"I'd prefer to do this after a good double whiskey," Louis said, rubbing his nose, looking around hopelessly. Sisu coiled something like a patio around them, so they were all sitting, leaning back on the soft and warm body of the dragon. In the middle lay a lonely pack of chewing sweets that no one wanted to open.

"Let's start with the heaviest," the wolf said grimly. His friend whistled, "Here you don't even know where to start." Legoshi looked at Juno, then lowered his gaze, "I… I ate Louis's leg."

"WHAT?!" the she-wolf roared. The dragoness petrified, looking at wolf in disbelief. Louis raised his hand in protest, "And there were reasons for that! Juno! CALM DOWN!"

"Oh, to hell with it! Louis, what possible reasons could there be for that?! You both are out of your minds!"

"He fought Riz one on one! Half-starved and constantly in training!"

"You two are obsessed idiots who have been and will be a constant source of problems," Juno dropped back, covering her eyes with her hand. She said, almost growling, "And judging by Louis's phrase, this is not the worst I'll have to hear today."

"Sacrifice is good, but not when it leads to this," Sisu said quietly, stroking the deer with the tip of her tail. She had no idea what he had been through, but why were they still friends?

"I completely agree…" Legoshi began, but Louis silenced him with a commanding gesture.

"It was MY idea, Juno!"

"Because you're just as crazy!"

"Yes!" Louis cut in. "Do you know where I disappeared to after leaving the festival with Legoshi? Do you know how my life began? I can be a bit crazy because I'm a livestock, bought by Oguma and raised as his heir! Like the perfect red deer who was supposed to become a Beastar…"

"Life… stock?" Sisu asked, sensing that the answer wouldn't be easy and pleasant.

"A herbivore child caught and put on the black market to be eaten later," the deer dryly informed. Strangely enough, this thought didn't evoke his past anger and fear. Now it was just a ghost of bygone years, especially against the backdrop of recent events.

"Oh…"

Juno stared at him in fear, unable to control herself, unable to make a sound.

"That leg… instead of which there's now an iron thing… it was branded. Number four. He burned me every day with the fire of inferno. And Legoshi freed me from that curse that night, and I, probably, saved his life, if you think about it."

"And then I wanted to save you… which didn't go well," Legoshi said in a subdued tone. Louis smirked.

"Oh yes. Funny, but this part of the revelation seems quite amusing to me. You see, Juno, much earlier, on that night at the festival, I tried to catch up with Legoshi's great lifesaving… and shot Shishigumi's boss."

"Lion clan?"

"Yes. Then I went crazy and suggested to those left to eat me. They surrounded me, and nerves forced me to point the gun at my own head. But stupid cats saved me."

"So they acknowledged him crazy enough to make him their new boss."

"Are you kidding me?" Juno looked at Legoshi in disbelief; the deer just chuckled.

"He saw it with his own eyes."

"Lions almost shot me when I tried to get him from the black market. Besides, Louis was actively resisting."

"I even ate meat. It was part of the initiation ceremony."

"But… you can't…"

"My stomach fully agrees with you," Louis nodded. Juno gasped, "That's why you looked so thin back then!"

"And that too. Besides, working on the black market required quite a bit of courage even with a lion clan behind your back. I, hopefully, was a good actor, but fear was always present."

"I have to take back my words. Your story sounds exactly like a movie," Sisu shook her head. "And yet, you're so young that it looks like ordinary bragging."

Instead of an answer, Louis pulled a black curved object from behind his back with sharp outlines, showing the gathering the gleaming black sides:

"I almost shot you, Sisu, then, at our first meeting. I'm sorry. I was really scared."

"Now you've brought a gun to school," Juno said with disapproval. Her mood polarized from sympathetic to angry due to the deer's reckless behavior.

"I haven't parted with it for a year," Louis nodded. "Besides, I'm not a schoolboy anymore; I'm of legal age."

"Do you have a license for it?"

"…yes. For this one."

"Let me see," in the meantime, the dragoness snatched the metal toy from his hands. Both the wolf and the deer simultaneously jumped to their feet. Louis exclaimed, "Careful! It's on safety, but you shouldn't handle a weapon so recklessly."

"It's so small but heavy… and how do you shoot from it?" Sisu wondered, shielding herself with her own body from overly caring friends.

"You don't. Give it back," the deer said in a frigid voice. "It's an illegal item here, in school. Moreover, reacting to a shot can lead to the police being called and finding you. And you might accidentally hurt yourself." Sisu sighed and handed the toy back. Then she said, "Since we've already set up an evening of revelations, I'm familiar with combat wounds."

"Just don't tell me you fought too," Juno muttered, getting comfortable on the cushions and unwrapping candies. She needed something to munch on after receiving the news.

"I was killed. With a crossbow," Sisu answered straightforwardly. All three gasped.

"How… killed?" Legoshi asked incredulously. "But you're alive and here?"

"Or is that why you're here?" Louis narrowed his eyes, hiding the weapon. Sisu waved her hands.

"No! I really messed up with magic. And death… I remember it poorly. I tried to settle a conflict between friends at the end of the world, a random shot happened… I fell into the water… And then woke up in the middle of my pack, which didn't exist before. I mean, it wasn't… they were trapped in stone statues, and the Magic Stone that could save them wasn't fully assembled and activated. Not by me though. That's… how saving the world looks from my eyes."

She smiled, realizing that the confusing story didn't reflect even a tenth of the reality.

"Incredible," Louis sighed, stroking her side. "I'll probably react like this to any events from your world, so I apologize in advance for banality. Don't you want to share something too?" He looked towards Legoshi.

"I… I don't know what to tell."

"What were you doing when we met on the black market? Why did you cut your fur?"

"Remember Gouhin?" the wolf replied with a question.

"Well?"

"I worked for him. The old man trained me to find and neutralize psycho carnivores, paid a small amount of money, and helped me with the control of my own instincts."

"So that's where all those muscles come from," the deer commented.

"That's enough from me," Juno angrily declared, standing up. "What's next? Did you also save the world with the Sublime, the Black Demon Yafya? Shooting blasters and shattering planets with a single punch?"

"If you're not ready to hear the rest of the story, we can move the evening of trust to another day," Louis smirked, "or postpone it indefinitely. Do you believe that I'm a rich heir of a deceased globally famous magnate?"

Juno nodded with an angry look.

"I'm sorry for your father," Sisu said softly, lowering her head onto her paws.

"It's not worth it. I never really knew him well, and I never had a chance to. He was a very reserved animal. And ruthless," the deer's dull voice clearly indicated his mixed feelings. It was already dark outside, and Legoshi, getting up, covered the window with the theater curtain neatly rolled up nearby. He said, not turning to his friends:

"I don't know if I should tell… but Yafya was friends with my grandfather. Both of them were offered the title… or the rank of the Beastar. But my grandfather stepped away from business and created a family. Juno, I'd never become the perfect wolf for you. By blood, I'm a quarter Komodo dragon."

"A dragon?!"

"Well… not that one, Sisu. Sorry." the wolf chuckled awkwardly. "He's just a large lizard."

Female wolf weakly waved her hand, not paying much attention to the information:

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Legoshi-kun. And after the festival… I accepted Haru. Yes, she's not suitable for you, it's evident even to the naked eye, but you two are good together. That's what matters."

"Sometimes… even similarities might not be suitable," Louis said, throwing his head back and staring at the ceiling.

"Are you talking about us, Legoshi and me?"

"And about myself too. My fiancée, Azuki… we broke up. The marriage was contractual anyway, and after my father's death, I saw no sense in it. But on our first night together, when we started kissing… I threw up. Blamed it on stomach upset after dinner and ran away."

"Ew," the she-wolf covered her face with her hand, evidently smiling underneath.

"No, not because of her… if such a question ever arises," the deer grinned. She said expressionlessly, raising her voice at the end again:

"You know… for the first time in all this time, I feel insignificant, dull, and gray. Extraordinary things were happening to you, and I only caught a glimpse, spending the rest of my time thinking about studies, school popularity, and trying to persuade Director Gon to reopen the drama club. And then you two appear and do everything with a snap of your fingers! Can you imagine how furious I was?"

"Oh yes, I can."

"Well… and now I hear all this… and I think I wouldn't be able to handle such a burden."

The deer quietly said, "Do you think I coped?"

The she-wolf looked up at him in disbelief, and Louis continued speaking, tucking one leg under himself and running his fingers along the metal support – not as confidently as usual, rather nervously and hesitantly. It was more like a waterfall of words, a sudden river of his ever hidden emotions:

"Do you think Legoshi just easily went through everything that happened in his life? He's only just begun; you don't know anything – and I don't know much either. And I… am weak. I ran away, I'm hiding from financial directors and managers behind a layer of personal secretaries in the school drama club, pretending to be a wise mentor, although all I ever did was say the right lines at the right moment… and I'm not only talking about the stage. I tamed the black market, but Legoshi paved the way for me with his fists. And the market… it ate me from the inside."

Moisture filled the deer's eyes; unashamedly, he wiped them away with the back of his hand, and even quieter added:

"If there was anything to eat. If I'm not a damn empty shell in a bright wrapper. If I even deserve at least…"

He suddenly felt a push and the weight of a soft body, simultaneously hearing a strange, semi-roaring, semi-sniveling voice right by his ear, occasionally dropping to a whisper:

"Don't you dare! Don't talk like that," Juno, pushing words through anger and sobbing that shook her entire being, said, hugging the deer and pressing against him. "You're a fool, you're crazy, you're anything, but not an empty shell. Don't let these thoughts defeat you. You survived; you gave meaning to the lives and struggles of so many animals that, even knowing your… criminal history, they would still make you a Beastar. Please… just be here, be now, be…"

She felt fingers touching her fluffy cheek and pulled away, looking into his huge eyes with tears. Louis said quietly:

"To be… for you?"

She opened her mouth, fighting the desire to roar "YES!" and experiencing a soul-tearing feeling from the memories. The she-wolf thought it was all over, that their meeting a year ago was the last frontier before… just life. But Louis appeared here again, and everything went upside down.

He mumbled quietly, feeling the girl's warm breath, sensing how her body shook with every gust of unspoken emotions, tears released as if breaking through a dam that had been deteriorating for years:

"To hell with it all…"

The deer covered her lips with his, tightly embracing Juno. She made a whining sound and hugged him even tighter. Louis felt those fangs again, that unrestrained energy of a carnivore, and allowed himself to dissolve into her, as if nothing had happened in the past year. Like a waterfall of emotions that crashed on them and hid them completely, simultaneously taking away all the dirt into the night darkness.

Sisu exclaimed with delight as they enjoyed each other for as long as their breath allowed. Then they pulled away, gasping for air, and looked around. The width of Sisu's smile could compete only with the length of her body, and Legoshi joyfully wagged his tail. That unspoken tension he had felt between them from the first day was finally gone… though not entirely.

However, other events will unfold in due time. There's no need to rush them.

So, the wolf silently joined the warm company and sat across, rustling a bag of sweets.

"Hey!" Juno protested, hearing the rustle. "Don't touch my candies!"

"Your hands are busy for now," Legoshi shrugged and tossed one into his mouth. Sisu supported him with a chuckle:

"Yeah, she clearly has a greater fondness for other sweets."

"Can I not get used to jokes about predatory crimes so quickly?" Juno asked with mixed feelings, freeing one hand and wiping the wet fur on her face, casting a reproachful look at the dragoness. She felt fingers on the edge of her lips, turning her muzzle towards Louis. Although Sisu silently murmured "I didn't..." the deer smirked and succinctly said:

"No. You're getting acquainted with criminals and outcasts," then kissed her again.

"Oooh," Sisu stretched, wagging her tail excessively, accidentally kicking the wolf with her hind leg. He raised his hand, defending himself from a sudden attack. Louis, seeing this, snickered, interrupting his blissful activity. Juno looked around in confusion, finding nothing interesting there, and turned her gaze back to Louis's expressive eyes. He shifted his gaze to her warm brown irises, smiling gently and stroking the girl's back.

"Are we… okay?" she dared to ask. The deer sighed:

"I seem to have lost faith in the idea that 'okay' exists. But I'll try, for Rex's sake, honestly. I promise I'll be… for you. And for us. And for this impulsive dog, and for the cyan fuzzy mess that fell on our heads suddenly, but most importantly…"

"For yourself," Juno tapped his nose with her fingertip. Louis nodded, smiling:

"Alright. And for myself too. And you'll have to endure jokes about disabled. It seems that's the only humor I'm capable of."

"It was awful," Legoshi covered his snout with his fingers, lowering tail. "I ended up in the hospital… a bit later, and he came to visit me. So, he takes out two packs of different food from the bag, raises them to the level of his head, and asks very seriously, 'Which one of these three things would you like to eat?'"

Juno made a loud, sharp sound, more like a hyena's laughter than her usual chuckling, then covered her mouth with her hands and let out a muffled howl:

"Sorry… it's really awful… but also funny."

"See," Louis gently ran his fingers along her neck, "you're already getting used to it."

"By the way," Sisu broke the brief silence, unable to contain her curiosity. "Who is Rex?"

All three of them laughed, realizing she couldn't have known, but the question itself sounded strange and amusing.

"I think," Louis lightly patted the she-wolf's shoulder, urging her to rise and letting go of him, "to answer that question, we should watch something about dinosaurs. Even Discovery Channel will do. And then something about religions and beliefs."

"Are you sure you'll watch it?" Legoshi, for the first time that evening, allowed himself a joke. Juno reluctantly got up and went for the laptop, climbing over the blue "back" of their attic sofa, and threw in as she walked:

"Sometimes we will…"

Tsutomu entered the room and yawned, opening his mouth wide. The vibrant orange eyes blinked. These trials tired him even more than regular club activities – what a relief that tomorrow he could sleep until at least three in the afternoon. At four already at the club… And now the most active phase of his day was beginning, as usual for nocturnal animals. But while cat and dog types easily adjusted to the daytime school schedule, for the flying fox Tsutomu and his roommate, the horseshoe bat Yagi, this regimen brought only torture.

Yagi, the lucky one, decided to sleep a few more hours after classes, and Tsutomu himself woke up completely and reached into the small refrigerator – a luxury that they barely managed to convince the dorm supervisor to allow. He grabbed a can of non-alcoholic energy drink and, draining almost half in one go, felt much livelier. He climbed onto the bed. Both beds for winged creatures had a slight incline to prevent circulation problems – naturally, they lay down where it was lower.

Reading and watching in this position was not very comfortable, so a month ago, Tsutomu took a phone holder from home and attached it to the bed's back. Now he just plugged the phone into the mount and turned on an audiobook. His stomach delicately reminded him of its presence, but he didn't want to get up. After a couple of chapters, Tsutomu found that, despite the energy drink, the calm and measured voice of the narrator was lulling him, and he switched to a dynamic crime and blood-filled series streaming on Petflix. His family was not very rich, but the second-year flying fox earned some money during summer vacation and could afford to pay for some entertainment services.

The mood was very good. The usually calm teenager suddenly noticed himself tapping his foot to the rhythm of the melody playing in the credits and grinned. Just imagine being a "nightclub" in the drama club. Their reputation in society was considered "below average" because herbivores generally feared both night and carnivores. Bats as well as flying foxes literally embodied the night, though they were omnivores. When encountering representatives of these species during the day and especially the morning, they usually changed their opinion, as animals in their "off" time looked more like sloths, sleepy and unable to think clearly. However, the closer the evening approached, the more active Tsutomu and Yagi became.

Still, the fear was groundless. Even though Tsu, being the tallest representative of the bat family – a kalong – surpassed even mongooses in height, he was still small compared to large carnivores. And he had never tasted meat – the beast's favorite food remained mangoes and live locusts. However, the cafeteria didn't serve them, offering only tasteless porridges and cocktails made from ground raw materials. And mangoes were never there, unfortunately.

"How went the trials?" he heard through his headphones. Taking them off, he looked around – the smaller Yagi had already gotten off the bed and was stretching, spreading his wings. Then he hooked his bare feet on a special bar near the wardrobe and hung upside down, bringing his sleepy brains in order – for both of them, it was as necessary a morning ritual as brushing their teeth.

"Rise and shine, lazy one," the fox replied, slowly leaving the bed. "Went awesome, I'm in the club."

"Congrats. Are you even happy yourself? Can't tell by your sour face, you know."

"Quoting the great Yagi Ironsnout, the most emotional creature on the planet," Tsutomu retorted. "I'm happy, of course. Just not in my element – six classes today, and all of them seem to be handpicked – no sociology where I can sleep, but physics, chemistry, or sport classes, Rex save me."

"But you like to move, right?" Yagi clarified, swinging.

"Yeah… but during the morning? Besides, I play football horribly… missed four goals today."

"Ouch. Sorry, bro."

The atmosphere between the two winged creatures was always warm and friendly – after all, they shared similar problems.

"And screw it. Listen… do we have anything to eat?"

"I saw a pack of dried bananas in the common kitchen, we can snag a couple," the smaller inhabitant of the room smirked. "Or ask politely, but then it might be the whole pack."

"Who just gives away food like that…"

"Then we'll trade for something. For the game console for the evening, for example."

"Better for the day. I wanted to play something myself today," Tsutomu disagreed, pushing the phone aside. Yagi shrugged:

"…or just go out and buy some proper food."

"Let's go ask for bananas," Tsu sighed. "Whose name was on it?"

"Listen, I don't remember already," Yagi pondered. "Let's go check, just let me get dressed."

Their noses and stomachs led them to the common kitchen, where a short armadillo was busy at the stove – Tsutomu breathed roughly into his neck, although he towered over Yagi.

"Oh, I saw you in the club today!" Tsu greeted. "Keoji, right?"

"Indeed," the armadillo looked at him. "Hi."

"Um… I'm Tsutomu. This is Yagi, my roommate. I mean, we've met sometimes in corridors but..."

"Nice to become acquainted, yeah. I'll finish making miso and free up the stove. Or I can squeeze and free one burner out of two."

"Why do you need a second one, you're making soup anyway?" Yagi wondered, sniffing.

"I fry beans on it. It tastes better that way. Are you the one I'll be providing costumes for?"

Tsutomu smiled:

"It looks that way. I need to remember about the beans, interesting thought. By the way… do you know whose bananas are in the fridge?"

"Nope," Keoji shook his head, then pointed to the obvious: "But usually people sign their food."

"Yeah, we know… but you never know exactly also."

The fox opened the door and started rummaging through the bags, looking for the right one. He finally came across a transparent container with semi-wilted fruits, not dried to the hardness of granite yet, but probably still sweet, and… Tsutomu felt saliva seeping into his mouth. Damn, he hadn't really eaten today. There was a careless inscription on the lid in a couple of characters: Nakahara.

"Nakahara… who is that?" the fox scratched his head, Yagi shrugged:

"No idea. Keoji?"

"Nakahara… Masumi, maybe. You're lucky, night swallowers, it's my neighbor in room four hundred and first. An opossum, if you're interested."

"Is he in your room now?"

"He was in the room when I left. But take something for barter with you, he won't just give it away."

Yagi cursed when they left the kitchen:

"I'm thinking, what can we offer in exchange without sacrificing the game console. Maybe a couple of cans of energy drinks?"

"Worth a try," Tsutomu nodded. He opened the door 405 and took out two more bright jars from the bag by the wall, where the rest of the supplies were stored. The sour but pleasant-tasting energy drink was a good item for barter and almost tripled in price in December and May due to annual and semester exams, which prestigious schools didn't compromise on. They walked down the corridor and knocked cautiously on the door.

"Come in!"

"Hello," Tsu politely bowed, entering the room. Here, mostly white and spotted colors prevailed – white walls, checkered blankets, although one was blue with hedgehogs, dark furniture. However, the beige carpeting slightly stood out from the color ensemble. The fox scanned the room for Nakahara – the opossum was by the window, drawing something in a notebook.

"Nakahara Masumi?"

"Yes?" he looked back over his shoulder, surprised.

"We've come to exchange. Your bananas for our drinks," Tsutomu raised the designated items.

"Well, you guys are strange," chuckled the opossum. "Who exchanges food for drinks?"

"That's right," agreed his neighbor, an unknown raccoon. "And what else do you have?"

"We have a gaming console and a small TV," Yagi said sourly, then his thought took a sharp turn and lit up with an idea. "Oh! You're an artist, right?"

"If only," the opossum blushed slightly. "Just playing around; there are no serious classes in the first year."

Yagi confidently stated:

"Then I propose a collaboration! You get food, including this beautiful pack of fruits, and we get a console, games, a room, and a bit of 'Energon.' Deal?" Tsu nodded in support, clearly liking the idea. Masumi thought for a moment, then closed the notebook and stood up, smiling:

"Deal. Wait, we'll be back in a couple of minutes. You're in room four hundred and fifth, right, with the gothic black door?"

"We like black," Tsutomu said a bit embarrassed.

"I bet," the raccoon snorted.

"Alright, I'll grab some snacks and something else. Tomorrow's Saturday, we can have a game night."

"Okay, we'll wait," Yagi nodded, and they left the bright room.

Tsutomu grinned: "How do you even know the word 'collaboration'?"

"My friend, I know much more than that. And as an actor, you should stop being surprised when you hear words longer than eight letters," Yagi hit his thigh with a fist. Immediately, he received a light smack on the ear:

"I was just surprised that it fit in your small head."