Despite his apprehension, Dom was able to force himself to move on with his day.

After all, he knew that the world would not stop to allow him to catch up and recover from his problems. It would never stop for a single animal. Dom had long learned this lesson, and he learned he better continue moving on if he didn't want to be left behind.

So, Dom forced himself to go to classes and proceed as if he was living on any normal day. However, it soon became clear to him that this day would not be like the previous ones.

There was a tension in the air. A tension that kind of reminded Dom of how everyone was on edge right after Tem's death. However, this tension was different. This time it felt that the tension was somehow direct to him.

Why did he thought that?

Well, the fact that people were whispering to each other as they looked his way did gave that impression. As well as the fact that some of them were pointing his way as they whispered to each other. And some of them looked his way as if he was a freak.

They probably thought that Dom couldn't notice them, but the peafowl had always been perceptive about things like that. He could notice when there was tension building up, and he had always been pretty conscious when people were paying attention to him.

"A part of being a proud peafowl, who knows that his beauty garners him the attention of other animals", were the words of his father about the matter when he was younger, and spoke to him how he should stand proud as a peafowl when people paid attention to him.

He knew for a fact that his father never predicted that he would be receiving the kind of attention he was getting now. He did warned him that some of the attention could be from envy, but Dom knew pretty well that envy was not the kind of thing that was coming from other animals as they looked his way and pointed.

Just as he knew his father would never give him any kind advice again...

And he was not the only one, apparently.

Dom had always been sitting by the side of a camel the same age as him. His name started with a D as well, and so he was right by Dom's side because of the row call. Dom never really memorized his name, they never spoke enough to actually ask each other's names. However, Dom felt like he had a good relationship with him. That because, in the past, when he forgot something or needed something, he asked that camel and he always gave it to him.

Be it an eraser or a pen, the camel was glad to let him borrow one of his own. He even allowed Dom to copy his notes a few times, and he was always receptive and gave him a kind smile.

However, it was not like that today.

Dom tried to ask him to borrow a pencil, and the camel gave him a cold glare, before grunting and turning his head away. Dom sat by his side for nearly two years now, and this was the first time the camel ever did something like that. They were not friends, but it was a surprise for Dom that he would give him a cold shoulder like that.

And he was not the only one.

During one of his classes, one that Dom particularly liked, the teacher also was cold and distant to Dom when he made a commentary on a lecture that he was giving. On the previous times he did it, the teacher would smile at him and comment on his attention and dedication to the classes, while telling the rest of the class that they should be like that as well. This time, however, he looked coldly at Dom, and told him in a very formal way that his observation was correct, but that he should wait until the end of the lecture to ask any question or to make observations like that.

This caught Dom off-guard even more than the attitude of the camel, and this caused Dom to simply lower his head and remain silent for the rest of the lecture.

Those were two people now that, even though Dom didn't considered himself particularly close of, were being colder to him than they were on the previous times they interacted. What, in the case of the camel, was literally the day before.

It was always a shock when people start acting different with you all of a sudden. It could be quite unsettling when people changed with you and you didn't even knew why.

However, in Dom's case, the peafowl actually knew why.

He knew very well the reason why they had changed their way of acting with him.

It was all because of the video.

It was the same thing on his old school. At first, it were only a few people, but then, as the video spread more and more, everyone started acting different with him.

Dom had seen this before.

And seeing it happen on Cherryton was giving him the worst kinds of feelings. A déjà vu that Dom would give anything in the world to never experience again. Let alone what came after...

Somehow, the bird was able to force himself to power through his lectures and continue with his day. Luckily, only that one teacher was acting different with him. However, since the camel was on a number of the same classes at him and sat right by his side because of the position of their names on the list, Dom had to deal with his coldness for a lot longer, but it was easier to deal with.

I mean, it was easier when compared with the other thing that happened that made it hard for Dom to move on peacefully with his day: the whispering.

"Hey, ain't that the peafowl from the video?"

"Yeah, it is him!"

"Have you seen the video?"

"Yeah, my roommate showed me."

"Have they actually done it on the school's restroom?"

"Was it in Cherryton?"

"No, that was definitely not the school's restroom."

"Besides, I think that peafowl has only been here for less than two years."

"I heard he transferred. Could this be why?"

"He doesn't looks the type. I mean, he doesn't wears all pink."

"Maybe he wears pink underwear."

"Maybe he wears panties."

"Ohhhh, that's saucy..."

"Oh, shup up, Mary!"

"Think he will try to hint on me if I sit next to him?"

"I don't know, he never hint on me, and I sat by his side on lunch since he arrived."

"Maybe he doesn't likes other birds. I mean, the guy on the video with him was a bull, right?"

"You know, I swear that I saw that bull of the video somewhere before..."

"That's so weird."

"The bird or the fact we had a queer on or class and didn't knew?"

Dom could hear them. He could hear them when he was close enough. They probably thought they were being slick and subtle, but they were not. Or they didn't actually cared if he heard them or not.

Dom was more inclined on the former. He preferred to believe that people were clueless instead of thinking that they were cruel enough to say those things and make sure he would be able to hear.

He'd rather believe that people were not that petty and mean. Even though he himself had seen a lot of proof that they could, indeed, be.

Either way, Dom would pretend that he could not hear them and just go along with his day, so he would not give them the satisfaction of knowing that their words were reaching him and affecting him.

"A queer bird, seriously? We have to deal with that now? Wasn't the slut bunny enough?"

"Oh, you mean the one who is all white with black eyes?"

"The very same. She slept with two of my roommates already. Luckily I'm only into other porcupines, otherwise she would have tried to sleep with me already."

Dom paused for a moment.

A slut? Dom thought. A... white bunny? Wait, are they talking about...

"But, honestly, I would prefer the slut over the queer, that's for sure."

"Amen, to that!" and the two small animals who were talking laughed. Silently, but they did.

Dom sighed, and he continued on his way across the hallways, going to his next lecture, but as soon as he turned the corner...

"Kali, serious, calm down." Said a leopard to the other feline, a big lion who Dom recognized instantly.

After a brief moment of panic, Dom dove back from the corner where he came before the big feline could see him.

"Seriously, you have been on edge all day. On the last lecture you nearly got in an argument with the teacher. You need to calm down."

Dom could hear what the leopard was saying, and he could hear the lion grumble something back, but he was growling so much that Dom could not understand it properly. He was not actually trying to hear. He was much more interested on opening the greatest possible distance between himself and that lion.

Dom was only half-conscious of where he had been going, as he knew he was taking another, longer route for the class. He would arrive late and probably get an earful from the instructor, but Dom preferred that than risk going near that lion again.

The lion who beat him and caused those cuts on his shoulder, which forced Dom to clean blood from his shirt and feathers and put bandages on his shoulder. Just as he put bandages on his arm, to wrap up the wounds caused by the claws of yet another carnivore.

A carnivore whom Dom would be seeing later on.

Dom was starting to regret having left his dorm.


Legoshi wished he had stayed on his dorm. He wished that his roommates would have let him stay on his bed and maybe continue sleeping for the rest of the day, and perhaps for the entire week, all so he would not have to get up and face the world again.

However, there he was, practically a zombie as he went from class to class, barely even learning anything from the lectures as he continued his way, living the day practically on auto-pilot until he eventually arrived in the cafeteria for lunch.

Legoshi still looked pretty much a mess, and almost dead inside as he sat by the side of his friends, all of which ate happily, seemingly unfazed by Legoshi's livelessness. With the exception from Jack, who noticed that there was something wrong with his wolf friend. He knew him long enough to know that something was seriously wrong with him, especially because he was not eating.

Legoshi looked down at his food. Today the options included bread. This was a good option for any carnivore, as bread had all of the fats and other substances that they could need on their diet. Not to mention how delicious it was.

However, Legoshi didn't felt like eating that piece of bread on his plate. It looked to be soft, and Legoshi didn't wanted to have anything soft on his hands. Not after last night. Not after the soft thing that he had on his hand, and nearly on his jaws.

I tried to eat Dom-senpai. Legoshi reminded himself, like he had done dozens of times since the moment he "woke up" on that morning. How could I do it? What was I even thinking? What kind of animal would try to eat their own friend? Their own senpai? A bad animal, that's what. I tried to eat my senpai. I don't deserve bread...

"Hey, watch it!"

The angry voice reached Legoshi, but it didn't really got much attention from the wolf. He was still too deep on his own reflections, and on how he nearly devoured a member of his club like a savage. Like one of those criminals of whom you hear about on the news.

The more he thought about it, the sicker Legoshi got. He did barely even notice as the two people who were discussing were getting louder and louder as they threw insults back and forth at each other.

However, he was broken out of his reflections as he heard a woman scream. Finally looking up, what Legoshi saw made his blood run cold.

One of them was biting the other's arm!

All around them, the herbivores were all panicking, some of them screaming at someone to go get a teacher, while the two carnivores continued to struggle.

Everyone looked at them, everyone looking like they were only waiting to see what was going to happen next, and whose blood would spill first. The fox kept punching the other carnivore's head, trying to get him to let go and saying that the he would be in deep trouble if the teachers caught him, but he continued to bite firm.

Legoshi was among the ones who were watching, and as he saw that carnivore try and sink his teeth on the fox's arm...

Oh, how you want nothing more than to sink your fangs on that soft, juicy flesh!

No...

The fox punched the head of the other guy harder, trying to get him to let go, but he only bit harder. Legoshi had the impression that he could smell his saliva...

Take the first bite now!

No.

"Let go, you idiot!" The fox said, "What, do you want me to bite you back!? Because I will! And it will be justified!"

Legoshi shivered, his tail tucked between his legs as he heard the sound of the struggle of the two carnivores, his eyes never once leaving the one who was biting on that arm.

And the other was saying he would bite too.

I'll eat you. I'll eat you! EAT YOU!

No! Stop!

He remembered the demoniac wolf, looming over him. And he remembered Dom.

"Legoshi?"

Those dark eyes that he knew so well were looking back at him. They looked at him with surprise.

He could see clearly the surprise in them. The fear.

The betrayal.

"...What are you doing?"

His hand pulled back, and then the blood came out.

"STOP IT!"

The entire cafeteria froze, as all eyes in the room turned to look in direction to the wolf.

Legoshi stood in there, froze in place as well, as he blinked.

That... that scream... was that him?

Legoshi covered his mouth as he realized that it had, indeed, been his voice screaming.

How did he screamed without even realizing it?

"Legoshi, seriously, what's gotten into you today?" Asked Jack, who was as shocked as everyone else, as he had never seen Legoshi raise his voice like that before.

Legoshi wished he was able to answer to Jack's question. However, he didn't knew what words to use.

Either way, he didn't had time to think of an answer, because the fox was coming to him.

Apparently, he didn't liked that Legoshi yelled like that, and he was soon coming at Legoshi, asking him if he wanted to fight. Legoshi, of course, was not on the mood for fighting at all, and he refused as soon as the fox extended the challenge.

"What, think I'm not good enough to fight you?" The fox said, seeming like he was getting angrier at the wolf refusing to fight him. "What, think you have the advantage just because you're bigger? I'll show you. Just kneel down and I'll take a nice chunk of your neck out."

As the fox continued to call him for a fight, Legoshi's mind was working in overdrive, as he computed the statistics of the fox compared to his own. He knew that, if they fought, Legoshi would most likely be the winner with absolutely no problem. That was why the wolf's mind was working hard to find a way to lose the fight and make it look convincing to everyone, the fox included.

The wolf had the idea of dropping his wallet and then going from there. However, before he could put this plan in action, who appeared if not Louis himself, ready to defuse the situation and send the two smaller carnivores leaving with their tails between their legs, while everyone else applauded the deer for how well he handled everything.

"Consider this me getting even for last night." Louis said to the wolf, who looked back at him, and took a moment to realize that Louis was talking about how Legoshi protected him from Kai.

"Thanks, Louis-senpai." Legoshi said to the deer, "It you didn't come, I would've-"

"Come up with a way of losing and making it convincing?" Louis cut him off, catching the wolf off-guard, while Louis continued to look at him with an expression that verged on amusement.

"You are more dangerous than I first assumed, aren't you?" Louis asked to the wolf, who felt a sense of dread creeping into his heart as he heard that, and he looked down.

"See you at Drama Club, Legoshi." Louis said, before going his way, ignoring the people who were asking him to stay, asking for autographs, or even asking him to sit on their table and have lunch with them.

Yes, Legoshi would be seeing him later on Drama Club.

He would be seeing everyone later on during club.

Including Dom...

As Legoshi made his way back to the table and sat with his friends once more, looking down on his untouched food, he really wished that he had stayed in bed today.


Arriving at club felt dreadful for Dom, as he was arriving under the assumption that everyone had saw the video already.

There were looks directed his way, but no hateful glares. There was also some whispering, but it didn't seemed malicious, from the little Dom's earholes could pick.

However, the awkwardness was in there. As much as it was with his roommates. Dom could notice it, and he decided to just try and focus on his own work for Drama Club and to ignore anything that wasn't immediately important.

"You not changing clothes with us, Dom-senpai?" Kibi asked to the peafowl, who shook his head, saying that he would wait for them to be finish, as he was feeling a little shy today. This excuse, surprisingly, was enough for everyone, who decided who was best to just let Dom wait for them to finish and then go in himself. No one even noticed how he was wearing a jacket with long sleeves today.

Dom preferred not to let anyone see the bandages on his arm and shoulder, so he would be wearing his jacket and avoiding changing clothes with them for a while. Also, there was the fact that he would rather not bare his body before a certain wolf...

It was strange, Dom never had any problem changing clothes with Legoshi right by his side, and he even talked to the wolf casually as they did it in the past. However, all of a sudden, Dom felt shy to the idea of removing his clothes before the wolf.

As if doing so would be like extending an invitation for him to have a taste at him...

Dom didn't wanted to think like that, but he just could not avoid it after last night.

He felt tension with all of the Drama Club members, but the tension that he felt between himself and Legoshi easily topped all of the rest.

Legoshi thought this as well, as he could not bring himself to even look at Dom. He still felt so ashamed for what he almost did, and he felt like he didn't deserved to even stand close to an animal as beautiful as Dom after he tried to...

Wait, did he just think of Dom as beautiful?

Well, he did, didn't he? I mean, Dom was beautiful. You know, being a peafowl and all. Even if he didn't had his tail feathers, he was still as beautiful as a peafowl could be. The shade of blue of his feathers was certainly nice to look at...

Wait, where did that came from!?

Legoshi was finding this day to be getting harder and harder to get through, and he soon had to excuse himself to go do something else. Both him and Dom were glad for being able to distance from each other, as they decided to focus on their respective tasks for as long as they could.

So, Dom was with the planning for the play, as the head of the stagehands, while Legoshi went upstairs with Kai, to teach the weasel the rest of the ropes. Legoshi was the responsible for the electrical fixing, after all.

"Where did you learned how to fix electrical stuff?" Kai asked.

"My grandpa." Legoshi said, "He has been doing construction since before I was born." And the wolf didn't elaborated any further, and he hoped that Kai would not ask him any more questions.

Legoshi still felt uncomfortable whenever anyone started asking about his grandpa...

Luckily, they both got distracted as they saw the rehearsal for the play down there. They both looked at how Louis continued to urge the carnivores who would be play the villains to come at him with everything they got, despite how tired he seemed.

"Wow... Louis-senpai really is amazing." Legoshi said as they both looked down on the rehearsal going on beneath.

"I think he is full of himself." Kai said, "Seriously, what is that deer trying to prove? Maybe it has something to do with his secret..."

"Hm?" Legoshi turned to look at Kai. After Legoshi explained to Kai about the electrical part of the job of the stagehands, so now it was Kai's turn to explain to him about the real nature of the Drama Club.

"See the world through your own personal view", as Kai had put it. Everyone of the club had a secret. Like the giraffe who couldn't stand seeing her reflection because she was afraid of her own spots, or the rhino who thought that her horn, which she saw before her eyes, was her guardian sprit. Kai himself was a mongoose adopted by a family of hyenas. Even Sheila had her own secret...

"What is your secret?" Kai asked. Legoshi, of course, didn't told him, he was too busy looking down at the deer beneath, and he was wondering what would be Louis' secret. Suddenly, his thoughts shifted to Dom, and he wondered what could be the peafowl's secret too.

"Well, we all already know Dom's secret." Kai said casually, "The whole school does."

"Eh?" Legoshi said, looking a the mongoose in surprise.

"Yeah, the video is all over Cherryton now." Kai said, and Legoshi continued to look at him.

"Video?" The wolf asked, "What video?"

Kai couldn't hide his surprise. "Wait, you don't know of the video?" Kai asked. Before Legoshi could answer...

"Hey, guys!" Kibi said, making the two of them look his way. "Dom-senpai is calling everyone! He has a thing to tell us!"


"Are you sure you're not feeling too hot with this?" Kibi asked, as he looked at the red sports jacket that Dom was wearing.

"I'm fine, Kibi-kun." Dom said, as the stagehands continued to have their meeting. Legoshi was too distracted looking at Dom.

He was looking at his arm. He knew that there was a wound in there, as he had caused it himself just the night previous. He could not take his eyes away from that arm...

"Legoshi!"

Dom's voice snapped the wolf out of it, and made Legoshi meet Dom's eyes for the first today. For a long moment, they looked at each other, before Dom spoke:

"Did you heard me?"

As predicted, Legoshi didn't. So Dom explained to him once more his plan of covering the auditorium entrance with red roses, as an allusion to one of the key scenes of the play. The drawing he showed to Legoshi certainly looked beautiful, and everyone was in favor of the idea.

"Alright then." Dom said, "This means we will have to go to the gardening club and ask them to give us the roses... I'll do it."

Dom thought that he should be the one to go, since he was the head of the stagehands and it was his idea. Besides, it would give him an excuse to get away from Legoshi for a while...

However, Kibi suggested:

"Why don't you send Legoshi? He needs to practice interacting with others. This would be good for him."

Dom and Legoshi looked at the anteater, and then at each other. Legoshi then looked down, saying that it was not a good idea, since the gardening club had exclusively herbivores, and that Legoshi would scare them.

"Well, you could both go together, then." Fudge, the red panda of their little group, told the two. Kai and Kibi considered this a good idea. Legoshi and Dom, however, didn't thought so.

They both tensed as Fudge made that suggestion, and they looked at each other. Neither of them liked the idea, but neither of them could refuse without causing the other stagehands to ask them why they didn't wanted to go together.

That was when Dom came up with a solution:

"Kibi, you come too."

"Eh?"

"Huh? Is everyone going?" Kai said, but Dom told him that only the three of them. Fudge and Kai would stay behind to continue the rest of the work. The other three members thought that it was a bit of an overkill, sending three people at once. But, Dom was their senpai.

So, with this, the wolf, peafowl and anteater all left the Drama Club.

Next stop, the school's gardening club.