The two months that followed the play were not very eventful.
This was something that surprised Legoshi.
The school found out his secret. They all knew.
However, his life changed surprisingly little. People were not throwing things on him. They were not calling him names. They were not singing hurtful things. They were not stealing his shoes and hiding them away, and neither they were spray-painting things on his locker.
None of the things that happened on his previous schools were happening there.
The animals of the school were not treating him any different then what they always did.
Legoshi did noticed that some of the animals around him gave him cold looks and whispered when he passed, but that was basically it. That was basically the only difference on the way that people were treating him. Other than that, they still treated him the way they always did.
However, that was to say that the herbivores were still weary of him as he passed by them. This was no news for Legoshi. However, the hybrid was surprised when some of them came to him and asked him to pull back his hood so they could see his mane.
Legoshi, surprised by this sudden approach, complied, and allowed them to see his mane, even crouching a little bit to let them have a better look. He did, however, moved back when one of them tried touching his mane without asking, and then he pulled his hood back and moved away before they could ask what was wrong.
Yeah, Legoshi had spent years wearing his hood and avoiding calling any attention. Ever since he came to Cherryton at twelve, he had been trying to avoid calling attention as much as he could. That was why he wore a hoodie, in the first place.
Legoshi still wore his entrusted hoodie. Wherever he went on the school, he was wearing it, with the hood pulled over his head and leaving nothing more than his muzzle visible.
However, there was no longer a point on wearing it, as of the play. And this was... well, it was strange to put it into words.
Could it be... liberating? Yeah, that seemed like a good word. I mean, it was as if Legoshi had been carrying a weight on his shoulders for the past five years. A weight that was deeply tied to his hoodie. The secret of his hybrid nature, which followed him everywhere, and made him feel to be discovered by everyone each time he set foot outside of his dorm. It was such an omnipresent fear that Legoshi learned to live with it and to ignore it to a certain extent.
However, ever since the play, it was as if the weight suddenly vanished.
No longer Legoshi felt like he needed to look over his shoulder, worried with someone pulling his hoodie back and exposing him as a hybrid to the whole class. No longer Legoshi needed to double, even triple check his hoodie to be sure that no part of his mane was visible when he put it. No longer he needed to soak himself on that strong-smelling cologne to mask his scent, which was mostly lion with a hint of wolf and Komodo dragon on the side.
Having that weight out of his shoulders made Legoshi feel lighter than he had in a long time.
Like he only felt after meeting... him.
To this day, Legoshi wondered where he could be and what he could be doing. He just hoped he was happy...
Legoshi was not sure if he himself was happier now, but he certainly felt more at ease than he had on the past five years in Cherryton.
At ease enough to do one thing that he never did before:
To trim his fur with his fellow dormmates... on the outside.
Before, Legoshi would always trim his fur inside. Everyone assumed that he would again, and they were ready to leave him to do it on the privacy of their bedroom and join them later. However, Legoshi surprised them by telling them he would be trimming on the outside with them.
"It is a beautiful day outside." Legoshi said, looking through the window. "Dad always took me outside to trim my fur and my mane on beautiful days like that. He said days like that are not to be wasted by staying indoors."
So, Legoshi was on his way with his friends outside. Once they placed the cloth beneath them, they removed their clothes until they were only on their boxers and started trimming.
That was not an unusual sight, for male canines to trim their fur outside, using the scissors to cut off the excess fur and letting it all fall into the cloth set beneath them. Most of the animals were pretty much used to this sight.
However, they were not used to the sight of Legoshi joining Dorm 701 for this annual tradition.
A lot of people stared as they saw this huge, four-armed wolf with a thick mane trim his fur alongside a bunch of smaller canines. Using one of his furred upper arms and one of his scaly lowers arms to hold two scissors and trim the fur on his muscular body.
Most of those looks were those of surprised, or even of awe. Some of them, very few, however, were hateful glares. And there were some that were basically ogling at the huge stud of a hybrid wearing only his boxers as he trimmed his fur.
Legoshi, however, paid little mind to all of them. He was much more focused on trimming his fur. In particular, he was very focused in trimming his mane, as he used one of his four arms to hold a mirror while he used the scissors on two other arms to snip the excess fur around his head. His mane was thick, and it needed to be trimmed like the rest of him, but Legoshi was careful not to cut more of it than he needed.
He was proud of it, after all.
And, of course, there was the fresh small of soil with flowers, which made his mind wander back to the garden, where he met a certain bunny.
This all helped on making the hybrid so distracted that he completely failed to notice the three pairs of eyes on him, watching from behind a few bushes.
"Man, look at that mane!" Said a female lioness, who was with her friends of the same species. "It is so thick!"
"And it's the darkest mane I've ever seen!"
"Man, that's so hot!" One of them said, as they all ogled at the hybrid. "Rex, if at least he didn't have that dog face."
"Yeah, I agree. The dog thing is a total turn off..."
"But the extra arms are not that bad. They even give me a few ideas. I don't even mind the scales."
The three lionesses continued to giggle to each other as they looked at the hybrid from a distance, while Legoshi was unaware of those three girls ogling at him.
And, a few feet away from them, sitting all alone, there was a lioness who looked at the hybrid in silence, sitting on the bench as she breathed through the mask on her face...
"Done!" Jack said, as he and his friends, once more dressed, looked on the pile of fur that they produced from trimming themselves. Hard to believe that this fur could come from only six animals. And that most of it, as one could tell from the colors, came from Legoshi and Jack.
"I got some of mine in it too!" Voss said, "Don't forget about my cut!"
Of course, none of them would. They all remembered about how Voss deserved his cut, once his fur was there as well. All of them would be getting a cut once they delivered it to the yard store back in the city.
And Legoshi would not be the one to go there. That much the hybrid made clear to his friends.
He still didn't feel secure enough to go to the city. Luckily, his friends were all supportive of him.
"Just take a little more time and let us know when you feel like going to the city." Jack said to Legoshi, offering a smile, "Maybe then we can finally take you to B-Strike so we can all have an evening of fun together."
That kind smile was enough to give Legoshi a more positive view on everything. He was glad that he had the support of his friends.
He was glad the could count on them.
Little did all of them thought that, very soon, Legoshi would have to go to the city anyway.
For it was on that evening, at Drama Club, that Sano-san informed to the members of Drama Club they had been invited to take part on the Meteor Festival celebrations of this year, just like they were on the year prior.
This, of course, was a motive of celebration for everyone. After all, this was their chance to take part in one of the greatest festivals of the year, and their chance to see the city instead of being cooped on the school grounds all the time.
However, not everyone was so happy about the prospect of taking part on the Meteor Festival.
Namely, the members of the production team were not very keen on it, once it meant that they would all have a lot of extra work coming their way as a result of this.
"I didn't had to work so hard while I was at the actor pool." Kai said as he saw the size of the dinosaur statues made by the production crew for last year's festival. They would not have to make statues that were, at the very least, just as big from scratch.
"Why can't we use those same statues?" Kai suggested as he saw how big they were and considering how hard it would be to make them. "Or maybe do them after some other animal that is easier to make?"
However, neither of these was an option. They could not be sloppy or lazy enough to use the same statues as last year, and it had to be dinosaurs because they were the ones who the meteor festival was all about. Dinosaurs were the ancestors of all other animal species, to reptiles (like what the dinosaurs themselves are believed to be) all the way to the mammals. They were the ones who once ruled the world until the end of that summer, when the meteor came from the sky and ended their kingdom. And it was their spirits which returned at the end of each summer to pass by the world and see how much it had changed since their time, and how their animal descendants were looking after it during their absence.
"And, of course, let's not forget about the legend of the lighting ceremony, where it is said that a couple who lights a candle together will be together for the rest of their lives." Fudge said, as he and the rest of the stage crew went their way after looking the storage.
"So, it is basically a holiday for the couples." Kai said, and the way he spoke that made it seem that he was not very keen on the idea. Perhaps it was because he didn't had a girlfriend?
"Don't worry, you won't be the only one without a pair on that night." Fudge said, and then he looked at the hybrid among them. "You might even find that some will have more difficulty to find a pair than you."
"Fudge!" Kibi said, looking at the red panda, and so where the others. Legoshi, however, seemed not to have noticed the commend Fudge made, or to be thinking of its implications.
He was too busy sniffing the air, as he caught a familiar scent in the air.
A scent of bunny, and flowered soil.
Haru.
"I... I gotta go, guys. See you all tomorrow." Legoshi said, waving at his friends as he followed the scent. As he left, he failed to notice the glares that Dom and Kibi were both giving to Fudge as Legoshi left.
Of course she would cross paths with Mizuchi again. Just when she was trying to get the flowers some water to help them.
Now there she was, laying on the ground, with the shattered vase before her as Mizuchi and her cronies mocked her for having fallen. The harlequin bunny seemed to be in a particularly foul mood, and it didn't take Haru long to realize the reason for it.
"You two didn't get back together, did you?" She asked, looking at the taller rabbit as she stood. The look on Mizuchi's face made told Haru she was spot on, and that made her smile.
"Well, I guess he realized that he deserved better than a nasty and resentful woman, didn't he?" She said, and Mizuchi, for a moment seemed ready to slap her, but she didn't.
"We will get back together!" Mizuchi said with sureness. "We have to! We are the only two harlequin rabbits in the school! The very future of our species depends on us getting together! This is stronger than anything! I'll be back together with him in no time! While you, you stupid slut, will stay alone for the rest of your life, because now guy will want to stay with you! You might sleep with as many males as you want, herbivore or carnivore, big or small, you will always end up alone!"
Now that hit Haru. Now the bunny was the one who felt like slapping Mizuchi. However, much like the other rabbit, Haru held herself back.
Instead she decided to fight back with words, letting Mizuchi know what she thought of her, and making it clear to Mizuchi that those who are the most desperate in the game of love are the ones who are the most likely to lose.
"And, when you are making the departure alongside the dinosaurs, I will be smiling and waving at you, good riddance!" Haru said to her, "Because, if you need to be so desperate in order to save your species from extinction, then you better just join the dinosaurs, you witch!"
To say Mizuchi was pissed would be an understatement. That stupid tramp got on the way of her relationship with her boyfriend, possibly endangering the whole future of her kind, and now she was saying that she'd better just disappear? Just like that?
Now that was more than a girl could take.
"You stupid tramp!" Mizuchi said, grabbing Haru by the ear and pulling, causing the smaller rabbit to cry out in pain. "I know the problem! The problem is that face of yours! It got all boys bewitched by it! I'll make sure no guy will ever likes you again!"
Mizuchi was truly mad at this point that even her cronies were shocked. Both at what she was doing and at what she was implying she was going to do. Mizuchi had just picked a shard of the broken vase.
"By the time I am done, no guy will ever want to look at your face again!" Mizuchi said to her, and Haru could only look at her, as she moved the shard closer and closer to her face.
However, she never had the chance to do anything to Haru, for that was when a hand, much bigger than any of theirs', came out of nowhere and grabbed Mizuchi's wrist.
Mizuchi, in surprise and pain for feeling her wrist being squeezed so hard, let go of Haru's ear and of the broken shard, letting both fall to the ground.
As she was on her knees, holding her ear, Haru looked up, and saw who was the one holding Mizuchi's wrist.
"Legoshi!"
The hybrid stood in there. He had been watching for a while, and the way he saw Mizuchi treating Haru, and threatening to hurt her with that shard, it sparked memories for him. Memories of the time other kids pinned him down and tried to cut his mane with a pair of scissors.
That was enough to make Legoshi charge forward, and to grab Mizuchi's hand before she could do anything to Haru.
"You..." Legoshi growled, baring his fangs at the bunny who he was looking down at. "What do you think you are doing?"
In the face of the furious carnivore looking down on her, Mizuchi's rage was snuffed out immediately, and she could only look down in fear at the eyes of that carnivore, which his slit-like pupils looking down on her.
Legoshi let go of her wrist, letting her stumble back and be caught by her two friends.
"Leave!" Legoshi roared, and the three of them screamed in fear before running away as fast as their legs could carry them. This left the hybrid to look at their departed forms, before he looked back at the bunny on the ground, who had her ears down and was looking at him in fear.
"Legoshi...?" she asked meekly. This was the first time she had ever heard the hybrid roar, and she would be lying if she said it was more than a little scary.
Seeing her like that, Legoshi blinked, his pupils going back to normal, before he kneeled to Haru, telling her it was okay, and asking her not to be afraid.
Haru stayed where she was, with Legoshi doing his best to comfort her and, after a while, Haru had calmed down, and she got up, cleaning up her dress before she looked at the fallen flowers.
"Oh, man..." Haru said, walking to them, and crouching to check on them.
"I just wanted to help, but I ended up speeding up your death. I'm very sorry."
Legoshi kneeled by her side, looking at the ruined flowers. He saw one of them that was not so damaged, and he picked it, as gently as his big fingers could, and offered it to the bunny, who was able to smile a little bit.
"You are so kind, Legoshi." She said to him, as she picked the flower as delicately as she could. "Seriously, I didn't know carnivores could be so kind. Or is it just the hybrid ones?"
Legoshi didn't felt upset with that question, as he assumed he would have felt months ago. He knew that Haru meant nothing bad about it.
"Are you sure you are okay?" Legoshi asked, and Haru insisted to the hybrid that she was fine, but still, Legoshi seemed to be worried about her, considering that she had nearly been stabbed on the face by Mizuchi, and he was asking her if she really didn't want to go talk to a teacher about it.
They never helped Legoshi in the past, but he was pretty sure that they would help Haru.
She as purebred, after all.
Truth was, Legoshi didn't wanted to leave her alone after she nearly got attacked like that, and the bunny seemed to be more than willing to take advantage of it.
"Well, since you are so worried about me, why don't you take me to dinner?" Haru asked him, "You will be paying."
She spoke it in a way that Legoshi had no choice but to accept her terms.
They certainly called a lot of attention as they made it to the dinery on campus together, and Legoshi bought her the food he wanted. People would look their way at the contrast of such a big carnivore with a small herbivore like that.
"Think he lost a bet or something?"
"Most likely the bunny lost a bet."
"Maybe he just wants a snack before bed, he he."
"Hey, ain't it him?"
"Who?"
"The four-armed guy! The one who played the monster on the Adler play! The one everyone says the father is a lion and the mother is a pretty wolf!"
"Wait, can that even happen?"
Legoshi could hear them talking, and it made him unconsciously pull his hoodie closer over his head.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Haru asked, causing the wolf to look at her and she that she was already half-way done with her own food. Legoshi was shocked by how quickly she could eat, and then he decided to eat as well.
Haru watched as he ate, seeing how his mouth opened to take in the food. She was, however, not as scared of it as she thought she should be. Perhaps because she had been spending a while with the wolf on the last two months.
Legoshi had took her words about coming to help her with the garden to "make up for helping start the rumors" quite seriously. He had been coming to help her with the garden once or twice a week, whenever he got some free time from both studying and Drama Club, and he came straight to the garden to help her with the things around there.
He did mostly what he did on the first time, helping her carry and reach things that would otherwise be hard to her, buy that were a breeze for a guy like Legoshi, who was part lion, part wolf and, as Haru would find out later, part Komodo dragon.
Legoshi had removed his jacket and his shirt after he started sweating pretty bad due to the heat in the hoof. Haru was more than a bit surprised for seeing that the hybrid had a pair of scaly arms under there.
That's why he was so edgy when I tried lifting his shirt! Haru thought about it, and she soon was having some ideas regarding Legoshi's extra hands. They certainly made for an even extra help around the garden, as the wolf could handle two pairs of gardening tools at the same time, and this proved to help make the job even faster.
"You know, at this rate I could make you an honorary member of the Gardening Club." Haru said to the hybrid, who continued to help her dutifully, as he kneeled by her side, seeming not to mind if he got a little bit of dirt on the bare fur of his chest, saying that it would all come out later when he bathed.
All this time they spent together meant that Haru was becoming a lot more comfortable around the wolf. Almost like an exposure therapy. She no longer felt like running for her life whenever he opened his mouth and showed those fangs. She was not afraid of him eating her.
If he was going to do it, he would have done it already, since he has had a lot of chances to since they first met.
So, with this tension out of the way, Haru could talk to him, and Legoshi felt it easier to talk to her, even though most of it made it related to Gardening Club. Legoshi was getting pretty involved with the garden. Even though Haru already told him that there were days when he was not supposed to come.
She usually texted him telling him when he should not come because she was "too busy".
Shouldn't she want me the be there to help if she is busy? Legoshi wondered, but he learned not to ask questions. Instead, he only looked at her as they both ate, and he could not help but think how cute she was, even as she stuffed her mouth with those huge pieces of food.
At the end of it, Legoshi paid, and he walked her back to her dorms.
"So, you getting along better with the guys on Drama Club?" She asked, and Legoshi nodded.
"Yeah, I talk more with them now. Kinda..." he admitted, and it was true. Ever since they found out Legoshi's secret, the wolf felt a lot more comfortable around them, as not even one of them showed hostility or dismissal toward Legoshi after finding out.
In fact, all of them were nothing but supportive of him. To the point where Legoshi really wondered:
Was it... was it really I the one creating the distance?
That seemed to be the case in there. It really seemed to be the case where Legoshi was the one who was creating the distance between he and his clubmates, because he was the one who was holding everyone at arm's length out of fear of them finding out his secret.
Tem and I did become close after he found my secret out... Legoshi also thought when he reflected about it, and he really wondered if, in his quest to make sure no one found out about his secret, he ended up isolating himself...
"Well, that's good for you." Haru said to the hybrid. "Don't forget to put up the work. After all, you need to make an effort to make relationships work out. Don't just do nothing and hope everything to work out on its own."
Legoshi nodded, thinking that he would have that in mind, and he promised to help her later with the garden as he left her on the entrance of the herbivore dorms. She bid the wolf goodnight, and walked into the building, with Legoshi still looking at her as she went inside.
Legoshi realized that he was already looking forward to seeing her on the Gardening Club.
He had grown to look forward to seeing her each time they were together. That night was the first time they were together outside of the garden, and Legoshi had really enjoyed just being near her. Enough that he wanted to be with her more times...
So strange...
"... and searches are still ongoing for the perpetrator of last night's predation crime, which costed the life of Lara, a 22-years-old albino impala who was brutally murdered and devoured as she was walking back home with her fiancé from the movies. Her fiancé has described the criminal as a one-eyed lion and said that he seemed to be only interested in his fiancé, enough to completely ignore him in favor of attacking and devouring her. This is the sixth incident since the start of the year of a completely white animal who was either devoured or gone missing. It is currently unknown if those crimes are all related to the same lion who committed this crime."
"Man, the world is certainly dangerous." Jack said as he looked at the tv screen as the reporter presented the news. The two herbivores who were playing chess with him were also watching, and they had somber expressions on their faces. The other members of the Dorm 701 noticed, and Durham came forward.
"Okay, I think we had enough bad news for a day." The coyote said, as he picked the remote and changed channels. Unfortunately, he changed to a channel that was talking about the same subject as the journal.
"So, are you saying that lions are a dangerous species? Even though our mayor is one?" A parrot interviewer said as he looked at the person he was interviewing, who just happened to be a deer.
"Well, I will not deny that our mayor is a friendly figure. I would never say he is not." He said, "However, that does not change the fact that lions are still carnivore. Apex carnivores, at that. They can sometimes succumb to their instincts and practice those kinds of crimes, as yesterday's event sadly remembered us. Therefore, it is needed to exercise caution around them as well as around any carnivore. Particularly, I recommend one to pay attention to their manes."
"Their manes, you say?"
"Yes, their manes. More precisely, at their size and color. You see, a lion's mane is directly connected to their testosterone level. The higher the level of testosterone, the more a lion's mane grown, and the darker it becomes as they reach sexual maturity. As a result, lions with thicker and darker manes will be more aggressive and sexually active. This is the reason why male lions with such manes are more appealing for the females of their kind. For herbivores, such thick and dark manes should be a warning that those lions are more prone to violent behavior, and that they should be careful around such individuals."
The herbivores looked at the show on the screen, before they turned their eyes to another carnivore on the room.
Legoshi had been relaxed in there. Enough to remove his hoodie, what meant that his mane was in full view. Bushy and thick, and so dark it was nearly black.
The half-lion hybrid, of course, noticed their eyes on him, and he looked back at them with surprise eyes. The herbivores, however, seemed scared of him as if he had just bared his teeth. They excused themselves, conceding the game and rushing out of the room as if someone in there was after them.
This, of course, left the carnivores of the room surprised. Legoshi knew very well they had left because of him.
"Legoshi..." Jack said, looking back at his friend, who then picked his hoodie and wore it, saying he would be taking a walk around the school as he pulled the hood over his head, hiding his mane from sight, and left the room, leaving his friends on the room.
Legoshi walked across the school, and he did notice some weary looks on his direction, from the herbivores in particular.
That was unnerving, but not new. It happened whenever predation incidents occurred. Herbivores just got reminded that such things could happen, and it made them more than a little nervous.
However, as a lot of people looked Legoshi's way, and whispered to each other, the hybrid could not help but feel like it was personal, for some reason. As if they were judging him for having a mane. Just like the kids of his old schools...
Was it... was it all starting again?
"Let me go!"
"Leave her alone, you brute!"
Legoshi blinked, and he looked forward, and he saw a scene developing ahead. A crocodile and a vulture were both attacking a pair of female students.
The vulture was holding the female wolf down, while the crocodile was holding the female lion by the arm, as she tried to free herself from him, but with no success.
"Stop! Leave Kiira alone!" The female wolf said, while trying to free herself from the vulture, continued to hold her back by the arms.
"No chance!" The vulture said, "She is a lion, like that dude who ate the impala in the city last night!"
"And she is a female one at that!" The crocodile said, as he pulled the lioness hard enough to cause her to go to her knees. "They are even more vicious to the males! I heard the tyrannize their families and beat up their own cubs! No way we can just let her go!"
"Kiira is not like that!" The female wolf said, "She is kind and sweet! She would never hurt anyone! Especially her own children! Let her go!"
"Let go of me!" The lioness said, her mouth sounding muffled. That was when Legoshi saw that she was wearing a mask. It was one of those respirator-like masks, which nearly seemed like a gasmask, and that covered all her muzzle.
Legoshi had already seen masks like that. His grandpa had one. He used it when he needed to go to crowded spaces to protect other people from his venom, but other animals also used them to filtrate the air they breathed when they had strong allergies or when they were sensitive to air pollution.
"And what's with the mask?" The crocodile said, "You hiding something, lioness? Maybe hiding that you still have someone's blood on your mouth? Take that off, now!"
The crocodile tried to reach for her mask, but the lioness was soon squirming out of his grasp, not letting him touch it.
"NO! LET ME GO!" The lioness said, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Legoshi could only look. As he did, the scene before him changed.
The female wolf turned into a young male Labrador, who was being held down by carnivore children while told them to leave his friend alone. And the female lioness turned into a young boy with a hoodie, who was telling them to stop as they tried to take his hoodie off so they could see his mane.
As he saw this scene, his eyes widened. His fur stood on end beneath his hoodie, and his pupils contracted into thin vertical slits.
"Hey!" Legoshi said, walking to them before he even knew what he was doing. The four animals all looked his way.
"Leave her alone!"
"Huh, who are you?" The crocodile asked, and Legoshi only repeated.
"Leave her alone."
"Why?" The crocodile said, "Are you this lioness friend too or something? I mean, come on, you two are dogs! You are supposed to hate those cats!"
The crocodile glared at the animal he perceived as just another wolf. A big wolf. The vulture, however, looked at him for a few moments, before his eyes widened.
"Dude! It's him!" The vulture said, causing the crocodile to look at him. "It's that freak who played the Spirit of Shadows in Adler! The guy who is half-lion!"
The croc's eyes widened, and he looked back at Legoshi just as the hybrid's hand shot forward and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him off his feet and causing him to let go of the lioness.
Then Legoshi looked at the vulture, closing the distance to him in a flash and grabbing him by the neck, causing him to let go of the female wolf, who then rushed to the side of the lioness as the hybrid slammed both male carnivores against the lockers.
Legoshi then roared right in their faces, letting out a sound that was heard by half of the school as he pinned the two, letting them have a view of every single one of his teeth.
As Legoshi stopped roaring and looked at the two of them, he saw that they both seemed terrified.
His pupils went back to normal, as he let go of them, and then two slumped and landed on their butts.
"Get lost!" Legoshi barked at the two of them, and the offending carnivores didn't need to be told twice. They got to their feet and rushed out of there as fast as their legs could carry them, leaving the hybrid to glare at them as they turned on the corner and went out of sight, before he turned his eyes to the two females, who were now looking at him.
Recovering, Legoshi shook his head, before approaching the two of them, trying his best not to be threatening.
"H-hey... are you two okay?" Legoshi asked, and the two females continued to look at him. The female wolf was the one who spoke first.
"Y-yes... we are fine. Thank you."
Legoshi nodded. He said he was glad that they two were okay, and he wondered if they should go looking for a teacher to report what happened, but the lioness seemed not too keen on doing it.
"Why were they so cruel?" Juno said, "We were not doing anything, and then they came and started attacking Kiira! This is so unfair!"
Yeah, Legoshi could agree with that. However, this was what life was like.
"Animals tend to get like that when news of a predation incident are around. It usually only lasts a few days." He said to the two of them, "You get used to it with time."
"Why do we have to get used to it at all!?" The female wolf said, looking at the hybrid. "This is not fair at all! Kiira being targeted because of what one lion whom she never even met did? This is so wrong! She is the kindest person I know! She's always been!"
Legoshi saw how the female wolf was protective of her lioness friend, and he couldn't help but think back on how much she was like Jack, who always had Legoshi's back whenever the other kids tried picking on him. Even though he was, more often than not, not strong enough to stop other carnivores from picking on Legoshi.
"I am sure she is..." Legoshi said, sounding sincere, as he looked at the lioness. She locked eyes with him for a moment, before looking away. "I wish I could do more to help. I really do." Legoshi said, and he wished them both a good day and for them to be more careful, before going his way.
As he was leaving, however, the female wolf stopped him, and let him know that she was in Drama Club as well.
"I am part of the dancing team. My name is Juno." She said to him, "I am a first-year student, so you are my senpai. Please, if you need anything in the club, don't hesitate to ask me, I'll be glad to help you to show my gratitude."
Legoshi was a bit awkward at this, however, he said to her that he would ask if he ever needed help with anything. He even said that he would be willing to help her with anything if she needed his help, and Juno nodded at him, before she helped the lioness to her feet, and they both went their way.
Legoshi did too, unaware that the lioness was looking over her shoulder, straight at him...
"So, people giving you a hard time because of the news of the lion who ate that impala?" Bill asked, as he and Legoshi sat side by side as they both drank from cans of green tea that the tiger got for the two of them.
Legoshi still found it strange how close he and Bill had become. Well, they didn't actually become close, per se, but the hybrid had the distinct impression that this was Bill's intention as he had been approaching Legoshi a lot more than before lately. Like, coming to talk to him and have a chat out of nowhere, or asking Legoshi to come and support him when he was trying to make a point, as if he knew Legoshi would be taking his side.
Nearly as if he thought they were besties, even though Legoshi did roughed him up pretty bad on stage two months ago.
"Hey, you are mostly lion, right?" Bill said, to him, "This does makes you technically a feline! In this case, you and I should get along. So, we both had a little spat during the play. So what? We are carnivores! Sometimes we need to fight it out of our systems! No hard feelings, right? If anything, we should be ready to support and help each other when we need."
The smile on Bill's face was friendly as he said that, unlike the usual arrogant smile he had while he was flaunting to everyone. Legoshi looked at him with mild surprise. It was not every time that he got to see this more pleasant side of Bill.
"After all, you did help me get my head on the game for the Adler play." Bill said, and this surprised Legoshi, who looked at him.
"Eh? I did?"
Bill then looked over his shoulder, before pulling an arm around Legoshi's and pulling the hybrid closer and whispering to him, as if telling him a secret.
"This stays between you and me, okay?" Bill said, "Truth is... two months ago, right before the play... I was a total nervous wreck."
"Seriously, I was acting as if I was sure of myself and like I knew I would do a good job, but that was just a front." Bill said, "All I could think of was that I was sure I would forget my lines or trip and land on my face in front of everyone. I knew for a fact I was going to ruin everything, and that Louis would be coming down at me for screwing up. That was kind of why I needed the blood to help me."
The mention on the blood still made Legoshi uncomfortable. He really didn't like the fact that Bill had that on him, and that he was so ready to drink it.
"But then we had that fight." Bill said, "And you said... that to me."
Legoshi knew what Bill was talking about. No elaboration was needed.
"And, let me tell you, you made me angry enough to completely forget how nervous I was!" Bill said to him, "All of a sudden, I stopped caring about screwing up the play or having Louis yell at me. All I could think about was kicking your ass so hard you'd have trouble sitting for weeks and putting a good show while doing it! That totally helped me put on a good performance! I guess being angry makes me a good actor."
Bill was still smiling as he said that.
"So, thanks for insulting me and making me angry enough that I recovered my confidence, I guess?" Bill said, to what Legoshi could only think of saying:
"You're... welcome?"
"That said..." Bill said, pulling Legoshi even closer, his smile suddenly become a tad bit more intimidating. "If you ever call me that again, I'm messing up your jaw so bad you will need to eat through a straw for the rest of your life, got it?"
Legoshi was not that intimidated by Bill, and he only nodded.
"I'll remember that."
"Nice." Bill said, "So, you still haven't told me what kind of music you like. You are a rock type of guy or you prefer pop music? Honestly, I am a fan of the Urban Beasts, they sure are the best, don't you think?"
Legoshi looked at Bill, blinking.
"Urban Beasts?" Legoshi asked, "Who are those?"
It was Bill's turn to blink as he looked at the hybrid in surprise.
"Y-you're joking, right?" Bill asked, "The Urban Beast? One of the best bands of our generation? They have been among the top ten bands ever since their first single seven years ago?"
Legoshi only continued to look at him.
"Dude!" Bill said, "How can you not know the Urban Beasts!? Do you live under a rock or something!?"
Before Legoshi could answer...
"Hey, you two!" Louis said, causing the two carnivores to look his way, and the deer looked at them with his usual serious semblance.
"Quit gossiping like a pair of junior high girls and come here!" Louis said to the two of them. "Sano-san has something important to announce!"
Bill, slightly annoying at how bossy Louis was, let go of the subject of Legoshi's lack of knowledge of common pop culture, and walked there with the hybrid coming right by his side. Legoshi too left the stage light he had been working with his four hands to fix where it was, thinking he would be back at it in a few.
Yeah, having four arms really was useful on some occasions. Especially now that Legoshi no longer needed to hide from the rest of the club that he had them.
"Okay, everyone." Sano said as the club gathered before him. "I'd like to announce to all of you that, starting from today, the Drama Club will have a new member."
This surprised everyone. It was unusual for them to be getting new members like that, out of nowhere, once you could only get on their club with an invitation, and you were usually invited to join at the very beginning of your first year, what meant you entered for the club on the first week of class, not two months on the school year already.
However, Legoshi was the one who had the greatest surprise when the "new member" eventually stepped forward for all of them.
The lioness from before! Legoshi thought as he saw the familiar lioness, still with the very same mask she wore that day.
"Kiira!" Said a female wolf, who rushed forward, taking the lioness' hands. "Kiira, you finally decided to join!"
"Hi, Juno..." The lioness said, with a soft voice, as she looked at her wolf friend. Soon, introductions were being made. But not before some asked some questions, like "who is that chick?" and "what's with the mask?".
"Hello, my name is Kiira." The lioness said, keeping her head low as she spoke. "I am a first-year student, and I have been invited to join Drama Club back when I started in Cherryton, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to join, so I just kept the invitation with me. But this year I finally decided to give it a try. You probably noticed my mask... you see, I have a breathing problem, and I always need to wear it. Hope that is not an issue. Please, accept me in your club."
She bowed as she finished presenting herself, and the animals applauded her, with a lot of them noticing how awkward she seemed.
"So, since you are starting now, I assume that it is better if someone shows you around, right?" Sano said, "Juno-san, you and Kiira know each other, right? Can you show her around the club?"
"Actually..." Kiira said, raising her voice a little bit. "I... would like if Legoshi-senpai was the one who showed me the club."
This surprised everyone, especially Legoshi.
The lioness walked to the hybrid, who stood good two feet taller than her, and looked up at him.
"Senpai... could you show me around?" She asked, and there was no way Legoshi could refuse.
I mean, he was the senpai, and he needed to show the newcomer around, right?
So, with Sano's permission, this was what Legoshi did, going through the most important parts of the Drama Club's areas and of their duties, as well as the many teams that were into it, including the stage hands.
When Kiira asked to look on the storage, Legoshi gladly took her there, and together, they looked on the dinosaur statues that they had there.
"Will you use them for the Meteor Festival this year?" Kiira asked in a soft voice, and Legoshi then shook his head and told her they would be making new status from scratch for the festival, to what she could only nod.
She had been mostly silent all this time... maybe she is a bit like me and is socially awkward? Legoshi thought, as he looked at the lioness who still had her head down and the mask on her face.
"So, Kiira, are you thinking of joining the stagehands?" Legoshi asked, wanting to break the tension a little bit.
"Yeah, I think it will be better." Kiira said, "This way I avoid being in the spotlight. I don't like attention very much."
"Oh..." Legoshi said, "Is that... is that why you asked me to show the storage?"
Kiira took a few seconds to answer, before she said something that surprised Legoshi:
"Actually... I asked you to bring me here because... I wanted to be alone with you."
Legoshi blinked.
"Alone... with me? What...?"
Legoshi trailed on the middle of the question. His nose twitched as he picked a scent. It was... familiar, somehow. But it was also different. Strange. Like a combination of... wait...
This smell is coming...
Legoshi then leaned forward and started sniffing the source of that strange new smell: Kiira herself.
The lioness, of course, was a bit startled, and she retreated a step as the bigger male sniffed her. As he took in her smell.
Her smell. He hadn't noticed it before because he was still nervous due to the events with the vulture and the croc, but now that he could pause and feel her smell, he could tell...
"Kiira..." Legoshi said, looking at the smaller female. "You... you are like me... Aren't you?"
The lioness looked at the male for a few moments, her eyes wide, before she relaxed, her head going down once more.
Slowly, her hands moved to her face, and she unclasped the mask, removing it.
That was when Legoshi could see clearly that Kiira didn't had a snout with whiskers. That she didn't had lips. He could see that Kiira didn't had a feline muzzle covered on the same sand-colored for as the rest of her body, like one would expect from a lioness.
Instead, she had the yellow curved beak of an eagle.
"People say that hybrids have a way to recognize each other, even if they look normal otherwise." Kiira said, her voice as soft as if was when she first talked with the other members. "Of course, they say a lot of things about us, don't they?"
"That we are mistakes. That we should not exist. That we should not be allowed on the streets..." the female hybrid said, her hands clenching as she said that. "They say... so many things..."
Her voice was starting to break, and Legoshi could only look at her, before the half-lioness/half-eagle female looked up at him again.
"Why are they so cruel!?" She said, her voice rising for the first time. "Why are they so mean to us just because we are different? Just because we weren't born like them!? Because of the way we look!? Why are they all so mean to us!?"
Legoshi didn't had an answer for any of those questions, so all he could say was:
"I kind of stopped asking myself that question already."
Kiira looked down again.
"Those two... the way they were treating me... just because I am a lioness..." Kiira said, her voice quiet once more. "They did it only because of that... what would they have done if they had taken of my mask? If they had seen my beak? They would have treated me even worse, wouldn't they?"
Once more, Legoshi could not answer to that, all he could do was look at the female hybrid, as she continued:
"Since I was small... they told me that there was something wrong with me... with my face... everywhere I went... they told me I was wrong... that I was weird... that was why I started wearing this mask, so they wouldn't say it to me all the time. I was so tired of hearing them tell me that I should have a muzzle instead of a beak. I just couldn't bear it anymore!"
"And, I still have to wear the mask everywhere I go!" Kiira said, "Even in my dorm, I cannot afford to take it off, so my roommates won't see it! They all think I have a deformed mouth or a scar on my muzzle! I let them think that, because it is still better than letting them know I have a beak and then start telling me that lionesses should not have beaks!"
She was practically screaming now, and Legoshi was still unable to do anything more than to look at her. He wanted to say something back, but something told him it was better to let her finish her ranting first...
"It is hard to breathe with that thing on..." Kiira said. "I can only take it off when I am really alone. Or when I'm at home with mom or visiting Juno on her house. She knows about my beak too. She is my best friend... my only friend."
"I always thought that, once I grew up, things would get better, that I wouldn't have to hear mean commentaries about my face and the way I look." Kiira continued, "But... it didn't got better. Actually, I think it only got worse. And I... I will have to deal with it my whole life, won't I? Just because I look the way I am now... right?"
Legoshi looked at her, and then he looked down as well.
"Why!?" Kiira said, startling Legoshi. "Why did I had to look like this!? Why did I had to take so much after my stupid father!?"
Legoshi looked at her in shock.
"Why couldn't I have taken just after mom!? Why couldn't I have a beautiful plumage like hers' and wings!?" Kiira said, tears leaking out from her eyes. "Why did I had to come out of my egg covered in fur!? Why!?"
She was sobbing now.
"Why couldn't I have been born normal?"
Legoshi only continued to look at her. He looked at the sobbing female hybrid before him, as he absorbed a lot of things that she had said to him.
And a lot of it hit a bit too close to home.
"Kiira..." Legoshi said, as he knew that now it was the time to start comforting her.
"I... I really don't know what to say to you..." He admitted, causing the female to relax a bit as he gently held her arms. "Animals can be... very judgmental. They can be mean and cruel. They can mistreat you just for being the way you are, and they will think they are right in treating you like that. Believe me, I know."
This did not help, and Kiira looked like she would start sobbing again at any moment.
"I wore my hoodie because I knew that, and I never took it out of fear of them mistreating me again..." Legoshi said, "But, two months ago, I ended up letting the entire school find out about me being a hybrid and... well, it was not as bad as I assumed it would be."
Kiira looked up at him.
"No one has been throwing things at me or calling me names. No one did anything to hurt me like they did in my old school." Legoshi said, "And the people of Drama Club didn't start mistreating me or kicked me out... actually, they all have been very nice to me."
"T-they..." Kiira said, sniffling, "They have?"
Legoshi nodded.
"So, I guess in the end, I think not everyone is like that. Not everyone is mean and cruel with those who look different." The male hybrid said, "But, that's not to say that a lot of them aren't..."
Kiira looked down again, and this time Legoshi touched her beak, lifting as if lifting someone's face by the chin and making her look at him once more.
"But there are animals out there who don't care about those things." He said to her, and he sounded confident in what he was saying. "There are animals like that who won't judge you for being a hybrid and being different from everyone else. They will look at you and see you for the person you are. Those are the people you need to pay attention to."
Legoshi was thinking of Jack and of his roommates as he said that. He was thinking of Tem, who went out of his way to help him keep his secret. He thought of the rest of Drama Club, who was more than ready to accommodate him, and who asked him to stay with them even though he wanted to leave.
He thought of Haru.
"People like that give you strength." Legoshi said to her, "My mother told me that she learned from my dad that people who love each other give each other strength. That they help you overcome anything, no matter how difficult it may be."
Kiira looked at him, and Legoshi wiped away her tears with his fingers.
"So, now that we are on the same club, let's try and give each other strength, okay?" Legoshi said to her, "I know it may be hard, but let's try to face it together, and stand proud. So, maybe one day, I won't need to hide my mane anymore... and you won't need to hide your beautiful beak."
Kiira's eyes widened, she looked at the male.
"B-b-beautiful?" She said, sounding as if she could not believe it. "Y-you think my beak is beautiful?"
Legoshi nodded.
"Yes, I do..." he said, and he gently passed his hand over that beak.
"The color it has, and the way it curves on the point... it is beautiful." He said to her, "My mother told me that every animal is beautiful on their own way, no matter what others may say to you. You just need to look at them to see the beauty in them."
Legoshi tilted his head to look at her, seeing how the yellow beak shone slightly against the light, just like Kiira's brown eyes.
"Your beak really is beautiful." Legoshi said to her. "It is a shame you have to hide it."
She blinked, looking at the male.
"Senpai..." She said, and Legoshi, as if suddenly noticing how awkward this moment was, and how improper he was being by touching another girl's face like that, pulled his hand away.
"W-well..." Legoshi said, blushing. "I-I'm not saying for you to stop using your mask, if you don't want to! I mean, I still wear my hoodie when I leave my dorm! I'm just saying that... you don't need to feel like you need to hide it from me. And I hope one day people will see your beak and admire it for how beautiful it is. That's all."
The silence was awkward between the two.
"So, I better show you where we keep the prompts, right?" Legoshi said, still blushing out of embarrassment for how improper he was. Kiira was blushing too as she looked at the male hybrid.
Only much later Legoshi would find out that he had been the first male to ever say anything nice about Kiira's beak...