The news crew followed the two chimeras up the hill to Cherryton. The two traumatized young men completely ignored the pestering questions of the obnoxious reporters.

When they reached the top of the hill, they could see the flashing red and blue lights of nearby police cruisers. They spotted the silhouette of a police officer who appeared to be some kind of bird. She approached the news crew. "Alright, that's enough! Give these kids some space!"

Lee's ear twitched. He knew that voice.

The intimidated news crew walked back down the hill.

The cop snorted. "Bastards." She faced the two chimeras and turned on a flashlight, shining it on them. Upon closer inspection, she was a bald eagle with a slim and athletic physique. She smiled. "Glad to see you guys are okay."

Lee grinned at the friendly and familiar face of the eagle. "Hana-chan!" A realization quickly hit him and his smile disappeared. "Oh, sorry. I mean Officer Akahana-san."

The eagle blew a raspberry. "C'mon, Lee-kun. You're my friend. Just call me Hana-chan." She looked concerned. "You two kids look wiped out. What happened?"

Ibuki looked ashamed. "I got myself captured trying to save Jiro-kun. So Lee-kun had to save meinstead."

Lee chuckled. "Well, yousaved me from-" He stopped, realizing the severity of the situation before sighing. "He was abducted by an elephant named 'Ben' that was supposed to become the next Drama Club director. Ibuki-kun… well."

The shame on the deer-wolf's face vanished. "I did what I had to do to save Lee-kun."

Hana looked a bit sad. "I see. I'm sorry you went through that. Where would I find… y'know..."

Lee pointed at the warehouse, which was visible from the hill. "There. Outside, you'll find a bunch of unconscious members of the group that took Ibuki-kun." He frowned sadly. "And inside, you'll find Ben. I should warn you, it's not pretty." The wolf-rabbit bit his lip. Why did things go this way? He wanted Ben to go to prison and hopefully come out a changed man. Instead, his life was taken from him. Ibuki was justified in pulling the trigger. But Lee still felt like it didn't need to happen and, in some ways, he mourned the elephant's loss, despite his cruelty.

Hana nodded. "I'll take a look at it. We'll have to take a statement from you. But you should go to bed first. We'll talk in the morning."

Lee bowed. "I appreciate it, Hana-chan. Take care."

The two chimeras started on the way back to their respective dorms. They were about to split up. But Ibuki stopped Lee by grabbing his shoulder.

Lee looked confused, until the deer-wolf pulled him into another embrace, kissing him deeply. The wolf-rabbit was surprised, but quickly started kissing back with passion. Without any words, the two went back to their dorms.

Ibuki arrived at his dorm. Jiro wasn't there, but the rest were. All of his roommates wagged their tails and tackled Ibuki.

"Ibuki-kun!"

The deer-wolf smiled. "I'm happy to see you too. Please stop crushing me though."

The canines stood up. Lucas grinned. "I'm glad you're okay!"

Gil had tears in his eyes. "I-I thought you were gonna die…"

Ibuki smiled and placed a hand on Gil's shoulder before looking around the room. "Where's Jiro-kun?"

Katsu frowned sadly. "He's in the hospital. Those guys beat him around real bad."

Ibuki looked ashamed. That was his fault after all. He just hoped Jiro will get better soon.

He walked over to the windowsill and picked up his cellphone. He was exhausted and wanted to go to bed, but didn't want his parents to continue worrying about him. They must have been absolutely terrified. He went out into the hall and called his father. The phone only rang once.

"Ibuki… Thank God, you're alive."

He could hear his mother sobbing. "Are you okay, honey?! Did they hurt you?!"

The deer-wolf smiled. "No. I'm not hurt at all. Lee-kun came to my rescue."

Louis gave a sigh of relief. "That's what I figured. We saw the two of you heading back to Cherryton."

Ibuki's heart skipped a beat and he started to sweat profusely. "I-is that all you saw?"

There was an awkward silence for a bit, then Louis cleared his throat. "We're coming to visit you in the morning. We don't have to talk about what's going on between you and Lee-kun unless you really want to."

Ibuki's face went tomato red as his ears felt like they were bursting into flames. "Y-you saw it…"

Juno blew her nose, clearing up the mucus from crying. "You don't need to be embarrassed, sweetie. We're happy you're alive. That's the only thing that matters right now."

"We're going to let you get some sleep. It's your choice if you want to talk about it. We love you, Ibuki."

The deer-wolf took a deep breath. "I'll… think about it. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ibuki."

"Goodnight, honey."

Ibuki hung up and put the phone in his pocket. He hid his face in his hands. What a terrible night this has been.

Lee went into the herbivore dorms and made his way to his room. Nobody was in the hallways but him. Everyone was either asleep or staring out the window at the cops.

Either way, Lee was fairly certain he was probably spotted by a good number of people. He had no intention of going back to hiding his genes. In an odd way, he felt comforted by going past the point of no return. Now, all he has to do is cut a tail hole into his pants.

He arrived at his dorm to find the light on. He opened the door and was spotted by Oscar.

The rabbit grinned. "It's him!"

Lee found himself getting crowded by his roommates.

Eli gave a sigh of relief. "I didn't know if you were gonna make it back. I'm glad you're okay."

Alfred nodded. "I thought you were a goner, man."

Theo looked concerned. "Are you okay?"

The chimera sighed. "No. I only survived because Ibuki saved me from Ben."

The goat looked shocked. "Wait… Ben? Ben from Drama Club?"

Lee looked incredibly melancholy. "Yeah, he was their leader. Ibuki saved me, but he had to kill Ben to do it."

Theo gasped and the rest of the room looked stunned. There was a deafening silence as people tried to formulate what to say. The goat looked incredibly sad. "I… I'm really sorry to hear that. Nobody should be put in that situation."

The chimera nodded and walked over to the windowsill, grabbing his cellphone. He had a missed call from his father.

Oscar frowned sadly. "We woke up 'cause the phone was going off. The second time he called we picked up. He was super worried about you."

Lee sighed. "I bet. I can't believe I was dumb enough to run off without this." The chimera went out into the hall to call his father. The phone only rang once.

"Lee?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"I'm so glad you're alright."

Haru sniffled. "D-did they hurt you?"

The chimera rubbed his neck, which was sore from Ben's crushing grip. "Not as bad as I hurt them. The guy that was supposed to be the next theater director was behind it. Ibuki-kun was forced to kill him."

Haru gasped. "Th-that's awful."

Legosi spoke. "I can only imagine how that feels. I just hope he doesn't blame himself. Lee, right now you should be going to bed. We'll be coming over in the morning to discuss this more. Okay?"

Lee gulped. "I need to ask though. D-did you see anything weird on TV?"

There was a long pause before Legosi responded. "I told you before, Lee. Whoever you bring home, girlfriend, or boyfriend, we will always love you."

The chimera bit his lip. "But this isn't just some boy though. This is Louis's kid."

Haru chuckled lightly. "Louis-kun and Ibuki-kun are wonderful people. I don't see a downside. And I know Louis would be alright with it too. Whatever you two have, we support it."

Lee blushed. "Th-thanks."

Legosi yawned. "I think we're all pretty exhausted at this point. You should get some rest, Lee."

The wolf-rabbit smiled. "I will. Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight, Lee."

"'Night, sweetie!"

Esther stared at her cellphone. She was exhausted but desperately needed good news. She wanted someone in the chatroom to send her a message saying that everything is going to be okay. But her fears only grew as she waited.

She couldn't help but imagine the worst and teared up a bit at the thought of her friends dying. The white tiger bit her lip as she somewhat trembled. Esther was not easily frightened. But right now, she had never been more scared in her life.

She wiped away her tears. The tiger was somewhat irked by how often she'd been crying after coming to Cherryton. It was so rare for her to cry about anything. Is she too emotional?

Now that she thought about it, perhaps it was all from stress alone. Every day she was scared that some nutjob might kill Ibuki. And now, tonight, that seemed the most likely. She clutched her phone tightly as she begged for some good news.

Ding!

The tiger's eyes widened as a message finally showed up in the chat.

Oscar: "Lee-kun and Ibuki-kun are back. They're both okay."

Esther grinned as she felt the weight of all her stress finally go away.

Esther: "Thank God."

Theo: "Lee's asleep. But he's giving the police a statement tomorrow morning. We'll talk about this later."

Esther gave a sigh of relief. Her stress had melted away. Like a light switch being turned off, she fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, Lee looked somewhat anxious as Theo stood behind him, ruler in one hand, the chimera's tail in the other.

Theo walked over to Lee's suspenders and went over them with a ruler. The goat held up his hand, and Alfred handed him scissors.

Snip. Snip.

Soon enough, Lee's pants had a perfectly cut hole in the back. The chimera smiled. "Thanks, Theo-kun."

The goat smiled. "Anytime."

Lee grabbed the newly modified pants and put them on, pulling his fluffy tail through the hole. It was a perfect fit.

The chimera put on the rest of the uniform and stood at the door. His gloves were sitting on his bed, and his claws were out for all to see. He took a deep breath before turning the handle and walking out.

As he walked through the hall, he saw several herbivore students drop what they're doing to stare at him in shock, several of them looked frightened.

Lee continued walking through the halls as every herbivore student he encountered just stared at him. The chimera knew this wasn't going to be easy. But they'll just have to get used to it.

He walked outside and immediately encountered Ibuki, who smiled at him while carrying two coffees. "Morning, Lee-kun."

Lee nervously smiled back. "M-morning…" The chimera glanced around to see every student around him just staring and talking to each other.

"He's one too? You've gotta be shitting me."

"Yeah, like we needed more of these things."

"And they let him stay in the herbivore dorms? He's gonna eat somebody."

Lee frowned sadly as he listened to the students chattering.

Ibuki smirked. "Seems they're talking about us." He walked closer to Lee, lifting the wolf-rabbit's head up by the chin. "Let's give them something else to talk about."

The wolf-rabbit smiled and chuckled nervously. He took a deep breath before embracing Ibuki and pulling him into a passionate kiss.

The students gasped as they stared at the two hybrids locking lips.

Lee pulled away with a massive blush on his face. "Guess we should go to talk to Hana-chan."

Ibuki nodded as he handed one of the bottles of coffee to the wolf-rabbit, who opened it and took a sip.

Ibuki stood by Lee's right side and reached out a hand.

The wolf-rabbit blushed but accepted the hand as they started to walk. People continued to stare and chatter as the two males walked by, holding hands.

Then, a limo drove up the dirt path towards them. The door swung open and Louis, Juno, Legosi, and Haru practically swarmed them.

They found themselves being hugged tightly by their parents, who all voiced their happiness to see their children alive, but it became a mess of the four of them talking over each other loudly.

Lee sighed but had a smile on his face.

After explaining the situation to their parents, they had to make a statement and explain everything that happened.

An investigation occurred, and the police found Ben's cellphone on him. They were successful in extracting a contact list with the names of every single student that was part of the Coffee Club. All the students involved were arrested and expelled, with the exception of Jiro, who Lee and company explained was acting as thier spy. The vulpine wasn't punished, but they all got an earful from Akahana for coming up with such a stupid plan that endangered his life.

The Drama Club and Sanu were devastated by Ben's betrayal and subsequent demise. People had trouble believing it was true, and Sanu nearly had a heart attack.

Ibuki was forced to stand trial for Ben's death. However, nobody was surprised when Louis's lawyers got him off very easily on a self-defense plea.

Ben had no friends or family before he died. Despite the cruelty of the elephant, Ibuki talked his father into paying for a funeral. Obviously, the casket was closed. Only two people attended. Ironically, it was the two chimeras that he attempted to kill that offered the deceased elephant their respects. They even watched as Ben was lowered into his grave. The next day, they left flowers for him.

The couple held hands as they went to Drama Club. They were the first ones to arrive. Surprisingly, Sanu wasn't there. Instead, there was a female sheep with glasses carrying the pelican's clipboard.

She was adorably short and petite, yet also very curvy and large-chested for a woman her size. Her wool was white as snow and very fluffy. She had a beautiful feminine face that looked even more adorable with her glasses on and she had a very charming smile. She was young, too. Perhaps in her early twenties.

Ibuki looked surprised to see her. "Jo-chan?"

The sheep smiled. "Good afternoon, Ibuki-sama."

Lee looked at his boyfriend curiously. "You know her?"

The deer-wolf nodded his head. "She works for my dad."

The new theater director bowed towards Lee. "I'm Jolene. But everyone just calls me Jo-chan. I take it you're Lee-kun."

The wolf-rabbit nodded. He looked the sheep over. She was amazingly adorable. Part of him wanted to pick her up and hug her. Perhaps he inherited his adoration for tiny animals from his father.

Jolene chuckled. "My mother knows your father. They used to be neighbors. We've met before, but you were way too young to remember me." She turned to Ibuki with a sad frown. "It's unfortunate what happened to Ben the elephant. But he chose his path in life, and in the end, he had to face the consequences for his actions. I certainly hope you don't blame yourself for his demise."

Ibuki shook his head. "It was him or us. I don't regret pulling the trigger."

The sheep nodded. "Sanu-san was looking forward to his retirement. So Louis-sama asked me to take his place as the theater director. I did my best to learn the position. Thankfully, I dohave related experience."

The deer-wolf scowled. "You mean Dad put you up to this to keep an eye on me."

Jolene smiled. "My apologies, Ibuki-sama, but I have no idea what you're talking about." A look of realization crossed her face. It seems she just remembered something. "Speaking of keeping an eye on you, I'm sorry to say, Free-san was arrested for bringing a firearm to school. Louis-sama is working on getting him out on bail. But Free asked me personally to tell you something."

The sheep pulled back the wool on her head as she squinted her eyes and put on a surprisingly convincing gruff male voice. "Sorry I couldn't protect ya, kid. I royally screwed up by not checkin' my flank. 's my fault you had to pull the trigger on that elephant. But lemme say, ya shouldn't blame yerself for what happened. That nutty pachyderm got what he deserved. I just wish I blew his brains out myself. I won't be workin' as a janitor anymore so I don't know when I'll see ya next. But I hope it's soon. Take care of yerself, kid."

Ibuki snorted before bursting out laughing. "You remembered all that? Maybe you should be an actor instead."

Jolene let down her wool and giggled. "I would have loved that if I went to Cherryton when I was your age. But I'm afraid my school was a little too low budget for a theater club." She looked at her clipboard. "Well, that'sout of the way. Let's begin our exercises, shall we?"

The rest of the club arrived and all of them seemed to like Jolene very much. Lee was hopeful that the rest of high school wouldn't involve any more chaos.