Chapter 20: Legosi Explores His Relationship! The Skills Of The Cop Named Lem!
The next morning, Alex and Legosi woke up, refreshed and rejuvenated. Alex was ready to put the events of the previous day behind him and move forward. He heard Legosi and Jack talking in the next room over. Wanting to know more, Alex pressed his head up to the wall and listened in. Apparently Legosi had looked up some saucy rabbit images on his phone last night and Jack was concerned about it. Alex wished that HE had a friend like Jack when he was that age.
After he got some breakfast and said "good morning" to all the other carnivores in dorm 701, Alex grabbed Legosi and began to drag him to the gardening club. "W-wait! Isn't it a little too soon to be going to the gardening club?!" Legosi stammered.
Alex sighed. "Come on. We're going to see Haru. And I won't take no for an answer," Alex replied. The wolf's protests fell on deaf ears as Alex pulled him along to the gardening club. As the two wolves were about to knock on the door when it slid open suddenly. They saw Louis standing in the doorway. The white wolf looked past Louis to study Haru. The white dwarf rabbit looked like she had just thrown her clothes back on.
Alex realized instantly what this meant. "No," Alex growled. Louis tilted his head.
"What do you mean, no?" Louis asked curiously.
"Absolutely not. I don't trust you around her," Alex told the deer.
"Wait, what's going on?" Legosi asked.
"Legosi, Louis. You two go back to the dorms together. I have something to discuss in private with Haru," Alex suggested.
Louis sighed. "Sure. Come on, Legosi," Louis grumbled. The two of them left and Alex stepped inside the gardening club building.
"I forbid you from sleeping with Louis," Alex snarled. Haru got out from under the bed where she was hiding.
"You don't get to say who I fool around with!" Haru argued.
"I don't trust Louis. Something about that deer screams danger to me," Alex told her. Haru went "hmph!" and then she left the gardening club in a hurry.
"Maybe I'll see you at the meteor festival," Haru replied as she left the little shed.
After a long talk with Louis and then running into Juno, Legosi was tired and ready to see his friend again. As he was helping other animals with prepping for the meteor festival, he saw Louis affectionately pet Haru on her head, causing her to smile like Legosi had never seen her smile before. He remembered smelling Haru's scent on Louis when they were walking back to the dorm.
In that instant, Legosi knew that he was in love with Haru. It wasn't his instincts disguising itself as romantic interest. It was true, genuine love. Legosi then began to approach Haru once Louis had left. The rest of the drama club members and other school-goers were starting to pack up and leaving. "Hi, Haru-san!" Legosi greeted her. His tail was wagging happily.
Haru turned around and saw Legosi looming over her. A momentary expression of panic passed over her face before it returned to a calm mood. For a second she thought it was a predator who might eat her! She relaxed a little, but was still a little restless. "Oh, hi Legosi!" Haru responded, waving at him and smiling a little.
The gray wolf racked his head, trying to formulate a response. Then he had an idea. "Want to walk back to school together, Haru-san?" Legosi suggested.
"Alright, but… can I ask why?" Haru asked, curious about why the wolf wanted to walk back with her.
"Well, it's getting more and more dangerous outside," Legosi solemnly answered. Haru had to admit that the gray wolf had a good point. There were more and more murders occurring around town, and she knew she could be considered a delectable meal to meat-crazed carnivores. The two of them walked together to the metro, wanting to take the train home.
As they walked down the stairs, Haru began to wonder what was up with Legosi. He'd been acting a little funny all day. Haru started talking after they passed by a set of train tracks. "You know, ever since we've met, I've never been able to read you," Haru told Legosi.
"O-oh, really?" Legosi replied in a flustered tone.
"The first time we met…" Legosi thought to himself. He remembered the night howler incident and started to internally panic. He had to change the subject, quickly! "U-uh… it sure is hot today, y'know? But I heard it'll be colder tomorrow, so it'll be more comfortable…" Legosi blurted out.
Haru kept silent as they walked to the train waiting area. "Why don't you ever bring that up?" Haru suddenly asked.
Legosi gulped nervously. "Bring what up?" the gray wolf asked, desperately hoping that she wasn't referring to him going after her while under the effects of the Night Howler drug.
"You met a bunny for the first time and she tried to seduce you. We're friends now, so we should be able to have a good laugh about it," Haru said.
Legosi sighed, relieved that she wasn't talking about the night howler incident. "But for me, it WAS a big deal. I can't treat it like it wasn't one. And since it was a big deal, I kinda want to keep that memory to myself. There's nothing else I can really do about it," Legosi responded. Haru blinked and then nodded, starting to understand where Legosi was coming from. "I want you to respect that… and I'd also like it if you stopped acting so distant all the time," Legosi continued.
The white dwarf rabbit sighed and looked at Legosi. "I don't really want to hear that coming from a wolf like you," Haru replied. Legosi's eyes widened, and his tail froze.
"Huh?" the wolf muttered.
"You don't know what it feels like to be an animal whose life is always in danger. I could be eaten by a carnivore while I'm still unloved. You don't have to worry about that, so you don't have a chance of understanding me, either," Haru told him.
Haru began to stomp off to go get on a different metro, but Legosi's arm shot out and grabbed Haru by the arm. "Let go of me! I'm going to a different car!" Haru protested.
"I can't… we aren't finished talking yet! I'll let you go if you stay," Legosi responded, in a somber and melancholy tone.
"Yes we are! Don't patronize me when you don't know anything about me!" Haru angrily shouted at him. Legosi didn't reply to that; he just stared at Haru with a mix of emotions in his eyes. Haru could see protectiveness, sadness, disappointment, anger, and even a hint of fear in his gaze.
"Let go," Haru repeated. "No," Legosi answered. "Let me go!" Haru growled. "NO," Legosi replied, more forcefully this time. But instead of the expected silence they thought would follow, they instead could hear the worried mumbling of other animals.
The bunny and wolf's ears folded as they realized their argument had drawn the attention of other animals in the metro. "Sir, look! You need to help that girl!" one of the crowd members cried out. Legosi turned around and saw a cop advancing towards him.
The wolf's heart sank when he recognized the cop as Lem, the guy who had gone and checked up on Alex when the white wolf had gotten himself injured while pushing Haru out of the way of a falling mattress. Haru's mind raced as she saw the cop coming towards them. She never wanted anything bad to happen to Legosi! "What are you doing with that rabbit?!" Lem snarled.
"Nothing, actually. We were just having an argument-" Legosi began to explain the situation calmly, when all of a sudden Haru started dragging him away. "Why are we running!? We're only making ourselves look more suspicious!" Legosi cried out worriedly.
"You idiot, just keep running! Nowadays, a carnivore can be arrested for simply arguing with a herbivore!" Haru told him.
"A-arrested!?" Legosi gasped, shocked at the idea of simply getting thrown in jail for simply having a heated discussion with a herbivore.
"It'll be all over for you if you get arrested! It doesn't matter if they don't find any evidence, they'll throw you straight into juvie!" Haru explained.
"JUVIE?!" Legosi squealed in fear. He didn't want to go to juvie! Jack, Collot, and his other roommates from room 701 would be terribly sad if he couldn't continue to go to Cherryton with them!
Lem was chasing after them, but was struggling to get through the crowd. "Out of the way! Officer Lem Dirigiba, CPD!" Lem announced. Legosi stumbled and almost fell as Haru pulled him through the crowd, nearly kicking the rabbit's butt.
"You know, Legosi, you're really hard to deal with! I can't tell if you're sensitive or insensitive!" Haru complained as they tore through the crowd.
It was getting harder for Legosi to run like this. "I'm just trying to figure out how to make this work… we're just so different from each other, Haru! I'm really not sure how to act," Legosi replied.
"Then don't try to be considerate right now, you big dork!" Haru yelled at him. The bunny skidded to a halt before hopping off of another animal and landing on Legosi's shoulders. "Lead the way and run as fast as you can! Or else you'll get caught!" Haru commanded. The two of them ran into the bathroom.
Lem was still running behind, but he managed to break free from the crowd and walked into a more clear area of the metro. Where could those two have gone? Probably outside, but his gut instinct was telling him differently. And Lem knew he had to listen to his gut. The last time Lem didn't listen to his instincts was back in Zootopia. He and Alex had just put a stop to a plan by the Chorus of Pain gang that involved bombing the city's water supply and poisoning it with a deadly strand of rabies.
Lem believed that they had truly put an end to the Chorus of Pain. Alex, however, disagreed with the dingo. Alex believed that the planned attack on the water supply was a diversion, and that the REAL target was the swearing in of Mayor Leodore Lionheart and Assistant Mayor Dawn Bellwether at Zootopia City Hall.
To be fair, Lem was also upset over the fact that he had fallen in love with Alex, confessed to having feelings for the white wolf, and learned that Alex didn't reciprocate those feelings for him. But something in his mind told him that Alex was onto something, and he chose to ignore it.
Alex's suspicions turned out to be correct. That afternoon, Topi Wolfgang, one of the seven big leaders of the Chorus, led an assault on the swearing in ceremony. If Alex and his friend Michiru Kagemori, a tanuki who had somehow acquired shape-shifting powers, hadn't been there, both the mayor and the assistant mayor would likely have been killed as well as many more innocent bystanders.
He spied the bathroom, and realized they could have gone in there to hide. He stood outside the door to the side, waiting patiently for them to come out.
The wolf and bunny huddled inside the bathroom, sitting on top of the toilet. After a few more minutes, Haru sighed in relief. "They've probably gone outside to look for us by now. I think we can come out now," Haru said.
"I promise that I'll buy you a juice when we're done with this," Legosi told her.
As they stepped out of the bathroom, Lem got in front of them and pointed his taser at Legosi. "Put your paws in the air, both of you!" Lem shouted. Legosi froze as he slowly raised his paws. Lem patted him down, checking for any weapons the gray wolf might have been carrying.
As the dingo was about to handcuff Legosi, Haru heard a familiar voice. "Hey, what's going on here?" a confident female voice asked.
"Judy!" Haru cried out jubilantly. Lem whirled around to see if she was trying to trick him, and his jaw gaped. The heroine of Zootopia, fully dressed in police gear, was indeed standing in front of Lem.
"O-Officer Hopps?!" Legosi and Lem gasped.
Lem shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He had transferred to the Cherryton police force right after the Chorus of Pain incidents, so he hadn't been around when the bunny joined the police force. A shame, too. He had heard that Judy was given a lot of flack for being the only rabbit on the squad. He would have helped her out if he was in Zootopia during that time. "But what are you doing here?" Lem asked.
"Well, I'm on vacation. I was taking my daily stroll through Cherryton, then I heard some passerby talking about some commotion between a predator and a prey. So I ran off to find them. And now I've found it," Judy explained. The grey rabbit then noticed Haru standing next to Legosi, an arm wrapped around him protectively.
"Oh, hi Haru!" Judy greeted. Haru waved hi back at Judy. The bunny cop then turned to face Lem.
"So why are you arresting this wolf student? What sort of wrong did he do?" Judy inquired. "Well, the witness said they were fighting, and I saw him holding onto her and not letting go. Then they started running away from me," Lem told her.
Judy nodded, then looked at Legosi. " Were you two fighting?" Judy asked, arching one of her eyebrows back.
"N-no! We were arguing, that's all!" Legosi quickly answered.
"Just arguing," Haru agreed.
Lem crossed his arms. "If you two were just arguing, why did you pull away from the scene?" Lem pried. Legosi looked at Haru and sighed.
"She started pulling me away. If she hadn't, I would have been glad to answer your questions, officer," Legosi replied.
The dingo then turned to Haru, giving her a stern look. "And why did you pull him away from me, causing this whole wild chase?" Lem questioned Haru.
"I was afraid that he'd get put in jail and sent to juvie," Haru replied nervously.
"Maybe the other Cherryton cops, but not me. This sort of incident happens all the time in Zootopia," Lem reassured.
Lem sighed. "I'd better get back to work. You two stay out of trouble," Lem told the two students, before leaving. When he was gone, Legosi blushed.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Officer Hopps. I really admire all the work you do out there," Legosi said. They shook paws. "You must be Legosi! Alex's told me about you. Call me Judy," Judy responded.
Legosi's blush intensified as Judy talked with Haru about setting up a date for them to get coffee together. They settled on the next Saturday morning as a date for them to meet up. Judy was extremely nice, and even offered to drive them back to Cherryton Academy in her car. Legosi politely declined the offer, as he probably wouldn't be able to fit in her car very well.
As he and Haru walked back to school together, he reflected on how crazy the day's events had been. "Next time we hang out, I get to choose the activity," Legosi told Haru. The white dwarf rabbit giggled before the two parted ways for the day.
While Legosi spends the day with Haru, Alex is dealing with the drama club practice. After showing Juno the video where Legosi says she's not his type, Alex sees Bill and Louis go into a side room and his cop instincts start to go off. Is Bill in danger? And if so, how? Find out next time, on BEASTARS: The Divergent Variable!
Chapter 21: Louis's Darkest Secret Exposed! Cop Mode Activated!
