The moon shone above. An eerie mist danced across the area around the fountain. A fog that obscured the vision. It was not that strange during spring, because of the change in temperature resulting from the shifting seasons.

The mist made it hard to see the fountain unless one walked closer. So, it was normal that it made it very difficult to see the figure crouching close to the fountain.

A figure that were actually two.

The peafowl was immobile, save for the soft shivering of his frail herbivore body, as he was embrace by a much stronger body. The carnivore holding him was also barely moving, save for the soft moving of his chest as he breathed. However, if you looked close enough, you could see that the carnivore was also shaking.

Legoshi's mind was in overdrive now. It was processing a myriad of stimuli coming to his brain while trying to make heads and tails of all of them.

The smell of blood. The soft feel of the arm of the creature he was holding. Was it fur? No, those felt more like feathers. And there was the pulse.

He could feel the pulse of the animal he was holding. He could feel it through the arm he was holding. He could fell it, as his arm was holding into the soft feathers hard enough for Legoshi to find the skin, and feel the pulsating of the blood on the veins of that arm.

Blood.

The blood that he could smell. He knew that the herbivore was bleeding. He could smell it so clearly. The smell should make him sick. The smell of blood should mean danger and trouble. It meant someone was hurt and Legoshi, as a good person, should do something about it to try and help.

That was what Legoshi had been taught when he was a child, as his teachers made it important to tell him that the smell of blood was nothing good, and that it could only mean bad news. Legoshi took it to heart.

But, if it was the case, then why does now the smell of blood was so tantalizing? Why did it made his mouth water as much as his favorite egg sandwiches? Why did it made him feel like sinking his claws into the skin of this animal he was holding, so it would come out and Legoshi would be able to smell it with even more clarity.

This sweet, salty, metallic smell. This delicious smell. The smell that made him want to cake his claws on that red substance, and then take them to his mouth so he could...

NO!

He was not suppose to! This was wrong! He should not do!

He knew how wrong this as. All of his teachers from pre-school told him how wrong this was, and how only bad carnivores did such things. Everyone else said the same thing, and that the thoughts of blood and gore were things to frown upon. That they were terrifying and disturbing.

Then why, right now, did they all felt so tempting?

Why did those thoughts crawling their way in his mind felt so good to him that he wanted to see them happen.

Because you are a carnivore. Said a voice deep in the back of Legoshi's mind. Because this is how nature made you. This is what you are, and nothing that those fools say to you can change it.

No.

You can feel it, don't you? You can feel how soft this feels beneath your fingers. That's why you cannot stop caressing it. The voice said to him, You can smell the blood, and it's more delicious than any egg sandwich in the world. You know it, and don't you even try to deny it.

Legoshi shivered harder, his shivers mixing with the one of the animal he was holding.

Meanwhile, Dom was having his own mental dialogue, as he was hold by this animal with a grip on his arm and neck. His beak turned upwards, and the moon on his full view, as he could feel the beating of the heart of his captor as his chest pressed on his back.

So, this is it? Dom asked, himself, as he shivered and felt that strong hand squeezing on his arm harder. His feathers cushioned the grip, but not completely. That strong grip was still bruising his skin. That would leave a mark that he hoped his feathers would make a good job hiding, before he reminded himself that he might not have to worry about that for much longer.

Is this... how I die? Dom asked himself. Just like Tem did? Eaten by a carnivore? Is this how I'm going to meet my end? I never thought it would be like that. It is certainly bloodier than what I hoped. Well, I don't really know what I hoped, but I did expected that it would be quick...

As Dom thought, his body continued to shiver, his muscles tensing and relaxing rhythmically, as his body prepared itself to what it, just like Dom, instinctively knew was coming.

Oh, how good that smells. The voice on Legoshi's head said, Doesn't that makes you hungry? You know it does. It makes you want to lick your lips, to open your mouth wide and get ready for a feast! You can feel it, can't you? You can feel you stomach rumbling while you smell this, and you already had your dinner! Oh, how you want nothing more than to sink your fangs on that soft, juicy flesh!

No. He didn't wanted. He didn't. Legoshi kept saying that to himself, as he tried to push that voice so deep back into his mind that it would just shrivel up and die and he would never even notice.

However, he was not having as much success with it as he hoped. Actually, the voice seemed like it was actually getting louder, as if the person talking to him was coming even closer to him.

He could visualize this figure manifesting as a wolf. A dark wolf, quite similar to himself, but far more threatening than Legoshi himself could ever be.

The wolf tensed, as he felt the dark wolf's breath on his ear, as the creature he imagined whispered on his ear, and he could nearly feel his fingers on his skin as he ran his hands over his arms. Telling him how warm and soft this flesh was, and how it would be so easy to chew. Telling him that it would be as delicious in taste as the blood was in smell.

Legoshi tensed, his grip tightening, and his claws inadvertently sinking into the soft skin of the animal he was holding down.

It hurts! Dom flinched as he felt those claws pierce his skin. It hurts...is it going to hurt too much? Is he going to damage me too much?

At this moment, Dom wondered if this animal, whoever it was, would make too much of a mess. If he would be so damage that an open casket would not be an option. Dom hoped it would not be the case. His mother would want to see him one last time to say goodbye.

His mother. Dom caught himself thinking about her. About how she would take the news of her only son dying. He wondered if she would be too sad for his passing. If she would be too shocked to hear he was murdered. If she would be spending her time crying for him, and hoping that he hadn't suffered

His father... well, Dom knew that he would not care if he heard about his death. He made it perfectly clear to Dom that he no longer saw him as a son. He wouldn't be too bothered. If anything, he would probably been annoyed if anyone contacted him to give him such an unimportant information. Like those telemarketers who called on his phone trying to sell him products for his feathers.

Dom realized, with certain sadness, that no one outside of school and his mother would actually care about his death.

Most of the people who he considered close to himself, both family and friends, all shunned him away after the video became public.

Well, at least I won't live enough to see it happen again. Dom thought, taking this as one small, but rather grim and sad, consolation of the fact he was about to die. His eyes closed, as he resigned himself to what was about to happen.

Meanwhile, Legoshi was still trying to shut the voice out. Trying to push back that voice on the back of his head trying to encourage him to bite. But it was nearly impossible to shut out a voice that was inside your own head.

The voice got louder, as if the person talking was becoming bigger and bigger. That wolf that looked like Legoshi was now a gigantic monster, looking down on him and speaking with a smirk on his muzzle full of teeth.

Well, it looks like you are ready. This is where the fun starts. Take the first bite now!

Legoshi didn't wanted. He didn't wanted to. He refused to do it. However, the voice was far too insistent.

It's okay now. Just let it all go. You have waited seventeen years for this. Don't fight back anymore. Just go with it.

And... Legoshi could not fight anymore.

I'll... eat you. Legoshi shivered, his lips curling into a snarl. A string of saliva ran down from his lips. I'll eat. I'll eat you. I'll eat you! Eat you! Eat you! Eat you! EAT YOU!

Legoshi's grip tightened, causing the bird's breath to catch on is throat, making his beak open as he tried harder to suck air. He was not suffocating, but the grip certainly was making him worried. However, he knew, in the back of his mind, that this wouldn't last much longer.

Legoshi opened his mouth, baring his fangs, getting ready to close them around the neck he was holding. It was long, and there was plenty of space to bite. Seemed like the best place. An instinctual part of him told him that this was the best point to strike. Vulnerable and full of vital areas. His prey would stop squirming fast.

Dom shivered as he felt that warm breath on his neck. It was coming.

However, before the predator could close his jaws on his prey's neck...

"LEGOSHI!"

Both of them froze.

"Legoshi! Legoshi, were are you!?" Zoe said, looking around as he called out. He was looking for the wolf, but he could not see him due to the fog and to where Legoshi was standing.

He could not see that Legoshi was about to bite someone else.

The wolf blinked, and so did the herbivore he was grasping at.

This voice... Dom though, some lucidity coming back to him, as if a spell was broken. That's... Zoe? And he's calling for...

"Legoshi?" The herbivore said. As he did, the wolf blinked.

He knew that voice... wait, he knew that smell.

He could not notice it before because he was too focus on the smell of blood. However, now that he stopped and took a sniff, he was able to recognize the smell behind the blood. The smell of a male. The smell of a bird. A smell he recognized from Drama Club!

Blinking, the wolf looked up. The fog was dissipating slowly, allowing the light of the moon to shine on the two of them. Legoshi didn't needed it, though, as his night vision allowed him to see clearly even in the dark. However, it served for the bird, now turning his head to look at his captor, to see him more clearly.

"Dom...senpai?" Legoshi asked, looking at the bird who was one year ahead of him in school, and the leader of his group in Drama Club.

For a long moment, they both just looked at each other on that strange position and situation, both of them trying to process what was happening.

"Legoshi..." Dom said, looking down at the wolf with his dark eyes. "What are you doing?"

Whatever was left of the spell that put Legoshi in a trance seemed to be broken by that question.

W-what... what am I doing?

Legoshi looked at Dom's face, and then, his hand around his neck loosened, letting go. His other hand, however, didn't left Dom's body as easily. Maybe his fingers were lock in place, the joints frozen in place due to muscular tension, or maybe his claws had somehow hooked themselves on the peafowl's skin.

What happened was that, when Legoshi pulled his hand off Dom's arm, his claws dragged across his sensitive skin, tearing through it and opening claw-mark cuts on the peafowl's forearm.

Dom gasped as he felt the sudden pain. This was what it took for the bird's survival instinct finally kick in. With a sudden, and surprisingly strong, movement, Dom slammed his elbow quite hard on Legoshi's body, making the crouching wolf to fall back and land on his butt, while Dom rushed to his feet and ran away.

The blow was not even that hard, actually. It was more the surprise of being elbowed so suddenly that caused Legoshi to stumble back and land on his butt. He only continued looking as Dom ran away from him. His steps resounding on Legoshi's ears as the peafowl's form vanished into the spring mist, until he was out of sight, leaving behind only his scents, which were like a mist that Legoshi could feel with his nose. A mixture of feathers, sweat, and blood, all of it covering the unique scent of Dom-senpai, his senior and one of the animals he respected and admired.

And whose neck he nearly bit.

I... Legoshi's mind was still a whirlwind, as he made sense of what had just happened. Did I... did I really tried to... eat Dom-senpai?

A sense of dread filled his mind as realization of what just happened dawned on him, making him stay there, sitting on the ground, with Dom's blood still in his claws. Some bloodied feathers left on the ground in front of him.

Meanwhile, Zoe finally caught sight of Legoshi, as the mist dissipated enough to allow the herbivore to see the wolf.

Zoe, who for a moment thought that Legoshi had ditched them and left back to his dorm, ran in direction to the wolf, crying out it was an emergency. However, Legoshi didn't moved or reacted, he just sat in there, looking at the void with a hundred-yard-stare, even when Zoe grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him. It seemed that Legoshi was pretty out.

However, Legoshi was brought back to reality when Zoe, in clear despair, told him that Louis was hurt and needed help. This seemed to be enough to make Legoshi snap out of it and get back on his feet. The wolf followed Zoe inside of the auditorium, where Louis still was.

Legoshi felt a brief panic when he saw Louis laying on the ground, curled over himself and clearly in pain. He soon was kneeling by his side and asking what happened, to what Zoe explained.

They had been rehearsing Zoe's scenes, to be sure that the goat would remember his lines for the play, when Zoe stepped out of the stage due to the darkness. He fell, and Louis, rushing to help him, ended up falling as well, and managed to save Zoe by taking practically all of the brunch of the fall. And now, he was clearly in great pain.

"The play is in two weeks from now!" Zoe said, in despair. "If Louis is too hurt to perform, then..."

"I am fine." Louis said, even though his voice was straining. "Don't either of you go thinking I'm that frail."

"But, Louis..." Legoshi tried to say, but Louis easily silenced him by saying, through clenched teeth, that he was fine.

"I just... hit my leg on the fall. It is nothing serious." Louis said to the two of them. "I'll be fine in a few minutes. Right now, all I need is for you, Legoshi, to lend me your shoulder."

Legoshi did, as he allowed Louis to lean on his shoulder with a hand, and both of them managed to get up. Louis, in an act that was nearly uncharacteristic to himself, thanked Legoshi for the help. The wolf nodded at Louis, looking on his eyes as he did so, at the same time that he rubbed his hand on his pants, wiping the fresh blood clean from his claws.

He was glad that neither Louis nor Zoe had noticed that the wolf had herbivore blood on his claws. That would lead to some pretty difficult questions, which Legoshi was pretty sure he would not be able to answer...

Dom was panting. He was panting as he rested his back against a wall, slumping into the ground. His feathery fingers wrapped as hard as Dom could manage around the claw marks on his other arm, as the blood continued to leak from the fresh wounds, staining his blue feathers even more.

His mind was in overdrive. He had been practically on auto-pilot as he ran all the way from the fountain back to his dorm. He was now outside of the avian herbivore dorm, having arrived there after running like mad to get away from the animal who caused the wounds on his arm.

An animal that he knew very well from Drama Club, and that he had talked with many times since he got transferred into Cherryton. The animal who taught him how to do all of the things back in Drama Club when he first joined, and who always was respectful to Dom, even though he was technically the one who had been at the club for longer.

L-Legoshi... Dom thought, as he panted, his body still shivering. T-that was Legoshi. It was him. I'm sure it was.

His mind was trying to cope with all that happened, and soon, his mind came to a conclusion about what had just happened. One that made his blood run cold:

Legoshi had tried to eat him.

One of his own colleagues, one of the animals he interacted with, talked with every day, someone who he considered close to him, had tried to eat him.

This realization caused a sense of dread like nothing Dom ever went through before.

It caused him this intense dread because, up until now, Dom had not believed that a member of Drama Club would ever try to eat him. He just thought this was the kind of thing that just couldn't happen. The kind of thing that should not happened.

Not among animals who knew each other.

However, Dom then suddenly remembered how he read somewhere on an article that, in two of every three predation cases, the victim and the perpetrator knew each other. Dom had saw this article online, which spoke about carnivores sometimes confusing the hunting instinct with feelings of affection, but he had not truly believed it.

He never believed that a person who truly cared about you could suddenly turn on you and devour you.

It was something that never made sense to him.

And it certainly didn't made sense for Legoshi to try and eat someone. He was never the kind of animal who would do it. He was not violent. He was not creep or any of those other personality traits that people always said the predation offenders had.

He was the one who stopped the fight between the carnivores and herbivores of the club just a few days ago, for crying out loud! He had been the one who calmed everyone down!

To think that Legoshi would attack a fellow club member and try to eat them was absurd!

And yet, that was what just happened tonight.

Dom, who was among the ones who believed that there was no way that the one who murdered Tem could have been a club member, had nearly been a victim of a carnivore of his own club.

This was enough to leave him shaken as he thought about that.

Then, another thought crossed his mind. A thought that made him even more horrified than he already was.

A thought regarding Tem.

And Legoshi...

Those thoughts. Those thoughts were still plaguing him.

Thoughts of blood.

Legoshi shivered as his fingers wrapped even tighter around the sink as he breathed heavily.

The wolf could not believe that, just minutes before, he had considered those thoughts alluring. Now that he remembered then, all he could feel was disgust and revulsion.

Revulsion at every single one of those thoughts that crossed his mind while he was holding down Dom.

A member of his club. His senpai. His friend.

Legoshi gritted his teeth as he shuddered even more violently, his breath coming in loud and panting, nearly as if the wolf was trying to keep himself from vomiting. Legoshi certainly felt like vomiting when he imagined what nearly happened.

Of what he nearly did.

Legoshi had felt himself growing sicker and sicker as he, Zoe and Louis walked back to their dorms. He kept his composure as much as he could with the two near him. However, once they left, Legoshi could only handle a few more steps ahead before he had to rush to the nearest restroom.

Once in there, he rushed to the toilets, and stood by it, retching and feeling like he could vomit at any second.

He didn't vomited, but he still felt sick for several minutes as he had his head down on the toilet, breathing heavily, and trying to get those intrusive thoughts out of his head. The thoughts of what he had wanted to do while he had Dom-senpai held on his grasp.

The thoughts that the voice inside of his head, which he hoped to never hear again, whispered on his ears.

That awful, evil voice.

The voice of a demon.

Legoshi's hands were trembling with how hard he was holding on the edges of the sink. The wolf was growling as he finally rose his head.

And he regretted having looked up.

Immediately, be saw his own reflection on the mirror. The face of a growling, angry looking wolf looking down at him in the darkness of that empty restroom.

To his mind, that face was not his own. It was a face with red eyes and darker fur, which looked at him with a combination of rage and malice.

That was the face of the demon wolf that nearly talking him into eating Dom.

Legoshi's fist moved before the wolf even knew what he was doing. The sound of glass breaking resounded into the empty place, with no one but Legoshi to hear it.

The wolf stood there for a few moments, as he realized that he had punched the mirror. He slowly retreated his fist from there, and looked at the cracked mirror, seeing his own cracked reflection.

He stood there like a statue for the longest time, before turning around and slowly making his way back to his dorm.

He was not as careful as he was when he got out. After what happened, Legoshi suddenly didn't cared anymore if a teacher caught him wandering the school after curfew.

He was far to drain mentally to care.

He just wanted to get to his dorm, change clothes and then just drop into his bed and sleep.

Legoshi did just that, save for the "sleep" part.

His mind was still plagued with the thoughts of what happened, which kept hammering on his head over and over again, flying back and forth on his mind and keeping it in activity.

Did I really did it? Did I really tried to eat Dom-senpai? Why? How could this happen? How could I do it? It was when I smelled his blood. How come blood can have a good smell? That doesn't even makes sense. The way Dom-senpai looked at me...

Legoshi felt exhausted, but the thoughts still flew across his head, preventing him from falling into slumber. Legoshi was pretty much trapped into a limbo between the sheer mental exhaustion and the alertness of someone with a lot of thoughts on his head. And it didn't seemed that the wolf would ever find a way out.

As minutes dragged and turned into hours, Legoshi found himself wanting nothing more than to sink into a state of near-conscience.

He didn't wanted to sleep, because he knew that, if he did, then he would dream about what happened, and he dreaded that his dreams could lead him to see the other possible outcome of tonight's happenings.

He also didn't wanted to be awake, for he would have to keep facing what he did.

No, he didn't wanted to fall asleep and he didn't wanted to be awake. He just wanted to be in a vegetative state, just existing and not thinking or feeling anything. Like a clam resting on the bottom of the water, and never be interrupted from this state by anything.

Oh, how he wished that he could just stay like that.

However, this was not an option when you had roommates like Legoshi's.

Having his name called quite loudly was enough to startle anyone. Legoshi opened his eyes to see the familiar face of Collot, with that mass of fur over his eyes (Legoshi still wondered how on earth he could even see with that over his eyes), telling him to "rise and shine" was certainly not a good experience for Legoshi at that very moment.

It can't be... Legoshi thought, as Collot pushed him to get out of bed and get ready for the day, even going as far as to, literally, drag him out of bed. It can't be morning already.

Legoshi wished that everyone had just went to class and forgotten all about him. However, it seemed that this was not an option. The wolf, who had been somewhere between sleeping and awake the entire night, was forcefully pulled into full awakedness by the actions of the other canines of his dorm.

Legoshi did not rested during the night. He didn't felt rested at all. If anything, he actually felt more exhausted from when he dropped into bed last night. As a result, he was even less lively than normal for the morning.

Luckily, his roommates were all used to how lazy and slow he was when he just woke up, and none of them noticed that there was something off about Legoshi.

None save for Jack, who knew Legoshi since they were both little children, and he was able to notice that there was something off about this morning. He was able to notice that the way Legohsi was behaving, that the sluggishness that he was showing was not the usual. He noticed that there was something on the way Legoshi was behaving that was more than just him being slow in the morning.

The wolf seemed like he had no cheer at all on his movements. No heart. Nearly as if he didn't even wanted to be alive in the first place.

From where Jack stood, Legoshi nearly seemed depressed. His eyes, in particular, seemed dead when they looked at the mirror.

As Legoshi looked at the mirror, the wolf on the other side of the looking glass looked back at him.

And his appearance was definitely not that of a common, friendly wolf. That was the face of a wolf who tried to eat his own senpai and fellow club member.

So, in Legoshi's eyes, that face looked pretty monstrous...

Dom checked on the bandages he applied by himself. He did a pretty good job on them. His shoulder and arm both stopped bleeding since last night, and neither of them hurt too much anymore, but Dom would have to avoid making too heavy of a lifting for a while.

As the peafowl looked at his own reflection on the mirror, he was glad to see that the bruises from last night had all but healed. Dom's bruises always vanished rather quickly, as the blue shade of his feathers helped to disguise older bruises and make them much less noticeable. Dom was pretty sure that no one would notice that he had been punched last night. And the bandaged areas could easily by hid by his clothes, so no one would be the wiser about what he went through on the previous day.

Dom knew that he could not tell anyone what happened last night. He could not tell anyone any of it.

"You tell anyone and you're dead!"

Dom sighed.

Well, it was not unusual for him to have to hide bruises and cuts on his body. He had to do it before already.

With this in mind, Dom proceeded to put his uniform. His shirt easily hid the bandages that he placed on his shoulder made by the claws of the lion. Meanwhile, the bandages on his forearm caused by Legoshi's claws needed to be hid by wearing a long-sleeved jacket. Luckily, as a third-year student, Dom had access to this optional piece of uniform to use when he saw fit. Much like Louis had his own custom made green uniform.

With this, Dom finally walked out of the restroom that he shared with his two roommates.

Kalum was a Brahma chicken, the biggest race of chicken around. So he was, naturally, massive. He had white feathers all over, and he was the type of animal who didn't had any problem to tell people what he thought. He came out as rude sometimes, but he only said that he was too honest. Dom sometimes thought he was just rude. He did really meant when he thought someone had talent for something, though.

Meanwhile, Tami was a turkey with an easy-going personality. The kind who was always on the run for finding new friends and for having fun. He was a positive and happy-go-lucky animal who always seemed to have a reason to be in a good mood, and who was always encouraging others to be positive as well. He was the type who would always step up and help anyone who was feeling down in order to improve their mood. This made him a very good friend to have around.

However, on that morning, there was some tension in between them and Dom.

And it was not only because Dom was being distant and weird while doing his best to hide his wounds from them. It was as if there was some kind of awkwardness in between the three of them, as Tami acted in a weird way when talking to Dom, nearly as if he didn't knew what to say to him, or afraid if speaking would lead him to say the wrong thing and hurt Dom's feelings. Even Kalum seemed like he didn't had any of his usual sharp and "overly honest" remarks to tell Dom.

The peafowl looked at the two as they both seemed pretty awkward around him. He had the feeling it had to do with the video they had both been watching with a lot of interest when Dom made his way into the bathroom...

With a sigh, Dom walked through their dorm, which had walls and floor made of wood, with a type of aesthetic geared towards being "homely and welcoming" for birds like them. His bare taloned feet clicked on the hard wood of the floor, as Dom walked to his shoes and picked them. He carefully fit his avian talons into the shoes, and then he picked up his backpack and just walked out of his dorm, as he did nearly every morning.

However, that morning was not like all others.

There was a sense of dread as Dom made his way out of his dorm. Nearly as if he was walking out of a safe zone and into the unknown.

Perhaps that was the fact that he knew that, by now, that video had circulated through most of the people in school. What meant that practically everyone knew of a thing of Dom's past that was really not any of their business, and they would judge him based on it.

Or perhaps it was...

"I'll find you and I'll kill you, you disgusting invert!"

Dom felt dread and apprehension as he walked out of his dorm, but he forced himself to continue his way, mentally steeling himself against what he knew he could possibly face during the day.

He would just power through it the best he could until he would be able to return to his dorm.

He did it before, on his old school. He powered through his classes until he could go back home, where he could have a semblance of safety and peace... when his parents were not yelling at each other over him.

Hearing his parents fight was nearly as bad as facing the cruel words of the children of his old school. It almost made Dom regret having given up the sewing club...

Club...

The Drama Club.

The club were all of his friends were, and where he still had to go after his classes to meet with everyone else.

Including Legoshi.

All of a sudden, Dom's dread and apprehension doubled up...