"Tang?" Pigsy asked when the other stayed silent for a bit longer than he probably should have. "What'd he say?"
Tang swallowed, closing his eyes as he mulled over what to do for a moment.
"Are you absolutely certain?" he decided to ask, listening as the immortal sighed in frustration.
"No." Sun Wukong admitted. "Not I said, there is still a possibility either way. Just... Try your best to not set off the curse as much as you can before we get back."
"It's a bit late for that," Tang said as he looked at his hands. He glanced over at Pigsy, who nodded for him to continue the conversation.
"You're... hopeless," Sun Wukong said, but there was no venom in his voice. Worry, certainly, but no annoyance or anger. "Okay... Okay, okay, okay... My seal should be slowing your transformations a bit, so you have a bit of a safety net. Just... don't deny any thoughts if they come to you. That at least should be enough to help. And STICK TO VEGETABLES AND FRUIT. We don't need you getting food poisoning while we're gone—"
"TANG GOT FOOD POISONING!?"
The scholar in question winced at that, hearing MK's yells as clear as day despite the kid not holding the phone.
"Yes, but he's fine!" The Monkey King assured before quickly inquiring: "You ARE fine, right?"
"I will be," Tang said with some amount of confidence, turning to Pigsy so his words would be aimed at both parties. "I feel much better now. I just need to avoid... whatever it is rabbits can't eat."
"He will be!" Sun Wukong repeated with a halfhearted chuckle. "You get rest, try not to do anything I wouldn't do—"
"That's a high bar coming from the person who picked a fight with—"
"Don't do anything PIGSY wouldn't do then!" Sun Wukong corrected, giving only the tiniest nervous laugh. He cleared his throat. "We'll figure this out. SD has everything we might need here in her library, we might be able to figure something out before we even get to the twins."
"That's good news," Tang said with a relieved sigh. "Not to derail the subject, but did you... give her the gift?"
"I will when she comes back," Sun Wukong assured. "I promise. And I keep my promises."
"I know you do," Tang acknowledged. "Alright. We're good here, tell MK I am absolutely not dying, and figure out what this is."
Just like earlier, the scholar overheard the kid ask something on the other end of line.
"No," Tang answered firmly. "No, there's no point in you two coming back here just because I had a stomach ache. I'll be fine, call a doctor if I need to. You both need to do what you went there to do."
"You're right," Sun Wukong replied. Tang could see in his mind's eye that the sage was nodding his head in agreement. "Just keep us posted. And try to be very careful with what you eat."
The way he carefully spread the words of the final sentence made Tang believe that was not so subtle code for 'research rabbit diets so you don't die.'
"I will," Tang said with a sigh. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me for now. I'll just... eat more lettuce or... something."
The goodbye over the phone was awkward. How could it not be? But it was said and everyone stood or sat where they were without a word. The situation became all too heavy once again.
"So, what now?" Pigsy asked after a moment. "You gonna stay here? MK did offer."
"No," Tang said with a shake of his head. "No, I can go home at least. I need to... oh..."
"Oh?" Pigsy repeated.
"...I knew I forgot to take care of something..." Tang muttered as he held his face in his hands. How on earth did this slip his mind? He NEVER forgot about this.
Then again, he never turned into a rabbit before.
"What do you mean, Mr. Tang?" Bai He asked curiously.
Tang drew in a breath, then exhaled as he robotically fixed his glasses.
"...I have a class to teach in the morning."
As if this situation couldn't possibly get more complicated. Or awkward.
The awkward silence after his reveal immediately proved Tang wrote in his assumption.
"You can't teach a class while you're sick, Mr. Tang," Bai He insisted after a beat.
Tang sat up. "I'll be fine." That was a lie. "Really, I feel much better already. I just need to be more careful in the future."
Bai He and Pigsy didn't need to know miserable he'd felt.
"Do you think you can make it home okay?" the chef asked as he looked around. "Like I said, MK wouldn't mind."
"Tempting, but I have work I need to finish at home."
"Mr. Tang, did you ever tell your job about being a bunny man?" Bai He asked politely.
There was another beat of silence. And then...
"Heck."
"Tang," Pigsy said seriously as he put a hand on the scholar's shoulder. "You SURE you're okay? There's something you're not telling us. You know you don't have to hide everything, right?"
His tone was so soft, so kind and understanding, so much like...
He could think about that later, he would let himself think about it later.
"Give me some time, chef man?" Tang asked softly.
There was an instant change in Pigsy's expression at that phrase. A familiar phrase.
"Sure... Let's get you home."
I can do this, I can do this, I can do this—
"Mr. Tang!" The school receptionist said brightly when she picked up the phone, clearly having glanced at the caller ID in advance. "I was wondering when you would call, I was worried when you didn't make your usual midweek check in yesterday. Did something come up?"
CAN'T DO THIS.
"You, you know," Tang said as he looked down at his paw hands. "Just... LIFE."
"So the usual," the receptionist said with a bright laugh.
Wonderful.
He couldn't blame her. Though professional, his dynamic with Ms. Ren had always been on the more casual side once he joined the college as one of the more recent on and off again professors. Maybe it was because she was younger and had traveled quite a lot, but she was much more casual with him than anyone else at the college.
Which meant that, on occasion, the two of them had a tendency to get into far too long conversations over the phone. Talking about their current minor woes with cars or hobbies or talking about... okay, BRAGGING about MK.
If Tang walked out of all of this on two legs he would have to treat her to Pigsy's Noodles at some point. She deserved it for listening to him rant so much.
"It's a bit... more than that this time," he said with as even of a tone of voice as he could manage.
"Oh..." Ms. Ren hummed under her breath, catching onto his meaning quickly. "Is everything okay, Mr. Tang?"
"Listen," Tang said with a sigh. "Is there really no other way to reschedule the class?"
"I wish there was," she said. She sounded genuinely apologetic. He believed her. "It's too short notice, you'd have to wait at least two more weeks."
Which meant he either took a hit to his paycheck...
Or went in.
It wasn't like he was in a financial crisis at the moment, he could afford his rent for the next month or two without the work. And it might be safer to just stay home, take the hit and take the next two weeks to deal with all of this and round out his plans. And if it were something else like, say, going to the doctor?
He would do it. Call out instantly. He'd done it before, until Pigsy caught him and dragged him in.
But he also loved his job. He adored being able to stand in front of an entire class of people who CHOSE to be there and listen to him, to share the history of China and the story and anthropology of the Journey to the West. He loved it when his students asked him to elaborate on something or speculated in just the right direction for him to go off on a fun tangent.
Was he willing to risk going in and possibly triggering some kind of change?
...
...
...
...Yes.
Call him a dumbass, but he was.
"I-I... I'll be there on schedule," Tang said with maybe a fourth of an ounce of conviction in his tone. "B—But! Something happened while I was gone and uh, could you make an announcement to the students before class that my appearance has... drastically changed?"
"Did you get hurt or something?"
"Not... really? Just... I'll see you before I get there, you'll know what happened soon enough."
"Hmn..." Ms. Ren was scowling at him through the phone, he could hear it in her voice. "I don't like you not telling me what happened... but if I'll know the first thing tomorrow then I guess I'll just have to wait. I'll pass on the message."
"Thank you!" Tang breathed out in relief. "I appreciate it, thank you."
"But you better bring me coffee to make up for making me worry about you!" She said, clearly joking.
With a joking assurance that he would and a goodbye, they both hung up.
Two awkward calls in the same day, that wasn't a record for Tang but boy... did it feel like one when so much was going on. He reached up and ran his claws over his ears, the motion soothing him just enough to breathe a bit easier.
It was getting easier and easier to imagine this being his new normal. The idea of teaching a class like this was... overwhelming. But not so much that he couldn't see it happening at all.
The more he sat there on his couch, the more his mind wandered. Why was he willing to teach a class of young adults like this but not tell Pigsy that he had feelings for him? Why? Why was he able to find the courage to stand up to Scorpion Demoness, to Macaque, to fight the Lady Bone Demon, to take a curse meant for MK, but not THIS?
What happens if I tell Pigsy the truth after I fully change? Would that make me a... coward?
He grimaced at the thought after everything he had been through the last year.
His claws slowly dug through the fur of his ears and he thought back to what he almost trailed off into thinking about earlier. He couldn't help but close his eyes, body slowly slumping against his couch as his mind drifted.
"Guy, you've been moping around my shop for two hours. Somethin' wrong?"
"Oh, I just..." Tang trailed off, looking down at his cup of water. He hadn't even ordered his food yet. But his appetite... "It's nothing I want to burden you with."
"Try me."
"Pigsy—"
"Tang."
The two men fell into a sort of dense silence, slightly uncomfortable given the circumstances for the young scholar.
"Really, it's nothing!" Tang insisted with a laugh. An empty laugh that even he didn't believe. "You don't have to worry about me, Pigsy. Really."
"Hmmmn... Yeah, that's not flying here," Pigsy said with a shake of his head before heading out of the kitchen. Before Tang could even ask what the chef was doing, Pigsy had already shuttered the windows and flipped the welcome sign on the door. Tang could only watch in astonishment as the chef returned to the kitchen and started to pull out ingredients as if he had not just closed his shop down early. "There. Now I'm not workin'. I'm making myself some dinner. What's got you so sad?"
"But-But your shop—!"
"Can close an hour early tonight," Pigsy insisted. He turned to Tang, an expression of concern clear on his face. "Place was slow tonight anyway. Come up to the bar, no use talking from one of the tables where we gotta yell to be heard."
Tang looked down at his water again. Uncertainty flopped inside him despite the chef's words. Who was he to dump all of his worries and woes on the other man after so long?
They'd been friends in college, much closer than they were now. They'd never truly lost touch, but time had taken its usual toll and they had drifted apart into acquaintances. College was a long time ago in the grand scheme of things, being a third of Tang's own life away. They were both in their thirties now, and things had to have changed by now in their time spent apart. Pigsy's Noodles itself hadn't changed much. The restaurant was still the cozy little place that Pigsy had bragged about opening long ago. It looked so much like all the pictures Tang had seen online while he was out of the city on his post-education studies. He'd been so excited to come back and support his friend, and he had! He'd come in to eat at least once a week for the past few months he had been back.
Maybe that's why he'd chosen this place. To think that he had the audacity to sully the memory of good times with this.
"Tang?"
"...I was supposed to meet someone."
"A friend?"
"..."
"A date?" Pigsy asked a second time. He continued when Tang nodded. "So you were stood up, then."
"It's stupid, I know," Tang said with an empty laugh. "There are other people out there, wh-what's the point in being upset over being stood up by just one person?"
"You can't help feeling hurt when someone hurts you," Pigsy said without missing a beat. "You're allowed to be upset. You know that, right?"
Tang did. He thought he did. But it was clear that he didn't if he was being this hard on himself for just feeling disappointed.
"You haven't changed that much since college, after all," Tang commented with a chuckle.
"You haven't changed either," Pigsy countered with a shrug. "Same dork who never stops working even when you have a date coming up."
Tang frowned, looking down at the book he had brought with him. "...Maybe that's what put him off, I—"
"No, whoever that guy was, he's just a dick."
Hearing the other curse was so shocking that Tang couldn't help but let out a shocked laugh. Shocked and high pitched and almost giggly.
"Pigsy!"
"It's true!" Pigsy insisted with a grunt and a nod of his head. "Anyone who wouldn't show up to a date with someone as smart as you is a dick!"
"You always said you couldn't curse because it would be bad for business!"
"My customers ain't here, just my friend," Pigsy countered. "My friend who got stood up and who needs to tell me what the guy looked like so I know which spoon to set aside for terminal velocity."
"Noooooooooo!" Tang couldn't help but lengthen the word, giggles bubbling up the more Pigsy went on. The threats were empty: at least Tang HOPED so. "He's just a normal human, spare him!"
"Hmn..." The chef made a big show about thinking it over before sighing dramatically. "Fine. But only because you're smiling again. That's your most handsome feature. No wonder you had girls and guys fawning over you in school."
Those words made Tang pause. Or rather, one particular word that caused him to inhale sharply.
Handsome.
Pigsy said he was... handsome?
Was he complimenting him to make him feel better, or...
"You never did order more than your drinks and a snack," Pigsy continued, snapping Tang from his line of thought. "So we'll split these noodles."
"What?" Tang blinked. "No, no I can't possibly just take free—"
"Yes, you are," Pigsy said firmly, turning around with a smirk. "You've been sitting in here for three hours without real food, you've gotta be starving. Consider this a favor from a friend."
A... friend...
"Okay..." Tang agreed, after a moment. His face felt warm. "Free noodles it is then, chef man..."
Pigsy laughed at that.
The warmth on Tang's face only grew as he finally realized how... handsome the other was when he laughed...
Monkey King sighed, rubbing his face roughly as he closed yet another book.
"I haven't read this many books in one sitting since I was in high school," MK complained from beside him. "All the letters are starting to blur."
"We should have brought Tang after all," Sun Wukong groaned.
It has only been four hours, and the sage already wanted to throw in the towel. If only these were audiobooks! He could do audiobooks for hours. One of mankind's greatest inventions—though not nearly as great as fireworks of course—giving him the ability to multitask like no other. Ears and mind transfixed by the words of the author while his hands crafted or he did some kind of mundane task. But physically sitting down and reading a random book?
Unless it was something he personally found interest in it was hard to find that inner focus he spent years carefully crafting.
But he could find it. He had found it for the last four hours.
A nagging little voice in the back of his head reminded him that he HAD to find it. Tang would have had a much easier time looking through everything though. So much easier.
"I could bring us a snack, if you like," Scorpion Demoness suggested as she took the books the three of them had sifted through for the evening and placed them in their new homes on her shelves. "It's getting late enough that, since we haven't heard anything else from Tang, everything should be okay now... right?"
There was the sound of a low, unhappy grumble from one side of the table.
MK was, rightfully when Sun Wukong thought about it, upset with his mentor. Not angry, at least not after anymore after he learned what his teacher had been hiding. But still upset.
"Are you sure we shouldn't head back!?" MK shouted as he waved his arms, too much nervous energy in his body to stay still. "Tang sounded really bad!"
"I know, but I trust him to tell me the truth about his condition at the very least," Sun Wukong said with a sigh as he handed his successor back his phone. "He should be fine for a bit longer."
"What's going on with him? You admitted you didn't tell us everything!" MK said with a scowl. "Is Tang dying!? Did you all just lie to Bai He?"
"He is NOT dying!" Sun Wukong answered quickly with a wave of his own hands. "I promise he isn't. He's just... just..."
"Just what?"
"This truth telling curse," Sun Wukong sighed. "It's... Got other uses. It's also works as a confession curse. That includes love confessions. The curse has been modified to transform both humans and demons into... other forms."
"If you say Tang is turning into an actual rabbit," MK started before seeing his mentor's flinch."...You... no. You're not serious..."
A small, stiff nod was the kid's answer.
"I. WAS. JOKING!"
"Joking about what?" Scorpion Demoness asked as she walked in holding a tray of fresh steamed food.
"THE MONKEY KING IS KEEPING SECRETS AND MY DAD'S GONNA BE A RABBIT!"
"Would it help if I said Tang asked me not to say anything?"
"ONLY A LITTLE!"
"I," Scorpion Demoness said as she put down the food. "Am very lost. Can we start at the beginning please?"
And so they did
Sun Wukong had to tell him what the curse could be. Tang had acknowledged as much in their call. The knowledge that he had kept Tang's secret upset MK, but given he was only hiding it temporarily out of respect for Tang's own wishes he understood.
There were no more secrets, except who Tang's love confession was too. Granted it was obvious. Neither of them had to guess who it was, not when even after only a few minutes together in front of Scorpion Demoness she could tell there was a connection between Tang and Pigsy. But Sun Wukong considered it a small consolation to be able to tell Tang he never said who it was at least.
The two of them had listened to the sage's explanation quietly. Scorpion Demoness in serious and somber nods, and MK in frustrated but serious ones.
All three of them had set to work while eating, careful not to damage any of the books or scrolls as best they could. After a while, it had become more than a little obvious that the library was in desperate need of organizing. They were finding it hard to keep the reading material organized AND find what they were looking for. Which led to their current situation: shelving and organizing everything they read through.
It was tedious. It was time consuming.
But it was getting the job done at least.
"HmmmmaaaAARRGGHG!" MK yelled out, sprawling out on the table before himself. "Brain.
Mush. Eyes. Tired."
"Maybe you should rest instead, then," Scorpion Demoness suggested. "Even just a short nap will perk you right up. You did say there should be time before his transformations are finished, right?
"Thanks to my seal," Sun Wukong confirmed with a nod. "Any large transformation should be slowed down or diminished. I made it strong enough that it should buy us at least forty-eight hours even if he rushes through them all."
"That's still not a lot of time," MK grumbled out in frustration. "I—"
"Can't find anything of use if you're too tired to know what to do with it," Sun Wukong interrupted. "You're still mortal and need sleep. I can keep on going until the brothers come back, I don't need to sleep like you mortals do."
MK looked ready to protest before a yawn overtook him.
"...You're right," he admitted with a groan. "I hate that you're right."
"Course I'm right. You're sitting to the left of me" Sun Wukong attempted to joke. It was a terrible attempt. The Monkey King coughed. "A-Anyways. Get some rest. You deserve it."
"Could you help me clear the table first?" Scorpion Demoness inquired. "I can get you that snack on the way to your quarters."
MK's stomach responded for him.
"Well, that answers that!" Sun Wukong announced as he scooped up his pile of books. "I'm going to shelve these! Byeeeeee!"
There was a moment of silence as the other two watched him rush off before they started to gather up dishes.
"You're a lot like he was," Scorpion Demoness mused as the two of them worked. "Well, when he had amnesia, anyway."
"Monkey King?" MK asked in confusion.
"Yeah," she confirmed with a nod. She chuckled as she scooped up the plates from MK's hands, the kid scowling at his attempts to help being thwarted. "Not exactly, you haven't busted in one of my walls, but you've got that same... energy."
"I give off the same vibe?" MK asked. "What's my vibe check?"
"You pass, but only because you haven't tried to hit me with a stick."
"I apologized for that!" Sun Wukong protested from across the room.
The rest of the cleaning went without much rush or issue. Once MK had been given some fruit, a drink, and a room, he proceeded to immediately flop onto his bed. Scorpion Demoness hadn't even closed the door before the kid fell asleep.
Things were tense in the library as Scorpion Demoness reunited with the Monkey King.
"Hey," Sun Wukong said after half an hour of more searching. "I don't know when the best moment to give this to you would be, but... here."
Scorpion Demoness looked at him in confusion as he reached into his pocket and held out a fist.
"Tang asked me to give this to you," he explained, waiting for her to extend her hand to place the object in her palm. "He wants to try being friends again. Real friends this time. When this is over? I can take you back with us. It wouldn't be a comfortable ride back but... I should have brought him with us. So you can tell him your answer yourself."
There was an unspoken implication in the "over": the "should have" that they could both feel. If Tang was turning into a demon, it would just be the start of a possible friendship. But if not...
It was a gesture of kindness Sun Wukong did not wish to fill. To take her to see Tang before the worst might happen.
Scorpion Demoness looked at the pendant in her hand before undoing the clasp at the end of the chain. The stone glittered in the soft light of the library as she rubbed it between her fingers.
"I'd appreciate that," she said quietly.
The silence that fell between them was no less tense, but as they organized into the night they seeped into a synchronization of some sort.
They didn't have the heart to wake MK when they checked on him a few hours later.
It was cold.
Tang's apartment was never this cold. He never felt this cold inside the building. If anything he should be too warm with his new thick layer of fur.
There was a breeze blowing the exposed fur on the back of his neck.
Why?
He didn't have any fans on. Or have his air conditioning running that hard. Did he leave his window open, perhaps? No, he didn't remember even going back to his room. He... fell asleep on his couch, didn't he? He was certain he did. No... No, he had gone back to his room, changed into a pair of pajamas, and then... then...
He didn't remember crawling into bed.
The bed—no, not a bed. The ground? The ground under him crumbled under his claws as he flexed them.
"Where... Where am I?" Tang breathed as he sat up.
It wasn't home.
He was outside. Half inside a collapsed hole of some kind and half exposed to the elements. He was hidden only by the large bushes around him, bushes that were shockingly familiar.
He recognized this place.
He looked up, seeing his own apartment above him.
He'd come to this park often, on walks when he needed a break from his lesson plans or just to get out of the house. It wasn't a supremely popular park by any stretch of the imagination, but it was nice and comforting.
But now it felt far too large, foreboding almost as he sat in his pajamas and covered in dirt.
Had he... had he dug this hole himself?
He couldn't remember...
He must have, though. He had to have. His hands and claws were caked in dirt, not to mention his clothes (he was certain they were ruined now, there was no way that they wouldn't be stained at this point).
Tang was up and rushing back to his apartment before he could register what was happening.
The door was, thankfully, unlocked. He hadn't locked it while he was... sleepwalking.
...He must have been sleepwalking. He'd done it before. Mostly as a child, but he had!
Could sleepwalking come back? Could one grow out of sleepwalking and then relapse?
Maybe. Possibly. He was stressed, that was the only explanation he could think of. And stress caused memory lapses.
...He didn't know if he was just trying to fool himself or make himself feel better as he carefully showered himself off. It could have been both. Dirt covered the floor, evidence of whatever he had done in the night. Was that what he was trying to do the night before in bed? The burrowing instincts the Monkey King mentioned... that had to be it, that was normal for rabbit demons.
Tang sighed as he stepped out of the shower. The chill of the air on his wet fur made him shiver miserably as he grabbed his hair dryer and got to work.
He got dressed, motions almost robotic as he tried to brush aside his waking moments. He'd just... left the door unlocked and sleepwalked out. His rabbit instincts took over when he found a place to sleep. That was it.
His stomach growled as it protested his lack of breakfast. He'd just have to get some on the way.
It would be fine.
He looked at the clock. 11 AM.
It would be fine.
All he had to do was get to the college, teach his class, and then he can just go home and forget anything weird had ever ha—
"Whoa!"
There was someone at his door. Someone that he had almost accidentally hit with his door.
"Pigsy?" Tang asked in confusion. "What are you—"
"I brought you lunch!" Pigsy said quickly. "Er, what I... think might be a good idea for you to have for lunch?"
Tang's stomach grumbled at the word lunch. But also at the smell coming from the bag the other held.
"Did... did you buy me cucumbers?" The human-turned-rabbit sniffed again. "And strawberries?"
"And kale!" Pigsy said proudly. "That's less exciting, I know, but after yesterday I thought you deserved something nice but still edible? I did some digging and found out rabbit demons can eat a lot of stuff rabbits can't normally, so fruit should be fine for you even though regular rabbits shouldn't have it that often, and—"
Tang listened as Pigsy continued sharing his findings.
Pigsy had... done research on what he could eat. And then made him a meal... delivered it to his home himself... probably closed the shop to do so.
"Pigsy?"
"Hmn?"
"I... I, uh... I..."
Just SAY IT! SAY IT AND GET IT OVER WITH, YOU ARE FINE SAYING ANYTHING ELSE THAT COMES TO MIND COME ON.
"...Appreciate the lunch a lot."
The yelling in Tang's head devolved into unintelligible screaming.
There was a silence after Tang spoke, and the scholar immediately feared that he said the wrong thing. Did Pigsy want him to thank him in a different way? Was he being too formal? Was he not showing enough surprise? But his fears were instantly assuaged as he realized the chef's face was slowly turning a deeper shade of pink.
It was a nice shade of pink. It suited him.
"I-It wasn't that big a deal," Pigsy remarked as he rubbed the back of his head. "Market day and all. Just picked up some. Things!"
"That was very thoughtful of you."
Tang's mind was still screaming.
He was such a coward.
"A-Anyways..." the scholar said, gently taking the bag from the chef's hands. "I gotta go. To work! Gotta. Make money to live! OKAYTHANKYOUIAPPRECIATEYOUBYE!"
Tang bolted out the door before Pigsy could respond. The screaming in his head was gone but he somehow felt worse than before for leaving the other in the dust. But...
Though he had been rushing by, the scholar swore he saw Pigsy smiling wider than he'd had in days.
Tang took calming breaths as he walked up to the front desk at his college. He muttered to himself: soft enough that he could pick up the words with his ears but so that most people around him wouldn't notice he was muttering without seeing him move his mouth.
"It's fine, it's fine, everything is fine, I can handle it, everything is—"
"Mr. Tang?"
Tang froze immediately, taking a deep breath before looking up at the receptionist. "...Hello, Miss Ren..."
"This... was not what I expected when you said something happened..."
"...Surprise?" Tang said with a half-hearted chuckle, holding out his arms so she could get a full look at what had happened. No use in hiding it at this point after all. "It was... I didn't think you'd believe me if I said it over the phone. And I was a tad embarrassed?"
"Are you okay?" She asked instead. The cat demon stood from her desk, making her way around it with a frown on her face. "I mean... you're awfully old to—no, that's rude! Uh!"
"I get what you mean. And no," Tang said with a sigh. "No, this isn't a late growth spurt. It's... something else."
"But are you okay?" Miss Ren asked again. "You're not in pain, are you?"
"Just my pride," he answered with a sigh as he looked down at his lunchbox. "And my ears ring a bit more than usual, but I think that comes with the territory of. You know. Rabbit stuff."
"I would imagine so," she agreed with a nod. Her tail was low to the ground, swishing back and forth at the tip and threatening to thump against the ground. She was... agitated. Worried?
"Listen, uh... I could try to maybe pull some strings? Get you a later class time if you're not feeling well? Whatever this is, it's a lot of stress for anyone's body to go through in only a few days."
"I think I can handle a few rowdy college kids even if I was sick for a month and teaching from my bed," Tang assured her with a smile.
"If you say so..." Miss Ren said, her frown not moving at all. "I'd feel a lot better if you promised to get back to me about that coffee we mentioned yesterday. Would you like me to inform the—"
"PLeaSE?" Tang's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I shouldn't put that on you but it's been... a lot? You don't have to—"
"It's just a few calls," Miss Ren smiled, her tail finally lifting just a bit. Less concerned. "I can absolutely handle that much for a friend.
"Thank you."
"Good morning, class," Tang announced when he entered his classroom. The normal and moderately excited chatter turned to dead silence as he walked in. For an obvious reason. "I know, I know, I'm going to acknowledge the obvious. I am a rabbit demon. Last week I was human. This is a thing that happened. I—"
"What happened to you, Mr. Tang?" One student interrupted. That was the only cue needed before a chorus of curious and concerned questions erupted from the class.
He heard one student ask if he was feeling alright. Another asking if he could hear better with his new ears. One more asked how his glasses were staying up.
When one asked if he had a tail, followed by at least three other glassmates snickering in tandem, he knew he had to put an end to the interrogation.
"N-Now! Uh!" Tang said, throwing his hands up. "What happened to me is NOT something you should concern yourselves with. I'm fine, that is all that matters at the moment. Let's focus on today's lecture, please."
Though there was some soft pushback, it seemed like the students were willing to respect his request at least.
He could handle this.
...
About fifty seven minutes in, things started to take a turn.
"What do you think happened?"
"Shh, he told us not to ask! Pay attention."
"But aren't you a little curious how our human teacher became a rabbit demon out of nowhere?
This stuff happens to kids in middle school, no—"
"I CAN HEAR YOU, Mr. Yao in seat 5-10."
"How the—"
Tang turned around from the board and pointed directly to his ears.
"...Oh." the student blinked said with an awkward smile and a flush of embarrassment. A good majority of the class giggled at the event, making him flush more in response. "Oh come on, how am I supposed to realize that!?"
"He's a bun bun, dumb dumb!" Another student sighed, gasping after a moment. "I'm sorry sir, I should have said rabbit."
"It's... fine?" Tang replied. It wasn't insulting to him to be called that, but it did feel a little too cutesy for his liking. "I'd rather you use rabbit or bunny, please. Now, back on topic!"
He spun back around, not giving the students the chance to ask more questions.
Thirty minutes to go.
Twenty five.
Twenty.
Class was going surprisingly well. Outside of the start and the small interruption (and some mild gossip he was certain was usual and he just never heard before), his students had been just as attentive as ever.
Fifteen.
Ten...
Damn his new hearing.
"Doesn't the prof have a boyfriend or something?" One of his students whispered to another in the back of the room. "The pig noodle guy? What do you think he thinks about this?"
He didn't mean to think it. It came unbidden.
The snap of something on top of and inside his mouth made him close it. Snap it shut.
Pain instantly flooded his mouth and he yelped. His free hand covered his mouth while his other hand quickly put the pointer down.
"Mr. Tang?" One of the usually more quiet students spoke up from the front of the room. "Are you okay?"
At the sound of his name, the scholar took in a heavy breath, nodding slowly as he pulled his hand away from his mouth. There was a dark spot in his fur. Combined with the pain in his tongue and lip, as well as the copper taste in his mouth, it didn't take a genius to realize what happened.
And he only had five minutes to go...
"Well," Tang said as evenly as he could as he held his hand over his mouth despite his rising heart rate. Everything felt too big, too loud, too everything. "C-Class dismissed. I will be heading to the infirmary." The moment those words left his lips, he grabbed his lunch and rushed out as quickly as he could. Some students yelled after him, voices full of confusion and concern. He was faster.
Like his heart rate.
Was this a panic attack? He'd never experienced one before, only anxiety attacks, but this felt so much stronger. No, it would be worse than this, he was certain of it. So... what?
His tongue ran over the row of sharp demon fangs that lined his entire mouth. Behind the more rabbit-like snout he had formed back in the classroom.
He could have sworn he heard a familiar voice calling him as he rushed out of the school. He could come back for his paperwork later. It was as if there was a disconnect between his legs and brain; his legs were moving on autopilot.
Before he knew it he had run off campus entirely. He was... How far had he run?
Far. His legs were aching, he had been running for a while. What... happened? What was that?
Chest heaving, he stops and crumples to the ground in an abandoned alleyway.
He needed to sit. Sitting was good. Just... sit down on the ground for a minute and catch his breath. There was a spot of sunlight he could see on his knees that he could focus on and gather his bearings. It was so... loud.
"Well, now," a familiar voice cut through the too loudness of everything, startling a gasp out of Tang. Someone stepped in front of him, blocking what little sunlight he could feel. "What do we have here? I always thought you'd be a cicada, but..."
Tang looked up to see the Six-Eared Macaque smirking down at him.
"A jumpy little bunny rabbit seems fitting for you as well."
(Author's note- While not brought up in the chapter, Miss Ren is a Pallas Cat demon.)