Edited to fix typos and add/remove some lines
JC silently finished his last sketch for the festival the following night, leaning against the platform for the T-Rex display as he worked,
'there, now I'll have extra free time tomorrow while I'm waiting for the images to print ready for tomorrow night, hm?"
he watched as Legoshi approached Haru and squatted to talk to her, then seeing Haru getting frustrated suddenly and going into her stall, Legoshi following her, JC sighed gently and moved to another location, behind a marquee just to be alone, he sighed as he pulled out his Beetron notes and flipped to the last page of the notepad itself, silently looking over the words "love triangle formed between Beetron and 2 female members of the Anti-Lycan Defence Team, a female wolf intern, and a female rabbit investigator" he sighed and turned back a couple of pages to the notes mentioning the female wolf joining the team, he silently pencilled in "lycan?" before sighing and putting the notepad away, he stared blankly at the ground, not noticing someone approaching
"are you OK?" he looked up, seeing the mayor of the city, a lion who had his fangs removed amongst other surgical alterations, approaching him, tearing up what appeared to be a business card,
"oh, hey mayor" JC said "I'm fine, I think, just need to get away from a bit of life" he added
"i understand how that is, but can you do something for me?"
"erm….sure?"
"good, I need you to go find Louis, the red deer and bring him back here, I need to tell him something in confidence" JC nodded silently, got up and went to look for Louis, passing Kibi and a pair of his friends, an oryx and a harlequin rabbit as he headed to the stage,
"Louis" JC called up to him as he spoke with Sheila and a lemur, he looked towards him "the mayor wants to talk to you, I think it's urgent" Louis' eyes widened a bit before narrowing, moments later, Louis followed JC to where the mayor was,
"was it mentioned why the mayor needed me?" he asked,
"no, only that it's confidential" JC sighed "maybe it has something to do with you being the favourite for the up and coming Beastar"
they arrived at the tent and JC took his leave, planning to go back around to be alone, he paused as heard the mayor and Louis talking, notably hearing a word, or a name, that would linger in his memory for a while.
afterwards, JC wandered over to the flower stall to check in on Haru, wanting to see how she was after her talk with Legoshi,
"Haru, you around?" he called as he looked around the stall and the others nearby "Haru? Where is she?" he wondered, getting distracted by a brawl happening behind him, he turned and stared, seeing Legoshi and Louis fighting each other "what in the?" he approached as a 4 other animals restrained the two, keeping them apart, he paused, hearing Legoshi's declaration of Haru being his, JC shook his head in frustration and walked over to Louis
"I've got everything I need Louis, I'm heading back" he said, casting a look at Legoshi before walking of, not seeing Legoshi and Louis watching him leave, both realising that JC didn't know what they knew.
JC noticed the weather turning sour as the day slowly dwindled away, he sighed as he finished digitally sketching the last image he was making, he glanced over at the door as someone knocked on it, he got up and answered, seeing Juno standing there, looking concerned, JC stared at her,
"can I help you?"
"it's Legoshi, he didn't come back to school with the rest of us" she told him, JC frowned and turned away
"so, why come to me about this, I'm not his carer" he replied, doing his best to filter out the bitterness in his voice "why don't you speak to Louis about it?"
"because, he refused to tell me anything, but I think that rabbit is involved" Juno replied, JC looked at her again silently, before heading to the door,
"i need to go somewhere, if I find out anything, I'll let you know" JC said as he ran towards the dorms, planning to check in on Jack and the others, just to see if they knew anything, he paused for a moment and glanced back at her "I'm sure he's fine, Juno, best get back to the drama club for now, you're needed for the performance tomorrow night, he'd want you to perform regardless of what's happening" he said before resuming his run, he practically sprinted up the stairs, panting as he reached the 7th floor and looked at room 701, he knocked and waited, Jack pulled the door open,
"JC? I thought it would've been Legoshi" he said as he allowed JC in, the mood of the room was that of concern,
"if it were Legoshi at the door and not me, he'd open the door on his own, right?"
"yeah, that's true" Jack said, sitting on the floor, JC approached the window and silently watched the summer rain falling, pulling out his phone and checking something, putting in the word or name he had heard earlier, his eyes widened a bit from what he saw, quickly closing the browser and sighing, gently,
"do you know what's going on?" he asked "Dom and Kibi at the drama club said that he left without his things, then had to go when he got a call, apparently another student is missing"
JC looked at Jack "i only know as much as you do" he admitted just as there was a knock at the door, Durham got up and to answer it, JC didn't see who it was, but the cry of shock from him was enough for the other boys to get up and see who it was, JC moved to see and saw that it was the housemother of the dorm, a mandrill whom JC had heard about before, she started demanding answers to Legoshi's delinquency, a question about a small animal female student caught Jack off guard as he questioned what that had anything to do with him not being there, she answered by pulling out three books of small animal communication, the other boys stared in disbelief,
"so apart from being in his bag, why do you think they're Legoshi's?"
everyone looked at JC,
"e-excuse me?"
"check the inside covers, and tell us if Legoshi's name is on any of them" she stared and looked at each, only finding JC's name "didn't think so, I lent those to Legoshi a little while ago to help him out a bit"
"uh, be that as it may, he's still away from the school with a small female student, that is evidence enough" she argued
"so your saying that he's not out there looking for the animal that devoured her?" everyone was speechless at this "so, what your saying is that, if a herbivore student is devoured on or off school campus, then it's fine, but if 2 of them are missing at the same moment, that draws the line all the way back to debauchery" JC said, his voice slowly filling with rage as he pushed passed the boys and into the hall, passing the housemother and other students who were listening in,
"wait, where are you going?" she questioned, JC paused at the top of the stairs,
"I'm going off to find them both, don't try and stop me, I'm already sick of the BS in my life, I don't need another layer of it now" he ran down the stairs and out the dorm, heading straight to a fence and climbing over it, not stopping until he reached an area near the black market, panting hard from the running, he inhaled and sighed before strolling into the black market, looking around as he walked, before spotting who he was looking for, the panda from before,
"well, well, well, never expected to see you coming back here" he said as he looked JC over "looks like your over your PTSD"
"i think adrenaline negates it somewhat"
"i see, but why are you here"
"i think you know, I'm looking for Legoshi" the panda stared, JC noticed the blood stains on his outfit and fur,
"him and that white rabbit?" JC nodded "last I saw him, he was here" he pulled out his phone and showed JC a map of a park near a lake, JC stared at it
'OK, so, it's late, I doubt either of them have eaten, so….food'
"anywhere to eat near there?"
"yeah, some food places are right here" the panda showed him where an underground fairway was "a few are right there"
"then that's where I'll start looking" JC said "thanks"
"good luck kid" the panda said as JC ran off towards where the stores were, realising that he was hungry as well on the way there
'looks like I have another reason to be there'
JC looked around the various stores, looking for any sign of Legoshi and Haru, but sighed gently as he couldn't find anything, he sat down as a pelican approached,
"ah, hello there, want something" he asked as JC looked up at him,
"ramen in a to-go box, surprise me with how it is, but nothing spicy or with soy"
"understood"
"I'm also looking for some friends"
"give me a moment" the pelican went back inside and JC sighed, pulling out some money to pay, after a bit, the pelican returned "here we go, so, what can you tell me about the friends your looking for?" JC slid the money to him and tasted some of the noodles, the faux beef flavour danced on his taste buds before he answered
"I'm looking for a grey wolf and a dwarf rabbit" he paused to think "the wolf is slightly taller then I am, and might have a few bloodstains on his clothing"
"ah yes, I served them not too long ago, they said something about needing accommodation for the night because the trains have stopped until morning, but the wolf was a bit low on funds, and the rabbit, who was wearing a top similar to yours that might've belonged to the wolf, suggested a place near here"
"i see" JC said, having some more ramen "did you catch the name of the place"
"no, but if I had to guess, it's in the red light district" JC gagged on the mouthful of ramen had,
"what, seriously?"
"yes, anyway, I should get back to work" the pelican said as he followed a goat who stepped into the shop, JC stared at the ramen and stood, eating as he headed to the red light district,
'interesting that they'd head there, but then again, love hotels are fairly cheap, but still, I honestly hope they're both OK'
JC poured the rest of the ramen into his mouth and threw the box into a nearby bin, heading to the red light district.