
"Kibi!" he said, stopping on his way towards the door once more shortly, "…go back to light-cue 22!"
He took another short look around and nodded confidently. "Rock n Roll."
And with that they just left the room once and for all.
Bill still stood there by the edge of the stage, being a little baffled as well for a moment, but then he hurried to get back to his seat in the second row.
Now the entire audience just stared at me all over sudden, and I would be lying if I said it wasn´t stressing me out to some extent.
My arms still hurt a little from that stupid handstand-stunt that nobody noticed anyway, but that wasn´t the main issue right now. I had to jump in on the main role, and that without any further preparation or time to get into it.
Some of them stared at me in confusion, some of them still looked totally shocked, some of them unsure if we really should continue with the performance at all after all that.
"No!" I told myself, "We´re not quitting now! We will keep the show going! This is my chance to shine!"
I took a quick look towards the musicians, then I gave Miguno a little nod. The rest of the band seemed to be ready to get to it again as well, so they waited for us to get into position and for the lighting to change. The door had now completely fallen shut and I took a last deep breath. It was on.
"Let´s go…" I whispered to Juno and the other actors lowly, and they all nodded shortly.
The lighting changed into disco-mode again, the Hyena counted in the beat and a few moments later, we were in the middle of our drug-trip party scene once more.
Now there was no going back. This was my moment.
"Whoever you are, ripping Legoshi out of this performance today…thank you!"
POV Legoshi
I was pissed. I´d rather have wanted them to assault me when I was having sex than when we were mid-way through our freaking premiere performance. There was literally no worse moment for that.
I really hoped Kai would be accepted in my role of Odysseus, and that the performance would still be a success after all, but right now I had some very different problems to deal with, sadly.
There stood about the whole Shishigumi-clan and some other people in the yard now, and I was wearing nothing but a few sheets of fabric around my waist and a pair of underpants underneath it. It was cold outside and I probably looked like I just broke out of a loony-bin, but I really couldn´t care less about that right now. I wanted to know what the heck was going on.
"Legoshi…" Skye suddenly whispered really quietly, not stopping in her tracks though, "…Louis is here. We´re in a quagmire. We need to distract them. Punch him in the face when you get a good opportunity."
As we had almost arrived there already, I didn´t have the time to answer anymore, so I just nodded shortly. I didn´t know what exactly she wanted to reach with that, but I decided blindly truste her once again.
Apart from the clans, the campus was almost completely empty right now. I assumed because most of them were watching the play.
I kept on following Skye and Boris to the very middle of the circle of Lions around us, and then I finally noticed him.
"What the fuck!?" I yelled at him angrily, "Why would you do that in the middle of our performance? Do you not have the tiniest piece of respect of what we´re doing? You´ve been in that club as well not too long ago!"
"We need to talk" Louis told me coldly, pulling Rokka towards us by his arm harshly.
I knew what he meant, but I couldn´t care less about that right now.
"We really do" I agreed coldly, "…attacking me during a performance is some serious bullshit."
"See it as a serious wake-up-call…" the red-deer replied dryly, "…this is the last time I´m gonna-"
"Tell me what you want or shut up" I interrupted him. I wasn't at all impressed by his wanna-be gangster attitude. I was so sick of this crap.
He just angrily and quite vigorously pushed Rokka into my direction now.
I stopped the lion-kid from falling with my hands, trying not to harm him, but I wasn´t to impressed by that either. I could tell how scared Rokka was right now though. It seemed like it wasn´t that easy to kill a clan-leader all on your own after all.
"You shot his father" I explained to him loudly, "What do you expect him to feel like?!"
"His father got what he deserved. Don't tell me you don't know what I´m talking about."
I just remained staring at him for that comment. I sadly couldn´t really disagree to that if I was totally honest. That indeed put me in a little bit of a quagmire right now.
"W-what?" Rokka asked me in visible confusion.
"I didn´t want him to die…" I calmed myself down a little now, talking a little quieter, "…I wanted him to pay for what he did, but I didn´t want him to die. That´s why I didn´t finish the job."
That on the other hand made Louis just stare angrily for a moment. He would have to loudly confess that it was him who shot the former Shishigumi-boss now, but as I was right in guessing he wouldn't do that, he went for something really different:
"You didn´t finish the job because you´re a little pussy" he growled teasingly.
A statement like that was just what I´ve been waiting for. I immediately took that opportunity and did what Skye had told me to do: I took a very powerful swing and punched him right in the face, making him fly off of his feet and crash onto the floor quite uncomfortably. Although I knew that wasn´t a very civilized thing to do in that situation, and although I didn´t know why Skye wanted me to do this, it just felt so satisfying right now. He had this coming for quite a while.
Now the lions around us all cocked their guns at me off course, they all stared in great shock at the scene, but I still trusted in Skye´s plan. She always knew what she was doing, I´ve never seen her fail before.
I didn´t hit Louis hard enough to get him unconscious or seriously injured, but it took him a little moment to get back up onto his palms again at least. I could tell he wanted to de-escalate the situation before anybody could do something stupid.
POV Skye
"Hold your fire!" Louis yelled at his men, trying to get off of the ground again as quickly as possible, "We need him alive!"
It was quite a substantial blow that Legoshi had landed on his face, and the lions around us didn´t look like they would endure this bullshit any longer. Maybe it really was a little reckless what I had told him to do, but now it was too late anyway and I had to put my plan into action. I used that punch of Legoshi as a reason to knock him out with my tranquilizer gun before anyone else could react. He quickly lost his consciousness and collapsed onto the cold floor, almost completely naked as he was.
"Skye!" Ten yelled, "…don't! Why-"
"I told you this was a bad idea!" I yelled at her loudly, so everybody around us would shut up and listen, "…we pulled him from the stage in front of half his school! We could have picked a more suitable moment, any other moment would have been more suitable, but you didn´t want to! So there you have it."
It got really quiet around me now, and that was just what I needed. The lions still hadn´t lowered their guns of course, but as they weren´t trying to
"Boris" I told him, "…bring him to my car, will you?"
"W-what?"
"He trusts me…" I explained, "I can calm him down, explain it to him, and maybe, just maybe you can ask him about a mature conversation then. This guy is a Beastar! The whole city loves him, it would fuck us all over if we mess this up! So next time please think first before you cause nothing but chaos!"
I knew I probably went a little over-kill with my little outburst here, but it seemed to be believable nevertheless.
Ten just stood there and shook her in pure disbelief head once again, resting her forehead in her palm.
I knew it was kinda suspicious in the meanwhile, interrupting a meeting like that yet once again, but it was the only way.
The deer was back up on his feet in the meanwhile, not exactly looking happy about this development either.
"Just what the fuck is going on?" one of the lions now yelled angrily, "How long are we supposed to look at this bullshit and not do anything?"
"Pulling an actor out of his premiere performance really was a shit-idea…" Louis surprisingly agreed with me now, rubbing the pain off his face a few times, "I would be pissed as well! …but you all voted for doing it like that, so that´s what you get! He will indeed fuck us over when the media gets to know about it. We probably have messed that up already!"
He took another quick look around, then he shook his head angrily.
"Ten!" he called her out loudly, and I really thought he was playing this rather convincingly, "Saturday evening! No more bullshit!"
She nodded silently, then he signaled his guys to leave this place.
Ten wordlessly turned around as well and headed off into another direction, leaving Boris and I to it all on our own. I knew she would be pissed about this, and I would be hearing this again, but that wasn´t my top priority right now.
I still had to concentrate on keeping my guard up so I wouldn´t mess up Boris´ upcoming interrogation.
"What the heck is going on?" he asked me on the way to my car, panting quite heavily from carrying the unconscious Legoshi in the meanwhile, "I…I thought you were in love with him?"
"What?" I acted coldly, "…are you for real? It´s part of my cover you imbecile!"
That made him stop in his tracks for a moment.
"…and I seriously thought you were fucking him…" he chuckled, even seeming a little relieved right now.
"I was" I told him dryly, opening my car´s left door for him to put Legoshi on the co-driver´s seat, "…but there is a big difference between love and sex, Fluffy..."
I looked him right in the eyes for a second, "…you´re the one talking about it all the time, aren´t you? …you should be aware of that."
He now took a step back from my car after he had placed the other wolf into the seat, then he just remained staring at me dumbfoundedly.
I just wordlessly closed the door behind Legoshi and went around my car to get in.
"Oh that´s bullshit!" he told me all over sudden, apparently not being gullible enough to believe my acting after all, "…you´re trying to save him, aren't you?"
"Yes!" I affirmed coldly, "…because if we fuck this up, he gets killed and all those efforts were for nothing! We´ll get fucked by the media and what would follow after that could probably be even worse!"
I really had to play all my tricks today.
"…we´re professionals Boris, act like it. Now please shut up and let me do my job."
And with that I got into my car, didn´t wait for him to reply something, closed the door behind me, started the engine and drove off.
POV Bill
I wasn´t quite sure what to think of this right now. I was kinda proud of them for sorta getting back on track with their show after all that, but I couldn´t quite shake off that feeling that they should just have stopped after Legoshi had to leave the stage.
Kai didn´t even do that bad of a job, he surely knew the lines and choreography, but he was nowhere near Legoshi´s ability to show depth and emotion for this role. And although it was quite obvious that he´s been working out quite a lot lately, he just didn´t have the same sex-appeal Legoshi possessed when just being in underwear.
We applauded him and the entire ensemble after the show was over, but it rather seemed like a pity applause than a genuine one if I was brutally honest.
Without that wolf it just wasn't the same, and the events that forced him to leave midway through the performance had rendered the show itself rather unimportant anyway.
There was a freaking fist fight with guns involved on that stage and Legoshi yelled at the Principal to "shut up" in front of the entire audience. Nothing that had ever happened on this stage before could have been as exciting as that, not even close.
But it still felt right to applaud for their efforts. I could tell they have been trying hard to make this silly piece as enjoyable as possible.
When they all came out for their curtain call one after another, the applause became a little louder, just as usual, but the loudest the audience got wasn´t actually for any of the actors when they took a bow in front of us, it was for the band.
But even though Aoba and even Juno really tried to make us cheer for Kai saving the performance, the applause he got wasn´t that crazy in the end. I could tell that that must feel a little depressing to him right now, but there was nothing I could do about that either.
And then something happened which probably hurt his ego even more than that. I still was in for another surprise right now.
When the band came out once again, somebody in the audience yelled "Play Little Lion Man!" at the top of his lungs, and almost the entire audience loudly agreed with that suggestion. Their cheering got even louder now.
It seemed like I must have missed something quite special when I was in hospital, because I had no Idea what they were talking about and why the hype about that was so massive.
I didn´t believe they would really do it, but as the general excitement for that idea wasn't getting any less right now, the Hyena and his band really got back to their instruments and he counted in a beat once again.
They just interrupted the curtain call for a little encore, and nobody even tried to stop them, not even Sanu. This really was a very strange premiere today.
I still didn´t quite understand what was going on and why the audience around me was so hyped about this all over sudden, but then I was slowly beginning to understand.
I´ve found the band really good in the performance already, but the song they now played sounded even more awesome. The feeling they now created was on a whole nother level.
They really played the shit out of those instruments for this song, but it sounded freaking fantastic. It immediately lifted the mood and made us forget about all that other stuff for a moment. I actually really was glad that nobody stopped them now, this song was catchy and sounded just awesome.
"…but it was not your fault but mine
and it was your heart on the line
I really fucked It up this time
didn´t I my dear? …"
That chorus was in my head immediately. Half the crowd was singing with them at this point already, and that made it just even more amazing.
At first, I thought this was a cover of a famous song I´ve just never heard before, but then I googled it on my phone quickly and just found one single YouTube-video. It was that very band on that very stage.
Now I knew why they all were so hyped about this song. They wrote it themselves and it was a freaking hymn.
They powered through it for almost five whole minutes, then it was just the hyena guy left singing the chorus all on his own one last time, fading it out really smoothly.
He smirked a little bit as the audience was getting really loud and excited and it hailed down a whole load of applause on them once again.
But now they really hurried to get off the stage, finally. They took another quick bow in front of us after they had left their instruments by the side of the stage once again, but then they really left the stage this time they weren't coming back anymore.
Now the lights in the audience-room were slowly faded in and everyone was getting off their seats slowly but surely. The mood was loaded on the way out, there was so much to talk about. Everybody wanted to know what was going on, everybody already seemed to have forgotten about the performance and that little encore, they all wanted to know what was going on with Legoshi. In the end, that was the only thing that really mattered right now.
POV Kai
I didn´t know how to feel right now. I was kinda proud of my accomplishment, and it seemed like the others were satisfied with my performance as well, but it somehow didn´t feel right. It all was over-shadowed by Legoshi leaving us alone like that and then the band getting asked about an encore of their stupid lion-song. They cheered louder just for that one thing than they did for our entire performance.
"I´m the hero who saved the performance! I´m the one they should have gotten off their seats up for!"
The whole mood amongst the other actors was really weird as well. When we normally were celebrating our accomplishment after a premiere performance, they just kept talking about that interruption.
"…have you guys seen how Legoshi talked to the principal?" Aoba asked in total disbelief.
"Have you seen how he fought against those lion-guys like this was daily business for him?" Sheila topped that question.
"Yeah, you´re right!" Tao agreed, "That looked quite serious!"
"Who were those other guys?" Kibi wanted to know, "…that white vixen and the other wolf I mean?"
"No idea…" Aoba said with a shrug of his shoulders, "…but they looked so badass as well! Have you seen how that vixen kicked those lions to the floor?"
"Yeah" Els agreed with a little nod, "…that´s years' worth of martial-arts training if you ask me..."
"Man she was awesome!" Fudge the red panda added to the conversation, and it was that comment that made Juno unable to keep an entirely straight face right now. I could tell how much that annoyed her right now.
Since she hadn´t said a single word so far, I actually wasn't the only one who noticed.
"You know her, Juno?" Aoba asked with great interest.
She nodding slowly, still not looking too happy about it of course.
"She´s fucking him."
It just needed these three words and the entire team was shut up for dead.
"Oh…" Aoba said after a little while, obviously feeling very uncomfortable for having asked.
It was known in the entire club that Juno and Legoshi weren´t that close anymore, but as she now confirmed it like that, it apparently was a whole lot more shocking to all of them.
Since he was the only one who nodded a little, while the others just stared in slight disbelief, it seemed like Miguno was the only other person here who actually knew about this before.
At first, I honestly couldn´t really understand it either why Legoshi would choose her over Juno after all, but now that I´ve seen her, I had to admit that that white furred vixen really was smoking hot as well. I´ve never seen any woman do something like that, and now remembering the earlier situation I just realized how awesome that really was.
Luckily, the awkward silence that followed then got interrupted by Sanu who now finally joined us. He looked equally confused as us right now though. I wasn´t quite sure what took him so long this time, he probably was concerned about Legoshi as well, but he wasn´t in too much of a celebration mood right now either.
"Do you know something about Legoshi?" Sheila asked him when he arrived, and he just shook his head silently.
"I´ve just been talking to the principal…" he explained with a little sigh, "…but he doesn´t know anything either. I guess we just have to wait."
"I really hope he´s fine…" Ellen said lowly.
"I don't think all this is good for him…" Miguno now mentioned lowly, getting all our attention with that, "…he´s not getting a break from anything these days. He´s learning for tests, he´s doing drama-club rehearsals and after he´s done with all that, he leaves the dorm yet once again for half the night. He overslept two times just this week and still doesn't take a break from his all day hustle…"
"I mean…" Aoba said, "…he delivered a good performance nevertheless…but…"
"I think we all delivered a good performance…" Sanu told us, "…considering the circumstances of course! …to be honest, I would have cancelled it as well after that interruption…"
"Legoshi brought us back on track just as if he had planned it before!" Sheila mentioned, and she wasn´t actually that wrong about that really.
"Did he do this on purpose? Did he want me to finish his part all along? Was I really that important to him?"
"Good thing Kai learned his part of the script as well, isn´t it?" Aoba asked in slight amusement now. It seemed like they all needed that change of topic for a moment.
"Yeah, not too bad really…" Ellen agreed with a little chuckle.
I just smiled about those compliments contentedly.
"It really saved the show…" Sanu agreed with them, "…and I´m proud of you for not giving up."
I knew he really meant it as a compliment, but it was just obvious that that wasn't the whole truth. The way he was saying that made it pretty clear that the sentence that would have followed, would have been something like: "…it was alright, but it would have been better if Legoshi had finished his role."
He didn´t say it out loud of course, but it was pretty obvious that he was not alone with that thought. Nobody here seemed really content with how the premiere performance went and nobody was bothered to hide it. It all was overshadowed by all that other bullshit.
The mood in the room had the overall vibe of "What is the point of what we´re doing anyway?", and although I kinda felt the same, their lack of enthusiasm pulled me down to a really dark place right now. I was even getting a little stomach ache from-it.
It took all that to finally make me realize:
"I´m not gonna be the star of the school. Legoshi did not do this for me. I´m not gonna be accepted as a lead actor and I´m not gonna win Juno for myself either."
I just began to see how small and unimportant I really was to all of them and how pathetic I must have looked like all this time. Aoba even tried to lift me up a little, he wasn´t that much of an asshole after all, but even that was just his good will to keep our spirits up. I was not worth more than any of the others, I didn´t deserve any special recognition.
"God I´m such a loser. Why didn't anybody tell me about this earlier?"
POV Skye
We were still on the highway when he finally woke up. I had no real destination in mind, but as I wasn't getting him out of the car and up into his flat on my own anyway, and I didn´t want to just stand around somewhere either, I decided to go for a little drive around the city.
He took a short look around first of all, then he rubbed his eyes with his hands.
"Damn…" he groaned lowly, looking at me then, "…what happened?"
"I knocked you out with a tranquilizer."
"What!?" he complained, "…could you…could you stop doing that?"
"Sorry…" I chuckled, "…those lion dicks were about to shoot you. I did it so they wouldn´t…it was the only way to convince them."
He stretched himself shortly.
"…convince them of…what?"
"Of me trying to ´calm you down so they can have a proper talk with you´…" I explained while drawing air-quotes.
"They could get that anytime…" he sighed, still shaking his head in slight disbelief, "…but not after interrupting my premiere-performance like that."
"It was a really shitty idea…" I agreed, "…and I tried to convince them of something else…"
"Convince…who?"
"The people who pay for your flat. And your car. And everything else" I explained with a little chuckle, "…they wanted that just as much as the Shishigumi. Well, except for Louis, probably."
"What?!"
"Yes. I think they want to boost your popularity even more, that´s why they pulled you out of your show like that. That´ll spread across the internet faster than anything else. I think even the students bought that as a planned PR-stunt."
"It wasn't a PR-stunt" he said while shaking his head, "…nobody knew that would happen."
"You seemed quite well prepared for it though…" I told him in all honesty, "…bringing the show back on track like that…"
"It´s just a coincidence that Kai knows my lines…" he explained, still shaking his head to that, "…I told him that in case Juno wouldn´t want to perform with me."
I nodded understandingly. That was quite a logical explanation actually, I just never figured that a possibility.
"…and what about you telling the principal to shut up in front of the entire school?" I wanted to know.
"That´s been long overdue" he stated dryly, and that just left me chuckling a little once again. It seemed like he was all out of fucks to give at this point.
"Where are we going right now?" he wanted to know, taking another look around.
"Nowhere" I said with a shrug of my shoulders, "…I told them I would take care of you. You know, ´calm you down so you can finally have a normal conversation with the Shishigumi´..."
"When?" he asked, "…I mean…when is that conversation supposed to be?"
"Saturday."
He nodded shortly, looking a little more relaxed now. Since he still just wore his drama-club costume, which basically just consisted of a pair of boxers and a loin cloth on top of it, it was understandable that he didn´t necessarily want to attend a meeting in that right now.
But I could also tell that he wanted to be completely elsewhere with his mind. He looked confused and exhausted and really tired.
"This is really serious in the meanwhile…" I told him nevertheless, "…even Boris is suspicious of me in the meanwhile…I can´t bail you out of that anymore, you know? …this really was the last time…"
He nodded slowly. "I´m willing to have a ´normal conversation´ with them…" he sighed, "…but right now I want to be with my friends."
"Okay then…" I said with an understanding little smirk, quickly turning on the indicator to leave the highway on the next exit that was coming up, "…but first you should probably get something more fancy to wear though…"
POV Boris
"She´s not fooling around with him my ass!" I yelled at her, not being able to hide my anger in front of her any longer, "…she didn´t even bother when I told her I had the new keys to her freaking flat after getting her door fixed up! She´s stayed at his place the whole week! Believe me, she´s playing us!"
"Don't let your jealousy distract your mind…" she said calmly, waving it off like it was not a big deal.
"Why would she think I´m jealous of that kid?! I´m not jealous! She´ll rip his heart out anyway once she got what she needs of him!"
"Open your fucking eyes!" I held onto my statement, "She´s a con-artist! She´s using him, she´s using us! She´s gonna screw us over!"
"She wants the same thing as us in the end. She wants the Shishigumi to be gone. That´s all that matters to us!" she told me coldly, "Stop acting like a child and get yourself a hooker or something. You´re going on my nerves! I haven't got time for this."
I really was talking to a wall here. I always thought she was a good leader, but lately I wasn´t content with the decisions she made at all.
"Just why wouldn´t she ever listen to me?!"
She now grabbed something from under her desk quickly, put it down flat onto her table and then flicked it over towards me. It was a 10000yen bill.
"…what am I supposed to do with that?" I asked in slight disbelief.
"Go let off some steam" she said dryly, looking me right in the eyes one last time, "…I need you focused and ready on Saturday."
"I don't need to-"
She just pointed at the door of her office now, then she put her attention towards her laptop again and ignored me.
"…fucking hell, Ten" I sighed, getting off of the chair now, still shaking my head in slight disbelief.
I left the money laying there on her table and just left her room. There was no point in trying to talk any sense into her right now.
"Fuck my life! Fuck this shit! Fuck you Legoshi!"
I slammed the door shut behind me and went on my way towards the underground car-park.
"…fuck I really need a hooker. Why haven´t I taken the money?"
POV Legoshi
When I left my flat after putting on some more suitable clothing, I somehow wasn´t expecting a whole lot to happen once I got back on the campus. I had expected the hype to have calmed down a little and the students to have gotten back to their dorms in the meanwhile.
I was so wrong. The campus was full of life and I got noticed the first step I took on the premises. There immediately gathered a crowd around me.
They all wanted to know what happened of course, but as they noticed that I was totally fine on a physical matter, they immediately started clapping and cheering for me.
"Hey guys…" I greeted them calmly, not stopping on my way towards the cafeteria though.
They were screaming at me from all sides, asking if everything was alright and what happened, but I just ignored that for now.
"…did they finish with the show?" I asked them instead, and they all affirmed that noddingly.
That was the only thing I really wanted to hear right now. So far so good.
"…the mongoose really tried, but you were much better as Odysseus…" I heard one of them say.
I had expected to hear that, but I didn´t want to take that as a compliment either.
"It´s hard enough to switch roles just like that…" I told them, "…and I´ve had by far more practice than him. I´m glad he stepped up to the task."
I now opened the doors to the cafeteria, hoping I would find the rest of the drama-club here as usual after a premiere, and as soon as I entered, I immediately was the center of attention of course. But being celebrated like that didn´t feel flattering or cool right now, I found it just annoying and unnecessary.
It was hard work to get through the crowd in the cafeteria as I tried to reach the long table reserved for us, and it was even harder to fake a smile for them right now.
I really wished they´d all leave me alone for a moment. I felt tired, I had a slight headache and my stomach hurt. One part of me just would have wanted to stay in my flat for this evening, but that other, much bigger part wanted to talk to them no matter what. They deserved an explanation.
I made it to their table eventually, and it didn´t look like they had been expecting me to join them here today after all.
"Legoshi!" Aoba greeted me excitedly, being the first one who noticed me, as their earlier conversation must have distracted them from me coming towards them.
"Hey guys" I told them, adding with a proud smile: "…you made it I´ve heard?"
They all nodded affirming-, but not as enthusiastically as I had expected though.
"…sorry I had to leave you like that…" I told them again, "…it really wasn´t worth it to interrupt the premiere for that in the end."
"…what happened?" Miguno wanted to know, "…where you in a gun fight or something like that?"
"What?! No…" I waved it off, "Don't worry. They´re just really trying to mess with me. That´s all."
"Who is…they?" Aoba asked, and they all seemed to have the same question on their minds as they all just kept staring at me now. This put me into a bit of a quagmire. I still wasn't sure if I should tell them about this, but I also was really sick of all this bullshit in the meanwhile.
"It was them who tried to make a scene, so why shouldn't I return the favor? I didn´t want to protect those stupid lions, so why wouldn´t I talk about them?"
"The Shishigumi" I sighed, telling them the truth after all.
Predictably, that was followed by a big silence as well. But I was not at all turned off by causing even a bit more publicity damage for them.
"Louis is leading them now. He killed their boss after I had saved Haru from them and now is their accepted leader by their rules."
"What!?" Sheila blurted out, putting her hands in front of her face in shock.
"What, our Louis from the drama-club?" Tao asked, almost choking on his drink and spilling it over his plate.
I nodded slowly.
"…but what does he want from you then?" he added.
"I´m a Beastar…" I sighed, "…and I have some really powerful people on my side as well…"
"…is that white vixen one of them?" Kai asked dryly, who I just noticed was sitting on the far end of the table right besides Juno.
I was a little surprised by that bold statement of his, but also, I already had a slight suspicion why he did it. I was pretty sure Juno must have told them about her in the meanwhile. He was using this to his advantage. Still, I was more amused than mad about this.
I just nodded with a little smirk towards him. As it wasn't possible to deny that anyway, I just affirmed his question but left it at that so I wouldn´t have to get too far into detail here.
"…thanks for taking over by the way…" I told him to change the topic a little, "…hope it worked out like you wanted…"
"…we got it back on track…" he said with a little nod, "…was alright I guess."
The others nodded to that as well, but it didn´t seem like that really mattered to them right now. They all had a million questions but probably were too afraid to ask them. It was another, really long and exhausting moment of silence, before someone finally took the word again.
"…we´re concerned about you, Legoshi" Miguno suddenly stated, "…we all get the feeling you´re overworking yourself quite badly!"
They all nodded to that statement without hesitation.
"What?" I asked, gently holding on to the back of Aoba´s chair now for some reason. I really felt a little weak all over sudden.
"You look tired, Legoshi" Ellen explained, "…I know you want to be there for us, but…"
I was feeling really dizzy now. Her voice was just a blur in the background suddenly, the chair I was holding onto felt like it was really far away and I couldn´t hold onto it any longer. Everything around me went dark all over sudden and it felt like I was falling into a black hole of undefined depths or origin.
I heard somebody screaming for another moment, then it was just silence.
POV Jack
"…so you´re from his dorm?" the lady from the infirmary asked us, sounding a little skeptical of that claim since the entire hallway was full of students wanting to know what was going on.
"Yes mam…" Miguno told her, "…dorm 701."
The black panther lady responsible for the carnivores took a quick look at the clipboard she had in her hands, then she nodded.
"Okay, follow me…" she told us a little friendlier now, leading the way into the room.
As he was the only one laying in here right now, we spotted him pretty quickly, but he was still asleep as it looked like.
"Oh Legoshi…" I sighed lowly as we arrived by his bed, "…just what has gotten into you?"
I really was all out of ideas in the meanwhile. There was no way of stopping, not even slowing him down a little.
"Has he been under a lot of stress lately?" the nurse asked casually, and we both found ourselves nodding to that question.
"Yeah, you can say that…" Miguno affirmed, "…I told him to slow down and focus on his own well-being a little more…but he wasn't listening to any of it…"
"He´s barely slept this week…" I added, "…he´s learning for tests in every spare minute he has. Then he´s been in rehearsals every day and after that he didn´t stay in the dorm for half the night either…"
"Yeah…" Miguno agreed, "…I sometimes wake up at night when he comes back way past midnight. He always looked so exhausted, but he isn´t talking to us either. Nobody knows what´s really going on."
She nodded slowly, noting some of that down onto her clipboard.
"Did he seem physically exhausted lately?" she wanted to know, and I wasn´t quite sure how she meant that at first. Miguno just shrugged his shoulders a little as well.
"Apart from drama-club acting you mean?" the hyena asked.
She nodded to that. "He has bruises all over his abdomen, which I´ve mostly seen on professional boxers or on people who were in really bad fist-fights…" she explained, "…and he has a really strong physique for his age…"
"He is really strong…" I affirmed, "…but he´s not been talking about anything like that."
"He´s not really been talking about anything…" Miguno corrected, and he did have a point there as well, sadly.
Legoshi has been just like a robot these last few days.
"…well…" she said, "…I assume he collapsed because of stress and lack of sleep. His vitals are stable, so you don't have to worry too much. He just really has to sleep it off…"
We both nodded understandingly, then we followed her out of the room again.
"Did he really tell the principal to shut up in front of the entire audience?" she asked us just before sending us off.
"Yeah…" I sighed with a little smirk, "…he really did that. That was quite a moment."
"He had visited him as well earlier…" she told us, "…and I´ve never seen him like this before. He looked guilty…almost a little terrified…"
"Nobody really knows what´s going on…" I said, "…I just hope he´ll slow down a bit soon."
"He should probably take a day off tomorrow…" the panther lady told us on the way out, "…can you guys make sure he does?"
"He has another performance tomorrow…" Miguno mentioned, shrugging his shoulders with an unsure expression.
"…and then we´re off to our Christmas holidays anyway…" I added with a little nod, "…I think it´s not gonna be easy to stop him…"
She nodded understandingly, then she shrugged her shoulders a little.
"At least make sure he gets a bit of sleep" she told us with a little wink, "…he should be fine."
We nodded and with that she left us alone by the door and headed into another corner of the room again.
"Man what a day…" Miguno sighed exhaustedly.
I nodded silently.
"Having fun giving autographs to you fans?" I asked, just to change the topic a little for now.
It appeared we both didn´t really want to get back into that hallway right now.
"…well it is kinda cool…" he chuckled tiredly, "…but I get why Legoshi got annoyed by it so quickly…"
"I think all that fame isn´t good for him…" I sighed lowly, "…I think it´s tearing him apart."
"The guys from the drama-club are really concerned as well…" he mentioned, just as I reached out for the door-handle, "…it seems like it´s pulling them down as well, and I´m not just talking about Juno…"
"Yeah, I really hope Juno is coping with this alright…" I sighed, "…she´s not even been talking to Anita anymore lately."
"…I really hope all this gets a little better soon…" the hyena agreed, before he opened the door to the hallway after all and just went for it. The students waiting in the hallway were really excited and really loud. They all wanted to know what was going on of course, but we mostly just ignored it. I could tell that Miguno didn't want to be the center of attention anymore either. I was kinda proud of him that the entire school liked him and his music, but I also was glad he went right towards the dorm with me as well instead of going back to the cafeteria. He looked beat and tired as well, and I didn´t want the same thing to happen to him that happened to Legoshi. The drama around this club had done enough damage already.
POV Juno
"Wait…" he said, "…where are we going?"
"Do you know a better place where you can be alone at this school?" I asked with a dry chuckle. I really was all out of fucks to give in the meanwhile.
The drama-club table had split up quite quickly ever since Legoshi collapsed, but since nobody was allowed to visit him anyway, and I really didn´t want to get back to my dorm right now either, I had decided to stay in the cafeteria a little longer.
Kai hadn´t minded to stay around either, and although that was rather predictable, I wasn´t even that annoyed about it right now. I was glad I got some distraction from that disaster of a premiere-performance, and unlike with most of the other drama-club members, I still had his full and undivided attention.
That was all I needed of him right now. I didn´t have any feelings, rarely even any sympathies for the very self-conscious and narrow-minded mongoose, but at least he wasn´t a complete stranger and I wouldn't have a hard time convincing him either. Most guys still were really scared to even talk to me because they thought Legoshi and I still were a thing, but the way this guy was talking about him indicated that he probably really had the confidence.
"…w-what?" he asked in slight disbelief, still following me deeper into the drama-club training hall.
"I need something to distract myself a bit…" I told him the truth quite plainly, "…you up for it?"
"W-what you mean…?"
"Yeah…" I affirmed with a little grin, "…or are you scared of a wolf after all?"
Although he really tried to hide it, I of course knew how much he wanted this. He wanted this to happen even way before we started rehearsing for Romeo and Juliet, but that wasn´t why I wanted to do it right now. Not just for him at least.
I really needed the sex on one hand, it´s been quite a while since my last time in the meanwhile, but mostly I did it because I wanted to smell like him for tomorrows performance.
Legoshi was happy with her. I could tell that just from the look on his face. He looked happy just when he told us her name earlier.
He had moved on, and I just shouldn´t deny that any longer. I would lose to her time and time again if I kept trying, it was just like fighting windmills. He never really loved me, I should have accepted that the first time already. Now that the pink filter in front of my eyes had completely vanished, it wasn´t that hard to accept it for me anymore either.
But I still thought he was a good guy, the fact that he wanted us to finish the performance without him proved that again, and I didn´t want him to feel bad for our breakup any longer.
He would smell it while performing with me tomorrow, and it would tell him that I have moved on as well. That was my whole intention.
"…n-no…" Kai stuttered nervously, "…are you…are you serious?"
I just nodded with a little smirk, giving him the confirmation he was searching for apparently.
"You´re not going to make a big deal out of a bit of sex though, will you?" I asked with a little chuckle.
"What…no!" he lied, sounding really nervous once again, "…don't worry, I won´t tell anyone!"
I just shrugged my shoulders with an amused and semi-ironic little smirk, as I didn´t care what he or indeed anyone would think of this either way.
"Okay then, Odysseus…" I told him with a tired but hopefully not too unbothered little chuckle, "…show me what you got."
POV Legoshi
When I woke up, I wasn´t in the cafeteria anymore. I was in a bed in the infirmary and it was dark outside in the meanwhile. The moonlight was shining through the big windows and just sparsely illuminated the otherwise empty bedroom I was laying in.
"What the hell happened? Did I pass out? How long have I slept?"
I pushed myself upwards with my arms so I was sitting upright on the matrass and took a closer look around the room. Then I suddenly noticed another source of light. There was somebody else here, sitting on a chair in another corner of the room a few beds away from mine, and his face was just slightly illuminated from the phone he was staring into in boredom.
At first I thought I wasn´t seeing right, but then as he looked at me, there was no question about it anymore: It was Louis who was sitting in here, having waited for me to wake up without anyone knowing about it, apparently.
"How did you get in here?" I asked him dryly but also with a bit of caution in my voice.
I had a lot of people expected to be here right now, but certainly not him.
"The Infirmary isn´t locked, neither is the main door…" he explained the obvious, putting his phone away now and standing up from his chair.
"What do you want?" I asked him, as he was walking closer towards my bed now.
"I want to save both our lives. They´ll try to kill the both of us in that meeting on Saturday."
"Who?"
"The freaking Shishigumi-idiots, who else?" he explained impatiently, "…don't you think I wouldn´t have killed every single one of them already if it was that easy?"
"Where do you know what from?"
"Let´s just say I overheard a conversation…"
I just kept on looking at him with a curious expression. He had to explain himself a whole lot better if he wanted me to trust him.
"…I´ve been talking to Ten already, she had already figured it out as well."
"Figured out…what?"
"I´m going to end the Shishigumi-dynasty once and for all. Those bastards are the scum of society and don't deserve to live one single further minute."
I looked him right in the eyes now, trying to find out if he was really serious about that statement or just acting something out once again. It wouldn't surprise me if he tried to screw me over yet once again. But I could literally sense his hatred for them in his eyes. He didn´t look away when I kept staring at him, and it didn´t look like I could bring him out of his calm with that either.
"…why haven't you told me that earlier?" I asked, still being slightly skeptical about it though.
"I´ve been trying to arrange that if you want to remember…" he sighed, "…but it´s not that easy if you get tranquilized all the time..."
"…but holding us prisoners in Port City helps?" I asked sarcastically.
"That´s the standard procedure of the clan. You should be glad I went for that option. And you should be glad I let them retrieve your car and your belongings…" he added dryly, "…but let´s skip all that nonsense! I don't have a lot of time. Let´s talk about that next meeting…"
I still just kept on looking at him, waiting for him to take the word again.
"…that white vixen…" he asked, "…Skye was her name, wasn´t it?
I nodded slowly.
"…what´s her deal?"
"She´s pissed off by all this bullshit, Louis. Isn´t it obvious? They tried to abduct her in her own flat…"
"Ten mentioned you may have something going on with her?" he ignored that, although it was obvious that he knew what I was talking about.
"…even if…what does that change? She´s not going to be your enemy if you want to destroy the Shishigumi."
"Ten doesn´t really have her under control, does she?"
"Don't know, do you have your clan under control?"
He just shook his head angrily. "That´s not my point, I want to…"
"That´s exactly the point, Louis!" I interrupted him coldly, "…those idiots pointed their guns at my head in front of the entire audience! I had to leave the premiere-performance because of that! Don't tell me you don't know how messed up that is!"
He now sighed deeply, but then he actually nodded a little.
"I would be pissed too if I was on that stage…" he confessed, "…but even Ten wanted it to be like that. I think they wanted to cause some rumors about you…"
"So it´s true. Skye said that as well. They needed me for promotional reasons. That´s why they gave me all that fancy stuff. They want me as their media-puppet."
"…I hope you finally understand that I´m really just trying to protect you, Legoshi" he told me with a serious expression, "…those lions all want to see you dead, every single one of them."
I nodded slowly, but I still had a few questions about that.
"…why haven't they killed you yet though?" I asked, as that hadn´t made any sense to me since quite a while already.
"They can´t. It´s been established since the beginnings that they can´t kill their leader. The would get executed themselves otherwise. But what they can and will do quite soon is overthrow my regime. They know I killed their boss to save you and Haru."
"What do you mean you saved us?"
"He tried to shoot you in the back from on top of the tower after you spared his life. But I stopped him before he could take a shot."
"What?!" I asked again, shaking my head in slight disbelief, "…but…but if you wanted to protect me all this time…then why did you try to poison me with Komodo-Dragon venom later?"
I had a hard time understanding all this in the meanwhile. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.
"As I said…" he sighed, "…I tried to scare you away from becoming a Beastar. Look where that has gotten you…"
"All this time? He´s been away from school all this time to protect me?! …or was he just making up some bullshit once again?"
I just nodded with a little sigh. In my mind this still wasn´t a legitimate reason to poison someone, but now I could at least sense where he was coming from. It really made me see it a little differently now that he had confessed all that.
As I wasn´t able to process all that in full detail just yet, I decided to focus on the more important topics now.
"So…what about that meeting on Saturday?" I wanted to know
He now hesitated a little once again. It didn´t seem like he had that totally figured out yet either.
"The only choice we have is acting out a really big fraud…" he began explaining, "…the only way we both make it out alive would be for you to repay, and for me to officially resign and choose a new leader for the clan."
"How can I repay them?"
That made him hesitate a little bit once again.
"Haru" he then said lowly.
"What about her?"
"Their leader died because you saved her. The only way they would let you live is for you to kill her."
"What?!"
"That´s not going to happen" he said with a calming motion of his hands, "…we need to knock them all out at once and then get them arrested by the police. That´s the only way."
That wasn´t too far off from what I was thinking, initially. We had to get them locked up, there weren´t any alternatives.
"…what about Rokka?" I wanted to know next.
He didn´t seem to be too sure about that either, as he went into a bit of a thinking pose for a moment.
"…I´ll try to keep him away from that meeting. I mean…this will be a shock for the little brat one way or another, but he shouldn't be around for that."
I nodded contentedly. I didn´t feel too sorry for the kid either, but I figured he had at least earned himself a second chance. I was glad Louis was thinking the same way about this.
Somehow, I felt quite relaxed in his presence in the meanwhile. He didn´t seem like a threat anymore but rather like somebody I was at eye level with. He was somebody one could normally talk to after all.
I took another short look around the room. He was still standing rather than taking a seat on one of the other beds, so I figured he didn´t want to spend any more time here than he had to.
"How do we do it?" I asked, "…how do we knock them out? Won´t they bring guns as well?"
He now wordlessly pulled a little bottle from his jacket and handed it over to me. It had a dragon-symbol on its label and the liquid inside of it was transparent.
"…I know you don't like it…" he said, "…but it´s your biggest advantage."
I nodded with a little sigh. My first impulse was that I wanted to disagree with that of course, but then I quickly realized that it might really be our best option after all, as daft as it sounded.
"If we get the deal sealed, we´ll have a toast on that decision and everybody at the table drinks a glass of whiskey from the same bottle."
"What about you? Won´t they insist you drink it as well?"
He now nodded with a slightly nervous expression.
"Well…that stuff doesn´t immediately kill you…it just makes you really vulnerable…" he explained, "…should be just enough for you to overpower them…hopefully."
I nodded slowly, giving it another quick thought in my head. It somehow sounded way too simple the way he was describing it right now, but as I didn´t have a better idea at the moment, I guessed that that really was the best option we had.
"You need to act this out like you´re on a stage" he told me with a serious expression, "…they need to think you´re really struggling with yourself when they ask you to kill Haru. You are a talented actor after all, Legoshi, I know you can do that."
I again just nodded slowly. I already knew this would be a whole lot of work to convince Gouhin and my Grandpa of this plan, but I needed both of them and I also really needed to get Haru into safety first. And it still could get more difficult.
"…what do we do if they don't drink it? Don't you think they´ll have their suspicions already?"
"I´m pretty sure they will drink once we emptied our glasses. But you should have some tranquilizer darts on you one way or another."
I wasn´t totally convinced of that theory either, but as I didn´t know any better answer to that either, I just nodded once again.
"It´s the only way…" he repeated, "…we don't really have any other options."
I nodded in agreement yet once again. "We have the same enemy. I´ll be on your side if you cut the bullshit."
Now it was him who nodded slowly, sighing a little but having a serious expression nevertheless.
There was not a whole more to add to this conversation, so he now turned around and went on his way towards the door slowly but surely.
He nodded towards me once more before he opened the door, but then he quickly stopped himself before he actually left: "Oh…one more thing" he told me with a little smirk before he left the room, "…be careful about the vixens! There is a reason that clan is so powerful. They are beautiful creatures, but they can be really dangerous as well."
I couldn't hide a little smirk when he said that. Something told me he knew what he was talking about. I didn´t say anything though and just watched as he finally left the room and closed the door behind him now.
"…look at him acting like a wise guy…" someone suddenly chuckled, and it surprised me so bad that chills ran down my spine. I turned to the other side of my bed quickly and Skye was standing behind me. It seemed like she had been listening for quite a while already.
"So it hasn´t just been my fur that smelled like her."
"W-what?" I chuckled, "…where have you been all this time?"
"Wouldn´t be so dangerous anymore if I told you all my tricks, would I?" she asked with an amused little smirk while carefully taking a seat on the edge of my mattress.
"I…I guess not…" I sighed, trying to calm down a little from that shock, "…has he known you´ve been here all this time?"
"No…" she said while shaking her head, "…I think he´s talking about Kan. Ten sent her to flirt with him so she could collect some intel."
"Kan?" I asked in slight confusion.
"She´s from the Inarigumi-elites, mostly because of her popularity" she explained with a little chuckle, before she added: "…I guess it worked."
I nodded slowly, not being able to hide a little smirk either. There really was something deliciously dangerous about the vixens, he sort of had a point with that.
"He´s not always the smartest guy in the room, is he?" I asked with a self-ironic little sigh.
She just shook her head with a little grin, then she placed one of her hands on my left knee gently.
"…how do you feel?" she changed the topic.
"Alright…I guess. How late is it?"
"Almost midnight…" she said, looking at the display of her phone quickly.
I took another quick look around the room, then I focused on her again.
"Can we go to my flat? I don't want to spend the night here."
She flashed her signature little smile at me once more, and that was just what I needed right now. She was just the most beautiful thing about every single one of my days, and it even, at least for a moment, made me forget about all that clan-business and the crooked premiere-performance today.
"I think they´re gonna be even more worried if they don't find you here in the morning…" she said, "…you should try to get some sleep."
"Oh no…come on…" I sighed, not wanting to spend a single further minute on this mattress, "…it´s not far to my flat anyway…"
POV Skye
The way he looked at me right now was just too adorable. I could tell how much he didn´t want to hear that right now, and he was not afraid of hiding it either.
"…I´ll be fine! I´ll tell them I´m okay right in the morning!"
My smile just widened a little bit.
"Don't leave me here, please" he added lowly, looking me right in the eyes with his long, innocent snout, "…I need you."
"Just why is this big fluffy goofball so irresistible? Why couldn't I just say no for once?"
We had fooled around after our combat-training the last three nights in a row and I had loved every single minute of it. From the talks, to the gentleness, to the sex, just everything about our relationship was just wonderful, and I would just be lying if I said I ever felt this happy with my life before. He was the first one in quite a while who really trusted me, and that alone made it feel so special.
I wanted this as well if I was totally honest with myself, but right now it probably was more important for him to stay here.
"Come on…" I told him, "…it´s just one night. You need to rest and gain some energy for tomorrow."
He wordlessly shook his head to that, raised one of his hands and waved me to come closer towards him. His expression was not lying to me, he meant it like that.
There was this fire in his eyes again, and I just couldn´t withstand that. It just turned me too weak to ignore it.
The moment I slid a little closer towards him on the mattress, he grabbed me with his strong arms and pulled me all the way towards him with one single move. Faster than I could look I was laying on top of him and he embraced me in a really tight and loving hug.
"You give me all the energy I could ever need…" he whispered into my ears with a happy smirk on his face.
At first I wanted to stop him and tell him that this really wasn´t a good place, but then I just accepted it once again. His body felt strong and warm and just fantastic. He also felt awfully calm right now, considering what he had just been discussing with Louis about their plan on Saturday.
I had the feeling he has gotten used to his new life in the meanwhile. It kinda felt like he was my teacher in some ways rather than me being his for some reason.
"…yeah, yeah…" I giggled, "…but us vixens are so dangerous, aren't we?"
He hugged me even tighter now, just like I was some big cuddly teddy-bear. His arms were so strong I couldn´t have moved a single inch from where I was, but yet once again he made me feel so warm and safe and wonderful that I couldn´t ever want to free myself away.
"Dangerous…" he told me while taking a big relaxed breath, "…but so beautiful…"
"Can´t you ever shut up?" I asked with a little chuckle, kissing him right on the lips to indeed make him shut up.
"No" he said while shaking his head very slightly, "…I won´t ever shut up about how beautiful you-"
I kissed him again and put my arms around him as well now. I didn't care anymore if Boris was still watching us through the bushes outside the window. He knew it anyway, and it wouldn´t really change anything in the end. I was in love, and I wasn't ashamed to admit it anymore. I´ve been hiding myself long enough.
"Can we go now?" he asked with a little chuckle after we broke the kiss, "…I somehow feel watched with the moon shining through the windows like that…"
"Oh…the moon is not the only one watching…" I told him with a dry but amused little chuckle, "…but yeah, you´re right…It´s really not that far."
Probably gonna take a little while again. I´m trying my best.
~furr