The night that the four carnivores had on the Black Market certainly affected them.
Bill had been unusually quiet on the following day, as he was not as loud as usual, what many of the people the closest to him noticed. Some even noticed about it, but Bill just said that he "had a rough night a while ago". This was not a lie, as being nearly killed for his skin by a bunch of crazy bears could be considered a rough night by most people.
However, the one who was the most affected by that night was, without a doubt, Legoshi.
The hybrid had been much more withdraw then normal, and he had been a lot quieter, and seemed to be distracted a lot.
Legoshi was in deep thought.
He could not stop thinking about what he learned on that night on the Black Market.
About his father.
That his father had been in jail.
That he had been member of a criminal group.
That he had attacked other people.
That he had devoured herbivores.
His father, whom he always looked up to like a stand-up person who would never hurt others and who taught him how important it was to be an upstanding citizen who respected the law and who, more important than anything else, respected other animals. His father, who taught him to always keep his composure and to never us his strength as means of oppressing others.
His father, who said that he would give Legoshi a kick in the butt if he ever even joked about eating meat.
And he did it himself. He ate meat. He killed herbivores to eat their meat alongside the other gang members whom he hanged out with.
He helped them kidnap innocent herbivores from the street so they could all devour them together.
That was his father's past.
His father was a criminal.
He was a bully.
A murderer.
The type of animal that he always told Legoshi he should never become.
Finding that out shattered the image Legoshi had of his father, built over the course of the last twelve years he had known him ever since he showed up on his fifth anniversary, bringing him a new toy as a gift and smiling kindly to him as he said that he looked forward to finally getting to know him.
That disturbed Legoshi.
To know that the animal he had, for so many years, known as correct and righteous, had once killed innocents and committed many other crimes.
This disturbed the hybrid deeply.
It made him feel terrible.
It made him feel like he had no idea of who that man even was.
Like the kind man whom he knew for so long didn't even existed.
But... he existed.
He raised Legoshi. He was there for him for the past twelve years. He cared for him, and he worked hard to raise him and his sisters.
He was a real person! He was a nice guy who was polite to his neighbors and who always told Legoshi the importance of courtesy and kindness, and how he should always behave and never get into trouble!
He was also the same person who used to eat meat on a daily basis and who called the Black Market home. He was part of a criminal organization whose main business was to hunt down herbivores and take their lives and their meat so they could both eat and profit from it.
That same man who raised him and his sisters with so much kindness was also the person who brutally murdered others.
Was he a good person? Was he a bad person? He was good to Legoshi and to the twins and to their mother. He had been cruel enough to take the lives of innocent herbivores.
Which one was real?
Which one was the real Ibuki?
Which one was the real man whom Legoshi called father?
And which one was the lie?
Was it the kind man a lie? Or was the lion that the panda doctor told him about the one who never existed?
The panda seemed pretty sure of what he was saying, though. He really sounded like he knew what he was talking about and, the more Legoshi thought about it, the more what the panda told him seemed to add up.
However, Legoshi could not bear the though of his father being that man. Of him being that kind of person who did all those horrible things.
If it was true, he thought his heart could shatter beyond repair.
The conflict that was going on the hybrid's mind was what was causing him so much distress over the course of the past few days. So much that Legoshi even found it hard to enjoy his favorite egg sandwiches during his break from the classes.
He did, however, felt like there was something different about them, and he even mentioned that with Jack, but it could also be that the food was tasting strange for him now that he was feeling sad.
They say that sadness sucked away the taste of things...
Legoshi was on his way to another class, his head down and his hoodie pulled over his head, when he felt his phone buzzing on his pocket.
It was his dad.
Legoshi had been ducking his calls on the past few days since that night. He didn't feel like talking to his dad. Even when he texted, his replies were short and superficial. Legoshi could not think of anything to say to him.
He was afraid that, if he tried to say anything to him, it would turn into accusations.
Accusations about his past. About his hypocrisy...
Legoshi pressed the decline button, and then just put his phone back into his pocket and resumed walking.
However, as he did, his phone buzzing again. His dad was calling him once more.
It seemed to be important. His father normally was not insistent like that unless what he wanted to talk to his son about was actually important.
Most often than not, when he wanted to admonish Legoshi for having done something wrong, and to make sure he understood that he should atone and continue striving to be a better person.
A better person than the hypocrite who used to devour herbivores and tell him how important it was to live in harmony with them!
Legoshi shook his head, turning his phone off before walking away.
His head was spinning from the speed of the thoughts coming to his head. His knowledge about his own father from the memories he had of him were clashing with the crushing facts that he recently learned about him and causing Legoshi turmoil.
He needed to clear his head.
He needed to relax.
And there was a place where the animals of Cherryton could go when there was anything troubling them too much and they needed to calm down and relax.
It was Biology Day, just like every two days. Legoshi walked into the basement, passing by other animals who were walking just to enter their respective rooms.
Legoshi made a beeline past them straight to the Wolf Room.
"Hey." Legoshi stopped, and he looked to the side, seeing a lion talking to him.
"You are the hybrid guy, aren't you?" The lion asked, as he stood before the door of the Lion Room, which was just by the side of the wolf one. "I saw you on stage, you were amazing, dude."
The lion was joyful as he spoke that. Legoshi looked at him for a moment, seeing his mane and his face.
That guy reminded him of his dad...
"Thanks..."
"You are part lion, right?" The lion asked, "I'm not sure how it works for hybrids, but would you like to try the Lion Room? It is nice. We have rocks and two trees in there."
Legoshi looked at him for a moment, and then shook his head, thanking for the offer. The lion shrugged, and both him and the hybrid entered on their respective rooms.
The inside of the Wolf Room was designed to look like a night environment bathed in artificial moonlight. It was supposed to be the natural environment of the wolves and their related canines. For Legoshi, it felt a little bit like home, and it did calm him when he was stressed out.
Even if just a bit.
However, it was hard to calm down when all eyes of a room are on you as soon as you walk inside.
Legoshi was used to be the center of attention. He was used to be looked at due to his massive size, a bit too big for a wolf, as Legoshi has always stood at least a head above every other male wolf on the room.
However, this time the attention he was getting was different.
Despite being mandatory being on the Wolf Room once every two days, Legoshi found out that the rule was not so easily upheld by the authorities of the school. Or maybe they didn't care into forcing someone who was only one-quarter wolf to go into the Wolf Room for an hour every Biology Day.
This was the first time Legoshi came in there since everyone found out he was a hybrid...
He could feel all eyes on him. However, this time Legoshi found nearly easy to ignore their looks.
He just walked to one of the chairs and sat himself there, and he even found himself confident enough to pull his hoodie back, allowing his mane to be bathed by the pale light of the great lightbulb of the room.
This... felt nice.
It was not completely easing his turmoil, though. Legoshi found himself distracted by the thoughts about his father. So distracted that he completely failed to notice the looks his way, as well as the whispering as the canines on the room talked to each other about the presence of the big carnivore of mixed heritage on the room.
One of them, in particular, didn't liked it.
"Leave!"
Legoshi blinked, as this loud voice snapped him out of his reflections, and he looked to see a wolf glaring at him.
"What?" Legoshi asked.
"Beat it!" The wolf said, right to the hybrid's face. "You don't belong here! Get out, now!"
"Maki!" Said one of the other wolves, as he watched the scene develop. Maki ignored him, though.
"This is the Wolf Room!" Maki said to Legoshi, as the hybrid continued to look at him. "This room is for canines! Not freaks!"
Legoshi flinched as he was said that.
"Maki, come on!" Said Dupi. "Leave the guy alone. He is not bothering anyone."
"He is bothering ME!" Maki snapped at Dupi, causing the other wolf to flinch, before he turned his attention back to Legoshi.
"Look, I don't know what makes you think you have the right to be among wolves as if you are one of us, but you don't belong here!" Maki said to Legoshi's face. "You never did! Now, you better get your ass off that chair, walk off and never dare to set foot on this room again, do you hear me, freak!?"
Legoshi flinched. He was looking down.
The words of the wolf awakened memories in him.
Memories that he'd rather forget.
Memories that made something move inside of him.
However, Legoshi held back.
He had one too many panic attacks, and he could not afford to have another one.
He didn't want to have another one.
Not now.
"I'll... just leave..." Legoshi said, getting up and preparing to leave.
"Yeah, you do right to do that!" Maki said to him. "Just leave and go back to that stinking cat you call father, and that bitch who was filthy enough to have his child!"
Legoshi froze, his muscles tensing. His eyes were contracting into slits as a growl escaped his throat as he turned his gaze back at Maki.
"Ohh, did I upset you with what I said, freak?" Maki taunted.
"Upset that I pointed out that your father is a stinking cat and that your mother is a disgusting bitch who would spread her legs for a feline?"
"Maki!" Dupi said, but Maki ignored him, and he continued to taunt Legoshi.
"Well, it is true, and you better just accept it." Maki said to him. "They were nothing more than a pair of perverts who probably slept with each other because they had some weird fetish and ended up creating a freak like you! That is the truth, pure and simple! They should have stayed with their own kinds like they were supposed to! Not chased pussy and dick from another species!"
Legoshi's growling was getting louder.
This wolf... was not the first person to say things like that. Others did before. Perhaps they didn't used the same language, but they said basically the same thing. Kids and adults.
They insulted Legoshi by insulting both his parents.
That was one of the worst things that people did back them.
And one of the things that made Legoshi want to fight back at them the hardest.
It still did.
"Oh, what, you wanna fight?" Maki said to him. "What, think you can scare by just by baring your fangs and puffing that carpet you have on your head?"
"Maki, stop!" Dupi said, but he was, once more, ignored.
"You think that just because you are big you can beat me up? That you can scare me away by playing the big bad freak!? You think that I cower in fear afraid that you will beat me up just like you 'beat up' that tiger on the Adler play?"
Maki grabbed Legoshi's hoodie collar.
"Well, news for you it doesn't work! I know full well how freaks like you are malformed and dumb because the mixed genes mess you up! I might not be the strongest wolf, but I am sure that I can take a messed-up freak like you if I fight up for real!"
As Maki said that, he rose his fist and threw it at Legoshi, aiming for his face.
However, Legoshi was faster.
He grabbed Maki's first before it could make contact with his face, and then he twisted it. The pain was enough to make Maki let go of Legoshi and go on his knees before him.
He even tried to slam his fist in Legoshi's hand to get him to let go, but it was no use. The hybrid only continued to glare down at him with his eyes. Maki looked at those slits that stared back at him.
Then, the next thing he saw was a fist coming towards his face.
Many of the wolves around gasped and flinched hard when they heard the "BANG" from Legoshi's fist connecting to Maki's muzzle, sending him spiraling into the ground.
The wolf struggled a little bit, trying to get up, while Legoshi continued to glare and growl at him, ready to punch him again if he attacked.
However, Legoshi's anger died out when he saw Maki spitting. Everyone had a reaction as blood and two... no, three teeth came out of his mouth, before the wolf's head dropped to the ground, and he groaned as he laid there.
Legoshi blinked, his eyes going back to normal.
D-did I... knocked his teeth out?
"Maki!" Dupi said, running to his fallen friend. "Maki! Maki, are you okay? Maki! Maki!"
Legoshi continued to look, shocked at what his punched did.
N-no... I-I didn't meant to... I didn't punched him that hard! Legoshi thought as he watched the scene developing before him, with Dupi scooping Maki on his arms. D-did I?
"H-hey..." Legoshi said, giving a step towards them as he reached out with his hand.
As soon as Dupi saw that...
"Please, stop!" The other wolf said, lifting a hand, as if to make Legoshi halt. "Please! I'm sorry for how he acted! I am really sorry! Please, just leave us alone!"
Legoshi blinked, looking at the greenish wolf as he said those words to him. He sounded... scared.
Legoshi then looked around and saw how everyone in there was looking at him. With looks of shock, worry, and even of fear.
They were all afraid of him.
Legoshi could tell from the way they were looking his way.
They really were all afraid of him.
As if Legoshi was a violent animal who could turn on them at any second.
As if Legoshi was a bad person.
The hybrid's stress peaked, and then, the next thing he could do was to run.
He ran out of the room, startling some wolves who were quick to move out of his way as he opened the door so hard it nearly ripped off the hinges, and then sprinted into running, not bothering the looks that other animals were giving him as this huge wolf with a mane passed by them.
Among them, was an animal that was just about to enter the Lion Room but stopped as soon as she looked over and saw who was the animal that had just sprinted into running.
"Senpai?" She said, before she ran after him as well. "Senpai!"
Legoshi ran.
He ran out of the main lobby of the basement. He ran down the stairs. He ran down the hallway. He ran past the front gates of the school and then he continued running.
He just wanted to run.
He just wanted to run from there.
He didn't know where to, but he knew that he didn't wanted to stay anymore.
It happened again. He had another panic attack. And this time he had injured another student. He could not believe that he had lost control yet again.
He just wanted to leave.
He didn't belong there.
He never did.
"Senpai!" The voice behind him called to him once more. "Legoshi, wait!"
Hearing his name seemed to flip a switch on the hybrid's mind, for Legoshi finally stopped running. They were in one of the pathways on the fields around the school, near the central square they had in there.
Legoshi remained where he was for a moment, as the figure behind him approached.
"Senpai..." the familiar feminine voice said, and Legoshi slowly looked around to see a familiar animal looking back at him, as she held her facemask on her hand. She had to remove it so she could call for Legoshi better without that thing covering her beak.
"...Kiira-chan."
"Legoshi-senpai..." Kiira said, approaching the bigger hybrid. They were all alone in there. "What happened?"
Her question was a justified one. After all, she saw him rushing out of the Wolf Room and out of the school as if it was on fire. And then he just continued to run, even when she called for him, only stopping when she called him by the name.
And now, she was seeing the look on his face as he looked at her.
Of course she would ask him what happened, because something obviously did.
Legoshi looked at her for a few moments. He should have lied. He should have said that nothing happened. She would have to accept his word, since he was her senpai.
Heck, he could just do like Louis and tell her to mind her own business.
But, he could not.
He was not like that.
Besides, right now he felt the need to someone to talk to.
So, the two of them sat on the bench, and Legoshi told her what just happened on the Wolf Room.
"I'm in trouble..." Legoshi concluded. "Everyone on the room saw me punching that wolf, and now they will surely tell the teachers... I might be expelled..."
"Maybe not." Kiira said to him. "Senpai, that wolf was provoking you. You were just sitting there, and he came out of nowhere and started insulting you and then your family! And he was the one who tried punching you first! Everyone saw it, right?"
"That won't matter!" Legoshi said, "He is purebred! I am a..."
Legoshi stopped, as he looked back at Kiira, who was looking back at him.
For a long moment, there was silence in between the two of them, before Legoshi looked away.
"They will be more inclined to believe his word over mine..." Legoshi said, and Kiira then surprised him by saying:
"Then I'll vouch for you."
The sureness with which she said this made him look at her, and he saw on her eyes that she meant it.
"I was not there, but I know you are a good person, and I'll say it to them if I have to. And not only me. I am sure that the rest of Drama Club will also be on your side. I saw the way they all talk about you. They all respect you."
"They... they do?" Legoshi asked, and she nodded, saying that they truly did.
"So, don't worry about it, okay?" Kiira said to him, patting his shoulder. "We all got your back. Please, don't let this upset you."
Legoshi looked at her for a few more moments.
It was... unusual for someone other than is family to support him like that.
Sure, the Drama Club had been doing it lately, but it still felt strange when someone other than his parents or grandpa did.
His parents...
"Kiira..." Legoshi said, "There... there is something else..."
"Hmm?"
Legoshi should not be speaking about it.
He didn't want to tell anyone that they ended up into the Black Market.
He was not supposed to talk about that place, was what the others had said.
Besides, Legoshi honestly didn't wanted to remember that place.
However, he felt like he still needed to talk to someone, and Kiira was already there to listen to him...
"Remember a week or two ago, when me, Bill, Aoba and Tao had to go to the city to discuss something with the organizers of the festival?" he said. "How we ended up coming back late?"
"I heard about it." Kiira said, "Dom-senpai mentioned how worried he got when you were not back by the time they had to close the storehouse, and I think Louis-senpai also complained about you taking too long to come back..."
"Yeah... we took long because we got lost." Legoshi said to her. "We asked for directions for the wrong people and we ended in a... rough part of the city... and there were some people there who... knew my father."
Kiira looked at Legoshi, as the male hybrid continued:
"My dad used to be on a gang. It was when he was my age. He was member of a gang and he... he did bad things. Really bad things. He was sent to jail because of it..."
Kiira said nothing. She only continued to look at the taller animal, letting him speak as much as he wanted.
"I-I didn't want to believe it. But, when I think about it... Dad had never showed up until my fifth-birthday, and both him and Mom got all dodgy whenever I asked why he only showed up then. And Dad never liked talking about his past, as if he wanted to hide it. To hide the fact that... that he used to..."
Legoshi looked down, his hands clenching into fist. Both his furry ones in full view and the scaly ones hidden under his clothes.
"Legoshi-senpai..."
"My father always told me that I should be a good person." Legoshi said, half to himself, half to Kiira. "He always taught me that I should always be good and never do wrong things. I... I always thought of my Dad as a good person. He was always smiling, and he was always kind and polite with others, and everyone liked him because of it, even the herbivores. I wanted to be like that, so I tried to be a good person, like him. I thought he was the kind of animal who would never hurt anyone... but... he did. My dad... hurt people."
Legoshi was still looking down as he said those words, and then Kiira asked:
"Did he recently?"
Legoshi blinked.
"What?" He asked, as he looked her way again, she was looking at him.
"Did he hurt any person recently?" Kiira asked, looking at her senpai. "Or ever since you've known him?"
Legoshi looked at her in a bit of a surprise, as this question came out of nowhere. However, he did answer by saying that he had not. That since he knew him his dad had only been kind and caring with everyone, from Legoshi and his sisters to all their neighbors. He did get mad at anyone who insulted or threatened his family, but Legoshi never saw him trying to hurt anyone.
"Sounds like your dad is a good guy." Kiira said, as Legoshi continued to look at her. "My dad was not, according to my mother."
"I never knew him." Kiira said, "He was never there, for as long as I could remember, but Mom made sure to tell me we were better without him. That he was a liar and a jerk, and that he was a horrible person who was only interested in using others. He told me that we didn't needed him, and that I should never bother trying to find him, because it was not worth it."
After this, she sighed, and she looked back at Legoshi.
"And you two ever fought?" Kiira asked, "You and your dad?"
Legoshi then remembered one event.
It was when he was younger, and his mane had just started to grow.
It was around the time he started wearing a hoodie, all because the other kids picked on him because he had a mane despite being a wolf (or pretending to be a wolf, as some of them said he was). Legoshi was mad that everyone was being mean to him because he was different, and he got mad at his parents because of it.
He said to his father he hated him. It was the first time that Legoshi had ever said it to anyone. Then he ran from home.
His father, of course, was coming right after him.
Legoshi wanted him to stop following him, and so he climbed on a tree.
He thought that his father would not climb after him, and that he would just leave him alone like he wanted. However, after Legoshi refused to come down when Ibuki told him to, saying that the tree was old and the branches were rotten, and that Legoshi could hurt himself if he fell, Ibuki did climbed after him.
That man, who probably never climbed a tree on his whole life, climbed with no hesitation to go after the son that had climbed on the tree because he was worried about him.
The branch they were into could not hold both their weights, and it broke.
Ibuki had somehow grabbed Legoshi midair and used his own body to cushion the young hybrid's fall.
When Legoshi recovered from the shock of having fallen, and noticed that his father was not moving, panic overtook him.
He though his father had died.
He kept begging him to wake up, apologizing for what he said and saying that he didn't hated him. All the while some neighbors came around, and one of them was already calling an ambulance.
As it turns out, Ibuki was fine. He just fainted from hitting his head when he fell, and he was alright soon. However, all the time, Legoshi was clinging to him and crying.
As soon as Ibuki was awake, the first thing he did was ask for Legoshi, and he told Legoshi who glad he was that the little hybrid was fine and unharmed.
Legoshi told it to Kiira, and then she said:
"Seems like you got a great father, Legoshi-senpai."
He... he did.
He really did, didn't he?
Legoshi looked back at Kiira. She had a smile on her beak as she looked back at him.
Then, Legoshi reached on his pocket, pulled out his phone, turned it on again, and then called a number on his fast dial.
"Hello, Ibuki speaking."
"Hey dad."
"Oh, Legoshi. I was trying to call you, pup. I was worried because you were not answering your phone."
"Dad I..." The hybrid paused. "I'm... sorry for not answering. I was... going through some things."
"What things?" Ibuki asked, immediately showing concern on his voice. "Are you alright?"
Legoshi assured him that he was, and that he didn't needed to worry. He was just upset over something that happened, but he was feeling better now.
"I love you, dad." Legoshi said, "I just wanted to tell you that."
There was a brief silence. Then, Legoshi could swear that he could hear the warm smile on his father's voice as he said:
"I love you too, Legoshi. I love you, your sisters and your mother more than anything in the world."
Legoshi found it very easy to believe that.
He had a smile on his face and a much lighter heart as he ended the call, promising to call his father at the end of the week like he usually did.
Kiira noticed that smile, and this made her own smile grow.
"Did I help you?" Kiira asked, and of course that Legoshi's answer was yes.
"Kiira." He said, taking her hands on his', doing so caused the female hybrid's heart to skip a beat and then to flutter. "Thank you so much for this."
She looked away as she blushed, and then she said that they maybe should go back to school, as they both still had classes to attend. Legoshi realized that she was right, and that they both really needed to go back to school.
As they both got ready to go back, they still failed to notice the figure watching them from a distance.
A telescopic device focusing on the bigger of the two hybrids, making sure that he was right on sight and that his face was right on the center of the aim.
And then...
*Click*
The photo was snapped as the wolf with a mane turned his face to the side, capturing a great close of the side of his head.
"That is an angle that flatters you, big guy..." The person with the camera said, as they adjusted the focus, making sure to snap another picture of the male hybrid as he was getting up.
*Click*
"And you let your mane grow... that is a pretty good look for you, to be honest."
*Click*Click*
They captured two more pictures of him as he pulled his hoodie over his head, covering his mane and letting it out of sight.
"And yet you still hide it..." They said, as they snapped another picture of the hooded animal, before they shifted the camera, so it was now focusing on the smaller animal by his side.
"And you made a new friend."
*Click*
He captured a picture of her right before she replaced the mask over her eagle beak.
"I kind of like her face..."
*Click*Click*
Two more pictures of her, now with the mask on her face and turning around to leave.
And then, one final picture...
*Click*
... of the backs of the two hybrids as they walked back to the school's main building.
As they both left, the figure who had been snapping pictures of them placed the camera back on their bag and then turned around and left themselves.
No one saw them snapping those pictures, so no one would be asking any complicated questions. This as good, because they didn't feel like having to answer to anything today.
They already did what they needed, and now they were leaving.
Even though a part of them really wanted to do far more than just snap pictures from a distance with telescopic lens...