There we go. Finally: Chapter 6.
Big thanks to MrShurukan for helping me with the corrections once again. 3
Hope you enjoy.
Beastars –Into the spotlight
Chapter 6 – Intentions and Reality
POV Jack
"Oh Juliet!" the shirtless grey wolf yelled in a dramatic way, "…why, oh why did we have to end up like this! Why do you have to leave me alone at these darkest of hours? I don't want to live without you in this world!"
Legoshi was really out of breath at this point, but that just made it even more enjoyable. He was really acting his heart and soul out, and as far as I could tell, the rest of the audience really enjoyed it as well. Out of all the actors on stage, I actually believed him the most. I never imagined him to be so talented. He played loud scenes, he played quiet scenes and he also mastered everything in between. It almost seemed like professional theatre. And it was not just him, I thought the whole drama club had stepped up their game since Louis wasn´t with them anymore.
After Mercutio´s very over-dramatic but really hilarious dying-scene, Legoshi´s quite energetic fight-segment with Bill, and then the part where Juliet and the priest explained their plan of the faked-poisoning, Legoshi and Juno now acted out the final scene with the notorious poisoning itself. Since he had purposely ripped his shirt in the fight with the tiger who played Juliet´s uncle Tybalt, I was mostly focussed on him for some weird reason, although Juno and the other actors really did a fantastic job as well. He was the centre of attention nevertheless.
He had some of the fake blood in his fur as well by now, and accompanied with the many scars on his back he really looked like he just came from a fight. Everything just worked out perfectly for their performance.
"Wow" Durham chuckled, who sat right next to me in the third row, "He´s really going all in with this, isn´t he?"
"Yeah…" I agreed whispering, "…but he´s doing so well. I never knew he could do acting as delicate as this!"
"Just look at him" Collot agreed with a chuckle, "The new super-star from our dorm."
"He got us some good seats as well" Miguno added.
"Yeah, even you can see well from here, can´t you?" Collot grinned.
"Shhh" I told them, because now the most delicate and significant part of Shakespeare´s drama began.
I loved every single bit of this performance. And now for the end, since the lead actors are both canines, they even had built a well-known dog-fact into it: They used chocolate instead of poison., which notoriously is really poisonous to dogs as well.
I guessed it probably was just some substitute for chocolate, because even wolves would get in major trouble for eating it, but it looked very realistic and was a really nice touch as we thought.
"If I can´t be with you, Juliet" Romeo whispered, kneeling besides her on the floor, "I don't want to live in this world no more either!"
He kissed her once more, already with the bar of chocolate unwrapped I his paws, "Thus with a kiss, I die!" he whispered, before he bit into the bar of ´chocolate´ he held, dropped it out of his lifeless hands a moment later and then collapsed onto the floor right next to Juno with his back towards the audience.
"They really look good together. Even more on that stage right now. There surely is a reason for all the rumours. Such handsome creatures those wolves are."
Just a moment later, Juno slowly got back up again, acting like she just woke up from a really deep sleep and looked at her lover who just had tragically passed away.
"Oh no!" she screeched in horror, "Romeo! What have you done?!"
She ran around him, panting heavily and trying to revive him in total panic and helplessness. "It was no real poison I was inflicted with! I did this so we could re-start our lives, nobody knowing we´re still alive! It would have been the only way a Montague and a Capulet could have been together!"
She was walking around him in great panic and then realized that he indeed had died because he ´poisoned himself for real´.
"No! Romeo, please! I can´t live without you in this cruel world!"
With that she took the remaining bit of "chocolate" Legoshi had dropped earlier, held it high above her head in the spotlight for everyone to see, and then took a little bite of it as well.
"Goodbye my love!" she said, putting her arms around his lifeless body, "I hope I meet you again in heaven!"
She came really close to his face now, and with her last breath she spoke to the audience: "Thus with a kiss I die!"
Then she kissed him one last time and collapsed as well, laying arm in arm with him in the middle of the stage. The dancers in the background now all stopped moving as if they were frozen mid-way in their dance, the lights faded out slowly but surely, until it was just the two wolves laying lifeless in the middle of the stage, being illuminated by one last, tightly focussed spotlight.
They were laying there like that for a few seconds in utter silence, and then, with a dramatic wash-sound from the speakers, the entire Room went pitch black for a moment.
That was our cue for the applause to begin pretty obviously, and we didn´t let them down there. The audience was not just clapping, they were standing up, whistling and shouting in pure excitement.
"That is just epic! What a fantastic performance! Well done guys!"
All of the lights focussed on the stage were turned on and all the actors got illuminated once again. The whole cast was walking onto the stage right now, while Juno and the half naked Legoshi got back up onto their feet as well and waved the audience with exhausted but proud and happy smiles.
I was so proud of Legoshi right now. He delivered just a spectacular show -I thought he was even better than Louis in the grim reaper- and now humbly stood on the stage and enjoyed the awesome feeling they had created.
They went towards the edge of the stage and took a few bows in front of the audience, got a few steps back and did it again.
There were quite a few things I was expecting today, but never in my life would I have thought I´d see Legoshi like that.
While the audience kept clapping they all ran off the stage quickly, before they came back out again as pairs of two or three.
POV Bill
"Legoshi, Juno!" Sanu yelled, coordinating the curtain call.
Hand in hand, the two wolves went out into the spotlight again and did another bow in front of the still applauding audience.
"Els, Ellen, Tao! You´re next!" he announced right afterwards.
"Goddamn! Do you hear that applause?" Aoba asked me, rattling at my shoulders excitedly as the goat, the zebra and the black panther went onto the stage once again.
I just nodded proudly. This really was something special.
"That´s what I´m talking about!" he yelled in excitement.
"Bill, Aoba!" Sanu yelled now, "Come on, your turn!"
We ran out there together and now it was just us doing our little bow in front of the still applauding audience. They seemed to have liked this performance even more than the grim reaper we performed last year. This was just on a whole nother level of epic.
The bald eagle beside me was still covered in all the fake blood he threw around on the stage earlier, but he didn´t care about it too much right now. He just enjoyed the well-earned applause.
I had the feeling that the students freaked out even more when he gave them a short little wink.
His "Fuck Donald Trump" joke had worked just brilliantly. He got so much support for that statement.
We waved them once more and then hurried back behind the walls on the sides of the stage.
"Now Sheila and the dance team!" Sanu yelled immediately.
"Legoshi, Bill! Could you two go out there next?" he asked us then, and that was something I hadn´t expected at all.
"What?" we both asked pretty much at the same time.
"Why that, I thought we keep the couplings…" Legoshi panted, being a little confused as well.
"You two were in a bloody brawl last time on stage…" he reminded us, "...people remembered that. Go out there together and show everyone that you two are over that. It´ll make a great impression!" he told us with an encouraging gesture.
That indeed made me think about it again. Legoshi and I both knew we were over that, but the rest of the school probably didn´t know that.
He took a short look at Legoshi and nodded then, "He´s right!" I said.
Not hesitating either, the half-naked wolf agreed with a little nod. "Yeah. Let´s go!" he panted, already prepared to run out there again.
When the dance-team came rushing back from the stage, the audience got really loud when Legoshi and I went into the middle once again.
Sanu was right about what he said: The audience was still clapping very excitedly, but now when I did the bow with Legoshi at the front of the stage, the photographers from the school paper took quite a lot of pictures once again. The cheering from the audience got a little louder as well this time when I put my arms around his shoulders and we both waved them shortly.
It probably wasn´t too false to get myself some of those loads of sympathy Legoshi got from everyone now. Judging by the applause, being cool with him really meant something after that performance of his.
POV Miguno (Spotted hyena, Legoshi´s dorm)
After Legoshi and Bill left the stage once more, the next coupling was Juno and Aoba, who pointed at her with both of his wings to hype up the crowd even more for this next wave of love they got. I thought they both deserved the applause though. The pretty, sympathetic wolf girl did a good job as playing Juliet alongside with Legoshi as Romeo, and they really looked good together, but the humble bald eagle did just brilliantly as Mercutio as well. All in all, this was one of the best, most entertaining theatre-performances I´ve ever seen in my life, and this wasn´t even a professional theatre. This was just a drama-club of a high-school in the end. But the applause went on for so long it eventually began hurting in the hands a little. I was not the only one who really enjoyed it.
After all the actors and dancers gathered on the stage one last time, just Romeo and Juliet remained standing at the front of the stage for one final bow.
The whole audience got extra loud once again, and then the lights finally got dimmed down when the two wolves left the stage this time. Now we were let off the hook and began leaving the hall slowly.
"Goddamn!" I said excitedly as we headed for the exit, "He never told us he was this good on stage, even as a lead-actor!"
"Yeah, no kidding!" Jack agreed, "Wasn´t expecting that either…there was a reason he was practicing so often in the last few weeks..."
"Well…I guess he really has to run from all the canine girls now" Durham chuckled, pointing at the group of dog-girls a few yards in front of us, "…they look like they wouldn´t be too displeased about getting to know him personally…"
"Yeah, probably…" Voss agreed, who was sitting on Collot´s shoulders just like always, "…but he´s earned it for showing off like that."
"I wouldn´t mind switching places with him right now" Durham chuckled.
"He really was showing off a little, wasn't he?" Jack asked with a little smirk, "That´s not the Legoshi I know…"
"Right?" I laughed, "…as the calm and hesitant gentleman he used to be! Now half naked and with fake-blood all over his fur…"
"Where were you guys looking all this time?" Collot asked with a big grin, "Didn´t you see that beautiful Wolf girl on the stage?"
"Yeah I saw her" Durham grinned, "I wouldn´t mind becoming her Romeo either…"
"Good luck with that" Jack chuckled with a little smirk while shaking his head a little.
"What?" Durham snickered back at him, "Do you think I don't have a chance at her?"
"I´m pretty sure Juno found her Romeo already."
"What, really?" I asked, "Are you serious? They are together now?"
"I´m still not quite sure about that" he said while shrugging his shoulders, "Legoshi got quite hard to read these days…"
It seemed like we all came to the conclusion that we had to agree with Jack on that. It´s not like we always knew what Legoshi was up to before, but it was almost impossible to understand him recently. All I knew was that I was deeply impressed by what he accomplished today.
Now that the mass of students coming out of the theatre hall split up a little more outside the building, Jack suddenly seemed to have noticed somebody.
"I see you guys at the dorm" he told us, immediately heading into a different direction than us, "Later guys!"
We waved him quickly and watched where he went off to in slight confusion. He came to a halt next to a white rabbit girl a couple of yards away and casually started talking to her. She seemed to be quite well acquainted to him already.
"Isn´t that the rabbit-girl that Legoshi saved from the Shishigumi?" Durham asked us lowly.
"You think?" I asked, actually getting the same thought right away.
"Why would he be talking to her?" Collot asked, "Does he know something we don't?"
"There are quite a lot of rumours about her. She´s said to be very promiscuous to a lot of guys, a real slut basically…" Voss informed us from on top of Collot´s shoulders, being as charming as ever, "…maybe he´s being seduced by her as well from time to time…"
"Jack´s not the type for that" Collot chuckled in his defence, "Come on!"
"Just saying…"
"Let´s just live and let die" Durham proposed, "Let´s not judge something we don't know anything about."
"Fine" Voss agreed.
"I have band practise" I excused myself from the others as well now, "See you later, guys!"
POV Jack
"Haru!" I greeted her, and she didn´t even seem in too bad of a mood right now, "You´ve seen the premiere as well?"
"Yeah" she said with a little chuckle, "I got an invitation since I provided them with all the flowers for their decorations."
"Oh yeah, right…" I remembered, "So…what did you think of the performance?"
"It was really good" she confessed without hesitation, "…I am I little shocked that Legoshi is this good at acting though."
"Me too!" I agreed, "He has never lost a word about it. That was quite impressive."
"They look good as a couple. I found them believable as Romeo and Juliet."
"Yeah…" I sighed with a little nod, "…I find that too."
This conversation had led us into a really weird situation very quickly.
"Hey! Wanna go get something for dinner?" she then pulled us out of it right away.
I was a little confused by that just out of the blue suggestion, because I hadn´t planned to stay for much longer than just a little chat originally, but then I quickly noticed that I hadn´t really planned anything else for today either. I took a short look at my watch and noticed that she was right. It was almost time for dinner in the meanwhile. That performance from the drama-club had been way longer than I thought it was going to be.
"Yeah…" I agreed to her suggestion, quickly following her because she already began moving towards the cafeteria with a little smile over her shoulder towards me, "Why not. I´m hungry too."
POV Kai
"Congratulations everybody!" Sanu told us excitedly, "The performance was a great success!"
"Hell yeah it was!" Bill shouted in agreement.
Now all the members of the drama club had gathered in the middle of the rehearsal room. Everybody but Romeo, apparently.
Sanu had already begun pouring some liquid from a fancy looking bottle into glasses and handing them over to everybody to celebrate our successful premiere.
"Where is Legoshi?" Els asked, as she got handed her glass by the president of the drama-club.
"He was here just a minute ago" Aoba said while shrugging his shoulders.
"I´m here…" we then heard Legoshi´s voice coming from the now open door of the locker room, "Sorry, just got myself a shirt."
He was just pulling it over his head when he quickly joined us again, finally covering up those huge claw-marks on his back and his really well-defined looking abdomen.
"Legoshi" Sanu told him proudly, while he handed one of the glasses over to me, "There you are!"
He just nodded with a little smile and took the glass Sanu offered to him right after I got mine.
"Talking about shirts" Dom quickly interrupted, "Is Legoshi´s new one already finished for tomorrow´s performance? If not, we have to sew it until tomorrow!"
"It is" I sighed, "And if not, how hard can it be to rip up a shirt and get it a little dirty?"
That comment of mine made everybody chuckle a little, including Legoshi, who had complained about that costume ever since.
"I think we´ll get that covered" Sanu chuckled, "Now I want us all to raise our glasses to this fantastic performance!"
"Yeah!" we all yelled while clinking our glasses and then drinking contentedly.
"And to Legoshi!" Tao, the black panther who played the Juliet´s unwanted, but by her father chosen Husband Count Paris, added, "Went from lighting-crew to freaking Romeo and smashed it on stage!"
They agreed with what he said loudly, and cheered just for him now.
I didn´t felt like cheering for him though. Since Legoshi didn´t have time to take care of the lights anymore, that became entirely my job and nobody recognized all the work I put into that.
"This is so unfair! He got to be on stage as the main actor? Why couldn´t I have done that role? It wasn´t so hard what he did out there! I could have done this as well!"
I really was a little pissed off by this right now, although the mood was this cheerful. I wanted to be where Legoshi was right now.
"Hey…thank you guys" the Wolf told us, humbly as ever, "…but it´s really not that special. I think you all were fantastic as well! And Kai, I think you did a great job with the lighting too!"
That one I really haven't expected.
"So he noticed how frustrating it was to get left out like that... "
Then I remembered that he had done the exact same thing as I did today ever since he joined the drama club two years ago. He never did anything more than the lights. He knew very well how I felt like right now, and I was pretty sure he also knew that I´d rather be on the stage as well instead of taking care of some spotlights.
"Maybe, just maybe"
I thought to myself,
"Since he is kinda popular in the drama club now, he would keep me in contention for some future roles to come up. He is a good guy over all…"
I nodded towards him with a thankful little wink and then emptied my glass in one go. That honestly had lifted my spirit a little.
"Don't be so humble" Aoba told him while patting his back with a big smile, "Consider yourself the new Louis! So many girls are in love with the new Romeo now!"
"Yeah, alright" he chuckled, shaking his head a little.
"No" Bill chuckled, "Honestly, you´re going to have to run when the canine girls find you in the hallways…"
"I think you´re over-exaggerating it a little" he told us, "I was just taking this role serious, that´s all…"
"Oh, so was I, don't worry" Aoba chuckled ironically, "But I had so much fun playing that today!"
"Oh, I can tell you had!" Juno giggled, "I think your death scene was just so funny!"
"Thank you!" he told her with a proud little grin.
"You should hit the shower though" Bill grinned at him, "You´re still all red!"
"Hah, don't remind me" he sighed with a little chuckle, "This stuff takes forever to get out of my feathers…"
"I´d rather brush my teeth right now to be honest" Juno chuckled, "That fake-chocolate stuff really leaves a bad taste in your mouth…"
"I´m sorry, Juno" Dom told her, "That´s the most realistic chocolate replacement we could get our hands on…"
"I find it rather nice to be honest" Legoshi commented lowly, "…but I have to wait until the end of the performance to get that snack…"
"Oh no!" Bill said jokingly, while the rest of us chuckled about that, "Can someone please get Romeo his fake-chocolate from the stage?"
Now something unexpected happened all over sudden: They all suddenly became really silent rather than laughing about Bills joke, because somebody else came into the room now. Someone we never expected to come here. It was none other than Gon, the principal of our school.
The normally very formal and restrained Siberian Tiger seemed to be rather well-spirited right now. Like usually seen, he wore a white shirt under his good black suit and his red tie wasn´t missing either.
"Oh, don't let me stop you from celebrating!" he greeted us, and I believed I even saw him flash a little smile there, "You have every reason to do so!"
"Principal!" Sanu greeted him, "What an honour!"
He nodded with a respectful little smile.
"My honest respect to the whole drama club! I got presented with a marvellous performance today! Full of energy, full of passion, refreshingly entertaining and still a believable representation of Shakespeare! Well done."
Barely able to hold back our excitement about this, we all respectfully nodded with happy smiles.
"I want to thank you for your effort. I enjoyed this so much, I´m even considering taking to the Mayor and convincing him to let you perform this in the City-theatre hall for the public a few times!"
"What?! Really?" it burst out of Bill at this point.
"Yes…" Gon said unmistakably, "I was positively surprised and really impressed with the performance today. I think this will could be a nice advertisement for our school and even more for our excellent drama-club. I expect great things from all of you in the future!"
"Thank you, sir!" Sanu told him in our name, being a little awestruck himself, "What a great honour!"
Gon nodded, obviously contented about our reaction, and before he went on his way again went towards Legoshi and laid his right hand onto his shoulder for a moment. "Raise a glass to Romeo and Juliet!" he said with a proud smile towards all of us, "You´ve earned it."
Then, without a further word, he left the room as elegantly as he came.
The second the door fell into its lock behind him, nearly the entire drama-club began yelling and cheering and completely losing their minds in excitement.
This really was something special. The city-theatre hall. That meant we were performing almost on a professional level.
"Awesome!"
"The city theatre hall!"
"Legoshi! Juno! The principal thinks you´re great actors! Amazing!"
"Yeah! Congratulations!"
It went on like that for quite a while now, and slowly but surely it began to annoy me a little once again.
"What´s so special about that? I don't think it was that impressive. It probably just came across so good because they´re both wolves…what the…what the hell is wrong with him?"
Legoshi still didn´t seem to have realized what just had happened. He still was as calm as ever about this, even when Juno rattled his shoulders in great excitement. He still didn´t seem to be that bothered about it, and this drove me even more mad. I would be completely losing my mind about that right now if I was him.
At least he couldn´t hide a proud little smile about it though.
"Good thing you got yourself a new shirt earlier, isn´t it Legoshi?" Bill asked him with a big grin.
"Yeah…" he agreed with a little smile, "Not the right way to meet the principal."
"Practised your signature already?" Aoba asked him with a big grin.
"Come on, guys" he sighed, "It´s really not that big of a deal, is it?"
"Well, it does mean something when the principal comes to personally compliment you" even Sanu agreed with all the others, "…he didn´t even say anything about our kinda heavy political statement…I already thought I was going to get told off for allowing you that…" he added with a chuckle.
"Probably because he agrees with it" Aoba grinned.
Sanu nodded with an amused smirk "…anyway, this could really be a chance for you to prove yourselves on a real theatre-stage…"
"Yeah, Legoshi" Sheila told him excitedly as well, "The principal doesn't say something like that just for fun."
She was just right about that. Annoyingly. That really meant something, there was no point in denying it.
"Was he really that talented? Did I play it down that much because I was just jealous all this time?"
"It´s not like I don't want to do it" Legoshi chuckled, "I think it´s pretty exciting to play on a professional stage. But I´m not going to have to run around like Louis and sign posters for other students, right?"
"Are you kidding me?" Bill asked, "Did you see that crowd out there? Give something back to the guys that cheer for you!"
"Yeah, Legoshi" Ellen agreed, "You´re going to have much better chances becoming the next Beastar when you´re good to the fans!"
This statement shocked him even more, apparently.
"I…I don´t want to become the next Beastar…" he lowly said while shaking his head.
"What? Really?!" Juno asked in total surprise.
"Am I really the only one who is not surprised by this? "
Legoshi never was the type for that. He may be focussed on his tasks, and he may be a rather talented actor, but he was not a Beastar.
He just continued shaking his head about it slightly.
"Well, you don't have to be one if you don't want to" Sanu ended that rather unpleasant topic for him, "…but just like Louis you might get asked for your autographs a couple of times…I think that´s pretty certain…"
"Oh well" he sighed, "…if it makes them happy."
Legoshi emptied his glass all the way after that and our discussion took a little break.
"Much more importantly" Sanu now announced, "Who´s hungry?"
Almost everybody raised their hands right now.
"I´ve organized a buffet and some free drinks for the whole drama-club! It´s waiting for you in the cafeteria!"
"Awesome!" Bill said enthusiastically, as most of us had already brought our empty glasses back to Sanu´s little table already, "Let´s go, I´m starving!"
POV Jack
I´ve already been wondering who the big buffet table in that one corner of the cafeteria was erected for, but then it made a lot of sense suddenly.
A rather large group of excited students suddenly came out of the hallway and gathered around the big table that already had the set dishes on it.
It seemed like the entire drama club was coming here right now, and quite a lot of other students had followed them apparently.
Haru was just as interested in what was happening. I already had spotted Juno and Aoba in the crowd of fans, but some of the other members must still be in the hallway, Legoshi included.
Juliet and Mercutio were really busy doing photos and signing the fan´s posters one by one. It apparently was a much bigger thing that I had expected.
"Wow" I chuckled, "They really got popular after that performance…"
"It was a good performance" Haru said with a nod, "I´d almost call it professional theatre…"
"It was a lot better than usual, wasn´t it?" I agreed with her.
Now some more of the actors arrived. There was the panther who played Juliet´s father, there was the goat girl who played the nurse and also Bill the tiger, who played Tybalt. They all were followed by some students who took selfies with them and asked them for autographs as well.
"You think Legoshi´s up for something like that?" I asked Haru lowly.
She just shrugged her shoulders with an unbothered expression.
"I wouldn´t be surprised if he just went back to the dorms after the show…"
"His performance was by far the best today…" she stated without any jealousy, "I doubt he will get out of it that easily."
Just in the moment she said that, an even bigger bulk of excited, mostly female students came from the hallway. In their middle, wearing his regular white and red drama-club outfit, Legoshi.
I could tell that he was rather stressed and confused about this whole situation, but he somehow managed to fake a smile and remained calm and friendly. He even signed a few of the posters when he came to a halt next to the other actors.
"And just like that he´s the most popular student of the entire school" I chuckled while shaking my head in disbelief.
"Good for him" Haru said, "I´m glad he finally stopped pretending…"
He just shook my head with a little chuckle.
"He is doing nothing but pretending right now" I told her, "That´s not the Legoshi I know since childhood."
"Anyway" she said, suddenly grabbing her tray with the empty plate and glass on it, "I´m done with my meal too. I´m going back to my dorm for now. What about you?"
Seeing that Legoshi was really busy right now, and I wouldn´t get the chance to talk to him here anytime soon, I nodded with a little sigh and grabbed my tray as well.
"Yeah" I sighed, "I´m going back too."
With that I followed her to the return station for the trays and then out of the cafeteria.
"You know…" Haru told me, as we went through the hallway together, "I still have quite a lot left to do in the garden today…"
"Really?"
"Yeah…" she sighed, "It´s been really hot and dry today, so I need to water all the plants once more…"
"Oh…"
"…would you mind giving me a hand with that?" she asked with a little smile.
"I…uh…"
"Was this really happening again? I think this really has to stop…"
"Please?" she added with a little giggle and that innocent expression.
I just couldn´t say no to that. I just couldn´t.
"Alright…" I sighed with a smile and a little nod, "…fine. I can help you with this quickly."
POV Legoshi (some considerable time later)
This was just so wrong. This whole day. I was getting treated like I was some sort of star right now, and this was pretty much the opposite of what I´ve grown used to all these years, when most of them saw me just as some big, scary wolf.
I still got recognized even when I finally went back to my dorm hours later. Now I slowly began understanding how Louis could become so cold and professional in that young age already. I didn´t want to treat them all like they were anything less than me, but I wouldn´t get anywhere if I gave my attention to every single one of them.
Just when I finally had reached the door to 701, I got held up yet once again.
"Not a bad performance, Wolf" he snickered from the other end of the hallway. It seemed almost sarcastic in the way he said it, so I was pretty sure he was purposely searching for trouble. I believed he was the red fox I almost got into a fight with in the cafeteria last year, before we suddenly got stopped by Louis back then. I knew his dorm was in the same building as mine, but I´ve never been talking to or had any business with him ever since. But just like back then, I didn´t want to get into a fight with him right now either.
"Thank you" I told him with a little smirk while searching for my keys in my pockets, not giving him any more attention than that.
"…oh, so you think you´re something better than me now?" he asked while coming a few steps closer.
"W-what?" I asked in confusion, "I don't think that and I never said that either..."
"So…you think you´ll become the new Beastar because you´re the new star of the drama club now?"
"Just why did everybody keep talking about that? When have I ever showed interest in becoming the new Beastar?"
"I don't care about the Beastars" I told him with a little sigh, "If you want to become the next Beastar, be my guest, I won´t stand in your way. Have a good night."
And with that I had unlocked the door to my room and opened it. I heard some guitar chords coming from the inside of our dorm, probably Miguno practicing again.
"Hey, Romeo!" the fox guy suddenly became a little louder, "I wasn´t done talking with you. You´re being very rude right now!"
The guitar playing stopped now.
"Anything else I can help you with?" I asked after a long, deep and very tired sigh.
"Be warned" he growled, "I know the card you´re playing here! You´re pretending you´re weak and friendly and won´t ever harm anybody. You´re trying to gain popularity that way. Guess what, that won't work out anymore when the people find out who you really are!"
"As I said" I sighed coldly, "I really don't care. I don't exactly know who you are and what you´re doing at this school, but I can tell you for sure that I won't become the next Beastar. If you´re searching for concurrence, go talk to Juno about that. She´s the only one I know who wants to become a Beastar."
"Who´s Juno?"
"Juliet" I sighed.
"Your girlfriend wants to become the next Beastar?" he asked in disbelief.
"She´s not my girlfriend" I told him distinctively, "But yes: She wants to become the new Beastar as far as I know."
He seemed to be really surprised right now.
"She´s not your girlfriend?"
"I´ve had a really long day" I said while shaking my head, "And it´s going to repeat tomorrow. So please excuse me now. Have a good night."
And with that I went into my room and closed the door behind me.
"He probably really wanted to pick a fight with me right there. Did he want to prove something or did he really think he was stronger than me? Or did he want to lose that fight on purpose to make a scene that could probably cause me some troubles? Just what is wrong all over sudden? Where was all that grief coming from?"
Whatever it was in the end, I didn´t care about it too much. There were so many other things going on right now.
When I went into the room, I noticed that everybody from my dorm kept on staring at me with big eyes.
"Wow" Miguno chuckled, since nobody else wanted to explain their sudden interest in me, "…still so humble after crushing the stage like that."
I just nodded with a tired little smirk before I went to my drawer.
"Come on, Legoshi" Collot told me after another moment of silence, "Tell us, what does it feel like to be the star of the school all over sudden?"
"It feels just ridiculous" I told him with a little sigh, "I never thought I would need my signature for anything else than documents one day."
"Like…really?" he wanted to know, "They were asking you for autographs?"
"You want one too?" I asked ironically, "I´m really good at it in the meanwhile."
"Any of you guys seen Legoshi?" he asked back ironically, "Not quite sure who this guy is…"
That comment made even me chuckle a little bit.
"Don't worry" I waved it off, "I wasn´t expecting all that either."
"You´re such a liar!" Miguno grinned, resting his arms on the guitar in his lap, "You knew it all along but kept it from us! You´ve just waited for your break-through in the drama-club!"
"Yeah, Legoshi" Durham agreed with him, "Don't tell us you don´t enjoy that right now! You´re one talented actor and you know it."
"Well…thank you" I told him, "I´m glad you enjoyed it. But I really just tried to not disappoint the rest of the guys."
"Yeah, for sure, Legoshi. Leaving all the actors miles behind you…"
Since it was pointless trying to convince them of the truth anyway, I figured I could tell them about the other things as well.
"The principal came into the backstage room after the performance" I mentioned while picking myself a boxer short for the night and then heading for the bathroom, "He said we might get to perform in the city-theatre hall as well."
"What!?" Durham asked behind me, "Really?"
"Yeah…" I affirmed from the bathroom door, "…seemed like he liked it."
With that I closed the door behind me and finally went for the shower I wanted to take ever since the performance was over. The fake-blood was really hard to get out of the cream coloured fur on my stomach and I had to rub it out quite vigorously, but with the excessive use of shampoo and dedication, I got it back to its original colour eventually.
When I was all done with my shower, I dried myself as well as possible, got into my boxers and left the bathroom, feeling very refreshed.
"Are you freaking serious?" Durham asked right when I left the bathroom, "The freaking principal found your performance so good he wants the school drama-club to perform in the city theatre hall and you´re just shrugging it off like it´s not a big deal?"
"I´m not a professional actor, Durham" I told him the truth quite plainly, "I´m really just doing this because I got pushed into it. Because they needed a wolf playing Romeo for the other Wolf who plays Juliet."
"Are you kidding me?" he asked, shaking his head in total disbelief, "I´m not saying this for fun, Legoshi! Do you not realize how good that performance of yours actually was today? I honestly think you have a future with this."
"Yeah, no shit" Miguno agreed from his bed, stopping with his chords once again, "He´s right. You´ve really nailed it today. I believed you the most of all the actors. I would hold onto that if I were you!"
"So they really were serious about this. Was I really playing that down too much? Did I really keep up with all the actors from the drama club who were doing this by far longer already?"
"It is kinda cool to be in the spotlight like that" I confessed, "…the applause today was just…"
"…deserved?" Miguno asked.
"It felt really cool…" I said while nodding.
"And every canine girl of this school being in love with you doesn´t?" Durham asked with a big grin.
"Come on" I said, folding my red and white drama-club outfit carefully, "You know you´re over-exaggerating."
"Well…it sure is the other way around though" Miguno chuckled, "I´d go on a date with Juliet if I was in her league…"
POV Juno
"Hihihi…" they giggled excitedly when I finally came back into my dorm, "There she is!"
They all came rushing towards me when I closed the door behind me and then hugged me stormily.
"You were so awesome on stage!" Sara the Sheppard told me, "I´m so proud of you!"
"You´re so smoking hot you almost caught fire!" Vera told me.
"Thank you, guys" I chuckled happily.
I had sort of anticipated this reaction already, but it felt really nice seeing them so excited nevertheless.
"I´ve heard rumours that you´re going to perform even outside the school" Ichika the Dalmatian girl told me, "Is that true?"
That just left me smiling for a little moment. It must have spoken around half the school in the meanwhile, even before the school-paper came out.
"The principal visited us after the show" I explained, "He said he liked it so much he´s going to talk to the mayor to convince him of letting us play in the city theatre hall!"
"Hihihi!" Sara giggled, "This is so awesome!"
"Right?" I asked.
"Oh, you and Legoshi just looked so good on the stage" Vera told me again.
"Did I promise too much?" I grinned.
"Damn he is one hot looking wolf! And he´s a good actor too!"
"Look" Kin the Doberman giggled, presenting me a poster of our performance, "Got myself his signature, in case he gets really famous one day!"
She also had collected the signatures from Bill, Aoba, Els and Ellen on her poster already.
"But there is still one left I couldn´t get" she said, looking at me with a little smile.
"Good thing you live in the same dorm as Juliet, isn´t it?" Vera chuckled.
"Would you do me the honour, please?" Kin asked me kindly.
"Yes, of course" I said with a little smirk, as she handed me the pen she let the other actors use as well.
"What did you use for the chocolate poisoning scene at the end?" Ichika asked me, "Wasn´t real chocolate, was it?"
"No" I said with a little grin, "It´s some brown coloured tofu or whatever. Doesn´t taste very good, let me tell you."
"Oh, I bet kissing Romeo five times is much more-tasty, isn't it?" Vera grinned.
I just smiled with a tired little nod, although she really began annoying me again.
I gave Kin back her pen and her signed poster and then headed towards my bed first of all.
"Looks like I gotta make a little more room on that wall. Maybe we would even get onto the front page of the school paper!"
With that thought cheering me up a little more once again, I grabbed myself my pyjama and headed straight for the bathroom. I needed a couple minutes for myself at this point. They would ask me a ton of questions tonight, I knew that already, and I wasn´t too sad about it really, but first of all I needed a shower.
POV Legoshi
"Hey guys" I interrupted the topic for a second, "Where is Jack by the way? Since when does he stay out so late?"
"Don't know" Collot said while shrugging his shoulders, "He went off to the cafeteria with that rabbit girl after the performance, that´s all I can tell you..."
"What?! Jack was having dinner with Haru and still hasn´t returned to the dorm yet? Are you serious?!"
That downed my spirit right away.
"You know…that white rabbit girl from the gardening club…" Collot told me lowly, because I hadn´t responded to that.
"I know who she is" I told him, a little colder than I actually wanted to, "I saved her from the Shishigumi."
"Right" he remembered, "Of course you know her…"
"That´s a pretty long dinner, isn´t it?" Miguno asked with a little chuckle.
He had just said the thing out loud that worried me so much. I guessed that Jack had never told them that I was in love with Haru. But now it seemed like I gave it away anyway.
"You think he´s got something going on with her?" Durham asked, still lazily laying on his matrass with one arm hanging over the edge.
If he only knew how much just that assumption hurt me right now. I probably couldn´t keep a straight expression either, because my stomach really felt like it was upside-down all over sudden.
"I…I don't know…" I said, "Jack knew about what I had with her. I don't think he would do something like that…"
"Maybe he´s in the library helping somebody else with their homework?" it now came to my mind.
"Why would she do that to you?" Collot asked, "Isn´t that the better question?"
"I´m pretty sure because she thinks what everybody´s been thinking since Juliet is a wolf as well" Voss assumed and just like ever so often hit it right on the spot with that.
"Oh right" Miguno said, "Shit…that makes sense."
I just nodded with a deep sigh.
"Come on, Legoshi" Collot told him, "Jack is not like that. He´s probably still helping somebody preparing for the math-test."
I nodded a little. "Yeah…" I agreed lowly, "I was thinking something like that too."
I was actually glad he suggested that right away too. Maybe I was just over-reacting here. It has been a pretty eventful day after all.
"What about you, Legoshi?", Collot asked now, "Have you done anything for the math-test yet?"
I just sent him a tired look that told him all he needed to know. I had been concentrating on nothing else but the drama-club lately. I never spent a single thought on that math-test, I barely even knew which topics it included.
"Well...you still got a few days left" he chuckled, "…and I know someone who´s pretty good at helping you out with that…"
POV Jack
The mood in my dorm was very weird when I finally came back. Maybe it just seemed weird to me because I just came back from a very weird situation myself, but somehow the atmosphere was quite loaded. I pretty soon found out why. Just the way Legoshi was looking at me right now told me everything.
"Hey Jack" Collot greeted me, being as lively as ever.
"There you are" Miguno chuckled, "Thought you got lost."
I just shook my head with a little smile.
"How was your dinner" Legoshi then asked me dryly, and that quickly got us all the attention.
"Shit, so he had seen me in the cafeteria…what do I tell him now?"
"Hey Legoshi…" I told him, as the others all now stared at me as well, "It´s really not what it looks like! She just wanted to grab something to eat and talk about the performance!"
"Really?"
"Yes! Really! I wanted to talk to you, but it was impossible to get to you because you were busy with your fans and the drama-club and…"
"Is that why you came back after 10pm?"
I´ve rarely seen Legoshi so dead serious about something.
"Did it really look that suspicious to him? Weren´t there other things he could think of right now?"
"I was…I was going back to the dorm, but then I met Zuki in the hallway and she asked me if I could help her with the trigonometry tasks…"
He just nodded about that explanation slowly, but he didn´t seem entirely convinced though.
"Shit, I probably still smelled like her. Was it believable that I hugged her for the farewell?"
I really didn´t have sex with Haru, but I never met Zuki in the hallway either. That was just straight up a white lie. I somehow sensed that he wasn´t entirely buying it, but it seemed like he didn´t want to get deeper into that topic right now either.
"Your performance was freaking fantastic by the way! I enjoyed it so much!"
"Thank you" he sighed tiredly.
"No, really! I never ever expected that from you! I loved everything about the play! And Haru really enjoyed it too."
He just nodded with a little smirk, but then he already grabbed the curtain of his bed to close it behind him.
"I´m very tired" he just said, "Have a good night, guys."
"Good night, Romeo" Collot chuckled, as Legoshi closed the curtain behind him.
That was all I got to talk to him today, apparently. The others seemed to be minding their own business as well now, and I felt pretty left alone all over sudden.
There were so many things he really needed to know. I really needed to talk to him alone, but he wouldn't listen to any of it. At least not tonight. He didn´t believe me, I could sense that, but he didn´t let me explain it either. I hated that situation so much right now. I wanted that to go away, but I didn´t want to force him to listen either. I probably couldn't even force it.
I closed my curtain as well and buried my face deeply into my pillow. That encounter had cost me every last bit of energy I had left for today. What a terrible feeling to go to bed to.
POV Jack (3 Hours later)
This whole night was just one continuous nightmare. I couldn´t really sleep, whatever I tried. I was turning over under the sheets time and time again, tried every position there was and nothing helped.
When I woke up yet once again in the middle of the night, I had enough of it and got out of my bed. I slowly opened the curtain and climbed off my matrass. When my eyes slowly got used to the bit of moonlight that shone through the window, I noticed that Legoshi´s curtain wasn´t closed and he wasn´t laying on his matrass either. He wasn´t even in the dorm as it seemed.
Not thinking about it twice, I got myself my pants, a t-shirt and a sweater as quietly as possible and left the room. Maybe talking to him alone would help the both of us. I figured he must be somewhere outside, probably in the park or on the roof by the swimming pool.
I left the building of the dorms and tried to get his scent into my nose. There was nobody except for me outside at this time of night, but I immediately sensed that he was not far away. It seemed like I was walking into the right direction, his scent was becoming stronger the closer I went towards the theatre hall, and then I spotted his silhouette. He was sitting on the cornerstone of the water fountain, with his back towards me at the moment, but he already sensed that I was coming.
I felt just as relieved as I felt nervous about this. I had so many questions.
I took a seat beside him silently and just like him stared at the theatre hall.
"This is the place" he suddenly began.
"What...place?"
"This is the place where I met her for the first time."
"Really? Right here?"
"Yeah…" he sighed, before he began explaining: "Louis wanted me to be the lookout, while he practised a scene with one of the actors on the stage in the middle of the night. When her scent hit my nose it was like a switch was flicked inside my head. I just ran towards her, threw myself onto her with all my might and didn´t let her go anymore. I would have devoured her if Zoe didn´t call me for help just in that moment."
He gave me a moment to let that sink in.
"How come you met her again after that without her remembering it?"
"It was dark, she couldn´t see me. And just a day later I was supposed to pick up some flowers from the gardening-club which we needed to decorate the auditorium."
"And she wasn´t afraid of you?"
He just shook his head slowly.
"But I was wrong to think that she was all mine after saving her from the Shishigumi. She doesn't have any feelings for me anymore. I think I must accept it at this point. She has moved on in the meanwhile, I think I must do the same…"
I just nodded slightly, still not quite sure how open I could talk to him about this.
"She´s…she´s dangerous" I said lowly, "…I think it´s no wonder those rumours about her exist…"
He nodded with a little sigh. Then he looked at me for the first time since I joined him.
"I´m not mad at you" he said in a warm tone, "I can´t forbid her who she´s dating with or not. I have no right to forbid anything to anybody."
I just nodded slightly, looking him right in the eyes, but I still didn´t know what to say.
"And I hope you know that I would never hurt you" he added, "…I´m sorry I got so aggressive earlier."
"You´ve had a long and very exciting day" he waved it off, "…and you were right, I did come back late."
"Doing trigonometry and stuff" he asked with a slight chuckle.
"Hey! I really didn't…" I told him, "I wasn´t doing anything with-"
In that moment he just put his right arm around my shoulder and pulled me a little closer towards him. I really liked when he did that, but I also wanted him to believe me.
"I…I…I really didn´t!" I stuttered lowly.
"Come on, Jack" he chuckled, still in that warm tone, "You could at least have showered afterwards."
"I…she…" I stuttered, "…she asked if I could help her with watering her plants again and then…then when we were in her shed she…she threw me onto her bed and began undressing herself…but…but then, when she was laying on top of me I got too scared and…and I told her I had a bad stomach…so I went back to the dorms!"
My heart was really pounding right now. I think Legoshi noticed how much that meant to me, but he still couldn´t hide a little smirk.
"Scared of her or scared of me?"
"Oh come on, Legoshi" I whispered, "That´s not fair."
He nodded with a little smirk.
"Who are you telling that?" he sighed with a little smile, still with his arms around me, "Life seems fair to nobody right now."
"Well, at least the entire school accepted and loves you as a lead actor now…" I chuckled.
"Most people always loved you too, didn´t they?" he asked with a chuckle for himself, "You´re a great guy. Encouraging, caring, always helping out where you can…don't tell me you wouldn't deserve to have a nice girl taking care of you."
Hearing that made my world turn slower for a moment.
"Wait. Did he really just say that in a not ironical way? Did he mean it like that? Was he really over her at this point?"
"You know" I said, as my pulse finally eased down a little, "It´s really getting hard to read you these days, Legoshi…"
"You think?" he chuckled in amusement.
Then he looked at me again. "I can´t even read myself either, Jack. I was just the guy fixing and illuminating the stage all this time. Now I appear to be one of the cool kids -which we both know I´m really not- and people even believe I want to become the new Beastar."
"Wait…really?"
He nodded a little. "Yeah. When I came back to the dorm today, that weird fox guy stopped me in the hallway and tried to get into a fight with me..."
"Ah that prick" I sighed, well knowing who he was talking about, "He´s one of the best students in the school´s athletics club. Some girls really seem to like him, but he also has quite a massive ego. You´re not the only one he started fighting with already…"
"R-really?" he asked, being quite surprised, "Where did you get to know that from."
"You know…" I sighed, "I´m the ´best friend´ to a lot of girls at this school. I´m used to listening to a lot of gossip-talk…"
"Phew…" he chuckled, "Sounds exhausting."
I nodded.
"Can´t wait to hear the gossip talk about you though" I grinned at him while nudging him with my elbow slightly.
"Yeah, yeah…" he grinned back in amusement, still with his strong arm around my shoulders, "…go on…make fun of me all you want..."
"Come on, Legoshi!" I chuckled, really being in a better mood in the meanwhile, "When do we get to talk about how awesome it was to see you on the stage like that?"
"You liked it?" he asked calmly but with a proud little smile.
"Are you freaking kidding me?" I told him while rattling his shoulders, "That was freaking insane! You have a gift, Legoshi!"
"Come on, Jack, there is no need to suck up to me now."
"No! Honestly, that was really good!"
He just kept nodding with a little smirk. Humble as always.
"Come on" I grinned, "Admit it. You like to be seen in the spotlight. You don't want to hide in the shadows all your life."
We just kept staring at the theatre-hall for a little while. There was nothing but the fountain behind us to be heard and it really was a peaceful moment we both enjoyed right now.
"Maybe you´re right" he said after a little pause, "Can´t deny it felt kinda cool to get admired like that…"
"Hold onto it" I told him yet once again, leaving another little pause before I added: "This could be the best thing that´s ever happened to you."
There we go. Think that wraps it up for this one. Hope you still enjoy this story as much as I do writing it.
As always: I´d be glad to know what you think! Feedback is my only payment.
Chapter 7 is almost finished, and let me tell you: there will be a lot going on. Stay tuned for that ;)
In the meantime: stay safe and have a good time!
~furr