Juno continued to sob at the dinner table while Legosi and Haru tried to comfort her. Louis was watching the news, biting the fingernail on his right thumb.
"A boy from Cherryton Academy was abducted earlier tonight. His name is Ibuki, the half-wolf, half-deer son of Louis the red deer, chief executive officer of the Horns Conglomerate. According to his roommate and a janitor at the school, he was taken by a hate group dedicated to the eradication of half-breeds. We go now to his roommate, a Tibetan fox named Jiro who was assaulted and restrained by Ibuki's kidnappers."
The screen cut to a young fox in a hospital bed. His face was neutral, yet it was tinted red and he had tears in his eyes. The tone of his voice made it clear he had been crying. "H-he tried to save me and they took him."
An interviewer spoke up. "Do you have any idea as to where they might have taken him?"
The fox shook his head.
"I'm sorry you went through that. I hope the police can find your friend."
The fox nodded and the camera cut to the newsroom, where an anchor, a large, male black bear, was sitting at a desk. He spoke in a very deep voice. "Police are currently looking into the whereabouts of the CEO's son..."
Louis stared into space, tuning out the TV as his eyes started to tear up. He mumbled under his breath. "Please… please be okay… please..."
Ben threw the first punch. He was somewhat slow, so Lee was able to dodge, but he knew if he slipped up a single blow could seal his fate. While the pachyderm clearly had no combat experience, an elephant's punch can do as much damage as being struck by a pickup truck going at top speed.
The elephant swung his head around, striking Lee with his trunk and sending the chimera flying. Lee grunted as he hit the ground hard, but got back on his feet.
Ben charged the chimera with his tusks, likely with the intent of impaling him. Lee dodged but knew from last time that the elephant was likely going to go for another sweep of the trunk. Before Ben could swing, Lee jumped on his head and started whaling on him.
The elephant thrashed around and violently lurched forward, causing the chimera to slam back first onto the ground.
Lee grunted, then saw that Ben was raising up his right foot. He rolled out of the way and watched as the elephant stomped on the ground where he just was, cracking the concrete floor beneath him.
Ibuki squirmed, putting all his strength into snapping the rope that kept him bound.
Lee rolled to his feet and got a safe distance away from the elephant, who looked furious.
Ben snarled. "I'm doing this for the good of the world! Stop being so selfish!" He charged Lee again, who put a great amount of strength into his rabbit legs to jump over the speeding pachyderm.
He rolled past Ben and delivered a spin kick to the elephant's back, knocking him over.
Ben got back up, his face red with rage as he threw several punches at the chimera, who was feeling somewhat fatigued, and was dodging slower.
Lee grabbed Ben by his left tusk and swung around him, using the elephant's weight to his advantage. Once behind him, he grabbed the elephant's tail and tugged, trying to trip him, or maybe even rip it off and make him panic. The chimera was desperate. This plan was met with the chimera getting hit with a backward kick, launching him through the air.
Ibuki was red in the face, a vein on his forehead popping out, his teeth gritting, he thought he could hear the rope tearing slightly, but wasn't sure.
Lee got up and saw Ben charging him. He tried to dodge to the right, only to find at the last second that Ben was attacking from another angle just to trip him up.
The elephant slammed his side into the chimera, causing him to fly across the room and slam into a wall before falling on his back.
Lee tried to get up, but Ben charged full speed, grabbed the chimera by the throat with his right hand and began choking him.
The elephant screamed in Lee's face. "I'm not letting you monsters hurt anyone else! You were never meant to exist in the first place! Your very life is a violation of the laws of nature! Don't you get it?!"
Lee gagged as he tried to force Ben off of him. He attempted to dig his claws into the elephant's skin, but it was too thick to cause any substantial pain. The chimera's face started to turn blue and his vision was getting dark.
Ibuki's voice shouted from behind the elephant. "Get away from him! Now!"
Ben turned around and Lee looked to see Ibuki free, holding the elephant's massive shotgun. He trembled as he pointed it at the pachyderm, having trouble keeping the oversized firearm leveled at him.
The elephant snorted. "Those guns aren't designed to be wielded by an animal your size. There's no way you could even handle the kickback." Ben released Lee, who gasped as he could finally breathe again.
Ben slowly approached Ibuki. "Just hand the gun over. You'll only injure yourself trying to use something that large."
The deer-wolf gulped. "G-get on the ground! I mean it! I'll shoot if I have to!"
The elephant chuckled. "No, you won't. You don't have it in you. Now hand it over." He started walking towards the hybrid with a hand extended.
Ibuki closed his eyes tightly.
BOOM!
Esther sat in her bed with a fearful expression. Her roommates were awake as well. Most of the school was. When cops and news crews showed up, it didn't take long for the entire school to learn of Ibuki's disappearance. The white tiger shook somewhat as she pleaded in her head to her two chimeric friends not to be dead.
Earlier, she had gotten a text from Jiro in the middle of the night. She wouldn't have read it if she wasn't woken up by police sirens. The entire dorm was unable to sleep as they looked at Esther with great concern. Yet not a single one of them could think of what to say that could possibly quell the tiger's fears.
There was a ding as she received a message. Theo had everybody install an instant messenger app called "Chaos" and set up a private server to chat in.
Oscar: "Bad news. Lee-kun left his phone here."
Olivia: "So he ran off to find where Ibuki-kun is and inform the police, yet he didn't bring his phone? I can't believe he'd be so stupid."
Theo: "Well, we DO know how Lee feels about getting help from the cops."
Esther: "I can kinda get that. The cops did jackshit when his mom got kidnapped by the mob."
Olivia: "True, but there would be no harm in contacting them just to be safe. I think him leaving the phone behind was an unintentional error."
Sebastian: "I'm not worried. If he's anywhere near as strong and determined as his father he'll be fine."
Viola: "I suppose you're not wrong.
Esther: "God, I hope you're right, Sebastian-kun."
The white tiger bit her lip. She wished she knew where they went. Maybe she could have gone with Lee for backup. Now, all she could do was hope for the best.
An incredibly loud explosion deafened both chimeras, leaving them with only a ringing in their ears.
In an instant, the entire top half of Ben's head became a red mush of blood, bone fragments, and grey matter that splattered against the wall, leaving behind only his tusks and lower jaw. The elephant's corpse fell to the ground and convulsed as it spewed massive amounts of blood from its neck hole.
Lee was never squeamish, but even he couldn't take looking at the gory mess that remained of the supposed "Koffee King" and covered his mouth. Thankfully, he was successful in preventing his dinner from forcefully ejecting itself out of his body. But he still found himself gagging from the taste of half-digested vegetables.
The wolf-rabbit slowly stood up and tried to look away. But when he faced another direction, he could see flecks of blood. The chimera couldn't believe how powerful that shotgun was.
Lee looked around for Ibuki and spotted him unconscious, lying next to a wall with the gun in his arms. The wall was very far from the deer-wolf's original location, so Lee deduced that the kickback from that monstrous weapon must have sent him flying.
He ran over to his fellow chimera and pressed two fingers against his neck. Lee gave a sigh of relief when he felt a pulse.
The wolf-rabbit reached into his pocket for his cellphone and cringed when he realized he didn't bring it. How could he be so stupid?
He picked Ibuki up, carrying him out of the warehouse, bridal style. Now that Lee thought about it, maybe Ibuki getting knocked out was a good thing. The hemophobic deer-wolf would be traumatized for life if he saw what remained of Ben.
Lee frowned sadly as he started carrying Ibuki back to Cherryton. The elephant was a reprehensible bigot and a serious danger. But this was not the result the chimera wanted. That was the first time he had ever watched someone die, and it was absolutely horrifying. He just knew he was going to have several nightmares about Ben's head exploding after this.
The wolf-rabbit was almost to Cherryton. He just had to walk up the hill there. He heard a groaning noise and noticed Ibuki slowly opening his eyes. The deer-wolf went wide-eyed and started blushing when he realized what position he was in.
Lee chuckled nervously and set Ibuki on his feet. "Sorry. I had to get you out of there."
Ibuki looked concerned. "What happened to Ben? Did I hit him?"
The wolf-rabbit winced then sighed. He may as well just be honest. "Yeah. He got shot right in the head. He's gone." Lee decided against informing him that the elephant's head literally exploded like a lasagna that was in the microwave for too long. He was just glad Ibuki didn't see it. Lee looked at him with immense concern. "You shouldn't blame yourself though. It was justified self-defense."
Ibuki shook his head. "I don't feel bad about it. Either hedied or wedid. And I decided ourlives were more valuable."
The wolf-rabbit sighed. "This definitely wasn't the optimal result. But maybe we can put an end to this 'Coffee Club' garbage."
The deer-wolf nodded before looking Lee up and down. "Your tail is out and you're not wearing gloves."
"I didn't have time to put them on. Honestly, at this point, I don't really care if people know. I think I'm just tired of hiding now. I don't want to be scared anymore."
Ibuki smiled. "Well, let's hope nobody comes after younext. Although, if they did, I'd like to think I'd be strong enough to come to yourrescue."
Lee chuckled. "You've changed a lot. Most people in your situation wouldn't be able to pull the trigger."
The deer-wolf smiled wryly. "I'm not proud of it. But I don't regret it. I'm not letting anyone take you away from me."
Lee scoffed and smirked. "How romantic. Is this the part where we kiss?"
Ibuki looked contemplative. "Yeah, why not."
The wolf-rabbit looked stunned before scratching the back of his neck nervously. "Uhh… I was joking."
The deer-wolf smiled. "I figured. But I wasn't joking at all. You're a great person, Lee-kun. And I can't thank you enough for saving my life." He sighed. "But, I get it. You aren't into me. I can't blame you for that."
Lee shook his head. "That's not true. I really dolike you. It was just a little much to think of a relationship after the way we've treated each other over the years."
Ibuki smiled wryly. "Yeah, I don't blame you. I was just an immature jerk."
The wolf-rabbit stepped a little closer. "You're really different though. Honestly, you've been nicer to me now than even beforemiddle school." He fidgeted nervously as he blushed. "I… I've been interested in you romantically for a while. I was kinda scared to get that close though. I really didn't want to accidentally burn that bridge again by bringing that kind of thing into it."
Ibuki shook his head. "I don't want to push you away anymore. Even if we dated and broke up, I'd still be your friend. I was a coward that didn't know how to face his emotions. I'm nevergoing back to that. Whatever happens, however you feel about me, I want to be with you."
Lee chuckled somewhat nervously. He didn't know how to handle this kind of situation. But, there was something that he wanted. He didn't know what might come of it, but at this point he didn't want to shy away from his feelings. "I mean… If you reallywant that kind of thing, I'm not really against it anymore. So if you want a kiss… I won't say no."
Ibuki smirked and put his right hand on Lee's cheek.
The wolf-rabbit gulped nervously. He just faced down a group of deranged bigots and a mad elephant with a shotgun, yet he was feeling more intimidated by this somehow. Lee took a deep breath and closed his eyes, bringing his face closer to Ibuki's.
Lee felt Ibuki's lips touch his and his heart started to hammer. He passionately locked lips with his fellow chimera and felt something new. Despite his nervousness and apprehension, something about this felt just so right. It seemed his affection for the deer-wolf ran deeper than he thought. He wrapped his arms around Ibuki and the two embraced as they shared a passionate kiss.
"There they are!"
The two brought their kiss to an end and looked up the hill to see a massive news crew running toward them. A female hawk shoved a microphone in Ibuki's face as the crew started asking a barrage of questions.
"Are you injured?"
"Where were you?"
"Did you tell your parents you're okay?"
"How did you escape?"
A lynx looked at Lee with curiosity. "Who are you? You look like a hybrid too."
The crew turned their attention to Lee, who chuckled nervously. "I'm Lee. And I'm half-rabbit, half-wolf. With a liiiiitle bit of komodo dragon."
"Were you the one that rescued Ibuki-san?"
Lee nervously scratched his face. "Y-yeah, kinda. He saved me too."
"Why were you two kissing?"
Lee's fur stood on end and a chill went up his spine. He looked to Ibuki, whose face turned completely pale.
The deer-wolf's left eye twitched. "You… saw... that?"
Lee gulped and looked to the news crew with an unquantifiable amount of dread. "Y-you guys aren't live, are you?"
The four parents sat in the penthouse together. It was past midnight, but Legosi and Haru didn't go home. Everyone was too terrified for the safety of their children. Louis stared at the TV with a downtrodden look before standing up. "I need a glass of water."
Juno motioned him to sit back down. "I'll go get it for you. Just stay there, honey."
Louis nodded his head and sat down, staring into the TV, desperate for good news.
Legosi held Haru tightly as she sobbed.
Juno returned with a glass of water and handed it to Louis.
The deer nodded. "Thank you, dear."
Haru's eyes traveled up at the TV and she gasped, pointing at it with a grin on her face. "It's them!"
The others looked and spotted Lee and Ibuki standing on a hill together. They all grinned happily, ecstatic to see their children alive. Then…
Smash!
Louis dropped his glass of water, which shattered as it hit the ground, staring at the TV, wide-eyed. Juno, Haru, and Legosi all stared at the TV with the exact same expression, looking baffled and stunned beyond belief.