Chapter 22: Terror In The Dark! Implementing A Failsafe!
The next evening, Alex and Legosi were walking through the Meteor Festival plaza. Legosi was wondering how he could make Haru feel more comfortable around him. Alex had an idea as to what he could give Haru. Alex reached into the side pocket of his backpack and pulled out a digital watch. "Legosi, you should give her this," Alex suggested, handing it to the massive canine.
Legosi was curious about the watch, examining it and turning it over in his paws. "You want me to give her a watch? Why?" Legosi asked, intrigued by the idea.
"Come on, Legosi. Girls like it when men give them gifts of affection," Alex told him. Legosi took the watch from Alex, examining it. The wristband was pink, but a little large for Haru's arm.
"I appreciate the idea, but I think it's a little too big for her," Legosi responded. Alex smirked.
"That's what most people say. Put the watch around your arm," Alex prompted.
Legosi hesitated before following Alex's instructions. As the watch face's back touched against his arm the wristband wrapped itself around him, morphing itself to accommodate for the gray wolf's massive arm size. Legosi couldn't help but whistle, impressed by the technology and how comfortable the watch felt around his arm.
He took off the watch, and when it was removed from his arm the wristband changed back to the way it was before. "Wow! What is this watch?!" Legosi marveled.
"It's a biometric watch developed by the Iris Corporation. The wristband has nanotechnology which makes it adapt to the size of the wearer's arm. And the watch itself records your vitals and even your emotions," Alex explained.
Legosi held the watch gingerly and nodded. "I think I smelled Haru around here somewhere. If I bump into her, I'll be sure to give it to her," Legosi promised.
"And I've got another watch for you to wear too! It's light blue," Alex told him.
Legosi accepted the second watch from Alex and put it on, before a thought occurred to him. "I bet you gave a watch like this to Judy!" Legosi teased.
Alex's expression switched to one of nervousness and panic, as well as embarrassment. His cheeks turned a slight pink in color as he blushed. "How'd you find out that she and I were together?!" Alex hissed.
"Oh, I met her yesterday afternoon!" Legosi casually replied.
"Really!? How?" Alex then asked, interested to hear how the gray wolf had encountered his girlfriend.
"She bailed me and Haru out of trouble with the cops," Legosi replied. Alex burst into laughter.
"Bwahaha! Legosi, when I was around your age, I was constantly having trouble with the cops. We'll make an officer out of you yet, Legosi!" Alex chuckled. The two of them smiled at each other, and Alex was happy. He rarely ever saw Legosi happy like this.
Unfortunately, the good moment didn't last long. In Alex's experiences, good, warm, and tender moments were almost always followed by bad events. This pattern repeated itself again, as the lights in the meteor festival plaza died out. A few seconds later, the screams of several animals were heard throughout the plaza.
"HARU!" Legosi cried out, concerned for the rabbit's well being.
"Legosi, let's split up! You go and find Haru! I'll calm everyone else down!" Alex commanded. The gray wolf ran off, following Haru's scent trail, while Alex ran towards where the sounds of the screams had come from.
As Alex got closer to the source of the screaming, he saw several members of the drama club huddled together in fear. "Els! Pina! Are you all right?" Bill called out.
"I-I'm fine, thanks to you!" Els answered. It was time for Alex to step up and take the lead.
"All right, nobody move! Drama club members, we need to illuminate the area! Predator members, you may have your night vision, but that won't help the prey animals who don't have that ability. We have to light up the area around us so they can see better and feel safer!" Alex ordered. "But we don't have any flashlights!" Kibi the anteater protested.
"I'll be your light, Kibi!" Tao the panther declared. Alex reached into his belt and pulled out a flashlight, attempting to turn it on. Unfortunately, the batteries were dead.
"Damn, my flashlight's dead! I knew I should have charged it before coming here!" Alex cussed. The wolf quickly came up with an alternate solution, however. "Everyone, pull out your phones and turn them on! Activate their flashlight function if they have one! If your phone doesn't have a flashlight, use the light from your screen to illuminate the immediate vicinity!" Alex suggested. They followed his instructions and a decent area was lit up around them now.
Bill whistled, impressed by the albino's quick thinking. "Great thinking, Alex!" Bill complimented.
"ALL of you, stay together until the lights come back on. If any of you have to go to the bathroom and it's an emergency, have a predator buddy that you know and trust escort you," Alex advised. The wolf then left the drama club members, attempting to find Legosi.
As he searched through the darkened plaza for the gray wolf, thoughts of Judy surfaced in his mind. He pushed the worried thoughts away. Judy was a grown woman, more than capable of taking care of herself and kicking ass. Besides, she had been on enough night patrols that her eyes were now better adjusted to the darkness, able to see more than the average prey animal in the pitch-black night.
Legosi was tearing through the plaza, focusing entirely on finding Haru. He closed his eyes and allowed his instincts to help guide him. Wolves had excellent senses of smell and were decent at tracking. Instincts sometimes were all right to listen to, if it meant finding the ones he cared about. The primal side of him easily isolated Haru's scent and led him to her. He saw the bunny cowering in fear by a tree. The rabbit heard him approaching and looked up, tears in her eyes.
"Legosi-kun! You came for me!" Haru wailed in relief. The rabbit raced forward and hugged the wolf's legs tightly.
"I'm glad you're okay," Legosi sighed in relief. He held the watch out for Haru to take.
"Alex said you might like it if I gave you a gift… so I got you a watch," Legosi told her. Haru took the watch from Legosi and tried putting it on. She was impressed that Legosi had given her something.
"Aww, how thoughtful of you, Legosi!" Haru complimented.
Legosi and Haru talked for a little bit, with Haru flirting a little with him. The two of them eventually parted ways for the evening. "Stay safe, Haru-chan," Legosi advised, before heading back to dorm 701.
That night, as Alex sat in his car fiddling with the computer, he saw a new device was connected. The computer came to life, whirring and processing the new data as it was coming in. Haru's heart rate and other vitals popped up on the screen, as well as her geographic coordinates and emotional state.
The sounds of her breathing could be heard, and the notification came on screen that Haru had entered deep sleep. The same set of statistics was being transmitted from Legosi's watch to the computer, and Alex could hear him speaking to Jack about the recent events that had transpired.
Alex's phone then rang. The wolf picked it up, knowing who it was without looking at the caller ID. "Excellent work, my boy!" Gouhin's voice boomed.
"So remind me why you needed me to have those two wear these watches?" Alex asked suspiciously.
"I need the data transmitted from these for this study. The biochemical reactions that these watches will record is going to help me gauge their relationship," Gouhin explained.
"Can't I tell them about the real purpose of the watches? It doesn't exactly feel right to have their vitals and such transmitted to you without them knowing," Alex sighed.
"I'll tell Legosi about it at our first appointment this weekend," Gouhin reassured the white wolf. Alex hung up, and then started to record an audio log.
"Audio log, day eighteen. Today I planted biometric watches on Haru and Legosi. Gouhin says it'll help him gauge their relationship or some shit like that. Hopefully Haru won't be too mad when I eventually tell her that the watch has a tracker and transmits medical information to Gouhin. That bear had better hold up his end of the bargain and psychologically profile suspects- when I'm able to name suspects, that is. End of audio log," Alex said.
As Alex is eating lunch, a notification on his phone pops up that Haru's heart rate and fear levels are getting dangerously high. Checking the coordinates, he finds that she's being taken to the Black Market! He goes to speak with the mayor, only to find that the mayor is unwilling to take action. Louis appears to be unwilling to take action as well. Can Alex convince the deer to take a stand and fight for what he believes in?
The climax of the Meteor Festival Arc begins next time, on BEASTARS: The Divergent Variable!
Chapter 23: Haru's Life In Peril! A Trio's Challenge!
