In Drama Club, Lee leaned against a wall with a sheet of paper in his hands, reading it out loud. "My hatred for you runs deeper than any trench, canyon, or ravine on Earth. With every single fiber of my being, I detest the very fact of your existence. For me, there is no paradise, no Heaven that would please me more than an afterlife where I spend eternity killing you every day. And I would happily burn in the fires of Hell if it meant you would suffer with me." Lee scoffed. Well, that's morbid.

Ibuki was on stage, practicing his choreography with Esther. Jolene watched them, clipboard in hand. "You two are clashing the swords too hard. You'll break them at this rate."

Esther nodded. "Uh. Sorry."

Theo gulped as he stared at a theater light on the floor and began muttering to himself as he picked it up and carried it to the catwalk. "Don't break this one, don't break this one, don't break this one…"

Trevor sat at a table with a needle and thread as he put together a beautiful medieval style dress. The bear's hands may have been large, but they were surprisingly dexterous. He whistled a tune as he went to work.

Sebastian and Viola were reading lines together. This particular play had twins as minor characters, so having them in different costumes wasn't necessary. In the original story, the twins were both female, but Jolene allowed for creative liberties in this case.

Lee glanced over at where the backdrops were usually painted. Work hadn't even started on them yet. Everyone was waiting for Jiro to return, as his painting skills were second to none. Lee just hoped Jiro would get back from the hospital soon.

Suddenly, Lee was distracted when he heard a feminine shriek and somebody shouting.

"Get away from him!"

Lee turned to see Fen the panther tackling Trevor the bear to the ground. Sebastian was nearby, looking completely shocked and confused.

Trevor roared and bared his fangs as he attempted to force Fen off of him. "What are you doing?!"

Fen punched Trevor repeatedly. "I ain't lettin' you hurt anybody!"

Trevor backhanded the panther, causing him to fall backward before pinning him down with one hand and snarling in his face.

Jolene scowled. "Hey!"

Everyone turned towards Jolene. She was surprisingly loud for such a small sheep.

She glared at Fen and Trevor. "What in the world is happening here?"

The panther pointed at Trevor. "He was attacking Sebastian-kun!"

Trevor looked confused and appalled. "What are you talking about?! I was just asking him a question!"

Fen snarled. "Yeah, herbivores usually scream when you're just nicely asking questions. You're full of shit! You think I'm gonna let you hurt someone after your dad-"

Sebastian held up his hands with a panicked expression. "St-stop! Please! Everyone stop!"

The entire club turned towards the Dall sheep.

Sebastian put his hands down. "Trevor-senpai just startled me. He just snuck up behind me accidentally. He wasn't attacking me."

Jolene turned to Trevor. "Is that what happened?"

The bear nodded as he released Fen. "I just needed to ask him about his measurements."

Fen looked ashamed. "Aw hell, Trevor-senpai. I just saw Sebastian-kun screaming at you. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions."

Trevor gave a wry smile. "It's okay. I get why you wouldn't trust me. No hard feelings."

Lee looked somewhat agitated. Fen said something about Trevor's father. Does he distrust Trevor because he's Riz the bear's son? If that's the case, the chimera was very disappointed in Fen.

The panther extended a hand and Trevor shook it. Fen walked away while the bear whispered something to Sebastian. It seemed everything was back to normal.

Esther approached Lee. "Well, thatwas dramatic, huh?"

Lee scoffed. "Drama kids being dramatic, whoda thought?"

After Drama Club, Ibuki was back in his dorm, playing a racing game with his roommates. Gilbert was the only one not playing. He had gotten first place in every single race in four circuits and decided to just watch so he could let someone else win.

The door to the dorm opened. Ibuki paused and turned around, hoping it was who he thought it was. He grinned when he saw a familiar Tibetan fox walk in.

Jiro waved. "Hey, guys."

The canines all stood up and ran up to Jiro, pulling him into a hug while voicing their relief that he's alive.

The fox groaned. "This is nice and all, but please stop. You'll open my stitches."

They all backed away from him.

Ibuki frowned sadly. "I'm so sorry for what happened. It's my fault you got so badly hurt."

Jiro shook his head. "Absolutely not. It was mychoice to try and spy on that group. Don't go blaming yourself over me being careless."

The fox walked over and grabbed his notepad, which he left on his bed, opening it to his big smile. "I dohave some things to ask you though. I kept up with the news, but I don't have the full story. You'll tell me everything that happened after I wound up in the hospital when we get down showering, won't you?"

Ibuki nodded with a smile. "Everything."

Lee was lying on his bed as he scrolled through old news articles on his phone. There were a couple about Ibuki's kidnapping. There were photos of the two chimeras with the full story. It didn't take the journalists long to find out Lee was the son of Legosi the grey wolf. It seemed at this point it was impossible for him to continue to pretend to be a normal rabbit anywhere. Not that it mattered. He just hoped it wouldn't attract unwanted attention.

He also found an article about Pina the Dall sheep suing a tabloid called "The National Questioner" for defamation. Apparently, they published an incredibly tacky article titled "Twincest: What Pina's Children Do Behind Closed Doors", which accused the twins of being in a sexual relationship because they share a bed. Pina won the suit and got ten million yen in damages. That made Lee smile a bit.

There were also several articles about Lee and Ibuki. After Ben's death, a few anti-hybrid communities sprung up, treating the elephant like a martyr and calling the chimeras murderous monsters.

Conversely, there were also some pro-hybrid groups defending Lee and Ibuki while condemning Ben and other people with bigoted beliefs. The wolf-rabbit couldn't believe how much of a firestorm was growing around this event.

He sighed. Why did he expect for even a second that he had a chance at a normal life?

The door opened and Oscar entered with Alfred. The obese rabbit was sweaty and winded, yet he seemed less so than usual and had a smile on his face.

Lee looked at Oscar's gym shirt. "That shirt you're wearing looks looser than it used to be."

Oscar grinned and nodded. "I know! I just weighed in today."

Alfred smiled. "He's seventy-five kilograms now. So he's lost five kilograms since we started training."

Lee whistled. "Damn. Maybe Alfred-kun should get a job as a fitness trainer."

The zebra shrugged. "I mean, I just helped with the exercise aspect. Part of the reason he's losing weight is that they don't serve really fatty foods here."

Theo snorted. "Yeah, and it all tastes like shit."

Eli shrugged as he tuned his guitar. "Being healthy is more important than eating food that tastes good."

Stanley crossed his arms. "But food that tastes bad is hard to eat."

Oscar sighed. "Whatever. I think we can all agree ramming sweets down your throat due to stress is bad for you."

Lee gave Oscar a serious look. "I know you love your mom. But she's a huge point of toxicity in your life. I think it might be best to cut her out if she's just going to keep hurting you like this."

The rabbit looked a bit sad. "I dunno, Lee-kun. She still took care of me all my life."

The chimera shook his head. "But why? Does she reallylove you or does she see you as a tool to make more Harlequin rabbits?"

Oscar fell silent and stared at the floor in contemplation before looking remorsefully at his belly. He sighed. "I don't even know anymore. Let's just stop talking about this and go shower."

Lee looked a bit sad. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Oscar looked at the chimera with a smile. "That's okay. Let's go."

The chimera sighed. Maybe he should stop trying to solve people's problems.

Back in Esther's dorm, Lin looked absolutely furious. "He did what?!"

Esther nodded. "Yeah, he just attacked him 'cause he's Riz's kid, honestly. He wasn't doing anything to Sebastian-kun."

The panther snarled, pulled out her cell phone, and put it to her ear.

Uh-oh.

"Fen! What the hell is wrong with you?! You seriously just attacked another student out of nowhere because of who his dadis?! Are you nuts?!"

There was a pause and Lin started to tremble with rage. "Oh, don't you even start with that shit! How would you like it if someone attacked youbecause Dad accidentally ripped off Kibi-san's arm when hewent to Cherryton?!"

Esther looked baffled. Their dad did what?

Lin had an expression of sadness. "I thought you knew better than to treat people like that. How could you?"

There was another long pause before Lin sighed. "Just don't do that again. You're a better person than that… Yeah, I love you too…" The panther hung up and sat down on her bunk, looking depressed.

The other girls just looked confused, not sure what to say in this situation.

Ceci cleared her throat. "I-it wasn't toobad. He apologized to Trevor-senpai."

Lin shook her head. "He shouldn't have been treating someone like that in the first place. He should know better than most people that you can't help how you're born."

Esther tilted her head. "More than most?"

Lin nodded. "Fen is gay. He got so much flak from people over it, even though he didn't do anything wrong."

The white tiger sighed. "Yeah, I know how thatfeels."

Hikari and Ceci looked ashamed. The gold furred lion sighed. "I-I'm still sorry about that, Esther-chan."

Esther shook her head. "It's okay, Hikari-chan. That was a while ago. Don't worry about it."

Mila looked ashamed as well. Probably for not speaking up and defending Esther at the time, despite being a lesbian herself.

Lin bit her lip angrily. "Other kids always picked on him in middle school. They'd even throw rocks."

Esther nodded. "Lee-kun and Ibuki-kun have been catching some shit recently because they're dating. Not many people in the school know I'm dating Olivia. If they did, they'd probably call her a dyke too." She chuckled. "Which doesn't really make sense at all. She's bi and way more girly than me."

The panther sighed. "Fen is one of the more masculine kinds of gay guys. That doesn't stop people from calling him a fairy. Even though there's nothing effeminate about him. Not that it's okay to call feminine gay men that either."

Hikari looked at Mila with concern. "Does anybody know? Has anyone called you any slurs?"

Mila shook her head. "It never comes up in conversations. I'd probably get treated the same if I dated someone. Not that I know who I'd date."

Esther felt a bit bad for Mila. While the brown-furred lion was a lesbian, Hikari, her best friend, and secret crush, is completely straight. The tiger couldn't really empathize since she's dating the girl she's had a crush on. Getting a date is pretty hard when you're gay.

Mila chuckled. "Uh… anyway. That's enough sexuality talk. We should go shower, huh?"

Esther nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

Unfortunately, now that Lee isn't hiding his wolf genes, some of his special privileges were revoked, one of which was showering alone. So now he was showering with everyone else.

This was the first time he had ever seen his roommates nude.

Oscar wasn't completely fifty-fifty black and white. The black side of his body was more like a giant spot that stretched from his head to his right leg, just above the knee.

Alfred was thin but muscular. He was bulkier than Lee but not by much. He definitely had the body of an athlete.

Theo was the dictionary definition of a twink. Thin but with practically no visible muscles. Lee noticed if he looked very closely at the goat's back, he could just barely see little red marks under his fur. The chimera had noticed Theo often sneaks out at night and takes a suspender strap with him. Looks like he found his explanation as to why.

Finally, Eli was pretty trim. Not super muscular or athletic, but far from a twink. What caught Lee's eye though was a big bite mark shaped scar on the chicken's right arm. Was Eli attacked by a carnivore?

The chicken noticed Lee looking at him. "If you're wondering about the scar, I was attacked by a jackal on the way back home from school when I was younger. Probably would've been eaten if a random black bear on the street didn't show up and beat him senseless."

Lee looked curious. "Did you live in the city?"

Eli scoffed. "Think of the absolute shittiest ghetto you've ever seen. That's where I lived. I'm happy I got bit instead of getting shot in the crossfire of a gang war."

Oscar nodded. "I didn't live in the ghetto, but I did live in an apartment with my parents. Mom would complain to Dad all the time about how he's a lazy bum that doesn't have a real job and she had to 'live in poverty.'" He snorted. "We weren't poor, by the way. Mom is just super high maintenance."

Alfred smirked. "I lived in a pretty remote spot in the countryside, but we were just fifteen minutes away from the city. We had a nice, big field that I ran through all the time."

Theo blushed. "I uhh… I was at least upper-middle class. I was kinda privileged. The house I lived in was pretty big."

Lee nodded. "I lived in a house that was a little on the bigger side. But it was pretty cheap. A real fixer-upper. Dad planned on fixing it himself but as it turns out, he's really, really bad at it."

The chimera proceeded to tell stories of all the disasters that occurred because his dad tried to fix things, which had his roommates laughing pretty hard. Hearing them laugh like that convinced him that his high school life isn't so miserable after all.

A slightly damp Jiro sat on the floor with everyone else, flipping his notepad to a sad face. "I see. I'm sorry you went through all that Ibuki-kun."

The deer-wolf shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

The fox flipped to the small smile. "That's pretty cool that you and Lee-kun are dating though. Not that long ago you were calling him a 'brat' all the time."

Ibuki sighed. "Yeah. I didn't really know how to handle my feelings like a grown-up. I really shouldn't have treated him like I did. I'm lucky he's interested at all."

Jiro nodded. "You're a better person than you used to be, honestly. I like you more now than when we first met."

Lucas smiled. "Boyfriends or not, I'm just glad you guys aren't fighting anymore."

Katsu smirked. "Yeah, that condescending attitude of yours was pretty annoying. I had more than a few moments when I wanted to slug you in the face."

Ibuki scowled. "Yeah. Thanks, Katz."

Jiro switched to a curious face. "So how did that trial go?"

The deer-wolf leaned back against a wall. "I wasn't worried. Dad's lawyers are really damned good. The Horns Conglomerate has never lost a lawsuit, so I was pretty confident. Besides, the only argument the prosecution had was that Ben was unarmed when I shot him."

Lucas snorted. "The dude was an elephant. He didn't needto be armed."

Ibuki nodded. "Exactly. He also attempted to take the gun from me. I had Lee as my witness. The prosecution brought in those guys Lee beat up but their stories were hilariously inconsistent. It was super obvious they were making shit up."

Gil looked at his phone. "Crap. Bedtime."

The guys all stood up to get into their beds. Ibuki put a hand on Jiro's shoulder. "I'm really glad to have you back."

The fox nodded. "Thanks, Ibuki-kun."