Chapter 2: Looming Shadows

It had been two days since Legosi and Jack had their talk and the wolf couldn't stop worrying about his love and how Jack might have to deal with that horrible detective like he did. Every time he thought about it, he would remember how upset everyone had gotten worried that Jack would also lose his temper with her. Yet, it wasn't really Jack's temper he was worried about, but rather his wound.

Jack tried to hide it, but Legosi noticed that for most of yesterday the labrador had his hand over the spot where he had his surgery recently. It was clear to the wolf that the argument they had exacerbated the wound somehow and he was scared it would happen again if Jack talked with Agatha.

He wanted to talk to someone about this, but at the same time he didn't want to say anything, especially to his roommates. He knew that even mentioning the antelope would be enough to set them off as she not only insulted them, but also treated them like criminals. Still, he knew better than to dwell on it and just decided to worry about it when the time came.

The good news was that Legosi had club activities today and was eager to see his friends again. He didn't really like the idea of using the club as a distraction from his problems even though he had done it before, but he knew that with all the club work that needed to be done he'd be able to focus.

He headed to the club room as early as possible, like always, but was surprised to see someone else had gotten there before him. The gray wolf walked closer to the figure and realized that it was Riz who was standing in front of the club room.

Legosi never had a problem with the brown bear, but he was definitely someone who the wolf never really associated with, at least on a personal level. They did have a few conversations here and there, mostly about how they were both large predators and how everyone was scared of them, but truth be told, the only time they ever interacted was when their club assignments lined up.

Still, Legosi never saw Riz as a bad guy, it's just that there always seemed to be something… off about the bear that made the large canine somewhat weary of him. Despite how he felt, Legosi decided to say hello. After all, he didn't want Riz to endure the same feelings of rejection and loneliness he did before recent events.

"Uh… hey Riz, you're here early today," Legosi said with a calm smile as he approached the larger animal.

The grizzly bear turned his head and his ears perked up a bit. "Oh… hello Legosi. I should've known you'd be here. You're kind of famous for it."

The two let out a small, awkward laugh before continuing their conversation.

"So, why are you here so early?" the large canine asked.

"Well, my last class let out a little early and I didn't have anything else to do so I just came here," Riz explained.

Legosi nodded. "That makes sense. I'm just glad things are getting back to normal around here."

"Depends on what normal actually is, right?" the bear asked in both a somber and joking tone.

Legosi let out a small laugh before nodding again. "Yea… you're right about that." The wolf then looked to the side as his ears folded back when he realized what Riz ment.

The wolf looked back up at his clubmate and smiled at him as his ears perked up and his tail wagged slightly. "You know Riz… we might have a new normal around here. Maybe one that's a little better than what we had before."

Riz let out a small smile, "I somehow doubt that. Then again, if you're the one who says so, then I might just have to believe it."

Legois tilted his head slightly as his ear flickered. Before he could ask what the grizzly bear meant, the two heard the sound of the rest of their clubmates approaching. Legosi then looked back at Riz who was already walking through the door, leaving the wolf to ponder what he meant.

The club meeting went ahead as usual with everyone getting their assigned tasks. It was decided that the club would be performing Adler once again and that Juno would be the one to play Adler. This didn't exactly go well with the other actors, especially Bill.

"Are you serious?!" the tiger growled. "Juno hasn't been here a year and you already want her to be the lead?! What about the rest of us who've been busting our asses since day one, huh?!"

The teacher in charge of the club let out a sigh. "Listen Bill, I understand your frustration, but it was decided that Juno would be the lead. We all agreed that having a new face for Adler would be a good way to encourage more students to join the club. What's more, Juno did an excellent job during the festival and became popular as a result."

Juno raised her hand. "Um… excuse me, but I think you're forgetting someone."

Everyone turned to her in confusion.

"The only reason why I did so well was because of Legosi. He helped me feel less nervous about going on stage and encouraged me to work hard with Bill and everyone else," the she wolf explained in a cute and flirtatious way. She then turned to Legosi who was blushing in embarrassment.

"Plus, we all know how he courageously saved his friend from that horrible gang. Sure, from his perspective, it was something truly terrible, but that just makes it even more amazing. It's thanks to him that the club's reputation has gotten as great as it has. So if anything, I think Legosi should be the lead. He definitely deserves it, especially after he did so well as the king of the underworld last time," Juno said cheerfully. "Don't you all agree?"

Everyone looked at each other and started talking. During the ensuing discussion Legosi decided to sneak away. He left the club room and headed to the locker room in order to catch his breath before he had a panic attack.

"Juno, why did you have to say that?" he asked himself as he leaned back against the wall. "Hasn't she learned that I hate being the center of attention?"

After taking his moment of reprieve, the wolf exited the locker room and started to head back to the club. As he did, he suddenly felt a chill go down his spine, causing him to turn around.

"Hello, is someone there?" Legosi asked. "You should know that this space is off limits during club activities. So unless you're a part of the drama club, you're not allowed to be here."

No one answered or came out. Legosi then sniffed the air for any new scents, but when all he could smell was the scents of his clubmates, he decided to go back and rejoin with everyone else. As he did though, he felt something again. This time it was a presence and it was clear that it was following him.

Legosi wanted to turn around and confront them, but realized that they would just hide again. So instead, he kept walking forward, acting like he didn't notice anything. Just as the large carnivore reached the door, he heard something move behind him.

"ALRIGHT, SHOW YOURSELF! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!" Legosi yelled.

He looked around but just like before, there was no one there. Not willing to let it go this time, the wolf began to retrace his steps, sniffing the air as he did.

He made it back to the locker room and as he was about to step back inside, he felt a terrifying presence behind him, causing him to spin around and punch the wall, leaving a deep hole.

"Um… Legosi, are you alright?" a scared voice said.

The large canine looked down and saw Kai and Kibi with looks of surprise and terror respectivly. He turned his attention to his fist, which was directly above the mongoose's head. Realizing what happened, he pulled back his arm and leaned against the wall.

"Oh my god Kai, I am so sorry!" Legosi barked as he flailed his arms in panic.

"Wow, I think this might be the first time I'm glad to be this short," Kai said, hoping to lighten the mood. He then turned to face Kibi. "Hey, are you alright?"

Kibi didn't respond. He just continued staring at Legosi with the look of someone who just had a heart attack.

"Kibi? Kibi, say something!" the wolf said with a worried look on his face as he grabbed the anteater's shoulders. "I-I am so sorry I scared you! Please say something!"

Kibi blinked his eyes and shook his head. "Huh? What Legosi?"

"Ha! Good to know we didn't need to slap you this time," Kai joked.

The anteater put a hand on his head as a drop of sweat fell down his face. "S-Sorry. I was… I guess I was just… surprised."

Legosi shook his head. "N-No, don't apologize. It's my fault."

"Where the hell did that come from anyway? Also why are you out here in the hallway?" Kai asked.

Legosi looked to the side as he scratched the back of his head, his ears folded back and his tail drooping. "Well, at first, I came out here to get away from everyone because of how Juno put me on the spot. I was heading back to the club room when I thought I felt something."

"Felt something?" Kai asked as he crossed his arms and tilted his head, a small tone of skepticism in his voice.

"Yea, it felt like someone was watching me," the gray wolf replied. "But when I turned around, I was alone. Something didn't seem right and it got worse when I thought I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see who it was, but no one was there."

"And that's when we showed up and you got so scared that you let out that punch on impulse, right?" Kibi asked.

Legosi nodded in response.

"Well, there's no one here but us Legosi. So maybe you're just feeling a bit paranoid. It's understandable, considering what you went through. Sure it's been over a month already, but it's not like something like that can be forgotten so easily," Kibi explained.

"Yea, that actually happened to my dad after he got into an accident a few years back. For two whole months, his body would just freeze up out of nowhere, even when he was relaxing. The doctor said it was his body remembering what happened and it caused him to act as if he was still in danger. It's probably the same with you. Your body probably still thinks it's in danger and so you react to everything," Kai said, hoping to help his friend understand what's going on.

"But why now?" Legosi asked. "If that were the case, then shouldn't I have been feeling this way for a while before today?"

"Not necessarily," Kibi answered. "You've had that therapist guy, all of us, and your roommates by your side while you were dealing with all this. Today though, you were all by yourself and with how empty the rest of the building is when we're in the club room, it makes sense that you were on high alert."

"Kibi's got a point," the mongoose added. "This place can be creepy when you're on your own and the footsteps you heard could have just been one of us."

"Yea, I guess you could be right," Legosi replied. "Still, I just have this bad feeling, you know?"

The two smaller students smiled at him. They then comforted the wolf a bit before leading him back to the club room, believing that some club work will help their friend take his mind off things.

While all this was going on, Jack, who had canceled his tutoring for the day, was feeling anxious. Not only did he have to talk to the police, but he also had to talk to Legosi about how they would break the news to Voss. Needless to say, he didn't get a lot of sleep last night and he was definitely feeling it.

Despite this, the yellow dog donned his old mask and went about his classes as if nothing was wrong. He knew about all the looks and unwanted attention he was getting behind his back and understood that everyone would catch on if he acted even the slightest out of character. So instead, he decided to give everyone that cheerful smile he was known for and tackle the issues the same way he would tackle his school work, one problem at a time.

This was surprisingly easier than Jack had thought. He was genuinely happy now, just like he was before Legosi attacked him that fateful night, probably even more so.

With this in mind, Jack felt less nervous, at least about talking to the police. It was rather ironic that he would rather talk to some scary animals in uniform than his friend Voss, but all things considered, it did make some sense to him.

He promptly arrived at the room where he thought he was going to be interrogated. A male leopard who looked like a fairly standard officer was there waiting for him.

"Greetings. You must be Jack," the officer said as he tipped his hat.

"Y-Yes sir," the labrador replied nervously.

The older carnivore smiled at him. "No need to be nervous son. "Detective Doyle just wants to ask you a few questions."

Jack gave the policeman a slightly relieved smile before going inside. He sat down at the table and performed some breathing exercises in hopes of calming himself down before the detective entered.

About a minute later, a well dressed buffalo entered the room. He sat across the table from Jack and gave the labrador a reassuring smile before reaching into his bag and taking out a folder.

"Hello Jack," the large herbivore said in a calm yet cheerful tone. "I am detective Doyle and before we begin I'd like to apologize to you."

Jack cocked his head. "Why do you want to apologize?"

"Well Jack, I'm sure you realize that it's no secret that herbivores are… adverse to dealing with carnivores like you and it had come to my attention that the previous detective wasn't able to put aside her bias when questioning your friends. She has been taken off the case of course, but given the circumstances I felt it necessary to apologize on her behalf," the detective explained.

"What do you mean? My friends never said anything about the detective treating them badly," the canine said, a hint of concern growing in his voice.

Detective Doyle let out a sigh. "I see no reason to hide, so I shall put it bluntly. Detective Agatha was very hostile towards your friends. She even went as far as accusing them of having played some part in your kidnapping, though in a somewhat indirect way."

Jack's eyes widened and his tail jumped. He then stood up frantically, unintentionally slamming his hands into the table as he stood up.

"What do you mean she accused them?! Legosi saved my life and my friends didn't even know about the dog gang beyond the rumors that were being spread around school!"

The officer motioned for Jack to calm down and told him to sit back down. The labrador did as he was told, but was still visibly agitated. The large herbivore then took a deep breath and spoke.

"Jack, you have nothing to worry about. None of your friends are suspects in this case and we are fully aware of how the events of that night played out." the buffalo explained.

"As to why they didn't say anything, I can only speculate, but I believe that they thought you would react the way that you did and would come into this meeting feeling frustrated. Now, while that is understandable, if you had gotten into an argument with the detective, it would have caused a lot of issues for yourself and your friends."

"Luckily, that wasn't the case at all and I was able to speak with you in a calm manner. Now, while I'm sure you would want to discuss this with them later, right now we need a statement from you. With that, we'll be able to put an end to all this."

"Now, in your own words, please tell me exactly what happened, including how you met Arthur and how you got involved with his gang in the first place."

The yellow dog recomposed himself and nodded to the older animal. He began his story from the beginning, including how he was being bullied by the other students and how it was a cue for Arthur to approach him.

Jack explained that the husky made his gang sound more like a social support group and how all its members were also victims of bullying. Jack then detailed how Arthur made him feel like he would be safe around him and that, at the time, he didn't seem remotely dangerous or interested in Legosi.

With the story over, Detective Doyle wrote everything down, taking special care to make a special note of everything that stood out to him. After putting his pen down, he reviewed what he had written and spoke.

"Alright, it looks like your story lines up with everything we know and it also confirms our suspicions about Artur," the buffalo said with a smile.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Jack nodded to his elder and smiled. "I'm glad I could help, but I have to ask, what suspicions were you talking about?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that as it's an important part in this case," Detective Doyle replied. "However, I can say that most of the dogs in Arthur's gang were less than accepting of how the school system works and were frustrated that they couldn't get the help they needed."

Jack quickly put two and two together and immediately understood what the officer meant. "I see. Well, let's just hope that this will wake some people up and that those people will see the need for change."

The large herbivore nodded in agreement before standing up. He reached down, gathered his papers and put them neatly in his bag, seemingly signaling an end to the session. As Jack got up to leave, Detective Doyle asked him to wait.

"Sorry Jack, but I'm afraid we're not done just yet," he said.

Jack turned his head and looked up, his body still facing the exit. "What's wrong? Do you have any more questions?"

"I don't, but there is someone else who wants to talk to you," the buffalo replied.

He walked past the labrador and called one of the policemen waiting outside. "Alright, send him in."

The labrador tilted his head in confusion. Just then his eyes widened as he took a step back in horror.

"Hey Jack, it's been a while."

The labrador heart began to race as he gasped for air.

"... Arthur?"

Here's this chapter's secret.

"Did you know that Legosi's heightened sense of alertness was actually something he inherited from his grandfather? It was thanks to this trait, along with his heightened senses, that allowed Legosi to know every one of the club members' movements. He of course uses this to his advantage when trying to avoid as many people as possible. This also made it difficult to surprise Legosi unless he was either deep in thought or feeling tense.