Cherryton Academy began to come alive even in early spring, when not a speck of snow remained on the school grounds, and the stadium and park were hastily tidied up. But now, closer to summer, the school was fully consious and moving like a giant ant colony. Students and teachers strolled along the pathways, singly and in groups, the stadium was constantly occupied, and the winding paths of the park served as a refuge for numerous couples — mostly of the same or related species, although there were plenty of exceptions.
By midday, Legoshi was already in decent shape — he had slept enough, tidied up the club, just in time for Pina's arrival, greeted Louis, who had suddenly appeared with his laptop bag, and decided to devote some time to himself. He warned everyone that he would go for a run. He put on his running suit, thought better of it, took off his sports jacket, and remained in just his pants and a dark t-shirt. Stepping out onto the porch, the wolf filled his lungs with air, which, as always, brought him the freshest news in the form of scents. He glanced down and kicked his foot — the lace on one of his old sneakers was loose, so Legoshi squatted down to tighten and retie them. There was a knock from behind.
He turned around and asked in surprise, "Louis?"
"Yeah, Louis," the deer grumbled. His thinness was clearly noticeable, as the director had managed to dig up his old theatrical uniform — red Cherryton pants and a white t-shirt. However, Louis didn't look too worn out, thankfully. "Didn't we just see each other?"
"No, I mean, you…"
"Don't mind if I join you for the run, do you? Just don't go overboard, I know you are fast," Louis asked, averting his gaze. The wolf nodded eagerly, "Sure, of course! Just a light jog. But what made you suddenly…"
"I want to feel alive. A bit more alive than usual," the deer admitted, casting a glance at the stadium. Then he shifted his gaze back to Legoshi. "Ready?"
"Sure," he smiled and jogged slowly along the gravel path. Closer to the park, it usually turned into asphalt, and in some places into dirt, but for now, the stone cheerfully crunched underfoot. Louis easily caught up with him, although, upon closer inspection, it was clear that this activity was unusual for an herbivore.
"How's it going? Any pain?" Legoshi said, trying to maintain his breath.
"Surprisingly… no," Louis replied with a breathless tone, and with a shrewd guess that he wouldn't last long. He glanced at the wolf with a slight envy — how he could trot for hours. Legoshi asked:
"How's the company doing?"
"Satisfactory. It's neither Horns that worries me now, nor the leg… thanks to Sisudatu."
"The Slaughter?" the wolf asked seriously. The deer mumbled incoherently.
"They're somewhat like the Shishigumi?"
"Not at all. More animals, far more… control. They don't hesitate… at anything."
"How much more control?"
"Almost the entire market."
"Damn…" the wolf muttered.
Fortunately, they didn't bump into anyone familiar or one of the club students — basically, those animals who might be curious about such a strange coincidence. Specifically, why would this deer suddenly be jogging, albeit not very briskly. Although Louis had prepared a whole explanatory plan about testing a new prosthetic and a night of coffee with energy drinks, so far his legend remained unused.
After a couple of minutes, they turned into a flat area in the park, and Louis raised his hand, "Hold on. Let's… take a little walk. My lungs are shot. Maybe they need to be replaced with some kind of prosthetic too?"
"Sometimes just training is enough," Legoshi remarked with a smirk, patting him encouragingly on the back. Even though he wouldn't be running today as usual, having Louis around brought extra energy and inspiration. "But why did you suddenly decide to run?"
"Wanted to see if I could at all. And…"
"And?"
The deer looked embarrassed. Seeing him in such a state was so unusual for the wolf that he felt embarrassed himself, even without knowing the reason. Louis twitched his ear and said, "Just want to improve my stamina a bit."
"But that's great, Louis! We can run together, play in the park, maybe even engage in some winter sports…"
"Woah, don't expect that much from an office prisoner! Legoshi, I'm just trying it out. It's funny how something you've never done before suddenly becomes appealing when you lose that opportunity and gain it again."
"So you're exploring. Then no sports for now. And no excessive physical activity."
"Where would I even find the energy for that? I could barely cope with what just happened recently," Louis said, stupidly smiling. The wolf raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Huh?"
"Think, grey head. Recently. Juno's return…"
"Oh…" Legoshi gasped and looked away. But still, he asked, not out of idle curiosity, but concerned for his friend, "But everything's okay?"
"Oh yeah."
Legoshi continued almost plaintively, "And we won't… talk about girls?"
"We won't talk about girls. Each of us had the chance to compare… even though you refused to date Juno back then."
Frowning, the wolf said, "Louis, this isn't the most pleasant topic to discuss."
"My apologies."
As a gesture of apology, the deer patted him on the shoulder and suggested, "Shall we run?"
He simply nodded.
The patter of two pairs of feet quickened. Surprisingly, it was Louis's left leg that started to give out first — he felt his calf starting to strain from the unfamiliar exertion, but he was determined to at least make it to that prominent maple tree three hundred meters away. The space around them wasn't exactly empty, and sometimes amateur athletes had to navigate around various living obstacles, big and small.
"Oh, Legoshi-san."
Legoshi waved to someone in response.
"Who's… that?"
"The dormitory carnivores' dogs, I fixed their microwave when I was looking for a sound system for us."
"And you… know how to do that?" Louis asked haltingly. The wolf shrugged as they ran, "I just reconnected a wire, there was a loose terminal. Nothing too complicated."
"Ideal… for any woman. Able to stand… up for oneself, handsome, and capable of minor… household repairs."
"You're out of breath, Louis. Let's stop."
"Just a little more," the deer's narrowed eyes showed determination.
Finally, they crossed that virtual line drawn in his mind, and Louis slowed down, then stopped altogether, bending over and resting his palms on his knees, breathing heavily. Sweat soaked his back, and there were wet patches on his reddish-brown short fur. His heart pounded abnormally — as if instincts told him he was being chased. But Louis had long learned to control these little things.
"Sensei!" they heard a calm, albeit surprised voice. Goro, dressed in the school uniform, approached them. The lion ran his fingers through his sandy-white mane as if worried he didn't look presentable enough, and politely bowed, "Didn't expect to see you here, Louis-san. And Legoshi-san. Good day. How's your…"
"… leg?" Louis weakly smirked, patting his secretly enchanted prosthetic. "Testing… new technologies. As for pain, I'm used to enduring it."
"Wow. I admire your determination," the high schooler smiled. "Is everything the same today?"
"Praise be to Rex… it was just one Saturday, Goro-kun. You don't need to ask three times a day whether today's rehearsal is canceled."
"Sorry, Louis-san. I like our club."
"Just the club?" Legoshi asked, "or specifically someone from the club?"
Louis, still catching his breath, looked at the wolf in amazement. Anyone else but him would have asked that question. Girls, Tao, Ryu, Pina… but Legoshi?
And the quick, fleeting smirk that crossed Goro's lips before he replied with feigned seriousness went unnoticed by his mentor.
"No, not at all. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to express myself."
"I see," Louis straightened up, "Well, thank you for coming to the auditions then. Nothing's changed today, see you at four."
"I won't keep you, Louis-san," Goro nodded understandingly and walked away.
"Where did he come from?" Louis asked displeasedly as the lion walked away. Legoshi chuckled in surprise, "Well, he studies here…"
"That's what I meant! Lessons should still be going on, and Goro doesn't seem like the type to skip classes…"
"Maybe a gap in the schedule?"
"Maybe…" Louis muttered, feeling lost. He nodded towards the track, "Shall we continue?"
"You're exhausted," Legoshi said warmly, shaking his head. "Let's sit on the bench and rest for a while, then you can decide if you want to continue. Nothing hurts for sure?"
"Definitely not… stop being a babysitter, I have enough guards as it is."
"I… suddenly feel responsible. Like a personal trainer or something."
"Forget it," Louis waved tiredly as he sat down and leaned back against the ridged backrest. "I'm not sure if I even want to continue this at all. Nearly died."
Legoshi nodded, "First times are always like this. It gets easier later."
"We'll see about that. Legoshi…"
"Yes?"
"You and Gouhin operate on the black market…"
"Shh," he hushed, looking around. "It's one thing to discuss it in the club, but here…"
No one paid attention to them, but Louis still lowered his voice, "Are you hiding your faces somehow?"
"No. Why? At first, I wore a muzzle to suppress instincts, but then… just plain dark clothes, nothing special."
"Hmm."
"What's 'hmm'?"
"I'm just thinking. How can we quickly and simply get rid of the Slaughter without getting our hands dirty. And I can't think of anything."
"Something will come up. You have a brain this large!" The wolf comically raised his hands, exaggerating it's size mercilessly. "And what's the problem with camouflage?"
"To be honest, what I'm thinking about should be the complete opposite of the Shishigumi. We operated almost openly, protecting small shopkeepers and entire trading routes. But what we can oppose to the Nobu organization…"
"Nobu? Is that the leader's name?"
"Yes," Louis nodded grimly. "He's the honey badger that Sisu saw. It seems he personally controlled Gon."
A restrained growl came from the right. Without looking, the deer placed his hand on his friend's back. "Calm down. The 'storm the main base and scatter everyone' scenario won't work here. Not this time, you wild thing. You've had enough holes in your precious hide."
"It worked last time."
"Pure chance. Besides, they have close to a hundred animals now, we'll just be outnumbered."
Legoshi silently hung his head. Then he glanced at the deer, who was lost in thought again. Uncertainly, he asked, "So what do you want to do?"
"I think the opposing organization should be as clandestine as possible. But for now, it's just a general concept that needs to be fleshed out. Covert, but exuding immense strength. Style, weaponry, maybe some marks or symbols…"
The wolf raised an eyebrow inquiringly, "Won't that seem like a plot from some movie?"
The deer grimaced, "Yeah. Reduce the amount of pomposity. Or, on the contrary, increase it to such an extent that it becomes just a distracting detail, like a magician's hand diverting the audience's attention."
"While the other hand performs the actual trick?"
"Odd, I thought you still believed in tricks and fairy tales. And Santa."
Legoshi smirked meaningfully but didn't reply. Nodding as if making a mental note, Louis continued, "And then the confrontation will become much easier for us and much more difficult for them."
"I can ask Gouhin. We're meeting tonight."
"About what?"
"Who else is left on the black market from the gangs. He works as a doctor for everyone, surely there have been patients."
"Legoshi… be careful with him. The Shishigumi might try to influence him too."
"Let them try," Legoshi snarled unpleasantly. "If you gather all his patients, including not just the psychos, from the past year, you'll get two such gangs. Or maybe three."
"And… can they be gathered? I mean, really, as a fighting force?"
"I don't know. And besides, using them would be unethical."
Louis sighed, realizing he couldn't convince the wolf otherwise. Then he asked, "Why are you going to him at all?"
"Just another psycho," the wolf shrugged. "Gouhin-san tries not to pursue the most dangerous ones alone, and if he called me, it's something serious."
The deer felt touched by the question that had been bothering him. "And San?"
"He's involved too. Actually, he's the main assistant in the clinic now, I'm just picking up the slack. Louis…"
"Yeah?"
"Are you planning to fight them?"
"Not for now. I'd prefer to dismantle the Slaughterhouse without bloodshed, if such an opportunity arises. Or even better, leave them alone. But… as long as they exist, the school remains targeted. And not just this one. The whole city is in danger…"
Waiting for the end of the sentence, several seconds later Legoshi understood – in vain. Some idea had pricked the deer between his hemispheres, and he was firmly engrossed in it. The wolf leaned back on the bench's backrest and breathed in the plethora of scents of late spring with pleasure. Grass, light dust from the paths, green leaves and fading trees, the smell of fur, cologne, school textbooks, and various clothes. And also Louis's scent. But his presence didn't require any smell; the deer's personality stood out much stronger. Even here, in a now damp club T-shirt, he still looked like someone from the highest echelons.
Louis stood up abruptly – a gesture he had previously feared to make. He looked at Legoshi, "Let's go."
"Weren't we supposed to go for a run?"
"Then let's run!"
"Have you come up with something?" the wolf chuckled. Louis shook his head, "No. But I already know which direction to move in. Let's run, I need to tire myself out to death once again. It's good for clearing the mind."
And without waiting for agreement, he set off. The wolf easily caught up with him and ran alongside, marveling and admiring Louis's determination. His determination had always been a much more powerful support than his weak body.
When Beatrice first came here, to the club, she was in awe of its scale. The size of the venue, Louis's looks, how precisely and faultlessly he distributed roles and tasks. Although there was no competition for the positions of costume designers, the tigress wasn't particularly upset – she had plenty to think about. But oh, how that awe crumbled, like a huge house of cards, when she saw the workshop.
Quiet horror, that's all the girl thought at that moment. No, the size of the room was fine, but the mess that the previous owner (they secretly told her that it was a peacock named Dom who ran things here) had created, maybe he was a good designer, but the chaos he unleashed was of infernal proportions. Dress forms lay everywhere, cut out of thick cardboard, sketches, fabric scraps, she almost stepped on a needle. In her mind, the tigress understood, of course, that over time, the workshop could have accumulated a thick layer of dust due to neglect, but something told her that nobody here liked to clean up. The noble aspiration to create in an instant hid somewhere in the depths of her consciousness. Instead, the desire to tidy up came to the forefront.
Bea wasn't a neat freak or an animal obsessed with excessive cleanliness. Yes, sometimes she didn't make her bed. Yes, she could forget a candy wrapper on the table or a cup with unfinished tea. But here she was going to work, and therefore the tigress simply couldn't leave everything as it was.
With a squad of not very strong but hardworking attendants, Ayako, Keoji, and the anteater Kibi, who felt himself important because he was their senpai and belonged to the "old-timers" of the club, they spent several days – or rather, a couple of hours during club sessions – clearing mountains of property, patterns, tools, and just trash. Seizing the moment, Kibi got down to business – he made several quite passable cardboard mannequins onto which clothes could be hung during the manufacturing process. One, however, in his characteristic manner, the anteater painted with a black marker, declaring that it was Beatrice's deputy for when she left the dressing room.
Bea didn't take pranks well, and Kibi had to buy her a muffin to make amends. The muffin was received quite favorably.
If it hadn't been for the spontaneous decision to join the theater folks, she would have fit in well with any sports team. Naturally tall with a powerful carnivore's body, Beatrice, nevertheless, had a sensitive, gentle heart… and a perfect inability to express this sensitivity in communication, which made jokers afraid of her and other club members consider her quite straightforward and even threatening. Indeed, Bea could sometimes go too far, and her requests sometimes sounded like ultimatums. But when they saw how she worked and hummed under her breath, the costume designers decided – there are no despots like her. And they began to gradually get closer.
Only Kibi witnessed her disgrace at Tsutomu's picnic – the smudged, distorted stripes on her back. But apparently, it seemed important only to tigers. The anteater didn't mention that incident anymore, and the others somehow avoided the topic. Ayako brought mahjong, which they played during breaks, Keoji shared his favorite TV series, which he launched right from his smartphone, Kibi shared some manga. In general, the atmosphere in the workshop became lively and full of life.
However, Bea kept her workspace perfectly clean. And woe betide anyone who forgot to return her needle, pin, or awl. There was still one small detail left that made her worry and made her miss threading the needle, after which Beatrice grumbled and threaded it with the tip of her claw. Him.
She thought about him when suggesting to make the first costumes. And she dared not admit that she thought about him a little more often than about other club members. And after Kibi's not very elegant jokes, Bea didn't know how to approach him. And whether to approach him at all. Not to mention the fact that the big girl's heart skipped a beat every time someone knocked on the dressing room door. Usually it was Louis, sometimes Legoshi or Juno. Bryse came in a couple of times. The rest limited themselves to one fitting, always praising her skill and disappearing into the big world of theater.
The rest, oddly enough, silently acknowledged her superiority. Despite skipping out on sewing, Kibi skillfully made handy tools – various props, wire details for seams, and other trifles. Ayako preferred patterns, and the second armadillo, Keoji, had a trained eye for sketches and making various belts. Although Dave drew better, but Kibi snatched him up for the decorators.
Right now, they were fully occupied with the dance part of the play, so nobody dared to distract the badger for costume sketches.
Moreover, Bea trusted Ayako with simpler work – for example, she was fully responsible for the flower girl's dress. Easy to execute, it was supposed to come to life on Juno's figure and add variety to the scene.
A sudden knock on the door made Bea flustered, and Keoji, who was dozing and had nothing to do, fell off the bench, eliciting giggles from Ayako, while the tigress, almost tearing her skirt with a needle, put everything aside and rushed to the door.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Goro. Although Juno's presence cheered the tigress up, she was just working on her dress as a noble lady. More precisely, altering the fabric around the crinoline. Old skirts simultaneously hid the tail and lifted the backside, making holes in them was considered uncouth. Ayako was sewing such a dress. Bea, on the other hand, was working on one of several quite rich – by the standards of those times and the school theater – dresses that the participants of "Pygmalion" were to wear.
The fabric, which her brother had provided for her for a small sum from the theater's funds, also went into work, moreover, it had been planned down to the last piece.
"Bea! Hi," the wolf girl warmly embraced her, and Beatrice awkwardly responded. Suddenly, the room felt cramped – following Juno, Sisu appeared and immediately claimed a third of the space for herself. The tigress helplessly waved her hands:
"Stop! Freeze! Don't knock over the mannequins… please! Everything is pinned and clipped there…"
"Oh! I'm sorry," the dragoness bowed her head in embarrassment. "I was here without you… and I'm really interested in how clothes are made."
"It's nothing special," Ayako chuckled, watching not Sisu, but Koji rubbing his sleepy face. "The needle gets poked, threaded, pulled… ouch!… out, and then it's repeated a thousand times."
"Actually," Juno pronounced solemnly, "they're doing a tremendous job here. Starting from the general idea for the costumes of that time and ending with the finished clothes. But… Sisu, could you step out for just a couple of minutes? I'll talk to Bea and be right back, I promise."
Sisu, blushing slightly, murmured, "I'm sorry… it's really cramped in here. I'll…"
And, backing out, she left the workshop. Beatrice called after her, "It's all right, Sisu!"
"Darn. This is worse than hurting a child," Juno sighed and settled in the spot where Koji had been napping a minute ago. "Anyway, Bea…"
"The finishing touches on the dress are almost done. Ayako is almost finished too," Beatrice interrupted.
"Great. But I have… something more personal. Is Kibi here?"
"No."
"Then I'll tell you straight without whispering. Well… listen, I'm going crazy. For the prom, I need this one dress, but it costs two hundred thousand yen. That's an unthinkable sum for a high schooler, you understand. Even my parents are unlikely to agree, even though prom is a once-in-a-lifetime thing… a school one, I mean."
"Okay," the tigress nodded calmly. "And you came thinking of me… as a master?"
"Yes. Do you want to set the terms?"
"No. And wait, let me warn you upfront. There are many things I still can't do… and some things require a powerful sewing machine. This one is good, albeit old," she nodded towards her workstation, "but there are stitches it can't handle."
"And time? Do you have free time?"
"I'll help," the tigress grumbled, secretly pleased that her senpai and the club president turned to her. Juno took out her phone with already selected gallery photos and handed it to her. Beatrice silently, with a stone expression, scrolled through them first forward, then backward. She scrolled forward one more time, blushed, and returned the phone to the wolf girl. She saw the screen and exclaimed. Including lingerie photos in the dress review was not part of the plan.
"Send me the… those three photos," Beatrice said, coming to her senses. "We don't have such fabric, I'll write down what needs to be bought. And I won't start work until we finish with the costumes for the play."
They found several old costumes in the attic suitable for "Pygmalion," so no one planned to provide the entire school troupe with clothing. But there was still a substantial amount of work left.
"Bea," Juno said in a subdued voice, as if remembering something. "This isn't free,"
"I know. But we don't even have anything close…"
"No! I mean – the work isn't free. I'll buy the fabric, and everything else is yours…"
"Everything else?"
"A couple of thousand, at least… although I don't know the prices."
Beatrice tilted her head, smiling imperceptibly. Their family wasn't very wealthy, so if she took the order, there would be money left for her dress… for the May Ball. Which, according to some inexplicable historical tradition, was held in June.
"Thank you, Juno-senpai, but I'm not sure if it's necessary."
"It is," she stated firmly. "Bea, you're awesome. If you go down this path, after school, people will be lining up for your clothes."
"Fact," Keoji nodded. The tigress sighed:
"I… if they let me stay after classes in the club, I'll manage to do everything. And it's better – to come a little earlier."
The wolf girl asked curiously, "Can you do it?"
"From what I see, technically, there's nothing difficult there. Just some kind of corset… unclear, but we're making something similar for Fumiko's dress now."
"Hurray!" Juno exclaimed joyfully, wagging her tail and throwing herself onto Beatrice's neck. Unable to resist, the tigress fell to the floor – fortunately, onto a pile of old costumes, which they unanimously found suitable only for scraps. The striped predator couldn't hold back and began to laugh, in fits of laughter begging "Juno-senpai not to celebrate prematurely," but the wolf had already given in to instincts and was trying to lick her into unconsciousness from laughter. In the doorway, the dragoness appeared again, this time not entirely, but only her curious head. Ayako sneaked up and threw an almost finished skirt over this head; the skirt got caught on her horn, giving Sisu a comical and unhelpful look in the situation.
Beatrice, gasping for breath from laughter, pointed her finger at the frilled dragoness, and Juno looked around. The workshop was filled with friendly laughter, with Sisu, who had caught the infectious mood, laughing louder than anyone.
Pina couldn't fall asleep. The argument with the herbivore dormitory warden couldn't throw him off track, and the bed with the light snoring of his roommates was familiar and comfortable enough. He had learned to position his horns in such a way during his first year of training that their weight wouldn't break his neck. But something… something was bothering him. Not bothering, but rather weighing him down with its absence. He had become too accustomed to spending the night at the club, which was why the warden was angry with him. He threatened to complain to the director.
Not understanding how he used to sleep all this time, the ram decided to message Sisu. She responded immediately – the dragoness had learned to handle the laptop keyboard quite well in just a month.
Pina: hey
Sisu: what does that "hey" mean
Pina: just hey
Pina: wanted to ask if u r not sleeping
Sisu: nope, I slept during the day
Sisu: everything okay?
Pina: yeah sort of
Pina: various thoughts are creeping into my head
He hesitated for a moment and asked the question that had been bothering him for a long time:
Pina: how much magic will you need for the return transition?
Sisu: as much as I can accumulate
Sisu: this is a private chat, right?
Sisu: I don't want to write anything about magic in the general chat
Pina: yeah of course
Pina: dont worry :)
Sisu: the trouble isn't that the spell is complex or inherently costly
Sisu: it's just that the switch happened between worlds and it's very far away
Pina: i understand
Pina: although i dont understand a damn thing but really curious
Pina: i dont understand magic
Pina: i dont know martial arts
Pina: i probably wouldnt survive in the back alley and in kumandra too
Sisu: don't say that
Pina: its true though
On the other end of the private chat, the dragoness really wanted to hug him, but tonight only Juno was sleeping here, who was already sweetly snoozing, buried in the dragon's mane. Sisu contented herself with very gently stroking her, the wolf girl just mumbled something sleepily and wagged her tail.
The tradition of spending the night on duty hadn't disappeared – every night one or several animals stayed at the club. More often than not, it was either Pina or Legoshi, and the others joined the schedule as they were freed from duty. Sisu's presence not only warmed the atmosphere but also acted as a sort of magical sustenance for everyone else, and there hadn't been a case where someone voluntarily refused. Even Louis, always formally dignified, seemed to become simpler and friendlier around the dragoness. Of course, the incident with the leg played a part in this, but even before that, the deer began to treat the guest much warmer.
Sisu: not true
Sisu: it's so not true
Sisu: I would protect you
Pina: well only my pride would suffer
Sisu: shove your pride up to you rexes butt
Pina: haha
Pina: what are you doing?
Sisu: chatting with you ;)
Pina: haha squared
Sisu: what's that?
Pina: its exponentiation of numbers
Pina: basic math
Pina: something squared means something multiplied by itself
Sisu: and how much will haha multiplied by haha be?
Pina: intrigue lets leave it hanging XD
Sisu: you're always like this…
Sisu: Pina
Pina: what
Sisu: Ill call?
Sisu: I'll call
Pina: you dont have to correct urself every time i make typos too sometimes
Pina: i mean yes of course!
Pina: just wait a sec
The ram peeked out from behind the curtain, which separated each niche in the wall, and, making sure that the neighbors were still asleep, pulled it tighter and even wedged it with a pillow. He leaned back and pressed the call button.
It was still acceptable to call her on her mobile, but they gave the dragoness the simplest phone for emergency calls. Messaging worked much better for them. However, they only chatted a couple of times, preferring face-to-face communication.
"Hello?" Pina heard her voice, and a pleasant warmth immediately settled in his chest. As always.
"Sisu…"
"Are you going to wake anyone up?" she jokingly asked. The ram spoke in a lowered voice:
"I'll be quiet. In the worst case, those who want to sleep will kick me out of the room. But they usually only wake up from the morning alarm, and even then not always. What about you?"
"Juno is sleeping deeply. Maybe a video call then?"
"I don't know if you'll see anything… although we have reading lights here, but I've never turned it on. Let me check and call you back."
Hanging up, he approached the base of the niche and flicked the switch. The lamp lit up – with a dull yellow light, as if wanting to instill in the reader a dislike for reading itself. The ram shrugged:
"Well, I guess it'll do."
He plugged in his headphones to the smartphone and called her back.
"Um… you look so cute," Sisu smiled. She moved, trying not to disturb the sleeping wolf, curled up in a ball, resting her muzzle on her own back like a support. They could discuss the girls from the dance group at the club for a long time, but there was no equal to the dragon in flexibility, nor could there be. "Just why are you wearing a T-shirt?"
"Paradox, but if you sleep in clothes, the wool gets less matted," the ram replied importantly. Although he knew very well that Sisu could be persistent, so he pulled the white T-shirt over his head, getting caught on his horns a few times.
"That's better," she half-closed her eyes.
There were no agreements. There were no rules according to which Pina suddenly decided to engage in nudism next to her. It just happened that after their very first trip to the sea, he began to think a little less by the standards of their world and a little more by the standards of Sisu's world. Well, not the world itself, but the dragons. She didn't hint at anything or try to put more than one meaning into her words – although the most avid wits had already tried to teach the dragoness that. But… she definitely liked his natural appearance more.
No matter how much Pina devoted time to choosing clothes, the creature that was not accustomed to it evaluated him slightly differently. Or, more precisely, Sisu didn't know how to evaluate anyone. Acting on intuition, the guest from another world often 'guessed' the animals absolutely correctly and had a good understanding of their characters.
But she was wrong about him. And the longer she was wrong, the longer Pina could stay close to her.
"Should I ask you to wear something then?" the blue-eyed ram chuckled. The dragoness showed small – for her size – fangs in a smile:
"Nah. Don't you also prefer to look at girls without clothes?"
"I think," Pina said very cautiously, navigating between dangerous reefs in his mind, "they have more than one reason for that."
"And girls are exactly the same. Not that I'm playing any role here, but you were successful with girls, weren't you? Not only of your kind."
Pina sighed.
Don't lie to her. Just not to her.
"And not only with girls."
"Exactly! I also like you… well, in the sense of, uh… not like that, of course, but…"
"I got it."
Almighty Rex, they even spent the night together. Without clothes. And Pina had never slept so careless, nice and deeply before, as in the arms of the giant carnivore. This purity and tranquility… he seemed to have created, forged from it a brilliant, unbreakable shell for his own filth, not allowing it to tarnish Sisu. And as long as the material unknown to science fulfilled its purpose.
Oh, no, the ram was never a knight. But he could look like one. Anyone, not just a knight – that's the actor's calling. And, no matter how much his 'order' comrades joked about the temple of the great dragon… Pina built this building from his own ribs.
"I've told you many times already that I consider you the most beautiful of all living creatures."
"Stop embarrassing me," she covered her muzzle with her paw. Pina objected:
"I'm serious. From an aesthetic point of view. I think if I saw the flight you were talking about, I could boldly hang myself…"
"Don't even think about that!"
"I won't," he nodded placidly. The yellow light of the reading lamp illuminated the ram from the side of his head, casting bizarre shadows on his bed. "It's said to emphasize that nothing and no one else will see anything more beautiful than the animal."
"Do you want… I can try to fly with you on my back! Tomorrow night? Or… on the weekend?"
"No," Pina shook his head, then added more gently: "You shouldn't spend your hard-gathered energy on that. What if flying here takes more magic?"
Sisu looked down and became a little sad:
"That's possible too."
"Plus Legoshi asked not to do magic at all."
"I honestly didn't understand that part."
"He mentioned it to me briefly too. Said he had some theory about instability that came to him in a dream… although I wouldn't be surprised if our wolf suddenly started dabbling in magic."
"Why?" the dragoness asked, lifting her head and tilting it to the side, visibly surprised. The ram said slyly:
"He's just strange."
"As we all are."
Pina just sighed.
Sisu, squinting from the emotions pinching her soul, watched as his chest rose rhythmically, how his semi-illuminated blue eyes blinked. "From an aesthetic point of view," as Pina put it, he outshone the others by almost a head. Yes, each one was beautiful in their own way, but the ram could spare no effort to look better. But besides physical beauty, he was also beautiful in soul – when behind the external sharpness and arrogance, sincere affectionate kindness showed, it looked like a sunrise. A sunrise… personally for her.
The dragoness never tired of communicating with him – even if they were just exchanging words about trivialities.
"Pina…"
"Hm? Did I fall asleep?" he opened his eyes wide, although he felt the waves of drowsiness washing over him.
"Um… no, not really. I wanted to ask about something not very pleasant… if you don't want to, don't say."
Pina shrugged:
"Ask anything, Sisu. I have no secrets from you."
"That story with the bear who ate another member of the club…"
"With Riz? Didn't think you'd remember."
"I have a good memory. But that's not the point. I already asked Legoshi and Louis – I heard a heavily softened version of the story and a story full of gaps and white spots. How did it look from your side?"
"Ugh…" the ram exhaled. He really wasn't prepared for such tales at night. "Honestly, it was awful. I didn't witness the situation with Tem myself, but what happened afterward…"
"Well?"
"Legoshi seemed to go mad. Tem's death hadn't bothered anyone for several months, but suddenly he fervently started searching. As if some higher powers suddenly called him to do good – and, moreover, sternly hinted that he wasn't doing enough. Even now. I think after saving Haru, he gained additional strength."
"Maybe that's how it was. Legoshi really acted like a hero," Sisu smiled. "Especially since Haru is not just his friend, she's his girlfriend."
Pina waved his hand:
"Maybe. Louis was also heavily involved in that, but that's not what I'm talking about. For the first time, I got involved in a situation when I saw that these two were about to fight in the school corridor. Riz hadn't been taking his pills for a long time by then, and his strength exceeded all reasonable limits, and our wolf just approached him and spilled everything. Like, 'I know you're a murderer.'"
"That's… stupid," Sisu said uncertainly.
"Very! In general, I hinted that it wasn't the best idea. And then Riz sneaked up on me in the bathroom – as much as a bear can sneak – and tried my fingers for taste. Said my shampoo smelled like honey. I almost wet myself with horror. True," Pina chuckled, "then there was another problem – how to get my body to go to the bathroom again."
"Oh… I sympathize. Once I ate some strange sour berries, it took a whole spell…"
"You're lucky with magic. I had to resort to diuretics."
"Your pharmacology is like magic to me too, honestly," Sisu shook her head. "Scientists in your world have studied such a huge number of species, and so well…"
"Part of technological progress. Returning to Riz – you know what I did next?"
"What?"
"Accidentally ran into them in the park… and got involved again."
Sisu said with reproach and at the same time with light respect:
"Suicide."
"As it turned out, it was almost like that," Pina grimaced bitterly and touched his thin forearms. "Riz kidnapped me. Just the day before their decisive duel. Wanted to infuriate Legoshi with the smell of my blood. Yeah, the scratches are still visible."
"Do wolves go crazy from the smell of blood?"
"No, Riz thought he could deceive Legoshi. Make him believe I was dead. But that weirdo's sense of smell didn't fail him. Furthermore… I freed myself and caught only the very end of the scene – how the police took Legoshi and Riz away, and Louis — an ambulance."
The dragoness turned her head away from the camera – probably looking out the window, and then turned her gaze back. This time she stared intently with her lilac eyes into the camera:
"Pina… why do you sacrifice yourself like this?"
"The one who was killed said that. With a crossbow."
"Yes, but I didn't suspect… why don't you value life like that? The world would be much worse off without you!"
The ram raised an eyebrow ironically:
"Are you sure? I think the world would have gotten along just fine without a high school student from an elite school."
"You know what I mean!"
"Yes… and no. You know I occasionally visit Riz."
"Yes."
"Well… Legoshi, even though he tried to understand him, ended up just conveying his own point of view to him. Showed him the right path. And I initially wanted to feel what Riz himself felt. And you know what I eventually discovered?"
"No…"
"Complete, profound, and oppressive loneliness," Pina said sadly. "In the strongest and most magnificent beast, who for some reason couldn't find friends even among carnivores."
"But didn't you try to communicate with him somehow? I mean, before all this?"
"By that time, he had already crossed the line. It's hard to reinforce a building that's already collapsing."
Sisu sighed:
"I see. Thank you, Pina. But your story only shows how important friends are."
"Or even more. Sometimes I wonder – what if circumstances had been different. What if they had become friends… maybe even lovers. How strange a pair like Tem and Riz would have been."
"Like any of us?"
"Perhaps."
"Or like…"
There was a pause. He asked:
"Like?"
"Never mind," the dragoness faltered. "Let's talk about something else, if you don't want to sleep. Maybe about movies? Have you seen 'Dancing on the Edge'?"
Pina nodded with a forced smile. And he continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.
Yes.
Don't talk about it.
Please.
And I'll stay silent.
