Hiroshi woke up groggily, the night being filled with tossing and turning and worried thoughts that did not aid his slumber. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, wondering if he would be able to make it through the day. Rubbing his eyes helped him wake up a little bit, but he did not want to open the curtain. Hiroshi knew that when he did, Legoshi would be waiting outside. Hiroshi still worried about Legoshi, after all he was the reason Hiroshi had such a restless night.
In his mind, Hiroshi knew that Legoshi wouldn't, no couldn't, do anything bad to him. In a room full of strong canidae, what was the worst that could happen? Aside from the occasional argument turned fight. Despite these reassurances, Hiroshi still did not want to step out into the dorm bedroom.
There was something odd about the way Legoshi entered the dorm the previous night. The way he walked over to Hiroshi's bunk, the fact there was a scent of blood on him. It made Hiroshi immediately wary of his gray wolf roommate, even though it pained him to think that. After all, wasn't it kind of a stereotype to think the large, gray wolf was big and scary?
"Good morning! Time to get up!"
Light flooded Hiroshi's bunk as his curtain was quickly pulled open by Collot, his greeting reaching Hiroshi's ears. Hiroshi tensed up, startled by Collot's sudden greeting, before responding, still in a tired daze.
"Good morning."
"Come on, you don't want to oversleep on your first day!"
Hiroshi got out of his bunk, and saw him. Legoshi. He was standing next to his bunk, putting on his school uniform, not taking notice of Hiroshi's presence. Standing next to him was Jack, talking to Legoshi very enthusiastically, though Legoshi didn't seem to be paying attention. Hiroshi froze, as if the sight of Legoshi had paralyzed him.
I need to relax, nothing's going to happen.
Taking a deep breath, Hiroshi relaxed, and began to get ready. Just as he finished putting on his uniform he heard Jack's voice.
"You two haven't met yet, this is Hiroshi, our new roommate."
Hiroshi turned around, and met Legoshi's gaze. Legoshi towered over him, making Hiroshi feel like a small beast in comparison. Legoshi looked down at him, not speaking.
All right, I guess I'll introduce myself first.
"Hello, my name is Hiroshi, I just arrived here yesterday." Hiroshi nodded his head, and held out his hand in greeting.
I don't think being formal will be a problem here. I want to get on this gray wolf's good side.
Even though Hiroshi didn't like believing in animal stereotypes, he knew that a gray wolfs' strength was a biological fact, so getting on a gray wolf's good side was a good priority. He was already scared of him after all.
"M-My name's Legoshi." Legoshi took Hiroshi's hand and shook it. Hiroshi was shocked at just how large Legoshi's paws were, and how firm his grip was. If Legoshi held Hiroshi's paw a little harder, his hand would definitely become fractured. After a few seconds Legoshi released his grip and continued to get ready.
That went well. Hopefully my worries about this beast are incorrect.
"Great, now we all know each other!" Jack exclaimed cheerfully. The group spent the rest of the early morning getting ready before heading to breakfast. Hiroshi walked next to Jack, listening to the group's conversation, feeling like a random student passing by rather than this group of canidae's roommate. Hiroshi gaze drifted towards the many different species of animals in the hallway passing by him.
"So Hiroshi, what's your first class?"
"Hm?" Hiroshi was surprised to hear Collot's voice directed at him.
"Oh, I don't know." Hiroshi's class list was in his backpack, he made a mental note to check his classes when he sat down to eat breakfast. From that point on, Hiroshi was somewhat involved in the group's conversation. They all talked about what classes they liked and disliked, and things that had nothing to do with school, like what TV shows were currently on. Hiroshi listened to the conversation, occasionally chiming in with a "yeah" or a "cool".
Despite seeming very distant from the conversation, Hiroshi enjoyed listening (and occasionally participating) in the morning talk. It made him feel included in the group, and he was getting good information about what classes were easy and difficult. Hiroshi had always been shy like that, not really contributing much to conversations, but still enjoying listening to them.
Hiroshi noticed that Legoshi was also being pretty quiet, doing what he was doing with his responses. It seemed that maybe he and Legoshi were similar after all, though it was strange that Legoshi wasn't really talking to the roommates that he, at least Hiroshi assumed, had been with for a long time.
He's probably just tired after staying out with the drama club and getting back to the dorm late.
Hiroshi decided that he would still keep his guard up around Legoshi, however. He wouldn't let his guard down around Legoshi until he got to know him better. His behavior the previous night, and the scent of blood that was on him, still made Hiroshi wary of the large gray wolf.
The group made their way to the dining hall, where they looked at the canidae breakfast.
"Toast, scrambled eggs, and a bean burger." Hiroshi read aloud to himself. He smiled, the food sounded pretty good, after all, Durham seemed excited. The group got in line to get their breakfast. While he was waiting in line, Hiroshi looked around the dining hall and was surprised to see how spacious it was. He was also surprised to see the diversity of animals in the cafeteria.
Hiroshi had previously gone to an all carnivore school, so seeing so many herbivores and carnivores together was shocking to see, even though he knew that the school accepted both carnivores and herbivores from his encounter with the red panda yesterday.
I wonder how she's doing. I know I didn't hurt her but I still feel bad about running into her.
Hiroshi remembered that he didn't even get the chance to ask her name, after he helped her pick up her papers, she left very quickly, not that he could blame her. A large carnivore had just bumped into her, she was probably terrified, despite Hiroshi's constant apologies.
She's probably in this dining hall right now. Maybe I'll see her at one of the tables.
After waiting in line for quite a long time, the group got their trays and went to sit at one of the nearest tables. The table became filled with animated conversations (mostly stemming from Jack and Durham), very quickly. The talk made the mood at the table much more comfortable and friendly, something Hiroshi appreciated very much, even though he did not contribute to these talks at all.
Hiroshi looked down at his tray. All of the food on the tray looked very appetizing, especially the scrambled eggs, which were Hiroshi's personal favorite breakfast food. He decided to try the scrambled eggs first. He picked up his fork, stabbed at the scrambled eggs, and raised the fork to his mouth. They tasted amazing, in fact these were some of the best scrambled eggs Hiroshi had tasted in a long time.
The pleasant surprise of the egg's fantastic flavor brought a smile to Hiroshi's face. Jack looked over, noticing Hiroshi's pleased expression.
"All of the food here is really good, amazing even." Jack said with a grin. Hiroshi nodded his head in response, not wanting to talk with his mouth full.
"Have you looked at your class list yet?" Collot, who was sitting next to Hiroshi, asked. Swallowing, Hiroshi replied, "Oh! I should do that, thank you for reminding me." Hiroshi opened his backpack and took out the piece of paper labeled, "HIROSHI, CLASS LIST." His first class was mathematics, then English, then marine language.
Not marine language!
Hiroshi had always hated learning marine language. The class wasn't difficult for him, he just never saw the point of learning the language. Hiroshi never liked being around bodies of water, so what was the point of learning how to speak a language that only marine animals that he would never meet used?
The rest of the classes were classes that Hiroshi didn't mind. He put away the list and continued eating. All of the other items on his tray were phenomenal, Jack was right. Once he finished eating, he waited politely for everyone else to finish, before going up with everyone to put his tray on the counter where the lunch ladies would clean them.
They had all finished eating just in time, for as soon as they got rid of their trays, the first bell rang.
"Crap, I always forget that I have to go all the way across the school building for my first class," Durham scolded himself, "why does lunch always end so quickly?"
Without saying goodbye, Durham ran out of the dining hall, bumping into other students in his panic.
"Maybe I should write him a note each morning to remind him," Collot said, rubbing his chin.
"I'm sure he'll remember eventually," Jack said, "though it has been some time since the school year started."
The now reduced group walked out into the hallway, and began to disperse as the classrooms containing each of their classes began showing up. Eventually only Jack and Hiroshi remained, and since they both had math as their first class, they walked together to that classroom.
Jack asked Hiroshi about many aspects of his life. What he liked to do, what school he had come from, and which classes were his favorites. Surprisingly, Hiroshi enjoyed answering these questions, even though normally he grew annoyed when others he didn't know very well asked about his life. In fact, he loved talking to Jack because of his upbeat and exuberant energy, and was glad to have him as a roommate.
Mathematics went by smoothly, as well as the class after. Hiroshi dreaded going to marine language, but he saw no point in skipping a class that gave him no trouble. The marine language classroom was huge, it was more of a college lecture hall than a classroom. Hiroshi walked in and sat in a random seat. As he pulled out his books, he noticed a shadow being cast over him.
He looked up, and tensed up at the sight of Legoshi, looking down at him with a blank look on his face. It was strange, sitting down, Hiroshi noticed just how much larger Legoshi was compared to him. Obviously when Hiroshi was standing Legoshi was still taller than him, but sitting really brought the size difference into perspective. He felt like a small herbivore looking up at a giant carnivore.
Hiroshi's hands tightened on his knees, as he stared up at Legoshi's blank expression.
Why hasn't he said anything yet? Is he just going to stare at me?
Hiroshi remembered that Jack had said Legoshi was awkward and quiet, but he still felt unnerved by the large carnivore's seemingly never-ending gaze.
Hiroshi decided to take action. "Hello Legoshi," he said, looking up at the carnivore, trying his best to keep the nervousness out of his voice.
"Hey."
Legoshi pulled out the chair next to Hiroshi and sat down. Hiroshi looked away, focusing on the teacher's desk at the bottom of the room.
Why did he decide to sit next to me? Maybe he just wants to get to know me better? But if that's the case, then why would he just sit next to me silently? And the way he was staring at me…
Hiroshi's grip continued to tighten around his knees as he stared intently at the empty teacher's desk. The ringing of the bell pulled him out of his daze, as he turned to look in the direction of the bell's sound. While turning his head, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Legoshi staring at him.
Hiroshi almost jumped out of his seat, and he jerked his head back to the front of the room.
What the hell? Has he been staring at me the whole time?
Now Hiroshi's entire body began to tense up, as he moved back to his previous hands on knees position. His nails dug into his pant legs, causing his face to grimace in discomfort.
He's just an awkward gray wolf. Maybe he's spacing out like I was. Just an awkward, introverted gray wolf. Why am I so scared?
"Okay, today's lesson will be on…" the teacher's voice broke through Hiroshi's thoughts, causing him to move his head towards the teacher who had now entered the classroom. Hiroshi felt Legoshi's gaze leave him as soon as the teacher started speaking.
The teacher continued to talk about marine language as Hiroshi pulled out his notebook and tried to pay attention. He didn't think Legoshi was still staring at him, though he could not be sure. Hiroshi focused intently on his blank page of notebook paper, the teacher's lecture becoming a jumble of noises as he thought about Legoshi.
Was he staring at him because of last night? Or was he just spacing out? No matter the reason, being stared at by Legoshi was something Hiroshi did not find pleasant. It was deeply unnerving and uncomfortable, and it didn't help that Legoshi had such large, wide eyes that seemed to read your thoughts.
An unknown amount of time passed when Hiroshi decided to look to see if Legoshi was somehow still looking at him. He did not know why he wanted to, probably just to acknowledge the problem in a way that required little confrontation. Pretending to still be looking at his blank notebook, he looked to the left moving only his eyes.
His eyes soon had the gray wolf in their vision, and Hiroshi saw that Legoshi was side doing the exact same thing. Panic consumed Hiroshi, and he quickly jerked his entire head away from Legoshi's wide eyed look.
Great, now he knows that I know he's looking at me. When will this class end?
For the rest of the class, Hiroshi held a pencil in his hand, writing random snippets of what he heard the teacher saying. It was all Hiroshi could do to fool Legoshi into thinking that Hiroshi thought nothing was wrong. But Hiroshi knew that Legoshi had caught on to his staring, as if his reaction hadn't made it obvious enough.
The sound of the bell ringing almost made Hiroshi shout with ecstasy. With great speed he grabbed his notebook, shoved it into his backpack, threw his pencil into his bag, took his backpack, and speed walked out of the classroom in the opposite direction of where Legoshi was. During his frantic packing, Legoshi hadn't even moved from his seat, instead he just sat there, staring ahead at nothing.
Leaving the marine language classroom, Hiroshi felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Entering the sea of students walking through the halls made Hiroshi feel comfortable, because Legoshi would not be able to stare at him in a constantly moving crowd of herbivores and carnivores. Hiroshi made his way through the crowd until he came to a spot where the hallway traffic wasn't as bad, and began to look in his backpack for his class list.
He thought about why Legoshi had been looking at him throughout the class period. Was he really just a socially-inept wolf? Well, he probably was, but that didn't excuse the constant staring. And the way he stared at him. Thinking about it, the way Legoshi stared at him was unnerving, like a beast gone savage looking at his prey.
Hiroshi was now convinced that Legoshi's staring had something to do with the events of the previous night. Had Legoshi done something terrible? And had he realized that one of his roommates took notice of his late-night entrance and how weird he had been acting?
Hiroshi's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of two beasts talking to someone who wasn't responding.
"Are ya gonna apologize or what? Dumb bitch. Won't even respond." That was one of the voices, it was very deep and raspy, Hiroshi assumed it was the voice of an angry carnivore.
"Did ya hear 'im? He said apologize!" This was a different voice, Hiroshi could hear the smile in the animal's tone. This one's voice was lighter, not as deep as the first, but still very mean sounding.
The voices were coming from a part of the hallway very close to Hiroshi, to his right and in one of the many classrooms. Hiroshi walked quickly, looking in each of the classrooms to see if anyone was in them. Most of them were either empty, or had students entering, most likely to their next classes.
After passing about six classrooms, Hiroshi came to a classroom with three beasts inside. Two large panthers were standing closely together, yet there was enough room between them to see a small red panda looking up at them. Hiroshi recognized the red panda as the one he bumped into on his first day at Cherryton.
"I-I'm very sorry." The red panda whispered, fear clearly audible in her tone.
"What was that? Couldn't hear ya!" The panther on the right bent down and grabbed the red panda's shoulder, pulling her closer to him. The red panda let out a grunt at the brute force of the panther's sudden grab.
"What is going on in here!" Hiroshi yelled, surprised by how loud his voice was. The two panthers turned around, surprised by Hiroshi's voice. The two panthers, anger clearly visible on their faces, walked to Hiroshi and stood in front of him.
"Well this herbivore bumped into both of us as we were leaving class, so we're trying to teach her a lesson." The panther on the left of Hiroshi said. Hiroshi deduced that this was the first panther that he heard talking.
"Yeah, so we're tryin' to teach her some manners."
"Well I heard her apology, so I think you have taught her enough." Hiroshi said confidently, wanting the two panthers to stop bullying her.
"Well we didn't hear her, so stop tryin' to interfere with our teaching." The panther on the left said. As he said this, he pushed Hiroshi, causing him to stumble backwards out of the classroom.
"Wow, look at how weak he is! I barely touched him!" The two panthers cackled before turning to walk towards the red panda. Hiroshi was consumed with rage at the panther's insult towards him. He walked with his fists clenched towards the two panthers, and pushed the one closest to him. The push was not as powerful as Hiroshi thought, it only sent the panther about a foot forward.
The panther next to the one Hiroshi pushed turned sharply towards Hiroshi with a look of malice on his face, sending a wave of fear through him. The panther Hiroshi pushed turned around, laughing.
"God, that's all you've got? For a canidae, you're a bitch!"
With those words, he pulled his arm back, and sent a punch right into Hiroshi's stomach. Hiroshi fell to the floor with an embarrassing yelp, holding his stomach.
"Heh, he can't even take a punch." That was the second panther, who was now walking over to stand over Hiroshi. He wound up his foot and kicked Hiroshi in the stomach, creating more pain in his stomach.
"Sounds like a bitch too," first panther, "come on let's go, seeing this stupid, weak little puppy makes me sick."
With those words, the two panthers walked out of the room, leaving the red panda and Hiroshi. Immediately, the red panda ran to Hiroshi and knelt beside him.
"Are you alright?" She said, concern evident in her voice.
"Y-Yeah," Hiroshi said, pain making his voice quieter.
"Can you sit up?"
The red panda put her small paws on Hiroshi's shoulders, trying to help him get up. Hiroshi slowly sat up, occasionally taking a moment to breathe, trying to collect the air that the panthers' punches and kicks had taken from him. Each moment Hiroshi stopped to collect his breath, the red panda would patiently wait, concern evident in her expression.
Once Hiroshi sat straight up, the red panda spoke.
"I'm s-so sorry. This is all my fault. If I just watched where I was going…"
Hiroshi interrupted her.
"No," Hiroshi paused to catch his breath, "don't blame yourself, those guys were jerks who were just bullying you for their own sick pleasure."
The red panda became silent as Hiroshi began to stand up, still with the red panda's help, though he also put one of his paws on a nearby desk for extra support.
"Thank you for helping me." The red panda said with more confidence than usual.
"No problem." Hiroshi said, now starting to sound like himself again. He turned to leave the classroom, when he heard the red panda's quiet voice once again.
"What's your name?"
Hiroshi turned back around and responded, "Hiroshi."
"I'm Ayame, it's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too."
The sound of the bell echoed throughout the school, making Hiroshi realize he was late for his next class.
"Oh no! D-Do you need help with anything else? I have to go!" Hiroshi yelled. He had no idea why he even asked this, he felt stupid right after, she was obviously fine.
"I think I'm alright." Ayame said, tilting her head to one side.
"Okay then! Goodbye!"
Hiroshi sprinted out of the classroom and down the hall, frantically trying to get to his next class as fast as possible, not realizing that he did not even know what class he was looking for.