"Legoshi?" Dom called, as he walked into the dressing rooms. He was pretty sure this was where the wolf had run to.

"Legoshi, are you here? Legoshi!"

No answer, only silence.

A silence broken by... sobbing.

The sound of sobbing reached the peafowl's earholes. The sobbing on a familiar, deep voice.

The sobbing of a wolf.

"Legoshi?" Dom called, following the sobbing until a clothes rack. The sound was coming from behind the clothes. "Legoshi, are you-"

"Don't come!" Legoshi said, cutting Dom and making the herbivore bird retreat a step out of surprise for the wolf's voice snapping at him like that.

"S-stay away from me..." Legoshi said, his voice coming out like a whimper. The pain on his voice was clear to Dom. However, unlike what Dom imagined at first, it was not really physical pain.

It was pain, though, and that was enough to make the peafowl even more worried than he already was, as he knew how stoic and firm Legoshi was. He once saw Legoshi break two of his fingers while dealing with the electrical equipment and then just say "excuse me" and leave for the infirmary without as much as an "ouch"!

For a single moment, Dom hesitated, as the thought of a wolf jumping him as soon as he pulled the clothes on the rack aside to see him crossed his mind. However, as he heard another whimper coming from behind those clothes, that thought was forcefully pushed to the back of his mind.

Legoshi didn't jumped him as Dom pulled the clothes aside, but the peafowl did take a step back as he gasped, as what he saw registered onto his brain.

Dom had seen the blood as Legoshi ran on the backstage. However, now that he saw it up close, it looked even worse. The back of the shirt was thorn, the whole garment into shreds. The amount of blood staining it told Dom that Legoshi's back was not better.

As an herbivore, Dom was naturally averted to blood. However, seeing that blood on the back of a person he knew woke up something in him. As if it was an instinct of an herbivore to look after a wounded member of his flock.

"Legoshi..." Dom said, and Legoshi turned his head slowly to look at him.

Legoshi's semblance was pure misery, a look of despair and anguish on his tear-stained face. Nothing like the growling wolf that attacked him nights ago. This served to make Dom all the more worried with the wolf, as seeing him so vulnerable made him forget everything about that night.

"D-Dom-senpai..." Legoshi said, "T-the shirt you guys made for me got ripped... I-I'm sorry."

Legoshi sounded like he was going to start sobbing at any second.

"Legoshi, your back!" Dom said, "You have to come with me!"

"N-no..." Legoshi said, shying away from his touch, as if Dom was the one between the two of them who was the most dangerous, and as if he was going to hurt Legoshi even worse than Bill did.

"Legoshi, you are bleeding!" Dom said to him. "We have to take you to the infirmary! Now!"

Legoshi looked up at him, as Dom kneeled by him, and was still urging him to go to the infirmary to check on his back.

Was Dom... really worried with him?

"Legoshi, that might be serious!" Dom said, "You are going to the infirmary now! I am taking you there even if I have to drag you!"

Legoshi looked up at Dom, who was taking his hands and urging him to get up.

"Sen... pai..."


Legoshi was on the infirmary just minutes later, as Dom has made the wolf run all the way there. Once they arrived, Dom immediately asked for the nurse to check on him, and she soon was taking the wolf inside while Dom waited outside.

She removed the shirt from Legoshi, and she was shocked at how bad his back seemed. Legoshi remained perfectly still as she cleaned the wounds on his back from blood and got them disinfected. The wolf only barely heard half of what she was saying as she spoke to him, asking how he got wounds like that on his back.

That was when Bill came, saying that he needed to see the nurse for the bite wounds on his body and his broken arm.

Legoshi lifted his eyes to meet the tiger, who looked back at him with ferocity, while Legoshi's expression was empty.

The nurse looked in between the two of them, a wolf with claw marks on his back and a tiger with bitemarks on his shoulder and arm, and she quickly connected the dots.

As soon as she was done cleaning and then covering the wounds on the wolf's back, she turned her attention to Bill. She confirmed that the bite-marks on his shoulder were pretty serious, but that he was not in risk of losing that arm. She also did confirm that his other arm was broken, and that it would need to be on a cast for a while, that made Bill groan.

"And now she is calling the Housemother..." Bill said, referring to the mandrill who watched over the carnivore dorms whom he nurse was definitely going to call about two of the carnivore students coming back with serious wounds on their bodies that looked to be the result of a fight between the two.

"She is gonna chew me out worse than you did, you dumb mutt!" Bill talked as he looked at the wolf, knowing full well how that mandrill was, and how she strict and never went easy on the carnivores of the school if they were acting recklessly, like getting into fights. "Hope you're happy! I should have sunk my claws harder on you!"

There was a silence between the two of them, before Legoshi spoke:

"Yes... yes you should've..."

Whatever it was that Bill was expecting Legoshi to say back, that wasn't it. He could only stare at the wolf in surprise.

"Legoshi?" Bill asked, looking at the wolf, and noticing that the anger was gone from his features. In fact, nearly all emotions were gone from his features.

"You were right, Bill..." Legoshi said, "I have the same blood as you on my hands..." Legoshi said, and Bill could only look at the wolf in even more surprise.

"What?"

"I am really a hypocrite..." Legoshi said, "I got mad at you because of the blood on your pocket when I... when I nearly..."

Legoshi was shivering, and Bill, as he saw the way Legoshi was behaving, felt his anger disappearing.

He never saw Legoshi like that...

"H-hey..." Bill said, looking at him. "Y-you okay?"

"No." Legoshi said immediately. Silence followed those words, as Bill looked at the wolf. Due to the position he was in, he was able to see the bandages covering Legoshi's back. His back was still bleeding, as the red liquid was seeping through the bandages.

That was the moment when Bill started to wonder if he had overdone it back on the stage.

Well, Legoshi did too, and Bill had a wounded shoulder and a broken arm to prove, but Bill was the one who started it. He had been the one to draw the first blood.

"We are both monsters..." Legoshi said, and this caused Bill to look at him once more. "I... I tried so hard to be good... I tried so hard to be a good carnivore, just like everyone told me I should be. I never bared my fangs and I trimmed my claws. I never rose my voice and I tried to never get mad. I tried all I could to be a good carnivore... like they told me to be... but... is a good carnivore really a thing?"

Bill blinked, as he continued to look at that wolf whose back he had scarred.

"We are monsters." Legoshi said, looking down, it seemed that he had forgotten that Bill was even there, even as he spoke:

"We all are... You. Me. All carnivores. We... we are nothing but monsters..."

"Hey!" Bill said to him. Legoshi flinched visibly at that, nearly as if Bill had hit him. This caused the tiger to pause, seeing that reaction from the wolf.

"I-it is not like that..."

"It is not?" Legoshi said, and then he looked back at the tiger. "Then why does it looks like it?"

"Why do we crave blood? Why does the smell of it makes us riled up? Why we are so keen on getting into fights? Why do we hurt each other and the herbivores, even when we don't want to?" Legoshi asked, and Bill could only look back at him, not knowing what to say.

"Good people don't do that..." Legoshi said, "Monsters do..."

"Legoshi..."

"I have no right to judge you..." Legoshi said, "I have no right to act like I am better, because I am not... You were right, Bill, I have no grounds to try and be a moralist with you. I am no better... I'm just... not..."

Bill saw Legoshi. He always considered the wolf a wuss. How he always lurked and spoke in a low voice and looked like he didn't want to be seen by anyone, so unlike what Bill believed carnivores should act.

He was doing it right now. But... this was different.

He never saw Legoshi looking so... miserable.

For the first time since he knew Legoshi, Bill felt like he really wanted to make him feel better.

He tried to tell him that this was just part of being a carnivore. That sometimes they just had to work it out of their systems by fighting. That this was how they were, and that didn't mean they were monsters.

But, none of that seemed to matter to the wolf. He only continued to look down as Bill made vain efforts to reach out to him and make him feel better. And now, Bill was starting to feel like a jerk for having made Legoshi feel that way...

Soon, the Housemother came and, like Bill had anticipated, she tore him and Legoshi new ones.

She didn't care who had started the fight, but the fact that they both had attacked each other on school grounds was unacceptable and inexcusable. What if they had started a panic among the herbivores with their fight!? Didn't the two idiots heard about the tension because of what nearly happened on the cafeteria days ago!?

She made sure that both of them understood that they were in the wrong, and that they should never get into a fight in school grounds again, and that they were both lucky that the peafowl just outside was vouching for the two of them, otherwise she would be taking it to the school's board and they both would be in serious trouble.

This made Legoshi look up, as he heard the housemother talking of the "peafowl out there".

"Yes, says he is friends with both of you." The mandrill said to the two of them. "Said that he is worried with you two and that this was all a situation that escalated more than it should have. He was particularly worried with you, young wolf."

Indeed, Dom was, and he was soon talking to Legoshi as he and Bill both came out, asking if his back was fine and if he was needed help. The nurse was the one who took over, and she told him that the gashes on his back were serious, but that he would be fine, eventually. However, he would most likely be getting a scar from this whole ordeal.

"Honestly, I'd be shocked if he didn't get any scar on his back after this." The nurse said, "He will need to change his bandages every few days too and disinfect them, to be sure that there will be no complications on those wounds, and I don't think he will be able to do it by himself."

"His roommates can help him with that." The housemother said, "Now, both of you morons, come with me."

"Actually, I still need to fix the cast on the tiger's arm." The nurse said.

"Very well, then you stay." She said to Bill, and then turned to Legoshi. "And you come. Oh, and you better cancel any programs you had for the following weeks. You are forbidden of leaving the dorms for anything other than clubs and classes until further notice."

The housemother truly showed that she was strict, and that she could act like a mother in moments like that. She just grounded Legoshi. The wolf, however, cared little, once he rarely left the dorms for anything other than what she mentioned, anyways.

Before he went, however, his two clubmates stopped him. Bill, in a surprising action, apologized to Legoshi for his back, saying that he was wrong for hurting him like that, and that he hoped the wolf didn't held a grudge. Legoshi said it was okay.

Dom, on his end, told the wolf he hoped he made a full recovery.

"Senpai..." Legoshi said, and he tried to reach for Dom, only for the peafowl to visibly flinch as that clawed hand tried to touch him.

That flinching made Legoshi's hand stop, and then the wolf lowered his head and just followed the housemother with his tail tucked between his legs.

Dom watched him go, now feeling like a complete jerk.


On Monday, everyone was talking about the play.

The school's paper made sure to cover the entire event, including the "extremely realistic and convincing fight scene". This was certainly the talk of the whole school, as the people who were in there spoke of how amazing and filled with action the fighting scene was. How they could nearly feel the rage of the wolf as he attacked the tiger, and even bit his arm!

They all thought it was so real.

"And they even used fake blood!" One of the people who was sitting on the front row said, as they spoke on how much Drama Club went out of their way to make a great fighting scene for the play.

The wolf and tiger gave their all as well. In fact, they gave so much of themselves that the tiger ended up breaking his arm by accident! Well, at least that was what Louis said to everyone on the statement that he released for the public.

"He says that the tiger fractured his arm while running off the stage." One girl said to her two friends as they all reflected on the play and talked about it. "Something about him slipping on the fake blood and landing on his arm. He had to go to the infirmary because of it, and that was why he was not in there for the final bow."

"Ouch." Another of the girls said, and the three of them continued to talk.

"But, why did they change that scene?"

"Louis says it was because they wanted to pass a message." The parrot, how was holding the newspaper, said, "Something about how hard it is to stand proud on today's society. It is right here. Apparently, the actions of the wolf's character were to reflect how he was outraged for the imposter Adler standing on the place of the real one, and how he wanted to stand for what he thought was right. However, in the end, he ran away because he thought he was not deserving to stand beside the heroic Adler, because he was the same kind of entity as the imposter: a spirit of shadows."

"Louis says that, sometimes, we don't consider ourselves worthy of standing proud even when we stand for what we believe, and that was why many of us just lower our heads when we see injustice." She said, as she read the citation that the deer left. "This scene was to inspire everyone, carnivores and herbivores alike, to stand up for what we believe and fight against what we consider wrong, and to stand proud for doing so, so we all can work together to create a better world without hate."

"Wow... that's so cool." Said one of the girls. "Now I wish I had gone to the play, but I couldn't because I had to study."

"Well, I went." Said the pony, and she then described the scene to her two friends, about how there was a lot of punching and kicking, and how the wolf ran around the tiger while attacking him with a sword and a pair of daggers and a mace and then an axe, and how he pulled a machinegun and then the tiger went up in flames.

Her two friends were both amazed at this story, and they continued to look at the picture of the wolf with his costume, which was taken on the night of the play. As they did, a certain Labrador passed by them, carrying a bag with food on his hand as he heard what they were saying.

Seriously? Jack thought to himself as he passed by those girls, while the pony continued to say things about the play that Jack knew for a fact had not happen, since he had actually been there on the night. Does no one care about reality anymore?

He had been hearing things like that, and they made him think it was good that Legoshi had decided to stay out of sight during lunch. He found the wolf inside of the empty swimming pool, looking like he was hiding away from everyone.

He had to call his name a few times before Legoshi answered to him. The wolf was as distracted today as he had been lately.

Jack brought him his favorite egg sandwich, and Legoshi was happy about it. However, Jack did notice that the wolf was not as excited about it as he would be in any other day.

Another proof that there was still something bothering his best friend.

So, Jack thought it was best not to mention the newspaper and how everyone was talking about what happened on stage. About the fight that he had with Bill. Yes, for that was not staged, but an actual fight. Jack knew Legoshi enough to know that what he saw was not pretending. The fact that his best friend came back home with his back in bandages was enough proof of it, as the housemother made sure to tell them how important it was for them to help Legoshi change the bandaging to make sure his wounds were not infecting.

"Do your back still hurts?" Jack asked, to what Legoshi shook his head.

"Not, it doesn't... but it itches."

"You better not scratch it, remember how the housemother told us not to do anything that would make the wounds worse?"

Legoshi nodded. Yes, he remembered fully well. The housemother would not let Legoshi get himself in any more problem than he already did. She made it clear that next time she would make sure the teachers heard about it, and then he would be in a pickle.

Legoshi didn't wanted to be in problem. He was in too much already.

Even though Jack didn't show him the newspaper, Legoshi could see it on his hand. He could see it the picture of him, with a forced, awkward smile as he stood by Louis' side.

That picture had been snapped on the day following the play, when Louis demanded for both Bill and Legoshi to come to see him, despite their injuries, so he could talk with them about what happened on stage.

Louis revealed the open vial, which still had traces of the blood that once filled it. He tossed it to Bill, admonishing him for carrying that on him while he was surrounded by herbivores, one of them a peafowl. Bill, with his arm on a cast, could only look down as he had nothing to say to Louis.

Legoshi was not safe from being admonished as well, as Louis told him that he should have looked for Louis and told him about what Bill was carrying with him after the play, so Louis could deal with it properly. He should not have tried to get into a fist-fight with Bill and nearly ruined the entire play with his antics.

The very fact that they fought hard enough to cause each other those kinds of injuries was enough reason for them both to be kicked out of Drama Club for good. Those were rules that the club had, and that was the consequence of breaking them.

However, before Louis could, he suddenly noticed that they were not alone in there.

A goat from the school's paper was there, along with a small crowd of fans and curious animals, all of them asking questions about the play and about the changes on the script.

Louis had to think fast at this, and he turned at the two.

"I will rescind my decision of having you expelled from the club if you two follow my lead." Louis said, and Bill and Legoshi could only share a look as they just let Louis do all the talking.

That was the moment when Louis made up everything about how they changed the script and the reasons behind it, and he even threw in the excuse as to how Bill fractured his arm when they asked about the cast. Bill went along with all of it, and Legoshi... well, the wolf basically just forced a smile and nodded like an idiot, and that seemed to be good enough for everyone.

In the end, they snapped a picture of them, and Legoshi saw himself forced to smile for the picture, while Bill and Louis had much more natural smiles than the wolf. This only proved to him how better they both were in dealing with the public than him.

That was the reason why Legoshi never wanted to be on the actor pool. Well, one of them...

And then, Legoshi saw him.

Dom-senpai was looking at him, past the crowd of Louis' fans, and he was looking intently at Legoshi.

The wolf was nearly going to rush towards him, when he noticed how the peafowl was holding his arm.

The arm Legoshi scratched with his claws.

This made the wolf stop, and just stay where he was.

He had no right to talk to Dom.

However, that was when Dom came to him, as he was walking back to his dorm.

He asked how his back was, to what Legoshi said that it was hurting a lot less than on the previous day. However, the housemother still wanted him to stay on his dorm for a while his back was healing, just like Bill with his arm.

Dom seemed glad to hear that his back was better, and he told Legoshi that he hoped his back had stopped hurting completely when he came back to Drama Club.

Hearing that made Legoshi's tail wag slightly. After Dom left, Legoshi resumed going back to his dorm.

Dom had been on his mind during all the weekend after this, and now, as Monday came, he was still with the peafowl on his mind.

He could not stop thinking about him.

About how Dom was still distant with him. Legoshi thought he probably deserved it, as he had come too close of devouring his senpai.

However, he could not forget how worried Dom had been with him. How he wanted to make sure Legoshi was okay after he saw how bad his back was. This was proof that Dom did not hated him.

This was proof that he still cared for Legoshi as a fellow club member, and that he didn't thought he was a monster and didn't wanted to see him disappear.

Right?

Legoshi caught himself thinking more and more about it, and now, as he was sitting by Jack's side as they both ate their lunch, Legoshi continued to think about his beloved senpai...

Wait...

Beloved?

Legoshi blinked, as he was taken aback by the specific word that came into his mind as he was thinking of Dom...


"Weird?" Jack asked, as he looked at Legoshi. "What do you mean by 'weird'? You mean, like painful, or itchy?"

"No." Legoshi said as he looked at Jack. "My back stopped hurting completely and is not even itching anymore. It just feels... really weird."

"Weird" was a word that could mean a lot of things when you were talking about how your back felt. However, Legoshi thought that it was the best word that he could use in a situation like that. I thought that there was no better word to describe the strange feeling, of the likes he never had before, on his back for the past few days. The tingling and the feeling of his skin crawling, and the feeling that something was happening back there.

It was not painful, but it still felt strange for the wolf...

"Maybe something happened to the wounds?" Durham offered as he and the others looked Legoshi's way. "Maybe we should check?"

"Isn't it time to change the bandages anyway?" Collot asked. "It has been a couple days already."

Jack looked at them, and he agreed with them.

Soon, Legoshi was turning around and removing his shirt, revealing the big patch and bandages on his back, which Jack was soon removing. He was sure to do it like he had been instructed, and he was ready to call for the nurse if he noticed anything strange.

However, things would be so strange that he would completely forget to call her.

"Woah!" Jack said, as he just started removing the patch.

"W-what? What happened?" Legoshi asked, startled by the sound his friend just made.

"Legoshi, you are losing fur!" Jack said, "It is falling off! This is not normal! I think that you might have... GAAHH!"

Now that sound, which Jack made after actually removing the patch from Legoshi's back, caught the wolf off guard. So much that he visibly flinched as Jack stumbled back in shock.

And he was not the only shocked one.

"What the!?"

"The hell!?"

"Woah!"

"What is that!?"

They were Legoshi's roommates. All of them letting out surprised exclamations.

That was too much for Legoshi.

"What!?" Legoshi asked, turning around to look at them. "What, what is it!? Is it the wounds!? They opened again!? They infected!?"

They didn't answer. They all only continued to look at Legoshi with shocked expressions. Jack, in particular, had a haunted expression on his face as he continued to look at Legoshi.

Their reactions were making the wolf really worried.

"Guys... what is going on? What is wrong with my back?" Legoshi asked, looking at all of them. They only continued to look at him. "Guys, tell me!"

They all only continued to look at him. Jack was slowly shaking his head.

Finally, one of them broke the silence.

"G-g-green..." Miguno said, "S-so green..."

"Wha?" Legoshi asked. "Green? As in, an infection or..."

Legoshi was asking, but he stopped as he saw the look on Jack's face.

Then, the wolf looked down.

There was fur on the ground.

Legoshi's fur.

A lot of it.

So much, in fact, it covered that patch of the ground. Apparently, it had fallen off as soon as the patch was removed, as if it had just fallen off.

Legoshi continued to look at the fur on the ground, taking in how much of it there was. In fact, it was so much that Legoshi started to think that his back didn't had any more... fur...

Green...

Legoshi's eyes widened, as a spark of dread igniting on his heart.

He slowly reaching a hand, touching his own shoulder and on his back. He tried to look over his shoulder, but he could not see it properly. Actually, he was afraid of taking a proper look, but he knew he had to.

He needed to see his back.

The mirror.

Legoshi rushed for it, only to have Jack jump on his way.

Legoshi told him to let him see, but Jack refused. He tried telling Legoshi to calm down, telling him that it was okay and that they would "figure it out".

However, that only served to make Legoshi more nervous.

"Jack!" Legoshi snapped, rushing forward and grabbing the Labrador by his shoulders.

For a moment, they were both frozen, with Jack looking back at the wolf, bigger and stronger than him, with fear on his eyes. Legoshi realized what he was doing, and his grip on Jack's shoulders softened.

"Jack, I..." Legoshi said, his voice shaking as much as his hands. Shaking from the feeling of fear of what he was expecting to see.

What he knew he was going to see.

"I need to look. I... I need to see... please."

Jack looked at him. Then, as Legoshi let go of his shoulders, Jack slowly, hesitantly, stepped out of his way, allowing the wolf to look at himself on the mirror. At his muscular, furry body, bigger than what one would expect for a wolf.

One of the first clues that Legoshi was not a common wolf.

Then, slowly, the wolf turned around. Apprehension and dread filling his heart as he slowly moved his body so his back was facing the mirror and Legoshi, looking over his shoulder, was able to clearly see it.

His heart dropped all the way to his stomach as he saw it fully.

The nurse said he would surely be getting scars from those wounds. She was wrong. There were no scars on his body. Not a single trace of a scar on his back, which had healed so fast it could be considered miraculous.

However, just like there were no scars on his back, there was no fur as well.

All of it had, indeed, fallen off, and now his back was completely bald.

No. Not only bald.

His back, all of it, from two inches below his shoulders all the way down to just an inch above his tail, was now covered in emerald-green scales.