Lee got out of bed and made his way to class. Unsurprisingly, some of the herbivores looked at him with disgust or discomfort as he walked through the halls.

When he got out onto school grounds, Ibuki showed up with coffee and gave his boyfriend a kiss on the lips before walking to class together.

Ibuki smirked. "I take it some of the people in the herbivore dorms aren't fond of you."

Lee scoffed. "To say the least. They look at me like I'm gonna eat them. What about you? How're you treated in the carnivore dorms?"

The deer-wolf scowled. "People are mostly just demeaning to me or make fun of my antlers. Although, I don't really care if people mock me. My ego isn't thateasily hurt."

Lee chuckled. "I think your antlers are cool. Honestly, you're cooler than me in general. You're way more wolf than deer."

Ibuki laughed. "Okay, keep going."

The two chuckled.

Thwack!

Ibuki covered the side of his head. "Ow! The hell?"

Lee looked at him with concern before spotting a rock on the ground. He turned to see a badger glaring at them. "Freaks!" The badger ran off.

The wolf-rabbit scowled angrily, but Ibuki grabbed his hand before he could chase him. "He's not worth our time, Lee. Let's just go."

Lee sighed. "Fine."

Lee went on his way to Drama Club with his boyfriend. However, he needed to use the restroom and told Ibuki to meet up with him there. After relieving himself, he continued on his way. However, he stopped by the memorial for Tem the alpaca. Trevor was kneeling in front of Tem's photo with a bouquet next to him. It seemed he was offering a prayer. Lee decided to leave him alone.

He started walking but heard footsteps. He ignored them at first. But his ears twitched when he heard an unfamiliar voice speak.

"And just what the hell do you think you'redoing?"

Lee turned around and looked around the corner. A male elk was glaring at Trevor with his arms crossed.

Trevor looked confused. "I was just offering a prayer for Tem."

The elk growled. "And do you really think he wants to hear from you?"

"I-I-"

"I know who you are. You're not gonna trick people into thinking you're a good person by leaving an offering to someone your dad killed."

"But-"

"You have absolutely no right to be here!"

Lee scowled and walked around the corner. "He can leave an offering if he wants."

The elk turned toward Lee and scoffed. "Piss off. This isn't your business."

The wolf-rabbit growled. "Yes, it is. Trevor-senpai is my friend."

The elk scowled and approached Lee. "You know what his father did, right?"

"Yeah. His fatherkilled him. Trevor-senpai didn't."

"Don't you see what he's trying to do here? He's only leaving these flowers because it was hisdad that did this. If he wasn't guilty of being that scum's child, he wouldn't need to be leaving offerings, now would he?"

"He does it because nobody has left offerings here in two decades! You're really going to vilify this guy when he's the one person that's actually still paying his respects?"

The elk's fist trembled. Then he put his hands in the air. "Whatever. I don't even care." He started walking off. "But the apple never falls far from the tree. And don't come crying to me when he eats somebody you care about."

Lee scoffed. The absolute nerve.

Trevor looked concerned. "You didn't need to do that, Lee-kun."

The chimera turned his attention back to the bear. "Yes, I did. You aren't responsible for what Riz did and you shouldn't be persecuted over it. Don't let anyone talk to you like that."

The bear looked conflicted. "I don't want to be a burden on you though. And no offense, but you're not my protector. I don't need you to save me."

Lee shook his head. "I'm your clubmate and your friend. It's what friends do, we stick up for each other." The chimera smirked. "You're not talking me out of this opinion. This is set in stone."

Trevor gave a wry smile. "Alright. I guess I should thank you then… thanks."

Lee smiled back. "You're welcome!"

At Drama Club, Lee was reading off a piece of paper. "You were the one that betrayed me. I gave you my trust and you took my brother. You have committed an act of immeasurable cruelty, and you shall burn for it." The chimera turned the page and groaned before mumbling under his breath. "Why does this guy have so many lines?"

CRASH!

Jolene's voice came from the storage room. "Agh! God damn it!"

The wolf-rabbit decided to go check on her. The inside of the storage room was a mess. The metal shelves were crammed with a myriad of props and equipment that looked like they hadn't been used in years. On top of that, they were very poorly organized.

Lee glanced around. "Jo-chan?"

"Ugh… I'm back here, Lee-kun."

The chimera made his way to the very far back of the storage room. One of the shelves had fallen over, and the props and equipment were scattered on the floor. "What happened?"

Jolene took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge between her eyes. "I tried to get a prop off the top shelf and accidentally knocked the damn thing over." She sighed. "It's gonna take forever to clean this up."

The sheep grabbed the shelf and tried pushing it up. She was grunting as she struggled to move it. Of course, the tiny sheep had no hope of righting the shelf, but she made more progress than expected. Perhaps she was stronger than most females of her species.

Lee started lifting it himself, putting the shelf back up in seconds.

Jolene watched him put the shelf up and sighed. "I'm gonna need help, aren't I?"

The chimera shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with getting a little help." He bent down and started picking up scattered items, placing them back on the shelf.

The sheep looked defeated and started picking some up herself.

Lee decided to break the ice with some small talk. "So how long have you worked with Louis-san and Ibuki?"

"Five years at least. I needed a lot of money and I figured I could get a high paying job with him."

"Was it nice working for Louis-san?"

Jolene smiled. "He was the best boss I've ever had. He was super nice and fun to talk to."

"I figured as much. Louis-san has only been nice to me. He's pretty charitable too."

"I like working with Ibuki-sama too. He was a little rude to me when we first met but we got along after a while."

Lee snorted. "Yeah, that makes sense. Well, less so now. By the way, you said something about your mom knowing my dad."

"She lived in the same condo as him a long time ago, before either you or I were born. She said he was nice despite being scary looking. But he was also apparently completely clueless when it came to getting anything electronic to work and was always asking her for help."

Lee laughed. "Yeah, I feel her pain. I'm not even a tech guy but he always asks me to look at something if it's not doing what he wants."

The two finally finished putting everything back on the shelf. Jolene gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks for the help, Lee-kun."

Lee smiled. "No problem."

They were about to leave when Jolene froze. "Umm… Lee-kun. Did Ibuki-sama tell you anything about me?"

The chimera shook his head. "No. Should he have?"

Jolene shook her head as well. "I was just curious. Let's get back to practice."

Lee tilted his head curiously but decided not to bother her about it.

Ibuki read his script and sighed. He was fairly certain his character in this had twice as many lines as the titular protagonist of Adler. How long was this play anyway?

His eyes wandered over to Jiro, who was silently painting one of the backdrops. He had only just started and it already looked great. The fox's painting skills were absolutely magnificent. Ibuki was very happy to have him back.

Trevor was sewing another costume together with a contemplative look on his face. It seemed the bear was lost in thought.

The deer-wolf's ears twitched when he heard a familiar voice.

"Come on, Bast. Just talk to him."

Ibuki looked over to see Sebastian partially hidden behind a backdrop, staring at Trevor. Viola was standing next to her brother with her arms crossed, looking at him with an exasperated and annoyed expression.

The deer-wolf decided to investigate and walked over to Sebastian. "Is everything okay?"

"Eek!" The sheep jumped and turned his attention to Ibuki. "O-Oh… Yeah, I'm fine, Ibuki-kun."

Viola rolled her eyes. "He has something to ask Trevor-senpai about the costumes but is too scared to talk to him."

Ibuki looked at Sebastian with concern. "This is because of who his father is, isn't it?"

The male Dall sheep gulped. "I know he's a nice guy and he's not dangerous. But I just… I dunno, he's just scary. I don't know why."

The deer-wolf put a hand on Sebastian's shoulder. "I can understand why you're intimidated. But you'll have to get over it. You have responsibilities to this club."

Sebastian took a deep breath. He started walking slowly towards the bear. He had sweat dripping down his face as he approached Trevor one step at a time.

Trevor looked up from his work but hadn't spotted Sebastian. The bear inhaled before opening his mouth and loudly yawning, accidentally giving everyone a very clear look at his huge and sharp teeth.

The male Dall sheep twin sprinted back behind the backdrop and hid behind his sister, trembling.

Viola sighed. She turned to Sebastian and embraced him, stroking the wool on top of his head. "There, there. It's okay."

Ibuki looked exasperated as well. He didn't want to push the Dall sheep too hard on this though. It was clear that Sebastian wasn't as mentally stable as his sister. Getting over this fear will likely be incredibly difficult. "Viola-chan, can you just go with him to talk to Trevor-senpai? Just hold his hand or something."

Viola nodded and held her brother's hand. "Let's go, Bast."

Sebastian gulped nervously and trembled before nodding back and going with her.

The two walked over to the bear, who looked up from the costume he was working on.

Ibuki sighed and went back to reading his lines.

After Drama Club got out, Lee and Ibuki sat together on a bench as the sun started to set. They looked up at the big orange sky together, holding hands.

Ibuki sighed. "Sebastian-kun has been having trouble talking to Trevor-senpai. He's scared of him."

Lee scoffed. "Yeah, like it's Trevor-senpai's fault what his daddid. I ran into some jackass earlier that was harassing Trevor because he was praying at Tem's memorial."

Ibuki shook his head. "Sebastian-kun isn't being cruel. You and I both know how troubled that poor kid is. I'm not sure how to help him though. He relies on his sister for pretty much everything."

The wolf-rabbit nodded. "He's severely codependent. But I don't think we can cure him of that. Maybe if he's just around Trevor enough he'll warm up to him?"

"He's been around Trevor-senpai for a long time. He wasn't scared of him until Theo-kun brought up that he's Riz's son. Obviously, that's where the root of the problem is. How do we separate Trevor-senpai and Riz in his mind?"

Lee contemplated this. He'll think about it more later. "I was talking to Jo-chan earlier. She was saying you were really pleasant to work with."

Ibuki chuckled. "She's a very sweet woman. I was a tad annoyed when she showed up here since Dad clearly put her up to it. But I can't stay mad at her for very long."

The wolf-rabbit smiled. "Guess I'm glad she's our theater director. She's learning the ropes pretty fast."

The deer-wolf nodded. "She's a very strong-willed and intelligent woman. She stayed up very long nights working for Dad, even when she didn't need to. At first, I thought it was because she needed money really badly. But I could tell she was passionate about her job."

Lee tilted his head curiously. "She said something about needing a lot of money earlier. Do you know what for?"

Ibuki sighed. "You really need to stop putting your nose in other people's business. I'm not going to tell you that without her permission."

The wolf-rabbit awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah. Good point."

The sun started to get even lower, and the two knew they needed to part ways. They kissed deeply and for quite a long time before returning to their dorms.