I´m terribly sorry for the long wait. I´ve had quite a ...interesting... weekend.

Anyway, here is chapter 12, I hope you enjoy it a little

Big thanks to MrShurukan for helping me with the correction!

Beastars – Into the spotlight

Chapter 12 – The truth behind the hero

POV Sebastian (red fox)

When they thought the drama-club had stepped up their game with Romeo and Juliet already, they had no idea what those guys really were able to do. This was just fantastic entertainment. I almost couldn´t believe this was a live performance.

That wolf might have messed up my reputation and stole my chance at the Beastars-title away from me, but it was just impossible not to respect what he did on the stage today.

But it was not just him, the overall performance was awesome. Believable drama but also very funny, clever and entertaining. A pace that made it possible to understand what was going on but not too slow to get boring. He even had another quick intimate scene with Juno, who played the most-pretty woman and virgin of all of Venice, and wife of one of the legacy hunters, and that was just great to watch as well. It wasn´t just convincing, that one moment when he kneeled on top of her on that bed actually got me a little excited on a different level. The scene where she "magically" healed his sickness and he begins chasing after her suddenly, being full of sexual energy and playfulness, was just as hilarious as it was arousing. Although this was basically a rape-scene being portrayed here, they played this out rather funny and it worked just as well.

Those two wolves just looked so hot together. Their sporty shapes, the veins, the deep, powerful growl in his voice. I couldn´t deny it, if those two would ever do a porn film together, I´d probably even pay money to watch it. There still was a reason why the whole school kept talking about them.

And then there was that bird who had played Mercutio last time. He really had stepped up his game as well once again, almost keeping up with the calm but also powerful and charismatic wolf in the meanwhile.

"Leone!" he said to the mongoose in this next scene, walking around him, gesturing his greatness, "What an honor! The great knight of Venice! Taking care for everybody´s rights and safety!"

"What is it Mosca?" he asked coldly.

"I´m here to propose a deal my good man!"

"I´m not dealing with thieves and traitors. Get out of my sight!"

"It´s nothing malicious, hear me out!"

The mongoose just made a face that told him to get to the point already.

"…what would you say if I made you rich as well?"

"Oh yeah?" the mongoose asked, "And how do you want to do that without breaking the law, just like your boss that fraud Volpone?!"

"Oh…simple" he told him, dancing around him with delight, "…I could make you the only holder of his legacy in his testament!"

Leone didn´t look like he was convinced of that.

"…just like your father was told" the bald eagle told him, "…and the old rascal promised his legacy to him as well in case he would die before him…"

"He did what?" the mongoose yelled, pointing his sword at the bird now, "He gave his legacy to Volpone instead of me?"

"That´s what he did" Mosca affirmed playfully, dodging the sword and taking a step back "…but that´s not the only secret I can let you in on…"

"What would that be? Speak, Mosca!"

"Volpone tricked the old fool…"

"Oh what a surprise…" the Mongoose said ironically, "…it´s well known my old man is not the smartest man in the world! I told him his grief would be his grave one day!"

"That´s why I want to suggest a deal to you" Mosca told him, now shedding a little grin towards the audience, "…I´ll put your name on Volpone´s testament. You just promise to give me fifteen percent afterwards, and you get to keep the rest of everything the fox had ever owned!"

"What´s the sense of that? Why don't you fill in your own name and take all the money for yourself?"

"Wouldn´t it be too obvious? They´d all think I killed him! They´d all think I changed the testament myself! I´ve been his right hand for years, they´d all assumed it was me!" he explained his masterful plan, "…but nobody would believe that a noble man like yourself could ever do something like that..."

"Fifteen percent?" Leone asked skeptically.

"I never was one for the money. And fifteen percent is plenty. More than I could ever spent in a lifetime! I just crave for my freedom."

Now the mongoose acted to be thinking about it for a moment. He was doing this pretty convincingly as well in my opinion.

"Then it´s a deal, Mosca! But if I find out you´ve been playing that game with me as well, by god, I will bring you to the highest court of Venice for your sins!"

"Don't worry" Mosca affirmed with an amused grin, "There is as good as nothing that could go wrong about this…trust me, I have worked this out."

With that, Leone left the stage quickly, Mosca pulled the big crate of treasure into the middle of the stage again and the lighting changed for the next scene. Now we were in Volpone´s house again I believed.

"I did the right thing after all with telling him about it."

I really was glad I made that decision. I wouldn´t have wanted to be the one who could have saved a performance of this greatness. Now I´m glad I am the one who saved it. I was excited for Volpone´s next entrance already.

POV Louis

The show went even better than we expected. The students immediately seemed to have warmed up with the quite complicated characters, they enjoyed the over-all plot and pretty obviously, they loved the chemistry between Legoshi and Aoba. They had been working really hard to make this believe- and enjoyable, and they had left the other actors way behind them in the dust. Apart from Juno, who I really underestimated as well as it seemed. She brought an energy onto the stage that moved the whole audience.

The two wolves really played their hearts out on stage, and the audience stared in awe like I had never seen before.

Now came the part Legoshi and Aoba had been training for the most though. Kai came back from the stage and gave Legoshi a quick fist-bump, before he went out there again after the change of lighting and the beginning of the next scene.

"Mosca" the wolf who played the fox asked him, "How did it go with our ´all beloved knight of Venice´?"

"Just as with all the other fools" he replied proudly, "Leone thinks he gets it all in the end."

"Good work, Mosca."

The bald eagle nodded contentedly.

"Sir" Mosca told his boss, "What a brilliant call! They´re really fighting for your legacy. Look at all that gold and the gifts they brought!"

"I feel more alive than ever, Mosca! I wanted it all, in got it all. Woman, Wine, gold, what more could a man want and crave for?"

"It´s like we´ve gotten energized by the gods of fortune, right sir?"

"Mosca, I feel alive! I think I never was at better health before! I´m stronger than anybody had ever been before! I could rip a tree out of the ground!"

With that they gave each other a chummy high five, undressed their upper bodies, which caused a lot of excited female giggling in the audience, and then grabbed onto the crossbars above them.

"We…" Legoshi said, after the first slow pull up he did, "…need…to go…for the…next…big…step…Mosca…"

He did a pull up after every word he said, and then he made a little pause so Aoba could answer him.

"What?" he asked, as he began doing the same, "…what…else…could…you…ever…want, …Master?"

Now it was Legoshi doing the pull-ups one again. It was hard work to pull that heavy body of his up that bar while speaking at the same time, but he had practiced that so much that he got it down just perfectly. The audience was just mesmerized.

"I want…to see…these idiots…shredding…each other…apart for…my legacy!"

With that, panting heavily, he let go, landed on the floor and went to the front of the stage quickly, turning his back towards the audience, pointing at the bald eagle who still hung on his crossbar: "Mosca!"

"Sir?" he asked, letting go and landing on the ground as well.

"I got it now" he panted, "This will be the best trick the fox has ever done!"

"What would that trick be?"

"I want to fake my own death, Mosca!"

"What?!"

"I want to see their faces when they realized that I just played with them! This will be the most fun I´ve ever had!"

"Sir! This is too dangerous! Not only because it´s forbidden by the law! The legacy owners will kill you themselves! One of them even tried that already, remember?" Mosca reminded him.

"You do as I say, Mosca! You won´t ruin my fun for me, you boring low-life!" Legoshi got a little louder now.

"I´m not boring, I´m trying to warn you, Master!"

"They were playing this to perfection. I believed them with every single word. And they both looked just so good on stage."

"Go get out there and spread the word, little fly! Do what I say!" he growled.

It all went down perfectly to this point, but now something happened that we never had rehearsed before and I was pretty sure wasn´t allowed either.

"Go! Go! Go!" Legoshi fired him up, turning around quickly and pointing towards the audience with one of his arms, "Fly, Mosca! Volpone is dead! Fly and get the word out!"

And in that moment Aoba already ran past him, spread his wings and took off.

Nobody stopped him. The bald eagle just set off above the audience with great speed and agility, but Dom even managed to keep the follow spot on him as he shot through the air. Now I understood why Legoshi was whispering something towards him before the show.

It really looked majestic as he accelerated high into the air, elegantly sailed a few rounds above the audience and then with a joyful little scream and quite a lot of speed returned on the stage and landed just behind the stage-set where he was out of sight from the audience. He created quite a lot of wind with his wings while his landing, but he landed safely and without hitting anything.

Normally, he was just supposed to get behind the build and wait for his next entrance, but that had the same effect in the end. Only that the energy in the room was on a totally crazy level now. First the audience just gasped in awe, then they began cheering loud and excitedly.

"See?" Legoshi asked him, who just had left the stage as well and reached him the upper part of his costume, which they both had to get off for their pull-up scene, "That was totally awesome!"

Aoba just nodded excitedly, still panting from either the flight or the pull-ups before. I´ve never seen the bald eagle looking so happy before.

The actors who played the legacy owners now all had their entrance with the next change of lighting we cued and everything went on as planned once again.

"Wh-what were you doing?" Sanu asked in total confusion, "That is not allowed, what was that?"

"That…" Aoba told him boldly, quickly dressing his upper body once again, "That was fantastic! I never felt this good in my entire life!"

"You don't have a flyer´s license! That is not allow-"

"Mosca!" I reminded him, interrupting Sanu because it was more important, "Your entrance!"

Aoba nodded and immediately got himself ready for his next entrance.

"It was my idea" Legoshi confessed to Sanu lowly, "…and it was not easy to convince him."

"You can´t just…" the pelican said, almost hysterically.

"The audience loved it" the wolf reminded him, "And if anybody should be blamed for this, it´s me."

"The principal will not approve this!" Sanu told him, "We´re going to suffer the consequences for this!"

"I will" the wolf repeated with a serious expression, climbing into the standing casket with the wheels underneath it, "I take the full responsibility, and I can live with that. That was worth it."

And that was the end of their discussion. I closed the door of the casket for him and pushed it in position for Aoba to pull it onto the stage in a moment.

Sanu just looked at me in pure disbelief, but I couldn´t do anything about it either, other than shrugging my shoulders.

Last time I had seen Legoshi on the stage I had to break up a real fight between him and Bill, now I just watched as they did whatever they felt like. But as nobody got hurt, I guessed it was the best to let them get on with their performance and talk this over afterwards.

POV Bill

Ever since I saw Aoba taking off of the stage, I had forgotten about everything else that drove me to watch the premiere. I wanted to see them fail so badly, and now I just questioned everything I was doing earlier. I started questioning why I wasn't on that stage right now. Even a minor role would have been fine if I just were a part of that.

At first I found it a little odd that Aoba and Legoshi were drinking white wine in that earlier scene instead of red one, and it had frustrated me a little as well because somebody clearly had told them about it, but now I didn´t care about that anymore.

That was just an unbelievably fantastic performance, and Aoba finally got out of his shell and did something wild and exciting in his life.

He just spread his wings and took off. Just like that, nobody stopped him. How could they stop him? He was in mid-air and probably one of the fastest flying birds of the whole school.

I didn´t understand what drove him to do something like that though. That didn't come from himself, he would have never risked something like that. He had told me so often about how badly he wanted to get his flyers license already, but he always refused to try it when nobody was watching.

I was so proud of him right now, not even the new scars on Legoshi´s back mattered to me right now. I knew just too well where those scratches on the sides of his back came from. I had some of them as well in the same spots. But I really was standing on top of that right now.

I just watched in pure joy how Mosca revealed to all the legacy hunters that they´re not the legacy owners as they thought they would be.

"Now!" Aoba announced, coming back onto the stage, wearing his costume again and holding the ´testament´ in his hands, "It is true! Volpone is dead. I have his testament!"

"Where is he?" Zoe, who played Leone´s old father Corbaccio, wanted to know, "I want to see him! I want to get sure he´s really dead!"

"Sure you can see him" Aoba explained, "It´s your good right to see him!" he added, handing the scroll of the testament over to him for a moment. Then he went to the side of the stage and pulled a standing up casket on wheels into the middle of the stage. He opened the lid with a dramatic motion and with a lot of smoke from the tiny, hand-sized fog-machine the wolf had in the casket, the ´dead´ Volpone got revealed to the audience.

"Are you sure he´s dead, Mosca" Corbaccio asked, "Better double check to get sure!"

While saying that the Mongoose pulled a lighter out of his pocket and acted like he was about to set fire to Legoshi´s balls, who was just standing there playing dead in the casket.

"Let´s see if he reacts if we burn his balls or if he really is dead!"

"Yeah!" Ellen agreed loudly, "You never know with this old bastard! Better double check!"

The whole audience was laughing in amusement, but Legoshi somehow still managed to keep a straight face.

"Nooo!" Aoba yelled hectically, "Leone, don't! You don't want to mock the dead, do you?" he saved the ´dead´ Volpone from getting exposed, "I assure you, he´s dead, I´ve had two doctors coming this morning, they both confirmed it! Please, believe me, Volpone has finally been relieved of his pain."

"Alright then!" Kai told him impatiently, tugging the lighter back into his pockets, "What are we waiting for then, Mosca? Read it out!"

"Yes" Mosca declared, unrolling the scroll in his hands, "The testament."

"Finally!" Tao the black panther said in excitement.

"Read it, Mosca!" Ellen demanded, "Give me my money!"

"Mosca!" Kai played out Leones role, "Show us who really holds the legacy of Volpone!"

Now Tao, who played the lawyer who wrote the testament for Volpone, ripped the paper out of Corbaccio´s hands and read out in a superior voice: "…and with that, all my remaining belongings find their new owner in…Mosca…"

"What?!" all the others yelled in shock, now focusing on the bald eagle in the middle.

"MOSCA?!" Tao yelled in rage.

"I…I don't know!" Aoba defended himself, "I haven't ever touched the testament! You have written all those lines yourself, remember? It was up to Volpone to write down the name of the legacy-owner!"

"You liar! You thief! You tricked us!"

"No! NO!" Aoba defended himself, "I was tricked as well! I didn´t know that! Volpone didn´t tell me about this! I was convinced he wanted to give his Legacy to one of you!"

They all looked at him a little confused now.

"… … …"

"…but since I´m, by law, the true legacy-owner now, I want to share it all with you! I pay you back for everything Volpone has taken from you, and you´ll get a lot on top! You have my word! I´ll make it up for all the damage that fraud of a fox has caused!"

POV Legoshi

I was so unbelievably proud of the whole team. We´ve rehearsed this scene over and over again, and now we just got it down perfectly. Not a single stutter from anybody and their rage came across really nice as well.

My task was just to stand straight in the open casket I was ´laying´ in in the middle of the stage and not move a muscle while they played. I had to look dead and not laugh or indeed move, but I got that down pretty well in the meanwhile, luckily. We had practiced that quite a lot until I finally managed not to flash a little smile or something like that.

The audience just couldn´t stop laughing at what the others displayed in that scene.

They made it all the way to the end absolutely flawlessly, and when everybody but Aoba left the stage after being contented with their deals, I readied myself for the last, final part of our show. The joyful opera music was faded in again and Mosca now started dancing across the stage in victory. Because of the change of lighting and the big crate he pulled into the middle after his little celebratory dance, it was clear to the audience that we were in Volpone´s house in private once again.

"Volpone" he yelled loudly to call me out of my ´hideout´ in the casked, before he added lower but really coldly now: "They´re gone."

I opened my eyes and took a look around slowly. The comedic effect of that alone seemed to raise the mood in the audience even more, although we were about to get a little more serious once again.

"Mosca!" I said contentedly, "That was really great fun! Have you seen the looks on their faces! Brilliant!"

"Yes" he sighed, before he cynically added, "…to die for."

"What´s with the long face, Mosca? Get the wine, get the gold! Let´s be free and happy and enjoy-"

"Yes" he interrupted me coldly, just as rehearsed, "I´ll be free and happy now, finally. And you! You´ll be gone! I´ve had enough of you!"

"Wh-what? Mosca, what are you talk-"

"Get out of my house!" he said dryly, pointing at the side exit of the stage, "I did what you asked for, I played your stupid game, now it´s time to leave!"

POV Jack

"Mosca!" Volpone yelled, now that they both were all alone on the stage again and Legoshi had jumped out of the standing casket in quite a spectacular way, coming after Aoba now slowly but very dramatically, "I´m going nowhere! All this belongs to me! You belong to me, I own you!"

I was pretty sure we were close to the end in the meanwhile, and the time just had flown by as if it was nothing. This was so amazing. From that little bit of practice we did in the dorm with him, he and Aoba went to that on stage.

"…not anymore" the bald eagle disagreed, waving the testament in front of him while walking away from him backwards, "I´m free now. You in person have signed this official document, which says that I´m now the rightful owner of all your remaining possessions! And you…Volpone" he said, "You are a dead man by the knowledge of the law."

"You little…" I growled, realizing that he couldn´t really argue with that, "…I´ll crush you, little fly! You can´t get away with th-"

"A, a, a, not so fast" Aoba told him with a superior grin, "Careful! Leone is sleeping right down the hall in the next room. And I´m pretty sure you don't want me to wake him up, little fox. I´ve heard he´s always sleeping with this sword right next to his bed. I´ve invited him into my house for a night. And I´m pretty sure you´re the last one he wants to see alive in here…"

Legoshi now just looked at him with a mad, growly expression. I just believed him. He really looked like he was mad about getting tricked like that. He put out so much energy once again.

"You know what" Mosca told him with a big grin, "I´m gonna count to three, and if you´re not gone out of my property-"

"This is my property!"

"Not anymore…" Mosca grinned, waving the testament once again, "…as I said, if you´re not gone when I counted to three, I think I´ll go wake him up and make you leave Venice forever!"

"You little!"

"Ooooone."

"The gold!" Volpone yelled, already in slight panic, "Give me the gold and I´m gone!"

"Twoooo!"

"A third of the gold! A third and you´ll never see me agai-"

"Thr-"

"The jewels!" the wolf pleaded.

"Threeeee!"

"Just the pearls and the jewels!" he said, walking backwards in fear already.

"Leeeoooonnnneee" Aoba yelled loudly, while Legoshi turned around and now began running off the stage stormily, yelling one last, loud "ASSHOOOOLE!", before leaving the stage and disappearing behind the curtain.

We were laughing tears of joy in the meanwhile. They did it once again. Aoba and Legoshi blessed the stage with their magic and the love just kept on hailing down on them for the entire performance. This was just awesome.

The bald eagle just watched him leave with a contented expression and waited for the audience to calm down a little once again.

"And that´s…" Aoba played the last part on his own now, while the funny opera music faded in once again, "…that´s how the little fly beat the cunning fox. What a day to celebrate!" he said, while pulling the big wooden treasure crate to the front of the stage once again while the actors in the background kept on dancing to the music.

The crate has been on the stage the whole time, and it was opened in the beginning of the performance shortly, as they had thrown around with its contents to show off how rich Volpone was. The golden coins and the fake jewelry were still scattered all across the floor, but from the way they presented it, it appeared to contain quite a lot more of that stuff.

Aoba now had gotten himself a crowbar from somewhere, since Volpone ran off with the "original key" of the crate, danced around the stage with it in a funny way and then used it to ´violently break open´ his treasure.

Now the whole stage was black with the exception of one spotlight in the middle of the stage, just illuminating Mosca and the crate.

Aoba now did another funny little victory dance to the opera music they played, and then to reveal the final big moment, he opened the lid of the crate. Light came shining out of the crate from inside now and the spotlight on top of him went out as well.

Now it was just his face illuminated from the bottom of the crate while he was looking into it for a worryingly long moment.

"Whaaat?!" he yelled in surprise, as it appeared to be completely empty now, assumingly because Volpone had emptied it in advance somehow, "…Oh man!"

With a frustrated motion of his head he let the lid fall back down, and when it was completely shut the room was completely dark.

The laughter got even louder once again, and then changed into a massive applause for the performance. What a fantastic ending this was.

POV Aoba

This applause felt even more breathtaking than the one we got for Romeo and Juliet last time. Legoshi and I had worked so hard for this performance, and it seemed like it was worth it once again.

He gave me a proud smile and a little fist-bump when I met him behind the stage where he waited for the curtain call.

"Thank you so much" I told him, actually having tears of joy in my eyes, "This is so awesome!"

"Thank you too" he said with an honest little smile, "That was great!"

"Let´s go" I said, just as the lights were turned back on for the curtain call.

He followed me onto the stage with a little smirk, and just when we went towards the front and the audience noticed us, the applause and yelling got really loud once again. Some of them even stood up from their seats because they were so touched. My whole world stopped for a moment. Nothing I´ve ever received was as valuable to me as this applause. This was worth getting kicked out because I was flying without a license. It just was.

Legoshi and I did a little bow in front of the audience, then he pulled me with him again and we ran back off the stage and high-fived Juno and Ellen who rushed towards the front now. Even that we had choreographed perfectly. When they got back, Kai and Tao set off for their round of applause. Then it was the turn of Zoe and Els.

While we waited, I just looked at him with another little nod. I wasn't quite sure if he really understood how much that all meant to me. He looked proud, but it also looked like he was even happier for me than for himself.

He was the one who tied this club together. He was the one who carried most of the weight on his back. And he still kept on pretending he was just one of us.

"Come on" he said with a little chuckle, pointing at the stage, "This is your applause!"

He was right. For this curtain call, everybody would go out there all on their own at least once, and I was the first one to do that.

I went out there, into the middle of the stage, and the applause got even louder once again.

It was like in all my wildest dreams. Those people were cheering just for me right now.

Then, instead of waiting for me to come back, Legoshi came onto the stage as well, it got even louder when he pointed at me with an excited little smile and hyped them up even more therefore. There just was something magical about this Wolf, I was convinced of it.

We did another bow together and then made room for the other actors once again.

POV Legoshi

This was just what I wanted. I was just so proud of him when he went out there alone and the whole crowd was going wild about it.

I knew they would love his performance. But this time, I wasn´t as excited as by the first applause of the Romeo and Juliet premiere, so I had a little more time to take a look at the audience.

While the third round of applause we came out for, this time with all the actors on stage at the same time, I noticed the principal himself sitting in the first row. I also recognized my dorm-mates in the row behind him and winked them shortly, but I wasn´t quite sure if they noticed.

The last time we went out there, Sanu and Louis got onto the stage as well and did a little bow before the audience for their dramaturgical and artistic work.

It was a complete riot once again. At the very end of our curtain call, Aoba and I even got standing ovations from the crowd. The school-wave reporters were still taking pictures and the applause kept on coming.

When we all finally met up backstage after the curtain call was over, we didn´t stop celebrating for a single second.

"Great job, everyone!" I told them happily, as we all gathered in the backstage room, giving each other high-fives, fist-bumps and joyful little hugs.

"You guys freaking rock!" Aoba told us.

"Hell yeah" Kai said, "That applause was crazy!"

"…It was a great success!" Sanu agreed loudly, gaining everybody´s attention quickly, "I must however mention it again! Flying without a license is not allowed, and-"

"Yeah, and Dom, great work with the spotlight for that" I interrupted the pelican quickly.

The peafowl just nodded contentedly about that compliment.

"That looked freaking awesome" Kai agreed.

"Yeah, I really owe you one for that" I told him.

"…it…it looked good" Sanu admitted, "But I doubt the principal would let you do this again, Aoba…"

"Yeah, I know" he said, "We just thought it would make the premiere a bit more exciting…"

"But…but you can´t just-"

"What in the world could make this premiere any more exciting than it´s already been?" an quite rare but not unfamiliar voice asked all over sudden, interrupting the pelican as well just by chance.

We heard a door falling into its lock just a moment later, and when we all took a look it was clear why that voice was familiar. Just when we were talking about him.

"Principal!" Sanu greeted him firmly, "I hope you enjoyed our performance."

"Oh no no no no…" he said, laughing a little, "…I haven't just enjoyed it…"

He took a look at everyone who stood in the circle around him, then back at Sanu.

"I´m deeply impressed once again. Your students have delivered a very hard piece in a very enjoyable way. Everything about this performance was just impeccable. Everything from the acting, from the dance team, from the sound-design to the lighting and…" he did a little pause here, "…follow-spots…"

And with that last word, he looked at Aoba with a suddenly really cold expression.

It took me a short moment, but then I realized what he was getting at. At first, I couldn´t quite believe he really was serious about this. He looked just so excited a moment ago.

"…it really is a shame that there will just be one performance of this fantastic show, since Mosca decided to fly without a license."

"I´m…I…I…" Aoba stuttered, and now I knew I had to keep my word I gave him.

I stepped in front of the bald eagle with a serious expression.

"N-no, sir…" I said loud and clearly, "…if there is somebody to blame for this, that would be me. It was my idea."

The principal looked really surprised about this for a moment, but sadly, that didn´t seem to change anything.

"…the problem with that, Volpone…is…" he said, still with that cold and unforgiving look, "…that there is no evidence that it was your idea. But I´ve seen him flying above me with my own eyes…"

"This must be a nightmare I was having right now. He can´t just cancel our second performance because of that! Because of me!"

"Principal…" Sanu said, as we all were unable to speak right now, "…this won´t happen again in the next show! We never really planned that, and…"

Gon now just raised one of his hands slowly and it became really quiet in the room.

"I understand that it sounds frustrating…" he said, "…but I´m afraid there is no other way of telling you…that…"

I could literally feel how scared and nervous Aoba was right now, but it was even worse for me. I felt so guilty.

"…flying without a license is forbidden…outside…"

That last word changed everything though. Just in that moment I had a little foreboding coming up.

"Wh-what?" Sanu asked in disbelief, and now the principal suddenly flashed a little smile at us.

"You´ve heard me right" he chuckled, "Our theatre hall is a closed building that is not bound to the outside. Even more because it´s a theatre. Technically, it would even be allowed for actors to smoke a cigarette on stage if it´s part of a scene, although it´s a public building..."

"Wait…" Aoba now asked, "…does that mean…?"

"Yes" he now affirmed in a much warmer tone than earlier, "It means that the old man that is me just took his own acting for a little test drive…I´m sorry for messing with you."

"What?" Sanu asked in surprise, "It was not illegal?"

"No" he confirmed with a little smile, "He can fly like the wind, and he really has a reason to, because that was one hell of a performance he delivered! Congratulations, Aoba!" he said with a big and proud grin while patting his shoulders, "I enjoyed you as Mercutio already, but that I must say I enjoyed even more!"

I couldn't help but smile proudly at Aoba right now. His hard work had paid off. The principal noticed that as well, and he was not afraid to show it.

"T-thank you, sir!" he said, even shaking a little from excitement.

I wordlessly went towards him now and offered him a fist-bump with a proud little grin, and he didn´t even hesitate to return it in front of the principal.

This was just such a wholesome moment for me.

The principal was still genuinely happy right now and still smiling with a hearable chuckle.

"My honest congratulations to all of you. A worthy follow-up to Romeo and Juliet!"

Everybody around us began cheering and clapping excitedly now. It was like a sudden burst of energy that went through the room.

"So I´m…I´m really allowed to fly in here?" Aoba asked, as he still couldn´t quite believe it.

"Try not to stretch that rule too far" the principal told him with a little wink, "Keep it for the performances."

He nodded understandingly but with a very wide smile. Seeing him like this made me just so happy.

"But you will not only fly here…" the principal continued, "The mayor has seen the premiere as well and already agreed to two or maybe even four performances in the city center, depending on the ticket sales."

"Yes!" Kai whispered while pumping his fist, "Awesome!"

He was not alone thinking like that of course, and nobody really made any efforts to hide it.

"Your last piece was a great success, and this one doesn't lack any of that greatness. You´ve proven your talent and dedication once more."

"Thank you, sir" Sanu said, "I believe I speak for the entire drama-club that we are very lucky and honored to hear those words."

He nodded silently but with a true and honest smile.

"Last but not least…" he then announced, turning just to me now for some reason, "…when I was just speaking about greatness, and also great courage, Legoshi…" he added with a little smile, "You´ve proven yourself once again just now…"

He pointed at Aoba for a moment, "…there is almost no greater act of courage than taking the blame for something. And even if it was your idea-"

"It was my idea" I assured once more.

"…I´m sure you gave him your word you would do that. And knowing that you´re a man of your word, he trusted you. And you didn´t let him down when it really mattered."

I nodded with a little smile, although I really wanted this to stop. I already knew what he was getting at, but I couldn´t hinder him anyway.

"That!" he announced a little louder now, "…that is, without a doubt, the prime example of the qualities a Beastar should have!"

I just couldn´t help but shake my head a little. There was just so much wrong with this. He didn´t know anything about what was really going on. Nothing about Bill and what he did and nothing about what I did to him either.

"This has to stop!"

I just couldn´t listen to this anymore. I finally had to say something that would show him the whole truth about me.

"…I…I thought it was illegal when I convinced him to do" I told him in all honesty, "…so I would have been guilty if it actually had turned out to be illegal. It wasn´t from bad intentions, but I really didn´t know it was allowed. I was convinced it was not allowed."

He didn´t buy that either, sadly. It took him a moment, but then he found something yet once again: "I´m sure you talk about the rule that ignorance does not protect from punishment…"

I nodded slightly. That really was what I was actually thinking at first, but then I figured out the same thing he explained with words a second later:

"…but it´s pretty much the opposite of that rule. There really isn´t anything you could be punished for. Just the opposite once again, because I genuinely held my breath during that scene. That was just as brilliant to think off as it was to look at."

Once again, I just couldn´t argue against that.

I actually wanted to start telling him about what I did to Bill at this point, but then I stopped myself just in time.

"I had to spare details if I would start talking about that right now, and that would mess up his life even more!"

Nobody knew about this so far, but if the principal would find out about this, Bill really would get into trouble. Although he really put one on top all that today, I didn´t want him to suffer any longer.

"Come on, Legoshi" Louis now interrupted the silence with a little chuckle, which actually surprised me a little, "You both stepped out of your shadows today, and it was worth it, wasn´t it?"

I nodded with a little sigh, then I tried my hardest to force a little smile.

"I´m very impressed" Gon told me, still not letting go of that topic, "And I´m still feeling confident in my nomination. We need people like you as Beastars. The votes begin in two weeks. I count on you!"

"Yeah, let´s go Legoshi!" Sheila yelled excitedly and made the entire club cheer for me therefore.

Not even Louis seemed to be mad about that right now.

"Just what is happening with my life? This is so wrong! Must they really punish me like that?"

I forced another little smile and nodded politely. The principal patted my shoulders with his hands once again, then he turned around and wet on his way to leave the same way he came.

"I just have one more little request…" he said in amusement, as he turned around quickly, "…the pool on the roof is for swimming…try to remember that."

"Of course, sir" I said with a little sigh, "I´m sorry."

With that and another little smile towards us, he turned around again and left the room.

A few of the other students giggled for a moment, then they all stared at me again for some reason. They all had proud little smiles on their faces, but there also seemed to be something else in the air.

Then something happened which I never expected, not of him at least. Aoba just came towards me and hugged me with his wings wordlessly. He´s always been a smooth and gentle person, but that seemed a little much even for him. I didn´t want to be an asshole about it though and hugged him back carefully. He seemed to be genuinely thankful, and my grandpa always told me to worship that whenever I could. He´s never been wrong about that before.

There we stood. Arm in arm, in the middle of the entire drama club.

But instead of chuckling about it or looking away awkwardly, exactly the opposite happened to my big surprise. Kai came towards us suddenly and just joined in on the hug. It seemed like the most normal thing in the world. He was followed by Els, Ellen, Juno and soon later the entire rest of the drama club.

"Okay…" I chuckled in amusement, as Aoba and I were completely surrounded by them now.

They all giggled about happily, but they didn´t let go of us nevertheless.

"I fucking love you, Legoshi" Aoba whispered, almost under tears, "This is the best day of my life!"

I genuinely was a little stunned by that confession. I didn´t expect him to be this emotional about it, but it seemed like he was glad he got that off his chest. This was just such a wholesome moment. Nobody chuckled or even shook their head about it, they just smiled respectfully.

I just remained smiling about it as well, still not being able to move from where I was.

From the corner of my eyes I noticed that Dom had left the group-hug and began taking photos of us with his camera from every angle. Although Aoba and I already had promised him a private photo-session for his help, this seemed to make him really happy already. My grandpa remained to be right yet once again. Having them all around me like that just felt really nice, I couldn´t deny it.

"Maybe I really wasn't that much of a bad person."

"I can´t believe it" Kai said, still very excited, "We´re going to perform in the city theatre once again!"

"Yeah" Els agreed lowly, "This is so cool!"

"Our hard work paid off" I agreed with a little smile.

"Every single pull-up" Aoba chuckled, "That applause was just beautiful."

"But Legoshi" Dom suddenly asked with a little chuckle, looking at the pictures on his camera-display, "I have one question that still keeps coming to my head…"

Just like the rest of the drama-club, I now looked at him with great interest.

"Can you now tell me, honestly, why did you want me to change the grape juice for water? Red wine would have made much more sense than white one…"

"Yeah" Aoba agreed, "I didn't get that either…"

That question brought me into a little bit of a quagmire right now, especially since the whole drama club was watching me right now.

Three hours earlier (POV Legoshi)

"Hey" somebody suddenly said dryly, coming towards me quickly. I wasn´t quite sure what he was doing here or how he even got in here, but I was curious what he wanted nevertheless.

I put my script to the side and just looked at him with a little smirk. I was still not scared of him, and I wanted to make that clear right away.

"Nothing malicious" he immediately explained himself, apparently having learned his lesson.

"Then how can I help you?" I asked, actually glad he was talking normally to me for once.

"You´re drinking wine on stage later, right?"

"It´s grape juice" I said skeptically, "…who told you about that?"

"Have a guess who was kicked off the drama club and doesn't care about stuff like that getting leaked anymore…"

I nodded understandingly.

"Bill and Sebastian teaming up against me now? Interesting."

"…so what about it?" I wanted to know.

"He wants to see you fail…"

"He?" I asked skeptically.

"…the freaking tiger who´s girlfriend you fucked."

"I can imagine he wants to see me fail…" I sighed, "…but wouldn´t you want that as well?"

He shook his head about that without hesitation.

"He wants to make you and Mercutio vomit onto the stage, so he put baking soda into the grape juice. At least that was his plan…"

Now that really surprised me on the other hand.

"Me and Aoba?"

"I don't know about the bird, but I assume you both are drinking it?"

I nodded with a little sigh, taking another quick look down the hallway.

"Why would you warn me about this?"

"…I don't want to be a part of that. And I don't want to stand in between you and him, so I hope you don't tell anybody where you know that from."

It seemed to make sense on one hand, but somehow I still wasn´t entirely trusting him.

I took another, closer look at him, hoping I could get a bit more clarity with that.

"Dude" he sighed after a long moment of silence, looking me right in the eyes now, "I don't want to fight with you anymore. You´ve won this, okay? And I finally understood that you never wanted to fight with me either. I´m sorry for what I did to you! …and I´m sorry for threatening your dorm-mate because he´s with Anita now, I´m sorry I was an idiot earlier…"

He almost looked a little emotional right now.

"…I want to make this right, so please, trust me, use white wine instead of red one or get a new bottle. I don't want to be accountable for this. This could get me into real trouble. My parents would disinherit me if I get kicked off this school!"

It seemed like he wasn´t making this up. He genuinely looked a little scared, and he also looked like he really meant it.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, now in a slightly warmer tone.

"I can´t say if he really had the balls to do it, but I wouldn´t risk it if I were you. He seemed really pissed…"

I nodded understandingly. That made sense as well, there was no doubt about it.

"…thank you" I now told him with an honest little smile. I was glad about that sincere apology of his.

He nodded once more, then he slowly turned around and went on his way back to where he came from.

"I have to stop this. This can´t go on like that. Bill is really taking this too far in the meanwhile. I have to make things right with him."

POV Louis (after the premiere)

"I got a warning…" he confessed, as Dom asked why he wanted to wine to get changed before the show, "…somebody wanted Aoba and I to vomit on stage, so they put baking soda into it…"

Now everybody just stared in shock at him, me included.

"What?!" Aoba asked, "Are you serious?"

"I´m not sure if it´s really true, but I didn´t want to risk anything. I´m sorry I didn´t tell you earlier, I didn´t want you to be worried…"

At first, I asked myself why he would think like that, but then it actually made sense to me. The performance was more important than us knowing about that. Once again, he had done the mature thing and took care about what really mattered first.

"Gon is right. Legoshi has the qualifications for the Beastars, there is no point in denying it."

"Wh…" Sanu asked in shock, "Who would do something like that?"

"I´m afraid I have a vague idea" I sighed.

They all stared at me now and Legoshi just nodded affirmingly. It seemed like he was sick of this bullshit as well.

"Who was it?" Kai asked loudly, "The fox who messed with you in the cafeteria?"

That was a possibility I hadn´t even been thinking about at first, but Legoshi immediately shook his head to that. I knew who this must have been anyway, it was more than obvious.

"It´s was Bill" Aoba sighed, being really sure of it too and apparently not wanting to hide it either.

It seemed like their friendship had suffered a lot from Bill´s actions as well.

"Yeah…" Legoshi sighed, "…but it´s just me who he´s mad about. This has nothing to do with any of you."

"Is this still about the lead role?" Sanu wanted to know, still shaking his head in disbelief.

"Legoshi slept with his girlfriend" I clarified for everybody, "Or his ex-girlfriend to be more precisely."

"What?" Sanu asked in shock, "Is that true?"

"It was stupid of me" Legoshi confessed, "It was just blind revenge, I should have had myself under control."

"She broke up with him" Kai mentioned again, "So this is not Legoshi´s fault…"

"I shouldn´t have done it no matter what" Legoshi got a little louder, "And I can understand that Bill is angry about it. I would be too. It was stupid, I shouldn´t have done that. It was just childish."

Although he got a little louder there, I had the impression that he really got mature in the meanwhile. His sense of reason impressed me time and time again. It hadn´t been like that before I left.

We all just nodded silently, not wanting to argue with him about that.

"Don´t worry too much about that, please" Legoshi told us, calming down a little now, "I don't want this to get your problem. The premiere went well and we should celebrate that…" he added with a little smile.

"Legoshi is right" Sanu agreed with him, "We´ll take care of this later. Let´s get going towards the cafeteria, I believe your fans are waiting already!"

They all nodded, and then Legoshi immediately took the lead towards the exit. It seemed like he wanted to get this situation over with and change the topic as soon as possible.

This was really getting out of hand. Legoshi would be in real danger soon if it kept going like that. As much as his popularity was growing among the students, the hate from others grew bigger and bigger as well. It was as stupid as it sounded, but they hated him because he was popular. I experienced that myself.

Bill was by far not the only one, sadly, but he surely was by far the most reckless about it. Bill was really annoying to me too, but I just couldn´t let him get tangled up in this world I spent the last half year in. He was by far too naive to survive in here. I needed Bill to get a little victory for once, otherwise he really would turn into a bad direction.

"But how could I get Bill a little win and at the same time scare Legoshi away from getting voted a Beastar? I have to do something before it´s too late."

POV Haru

I felt like I was the least important creature on the entire planet right now. So unimportant that people might actually have forgotten about my existence.

Seeing the premiere of their performance didn´t really make it better for me. It just made it worse for that matter.

I finally had realized why I had been this drawn to that wolf ever since I knew him. He had been a loser. Just like me, he had been feared and hated by almost everybody.

But now he was not a loser anymore, now he was the exact opposite.

He was considered a real hero at this school in the meanwhile. Somebody everyone wanted to talk to, somebody who was praised for his talent, somebody everyone adored for different reasons and somebody who everyone wanted to sleep with, apparently. I heard them talking in the hallways. Canines, felines, even some herbivore girls I heard chatting about it. And it was not even just the girls who fawned over him like he was some kind of god.

But it was exactly that what made me feel so much pain. I had liked him before all that. I didn´t care about his fame or anything. I liked this humble, gentle and friendly wolf because he was just like me. Hated and feared by everybody.

Now he had left me alone with that. Now it felt like I was the only one being hated by the entire school.

I was so alone, not even Louis seemed to think about me at this point. Maybe he was still in the cafeteria with the drama-club, maybe he went to bed already, all I knew was that it wasn´t worth it to wait up for him tonight. I would even had let him touch me again, I really needed it after watching that performance.

He had visited me every day in the last few weeks, but today he had totally forgotten about me, apparently. At first, I had the impression he had real feelings for me in the meanwhile and gave me more of his attention than before, but maybe I had misjudged that really badly because I already felt so alone since I broke up with Legoshi.

Now I had to listen to my roommates talk about him being with Juno and how good they looked together all evening. Again.

I was so sick of it, I really considered to spend the night in the garden. They probably wouldn´t have missed me anyway.

"You were such a lovely little soul. Why did they ruin you like that? Have I really lost him to this madness? Is nobody going to stop this?"

POV Bill

"How long will you just sit there and watch how he humbles you in every way possible?" he asked, as he suddenly appeared here out of nowhere.

Just when I thought I was about to be able to forget all that, start over, apologize to Legoshi and the drama-club for everything that happened, this guy suddenly stood before me and tried to convince me of the exact opposite.

"Shouldn´t you be in the cafeteria celebrating your premiere?" I wanted to know.

"Listen. I didn´t come here to mock about. You want to get some of your respect back, right? Not just from everybody in the drama-club but from Legoshi as well."

I just shrugged my shoulders lazily. "And how should I do that?"

"Why don't you just beat the shit out of him?" he asked, "You´re a tiger!"

"That wolf is a beast. He´s was really strong already and he had been working out the entire last month."

"Don´t be such a pussy. No wonder he keeps fucking up your life."

"Don't underestimate him. He took down an entire clan of lions all by himself…"

"He didn´t do it all by himself" he corrected, shaking his head slowly, "He had help. And don't tell me you don't know about the damage those claws of yours can do."

"I can´t attack him like that again. That would really hurt or might even kill him…"

He just kept looking at me with a cold expression.

"And anyways, why would you think that beating him up would bring me back my respect? They´d just hate me even more, won´t they?"

He kept on shaking his head a little. I didn´t understand what he wanted from me right now.

"Why are you coming to me with this? What is your deal with him? Are you mad he´s the big star now and not you?"

That made him shake his head with an unbothered expression, and I could tell he was dead serious about this.

"I want to protect him. If he does eventually get voted a Beastar, he´s probably getting into a business that won´t be long lasting for him. It´s really dangerous for carnivores to become elected a Beastar, you have a lot of enemies no matter what you do."

"It´s not even sure he gets elected yet. There are a lot of candidates…"

That actually made him laugh out shortly, "The only way that wolf is not getting the vote is when he officially declines it. And I´m not even too sure about that anymore. He pretty much runs the drama-club now…they all love him. They look up to him and they praise him. And there is a reason for that if the both of us would be honest for a moment."

I never thought I would ever hear something like that out of his mouth. That actually surprised me a little.

"And how do you want to protect him by beating him up?"

"I want to scare him. I´ve seen what´s waiting for you once you become a Beastar, I was as good as elected myself just before I disappeared."

"And what do I have to do with that?" I wanted to know.

"Don´t you want a little bit of respect from him?" he asked again, "Don't you want to be more than the little asshole who pissed off everyone in the drama-club?"

"So he was thinking like that about me as well?"

"…but what would it help me beating him up? They´ll just hate me even more…" I repeated my earlier point.

"Legoshi doesn´t hate you…" he explained, "I´ve heard him talk to Juno. He feels sorry for everything that happened, he wants to apologize too."

"He does?"

"Yes. But trust me, it will be a lot better if you teach him a little lesson first…" he said, balling his fist symbolically, "…and make him apologize first. That way you gain respect and your apology would come across a lot more sincerely as well."

I still shook my head slightly. This wasn´t feeling right. I didn´t want to fight with him anymore. Legoshi was right about that, neither of us had ever profited from that.

"I don´t think that´s a good idea-"

"Listen" he sighed, sounding a little annoyed, "If you really want to have it easier to defeat him in a fight…there is something that could weaken his fighting strength really drastically…"

He pulled a little glass bottle out of one of his pockets and handed it over to me. It was a translucent liquid and the sticker on it showed the silhouette of a dragon.

"What, vodka?" I asked in disbelief, "Is that a joke?"

"It´s a highly dangerous venom that makes you really weak if just a drop of it gets into your system."

"What, one drop of this?"

He nodded wordlessly.

"Where did you get it?"

"That´s not important. I just know that it works very effectively. Entire clans have been vanished because of this stuff."

"Was it really that where he´s been hiding all this time he was gone? At a clan? Was Bambi that much of a gangster already?"

He looked serious about this though. And Louis never was known for any funny business. He´s been cold and professional ever since I knew him.

"But he is right. Legoshi really deserved this. At least once he should experience what it´s like getting beat down like that. It would only be fair after all."

"Alright…" I said, trusting him since he hadn´t even flinched one single time, "…how do I get him to drink this?"

"You" he said, quickly grabbing it out of my hand again, "…not at all. I´ve seen enough of you messing around with dangerous substances. I will give it to him in just the right dose. Legoshi does trust me a lot more than you. And like I know you, you would put the entire bottle into his drink. Which could easily kill him."

"Come on" I said, rolling my eyes, "I´m not that stupid. And I wouldn't try to kill him…"

He still kept on shaking his head about it. "Just wait for my signal when it happens. I´ll tell you more about the details later."

"When?"

"After the drama-club performances."

"Of course…" I sighed, rolling my eyes a little.

"You could still be part of it if you hadn't started messing with him."

"Yeah, yeah…" I sighed.

He looked me right in the eyes for a worryingly long moment now. I believed I knew what he was getting at.

"Who told you about the grape juice?" I asked, to get it over with more quickly.

"The what?"

"The red vine you apparently changed for white one before the performance. Stop acting stupid, somebody must have snitched it."

He took a deep breath, looking to his left and right quickly.

"…Legoshi just talked about a warning he got from somebody who didn´t want to get into trouble."

I nodded understandingly.

"Just who could that be?" I asked myself ironically.

"Be honest…" I told him with a little grin, "…he does get on your nerves a bit as well."

He just kept staring at me with a really dark expression, but I couldn´t hide a little smirk nevertheless.

"Try not to mess this up as well" he told me dryly, "You´d otherwise get into really big trouble."

"Ha…" I chuckled with a little sigh, "Funny. As if this could get any more fucked up."

POV Legoshi

Or dinner in the cafeteria had been a complete riot once again. The mood was just loaded and ecstatic. We were sitting at that big long table like one big family that hadn´t met each other for a really long time. We really were like a big family in the meanwhile. We were telling childhood stories, laughing and really enjoying ourselves. I found the atmosphere really nice since that big group-hug backstage.

The time just flew by I noticed and then the cafeteria was about to get closed all over sudden. They kindly asked us to leave, since it was really late already, and after a little more talking in the hallway, we eventually split up in different little groups and got on our way back to our dorms.

Juno and I went there together most of the way, and after we said goodbye to each other with a little kiss, we both went to get our much-deserved rest. Sleep was much important than sex right now, at least to me it was. I really felt exhausted.

I made it to the hallway almost completely unnoticed, but then, right in front of our door, there was somebody waiting for me who I really didn´t expect to meet tonight. It was the housemother, and it seemed like she had been waiting for me here.

"Good evening, Legoshi" she greeted me by my first name again.

"Hello" I said with an exhausted but still polite little smile.

"I just liked to talk to you once again…" she began, looking me right in the eyes for a moment.

"Oh…" I sighed, "Is this about the…"

"Yes" she affirmed, "He wanted me to let you know that he´ll let you two off with a warning for once. I just couldn´t tell you that in front of other students, I don't want this to happen again in the future."

"Yeah…" I chuckled, "I understand. Thank you."

She nodded contentedly.

"My congratulations to the premiere performance!" she changed the topic quickly.

That made me smile even a little more. I never thought this person actually had feelings or a sense of humor.

"…I really enjoyed it, you all really outdid yourselves once again. I can´t recall that we ever had an energy like that in a student-performance before…"

"Thank you very much" I told her with a little smirk, "I´m glad to hear that, we put a lot of work into it."

It was almost kinda creepy to see the housekeeper that enthusiastic about something. She nodded with a little smile.

"I can believe that!"

It almost felt kinda flirty in how she was talking to me right now.

"I…uh…I really need to get some rest now…tomorrow is another performance…"

She nodded understandingly.

"Oh, one more thing…" she said with a little chuckle, as we both went off into different directions, "It´s a little rude to push a girl into a pool and just leave her like that…isn´t it?"

That just made me smile a little once again, I couldn´t help it.

"I know" I confessed, "…but I brought my point across to her. And I believe she has forgiven me for that already…"

She nodded understandingly, and then something happened which I would have never had expected from her: She wasn´t able to hide a little smirk about that either.

I wasn´t quite sure how much she had actually seen of that video footage, but she seemed to enjoy this a little nevertheless.

"Kinda makes sense they gave you that role" she said with a little smirk, before she actually went on her way this time.

I just ironically shook my head with a little smile about that comment.

"That lady is not as innocent as I thought."

Then went into my dorm.

"Legoface!" I was greeted by Collot excitedly, who was just getting done with folding his laundry as it looked like, "There is our boy!"

"Damn you´re such a freakin´ boss on stage!" Durham chuckled, "How do you do that? Come on, what´s your secret?"

I just shrugged my shoulders with a little smile.

"Honestly, you kneeling over Juno like that was freaking hot to watch! Two beautiful beasts going all in on their romance…"

I just smiled a little about that compliment.

"Yeah, Legoshi" Miguno asked ironically, "Why did you stop there in the performance? I wouldn´t have minded…"

"…yeah…didn´t you say you wanted to do a porn-movie or something like that?" Durham asked with a big grin.

Anita just shook her head about this, but she couldn´t hide a little smile either.

"Yeah, sure…" I chuckled in amusement, "…we still need a director though, do you want the job?"

"Sign me in" he said ironically, "…little show-off!"

"But honestly…" Anita chuckled, "You really were on fire on stage! I really enjoyed it."

"Yeah, me too" Jack agreed.

"Thank you!" I told them with a little smirk.

"And Mosca was great too" he added, "He´s so funny on stage!"

I nodded once again, still trying to keep that polite smile upright, but I noticed how my thoughts already drifted into another direction once again.

I´ve heard so many compliments about me and my team today, it wasn´t really anything special anymore. I didn´t want to look bored or distant to my dorm-mates, but I just had other thoughts on my mind right now.

"Juno must really be having a good time in her dorm right now. I bet Vera is on the edge of exploding with envy right now. But now Juno can finally shut her up. Or maybe she´s just tired and went to bed already…why am I even thinking about Vera right now?"

"… …hey Legoshi" Miguno asked, apparently not for the first time.

"…sorry…yeah?" I asked.

"…Isn´t it illegal to fly without a license?" he repeated his question.

"No…not in a theatre…" I told him with a little wink, "…we have a few special rules…"

"Aoba must be having such a great time as well…he finally got all the attention he deserved for his hard work and dedication…does Aoba have a girlfriend? I never thought about that before…"

"…and what about that tiger who you were fighting with on stage last time?" Collot asked from his bed, "…I hadn´t seen him on stage today…"

"He…uhm…he didn't get a role this time" I answered, drifting into the next deep thought with that.

"Bill must feel really bad right now. I would like to know if he had seen the premiere or not, but either way he must have had better days before. …surely he must have seen it after trying to sabotage our performance! …this really had turned into a bad direction. Why did all this happen? All that was because of me, wasn´t it? I´m such a…"

"You seem really tired" Jack told me with a little chuckle suddenly, as I apparently had been spacing out once again for quite a while.

"…yeah…" I chuckled, "…sorry. It has been a long day…"

They all nodded understandingly.

I took a short look around, smiled at them once again, and then I went towards the bathroom without further ado.

"I think a cold shower will help" Jack chuckled with a little wink, "We still have some question you need to answer!"

"Yeah…" I agreed with a little smirk, "…give me a minute."

Jeez, that was so much work to write. Hope it was worth it ;)

Let me know!

Anyway, have a good day, see you later ;)

~wurrfolf