The performance of Adler was later that night. Lee needed to put the blackmail aside entirely until the show was over. Everybody in the Drama Club was on edge due to Ibuki's obsession with making sure everything went right. Doing this play wasn't even fun anymore. It was absolute torture.

Everybody got into costume. Sebastian and Viola looked awkward wearing different clothes. In fact, Sebastian was taking deep breaths and muttering to himself. According to Viola, as far as his mental disorder was concerned, wearing different clothes than his sister was a lesser form of being apart from her. Lee was worried about him.

The play began and the three villains stood together, stage left waiting for their turns. Esther turned to Lee. "Dad says Ibuki-kun's pops performed with an injured leg. He collapsed after the play ended and Dad had to take over. Pretty badass."

Lee chuckled. "And then my Dad slugged y-" The chimera stopped himself. As soon as he said that, Esther's ears lowered and her expression turned sad. He forgot what happened at a party a few years ago and how sensitive Esther was about that.

Lee heard heavy footfalls behind him and spotted Ben with a big grin on his face. "I finally get to see a performance of Adler. And by Louis, the red deer's son no less!" The elephant seemed incredibly giddy.

Esther chuckled. "So you heard about how good Louis was, huh?"

Ben looked at Esther, still smiling. "Of course! His performance was legendary! Especially for a mere high school production! I just hope his child possesses even a fraction of his talent!"

Lee's attention turned to Ibuki, who was putting on a great performance. Out of all his childhood friends, he envied his confidence the most. A chimera that was completely out in the open. One that didn't care what people would say about him or how many fights he would need to get in. The difference was that all fights Ibuki got into were self-defense. Because he was completely willing to take what was thrown at him. It made Lee that much more upset that their friendship ended for unknown reasons.

The white tiger lightly punched the chimera's shoulder. "That's your cue, Lee-kun!" Lee snapped out of his thoughts and walked onto the stage. The wolf-rabbit got into character right away, putting his sword on his shoulder while giving a malevolent grin.

Viola looked at him with fear and Ibuki pointed his sword at Lee. "Begone, demon! As long as I draw breath none shall touch this soul but me."

Lee started chuckling, but that chuckle turned into a loud, deranged cackle. "You think you-"

The chimera stopped when his ears picked up a strange noise. He looked up and saw a silhouette crouched on the steel beams that held up the lights.

Ibuki growled. "Don't tell me you forgot your lines."

Lee barely heard him, completely transfixed on the nutjob that was stupid enough to be up there. And in the middle of a performance no less. He wondered why this person looked like a big shadow. Upon closer inspection, they were dressed in black, including a face mask. The only thing that seemed to be uncovered was their eyes, but Lee couldn't even make out their color with them being so high up.

Lee's fur bristled when he spotted what the silhouette was carrying. It was a stage light, and it was being positioned directly above Ibuki's head. Lee gasped and dropped his sword, charging Ibuki and tackling him. Viola shouted in surprise as the wolf-rabbit suddenly assaulted another actor mid-performance.

CRASH!

The entire audience screamed when the light smashed against the ground. Lee looked up and spotted the silhouette running away. The chimera jumped to his feet. He pointed up to the beams. "Somebody call security now! Someone up there just tried to drop that on Ibuki-san!"

Ibuki sat up, his hat and mask were on the floor behind him. The deer-wolf seemed dazed and disoriented by what just happened. Lee and Viola got Ibuki to his feet and led him off stage.

Ben, the elephant looked at the light in absolute horror, his face turning pale as he ran backstage.

Sebastian handed Ibuki a bottle of water. "Here."

Ibuki took the bottle and drank from it. Judging by his wide-eyed expression, the deer-wolf was still in shock that somebody just tried to kill him.

Lee was talking with Sanu about who could have been responsible for the attempt on an actor's life. Ben stood to the side, not even carrying his notebook. The elephant looked incredibly disappointed that he didn't get to watch Ibuki's entire performance.

The doors swung open and Esther came storming in, looking furious. "Security couldn't find the bastard responsible."

The tiger clenched her fist and suddenly punched a wall, putting a hole through it. "When I find that piece of shit, I'm gonna strangle 'em!" Esther stormed out of the room.

Lee winced. The white tiger was completely unreasonable when she was that angry. All they could do was wait for her to calm down. According to Legosi, she also inherited her father's bad temper.

Lee felt a tap on his shoulder and saw Ibuki looking at him with a blush on his face. "Umm… Lee-san. Thank you. You saved my life out there."

Lee smiled. "Don't worry about it."

While the chimeras didn't get along, Lee would never allow Ibuki to be murdered. He just hoped that the deer-wolf would do the same for him.

Sebastian approached Ibuki and handed him his cellphone. "I told your mom what happened. She wants to talk to you."

Ibuki grabbed the phone and went into the dressing room, presumably so he could talk to her in private. Lee was still able to make out Ibuki's voice from the other side.

"Mom I- Mom. Mom, calm down, I'm okay. Please stop crying. Mom!"

Lee walked away from the door so he couldn't continue to unintentionally eavesdrop.

The police eventually came and took a statement. Unfortunately, there wasn't much information that he could give them. After they left, the wolf-rabbit went to the bathroom and pulled out his cellphone with a furious expression.

Lee: "Was that you that just tried to murder Ibuki-san?"

Unknown: "I did no such thing."

Lee: "How do I know you're telling the truth? You clearly hate chimeras."

Unknown: "I never said I hated you. I'm just looking out for other people."

Unknown: "Besides, the person that did it was a feline carnivore. I'm an herbivore in case it wasn't obvious."

Unknown: "I am not a killer. I just hope you can say the same about yourself."

The annoyed chimera growled. He didn't feel like talking to this creep anymore. Lee decided to call his father.

"Hey, Lee. Everything okay?"

Lee sighed. "No. Somebody just tried to kill Ibuki."

"What?! What happened?! Who did it?!"

Lee groaned. "We don't know who did it. Security couldn't find him."

"Hold on a second, Lee. Juno-chan is on the other line."

Lee patiently waited for his father to get off the phone with his friend.

"Juno-chan just told me you saved her son's life. Is that true?"

Lee chuckled, embarrassed. "I kinda had to tackle him."

Legosi laughed. "That's my boy! I'm very proud of you, Lee!"

The chimera blushed. "I-it's no big deal. Anybody else would have done it."

His father scoffed. "Not everyone is that brave, Lee. Give yourself a little credit."

Lee could hear his mother in the background. "You're a hero, Lee! You just saved someone's life!"

The chimera was feeling genuinely embarrassed by the amount of praise his parents were giving him.

Legosi coughed. "Juno-chan said to let you know you have her thanks. Louis-senpai would likely say the same. But he's been super busy, so I doubt the news has even gotten to him."

Lee nodded out of reflex, despite nobody being able to see it. "I'll talk to you guys later. Right now, I need a shower. Those stage lights are hot."

Legosi chuckled. "You're not wrong. Goodbye, Lee."

He heard his mother shout in the background. "Bye, sweetie!"

All of Esther's roommates sat on the floor as the enraged tiger growled and paced back and forth.

Mila looked concerned. "I'm sure they'll catch whoever did it."

Donna crossed her arms in contemplation. "Are you sure the light didn't just fall?"

Ceci shook her head. "Lee spotted somebody on the beams trying to drop it on him."

Hikari looked shaken. "A killer is running around this school right now." The lion's voice was trembling.

Esther's growl turned into a roar, causing everybody to jump somewhat. A vein was popping out on the tiger's head. An unquantifiable amount of burning fury was building in her.

Someone tried to kill her friend and they haven't been caught. The tiger's thoughts went to how much she'd like to rip into this person with her claws and tear them to tiny pieces.

A twisted grin formed on her face as she imagined slowly dragging her claws through their flesh and-

A horrifying realization hit her and she looked frightened for a second. Why did she think that just now? Perhaps it was because Lee mentioned it. But it took her back to what was easily her worst memory.

Four Years Ago

New Year's Eve. A party was being held at Bill's house. Esther and Lee were playing video games while Legosi, Haru, Louis, Juno, Bill, and Aoba were talking at the dinner table. Bill's wife had realized too late that they were out of paprika and had to rush to the store.

The recycle bin was full of beer cans. Most of which were from Bill himself, who was swaying around while everyone else looked exasperated. He always overdid it.

Bill grinned. "You were so good az Atler, Louis-shempai! Y-y'even did it with a meshed up leg!"

Louis sighed. "Yeah. I remember."

Bill chuckled. "I-I bet you could even do it now with jusht one leg!"

Legosi cleared his throat. "You're being a little insensitive, Bill-kun."

Bill scoffed. "Yeah, yeah." He took another sip of beer before his drunken grin returned. "Ey, Legoshi-kun!"

Legosi rolled his eyes. "It's 'Legosi'."

Bill waved him off. "Whadevah. You schtill got them stripesh?"

Haru glared daggers at Bill. "You really shouldn't be talking about that right now."

Esther's ears twitched. She started walking over to the table with a curious expression. "Legosi-san has stripes?"

Legosi scoffed. "They're not stripes, they're scars. And they don't go away. Ever."

Bill laughed and turned to his daughter. "Yeah, he meshed up my Adler performance. He gave me a black eye, sho I gave him shtripesh on his back. Like a tiger. Show 'er, Legoshi-kun!"

Legosi looked absolutely disgusted and indignant. "I'm not lifting my shirt at a party! Especially not for a minor!"

Aoba looked concerned. "I think you should back off, Bill-kun."

Bill rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. I gotta pissh."

The tiger stood up and walked around Legosi. Once he was behind the wolf, he grinned mischievously and quickly lifted Legosi's shirt, revealing the large, long, horizontal scars that stretched across his back.

Legosi pulled his shirt back down immediately and looked at Bill with an angry expression. "Hey!"

Bill chuckled and sat back down. He turned to his daughter. "What d'ya think of that?"

Esther looked absolutely horrified. "W-why would you do that to him?!"

Bill pointed a thumb at Legosi. "He punched me in da fashe. A lot. I got a black eye."

Esther growled. "So you gave him scars on purpose?! Over a black eye that'd heal up in a couple days?!"

Bill shrugged. "It's about da messhage, sweetie. He embarrasshed me in front of a whole audience. Ya can't let that slide. Ya gotta make an example of people sometimesh."

Esther clenched her fists as her fur started to bristle. "Legosi-san is your friend! How could you do that to your friend?!"

Bill rolled his eyes and picked his beer can back up. "You'll understand when yer older, sweetheart."

Esther's eyes widened and her pupils turned to slits.

BAM!

The entire party shouted in surprise as Esther suddenly punched her own father in the face, causing him to fall backward out of his chair, his beer spilling all over the floor as it flew out of his hand.

Esther started storming towards Bill but was stopped by Legosi, who restrained her from behind.

The white tiger's face was furious, but her eyes were tearing up. "You gonna give me scars too now?! Huh?!"

Bill sat up, dazed and confused, clearly having a hard time processing that his beloved daughter had just punched him.

She snarled. "When I grow up, I don't want to be anythinglike you!" The white tiger forced Legosi off of her before storming upstairs to her room.

Bill looked utterly heartbroken, as his daughter's words clearly hurt more than her fist. The rest of the night Esther never left her room and her father just sat in the reclining chair, staring off into space, too depressed to say anything to the guests.

The two eventually reconciled, but Esther would get upset every time she remembered what her father did to Lee's. Just knowing her father was capable of doing something so cruel had seriously damaged their relationship.

Ceci slowly walked up to her with a concerned expression. "Esther-chan? Are you okay?"

Esther snapped back to reality and looked at the cheetah. "Sorry, just got lost in thought for a sec."

Donna cleared her throat. "Well, I'm sure they'll catch the person responsible. Right now there's nothing that can be done. So let's just worry about it later."

Lin nodded. "I actually have some good news. My brother found a TV for pretty cheap online. So that'll be here in a couple of days."

Ceci grinned. "Nice! I'll ask Mom if she can mail me my DVD player."

Esther pulled out her phone. "Guess I can ask Dad to send me some games."

Donna smiled. "But first, we should shower. Especially you, Esther-chan, I can smell you from here."

Ceci nodded and pinched her nose. "Yeah, it smells like you got super sweaty."

The white tiger scoffed. "Alright, whatever."

Jiro sat on the floor, holding up his sketchpad. He flipped it to a drawing of himself with a determined expression. "Don't worry, Ibuki-kun. We won't let anyone touch you."

Ibuki nodded but didn't respond verbally. The deer-wolf was still shaken by what occurred. He couldn't get his mind off of it. Somebody tried to kill him. There's someone in this school that wants him dead . Ibuki tried to calm down, but he could feel himself trembling. If not for Lee, he would be dead.

The chimera's thoughts were interrupted when his phone started ringing. He checked it and saw it was his father. He answered.

"Hello?"

"Ibuki! Thank god you're alive!"

"You should thank Lee."

"I already have. Well, Juno did it for me. I had to call you as soon as I could. I'm so glad you're okay."

Ibuki chuckled. "Yeah, me too."

"I'm going to get you out of there. I promise I'll find a safer school to enroll you in."

Ibuki's heart sank. "No! Dad, I like it here."

"Don't be absurd. Somebody just tried to murder you."

"I'll be careful, Dad. Just don't drop me out."

"Careful? Ibuki, I almost lost you. My son was almost killed. It's not safe for you to be there."

"They'll find who did it. I've made some good friends here. Please, don't make me drop out!"

"Ibuki-"

"Dad, I'm begging you."

After a long pause, Louis sighed. "Fine. But on one condition. Stick to Lee-kun like glue."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because he saved your life and I can trust him to do it again. He's Legosi-kun's son, after all. Please, whenever you can, be around him."

Ibuki fell silent for a bit as he thought. He really didn't like Lee. But he did save his life. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to do as his father said. "Okay. I'll do it."

"Thank you, Ibuki. Please stay safe."

"I will. Bye, Dad."

Jiro flipped to the curious face. "What did your dad say?"

Ibuki sighed. "He's not dropping me out as long as I stay with Lee."

Jiro flipped to the big smile. "That's great news! He saved you once. I think that proves his trustworthiness."

Lucas nodded. "I know you don't like Lee-kun. But you can rely on him for this."

Ibuki took a deep breath. "Right. Well right now, I need a shower more than anything."

Everyone took their shower before going to bed. Ibuki had trouble sleeping, his mind constantly reminding him that somebody wants him dead. The deer-wolf didn't want to admit it. But he was scared. He'd never been more frightened in his life. Now he has to treat Lee as a bodyguard.

He sighed. Maybe it won't hurt to get a little closer to his fellow chimera.

"Esther. Wake up, honey."

Esther's eyes opened and she found herself at home in her bedroom. Her father was looking remorseful.

She sat up in her bed and he sighed. "I'm sorry I upset you at the party last night. I had way too much to drink and acted like an idiot. I shouldn't have shown you what I did to Legosi-kun." He looked at her with apologetic eyes. "I'm a sad excuse for a father. I hope you can forgive me."

Esther looked at him with a sad expression. "I'm sorry for hitting you, Pops."

He smiled and opened his arms. The two hugged each other tightly. In fact, Bill was hugging her a bit too tightly.

She laughed nervously. "Okay, that's enough, Pops. You're crushing me."

"Esther. Do you remember what I said at the party earlier?"

She winced and gasped as she felt his claws dig into her skin. "P-pops… please… d-don't..."

He growled. "When someone embarrasses you, you gotta make an example out of 'em."

He slowly dragged his claws through Esther's flesh. She screamed in pain as her warm blood started to drop down her back.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. In an instant, Esther was bigger, older, and not in her childhood bed. She regained her wits and realized she was in Cherryton again.

In a state of panic, she pulled off her shirt and reached her arm around to touch her back. No scars, no cuts, it was all the same.

She sighed. That damned dream again.

When Lee got back to the dorm he found himself being showered in praise again for saving Ibuki's life by his roommates. But at the time, the only thing the chimera wanted to be showered in was water.

The chimera scrubbed himself clean, occasionally looking over his shoulder in case the blackmailer showed up to take more videos. It would be a stupid thing to do, but Lee couldn't help but be paranoid.

After drying off, he watched a movie with Stanley before going to bed.

As he was lying in bed, he looked at his phone again and scrolled through the blackmailer's texts.

Something was bothering him, but the chimera was struggling to think of what it was.

He closed his eyes and thought about the events that had just transpired. After a while, his fur bristled, his ears shot up, and his eyes opened wide as a realization hit him.

He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt who the blackmailer was.