Ibuki walked through the lunchroom with his tray and spotted Lee and Oscar. He remembered what Ben and his father said. So he steeled himself and walked over. The deer-wolf sat down across from his fellow chimera who looked at him with a surprised expression. "Ibuki?"

Ibuki gulped. "I-it's okay if I sit here, right?"

Lee nodded, so Ibuki sat down. He stared at the wolf-rabbit awkwardly. "So umm… H-how was your day?"

Lee scoffed. "What's with the small talk?"

Ibuki shrugged. "I mean… It's just that I think we should. Y'know, bury the hatchet or something."

Oscar tilted his head. "You mean you want to be friends with Lee-kun again?"

The deer-wolf nodded. "I don't want to fight anymore." He turned towards Lee with an uncertain expression. "Is that okay?"

Lee chuckled. "Of course that's okay."

Ibuki laughed nervously. "I know I already said this but… I really can't thank you enough for saving my life."

The wolf-rabbit smiled. "Don't worry about it, man. I'm not the kind of person that just sits by when somebody's about to die."

The deer-wolf nodded before biting into his fake meat patty.

Lee looked at it with some fascination. "Just out of curiosity, have you ever had real meat, Ibuki? Err… Ibuki-kun?"

Ibuki shook his head. "I don't mind this fake stuff but, I really don't like the idea of eating a person's flesh. Even if they're already dead."

Lee nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to either. I was just curious about how close to the real thing it tastes like."

Ibuki swallowed. "Ask Esther if her dad knows. I know for a fact he bought black-market meat."

Oscar squirmed. "It's really weird thinking about it. There's probably someone in this lunchroom right now that's eaten rabbit."

The deer-wolf shrugged. "Not much you can do. Carnivores need meat."

Lee looked at him curiously. "Except for you."

Ibuki nodded. "I'm half-deer anyway. Lee and I can eat whatever we want. Well, except for onions. I can't eat those."

Lee chuckled. "Neither can I. Canines andlapines can't have onions."

As they conversed, Ibuki spotted a male lion janitor in a hat mopping the floor. This seemed a bit odd since lunch was still going on. He was starting to wonder if he was getting too paranoid.

Lee and his friends met up in the Gardening Club. Theo was on the bed with his laptop again.

"Unfortunately, I was only able to find one person that might be a suspect. A guy from Drama Club named 'Trevor'."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Trevor-kun? That guy has been super nice to everyone."

Lee turned to face the twins. "Who's Trevor?"

Theo flipped his laptop around. On the screen was data on a student. The name said "Trevor" and it featured a photo of a familiar brown bear.

Lee's ears shot up as he recognized him. "Oh! Him."

Trevor was a member of the backstage crew. His specialty was making costumes. He was big and intimidating but very sweet if a bit shy. Lee hadn't talked to him much but he seemed very nice.

Lee raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why didyou put him there?"

Theo adjusted his glasses with a serious expression. "His father is Riz, the bear."

Upon hearing that name, Lee got goosebumps. His dad had told him stories about Riz. A bear that seemed cuddly and innocent, but was secretly a deranged killer.

The chimera turned around when he heard a faint whining sound. Sebastian was very tightly hugging Viola and trembling. Lee then remembered that Pina was almost eaten by Riz. Sebastian must have heard scary stories about him from his father.

Viola stroked Sebastian's back and shushed him. "It's okay, Bast. He can't hurt you."

Even Ibuki looked somewhat frightened. "Why didn't I know this?"

Theo shrugged. "He probably doesn't like talking about it. If my Dad was a psycho like Riz, I wouldn't want people to know either. Although from what I've seen, this fact still made its way into the rumor mill."

Lee tilted his head. "What's his motive though?"

Ibuki turned his attention to Lee. "Our fathers put his away for years. Maybe he's out for revenge."

Olivia didn't look confident. "But he was only in juvie for a few years. He wasn't even born until after Riz was released."

Esther nodded. "I agree with Liv-chan. Seems like a big risk and a total waste of effort. I wouldn't bother killing someone that put mydad away for a couple of years before I was even born."

Theo gave another shrug. "It's a stretch. But I'm considering all suspects."

Lee pondered this. Would it be even remotely worthwhile to kill the child of someone that aided in your father's brief imprisonment that ended before you were born? It's certainly a far stretch.

When everybody split up, Sebastian was still somewhat shaken and clung to his sister's arm. It's strange how emotionally vulnerable he can be despite his usual confident and flirty demeanor.

As Lee walked through the door back into the school, he saw Olivia and Esther were staying behind in the shed. He couldn't hear their conversation but they were both smiling as they spoke. It was nice to see those two finally getting along.

As he descended the stairs, he encountered Ibuki. The deer-wolf had a sad yet contemplative look on his face as he stared out the window. Something was weighing heavily on his mind. But Lee wasn't sure if he should ask what. Perhaps it'd be better to leave him to his thoughts for now.

"What're you gonna do, fatass?"

Lee took a right and saw at the very end of the hallway, Oscar was sitting on the floor and glaring at a male wolverine that appeared to be laughing at him. Ibuki followed close behind.

Theo was kneeling next to Oscar and also glaring at the wolverine. "The hell's wrong with you?! He didn't do anything to you!"

The wolverine laughed. "Hey, you look smart since you got glasses and all. Maybe you can do my homework. Oh wait, that's right. You're a goat. You'd just eat it."

Lee growled and stormed in the direction of the offending mustelid, completely prepared to fight, while Ibuki followed him cautiously.

Suddenly, Lee heard a very deep voice. "Now that isn't very nice."

When Lee got halfway down the hallway, a massive brown bear appeared from around the corner and lifted the wolverine off his feet by the back of his shirt. Lee recognized him as Trevor from Drama Club. The wolverine started kicking. "P-put me down!"

The bear shook his head. "You shouldn't be making fun of people. I don't think you'd like to be mocked like that either."

The wolverine scoffed. "Hey, who's on the menu today? I heard from your dad that alpaca is all the rage."

The bear had a sad expression. "You shouldn't make fun of who my papa is either. You wouldn't like me making fun of yourparents."

The wolverine chuckled. "My parents aren't murderers. Hey, wait a sec. I get it now. You wanna eat that fat rabbit, dontcha?"

Trevor growled. "Please stop acting like this. This is your last warning."

The wolverine cackled. "Look at you, actin' all polite. I bet that alpaca was screamin' stuff like 'Please don't eat me!' but that didn't stop yer dad. You think I'm taking advice from a predator's-"

The mustelid yelped as he was suddenly tossed up into the air. Before he could come down and hit the floor the bear punched him in the back, sending him flying across the hallway, screaming.

Lee winced as he heard the wolverine slam into something and start groaning in agony. "M-my back… I think you broke my back…"

Trevor snorted and walked over to Oscar, offering him a hand. The Harlequin rabbit grabbed it and the bear lifted him to his feet.

Trevor gave him a concerned look. "I hope he didn't hurt you too badly."

Oscar laughed. "I just got shoved. I think you hurt him way worse."

The bear frowned sadly. "I don't like hurting people. I really wish that guy just apologized."

Lee approached the bear. "You're Trevor-kun, right?"

Trevor smiled as the chimera approached. "Oh! Hello, Lee-kun!"

Lee's eyes were drawn to the wolverine, who was currently twitching on the floor. It didn't look like anything life-threatening so the chimera decided to leave the mustelid to his well-deserved suffering.

Lee turned back to Trevor while pointing a thumb at Theo. "Hey, do you remember when Theo-kun here broke a stage light? We think someone took it out of the trash after he threw it out. It's really important we find out who."

The bear scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Oh. That was me."

Ibuki raised an eyebrow. "You took a broken light out of the trash?"

Trevor sighed and looked sad. "My mama hasn't been doing too good since papa left. She's in a lot of debt. I tried to go into town and sell that light to a scrap shop. But they only gave me five-hundred yen for it."

Lee rubbed his chin as he got deep in thought. So somebody must have gone into town and purchased that light from the scrap shop.

Oscar gave him a curious expression. "Did anybody follow you?"

The bear crossed his arms and tapped his foot in contemplation. "Hmm…"

Trevor's eyes shot open with a shocked expression. "Aah!"

The three friends looked at him excitedly. Lee grinned. "You remember something?"

The bear looked confused. "Uh… No. Sorry." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of honey. "My pills are just giving me a nasty headache."

Trevor held the bottle above his head and looked up with his mouth open. He squeezed it and the golden-colored nectar started dripping into his maw. He swallowed and put the bottle back in his pocket. "I wish you guys luck in… whatever it is you're doing." The bear walked away.

Lee sighed. "Guess we'll have to go to that scrap shop tomorrow. Hopefully, they'll be willing to tell us who bought it."

The other two nodded and all three of them went back to their dorm.

After their meeting, Esther stayed behind with Olivia to do more homework. However, her sadness was written all over her face.

Olivia pointed at one of the problems. "And this one is?"

Esther looked at it. "Umm… Five seventy-five?"

Olivia shook her head. "Five eighty."

The white tiger sighed. "Oh."

The lab looked concerned. "You seem depressed, Esther-chan. What's wrong?"

Esther looked dejected. "Nothing important. Just some dumb drama in my dorm."

Olivia put a hand on Esther's shoulder "You can tell me."

The white tiger looked at her with a wry smile. "The other girls found out I'm a lesbian. Now they don't want me to shower with them anymore."

Olivia gasped. "Oh my god, that's awful! How could they do that?"

Esther shrugged. "I mean, they're uncomfortable, whatever." She chuckled. "I act and dress like a boy anyway. I can't blame 'em."

The lab furrowed her brow. "That's absurd. You're a girl just as much as they are. They have no right to treat you like that!"

Esther sighed. "What about you, Liv-chan?"

Olivia looked confused. "What aboutme?"

The white tiger looked at her sadly. "What if I told you I stare at your tits while you're tutoring me?"

There was an awkward silence.

Olivia sighed. "I wouldn't be shocked or disgusted. Because I already know that."

Esther looked shocked. "W-what?!"

Olivia smirked. "Come on, Esther-chan. It's not like you're subtle about it." Her smirk turned into an understanding smile. "It's a tadcreepy, but you're just a hormonal teenager. You'll probably grow out of it."

Esther still looked ashamed. "But, I've been looking at your body even though I knowyou don't like it. I'm a terribleperson."

Olivia gave an awkward look before blushing. "What if I told you, I admire your body, too?"

Esther looked dumbfounded. "Wait. What?"

The lab looked embarrassed. "I've always held an attraction to muscular people. Male or female, there's just something about it that… well… doessomething for me. I can't control that part of myself either. So I don't feel ashamed of my attraction. You shouldn't be ashamed either."

The white tiger looked baffled. "But you hatepeople looking at your boobs!"

Olivia shook her head. "I'm not saying I enjoy it. Nor am I justifying you staring at them. I'd prefer it if you didn't. But I can tell you've been trying not to." She smiled. "Besides, you've made so muchprogress with your homework. Clearly it's not a completedistraction."

Esther nervously scratched at her neck. "I-I guess."

Olivia frowned sadly. "If anybody is a terrible person, it's me."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Olivia sighed. "I didn't like you for the longest time. I thought you were… stupid… beneath me, somehow. Just because you weren't as smart as me. That'swhat a bad person does." She smiled. "But I got to know you. I realized the way I viewed you was incredibly uncharitable, and that you have plenty of redeeming traits that I was too myopic to see."

Esther blushed. "Y-yeah? I mean, you're right about me not being smart. But, I'm glad we're getting along."

Olivia nodded. "Now that that's out of the way, do we move on to question eight?"

Esther cleared her throat. "I-I mean. There's somethin' else I wanted to ask."

Olivia looked at her curiously.

Esther fidgeted nervously. "Um. Would you… Uhh… I mean…" She took a deep breath. "W-would like to uh… do something… sometime?"

Olivia blinked in confusion but then gave a knowing smirk. "Are you inviting me out on a date?"

Esther's face turned beet red. "I-I mean, I get it if you're not interested. I'm not that smart and I stare at you and all but…"

The black lab gave her a serious look. "What is it you really want, Esther-chan?"

Esther looked confused. "H-huh?"

Olivia sighed. "What do you really like? Me? Or my body?"

Esther bit her lip. "Am I allowed to say both?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Both?"

The tiger's face grew redder. "I mean. I dothink you're hot but. You're really nice, and smart, and pretty, and attractive and…" She looked sad. "You're just better than me in every way. You have everything that I don't."

Olivia stared at the tiger for a while before smiling. "You're an interesting person, Esther-chan. I'm surprised you're interested at all, considering you're a feline and I'm a canine."

Esther scratched her ears. "Y-yeah. But. If wolves can get together with rabbits and deer then…"

Olivia chuckled. "Okay, that's fair." She gave Esther a warm smile. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try a date or two."

Esther beamed. "Y-you won't regret it, Liv-chan."

Olivia smirked. " Ifyou can keep your grades up."

The tiger blinked in confusion but then nodded. "If you're helping, I can do it!"

The lab patted her on the shoulder. "That's my Esther."

Lee was lying on his back in his bed, cell phone in hand.

Lee: "Riz's son is going to Cherryton. His name is Trevor."

Legosi: "Riz has a son? He didn't seem the type. I can't imagine him settling down like that."

Lee: "Well, he said something about how his dad left his mom."

Legosi: "I'll never understand that guy."

Haru: "He must have had some serious mental problems. I hope it's not a hereditary thing."

Lee: "A lot of people distrust him because of who his dad is."

Legosi: "That's unfortunate. I can't imagine what that poor kid has to go through."

Haru: "Seems unfair to be blamed for something one of your parents did."

Lee: "He seems like a really nice guy, too."

Legosi: "So did Riz. So if anything, being nice will make people trust him less."

Haru: "Do you think you could try being his friend, Lee? I bet he's really lonely."

Lee: "Yeah. He goes to Drama Club. I'll see if I can hang out with him some time."

Legosi: "Just be careful."

Lee: "Why should I be careful? Didn't we just say it's not his fault what his dad did?"

Legosi: "You're right. That was insensitive of me. I guess I'm just always worried about your safety."

Haru: "After what happened with Ibuki-kun, who could blame you?"

Lee: "It's my turn to shower. I'll talk to you guys later."

Haru: "Goodnight, sweetie! I love you!"

Legosi: "Goodnight, Lee."

While Lee scrubbed himself down in the shower, he thought about everything that's happened. Perhaps he shouldn't have expected his time in Cherryton to be "normal" given his mixed blood and who his father is. But he had to feel even worse for Ibuki, who couldn't hide his genetics.

Lee sighed. Every time a friend of his was bullied, somebody else had to step in. The chimera was frustrated that he wasn't able to help anybody and had to stand by the sidelines. His promise not to get into fights felt like his hands being tied behind his back. Is pacifism even worth it if someone else is getting hurt?

He also thought about what his father texted him earlier. "Just be careful."

It seemed even Lee's kind-hearted father wasn't above discriminating against somebody for their heritage. Of course, the chimera didn't blame his dad for being concerned. But perhaps that's just a sign that you can never really ignore who your parents are. Lee was starting to wonder if maybe he should just cut himself a tail hole and toss his gloves in a dumpster.

Hiding was starting to get tiring.

When Lee left the shower he spotted Alfred leaving the dorms and running around the corner of the hall. Then Lee started to hear wheezing. The curious chimera decided to investigate. He walked around the corner and was surprised to see the one wheezing was the zebra.

Trembling, Alfred reached into his pocket and pulled out a red piece of plastic with some kind of canister in it. An inhaler? The zebra exhaled and wrapped his lips around it. He pressed down on the canister and did a deep inhale. Lee was surprised; he had never seen Alfred do this before.

The zebra sighed and turned to walk back to the dorm. His eyes widened in shock when he saw the chimera standing there. Alfred quickly shoved the inhaler in his pocket.

Lee tilted his head. "I didn't know you had asthma."

The zebra growled. "Because it's not your business! And this doesn't mean anything! I can still run!"

The chimera was taken aback by Alfred's hostility. "I didn't say anything about you not being able to run."

Alfred grumbled. "I just always hear that crap all the time. People telling me not to exert myself and that I shouldn't be doing athletics. Especially Mom."

Lee looked sad. "Must be rough."

The zebra glared at him. "I don't need your pity."

The chimera shook his head. "I'm not giving you pity. I can tell you're a great athlete. The people that doubt you don't know what they're talking about."

Alfred seemed surprised by Lee's genuine compliment. He scoffed. "Well, whatever. It's not a big deal." The zebra walked back to the dorms and Lee followed.

Exams were coming up soon so everybody skipped the movie to discuss homework and exchange answers with anyone in the dorm that happened to share the same class. It wasn't the most exciting conversation but it was important. Lee didn't want to disappoint his parents by failing his classes.

He almost wished he lived in a canine dorm as his father did. It'd be nice to have an intelligent dog roommate like Jack. Or maybe if Lee was a girl he (or in this hypothetical "she") would be lucky enough to get Jack's daughter as a roommate. He was envying Esther right now for having Liv as a tutor.

Thankfully, Theo the goat's info gathering skills applied to studying. While he wasn't as intelligent as a dog, he was still very helpful when it came to notes.

Lee had another dream when he went to sleep. It wasn't a nightmare, but rather it was an encounter with the Dall sheep twins that got steamy. Having a dream where he had a three-way with twins was really weird and he felt a bit dirty, but it was way better than eating his friend or getting assaulted.

Ibuki woke up the next morning. It was the weekend, so he didn't have classes. Which was good, because today he had to go into town to find out who bought that broken light. When he got out of bed he noticed everybody was already up. He looked to his left and spotted Lucas leaning against the door, texting.

The chimera got into his uniform. "Lucas-kun, could you move? I need to go."

Lucas shook his head without looking away from his phone. "Lee-kun said to keep you here."

The deer-wolf looked shocked. "What the hell?! Why?!"

Jiro jumped out of bed with the notepad and flipped it to a drawing of him awkwardly smiling. "Lee-kun is worried about your safety and doesn't want you coming into town with him. Sorry, but this is for your own good."

Ibuki couldn't believe this. The audacity!

Lee and company went into town the next day. Since they weren't in school, they didn't need to wear their uniforms.

Lee wore a lot of black. He had a metal band t-shirt, boots, and black jeans. He really wanted to make the goth/punk look work. But it was hard for a rabbit to look cool. Usually, he just gets mocked for his fashion sense.

Esther wore a white zipped up light jacket and blue jeans. Lee had no clue what she was wearing under her jacket.

Theo wore a blue button-up shirt and black dress pants.

Oscar wore a plain red t-shirt and greyish sweatpants.

Olivia wore a black hoodie and a green skirt. While it seemed a little hot out for such attire, she insisted it made her chest less visible. It wasn't working that well.

Finally, there were the twins, who dressed in an incredibly ostentatious manner. Very frilly red and black dresses with white stockings and black pumps. Leave it to the children of a celebrity to make themselves as conspicuous as possible. Passersby would stop to look at them and the two sheep seemed to really soak in the attention, winking and posing at people that looked their way.

They decided it would be smarter to have Ibuki stay back at his dorms instead of putting himself in further danger, so Lee convinced the deer-wolf's roommates to watch him and not to let him leave. He was going to be pissed about it, but it's better than being dead.

As the group walked through the city, Theo had his phone out and was using Zoozle Maps to find this place. Lee was starting to get a bad feeling as the directions lead them away from the hustle and bustle of the city and into dark alleyways.

The friendly-looking town was starting to become more ominous as they walked through the incredibly dingy and dirty alleys.

"'Ey there."

The group turned around to see a shifty-looking rat with an opossum buddy. The rat smiled. "My friend and I need six-hundred yen for bus fare."

The opossum grinned. "You kids can help us out, right?"

Lee shook his head. "No, sorry."

The rat didn't lose his smile but the two started to approach slowly. "C'mon. I'm sure you've got enough 'tween all of ya."

The possum cracked his neck. "Buncha kiddies shouldn't be running 'round alleyways like this. Might run into some bad guys, y'never know."

Esther grinned maliciously and unzipped her jacket before taking it off. The two creepy men gulped when they saw what was under it. She was wearing a blue tank top that was cut enough to show them her six-pack abs and sleeveless so they could see her muscular arms.

The white tiger cracked her knuckles. "I've been in a bad mood today. Good to see I've got something to take out my aggressions on."

The creepy duo ran off at top speed.

Lee turned to Esther. "Did you just wear that jacket so you could intimidate people with your muscles?"

The white tiger smirked. "Maybe."

Esther started putting her jacket back on. However, before she did, Lee spotted Olivia staring at her six-pack and blushing before quickly turning away.

Eventually, they found a store with a sign that said "Junk Skunk".

Viola smirked. "Not the most appealing sounding name for a business."

They went inside and found the place to be an absolute mess. There were piles of junk big enough to reach the ceiling and the lights were somewhat dim, making it hard to see, while the walls were covered in mysterious stains.

The place reeked too. Lee could see the twins pinching their noses and gagging.

CLANG!

They froze when they heard a loud noise and turned to face it. One of the junk piles was violently shaking and causing a huge ruckus. Everyone backed away, concerned about what might be under there.

The pile of garbage shifted and the figure of a male skunk in a ratty grey t-shirt slowly emerged carrying an outdated model smartphone. "There you are!" He forced open the back of the phone and removed the micro ZD card before putting it back together and haphazardly tossing it back on the pile.

He spotted the group of high school kids and shoved the card into his pocket before grinning. "And how may I help you?"

Lee approached. "A bear came in and sold you a theater light. We need to know who purchased it back from you."

The skunk shook his head. "Sorry. C ustomer confidentiality."

Olivia scowled. "Somebody tried to kill a high schooler with it. I don't think you want to be held responsible for that."

The skunk looked intimidated and gulped. "I-I guess I could give you a peek at the security camera footage."

The skunk walked around one of the junk piles to an old and out of date desktop computer. The thing took an eternity to boot up and an annoyed looking Theo started mumbling. "People don't take care of their machines…"

While the computer took its sweet time to start, Oscar started browsing the junk piles, looking for anything of interest.

Finally, after it booted, they were treated to some incredibly grainy, black and white footage of the store they were standing in. The skunk fast-forwarded and the kids pretended they didn't just see footage of him looking at a porno mag for a few seconds until, finally, they saw it.

In the footage, Trevor came in carrying the light. He handed it over to the skunk and looked very disappointed when he was given such a tiny amount of yen and walked off sadly. Lee found it somewhat heartbreaking to watch. Poor guy.

A few hours later, the skunk could be seen handing the light over to a female cougar. Esther's eyes widened. She gasped before adopting a very hateful expression and punching the wall. "That bitch!"

The outburst frightened everyone, including Oscar, who accidentally backed into a junk pile and had the whole thing collapse on top of him. The pile shook as the Harlequin rabbit dug his way out of it. "What? What happened?"

Lee turned to Esther. "You know that girl?"

Esther growled, her face contorted with rage, a blood vessel became visible in her head, and she yelled before storming out the door.

"That's my roommate!"