They waited.
In silence, they waited.
All of them, together, waited to know what would happen to Louis.
They had all agreed to go eat out together to celebrate the end of the first play of Adler. Normally they did it after the last play, but some of them really felt like eating out for free tonight, and the senior members usually paid for the juniors in those occasions. Drama Club tradition.
However, those plans were all thrown off the window, as things took in a turn none of them was expecting.
Legoshi was already there when everyone arrived. He had been the one to carry Louis to the nursery in a rush, while the rest of the actors all gathered for the final bow for the audience, which remained blissfully unaware of what the final they just witnessed had not been an alternate version of the play, but Louis finally collapsing for he could no longer hold himself up with his hurt ankle.
Legoshi had been told to wait outside by the nurse, and he had been the one to greet everyone as they arrived and all of them asked questions that Legoshi honestly could not answer.
It was obvious that everyone was worried about the deer. No wonder, since he was a member of their club, one of their seniors, their leading actor, and the school's beastar candidate on top of all that.
They all wanted to know if he was going to be okay.
So they all waited until the nurse finally came to see them, and soon they were swarming her and bombarding her with questions like they did with Legoshi. Unlike Legoshi, however, the nurse had it in her to tell all of them to shut up and let her speak, and she did it rising her voice enough for them to shut their traps.
So, she explained to them that their friend was fine, but that he had a bruise on his ankle that got worse because he kept standing on his bad leg rather than resting. As a result, he ended up collapsing due to the pain, but other than that he was fine.
He was awake and fully alert, and all of them were allow to go inside, so long as they didn't swarm the poor deer and made him nervous when he needed rest.
Soon, the entire Drama Club was standing around Louis' bed, while the deer laid in there.
Louis hated it.
He hated the fact that everyone was looking at him with worried eyes. He hated the fact that they were all looking at him as if he was the poor victim of a tragic accident. He hated the fact that every single one of this fellow club members, especially the carnivores, were seeing him in that weak, pathetic and undignified moment.
However, in true Louis fashion, the deer forced himself to keep a straight face as some of them talked to him. Namely: Sano, who wanted to know how Louis twisted his ankle and why he didn't tell anyone that his ankle was hurting.
Louis could come up with excuses with surprising speed and ease. He said that he had been practicing on his own at one point, when he made a wrong step and ended twisting his ankle. It did not hurt as much on the beginning, so he ignored it, and he ended up ignoring it even as it started hurting more, as he knew that the play was coming and he did not wanna cause trouble for others. He said he was sure his ankle would stop hurting in time for the play, but, when it didn't then he knew that he would have no choice but to hold up until after the play.
"I was holding on fine, until the curtain took too long to come down..." Louis said, "I could not hold on anymore after that, and I ended up falling... I was sure that the play was ruined, but then everyone started applauding... By the way, Ellen-chan, good improvisation. It might have been what saved the whole play."
Louis was referring to Ellen's quick thinking in dropping to her knees by Louis' side and weeping for her fallen Reaper, who went holding on until the end for her and only allowed himself to perish once she was safe, allowing her to live on with the lessons she learned about giving the value for her life, and promising to live it to the fullest for both of them.
"So, does anyone knows why the curtain didn't came down when it should've?" Louis asked, and he was looking at Dom and the other stagehands as he asked that. They were, after all, the ones who handled the backstage. They all claimed not to have any knowledge. However, Louis was looking very intently at Kai, and the mongoose looked back at him with a certain ferocity when he saw the silent accusation on the deer's eyes.
However, Louis soon dropped the matter, as there was a much more pressing one to address right now.
There was still a second presentation of the play coming up, and there was no way Louis would be able to play Adler with his ankle like that. It was already something that required every fiber of his being to go through the entire first presentation with his bad ankle. He could even force himself to do it again, but the nurse was quick to shut him down by telling him that repeating this stunt could cause his ankle to get seriously hurt, so he better not even think of it. She even threatened to tell the other teachers about it and let them know that Louis could not perform.
Louis was confident in lying to his fellow club members, but he was not sure if he would be able to lie with a straight face to the teachers. He was pretty sure at least one of them would end up seeing right through him.
So, the only option was to arrange for someone else to be Adler.
Everyone gave in their two cents, with most of them (namely the herbivores) thinking that no one could replace Louis as Adler. However, Louis knew that they didn't had time for that, so he just decided it at once:
Bill would be the one playing Adler.
He was a big and strong carnivore, so he would be able to pass the strength of Adler better. Also, he had the best swordsmanship skills of the actor pool and he knew all the lines since he was actually on the play and paid attention to all of the rehearsals they made.
"You better not screw this up, Bill." Louis said to the tiger, who had a typical Bill response for this:
"Don't worry, I'll be sure to blow them away so much they will hardly even remember you. I might even end up playing Adler on all plays from here on out."
Louis was not amused by this.
"So, with this solved, I'll have to ask all of you to leave now." Louis said, "I'd like to rest."
Louis said that, but those who knew him well enough knew that he didn't liked everyone looking at him while he was in such a vulnerable state. All he wanted was to be alone now.
So, everyone respected the red deer's wish and left him alone on his bed.
Louis did enjoy the loneliness, all the while thinking that he would be teaching Bill a lesson if he did anything to screw up the play...
"I'm gonna give my best to the play, you guys can all bet on it!" Bill said to everyone on the following day. He was all pumped up for now he finally had the chance to play the role of the hero after so long playing only supporting roles or, as Louis insisted to think it was better for a big carnivore like Bill, the villain.
Now it was finally his chance to be the hero, and Bill was going to give his best on it.
However, as the senior members of the club have discussed on their meeting first thing on the day, they had some reservations about Bill. The tiger could be a lot aggressive when delivering his lines and when acting, and they were not sure how well the crowd would be receiving him. However, since it was Louis' decision, and all of them respected his opinion, they were all in favor of having Bill playing the role of Adler.
Now, they only needed to make preparations, like rehearsing with the guys for the fighting scenes (the carnivores had to hold back when fighting Bill as not to risk hurting him, but they could go all out with Bill, who was a carnivore as well), and also they had to work on the Adler outfit so it would fit Bill, who was nearly three sizes larger than Louis.
And, there was the fact that they needed to find someone to play Bill's character, who was an important part of the play, despite only appearing in a single scene. It was, after all, one of the most meaningful battles that Adler faced during the course of his adventure, being one of the most important challenges that the grim reaper had to overcome, and it was one of the most action-packed scenes of the entire play.
"Well, it can't be just anyone." Sano said, "It has to be someone fit enough to perform the fighting scene nicely. And he has to know the lines and the scenes to a T."
"And it would be good if he was able to be almost as intimidating as Bill himself." Sano added. "It would help sell the character better. Now, who do we have in Drama Club that fills in all of those boxes?"
Legoshi was thinking about it, and he failed to notice how a lot of people were looking his way, at least until Bill said:
"So, Legoshi, you up to it?"
He was not. At least, that was what he wanted to say, but there was no way that he could with everyone looking at him.
Legoshi didn't wanted to let everyone down when they were looking at him, but he certainly didn't want to be on the stage playing a role.
He really disliked the spotlight.
"You are intimidating enough." Said Dom, surprising Legoshi. The peafowl had crossed arms as he looked at the wolf and said those words with extreme casualness.
"You certainly would make for a very fearsome villain."
This... felt strange coming from Dom.
And it also... hurt Legoshi a little. To know that Dom thought he was intimidating and "fearsome"...
"You should do it, Legoshi." Dom said to the wolf, "I am sure you would be able to pull it off."
Now that made Legoshi feel a little proud, for some reason.
Legoshi was confused on how the words of a single animal could make his emotions oscillate so much.
"Okay."
That was all Legoshi could bring himself to say. He basically accepted to play the role on the play only because it was Dom himself asking that of him.
So, with that decided, they had to start rehearsing immediately. After all, they had little time to get ready for the second presentation of the play, and they needed to get everything ready just in time for the show.
And they were doing a pretty good job at that. It was mot the first time that the Drama Club had to deal with a tight schedule, after all. They were used to giving their all and a little more for each play, from beginning to end.
And this was absolutely no exception.
Legoshi turned up to be falling into the role of the character of the villain pretty well. His reserveness actually helped pass the image of an eerie figure, and his size, pretty big for a wolf, helped pass the image of a fearsome figure that announced death.
And the wolf was showing that he could hold a sword surprisingly well, although it was obvious that he had no actual experience sword fighting.
"You still doing great, Legoshi!" Bill said, putting an arm around him. "Louis has been the one on the spotlight for too long! Now it is the turn of the carnivores of the Drama Club to take center stage! Let's put on a show this school will never forget!"
Bill was pretty cheerful as he said those words to Legoshi while pulling him close, and the wolf was a bit off-put by how close Bill could get to other people when he was excited. However, he accepted it all, and he just kept in mind that he needed to do a decent job on the night of the play so Louis would not get mad at him.
At the end of a day of rehearsing with the swords, Legoshi was going back with his friends from the stagehands, and some of them were giving him advice on how to act during the night of the play.
"Be sure to memorize your lines, Legoshi." Kibi said to him, "And speak with your lungs, to be sure that everyone on the auditorium will hear your voice. That's important."
"And try to put a little more emotion on how you speak." Kai added to him. "Seriously, you kind of speak like a robot with that monotone voice of yours. Put a little more anger on how you speak. You are playing a villain, after all."
Kai was speaking as someone who had been on the actor pool. However, he was ignoring the fact that he had been placed on the stagehands because he often put way too much emotion on his roles and ended up coming out as overly dramatic and fake.
"And try to swing that sword of yours a little harder." Fudge suggested. "Bill is not a skinny guy with noodle arms like Louis. You can go all out on him if you want to, that tiger surely can take it, it would certainly make the battle seems more realistic. I bet people would like, right, Dom-senpai?"
The red panda was looking at the peafowl who was on the lead of the group. The rest of the stagehands was also looking at Dom, all of them waiting to see his answer to this. After a few moments, Dom, just sighed.
"Well, I think Legoshi is doing a pretty good job so far." The bird said, and he looked at Legoshi.
"You are quite the fearsome carnivore, Legoshi. I am sure that the public is gonna see it."
There was something about the way Dom said that that caught everyone off guard. Dom, however, didn't seemed to care that everyone was looking at him. He just turned around and left.
Everyone looked at him, and then they looked back at Legoshi, who had his ears flat against his skull and his tail slightly tucked between his legs. The wolf then looked down, and the other members of stagehands shared looks among themselves, as they silently asked each other what the heck was that about.
Legoshi, just like Dom, barely noticed them at this point.
He was too busy thinking about the peafowl.
Like he had been nearly every single day for the past weeks.
Since that night.
Since that one night when he almost claimed his own senpai's life.
The one night where he almost did one thing that he would never be able to take back, and that he knew that he would carry with him all the way to his grave.
That night had been on his mind constantly. After all, it was not easy to forget the one time when you came so close to kill someone, especially a person so close to him.
The fact that they were close was exactly part of the problem. The fact that Legoshi had to, every day of the week, and sometimes weekends as well, come to Drama club and meet with the very same animal that he had tried to devour and interact with him as if nothing happened was only making things worse.
Dom himself was a reminder of Legoshi of just how close he had been of committing an unforgivable act.
Of how close he was of taking the life of someone else. How he considered taking the life of someone else.
The wounds on Dom's arm, which had turned into scars by now, would forever be a reminder of what he did to him. Of how Legoshi had attacked him and tried to eat him for dinner.
Dom certainly remembered, if the way he spoke those last words to Legoshi was of any indication.
Did Dom also think about that night constantly? Did he also remembered how it was Legoshi, of all animals, who had tried to eat him every single time he looked the wolf's way?
Well, of course he did. How could he ever forget something like that?
Of course it was hard for Dom as well to be with Legoshi and try to act as if nothing happened. He deserved serious praise for being able to keep acting cool around Legoshi for as long as he did.
He probably just see me as a violent carnivore waiting to devour someone now, just like Els did. Legoshi thought miserably, as he made his way back to his dorms, still remembering how Dom called him a fearsome carnivore.
That was not what Legosh wanted.
He didn't want to be a fearsome carnivore. He didn't want to be the kind of animal who inspired fear and eeriness on others. He didn't want this to be how the animals around him would see him.
He didn't want this to be how Dom saw him.
He didn't want his senpai to see him like that.
To see him like a monster.
He wanted Dom to see him as...
Days passed, one after the other, as Drama Club moved as fast as they could to get everything ready on time for the second presentation. The day came too soon, in the opinion of some. To Legoshi, it was just any other day in the morning, until he was going to the auditorium and realized that they were really going to do it.
As he arrived on the auditorium and got behind the curtains, he was soon introduced to the clothes he would be wearing as part of his performance. They looked like the clothes taken from a corpse, with how tattered they were, and Legoshi himself would probably look like he walked out of a mausoleum with that on, along with his makeup and the bandages they said he would have to put around his head for the scene.
He would look even more fearsome that way...
Soon, the people started to come in. The auditorium, at first empty, soon began to fill up with many animals, all of them coming to see the play.
"It will be the same as the first one, right?"
"I'm only coming because I could not see the first one."
"I see it every year, and it is good enough that I want to watch it again."
"I heard a rumor that Louis is not going to be playing this time."
"What? Then who will be playing the main character?"
"Some big guy, I hear..."
The auditorium was buzzing with conversation of all the animals in there, all of them waiting to see the play, both those who saw it before and the ones who never did. The Adler play was, after all, a spring-time show, made to welcome the new students on the school.
"Wow... there are a lot of people out there." Els said as she looked from behind the curtain on a corner of the stage and taking in just how many animals had come to watch the play. This included the animals on the front row, one of which, she could see from where she was, had a camera, obviously from their journalism club, ready to take pictures of the play like they did every year.
"Well, that's great!" Bill said, "This means more people to see me play! Ha ha ha!"
That laugh was forced. Dom knew that as soon as he heard it. That happy expression on the tiger's face was forced as well.
He could see the tension on Bill's expression as he helped to fix the clothes on his body, making the final adjustments in it to be sure it was fitting nicely and snuggly on his body, but keeping the freedom of movement he would need to perform the action scenes. This helped him realize that Bill was sweating quite a bit, especially around the armpits, and it could not be from the heat, because the entire auditorium was air-conditioned.
He is nervous. Dom concluded, as he fixed the clothes on Bill with a small sewing kit. He is nervous and doesn't want it to show, so he is putting up a front. But, is that because he doesn't want the other actors to be nervous as well, or is that just to protect his pride?
"You, Dom, careful with that needle!" Bill said to him, and Dom looked at him.
"What? Can the great Adler not take a little prickling on his body?" Dom asked, to what Bill said:
"Not when it is in an area of my body where I'm ticklish!"
"Oh, so your weakness is being ticklish? Now that is interesting to know."
"J-just be careful with that needle! Seriously, I am sensitive on those areas."
"No need to worry, Bill. You are in good hands I can promise you that. You just need to not move so much, and this will be over soon." Dom said as he continued to sew on Bill's clothes, getting them ready for the play as the tiger tried to remain still for him.
As he did, there was one animal who was looking their way.
Legoshi could not stop looking their way and noticing how comfortable Dom seemed to be with Bill. Enough that he had no problems in fixing up his clothes while they were still on his body, when earlier he asked Kibi to be the one to do it for Legoshi.
Is he not afraid of Bill like he is of me? Bill is even bigger than me, and a lot more aggressive. He should be intimidating as well. Legoshi thought, as he looked at how close Dom was to Bill, and how he seemed not to mind it at all.
It seemed not to make sense, once Dom seemed uncomfortable around Legoshi. However, that was when the wolf remembered:
Is because Bill did not try to eat him. But I did...
Once more, Legoshi felt like the worse garbage on the planet. He felt like that every time he looked at Dom and saw the looks he gave him, so different from what he had been receiving from the peafowl for as long as they had known each other when Dom joined Drama Club after his transfer.
This did make Legoshi a little bit envious of Bill, who was calmly talking with Dom as the peafowl fixed his clothes.
Then, as his nose twitched, the wolf caught on the scent of something.
Something... terrifyingly familiar...
"And, done." Dom said, as he cut the thread with a small pair of scissors. "Is that nice for you now? I hope it is, because you will have to go on stage in ten minutes."
"It is great, Dom-senpai!" Bill said, as he checked himself from all angles, and felt how comfortable the clothes felt on him. "You are a wizard with a needle, dude! Thanks a lot!"
"Well, I did a lot of sewing before joining Drama Club." Dom said, "I used to help my grandma with her sewing back when I was younger. I liked doing it, even though my dad said it was not adequate for a male to... what the?"
What Dom was saying got lost, as both him and Bill suddenly got aware of the wolf who was worming his way in between the two of them, looking intently at the tiger.
"Yoh, Legoshi, what gives?" Bill asked, and the wolf said nothing in return. He only pushed his face close to Bill's chest and sniffed, as if he was looking for something...
"Bill..." Legoshi said, lifting his head and looking at the tiger, with a very strange look on his eyes. "What do you have-"
"Man, I gotta take a leak!" Bill suddenly blurted out. "Be back in time to get on stage!"
With this, Bill rushed to the restrooms as if his tail was on fire.
Legoshi went right behind him.
However, not before he stopped for just a moment to lock eyes with Dom. Maybe it was just his impression, but he could swear that he could see some hint of fear on the bird's eyes, and that crushed his soul even more before he rushed after Bill.
"Hey, what's your deal, wolf?" Bill asked, as he turned around to look at the wolf who followed him all the way there.
"You got a crush on me or something?" Bill asked, "Well, guess Dom will be happy for knowing that he is not the only one in club who fancies dudes."
Legoshi ignored the fact that Bill mentioned Dom's name, even thought that gave him a certain anger, as if Bill was not worthy of saying the peafowl's name.
"Bill..." Legoshi asked, "What is that I smell in your pocket?"
Bill blinked, looking at Legoshi in surprise, before he broke into laughter.
"Well, guess you can't hide it from a big carnivore's nose, can you?" Bill said, before he reached for his back pocked and pulled something. "Was saving it for a special occasion."
He then held the object in the air before the wolf, revealing that it was a glass vial, filled to the brim with something red.
Something that had a smell that Legoshi felt recently.
"Is... is that..." The wolf said, feeling his fur stand on end as he felt the smell coming from the vial.
"Yeah, that's right." Bill said to the wolf. "It's peafowl blood."
Every muscle on Legoshi's body stiffened, his eyes widening as he looked at it with an unreadable expression. Suddenly, Bill the Tiger no longer existed, neither did the restroom where they both were. Legoshi himself was only a barely-there presence. The only thing that existed in the wolf's perception was the vial filled with red liquid which's very smell made Legoshi's brain tickle with memories.
"Hey, no need to make that face." Bill said, causing Legoshi to come back to reality, suddenly aware of the tiger's existence once more. "It is not from any student. I bought it from an upper-class carnivore. So, I was going to take a sip of it to get on the mood for the play. Hey, why don't we share it? They say peafowl blood is a must for anyone who is going to appear in public, one sip of it and your nervousness disappears as if by magic and you even gain a glow of your own. So, do you wanna-"
Bill's words were cut as Legoshi suddenly lunged at him.
The two wrestled, as Legoshi was trying to get the vial out of Bill's hands.
He was not sure why he was trying to reach for the vial. However, he was sure that he could not let Bill have it. He was angry. He was angry at that tiger who had a vial of peafowl blood on his pocket while he was talking to an actual peafowl.
While he was talking to Dom-senpai.
They were having a normal conversation. Bill even said something that made Dom giggle. Legoshi could see him giggling from a distance. And all the while he smiled alongside Dom, Bill had that on his pocket!
How dare he!?
"Will you cut that out!?" Bill demanded of the wolf, trying not to be loud enough for someone to come to check on the two of them and ask them what they were doing.
"Look, you might be okay with lurking on the shadows! But I want to stand in the light!" Bill said to him, "And sometimes, the only way for a carnivore to be able do it is with a little doping! This is how the world goes!"
Legoshi then punched him in the face. This surprised Bill. However, not enough that he didn't thought of punching Legoshi back. The fact he was bigger than him made sure the wolf stumbled back.
Bill said something else to Legoshi. However, whatever it was, Legoshi didn't properly heard it. He was too busy feeling anger bubbling up inside of him like hot water in a pot.
A pot that was under pressure, and the boiled water, getting hotter and hotter, had nowhere to go, and the pressure was climbing so high and so fast that the pot risked exploding.
Legoshi looked at the tiger before him. The tiger who had the gal, the absolute NERVE of smile at Dom while he had a vial of peafowl blood on his back pocket.
For a moment, it seemed like all tension disappeared from Legoshi's features and stance. He just looked at Bill for a while, before saying:
"Let's solve it on the stage."
"Say what?" Bill asked, surprised, and so Legoshi explained better for the tiger to understand.
They would be settling their differences on stage. Forget pretending to fight. Forget following the script. They would be fighting for real and settling the differences between them there.
Unless Bill was too scared to lose to a wolf in front of the entire school.
"Oh, so you want to fight for real, huh?" Bill asked, looking at the wolf for a while. "Want so bad to have your butt kicked? Well, fine by me. You can come at me how hard you want on stage, I'll hand you your tail on a silver platter, wolfy. Bet the crowd will love my performance even more after I kick you around a bit, and that will certainly help me vent a little of my stress."
The tiger was chuckling as he made his way out of the restroom.
Meanwhile, Legoshi remained where he was. Beneath his calm exterior, the wolf was ready to explode...
"So, guess Bill is not exactly popular with the crowd, is he?" Kai mentioned to Dom, as both the mongoose and the peafowl looked from the sidelines, just outside of the stage.
Indeed, the crowd has not been exactly very receptive to Bill's performance. They were not booing him or anything, but it was clear that Bill was not as popular with the public as Louis. Maybe because he kept stammering and missing a line or two, although it was nothing all that serious.
Bill just didn't have the same presence as Louis on stage and didn't connected with the audience like the deer did.
Or maybe the public was just too used to Louis performances and Bill's seemed kinda bland and lame in comparison.
But still, it was clear that the tiger was truly giving his all for the performance.
It was quite admirable.
And now, there was another scene coming before the final ones...
"Legoshi's scene is coming." Dom said, "Kai, could you go get him, please?"
"Hm?" Kai said, "Why don't you go get him?"
Dom was silent for a moment, before he repeated:
"Kai, go get Legoshi, please. I am asking as your senpai."
Kai looked at Dom with surprise for a moment.
"Okay?" The mongoose said, a bit unsettled by the way that Dom asked this, and then he left, while the peafowl continued to look at the tiger playing his scenes with an unreadable expression on his face.
What's up with him? Kai thought as he went to the dressing rooms to get Legoshi.
He found him rather easily, as the wolf was sitting on a chair, looking on a mirror with a somber expression.
"Yoh, Legoshi." Kai said, approaching him, and that was when the wolf looked his way.
This look was very different from when he blocked Kai's punch when he tried to attack Louis. There was something on the wolf's eyes.
Something dangerous...
"Yes?" Legoshi said, his voice sounding as strange as the look on his face. For a moment, Kai didn't know what to say, and he wanted to run.
"I-I..." Kai said, finding his voice again, "D-Dom asked me to let you know that your scene is coming up, and that you need to get ready."
Legoshi looked at him for a few more moments.
"So... it's time, isn't it?" Legoshi said somberly. "Alright then, I'll be right there. Thank you."
And he went back to looking at his own reflection, with the darkest expression Kai ever saw in a canine's face.
The mongoose was so disturbed that he made it out of there as fast as he could as soon as the wolf was no longer paying attention to him.
W-what's up with everybody!? Kai thought as he left, unaware of the inner turmoil going on that wolf's mind, as he continued to glare at his own reflection, his mind preparing to what he knew was coming up next...
And so, the scene was up, and Legoshi was making his way into the stage, passing by some animals who looked at him as he walked on.
They looked at his expression, and most of them just stepped right out of his way as he walked.
On the stage, was Bill. The tiger was waiting for Legoshi, just like Adler was supposed to be waiting for the enemy that was Legoshi's character.
He knew that they were going to fight for real, and he was ready.
At least, that's what he thought.
Just as Bill was finished calling Legoshi for a fight, the wolf came rushing at him. The dog didn't even wait for Bill to finish the rest of his lines!
And he didn't open with his sword, like he was supposed to. He instead swung his fist hard into Bill's face!
The tiger didn't saw it coming until it was hurling at high speed against his muzzle, and it connected so hard it sent Bill back flying a lot of steps.
Both the skull-mask and the flask with peafowl blood flew off him, both landing a certain distance away from the tiger.
Bill looked up in time to see Legoshi coming at him again, this time with his sword. He was able to use his own sword to counter Legoshi's. However, the impact was so strong that it caused a shock on both their hands, making them both to let go of their fake swords.
Legoshi, however, didn't relent, and he instead kicked Bill right on the chin.
This was enough to disorient the tiger for long enough for Legoshi to start punching him again.
The whole crowd watched, mesmerized, as the wolf started to pummel the tiger savagely, without rest and, as it seemed, without holding back. This caused the whole crowd, both carnivores and herbivores, to get riled up.
They never saw such a realistic action scene!
Legoshi, however, was not interested in their reaction. He only continued to throw punch after punch into the tiger whose chest he was strangling as he pummeled his face. Each punch backed up by a memory.
A memory of the smiling face of a bird. A memory of the time they first met. A memory of that same bird spending several evenings with him in the Drama Club as they worked diligently to make their part.
A memory of that one night by the fountain...
Legoshi let out a cry of frustration as he continued to punch Bill, with each swing of a fist carrying a tide of emotions with it, which only served to make them even stronger.
However, this could not go on forever.
"Enough!" Bill growled through clenched teeth as he grabbed Legoshi's fist when the wolf tried punching him again.
He did the same with the other one, as he then managed to get up and then to immobilize Legoshi by hugging him, his back turned to the crowd.
"Legoshi..." Bill snarled at him, a vicious smirk on his muzzle. "The way you reacted to the blood... you already attacked a peafowl, didn't you?"
Legoshi's tension grew as he heard those words, that accusation, coming from Bill.
"Did you hurt them?" Bill asked in a whisper, "Did you kill them?"
Legoshi's body was shivering. Memories of that night were coming back at him at full force.
"Legoshi... what are you doing?"
The expression of fear in Dom's face.
"You poor hypocrite!" Bill said, this time aloud, for the whole crowd to hear, making it seem like it was part of the show. "Your hands are dirty on the same blood as mine!"
They were.
Bill was right.
His hands were, indeed, dirty with the same blood as the tiger's.
Legoshi's body was shivering even harder as Bill held him in a bearhug. He barely even registered the pain on his back.
"Let me give you a present, from one carnivore to another." Bill whispered to him. "A pair of stripes to match my own. So, you will always remember that, it doesn't matter how much you try to pretend to be different, you and I are the same..."
The same...
They were the same.
Legoshi didn't wanted to think it was true but, now that Bill said it, it did sound true.
They... they were the same.
They were both carnivores.
Violent animals with the impulse to hurt and eat others, and which they could not control.
All they needed was a trigger.
Like the smell of blood.
Legoshi could smell it.
However, it was not his own blood. Not the blood of a carnivore that, so many times, had caused him to suffer.
No.
This was the same smell he felt on that night.
The smell of an herbivore's blood.
Of a peafowl's blood.
When the vial flew off Bill's pocket, the cork came out, causing the avian blood to spill. This meant that the smell now could flow freely across the stage, and it found its way to Legoshi's nostrils.
As that smell reached his brain, overshadowing all other smells, Legoshi's body tensed even more.
Like on that night, every single muscle of his body tensioned. His fangs bared. His pulse quickened more than ever before.
And, just like on that night, Legoshi was acting before he even knew what he was doing.
Bill's cry of pain barely registered in Legoshi's mind. Neither did the feeling of something on his mouth.
He didn't even think of what he was doing. He just continued to bite.
He clamped his muzzle, putting as much pressure as he could with his jaws and sinking his teeth into whatever he was biting.
The taste of blood came into his mouth. However, it was not the same blood he was smelling.
This blood tasted like feline.
It was Bill's blood.
Legoshi was sinking his fangs on Bill's shoulder.
However, even that realization did not made the wolf stop.
In fact, it only made him bite down even harder.
Bill could not take it, the broke the grip he had in Legoshi, and he was not trying to pull him off his body.
The wolf let go of his shoulder.
However, he only found another target to sink his teeth into. This time, it was on Bill's arm.
The tiger cried out again as those fangs broke his skin and sank into his flesh. He started punching the wolf, his fist colliding with Legoshi's skull, but the wolf completely ignored it and continued to bite down hard.
Legoshi had the strongest bite of all his roommates. They measured it, after all. His bite was quite strong, even for a wolf. Strong enough to make some serious damage if it was allow to bite hard.
And it did.
Bill had to bite his own lip to keep himself from screaming as he felt something give in under Legoshi's hard bite. The crowd was still unaware of what was going on. They thought this was all part of the show.
They didn't realize that both Legoshi and now Bill were bleeding for real, and they certainly didn't realize that Legoshi's clamping Muzzle had just broke Bill's arm.
With a cry, Bill punched Legoshi right into the temple. This was finally enough to cause the wolf to let go and stumble back. Bill grabbed his arm as the wolf fell to his knees before him, panting as blood dripping from his muzzle.
The bone on his forearm was broken. It was not shattered, but the bone had definitely cracked under the enormous pressure of Legoshi's bite.
Bill looked back at Legoshi, shocked that the wolf had actually done what he just did. Meanwhile, Legoshi was growling and huffing, his claws sinking into the wood floor as his body continued to tense. As he looked up at Bill, his eyes were red with rage.
Bill never considered Legoshi scary. However, that changed on the moment he saw that fury on the wolf's eyes.
All of a sudden, Bill realized that this was not just a stage fight for the audience. The throbbing pain of his broken forearm and the blood leaking from his shoulder were more than enough proof of it.
This was a real battle.
So real that there was a risk of one of them not walking out of it alive.
Bill reached for his sword, and he was about to swing it at the wolf again.
However, that was when another sword came out of nowhere and batted Bill's sword away.
Louis was on stage. And the deer was soon delivering improvised lines for the play, and the crowd was completely buying it!
Soon, Bill had no choice but to get out of stage. In fact, the tiger was kind of glad to get out of there. His arm was killing him, and his shoulder was still bleeding, so he rushed out of there as if his tail was on fire.
This left Louis, now once more on the role of Adler, turning his attention to the wolf kneeling.
Louis talked to Legoshi, referring to him by the name of his character, and telling that he did well on "standing up for that impostor". He offered him his hand.
Legoshi said nothing in return, and he looked at the masked deer. At the masked herbivore who was offering him his hand.
Just like Dom did to him many times in the past.
Before Legoshi tried to devour him...
"No..." Legoshi said, looking at him and shaking his head.
"I-I can't... I can't..." Legoshi said, his voice rising as he looked at the deer.
"I-I am no different..." Legoshi said, getting on his feet and stumbling back.
"I am no better than him!" Legoshi screamed, and he turned around and ran out of the stage as quickly as Bill did, leaving Louis surprised.
And not only him, as Legoshi ran past several other animals, who moved out of the way as the wolf passed by them, with tears streaming down his face.
Among them was Dom, who nearly fell back as he moved out of Legoshi's way.
As Legoshi passed by him, Dom could see the tears on his face.
And the blood on his back...
