Sorry for the long hiatus, college work has been taking priority, and spending time with family as well. Please enjoy I'll do my best to ensure the next chapter doesn't take to long to make.

-MalMetal

CHAPTER 40: A Testament To What We Were

Riz cleaned his roommate's dishes in the sink. Kubo and Marco had left to study for the night, leaving Riz to have dinner privately with Legoshi. The bear felt a happiness floating within, it'd been so long since the two sat down together to share a meal. In his mind, they were more similar than not, true friends, carnivores without much difference. As that happiness washed over him, Legoshi's knock at the door grabbed his attention. He moved to answer the door, hitting a quarter-empty pill bottle off the countertop which he hastily placed near the edge of the countertop. He answered the door, greeting his friend with a warm smile.

"Sorry I'm late, I got caught up with the train." Legoshi softly apologized with his ears slightly down and his eyes closed.

"Don't worry I needed the extra time to clean up after the other two." Riz held the door open and watched Legoshi seat himself. "So what were you doing downtown?"

"Visiting that doctor I worked for during the summer, he's been having some problems with paperwork that I needed to help him with." Legoshi felt weird lying.

"I guess that's to be expected. Do you want bread with the Miso Soup?"

"Yeah, is it toasted?"

"It can be. Butter?"

"Just a little bit." Riz did as he was asked and rubbed his paws together to get the crumbs off.

"So how'd you end up working under that doctor?"

"We met over the summer at a sandwich shop, it was pretty weird, he approached me about a summer job, and from there I worked under him," Legoshi remembered everything that led to his current relationship with the panda now and felt even worse for lying, but his stomach growling broke him out of his mood. Riz chuckled louder much to Legoshi's embarrassment before the bear grabbed the bread out of the oven, prepared the food, and served it to his friend. The wolf and bear briefly prayed, then began to eat.

"So?" Riz inquired, watching Legoshi enjoy his first bite.

"It's great. Might be better than my grandpa's cooking actually."

"Thanks, my grandma helped me with the spices and seasoning ratios over the phone. She really knows how to cook."

"Same with my grandpa, he knows how to cook any type of dish if you give him the ingredients."

"I guess it's a trend with grandparents, thankfully I was an only child so I got to eat more than my fill with her." Riz patted his flexed arm. "She's the reason I'm so strong today."

"Did she raise all by herself?"

"Yeah, I never knew my parents. My grandmother told me they had trouble with the law and couldn't take care of me after that."

"My dad was a bad guy, according to my grandpa, and my mom died because she was sick." Both of them looked at each other and then giggled.

"You think our lives are that bad?" Riz playfully asked between laughs.

"Not too bad, I got to meet so many amazing animals," Legoshi smirked to himself, looking at Tem's empty chair. Riz joined him shortly after and felt his heart drop a little. "The last time we were all together was two weeks before finals and the play."

"Yeah," Riz said, thinking back to one of his fondest memories. He, Tem, and Legoshi were walking back after a small brief on the workings of the Drama Club for the rest of the semester. The meeting wasn't something they had to attend but Tem had to as part of the actor's pool so he dragged Riz along and Riz dragged Legoshi along.

"Why'd I have to go again?" Legoshi asked, defeated.

"Sorry, but I didn't want to suffer alone," Riz admitted.

"So you take me with you?"

"As a member of this friend group, yep! Plus, as an herbivore I need protection from the crazy carnivores roaming around nowadays, devouring cases are going up you know? So, I'm super happy I've got you two as my bodyguards!" Tem cheerfully said.

"Huh? I didn't sign a contract." Riz replied.

"A better question is how much you're paying us, right?" Legoshi softly asked.

"Good point, how about I buy you guys some food? There's a pastry shop in the city that sells the best honey around and another ice cream place that's supposed to open with some great fall flavors. Sorry Legoshi, you'll have to wait until September for me to buy your stuff."

"You're talking about the shop on 45th Street, right? I've been there hundreds of times with Marco and Kubo."

"You went without me?!"

"Their pastries are too sweet and honey is too rich for herbivore digestion, especially alpacas with your sensitive diet," Riz responded by rubbing his friend's head softly.

"I mean everyone eats stuff they aren't supposed to from time to time right Legoshi?"

"Yeah, Jack ate an onion once as a dare when we were kids and it got him put into the hospital for an afternoon until it got flushed out of his body. Still, Riz's right, you shouldn't eat stuff that isn't good for you." Legoshi added his hand to rub Tem's head. He pushed both hands back and sighed.

"You two piss me off… but you're the best all the same!" Tem gave a cheesy smile that Jack often made. Legoshi smiled warmly to Riz and Tem's happy surprise. Tem quickly snapped a picture using his phone and looked over it.

"You've got some nice teeth, Legoshi!"

"I wasn't showing too much of my fangs was I?" Tem showed him and Riz the photo.

"Doesn't look like too much to me," Riz commented.

"Alright, good."

"I'm going to show Louis this, he'll be surprised you can actually smile!"

"Please don't, I don't want to hear from him."

"Alright, it'll be a secret for the three of us then. That reminds me, do you want to see constellations with me and Riz this Friday? We'll be able to see the little Rex in the sky clearly this time of year."

"Sorry I can't, I'm supposed to hang out with my roommates to study for a biology test."

"Can't you skip it, just this once?"

"Tem." Riz's tone made Tem jump a little bit.

"Fine, it'll be me and Riz then. Next year I hope you can join us!"

"I'll make sure I'm free next time." Tem in response as he always did at the both of them before his memory melted away into the current moment. Legoshi's heart filled with a bittersweet happiness, while Riz's misery leaked from his eyes. His tears bent around his smile before his paws crushed the ceramic bowl and bent his spoon.

"How could anyone kill him, he was pure, and yet he was killed." Legoshi stood from his chair, walking over to place a hand on Riz's shoulder. "How could I… how could I… let that happen? It's my fault! It's all my fault! Had I been there to…"

"I wish I was there too, but we…" Legoshi stopped himself. This was the second time he failed someone he cared for and he couldn't erase that shame. He let out a small sigh and opened his mouth using his heart in full. All he could do was silently comfort his friend and reach for the ceramic sticking to the bear's palms.

"Tem is always with us and he'll help us solve his murder." Legoshi grabbed Riz's attention with those words, releasing his hold on the ceramic. As close as Legoshi was he was able to see the muscles of his friend, they appeared a bit bigger than normal. However, brushing it off, he moved into the kitchen and threw away Riz's bent and broken dishes. He tended to his dishes in the sink, washing them while catching a misty reflection in the similarly misty, bubbly. His heart pumped faster as he thought of Tem.

"Ugh," Legoshi groaned as a bit of heartache overtook him, but he maintained his composure before drying his dishes and bumping a pill bottle by accident when he went to place them on the drying rack. He knelt to pick them up, getting a good look at the label and date for a moment or so before Riz walked over.

"You okay Legoshi?"

"Oh. Yeah, I was just picking up this bottle, sorry."

"Don't worry. I should be sorry for ruining dinner."

"It's alright, I miss him too. After he died I felt responsible, saving Haru wasn't just because she was my friend but because I didn't want another one to die. He sparked an impossible dream in me that I haven't even done much to make real. In a way, I feel like I'm failing myself and him."

"Grand dreams are awful things. I've always found it easier to hold tight to those close to me, I think you should do the same. In this world filled with animals and beasts, carnivores and herbivores are forced to look out for their own and themselves. The world has been shaped by animals that will speak one way and act opposite to that. It's a world that must appeal to those selfish beasts and ask the rest of us to put up a mask to hide who we truly are to live peacefully. I do believe if the rules of this world were different you could unite it but some animals could never agree and that will continue forever. This eternal divide… with victims and culprits on both sides." Riz's arms shook as he finished.

"Yeah… you're right but I want to believe there's another side to this. Kibi, Tao, Tem, Dom, Louis, and Haru have shown me it's possible, so I'll believe in those connections until I'm convinced otherwise. I'll keep reaching." Riz could tell Legoshi was completely sincere. He admired his sincerity and saw the wolf in a new light that he couldn't touch less he was burned.

"I guess it's no surprise you'd be this way. Tem liked you for a good reason. I feel the same, you're special Legoshi." The wolf smiled at his friend, enjoying the peace between them until the fur stood on the back of their necks and they both looked to the ceiling as a rattling sound could be heard faintly in Riz's ear but much clearer in Legoshi's. The wolf quickly focused his nose and ears on the noise, feeling the spirit of a large animal that could move quickly but he couldn't pick up its scent at all. Even so, he could tell it was that of a reptile, he could hear how smoothly it was moving and could imagine its slender face.

"A snake," Legoshi stated.

"A snake? From where?"

"It's moving down!" Legoshi turned to the door and ran after the reptile with Riz close behind. The two dodged around several carnivores soon finding themselves outside. Legoshi used his nose before his ears and gave chase once again. It was rather late at night so the lights that illuminated the campus were all off but even then Legoshi's couldn't fully make out the large mass moving fast into the school building. He still needed a few more seconds for his eyes to adjust and they did after he bursted through the school building doors. A faint rattling rang in the wolf's ears, running, running, running after it until he found himself in front of Tem's gravesite. It'd been quite some time since he'd been here, a mixture of sorrow and shame washed over him as he approached the picture of his friend. His smiling face was surrounded by several dead bouquets of flowers with some dust on the glass that dirtied his frozen face but not too much. Riz after a few seconds finally caught up, breathing heavily as he arrived.

"Where- Where is it?" Legoshi shook his head.

"I can't smell or hear anything and I can't feel its presence either. It stopped right here."

"What?! Someone's in there?" Riz's emotions flared as he stepped forward to the doors of the auditorium. He tried to open the doors but, as expected, they were locked up tight. Steadily he increased his strength with each pull, the echo of the doors grew louder and louder.

"Riz! Stop! There's a camera in the corner up there!" Legoshi shouted. Riz completely froze looking at the device that's lens adjusted itself to focus on the bear.

"I-I hadn't noticed it before."

"We should ask the headmaster about it and they probably installed them recently because of Tem."

"I don't think we should get involved unless we're asked. Whoever sees the footage will know why we're here and see the snake we were chasing, right?" Riz responded, seemingly in an attempt to reassure himself.

"Okay." Riz nodded and moved past his friend. The wolf looked at the door handle Riz had grabbed, it was bent and imprinted by his fingers. He thought of it and he couldn't shake a fearful thought settling into his mind. He couldn't hold back after returning to this place, yet he forced himself to.