"so none of you need to worry about me, my body cannot process raw meat like regular carnivores do, so there's no need to fear, besides, I have a good reason to do all of this"
JC sighed deeply, he had spent the better half of an hour, standing before everyone who had gathered in Seven's room, explaining to them all, why he, over last 2 weeks, had brought burgers into his apartment, the scent of the cooked meat having caught the attention of some of them,
"i know it sounds crazy, but that's all it is" he managed to say in order to prove his sanity,
"you have a strong faith that you follow" Sagwan said "it's no different to the faith I follow, as long as we don't dismiss the faith others have"
"agreed" Bogue added "each of us have our own viewpoints, which is why I became a writer, and it is nice to share them to allow more viewpoints to emerge"
"i guess" Seven said "sorry about bringing it up, it just brought back memories the day I first ran into Legoshi, didn't even realise that we were going to be neighbours when that happened"
JC smiled gently, but then noticed a shadow passing by Seven's door "guess Legoshi finally came home" he said, the others going to the door to peek out, he was caught off guard when he heard Haru's voice greeting them, only for them to greet her back, he peeked out, seeing her and Legoshi heading into his apartment, he stepped into the hallway and stared at Legoshi's door for a bit,
"you OK there big guy?" Seven asked him, he looked at her
"yeah" he replied, checking his phone, confirming the date as Legoshi's birthday, figuring out that Haru was with him for that reason, "i should get back to my room for now, something I need to do"
"o-ok, see you later then" Seven said as he approached the stairwell and headed down to his room, but only to lean against the outside of his door, remembering his own birth date for the first time in many years, his foster parents neglecting it since he went into their care, but he chose to embrace it because of them, not even going as far as telling anyone at Cherryton what the date was because of that fact, he wanted to tell someone close to him, but in the back of his mind, he didn't care if he wanted anyone to know or not, he shook his head, was this him thinking, ever since the fiasco regarding Cherryton, he had become colder towards himself and his own self esteem, he stood there for the longest time as he heard Haru and Legoshi coming down, Haru seeming to look a bit pissed, but neither were saying anything, Haru pausing on the landing,
"JC?" she questioned, seeing him "you live here as well?"
"yeah" he replied, just staring blankly ahead "but you already know why I didn't tell you"
"yeah, I know" she said, taking note of of his door number "listen, Legoshi and I are heading out on a date, I'll check in on you when we get back" JC glanced at her when she said that,
"that'd be nice Haru, thanks" she nodded and continued on, Legoshi trailing behind her, JC walked over to the balcony edge and watched them go before heading into his apartment, pushing aside an empty burger box off of his futon before laying on it in the darkness, staring at the light fixture hanging over him as his eyes adapted to the darkness, he silently remembered the best and worst of his life, the events starting the year before were the most clear to him, due to them being so impactful,
"never thought that you'd dwell on the past like this" he glanced to the side, seeing Jandamarra's spiritual form standing there,
"after what happened, you might do the same" JC replied
"that's fair" Jandamarra said, sitting by him "it's comforting that you're visiting us more often, even if it is for training in our ways of combat"
"just need to be ready for the next major hurtle, I feel like it's extremely close, but not sure when it'll happen"
"i feel it too, even some of the elders feel uneasy about what is coming"
"that's why I need to be ready for it when it comes" Jandamarra gently nodded
"i understand, and will help you whenever possible" he said, fading away "just remember, we are with you"
"so how was it?" JC asked, Haru frowned and glanced away
"i don't want to talk about it" she replied flatly,
"that bad, huh? Sorry to hear that" JC said, drinking some water, Haru having a cup that he offered to her "so, did either of you say anything to upset the other?" Haru gently sighed
"it's nothing like that" she said, glancing away "but I feel like I went a bit too far with something"
"mind telling me?" Haru looked up at JC and placed her hand on his
"promise that you won't tell Legoshi that I told you"
"i promise Haru" JC replied, Haru gently nodded
"i wanted him to kiss me, but then he goes on about his bank balance, mentioning about a criminal record"
"that's Legoshi for you, but why do you think you went a bit too far" Haru stared silently for a moment,
"the location and my reaction, honestly" she replied, her ears drooping down "we were in a black market shop that sold rabbits as meat, and….." she sighed gently, taking a sip of water to calm herself "i blew up at him when he told me about his situation" she looked away, feeling ashamed, JC moved around and gently hugged her, something that hadn't happened since he helped her get new membership for the Gardening Club
"listen and listen carefully" JC said calmly "all Legoshi wants is to have a stable life to make sure that you are happy with him, regardless of the record he has, and he'll be truly happy when you are" he held her close, feeling her trembling a bit,
"i…..i didn't realise that, I feel like such a jerk now"
"give it time Haru, he'll be ready when he is ready, not any time before, but if you do want to have a serious relationship with him, then try to spend some time with him, when he's not at work, and when you're not at uni"
"i can try" she said, looking at him "but, he doesn't have a phone any more, so I cannot contact him properly" JC frowned a bit
"wish I knew what that was about" he said, Haru gently nodded,
"knowing me, I'll probably question him about it, if or when he decides to meet up" she said
"well, either way, don't expect too much with that"
"speaking of, when is your birthday? I don't think that you mentioned it" JC frowned gently, before leaning in and whispering something in her ear "i see, want me to tell everyone else?"
"in your own time, yeah" Haru gently nodded silently before getting up
"i should be getting home, thanks for having me" she said, JC stared silently for a moment, before speaking up,
"Haru, remember the offer that you brought up that one time, that I didn't take" he said, Haru stared before thinking a while, she had offered him many things last year, but he took all of them, then she remembered that one time she offered but he refused it
"JC wait" he looked back at her "you do know about what I do here, and I'm guessing that, eventually, you'd want to do the same, so, why don't we-"
"no Haru"
She blinked a bit before looking up at him "i remember, what about it" JC sighed gently
"i told you about the day that Juno, Sheila, Harmony and myself were together, and how it ended" she nodded a bit "i have a feeling that Juno, despite how she might express it, wants to share me with others, but honestly, I don't want to hurt Legoshi if he finds out if we actually do it" Haru glanced to the side
"i could speak to him and see if he's OK with it"
"after what you told me happened tonight, he might be on the fence about it" JC said, Haru nodded again
"but anyway, thanks for listening" she said, leaving for the night, JC sighed, put the cups away and laid down again, thinking about the last part of the conversation, a picture Haru's half naked body from his memories slowly surfaced, he gave a gentle smile,
'never realised how Haru could blend cute and sexy so flawlessly, guess that's why Legoshi loves her'
JC wandered towards a warehouse, he glanced at an invite he received, telling him that coming here would help in his journey, he kept on guard as he went in to the reception area, a gerbil secretary doing her best to write out a report,
"erm, I was told to come here for some reason" he said, holding out the invite, she looked up at him, then read it
"ah yes, the change room for you is over there" she replied, pointing to a door, he looked over a bit confused, shrugged, and headed in, after the door closed, she pressed the button on the intercom "Mr Yahya, he's here"
"perfect" came Yahya's voice over the speaker "now we'll see what he is capable of"
in the change room, JC stared at what was there for him, clothing that barely covered any of his body, but it was the same that his thylacine ancestors wore
"what the heck is going on?" he muttered suspiciously
"looks like someone wants to see what you're capable of in terms of your heritage" Jandamarra said as he faded in "if you want, I could input my skills into you, to assist you" JC stared at him for a moment
"that would be perfect" he said, changing his clothes, his eyes becoming yellow as he applied the body paint, before standing and grabbing a rubber spear "lets go hunt"
in the control room, Yahya watched the monitors through the blindfold he had, still a bit peeved from losing Melon the night before, one of his mouse assistants watching on as well
"we're connected to each of the "prey" characters of this simulation" they said, Yahya nodded
"good, this way we'll be able to alert them to JC approaching them if necessary" he said, the landscape was a mix of red soil and various faux trees native to where animals like kangaroos, emus and dingoes had evolved, creating the perfect representation of the thylacine homelands, he watched as JC wandered over the sand silently before pausing and kneeling by some tracks, slowly following them, but while he was passing by some bush brush, he disappeared, Yahya sat up and removed his blindfold to look at all of the monitors "what happened?"
"i don't know sir, he just disappeared from view" the mouse said, a buzz was heard from behind him, he glanced over, each of the "prey" characters had a sensor that transmitted a signal if they were hit by the fake spear, a second buzzer went off seconds later, Yahya checked and saw that 2 kangaroos out of the 15 actors there were close by each other
"this is quite the turn of events" Yahya muttered as the buzzers slowly went off one at a time, the mouse assistant doing their best to alert the actors to the situation "move out onto the sand, it seems he's too well camouflaged in the bush" he added, the actors moving that way, he silently watched, a buzz alerting him to a straggler being "taken down" by JC "switch to thermal vision" the mouse tapped a few buttons and the monitors now showed the rainbow of colours that displayed heat levels of everything in the simulated environment, he looked over them before spotting JC's shape moving along stealthily through the bush "what will you do now" he muttered as he watched, the shape paused at the edge before shooting out suddenly, tackling one of the actors, another buzz was heard "fascinating, he is a hard one to read, like Legoshi" he slowly became lost in thought as the rest of the actors were taken out
JC panted as he threw his spear at a kangaroo, an alert sounded from the speakers,
"attention, all participants, this exercise had concluded, please make your way to the exits"
JC's eyes returned to normal as he watched the animals that he "hunted" filing out into the change rooms, he glanced around the simulated environment, thinking about how all of this was a bit too convenient, almost like this was a test of some sort, he frowned silently and left to change back, not realising how important this exercise was for him, because fate was about to intercept him in a painful way.
I wasn't sure in what direction to take this chapter, at first, i was going to have JC run into Legoshi and Haru at the black market, then i thought about Haru inviting him on their date, but i decided that both instances would be a bit too intrusive for him, secondly, the hunt at the end was supposed to have taken place at B-Strike when Legoshi and the rest of his canine friends went there together, but re-reading that chapter of the manga conveyed to me that the various rooms of B-Strike were kitted to only one species at a time, so mixing them might've been a bit too much, canon-wise, but as some have noticed, i have set up 2 future events, JC and Haru having some "fun", and JC encountering Melon, but please be patient with both of these, i still need to get the timeline down so both would make sense, so they might be in the next chapter, or they might not, we'll see, but until then, Stay too true blue.