This isn't happening... Was the only thing on the male alpaca's mind as he ran.
This isn't happening. It isn't happening. It isn't!
He continued to run. However, no matter how fast he tried to run, his pursuer was always close behind. Tem could feel him.
He could feel his nen.
He could feel his bloodlust.
How half of the school has not felt it already was something he honestly could not understand, and that only made it easier for him to believe that this was all a very messed up dream.
His arm, however, was hurting too much for it to be a dream. The wound that he opened on his arm was too fresh, and the feeling of blood leaking from the open wound was too ever-present for him to chalk it out as a mere dream.
This was real.
It was all too real.
And he had to run to avoid what he knew would be a grizzly fate.
So, he continued to run, all the while the light of the moon continued to shine on him. The light was distorted and turning red. This was the result of a field that Cherryton Academy had around itself as part of the security systems to protect the institution from external attacks. It was not every night, but on some nights, the field around the school distorted the light coming from the moon and stars, making it take a random hue of the rainbow and cast it upon the school at night.
Tonight, the color was red.
Strangely and morbidly appropriated, as it matched the blood drenching Tem's shirt.
"D-dammit!" Tem cried out. "Why are you doing this!?"
He was yelling at his assailant. His answer was a loud growling, as the one coming behind him speed up his spring, wanting to reach him even more than before.
"Leave me alone!" Tem said. He took his hand from his wound as he focused his nen into it through the Hatsu technique, just like Kazma-sensei taught them. His aura, bright and blue, formed into a ball on the palm of his blood-stained hand, before spreading out as long and thin as a sheet. Then, it materialized into an actual sheet. Of the king that you would expect to find into someone's bed. Except that this one had metal-like protuberances on each one of its corners.
Tem turned around as he tossed the sheet on his pursuer, hoping it would wrap around him and render him unable to move or free himself, like it was supposed to. However, his Capture Sheet, which was normally as strong as steel, was tore to shreds in seconds.
Tem then continued to run and, with a herculean effort, he was able to swing both of his arms, as he created two long, sinuous cloth from them, which moved indirection to his assailant like two snakes charging into an enemy.
Those too were torn to shreds in seconds.
Dang it!
He couldn't do it!
His nen beasts were too strong!
He had to escape.
With that in mind, Tem resorted to a Surfing Sheet. A long sheet of cloth, brightly colored, that he materialized and climbed on the best he could. This sheet could float, unaffected by gravity and propelled by Tem's own nen, allowing him to use it as a mean of transportation and, on this case, as a mean of escape.
No way he would be able to follow him into the air.
However, his assailant proved that he was not willing to let his prey escape him. With a gestured of a clawed hand, a nen best shot forward like a rocket, aiming not at Tem, but at the sheet he was trying to ride to safety.
The alpaca fell into the ground, stumbling until he came to a stop due to the momentum of the sheet that was gaining speed to take to the air.
He was growing. His arm was bleeding, and now so was his head with the fall.
Then he heard a voice calling his name.
His assailant.
He was coming for him.
"Stay away from me!" Tem cried out as he got up and took to running into one of the school's buildings. His assailant, naturally, followed him, until the moment Tem walked past a pair of double doors.
Then, he manifested a Shield Sheet.
This was the strongest sheet Tem, as a decent conjurer, could summon. It was as thin as a sheet one would expect to find in a luxurious hotel, but it was as resilient as a three-inches steel plate. Perfect for defensive use.
The alpaca placed the sheet into the doors, making sure it was firmly in place.
He heard banging on the doors. However, the Shield Sheet held them firmly locked, blocking his attacker's path.
He was safe.
With a sigh, the alpaca was then reminded of his wounded arm by the throbbing pain emanating from it.
He needed to take care of that.
With a little more focus, Tem used his nen to materialize a smaller sheet, which was more like a handkerchief than anything. It had the symbol of a cross in it and emitted a soft green luminescence, which allowed the alpaca to see as he placed it on his arm.
He was in one of the auditoriums. One of those used for the special lectures that required audiovisual help. Tem himself had a lecture in there just two days ago.
The alpaca sighed as he felt the pain on his arm subsiding. His First-Aid Cloth was a real life-saver in situations like that, as it poured energy into the wounds and caused the cells to divide faster, speeding up the natural healing process while numbing the pain. His arm would be good as new in just a few hours.
However, Tem didn't had all that time.
A tearing sound made him turn his head to see, with horror, that his Shield Sheet was being tore apart from the other side of the door by long claws.
He was breaking through!
He was breaking through, and he was coming for him!
"Why!?" Tem asked, "Why are you doing this!? We had so many classes together and spent all of that time together in the club and out of it!"
All the while, his pursuer continued to tear through the sheet. It gave away as normal fabric under the attack of those claws. He would be breaking through it in no time.
There was no way out on this room!
He needed to hide.
Tem dematerialized the First-Aid Cloth, fighting back the urge to wince as the pain came back, and instead materialized a Hide Sheet.
He placed it on himself, covering his entire body as the outer surface of the cloth distorted the light to make it go completely around him, rendering Tem completely invisible.
And it was right on time, because it was when the sheet and doors were completely torn apart.
He could feel him into the room.
He could hear his footsteps, as well as his heavy breathing.
He was trying to find him.
Tem remained still under the cloth. He used Zetsu to suppress his nen by limiting how much of his aura was emitted from his body. He even covered his mouth with his hand to avoid himself from making any sound.
He could not see.
It was too dark.
However, he could hear him.
He could hear his breathing as he walked around and passed close by him.
The nen beasts were gone.
Maybe he exhausted himself from using them?
Maybe he did.
Maybe not.
Tem didn't dare to try and fight him to find out.
He just stayed still and hoped that he would not be able to find him.
However, he did.
A hand reached out and grabbed the cloth, swinging it hard, and Tem along with it.
The alpaca flew across the room, down a flight of stairs and landed heavily into the ground on the center of the lecture room. He struggled to get up, still able to sense the sheer killing intent coming from his attacker, which told him only one thing:
He wanted to devour him.
"After everything that happened..." Tem said, "After how much time we spent together, and of all the words we traded with each other, this is what it comes down to?" He was getting up, feeling his attacker coming closer.
"I am just food to you?"
Tem bumped into a projector, causing it to light up and project the subject of the last lecture of that same afternoon. This, at the very least, allowed Tem to see.
To see the one chasing after him.
The one who he thought about as his friend this whole time.
"You carnivores..." Tem said, his body trembling, as his attacker came closer and closer to him. "You are nothing but monsters!"
Tem's voice echoed into that room.
The last thing he ever saw were a pair of jaws coming at him.
Legoshi woke up in a jolt.
He was in a sitting position in an instant as he breathed deeply, his heart beating like mad on his chest.
"Tem..." Legoshi said, as the name of that alpaca whom he knew from Drama Club was the first word on his mind when he woke up as if from a nightmare.
"Legoshi?" Said a voice, causing the wolf to look to the side, seeing the curtain from his bed being pulled to the side so the person on the other side, a Labrador, could look at him.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked, looking at him. Legoshi looked at his friend and said that it was only a bad dream. That it was nothing to worry about.
Legoshi said that. However, he was not sure of his own words.
He could not shake away the feeling that something terrible had just happened.
That it had happened to Tem, who was the first animal on his mind as he jolted awake.
He could not shake away this feeling, because he already had the same feeling before.
It was five years ago, when he was twelve, and it was just like now.
Except that, back then, he woke up thinking about his mother...
The school was in uproar.
Cherryton Academy was reeling due to what happened on the school grounds.
Something that had not happened in a long time.
Someone had died on the property.
Worse than that.
Someone had been murdered.
Someone had been devoured.
Such a thing was a tragedy of the likes could hardly even been put to words.
"We will certainly have to fill in a lot of paperwork because of that..." Kazma said as he stood over the remains of the poor unfortunate student. It was upsetting, but he already saw worse. "Anyone already called the police?"
"They are on their way..." Gon said, a somber expression on his face.
"Who did this?"
That... was a very good question.
A question to which the answer they didn't really knew.
And so, it left a lot of space open for gossip and hearsay among the students. Especially after the school's journal made a special edition all about this one event and of all its repercussions.
"It has to have been a nen user." A female donkey said as she was gathered with her friends, as they talked about this subject. "I mean, it could not have been a non-user."
"Yeah, I saw that alpaca fighting on the training sessions with Kazma-sensei." Another of the girls of the group, a green parakite, said. "He was not the best of the school, but he was good. No way a non-user carnivore would even be able to touch him."
"Could anyone even get into the school?" Said yet another of the students, this one an impala. "The protection field is around the school nearly all the time. No one could get inside without permission. It must have been someone already inside."
A silence fell between the group of females, before the parrot turned to the goat.
"Els, you are on Drama Club, aren't you?" She asked, and the goat said nothing in return. "Just... be careful, alright. They might be more composed, but they are still carnivores."
Els knew what she meant by it.
She knew all too well.
Animals were guided by instincts. Each species had its own set of instincts that guided their actions through knowledge and survival tactics that were passed down on the very DNA through many generations, all the way back to the beginnings of life.
For carnivores, this manifested as the instinct to hunt and devour herbivores. That was what she heard since she was a child, all the way until she got scouted to Cherryton.
As she came to learn, there was a clear difference between users and non-users when it came to resist and suppressing their instincts.
It was all because of the mental discipline that comes from having to both awaken and harness the power of the nen, all over the course of years. Due to this, nen users tended to develop the mental strength to better resist the pull of their instincts. For carnivores, this meant they were less likely to succumb to their hunting instincts and devour an herbivore. And for the herbivores, like Els, this meant they were most capable of resisting their initial urge to run for their lives when threatened and consciously chose fight over flight.
That, at least, according to some of their nen instructors.
Truth was, it did little to make Els feel safer on the Drama Club.
Especially when she noticed that there was one carnivore who had his eyes on her ever since she walked in while he continued to lurk into the shadows...
"Good afternoon, everyone." Said a pelican who walked into the place with a somber expression. This one was Sano, a third-year student in Cherryton and the director of Drama Club. "Could everyone gather, please? I'd like to talk about-"
However, what Sano was going to say quickly got lost as he looked ahead and saw that the members of club had, quite literally, polarized in two sides. In one, were the herbivores, while in the other were the carnivores.
And, on the herbivore side, Ellen the Zebra was making accusations to the carnivores.
"What you mean 'we killed Tem because we were jealous of him'!?" asked Bill the Tiger.
"That's what you heard!" Ellen said, "One of you was probably envious of Tem because he would always get good parts on each one of the plays. You might also be envious of him because he had a better performance on the nen training! You may have thought that it was not right for an herbivore to be doing better than you carnivores!"
"Well, you are wrong!" Bill said back to her. "None of us was envious of Tem! We would not have killed him for that!"
"Well, you certainly would not." Ellen said to the tiger. "After all, you are the only animal of Drama Club who has not awakened your nen yet!"
Now that was low, and even some of the herbivores on Ellen's side thought so.
Bill certainly thought so.
"Why, you stripped cud-breathed-" Bill said, as he started walking to her. However, Ellen was faster.
She lifted her hand and, focusing her aura on it, creating a layer around her hand like a glove, she then made it shot forward, straight to Bill's neck.
Bill gasped and choked as he felt fingers as strong as iron wrapping around his neck.
He tried to grasp at them, only to find out that the fingers made of pure aura could not be touched by his own fingers. Ellen rose her hand, causing the hand of aura, connected to her real hand by a long line of energy, to lift Bill until his kicking feet were over three feet above the ground.
"Ellen!" Sano said, looking at her in shock. Not only that, but a lot of other herbivores were now trying to urge her to put Bill down. However, Ellen ignored all of them. Just like she ignored the tension that was coming from the carnivores, as some of them were already readying their own auras, calling the power of their nen, which they were getting ready to use to fight.
"Ellen, Put Bill down!" Els said, suddenly forgetting her own worries about a carnivore of the club who had been eyeing her. She was much more worried about someone who she knew and cared about being attacked.
"You definitely could not have laid a finger on Tem." Ellen said coldly to the tiger, who continued to squirm on the grasp of her aura hand like a fish on a hook. "Tem was a strong guy. No way someone as weak as you would ever been able to come near him. He would have squashed you like a bug."
"Ellen, put Bill down!" Sano said, growing more desperate as he, like other herbivores, could feel the growing tension on the carnivore side, as their auras were getting agitated. And some herbivores were reacting to it by activating their own auras.
Els was among those, as she too was getting ready to use her aura. Not on one of the carnivores, but on Ellen, to make her let go of Bill.
Meanwhile, Bill was tensing, his whole body growing rigid with tension as emotions bubbled on him. Anger, frustration, resentment, even envy, all of them accumulating on the pit of his stomach and then getting ready to erupt like a volcano.
"I!" Bill said, as his body started trembling. Something felt like it was moving inside of him.
"Am not!"
Someone noticed what was happening. The animal who was on the rails tending to the light fixtures tensed as his fur stood on end.
"Look out!"
"WEAK!" Bill roared.
As he did, the feelings that were accumulating inside of him exploded outwards.
They exploded like a burst of pure flames.
Everyone gave a step back, some of them letting out squeals of shock, while others cussed.
Even Ellen was shocked to the point where her aura hand dematerialized, resulting in Bill landing on the ground, panting as he looked up at Ellen, seeing the shock on her face as she looked at him.
Just like everyone else.
Then, he realized.
He was... on fire?
No. It was not hurting. And neither his fur nor his clothes were burning, although he did feel awfully hot.
That was when Bill realized.
I-Is this... my aura?
Bill looked at himself, seeing the flames that were flowing in and around him, dispersing into the air, before the fire went off.
However, even as the fire went out, something felt different.
Something had just changed, and Bill knew it.
He felt it in himself.
"Well, now that is interesting to watch." Said a new voice, that made everyone turn to look.
"Louis-san!" Sano said, as the other third year-student arrived. And this one was particularly famous among the school. He was famous for his great performance on both academics and on the use of his nen, making him certainly stand out among the people of the school.
So much that he was his year's current beastar candidate.
Well, he was not the only one, but he was certainly the most famous of them, and the most popular on the school.
"So, Ellen." Louis asked, looking at the zebra. "This is how you plan to solve the problem regarding Tem's killer? By throwing accusations at your own clubmates? Well, would you mind explaining to me what exactly it achieves?"
Ellen flinched.
"Go on. Tell me what exactly you think you will achieve by accusing every single carnivore of this club of being responsible for Tem's death and angering them enough that they will want to challenge you for a duel. Will you fight each one of them by yourself? Or you plan to have all of your fellow herbivores involved in this until it becomes an all-out brawl?"
Ellen didn't have an answer to that, as all she could do was look down.
"What happened to Tem was a tragedy." Louis said, his expression and tone as somber as it was to be expected in a moment like that. "He was someone we all knew. He was our friend. However, if we allow his death to divide us now, then we will lose the one thing that makes Drama Club stand up among all other clubs of our school. We will lose the very thing that Drama Club, that all Cherryton, is supposed to represent. This is not what Tem would want from all of us."
Those words had an impact with everyone in Cherryton, as all of them looked at Louis, before lowering their heads and silently reflecting on all that the deer was telling them. Some of them, those who were close to Tem, realized that the deer was right.
This was not what Tem would have wanted.
"In moments like that, the Drama Club needs to be more united than ever." Louis said to them. "We need to remain united, so we can remember Cherryton that this is what we stand for. For we are all nen users. Society looks up to all of us, and they expect us to become their protectors and guides. Most of all, they expect us to be those who stand above prejudices, and who make sure that the future will be promising to both carnivore and herbivore non-users. This is the example we must set up for the rest of the school, so they will pass forward this example when they are out to society. So, we must stop fighting each other, and stand together in whatever challenges may lay ahead of us, united and strong."
No one disagreed with the deer. All of them shared of the feeling.
"So, let's finish this and get back to work, shall we? We have a play to get ready." Louis said. Then, as everyone was getting back to work, he called for one specific member of the club.
Or, better saying, two.
"Kibi-kun." Louis said, causing the anteater to look his way. "Please, take Bill to Kazma-sensei and let him know that there is a new student who will be attending his nen control classes."
"O-oh!" The anteater said. "Right, Louis-senpai!"
With this, the anteater was taking Bill by the hand and taking the tiger, who was still a little shaken, out of the room. On their way out, they passed by Louis.
"You really are a late bloomer, aren't you, Bill?" Louis asked to the tiger, who stopped to look at the deer. "Looks like you are no longer the only member of Drama Club that has not awakened your nen yet. About darn time, it was honestly starting to become embarrassing."
Bill looked at the deer, and he looked like he wanted to say something to him, but Kibi urged the tiger to come with him, saying that they needed to catch Kazma-sensei before he went for another one of those strolls on the city. It would be much harder to catch him later.
"So, Bill finally awoke his nen, huh?" Said Mina the giraffe. "Well, good for him."
"He certainly took his sweet time, right?" Asked Fudge the Red Panda, as he looked up at the much bigger female. "His fifth year on the school and still not awakening his nen? Some were starting to wonder if he would be one of those unlucky bastards who would leave Cherryton as a non-user."
"Hey, guys? Has anyone seem Legoshi?" asked a flying squirrel with a jar of nuts on her hands. "I wanted him to crack my walnuts open for me."
"Hey now, Legoshi is not a nutcracker." Mina said to the squirrel, who said that she just wanted him to crack her nuts for her because he had such strong hands, but she could not find him no matter how much she tried.
"Heh, no one can find Legoshi." Fudge said, "That wolf might suck at everything else that comes to using his nen, but he is the best at Zetsu. No one can find him when he is concealing his aura, not even Kazma-sensei can know right away where he is if he is suppressing himself completely."
That was true.
Legoshi was excellent when it came to close his nodes and halt his flow of energy completely. When he did so, it was like the wolf disappeared completely. Like he just ceased to exist, and no one could trace him by trying to track his aura. This coupled with him always lurking in the shadows meant that, most of the time, people hardly even knew where he was, and they often needed to resort to calling his name so the wolf would reveal himself.
However, even that did not change the fact that Els could feel a pair of eyes on her.
She could feel his gaze on her. She caught his eyes for a moment before he vanished in the shadows again. She could not longer sense or see him, but she could still feel his gaze upon her, like it was since the moment she walked into Drama Club that morning, and how she would continue to feel for the rest of the day.
It was a hard day at work. The rest of the club worked like crazy to get everything ready for the upcoming play, which they would now have to be playing with someone playing the role that was supposed to be Tem's.
Perhaps that was why the senior members were all having that emergency meeting, to discuss which one of the actors would be taking over the role of Oli the Water Spirit. There was some talk among the actors about who would be taking the role, since there were some beasts who were left as standby, as they were understudies for the actors who took all the roles on the play.
Meanwhile, the rest of the actor pool, as well as the production crew, were rehearsing some scenes on the stage of the auditorium as they all needed to be in top shape and have everything ready for when the day came.
Some of them even threw some of their nen techniques in the midst. Normally they were only allowed to use nen in Kazma-sensei's classes, unless they were in a dangerous situation. However, Drama Club had a special license to use those techniques during the play production, if they were careful and didn't overdo it.
The use of nen certainly added something extra to the plays, allowing them to produce some effects that were akin to the greatest movies.
Some thought it was a bit unfair that the members of Drama Club to be allowed to use their nen techniques as they saw fit, and this added to the idea that they were a bit arrogant due to having favor of the school...
But they were just another club who did what they could to perform their tasks and make it good for everyone involved.
Like Els.
She was the last one to leave the stage.
The same stage where she, just a few days ago, she saw Tem performing.
She could not believe he was gone.
He was so happy and amazing on the stage, as he summoned his cloths with his nen, using his abilities as a conjurer to full effect by summoning and controlling his cloths, making them flail around himself like water flowing (he even made sure they were blue, to add the illusion of moving water), as to pass the image of the powerful spirit of water.
He was so amazing as he did it over the stage, with those water-like sheets moving around him so gracefully as he swung his sword and gave his lines...
She could swear she could still feel the presence of his nen on that very stage, as if the residual traits of his aura were still lingering in there.
Els closed her eyes and put her hands together, giving a final prayer for her friend and clubmate, with whom she wished she could have talked more, and who she thought deserved better than being devoured.
She sighed, as she started making her way to the exit.
As she was walking, something buzzed closer to her face. This made Els reflectively swing her hand to try and shoo that away. However, I continued to fly near hear head.
And there were more coming.
"H-hey!" Els said, swinging her hand and trying to shoo those bugs away. Where were they coming from?
Then, they started glowing.
Her eyes widened as she saw those small bugs glowing and flying close to her. They were like fireflies, except that each one of them glowed much stronger than a normal firefly would.
Els immediately recognized them, for those same bugs had been a part of the production of their plays for a few years now.
They were Legoshi's.
"Don't be scared." A voice said from the shadows, and she looked in that direction. Emerging from the darkness, as if he was suddenly manifesting from the dark like a ghost, was a tall male wolf. His presence, until now undetectable, was now so ever present that one would have to be completely oblivious not to notice it.
"They are harmless unless I use them to attack." The wolf said, "You should know it, I have been using them for stage illumination for years now."
He walked to her, that same, somber expression that he usually had still on his eyes as he looked at her.
"I had to wait until everyone was gone, so I could get you alone."
The way he said that sent chills down Els' spine.
"We are alone now." Legoshi said, "I was waiting for this all day..."
He then gave a step in her direction. At this moment, Els' instincts kicked in. She attacked before she even knew what she was doing.
Her aura gathered on the palm of her hand, and she projected it forward in the shape of an arrow. Legoshi quickly side-stepped, while the aura arrow moved very close to him, opening a small tear on his shirt while continuing forward, hitting the wall and piercing it before vanishing into the air.
Els was not the strongest emitter of Drama Club, but she as an emitter alright. Her Angora Arrows were not to be taken lightly, especially since she could make them sharp enough to pierce through solid rock as easily as through someone's flesh.
Legoshi did well to dodge, because that one was made to be quite sharp.
As soon as Legoshi dodged, he then turned to look at Els, who ran.
She ran all the way back to the stage, aiming to get in there and use the backstage door to get out of there before Legoshi could get to her.
She focused her nen on her legs, giving herself a boost with Ren so she could make it all the way from the stairs she was running to the stage in one jump. She landed heavily, stumbling down on the stage as landed before scrambling to get to her feet and then rushing out of there as fast as she could.
However, her path to escape had been blocked.
Lights went up all around her, as those fireflies were all over the auditorium now. She could see Legoshi calmly walking down the stairs in direction to the stage. She tried to make a run for the backstage exit, but found her path blocked by another kind of bug.
Wasps.
Normal wasps were already dangerous, but those ones, being nen beasts, were certainly way more dangerous. She didn't even know what they did, but she was sure it was nothing good.
She looked back, in time to see that Legoshi was gone from the stairs. Then she saw him landing from above into the stage in a crouching position, startling her. The wolf was still looking at her with that empty gaze on those cold eyes as he slowly rose to an upright position.
"You go to club with us every day..." Els said, looking at him. "But when you are hungry, we are nothing but food?"
Legoshi didn't answered, and instead started to slowly walk in her direction.
"D-don't come any closer!" She said, lifting her hand and focusing her nen once more. She was ready to fire another Angora Arrow on that wolf. And this time, she would use the new technique she recently developed to be sure he would not be able to dodge as easily.
"I am not just a prey for you to hunt and devour!" Els said to him, her voice trembling with fear, which leaked into her aura and made it more agitated and volatile. "Neither was Tem! We are much more than you think!"
She was ready to fire, when suddenly, the fireflies started flying before her face. For a moment, she thought that they were just trying to distract her. However, then the lights they were shining strengthened, flashing right before her eyes, dazing her.
Using this change, Legoshi rushed forward with a burst of speed fueled by Ren, so he could close the distance between himself and Els in less than two seconds.
He then grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand up so she could not aim another arrow at him.
Els closed her eyes, thinking it was that for her, getting ready to meet with Tem, when...
"This is for you."
That voice was gentle.
Not the voice of a violent murderer.
Also, Els noticed that the grip on her wrist, while firm, was nearly gentle as it held without causing any damage.
She ventured to look, and she saw that Legoshi was holding something for her.
A letter.
In it were the words "TO ELS, FROM TEM".
And it was sealed with a heart-shaped stamp.
She looked up at him, and she saw her eyes at him.
They were devoid of anything that even remotely seemed like aggression or malice. Just like his aura.
"Tem didn't managed to give it to you before he died." Legoshi said to her, as they both sat on the edge of the stage, with their legs hanging over the edge. The place was still being illuminated softly by the light coming from the fireflies all around them, which cast a soft glow.
"It didn't sit well with me so... I decided I'd give it to you myself. Sorry if I scared you."
Legoshi said nothing more, and he just got up and started to leave. However, Els had some things to say to him before he left.
"I'm sorry!" Els said, bowing her head to the wolf. "I'm sorry for attacking you! And for misjudging you! I was totally wrong about you! I will explain to everyone that you are a good person!"
Legoshi looked at her, before shaking his head.
"You were Tem's first love." Legoshi said to her. "He didn't wanted people finding out, that was why he was looking for the chance to give you the letter in secret. Please, don't tell people about this, Tem was really keen on not having the whole club know."
She looked at him.
"I am used to it." Legoshi said, "Being feared, being misjudged, receiving glares... it is nothing new to me."
Legoshi said it, and he left, leaving Els alone on the stage, which was illuminated by his fireflies. He said they would last for a few hours, and that she could close the auditorium and the bugs would be gone by the morning.
With this, Els was left all alone in the empty auditorium, holding Tem's letter on her hands.
What a strange wolf... She thought to herself, as she reflected on what just happened.
She would follow Legoshi's request, and not tell anyone about the letter. However, after tonight, she would be sure to tell whoever wanted to hear that Legoshi was a good person.
She owed him that much after trying to hit him with a nen arrow...