The entire room stared at the rabbit that somehow pinned a zebra to the floor.
Alfred squirmed under Lee's weight. "Get off me, freak!"
Lee pushed aside his concern about blowing his cover to deal with the belligerent zebra. "You gonna calm down? If you attack anyone again, I'll have to report you to the housemother."
Alfred growled. "Fine."
The chimera lifted off of the zebra. Alfred stood up, but then Lee pushed him in Stanley's direction. "Now apologize."
Alfred looked at Lee with a surprised expression before growling and turning to Stanley.
"I'm sorry for trying to hurt you, Stanley-kun." he slowly and awkwardly said.
The frightened anteater nodded. "I-It's okay. Sorry for calling you stupid."
Theo looked at Lee curiously. "How are you so strong?"
Lee cleared his throat. "I uhh… lift."
Theo raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Lift?"
Lee nodded. "At the gym. I like going to the gym. A lot."
There was an awkward silence for a minute. Lee decided to just crawl into bed and play on his cellphone for a bit. After drawing the curtains, he sighed. Another display like that and he'll be found out for sure.
He pulled out his phone and opened the messaging app.
Lee: "We're doing Adler, apparently."
Legosi: "Already? They usually save that for when the new members have more experience."
Haru: "What part are you playing?"
Lee: "One of the bad guys. The one with bandages on his head."
Legosi: "Interesting coincidence. I played that same role the first time I ever acted."
Haru: "Acted? All you did was beat the crap out of Bill and get yourself scarred."
Legosi: "Thank you for the reminder, dear."
Haru: "Any new friends?"
Lee: "Couple of my roommates. Oscar-kun is a nice guy. He's a Harlequin rabbit."
Legosi: "A Harlequin rabbit? Nice to hear they aren't extinct."
Lee: "He's also the first overweight person I've met. He has a pretty good sense of humor about it though."
Haru: "What's his mother's name?"
Lee tilted his head out of reflex. What a strange question. "Hey, Oscar-kun!"
"Yeah?"
Oscar's voice was directly under Lee, so he must have been in his bunk.
"What's your mom's name?"
There was a long pause. "...Mizuchi."
Lee: "His mom's name is Mizuchi."
Haru: "Show me a picture of him."
Lee raised an eyebrow. Why is his mother so curious? The chimera leaned off the edge of his bed and peeked through Oscar's curtains.
The rabbit was completely engrossed in a manga he was reading. Lee decided taking a covert photo wouldn't hurt, so he turned off the flash on his camera app.
He positioned the phone so it wouldn't be seen easily and took the photo. He then flipped the image right side up in a photo editing app.
He attached the image of his roommate to the text and sent it to his mother. Lee waited for a response. It took a very long time to get a reply, which was highly unusual for his doting parents.
Legosi: "Sorry about that, Lee. Your mother started laughing so hard she pulled a muscle."
Legosi: "It was scary. I thought she might need to go to the hospital. Seems she's over it now, thank goodness."
Lee was utterly confused.
Lee: "Why was she laughing?"
Legosi: "She's not telling me."
Lee sighed.
Lee: "I'll talk to you guys later. Night."
Legosi: "Goodnight, Lee."
Lee jumped out of bed to put his phone on the charger. There were no wall plugs in the bunks, so everybody had to put all their phones on the same windowsill.
"Lee-kun."
Lee turned around to see Oscar sitting up in bed, looking at him sadly.
"Can we talk in private again?"
The two sat in the showers once again.
Oscar looked at Lee with sad eyes. "So what did your mom say?"
Lee looked surprised. "How did you-"
"I heard the camera on your phone click. I don't care about that though. I just want to know if your mom laughed at me."
Lee briefly considered lying to spare the Harlequin rabbit's feelings. However, he felt that if he was dishonest, the rabbit might be able to tell and would be even more hurt.
"She did."
Oscar looked down at the floor as his ears drooped. "That's what I thought."
Lee looked at him curiously. "She didn't tell me why she was laughing. Do you know?"
Oscar sighed. "Your mom and my mom hate each other. In high school, my dad cheated on my mom with yours."
Lee flinched. He knew what Oscar was saying was probably true. The chimera was fully aware of how promiscuous his mother was in high school. He learned this a few years ago. But he didn't like thinking about that. He hated remembering how badly he reacted when he learned this and how cruel he was to his own mother. It was one of few times he had seen his mother cry. And it was his fault. His father had never been so furious with him before or since.
The chimera rapidly shook his head, trying to get that thought to go away. Everybody forgave each other. The past is the past.
Oscar stared at the floor. "My mother still talks about her sometimes. She constantly reminds Dad of when he was unfaithful and she called your mother awful names."
Lee looked at him with a sad expression. "I'm sorry my mom laughed at you."
The chimera's mother wasn't exactly known for her tact and sensitivity. But if it was any other obese rabbit she probably wouldn't have laughed. She laughed because it was Mizuchi's son. But Oscar wasn't responsible for the actions of his parents.
The heavyset rabbit chuckled. "It's okay. I don't blame her for laughing. I'd laugh too in her shoes."
Lee shook his head. "It's not okay. She has no right to treat you like a joke just because she hated your mom. I'll call her tomorrow and ask her to apologize."
Oscar looked up at Lee with a horrified expression and started waving his hands around. "N-no! Y-you really don't need to do that!"
Lee smiled. "My Mom may be insensitive but she's a very understanding person. She'll get it. She probably feels bad right now."
Oscar scoffed. "I wish she was my mom, too. My mother is as far from understanding as you can get." He chuckled under his breath. "I'd also be as tall and strong as you."
Lee laughed. "It's not that great being me, you know. People call me a 'freak' and an 'abomination' all the time. Or they say that I look 'weird' and 'creepy'." The chimera's ears drooped and he started looking sad himself. "At least you can just lose weight. I can't do anything about my appearance." He stared at his gloves. "I just have to pretend I'm something I'm not."
Oscar shrugged. "You're big and muscular though. It'd still be easier for you to get a girlfriend." Oscar's eyes shifted around awkwardly. "Or a boyfriend. I shouldn't assume."
Lee laughed. "Don't worry about it. I like both."
Oscar nodded. "That's cool. I'm only into girls, myself. Which is good, because if I was gay my mom might literally kill me."The Harlequin rabbit scratched his chin, pondering. "What kind of person would you want as a… uhh… 'partner'?"
Lee crossed his arms in contemplation. "I never really thought about it. I guess they have to be nice."
Oscar snorted. "Wow, what a great answer," he said sarcastically. "Everybody wants their partner to be nice. What about, y'know, body type?"
Lee tapped his foot as he thought. "Well. More slender people I guess. Like. Kinda effeminate? Or very effeminate. Or maybe just effeminate in general?"
Oscar rolled his eyes at the vagueness of Lee's answers but laughed shortly thereafter. "Alright. That's enough love talk and feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's go back before the janitor shows up."
When the two returned to their dorm, Lee noticed he had a notification on his phone. He unlocked it and checked his text messages. He had a new one from his mother. Lee smiled as he read it.
"I'm sorry about laughing at your friend, sweetie. I had no right to make fun of him over an old grudge I held against his mother. I'm glad that you two are friends despite your mothers not seeing eye to eye. Goodnight, sweetie."
Lee handed the phone over to Oscar. After reading the text, he smiled too. Lee took back his phone and put it on the charger. The two climbed into their respective beds and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Esther got into her new uniform and admired herself in the mirror. Like most students, she decided to skip the green blazer. But the blue and grey uniform really complimented her white fur. Despite being a boy's uniform, it felt like it was meant for her.
She scowled. The hell is even the point of limiting who wears what clothing to their gender? It's just cloth isn't it? It's just cloth you put on your body so you aren't naked, what's the big deal? Same thing with Sebastian being bullied. Why do people get so offended by a guy in a dress?
She stepped out into the hallway of the girl's dorms and very quickly caught the attention of everyone she passed by. The tiger was happy she had a female figure. Her waist, hips, and above-average chest size all guaranteed she wouldn't be mistaken for a male and reported to the Housemother. She doesn't need to be harassed by some old hag.
She stepped out of the building and into the yard and immediately had the attention of the male students. She chuckled to herself as she strutted about the campus in her new uniform. The white tiger unrepentantly craved attention and boy she was getting it. And, ironically, all she had to do to stand out so much was wear an outfit that half the students already wore.
On her way to class she crossed paths with Lee, who did a double-take when he spotted her. "Woah."
Esther smirked. "What d'ya think?"
Lee chuckled. "Suits you way better than the girl's uniform for sure."
The white tiger snorted. "I'll give 'ya my old uniform, bet it'd suit you."
Lee punched Esther in the shoulder, which caused her to laugh as the two entered the main building and started walking to their classes. The two split up and went to their respective classrooms. Unsurprisingly, the students were whispering.
"That's a girl, isn't it?"
"Where'd she get that uniform?"
"Is she allowed to wear that?"
"Must be. Look, it's tailored to fit her."
"Can I be honest? She looks kinda hot in that."
"Really? You've got weird taste, dude."
The white tiger smirked as she listened to the chatter. Everyone was looking at her.
From a large crowd of students, she heard somebody shout. "Dyke!"
Esther chuckled. "You know it!"
Several of the students in the hallway laughed. They can call her whatever they feel like. She'll take it in stride. She may be a girl, but she's more manly than a lot of the guys here, and she wanted everyone to know that.
Lee was sitting with Oscar as he ate lunch. They were discussing miscellaneous things including what those movies Stanley likes mean, when he overheard some people having a conversation at another table.
"Did you hear about the chick in the Gardening Club?"
"Yeah, what is it about that place and sluts?"
Lee's ears twitched. They weren't talking about his mother, were they? She left high school two decades ago. He turned his head to see the conversation was between several carnivores at a table nearby.
Lee's eyes were immediately drawn to an absolutely massive Great Dane. Even sitting down, he was alarmingly tall.
The Great Dane chuckled while talking amongst his friends. "I heard 'bout her. Only member 'n she's some big tittied bimbo."
Lee accidentally snapped his plastic fork in half, which frightened Oscar. The Harlequin rabbit looked at him with concern. Lee just laughed with a fake smile. "Sorry, I don't always know my own strength."
The chimera, as a bisexual male, also felt an inherent attraction to large-chested women. However, the more lewdly a person's body was described behind their back, the angrier he got, as it gave him flashbacks to middle school.
He was close friends with a girl named Olivia. Much like her father, she was a genius. She suffered from intense shyness but planned to overcome it so she could become a college professor someday.
However, when her middle school days came, puberty seemed to have a sick sense of humor, as she grew very large breasts. A girl that hated attention was often subjected to sexual harassment, people staring at her chest, and untrue rumors of promiscuity. Being bullied for aspects of your appearance that you have no control of. Lee could sympathize. The constant sexual objectification made things worse than ever. She always just wanted to hide somewhere she couldn't be seen.
One student made the mistake of groping her, which made her extremely distraught. Lee had beat up other kids before, but this was particularly severe. The school threatened to expel him if his parents didn't have him go to counseling. Perhaps it was a tad extreme to repeatedly stomp on his hand and intentionally break his fingers.
His excessive brutality felt good at the time but turned out to be a huge mistake. Olivia stopped talking to him and his parents lost a lot of money in a settlement with the kid's parents as well as bills for therapy. That was the first time Lee realized the very real consequences that could come from his actions. He wanted to say he learned his lesson, but he could feel his subconscious telling him to deck this guy. And for someone he's never even met.
Still, the chimera decided to try and push it out of his mind. Fighting everyone else's battles was a pointless endeavor and he made a promise to his parents. Besides, nobody likes a white knight.
The Great Dane continued his lewd talk about the things he wanted to do to this "bimbo" and Lee attempted to tune him out by discussing as many things as he could with Oscar.
When both of them finished eating, Lee was relieved to get out of there.
Ibuki sitting at a table alone as he read the script for Adler. He had pretty much all of it memorized at this point.
Suddenly, Jiro took a seat next to him. The fox set his tray on the table and pulled out his notepad, showing the chimera a smiling face.
"So you're in Adler, huh?"
Ibuki nodded. "I'm the lead. Just like my parents when theywere in Drama Club."
Jiro chuckled. "Honestly, I would've loved to join Drama Club. But generally, you need to be able to emote to act."
Ibuki shook his head. "There's non-acting roles. Costumes, lighting, prop design, etcetera."
Jiro nodded. "I suppose I could try that. Maybe I'll swing by today. I know a bit about painting. I might be able to make some backdrops."
Ibuki nodded. "If your painting skills are as good as your sketching, your work will be appreciated, I'm sure."
The fox didn't respond. He seemed to have gotten distracted by something. Ibuki followed his line of sight. He choked on his soy patty when he saw it. Esther was wearing a boy's uniform.
Jiro tilted his head. "I didn't know they let female students wear the boy's uniform."
Ibuki pounded on his chest until he could feel the fake meat slide down his esophagus. "They usually don't. The only exception I've seen before is Sebastian-kun."
Jiro flipped to the curious drawing. "Who's Sebastian?"
Ibuki scanned the crowd and spotted the twins sitting at a table with a bunch of female herbivores. He pointed their direction. The fox spotted them and his jaw dropped.
He quickly pulled out his sketchpad and started drawing as he stared at the two Dall sheep.
Ibuki snorted. "Y'know, it's kinda creepy to draw someone without asking first."
The fox completely ignored him. So, Ibuki just shrugged and went back to his meal.
The girls in the Drama Club's locker room stared at Esther as she walked in and opened her locker before starting to take off her uniform to switch into her gym clothes.
Ceci giggled and pointed to her right. "Excuse me, you're in the wrong place. The boy'slocker room is over there."
Esther smirked. "Very funny."
As much as she was enjoying her uniform, choreography practice really works up a sweat.
She noticed the twins were talking to somebody she didn't recognize. He looked like a fox, but there was something weird about his face. He was showing them something on a big sketchpad. Whatever was on there, they seemed pleased by it.
The white tiger decided to talk to this guy and satisfy her curiosity. When she came in close she could see that the sketchpad had a drawing of the twins on it. It was insanely well drawn and made them look absolutely gorgeous. The amount of detail was shocking. In the drawing they were both wearing incredibly detailed, identical dresses that looked like something out of a medieval fantasy story.
The fox handed Sebastian the sketchpad and pulled a little notepad out of his pocket. He showed them a drawing of him smiling. "Sorry if it was weird to draw you without permission. I just got inspired."
Sebastian smiled. "Oh, not at all!"
Viola grinned. "We love it!"
Esther approached the fox. "'Ey. I'm Esther." She bowed.
The fox turned to face her and flipped his notepad to a big smiling face before also bowing. "I'm Jiro. Sorry, about the notepad. I can't move my face that well."
Esther looked at him curiously. "How come?"
He flipped over to the small smile. "I'm a Tibetan fox. Our face muscles are underdeveloped. Making facial expressions is nearly impossible. So I just let this little notebook of mine do the expressing for me."
He flipped to the big smile. "I've got something for you, too."
He held out his hand to Sebastian, who gave the sketchpad back. Jiro then flipped it to the next page. Esther was surprised by what she saw. It was a drawing of her, but carrying a massive sword and dressing like a barbarian, he even drew her with muscles. The white tiger grinned. "That's awesome!"
He chuckled. "I'm glad you like it!"
He shut the notepad and sketchpad. "I can't spend all day sketching, though. I should start working on that backdrop. Nice meeting you!"
Jiro left.
When Esther was growing up, people mocked her for having white fur. She wondered how badly a boy with a face like that got treated.
When Lee arrived at Drama Club, Sanu was excited to see him. "We'll be working on choreography next. So you will be clashing blades against Adler himself."
Lee quietly sighed. Now he had to directly practice with Ibuki. Wonderful.
The deer-wolf and wolf-rabbit stood across from each other on the stage, carrying wooden swords in their hands. According to the script, Lee was to get a few hits in on Ibuki before losing. He certainly didn't like the idea of even pretending to lose a fight to this guy.
Sanu stood to the side, carrying his clipboard. "Aaaaaand… Action!"
Lee attacked first, swinging from the right towards Ibuki's side. Ibuki deflected the blow before striking Lee on the right cheek.
"Ow!"
Ibuki growled. "You were supposed to duck. Did you even read the instructions?"
The wolf-rabbit groaned in pain. "Ugh… Oops."
Ibuki rolled his eyes. "Start over."
Lee attacked from the right again. Ibuki deflected the blow and swung at Lee's head. This time, the wolf-rabbit was able to duck.
Ibuki then stabbed at Lee's gut, but the wolf-rabbit parried the blow. Lee raised the sword above his head and brought it down upon the deer-wolf, who blocked it with his blade.
Lee used the grip of his sword to jab Ibuki in the gut, and Ibuki pretended to be blown back. Lee stabbed Ibuki's right shoulder, this time, as scripted, the deer-wolf took the blow.
He grunted in pain before striking Lee's left arm.
"Agh!"
Ibuki sighed. "You were supposed to block that."
Lee nodded. "Lemme go again."
Ibuki scoffed. "Take this seriously. Or I'll ask Sanu to replace you."
The two raised their swords again and were able to follow the choreography perfectly with Lee managing to not make any more mistakes.
Sanu looked at his clipboard. "That's enough! Excellent work, you two."
The chimeras set down their blades and walked off stage. Lee was somewhat tired and drank from his water bottle, which he left on a nearby stool.
"You two looked cool up there."
Lee turned around to see the twins behind him, both giving him a sensuous stare. Lee gulped nervously. He actually did find both twins to be very attractive, so their flirtatious teasing was extremely effective against him.
Viola turned to her brother. "What do you think, Bast? How 'bout I have Ibuki-kun and you get Lee-kun?"
Lee started to blush as the male sheep approached him.
Sebastian put his hands behind his back and leaned in close. "Hmm… Maybe. He does have a certain appeal."
Lee's heart started hammering like crazy. He was terrible when it came to flirting. When he tried to flirt, it ended in disaster. When someone flirted with him, he completely locked up.
Esther approached, chuckling. "Okay, that's enough, you two. You shouldn't mess with him like that."
Sebastian scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm not actually interested." He turned back to the chimera. "If you ever want to sneak out after dark, I know a spot in the woods nobody would hear us."
The chimera's face was practically on fire and he could swear steam was coming out his ears. "I-I-I-I-I-I…" Lee stammered. Was this Dall sheep really offering himself up like that or was it just a joke?
The twins giggled and left, leaving the chimera flustered and unable to think straight. Those two will drive him insane.
Stanley approached Lee. "Lee-kun."
Lee turned to the anteater. Stanley pulled out a drawing of a gate adorned with roses. "We need some red roses from the Gardening Club. Can you get some?"
Lee nodded. "Which building is it?"
Lee was curious to meet this Gardening Club member. That incredibly disrespectful Great Dane called her a "bimbo." But Lee wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be of above-average intelligence.
When he got to the top of the stairs he could smell the flowers before opening the door. Lee's favorite thing about inheriting his father's sensitive nose was how wonderful the scent of flowers was. When he was living with his parents he would occasionally sniff the flowers in his mother's garden, which she very much appreciated.
When he opened the door he started to smell something else. It was an extremely familiar scent. But one he hadn't smelled in a long time. He racked his brain for who it was. Usually, Lee could memorize scents well. But the flowers were somewhat masking the smell. He was at least able to smell that this person was a female canine.
He followed the scent to see a girl watering flowers. She was bent over with her back to him, so he couldn't see her face. "Excuse me."
The girl set down the watering can. When she stood up, Lee nearly gasped when he saw she was a black-furred canine.
The girl turned towards Lee and a look of surprise crossed her face. A bespectacled black lab.
The lab tilted her head. "Lee-kun?"
Lee stood there, dumbstruck. "Olivia-chan?"
At first, Lee was happy to see an old friend. But then the Great Dane's words echoed through his head.
"Only member 'n she's some big tittied bimbo."
Lee smiled at her, but his fist tightened, and his left eye twitched as that Great Dane's stupid face flashed through his mind.
The chimera wanted to KILL.