I don't think I explained it but I wanted to make it clear. When I was writing the chapter Louis met Kyuu she called him Shi which is the kanji's sound for the number four when I did my research. That's why Kyuu referred to him as such when her tongue slipped in Chapter 33. Anyway, things are ramping up to the end that should be in sight for this season thank you for reading thus far. I'm thinking of seven to ten more chapters to flesh everything out properly.

-MalMetal

CHAPTER 37: Curses Are For Those Who Don't Tell The Truth

Sink water ran, pouring down a drain into pipes that led to a place many animals would never see nor care for. A seemingly infinite water source is cycling itself over and over again only being broken once turned off. A wolf's hands cupped the water in front of her and threw on another splash to wake her up completely. Even after her shower, Juno couldn't help but feel sluggish. Studying had been driving her up a wall and the double work with the other clubs and drama club activities she'd been taking on wasn't helping. She took a hand towel to her fur then a blow dryer, lastly, she gave her fur a hardy shake, throwing a small amount of water all around the bathroom.

"Really charming, Juno," Olivia said, drying herself off.

"Sorry! Habit!" Juno smiled before leaving the bathroom, placing her shoes on, and picking up her school bag. She hurried down the stairs of her dorm, squeezing past any other carnivores in her way. Reaching the exit she opened the doors and descended the stairs a small way to see a lone wolf reading something on his phone. He was so lost in his reading that a leaf blowing by didn't draw his attention. Juno smirked to herself, tip-toeing her way closer until she was close enough to throw her fluffy tail over Legoshi's eyes. His tail immediately shot straight up.

"Morning!" Juno's soft, energetic voice eased Legoshi's nerves.

"Morning."

"How're you feeling?"

"I-I'm doing good. You seem to be really happy." Legoshi's near-innocent gaze made Juno blush slightly.

"Of course. I get to see you first thing." Legoshi's cheeks became flushed and the fur on his tail straightened. Juno moved her tail and Legoshi's caught her attention.

"Are you scared of something? Your tail's standing straight up."

"We-well that's more like an instinctual reaction. When a female wolf puts her tail on a male wolf's head it is supposed to signify arousal or a sexual invitation. So my instincts are reacting to that. It's something you'll learn in the sex ed class during your second year." Juno's tail stood up straight.

"I mean… I wouldn't mind doing it with you." Juno's amethyst eyes showed her honesty, her tail pointed downward, swaying side to side. She stared at Legoshi softly but he gave her a straight look back.

"I'm kidding, it was just a joke."

"A joke?"

"Yup. A joke."

"Hm. Hey, can I see your arm?" Legoshi offered his arm, she grasped it with both paws and bit his forearm.

"Nngh!"

"You shouldn't play with a girl's heart like that." Juno quickly bit him again to which Legoshi recoiled, holding his arm in pain. Juno playfully licked his lips and smiled at him. However, it faded when she saw his pained expression.

"I think you drew blood." Legoshi inspected his arm seeing a bit of red in his otherwise bluish gray fur.

"Well it is your fault but…" Juno grasped his arm again, she began licking his wounds until the slow bleeding stopped. Legoshi's tail stuck straight up and didn't drop until Juno looked him in the eyes again. Upon eye contact, their tails violently wagged by themselves.

"You wanna head to the club?" Legoshi suggested.

"Yes. You go first though."

"I'd rather not, could you?"

"No."

"Wanna walk side by side?"

"Mhm." The two walked along a path covered in dead leaves. "Your tail's pushing cold air over here."

"Sorry," Legoshi said, looking closer at Juno. "You're wearing long sleeves?"

"My fur is pretty thin because of some bad conditioner I've been using. Marlene recommended me to use it without telling me about chemicals in it."

"At least it's not patchy anywhere, Jack tried to use my body wash one time and his fur was failing off in bunches for a week. Luckily it was before coming here so he was able to stay home." Legoshi explained with a slight chuckle.

"That sounds awful. Feels good to not be the only one though. How have your roommates been anyway?"

"Pretty good, a new game we wanted to play is coming out this Friday."

"Let me guess, Last Fox Ronin 2?" Legoshi's ears perked up. "I heard Kibi, Tao, and Aoba talking about it last week. They seemed really excited about it. Maybe you could show me what the game's like when it comes out?"

"You'd have to play the first one first. It's got really great controls and an amazing story about a ronin who travels across Japan to attain a special blade so he can become a proper samurai. I would talk about the second one's story from the trailers but that'd spoil the story of the first."

"I'd be happy to play with you." Juno's soft smile left Legoshi reeling a bit, he looked away from her, blushing a fair bit. She stepped closer to him, giving him a sly look. "What's wrong, why don't you look at me?" Juno batted her eyes playfully.

"Stop… that."

"Hm? You have to speak louder, some fur got into my ears."

"Stop, looking at me like that, it's making me flustered!" Legoshi quietly shouted. His eyes were soft, almost malleable if they were felt by hand. His teeth were a beautiful white, clean, and well taken care of. Juno didn't often see his teeth in such beauty. His fangs entranced her briefly before he waved a hand in her face, waking her from her trance. She turned her eyes to herself, walking into the school building. They walked down the empty hall filling it with a small bit of chatter, a chatter which came to an abrupt end once they reached the drama club.

"Louis?" Juno said the deer's name who'd worn his usual green uniform with a red tie. His soft eyes looked at the couple with a smirk.

"You two started dating after all?"

"That's none of your business!" Juno's embarrassment rang out clear as day. Louis simply chuckled and looked at Legoshi, his eyes were the ones he hated.

"Louis, where have you been? You disappeared that day and-"

"If you minded your own business you'd save yourself a lot of time."

"Louis, I don't wanna fight with you." Legoshi's calm response flipped Louis' stomach inside out.

"Of course you don't."

"I'm just… Louis, I don't know what you've been doing but if you're here then it came to an end right?"

"If it did?"

"Then join the club again. It's like I told you before, you can apologize and we can move on from this."

"I told you nothing will come from me coming back to this club, my future is well within my reach without it."

"So you're just going to keep hiding in the dark?!" Legoshi and Louis turned their eyes in surprise at Juno's loud outburst."What's with you? You talk all big about how good you are at what you do, how you brought this club up. You were the face of this school and then when all of it matters most you throw it all away! Then you leave everyone else to deal with the mess you leave behind! Do you have a heart for anyone except for yourself, do you?!" Juno approached Louis until they stood close enough for Louis to see the wrinkles on Juno's annoyed face.

"I've wondered why. Why would you abandon all of it? You had everything." Louis' jaw twitched. He looked past her at Legoshi whose ears lowered slightly, awaiting an answer.

"I'll tell you." Everyone's attention turned to Bill who walked up, he stopped his stride at Legoshi to give him a photo.

"Last night I got those pictures delivered to my dorm by someone I dunno. That lion's uniform look familiar?" Legoshi'seyes scanned the picture and he instantly knew what he was looking at.

"Louis, what is this?" Legoshi showed the picture of the deer and Ibuki together.

"The reason I've been gone, the Shishigumi had me working for them. We made a deal."

"Don't lie, Louis," Bill said.

"I was a hostage."

"How'd you get there, huh? First, you fight Legoshi then you have a change of heart about saving Haru? She's been through hell because she wanted you to be beside her. I knew you were a piece of work but never this bad. Also if you were a hostage why did I get a picture of you hugging one of those lions?" Bill's brow narrowed.

"Leave it. What I'm doing is my business. So keep out of it, cat." Bill's left arm moved fast, pushing the deer into the wall next to the drama club door.

"Go ahead, try calling me that again." Bill's forearm tensed up and his claws lengthened an inch or so.

"Bill," Legoshi stepped to his friend's side, placing his hand on his chest.

"You've been nothing but a pain in the ass since I've known you. Everyone's better off without you ever coming back, now I think Haru's seeing that too." Louis' pupils dilated and he swung as hard as he could at Bill. A small crack could be heard as the tiger stammered back. Bill's pupils slimmed and he pushed forward, throwing one good swing at Louis that never met the buck's face because Legoshi just barely managed to block it.

"What are you doing? Move!"

"What are you doing? Bill, you can't do this."

"You're defending him? If this is about herbivores and carnivores then-"

"What happens if Louis walks away hurt badly. It won't be assumed that herbivores did it, carnivores will take the fall. The drama club will be the first suspects. I can't have you or any of us taking the fall for something none of us did." Legoshi kept his hands between Louis and Bill.

"Bill," Juno spoke up. "You need to calm down. Why don't we go? You haven't had breakfast, right?" The wolf's sweet tone eased the tension in Bill's body. He felt his jaw, staring at Louis.

"Let's go eat. They've got really good tea packets in the morning." Juno pulled Bill's arm slightly before lightly pushing him down to the hallway. She looked at Legoshi worriedly until she turned away to walk on as well.

"I didn't need your help," Louis said.

"Can you stop? For once, just once. Tell me something that isn't a lie or, or an excuse." Louis' eyes became clear as glass but stained by dirt all the same.

"Legoshi. What exactly are you?"

"A wolf, in a changing world. Like you're a deer in a changing world."

"So… the same."

"The same." Louis let out a sigh of defeat at that declaration. "I really hate you."

"...I know."

"I'll start with the night you two saved Haru." Legoshi's ears perked up.

"I've never wanted to open up to anyone about what was going on in my mind. What I did in the Black Market, I hated it. Yet, something felt right. The power I had, even if a figment of my imagination, I had it. Since that day I'd always wondered. What kind of an animal was Legoshi? Even to this day, I feel like I know but at the same time I feel like I know less than when we talked that day."

Louis finished explaining everything to Legoshi who was pretty taken aback by it all. His left ear twitched, his eyes closed, and his tail moved about the floor.

"Kyuu? I thought Gohin would've told me about her."

"That's what you're worried about? Really?"

"Everything else makes sense that's why I'm only thinking about that. It's still crazy stuff but… not… impossible. It must've been hard being powerless all your life. A place like that… I can't even imagine what that's like." Legoshi rubbed the back of his neck. "Working with the Shishigumi was an awful decision. Too far, for any one of us."

"They wouldn't let me die, so I decided to live how I could. I never liked what I did, yet I still did it. Heh, confessing my sins to a carnivore. What am I doing?" Louis laughed to himself.

"You really were cut out to be a Beastar, you know? This is what carnivores and herbivores should be doing, not judging or hating each other for their mistakes." Louis' heart nearly broke at such an easy explanation of crimes

"What mistakes? What I've done is become a beast like the rest of you carnivores!" Louis straightened his posture. "I was supposed to be more than you, any of you! The beasts who eat herbivores like me! I was never supposed to make a mistake that led me to this! That led me to care about any of you, never to the point that I would confide in a single one of you! Beasts like you, Legoshi! Beasts who killed Tem!" Legoshi's gaze did not waiver for a single syllable of a single word. He stood straight and looked the deer who suffered directly in the eyes.

"Juno, on our first date, she told me what mattered most to her in this world. What her dream really meant to her. For all carnivores to be beautiful in the eyes of the world. To be more than beasts, chained by their instincts. Slaves to what they refuse to control or fear to know. That's not who I am anymore, it's not who Bill is. It's not who any one of us in the club are. We're carnivores trying to survive. I'm a carnivore trying to secure a world where both herbivores and carnivores can live in harmony. My dream may just be impossible but I want to see if I can make it happen. After what you've told me, I believe you want that too somewhere deep inside. So you can leave behind that place." Legoshi's words were like rainfall after a long drought. Harsh, heavy droplets, reviving a dying land that wanted to grow accustomed to a new desolate state. Louis could see nothing except the hope Legoshi believed in, all without a smile or frown. He was emotional and not at the same time. An animal and beast in the truest sense. Overhead a vent peered down at them, and a pair of eyes studied them ever so innocently. Without a word it slithered away, making no sound as those eyes moved away.