Lee sprinted down Cherryton's hill at his absolute fastest speed. This was somewhat dangerous as the wolf-rabbit was able to outrun some cars. Accidentally ramming into a pedestrian could end badly for both parties.

Even worse, it was raining. Of course today of all days. He just hoped he didn't catch a cold by the time he got there.

He bobbed and weaved around any people or obstacles as he sprinted through the city. Several animals just watched in confusion as an abnormally fast rabbit went by them.

The chimera slowed down when he finally reached the hospital. He came to a screeching halt at the front desk. "Where's my dad? He's a grey wolf named 'Legosi'."

The female alligator manning the desk checked her computer. "Floor seven, room nine."

He ran to and up the stairwell to the seventh floor. Only now was he starting to feel a burning in his legs. While the chimera was freakishly fast, his top speed had a habit of wreaking hell on his muscles when he's been sprinting too long. The stairs weren't doing him any favors either.

He made it to the seventh floor and counted the room numbers until he found nine. He pulled back the curtain and saw his father in a hospital bed with his left arm in a cast. The wolf looked surprised to see his son. "Oh. Lee. What're you doing here?" He looked the chimera up and down. "And whatin the world are you wearing?"

Lee looked down and only now realized he was still wearing his stage costume. A suit of armor that was clearly made of cheap plastic and not metal. He must've neglected to remove it because he was in such a rush to get to the hospital.

He ran up to his father. "What the hell happened?!"

Legosi grimaced. "Lee, don't yell in my ear like that."

The chimera backed up. "S-sorry."

Lee turned to the right and noticed a male puma standing next to his father. He somehow didn't notice him while in his blind panic.

The puma cleared his throat. "I'm Dr. Ryan. I believe we spoke over the phone."

Lee nodded. "I'm Lee. What happened to Dad?"

Legosi shrugged. "Workplace accident. No big deal."

Lee turned to the doctor. "Why didn't you tell me over the phone it was just a broken arm?"

Dr. Ryan stammered. "W-well I-"

Lee heard footsteps fastly approaching from behind and smelled a very familiar scent. He turned around to see his mother running into the room. She looked at her husband before turning to her son. "L-Lee?! You're here before me?!"

Lee looked confused. "Yeah. I got a call right when the play ended."

The rabbit glared at Dr. Ryan. "You contacted my sonbefore me?! What did you say to him?!"

The puma suddenly looked a bit nervous. "Well, I-"

Lee interrupted. "All he said was that Dad was in the hospital. He didn't say anything else. I thought it was going to be wayworse than a broken arm."

Haru was practically red in the face as she approached the doctor. "You idiot! Do you see how badly you scared my boy?! Why in the hell did you call his son before his wife?!"

Dr. Ryan gulped. "I was just-"

The rabbit whipped her head around towards her son. "And you! Why are you so wet?! Did you run here in the rain?! Are you tryingto catch a cold?!"

Lee tried to formulate a response but just wound up making a strange whining noise. It's hard to talk when his mother was scolding him. He had it hard programmed in his brain that when his mom raised her voice, it was time to shut the hell up.

The rabbit set her purse on a chair and walked around the bed to look at the cast. She looked concerned. "How bad was it?"

Legosi shrugged. "Not that bad. I just had a little fall and landed on my arm."

The doctor looked at his clipboard. "According to his co-workers, he was leaning on a railing that gave way and he fell roughly ten meters onto concrete."

Haru gasped. "Oh my God! L-Legosi!"

The wolf chuckled nervously. "I-it wasn't thatbad. It was a minor accident."

Dr. Ryan continued. "When the EMTs arrived, he had lost a lot of blood. His arm was bent in the wrong direction and the humerus was sticking out through his elbow. We had to perform surgery."

Haru put her hands on her hips. "I think we need to talk about your definition of a 'minor accident.' We are sosuing over this."

Legosi's ears drooped. "B-but I don't want to sue my bosses. They're really nice."

Lee gave a sigh of relief. "At least it's just a broken arm."

The wolf gave his son an apologetic look. "I'm sorry I scared you, Lee."

The chimera shook his head. "Nah. Not your fault."

Haru pulled up a chair and sat next to her husband. "Welp. I'll be staying here with you. I don't like going back to the house alone."

Legosi smiled. "Alright. Thank you, Haru." He turned to his son. "You should probably start heading back to school, Lee."

BOOM!

The entire room flashed and everyone looked out the window. The rain suddenly became much worse, and Lee's phone made a strange noise. When he checked, he had an alert warning of flash flooding in his area.

Legosi chuckled nervously. "O-or not."

Haru looked over at Lee. "I can drive you back to school."

The chimera shook his head. "It's the weekend anyway. So I'll stick around too."

Dr. Ryan nodded. "I'll leave you to it." The doctor walked away.

Lee's stomach growled loudly.

Haru giggled and reached into her purse, grabbed her wallet, and held out a five-hundred yen bill.

Lee chuckled awkwardly before accepting the money. "I'll be right back."

The chimera stepped out of the room and looked around, wondering where the vending machines were. He picked a random hallway and wandered around.

He turned a corner and was surprised to see Trevor. He was talking to a female badger doctor.

The doctor gave the bear an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Trevor-san. We did everything we could."

Trevor looked absolutely heartbroken. The ursine covered his face and sobbed into his hands. "N-no… M-Mama…"

Lee covered his mouth in shock. Then, his ears drooped and he looked towards the bear with sad eyes.

Trevor loudly sobbed as the doctor put a hand on his shoulder. The bear put his hands down, his face moist with tears. "Th-thank you for trying, D-Doctor."

The bear started walking down the hall but stopped when he spotted the chimera. He looked surprised. "Lee-kun? Why are you here?"

Lee slowly approached. "My dad broke his arm. I'm staying the night with him." Lee's eyes started to tear up a little as well. He didn't know Trevor's mother, but seeing the bear so heartbroken made him feel incredibly sad. "I-I'm sorry about your mom."

Trevor nodded sadly and sniffled. "Y-you said Legosi-san is here?"

Lee was somewhat caught off guard by the question. "Yeah. He is."

"If you don't mind. What's his room number?"

Lee tilted his head but decided to tell him. "Room nine."

Trevor nodded. "I want to talk to him. Just not tonight."

Lee was somewhat curious but didn't want to press the grieving bear. "Okay."

Trevor fell silent for a bit, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

The chimera couldn't take seeing him in so much pain. Without a second thought, he hugged him. At Trevor's exceptional height, Lee's head only came up to the ursine's chest.

The bear was caught off guard, then the tears started streaming as he hugged the chimera back and sobbed.

Ibuki was back in his dorm, feeling tired after the play. Gil was showing the other roommates a ZooTube video. It was some kind of video game review. About halfway through the video, a thunderstorm began.

The deer-wolf received a text from his boyfriend. But he decided not to answer it until the video was over out of courtesy to Gil. Once it was over, he checked his phone.

Lee: "Dad's in the hospital. I'm staying the night with him."

Ibuki: "What happened?"

Lee: "He fell down a long way at work and broke his arm."

Ibuki: "That's unfortunate."

Lee: "His doctor called and just told me he was in the hospital. I kinda freaked out and ran over."

Ibuki: "I guess that's why I didn't see you after I was done talking with Jo-chan. And why we couldn't find your costume."

Lee: "Yeah, I showed up to the hospital dressed as a knight. Kinda awkward."

Ibuki: "Perhaps they thought you were a cosplayer."

Lee: "I dunno. At least they didn't kick me out."

Ibuki: "Well, that was the last showing of that play anyway. Just make sure you bring it back."

Lee: "Oh. I ran into Trevor-senpai. He was visiting his mom in the hospital, but she passed away."

Ibuki: "I'm really sorry to hear that. I heard something about her getting shot."

Lee: "Yeah, a robber shot her in the spine. I talked to Trevor-senpai a bit. He was heartbroken."

Ibuki: "Of course he is. He lost the only parent that he loved."

Lee: "He REALLY hates his dad. Riz came to the school to pay respects to Tem and Trevor-senpai went ballistic."

Ibuki: "That maniac was in the school? You should've told me."

Lee: "Sorry. I guess it didn't cross my mind. You can ask Jiro-kun about it though. He overheard us."

Ibuki set down his phone for a second and got out of the bunk. He looked up at Jiro who, for once, wasn't sketching. He was texting on his phone with a big blush on his face and a wagging tail.

The fox spotted Ibuki looking at him and set his phone down before pulling out his notepad. He flipped it to the small smile. "Can I help you, Ibuki-kun?"

The deer-wolf tilted his head. "You certainly looked happy. Who were you texting?"

Jiro blushed and scratched his face awkwardly. "Th-that's private." He shook his head rapidly. "A-anyway. Did you need something?"

Ibuki nodded. "Lee told me you overheard Trevor-senpai fighting with Riz."

The fox flipped to a drawing of himself looking very intimidated. There were even motion lines to imply trembling. "Yeah, it was really bad. Trevor-senpai is crazyloud when he's mad. It was super scary."

"Lee was just telling me about it. Trevor-senpai's mother just died."

Jiro gasped and his pupils shrank. He flipped to a drawing of himself looking sad. "Th-that's awful. I'm really sorry to hear that."

The deer-wolf sighed. "Sorry to depress you. I was just curious about what you knew."

The vulpine shook his head. "I'm okay. I'm no stranger to morbid and sad things."

Ibuki crawled back into his bunk and grabbed his phone.

Ibuki: "I should be going to bed. Have fun with your dad. I love you."

Lee: "I love you too, Ibuki."

Lee yawned as he awoke the next day. He had fallen asleep in his chair after several hours of conversation with his parents. While he enjoyed texting them, it was nice to talk face-to-face again. It made the chimera excited for winter break, which was coming up soon.

He looked up at his parents. His mother had fallen asleep leaning over her husband's bed, using her arms as a pillow. His father, of course, was also sleeping.

Lee stretched as he stood up. His back was very sore and he winced in pain. Those chairs are not designed for sleeping in. His nose twitched and before he could react, he loudly sneezed.

Haru woke up and yawned, cleaning the crust out of her eyes. "Mmm… Morning, Lee."

"Good mor- mo-"

The chimera sneezed again, but this time he covered his mouth.

Haru scoffed. "I knewyou were going to catch a cold."

Lee looked around and spotted some paint flaking off of his armor. He admonished himself, knowing that he just ruined a costume that Trevor worked hard on.

Legosi's mouth opened up as he let out a very loud yawn. His eyes opened and he tried to stretch. But when he tried to move his left arm he regretted it instantly and grimaced. "Ow!"

Haru looked at him with concern. "Careful, dear."

Lee sneezed again.

Haru sighed. "What am I going to do with you two?"

The chimera glanced out the window to see a clear blue sky. He got out of his chair. "I should get back to school. It was great seeing you guys again."

Haru smiled. "Be careful on your way back, Lee."

Lee stepped out of the room and walked down the hallway. Just when he reached the door, he heard heavy footsteps behind him. He looked back to see Trevor walking into Legosi's room. The chimera was somewhat curious but decided to allow the bear some privacy.

Esther, Olivia, and Theo were sitting on the ground behind the practice building.

The goat was on his laptop typing away. "It doesn't seem like she has any social media accounts. But that's not exactly unusual for a woman her age."

The tiger looked concerned. "Is there anything to find at all?"

Theo adjusted his glasses. "I found a social media account for her son. Not sure if that's helpful."

On the laptop was a webpage with a photo of a very effeminate male calico cat dancing in a club. He was wearing a tube top and hotpants so short they were practically underwear. He was winking at the camera while making a very suggestive pose with his butt out.

Esther chuckled. "Wow! I knew her kid was gay but hot damn!"

Olivia sighed. "I wish I could be as amused by the irony as youare. But there's nothing funny about someone being disowned for being gay. Regardless of how flamboyant he is."

The tiger looked apologetic. "S-sorry." Suddenly, Esther's ears perked up. "Hey, do you think hemight have dirt on his mom?"

Theo shrugged. "It's possiblebut don't count on it. They haven't spoken in years."

The lab crossed her arms. "I'm not sure we should bother asking him at all. I'm sure this is a very sensitive topic."

The goat switched to another tab. On the page was a website called "ChainedIn". "Only social media I can find is for business-related stuff. She's been working at this school for decades though, so it's mostly abandoned."

Olivia looked curious about something. "Can you pull up information on the rest of the school staff?"

Theo found a link to the school's website. There he found a page dedicated to members of Cherryton's faculty.

Esther raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell is Joel?"

The tech-savvy caprid clicked on the name the tiger specified. The page indicated that the theater instructor was a male Merino sheep named "Joel". Yet despite this, the profile picture was a very recent photo of Jolene.

Olivia looked confused and alarmed. "Is that-"

"It's my deadname."

The three turned around to see Jolene approaching them. She had a drink from Starborks in her hand.

Esther was caught off guard by the sheep's sudden appearance. "Oh. Jo-chan."

Jolene stared at the screen with a contemptuous scowl. "I'm guessing Meredith is behind this. I changed my legal name to Jolene a long time ago. All the forms and paperwork use my current legal name. Someone had to dig through my social media to find my birth name, so I don't think this is a clerical error."

Olivia turned towards the sheep with a curious expression. "Jo-chan. Do you have any information on Meredith we can use?"

Jolene gave them a stern look. "No. And if I did, I wouldn't tell you. I'm touched you want to help me, but sticking your neck into this is only going to get you in trouble. So pleasejust drop this. I'mthe adult, I'mpart of the staff now, so I'lldeal with the situation myself."

Esther shook her head. "Uh-uh. No way. This ain't just about you, Jo-chan. She took away Liv's garden and blackmailed a student. We're not letting anybody else get hurt here."

Theo gave the sheep a pleading look. "There's no way you can get rid of Meredith on your own. She's way too powerful in this school. We need all the info we can get if we're going to get Headmaster Gon to actually do something."

Jolene looked incredibly conflicted. "I… I don't-"

The white tiger shrugged. "We want people that come to this school to actually enjoybeing here. Just sayin'."

Jolene looked over her shoulder before sighing. "All I know is that she disproportionately targets queer students. If she catches you kissing someone of the same sex, you're on her shit list. Then she'll come up with any excuse she can to punish you."

Esther quietly growled in disgust.

The sheep chuckled. "Well, unless you're Sebastian-kun."

Olivia nodded. "Because he's Pina's son."

Jolene smirked. "That kid could makeout with every boy in the school and Meredith wouldn't be able to do a thing. She knows the faculty is scared of Pina and might fire her if she pisses him off. She won't voice it around other staff, but it's obvious she despiseshim with a burning passion."

Theo tapped on the edge of his computer in thought. "Is it really Pinathey fear?"

The sheep looked curious. "Hm?"

He turned to face her. "They aren't scared of Pina. They're scared of the general public. They just know more people will hear Pina's voice. Our best chance is to expose her to the public. The school will toss her out just to please the enraged masses."

Jolene looked uncertain. "But how do we prove that she's discriminating against queer students?"

Esther crossed her arms and tried to think about it. But the tiger has never been great at thinking outside the box. She wished she could throw out the brain she had and replace it with a better one. What she wouldn't give to be just as smart as her girlfriend. The tiger looked over to Olivia in hopes of getting guidance from her. That's when she spotted something interesting. The lab was smirking.

The tiger leaned over to her girlfriend and whispered in her ear. "You've got somethin' figured out?"

Olivia nodded. "Yeah. I think I might have an idea."