There was tension between the two of them. Kibi could not notice it very clearly, as he seemed to be distracted with something on his own mind. However, the tension was there, clearly perceptible to both Legoshi and Dom, as they each one stood by a side, with Kibi walking between the two of them.

Kibi was around a fifth of the size of either of them, but he still acted like some short of barrier between the two of them, as small as he was and as metaphorical as his nature as a barrier could be.

Dom was still not sure why he even wanted Kibi to come along. I mean, it was not like he would actually be able to do anything to stop Legoshi if the wolf actually attacked. If anything, bringing him along would put him in danger as well.

And yet, Dom insisted on him coming along.

Was it because then there would be two of them and only one of Legoshi? His father once told him something like that, didn't he? About how herbivores flocked together while carnivores stood alone because of a stronger sense of union and of supporting each other in difficult moments? He said it was the type of instinct that helped them form bonds and alliances, and that most carnivores could hardly even understand.

Strength in numbers, l was how he described it...

It certainly helped Dom feel a little more secure than he would if he was walking on those hallways all alone with the wolf.

He ventured to look to the side, to see Legoshi looking his way. The wolf immediately looked away, nearly as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't.

Dom, on his end, resisted the urge to look away like the wolf, as if they were a pair of lovers who accidentally made eye contact while eyeing each other. He continued to look at the wolf, who was looking down with his ears flat against his skull.

He looked... sad.

Is it because of me? Dom thought to himself. Is it because he knows I'm being like this with him? Is that why he is sad? Man, I don't want to make him feel like that. Sorry, Lego- Wait, why am I feeling bad!? He was the one who tried to eat me! I should not be feeling bad for him!

But he did.

He and Legoshi have been on the same club for years, and the wolf worked directly under him as a stagehand. It was hard to work with someone for so long without becoming at least a little close.

The memories of what happened on the previous night were still clear on his mind. He could still feel a sting on his arm where Legoshi's claws had pierced his skin and left behind scratch marks. Those memories were far too fresh.

However, so were the memories of his first day on day on Drama Club. It was on Dom's first week on Cherryton, right after his transferal from his previous school. Dom was nervous as heck, since it was the first time he would be joining a club there in Cherryton, and it was a club he had been invited to.

The peafowl was still nervous about being in a club after what happened on his previous school. However, he had already received the invitation, and he eventually made his way to Drama Club. To him, it was another hostile environment. The fact that there were carnivores in there made nothing to make him less nervous.

On top of it all, Louis, the leading actor and unofficial leader of Drama Club, decided that Dom would fit well with the stagehands.

A group that had the biggest wolf Dom ever saw.

Dom would be lying if he said that he was not scared of the prospect of being alone with the wolf. However, as it turned out, he didn't had all that reason to be scared.

After talking to Legoshi for a while, being introduced to all of the duties he would be performing as part of the stagehands, Dom was much calmer. Legoshi, despite his aspect, didn't behaved anything like a dangerous carnivore, as he arched his back as if he wanted to seem smaller and spoke briefly and politely to Dom.

Of course, it took a few more days of being with him until Dom felt completely comfortable around Legoshi, as he eventually convinced himself that the wolf was completely safe, as far as a carnivore could be. Overtime, Dom grew quite used to the presence of the wolf, and he eventually had absolutely no apprehension or reservation of being around Legoshi.

The wolf never gave the peafowl any reason to be afraid of him, after all.

Until last night...

The way Legoshi jumped at him and held on to him felt all too real, the wounds on his arm aching nearly as if they were open again.

What was last night?

What happened?

Was it like his father said? The old peafowl always said that carnivores were two-faced, that they showed a kind face to the herbivores most of the time to make themselves look harmless, and only when you lowered your guard around them they showed their "true face", which was that of a hungry predator who would eat their flesh until they were gnawing at their bones.

That was the kind of advice from his father which Dom promptly ignored. It seemed too alarmist, as his father usually was with carnivores in general. However, since that night, Dom couldn't help but think about it.

Could it be true? Could it be that Legoshi really was two-faced? Could it be that the harmless, awkward wolf that Dom knew since he joined Drama Club was just a mask, and that, last night, he saw the real Legoshi for the first time?

Was that snarling, aggressive wolf the real Legoshi?

Did Tem saw the same thing on his last moments?

That last question created a pit on the bottom of Dom's stomach, as he continued to silently walk in direction to the Gardening Club with his two clubmates.

The Gardening Club was not the kind of place that everyone knew about, even though Dom knew from his first day on Cherryton that there was a club like that in school. He even considered about maybe applying to it, but that was when he received the invitation to join Drama Club.

This was his first time going into that place. The climb up the stairs was just as tense as the walk across the hallways was, and they all were soon standing before the door.

"Is it really a three-person job?" Kibi asked, looking at the wolf and peafowl. They both said nothing, as they both looked at the door. Legoshi's nose twitched, as he continued to look at the door, picking up the scents that came from the other side.

"The flowers sure smell nice, don't they?" Kibi asked, noticing the silent tension that there was in between the three of them, which was very strange, compared to any other day.

He wondered if the video had something to do with that...

"What kind of animals are on the Gardening Club again?" Legoshi asked, "Because... the only animal I can smell is a bunny... and only one."

Dom looked at Legoshi, before he decided that there had been tension enough. He reached with his feathery hand and knocked on the door.

"Excuse me?" Dom said, "Anyone in there?" and he opened the door. As he did, the light of the outside replaced the darkness of the enclosed space they were into. A fresh breeze came about, carrying the smell of the flowers growing there.

As Dom's eyes got used to the light, he caught sight of a single lonely figure standing on the front of the garden. Dom recognized her immediately.

The bunny from yesterday!

For a long moment, Dom and Haru looked at each other, both of them surprised for seeing the other in there.

"Oh... hi." Haru said, greeting Dom, and the peafowl nodded at her.

"Hello."

As he and the bunny talked to each other, Legoshi and Kibi both came behind. Both of them looking at the peafowl.

Legoshi was not as socially clueless as some people could sometimes think. He noticed the tension between him and Dom. He knew that the tension was that, and he knew it was because of what almost happened last night.

Legoshi still felt like the greatest bastard on the world for what he had tried to do. He wanted to talk to Dom about last night. He knew that he probably didn't deserved to talk to him, or even be near him, but he knew that he needed to talk to him.

He needed to say something about last night, even if he had no idea of what could be. However, he could not do it with either of the two other herbivores around.

"AHHH!" Kibi suddenly said, causing all eyes on the garden to turn on him. "I forgot about the thing I have to do! I need to go now!"

Dom and Legoshi both looked at the anteater in surprise. Legoshi leaned over to him, since he was the one who was the closest.

"You and Dom can handle this for me, right?" Kibi whispered to Legoshi. "I'll make up to you two later with antshakes, I promise."

Haru, seeing how the wolf and anteater were whispering to each other, asked:

"Hey, something going on there?"

The two looked at her for a second, and then Kibi rushed to say:

"I really gotta go now! Bird and wolf boys will tell you everything, bye!"

He was out the door before anyone could stop him, including Legoshi, who for some reason didn't wanted him to leave.

This left the three animals in there in an awkward silence. Which was eventually broke by the bunny.

"So, he seemed pretty nervous, didn't he?" She said, causing the other two animals on the place to look her way. "Guess my reputation is quite strong."

Then, she looked at the two.

"So, what may I help you with?"

Dom looked at her for a few moments, and then he cleared his throat.

"Yes, we are from Drama Club." Dom said, looking down at the smaller herbivore. "We would like to talk to the members of the Gardening Club about lending us some roses for a project..."

Dom then lifted his eyes to look around at the garden. They were the only ones in here.

"Are the other members sick or something?" Dom asked, looking around. Haru scoffed slightly.

"If they are, it must be something really serious, because they never show up." The bunny said, "I'm basically the only one at the club."

"Oh..." Dom said, looking around. "You... take care of this entire garden all by yourself?"

Haru confirmed she did, and Dom said how impressive it was, and how good she was dealing with the plants.

"Why, thank you. I do my best to take care of my babies, but I have to admit, it is quite tough to care for this garden without any help..." She then looked at the two of them. The wolf, naturally, was much stronger than she could ever be. And the peafowl himself was bigger then her. Heck, he was even taller than the wolf!

"So, I understand you want some of my babies, right?" Haru asked, and Dom nodded at her, confirming they wanted enough roses to cover the front of the auditorium. Haru took that in, and told her mind to the peafowl, who obviously was the leader among the two.

"A deal, you say?" Dom asked, and the bunny nodded.

"That's right." She said to him, "I worked too hard to make my babies grow, I can't give them to you in exchange for nothing."

"So, here is the deal..." The bunny said to the two of them. "I'll let you guys have the roses, if you two help me around the garden. Like I said, I'm mostly all by myself in here. I do well on my own, but I certainly could use the help of two big guys like you. So, what do you say?"

Helping with gardening in return for the flowers they needed? Seemed fair. Well, at least, Dom didn't saw any problem with it. He was no stranger to gardening, as he often helped his mother with the flowers on their own garden back home. He certainly didn't had a problem with getting his feathers a bit dirty.

Besides, he had the impression that, despite how the bunny was putting on a brave face and saying it was no big deal, she really could use the help.

"What do you think, Legoshi?" Dom asked, turning to the wolf, who had been mostly silent until now as he let Dom do all the talking. He was actually a bit surprised that they were suddenly asking his opinion, and didn't knew how to answer for a moment, as he fumbled with words.

"I... don't see a problem with that." Legoshi said "I mean, I don't mind doing it if it's for you, senpai."

Legoshi didn't intended to say it like that. Dom looked at him with a bit of surprise.

Why hearing it made him feel strange?

"Good!" The bunny said, distracting both Drama Club members from reflecting too much on anything. "So, I guess this means you two will be helping. Now, if you excuse me."

"W-what? Hey!" Legoshi said, as the bunny went behind him and, very nonchalantly, started to touch his tail.

"Just getting this out of the way." She said, as she used the suspenders on the wolf's pants to trap his tail. "Can't have you knocking down any of the vases with that tail of yours."

Then she turned to Dom and, by looking at his backside, she noticed...

"Oh..." She said, "You don't have them..."

She looked up at Dom.

"Did... did something happen?"

Dom looked at her for a few moments.

"I..." The peafowl said.

"You don't deserve those feathers! You are a disgrace!"

Dom fought back the urge to shiver and frown hard at the painful memory. As painful as it was having them plucked out...

"They were always getting stepped on by others." Dom said, "And I sometimes knocked things over when I turned too fast. So, I had them plucked out. It's okay, they can grow back, is just that... I prefer to have them out of my way for now."

"Oh." Haru said, "Okay then... well, better this way. Those long things would certainly make a mess on my garden and it would be a pain to clean later."

Legoshi could only look at the two as they spoke about that, and he took a moment to realize that "that" were Dom's tail feathers.

At that moment, it was as if something clicked for Legoshi. As if, for the first time since he first met Dom, he noticed that the peafowl didn't had the tail feathers that the males of his species were supposed to have.

Did he said... he had them plucked out? Legoshi thought to himself, but his reflections were cut short when the bunny said to the two of them that they better get to work if they really wanted his roses so bad.

Well, Dom certainly wanted the roses, and Legoshi wanted to help his senpai get what he wanted, so he soon was working alongside with them into making the garden better.

Legoshi, being the strongest of all three of them, was put on the heavy-lifting. Literally, he was the one lifting and carrying vases back and forth on the place, as well as carrying boxes and the tools that the other two used.

Dom, on his end, was given some gardening equipment, and Haru was delighted for seeing that the peafowl knew how to work with plants. Of course, he was not as good at this as her, as his knowledge of plants was limited to the ones his mother grew on her garden, but he showed that he knew at least a little bit about plants. Enough to be able to help Haru with the many plants that were being grown on that garden that the bunny had to look after all by herself for the last two or three years.

Their help was more than welcome for the bunny, who was glad that she finally had someone to help her with the plants of her garden and lessen her workload. Even if it was just for a single day.

Dom and Legoshi had a very real impression of the hard work that the bunny put on the garden every day, as working under the strong sun was no joke, and they both found themselves getting more than a little sweaty. Luckily, the bunny was there to offer them both some lemonade for their hard work, which the bird and canine both gladly drank as they surveyed their progress.

"Amazing what some hard work can do." Haru said to the two of them. "The garden looks even better now!"

"It does?" Legoshi asked, looking at the garden now and not truly seeing any difference from before they began working.

"Of course, it does." Haru said happily, admiring the garden. "The flowers will all grow a lot better now, and it is all thanks to you two. Tell me, doesn't it feel good to know that they will thrive thanks to your help?"

Legoshi and Dom both looked at the garden. Dom, on his end, could grasp what the bunny was saying better than Legoshi. Even though the wolf had a pet beetle, Dom was the one who already took care of plants before. He could better understand how the bunny felt, based on his experiences with his mother, was quite passionate about the plants she grew herself.

"Indeed..." Dom said, and Haru seemed to approve of it, she thanked them both for the help, and told them that she would have the roses ready for them in a few days.

"Take good care of them, okay?" Haru said, "Once they are cut, they will only live a while more. Make sure their last days are nice."

Dom nodded at her, promising that he would see to it for her flowers to be treat with the most care and respect possible. With this, him and Legoshi departed, closing the door and walking down the stairs.

As he cast one last glance at the bunny thought the closing doors, Dom could not help but notice the sad undertone on her voice and eyes.

Was it because of the flowers?

Or was it something else?

However, his worries about the bunny's perceived sadness would be soon forgotten, as Dom all of a sudden saw himself alone with Legoshi as they both walked down the stairs.

The tension was so thick you could carve a piece of it with a knife.

Both of them felt incredibly tense, as the herbivore who nearly got devoured went down the surprisingly long flight of stairs with the carnivore who tried to devour him.

Neither of them was saying a word. The door at the end of the stairs seemed to be miles away, as each one of their steps resounded so loudly that it hurt their ears.

The memories of the previous nights events still clear on their heads like a movie in which they both were the main characters. Curious, considering how much they both hated to be on the spotlight, which was why they both became stagehands on the first place.

And it was a horror movie.

For both of them.

The kind that made you edgy and jumpy for several days after you've watched it.

"Dom..." Legoshi said, causing Dom to flinch as the peafowl stopped on the stairs, and looked at the wolf, who had stopped as well.

"A-about last night..." Legoshi said, sounding a hundred times more awkward than normal. "I-I just wanted to say that... that I..."

"Legoshi, no." Dom said, unsure of what he was saying. The wolf, however, seemed like he didn't liked hearing that. His ears flattened on his skull, as he looked at the peafowl.

"Dom-senpai, I..." Legoshi said, "I just want to-"

As Legoshi said that, he was reaching out for the peafowl with his hand. His hand with sharp claws. The same ones that sliced through Dom's arm.

The peafowl reacted out of pure instinct, swiping his wing on a move that was nearly violent, slapping Legoshi's hand away as he backed away and pressed his back on the wall.

It didn't hurt Legoshi, of course. Dom would have made as much damage by hitting his hand with a pillow as he would by slapping it away with his feathery hand powered by herbivore muscles. However, the fact that he slapped his hand away in the first place caught Legoshi completely off guard.

For a long moment, they both looked at each other in shock.

"S-senpai...?" Legoshi said, sounding hurt as he looked at Dom. Meanwhile, the peafowl:

"I-I forgot to talk to her about a thing!"

Dom said it so suddenly that Legoshi was as shocked by it as by the fact that the peafowl slapped his hand.

"I have to go up there and talk to her! Wait me downstairs!" Dom said, and was going back upstairs to the garden. Legoshi tried to ask to go with him, but the peafowl then turned at him and said:

"WAIT DOWNSTAIRS!"

Legoshi flinched.

Dom yelled at him.

For the first time since they knew each other, Dom yelled at him. Legoshi looked up at him, while Dom looked down at him from upstairs.

"J-just..." Dom said, "G-go down there and wait for Kibi. I'll join you guys later."

And with that, Dom went back to climbing the stair as fast as his legs could carry him. Nearly as if he was in a hurry to get up there.

Or in a hurry to get away from the wolf.

Dom was already all the way up there when Legoshi finally managed to whimper out:

"Senpai..."

His tail was tucked all the way between his legs.

Haru was back on her shed, and she was looking at the school's newspaper while enjoying a bit more of her lemonade.

Suddenly, her focus was broke when she heard the doors of the shed sliding open, and a familiar animal practically stumbled inside.

"Oh, its you." Haru said, looking at the peafowl, who was panting slightly. "Did you forget something?"

"No... I mean, yes!" Dom said, "I-I mean..."

He looked at her. What was he supposed to say to her now?

That he ran back to her because he was afraid his wolf clubmate would eat him?

That was something he certainly couldn't say. He couldn't tell anyone what happened near the font that night.

No one could know that Legoshi tried to eat him.

It would be a disaster if they knew. It could break the partnership of the Drama Club's members once and for all and end the club forever, and Dom knew that. That was why he didn't told anyone about it.

Also, because he didn't wanted Legoshi to get in trouble...

"I-I... I mean..." Dom said, looking at her. "I came because... I kind of wanted to... I... Uhhh..." Dom was normally not that bad talking to others, but he was still with his heart racing. He looked out through the glass of the sliding doors, seeing if Legoshi had followed him.

He was not there, so he probably had gone downstairs to wait for Kibi like he was told. Dom now felt kind of bad for having yelled at him, but he was so nervous back then...

Meanwhile, Haru looked at how the peafowl was acting, and came to her own conclusions about what the deal was.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised..." Haru said as she sighed.

"About what?" Dom asked distracted, as he continued to look outside through the glass. Meanwhile, the bunny got up from the chair, closed the curtains of the windows, and proceeded to untie her scarf and belt and remove her dress.

"Did it get dimmer in... here?" Dom said, turning to look at her, and surprised for seeing her only on her underwear.

"Nervous?" Haru asked, smiling as she walked to the peafowl, who looked at her with wide eyes as she now had only her bra, panties and shoes. "Don't worry, I'm pretty experienced. Although I must admit, this will be my first time with a bird."

She was giving him her best friendly smile.

"Let's both try to enjoy ourselves, okay?"

Dom had absolutely no idea of how to even form an answer to her words...