The Cherryton Cooking Club

by Mr.Dr.Sadperson

Taking place one year before the events of the show, this story is a simple look at the (relatively) normal lives of average students attending Cherryton Highschool.

55. Chapter 46

Chapter 46: …Reap the Whirlwind

Yasui hesitated at Miss Diana's front door. Charles had explained what had been going on with Miss Diana to an extent, which left Yasui a bit confused as to what he should do. According to Charles, she was upset because she felt like she'd seriously hurt him during her episode over a week ago.

(So should I tell her that I don't really mind what happened? I mean… it was sort of something I'd dreamed about for so long. I'm sure if I explained everything she wouldn't feel so bad.)

Yasui knocked on the door and waited while Charles answered it. The gorilla looked absolutely haggard as he answered the door. Upon letting Yasui in, he sighed and put on his coat.

"I need to step out for a minute. If you can… just… sort this whole mess out, please. I don't think I can handle more of this."

Yasui gulped as the ape left, and slowly walked upstairs. It was only when he walked into Diana's room that Yasui realized that somehow Charles had downplayed just how poorly Diana was doing.

The usually pristine and organized room was a mess. The bedsheets were rumpled and half falling off. The blinds were drawn tightly shut, and there was a powerful smell of unwashed body in the air. Yasui wiped his hands on his pants legs before walking over to the unmoving lump that was Diana. The leopard didn't even move as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Miss Diana?"

There was a sniff before she choked back.

"Go away. I can't stand to even have you look at me."

"Miss Diana, please! Can we just talk about what happened?"

"What happened?!" Diana groaned. "I wish I was never born is what happened! You've always trusted me, and treated me like there was something good about me despite what everyone else could tell you. And what do I do? I go and… and assault you in the most monstrous way possible! I can never expect you to forgive me! So please, just leave!"

Yasui felt his stomach clench. His planned out words crumbled to ash in his mind. The thought of their almost… having physical relations was making her so miserable she couldn't stand to live anymore. Would his attempts to get her not to feel bad due to his feelings even help?

(No. They're just going to make it worse. And… I did this. All because of the feelings I've had towards her in secret. I knew something was up, but I was so obsessed with being with her that I didn't stop it. It's my fault, just as much as hers.)

Yasui licked his lips and sighed. He knew what he had to do now. But he knew that he didn't want to do it.

"Miss Diana, what happened was my fault."

"No it wasn't!" She cried. "I victimized you! You have nothing to feel sorry for or to feel guilty about!"

"You weren't in your right—"

"It doesn't matter! I still did it! I still forced myself on you!"

Yasui closed his eyes and dug his claws into his palms.

"No… no you didn't. Charles told me you don't remember it clearly."

"I remember enough to know that—"

Yasui interrupted her as he spoke, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

"Miss Diana… I started it. Even though I could tell you weren't exactly…. I was just so happy that you were out of the hospital, and I wasn't thinking. So I kept flirting with you like I always do, and touching you and then… I told you how I felt."

Diana was silent. Yasui took that as a sign she was listening and pressed on.

"The truth is, I've always been infatuated by you. I fell madly in love with you from the moment we first met. I thought you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, and all I wanted was to be in a romantic relationship with you. And so… I told you that. And that's when you started getting physical with me. I could have stopped it, but I didn't. And I'm… I'm sorry for that. I should have known it would hurt you, but I was being selfish."

There was the rustling of sheets as Diana turned over to look at Yasui. She was an absolute mess. Her fur was matted and greasy, and her eyes were puffy from crying. Even still Yasui felt his longing for her stir in his gut. He pushed it down mercilessly. Enough was enough.

"Yasui… I had no idea. I'm so sorry if I've hurt you over the time we've known each other. I never realized that you felt more for me than friendship. The thought that I've been leading you, I'm sorry if I ever gave you that impression."

"You didn't." Yasui sighed. "I know you don't have romantic feelings towards me. You've made it clear I'm closer to a son to you than anything. And that makes what I did even worse. I'm so sorry, Diana. Please, can you forgive me?"

Diana reached out and cupped his cheek in one hand.

"Oh, Yasui. There's no need to ask for my forgiveness. You're still just a boy, and it's the responsibility of us adults to protect you from mistakes like this. If I had wanted to notice it, I have every confidence that I could have seen how you felt towards me. But I was so caught up in how much I enjoyed our time together that I ignored it. So please, don't feel bad."

Yasui smiled wanly and patted Diana's hand. There was a lot of awkwardness in the air. Clearly Diana didn't know how to deal with the knowledge that he was harboring romantic feelings towards her. His stupid hormone fueled obsession was going to ruin everything. Unless Yasui bit the bullet and did what needed to be done.

"And the thing is…." Yasui said, his throat closing up a bit. "The more I think about it, the more I realize that I don't feel what I thought I did towards you. Thinking about being romantic with you felt… wrong. And I realized that I also only think of you as an aunt or… mother. So don't worry about my feelings. I'm over you, and I don't want things to change between us."

With what needed to be said taken care of, Yasui stood and walked towards the door. His stomach felt like he had eaten a bowl of glass shards dipped in lighter fluid. And Yasui was worried he was going to break down if he stayed any longer. As he left, Yasui called to Miss Diana.

"Sorry, but I need to go. Maybe we can do something off your bucket list later."

Whatever Diana said was lost as Yasui walked down the hallway. Then that walk turned into a jog. By the time Yasui was out of the house, he was running. He had done what needed to be done, but why did it hurt so much?

Charles found Diana sitting upright in bed with a stunned look on her face. The gorilla crossed his arms.

"Well? Is everything sorted out now?"

Diana jumped when he spoke and turned to look at him. Almost immediately she let out a sigh of massive relief and sank back against her pillow.

"Yes, everything is so much better. I'm just so relieved that Yasui started what happened and not me."

"He did?"

Diana chuckled mirthlessly.

"Turns out he's been carrying a torch for me for a while now."

"I was afraid of that." Charles grumbled. "What did you say?"

"Not much. He did most of the talking. He apologized for starting the unfortunate episode and informed me of his feelings towards me. And then he let me know that the whole experience had driven home that he didn't actually have romantic feelings towards me and wanted to go back to being friends only."

Charles nodded slowly.

"Do you believe him?"

"Of course I do." Diana said with a smirk. "Yasui is a terrible liar. And trust me, it's a massive weight off my back. I felt such panic when he confessed his affections for me I almost fainted."

"What would you have done if he still felt that way towards you?"

Diana sighed and closed her eyes. After a moment she shrugged.

"I would have probably agreed to date him. Nothing beyond some light cuddling and the like, but still the thought of it makes me feel a bit ill."

Charles shook his head.

"You'd have dated him?! But that's just… wrong! He's a teenager and you're—"

"Old enough to be his mother?" Diana monotoned. Charles nodded, and Diana huffed.

"With the whole situation that had happened, if he still had feelings for me I don't think I could have rejected him. I truly do love him, but as a son more than anything. As such, I don't think I could've torn his heart out like that."

"So what?" Charles sniffed. "You'd have gotten involved with a minor? And that doesn't strike you as incredibly wrong?"

"I would have felt miserable and disgusting, Charles. Happy now? But I still would have gladly done it to spare Yasui the heartbreak of having a desire you never thought would come true offered to you before having the door suddenly slammed in your face. I would have happily dated him long enough to let him down gently, even if it made me uncomfortable."

"Well then let's just thank our lucky stars that it didn't come to that." Charles groaned. He fixed Diana with a stern look and pointed to the bathroom.

"And go take a shower. You absolutely reek."

Outside, Yasui eventually managed to slow his running and just walked as fast as he could back to the train station. He felt horrible, absolutely horrible. It was like no pain he'd ever felt before in that he didn't even know how to explain it. The best he could come up with was that it felt like someone had stabbed a sharp stick into his heart and was slowly twisting it until his heart tore to shreds.

Yasui somehow kept his expression calm all the way back to school. As he walked back onto school grounds, Yasui stopped and stared at the collection of buildings.

(Where do I go? I don't want to be around anyone or do anything. I just want to curl up into a little ball and die. I want the ground to open up and swallow me. I want… I don't know what I want. I feel like I'm being crushed.)

Yasui turned and walked towards the Cooking Club room. He wanted to be alone, and that was the best place he could think of. As he walked towards the club room, Yasui didn't even see anything he passed because he was so deep in thought.

(I don't even know why I feel bad. Because of what I said? Because of what I did on that night? Because of what I didn't do? Or is it because I've made it so I have absolutely zero chance of getting together with Miss Diana romantically?)

Yasui sighed. It was difficult. Part of him had always known there couldn't, and probably shouldn't, be anything more than friendship with Diana. But then there was the part that just wanted it to happen. And on top of that was the fact that Yasui had definitely spun the truth a little bit in order to make Diana feel better. He thought that was a good thing, but was lying ever good? If she found out later that Yasui hadn't played as active of a roll in the goings on of that night would she feel betrayed?

Yasui sighed as he opened the door to the Cooking Club room. He just wanted his mind to stop racing and his chest to stop hurting. It was then that Yasui noticed the lights were on in the room before a surprised squeal came from inside. Yasui watched as Chaussette coiled herself up and peered shyly over the top of the counter at him. Yasui tilted his head.

"Chaussette? What are you doing here so late?"

"Oh." Chaussette mumbled. "Jusssst… practicing something."

Yasui frowned at the small collection of ingredients she had gotten out. Apparently he had interrupted her before she had gotten started. Misunderstanding his expression, Chaussette hurriedly continued.

"Don't worry! I'll pay for thessssse!"

"Oh, it's not a problem." Yasui said dejectedly. "Feel free to use them."

As Yasui crossed his arms and stared at the floor, Chaussette hesitantly slithered over.

"Are you okay? You look upssssset."

"It's nothing. I just wanted to be alone for a bit."

"Oh." Chaussette said disappointedly. "I underssssstand. Uh… If you feel like talking, I'm happy to lisssssten. Otherwisssssssse I can sssssstay quiet and not bother you."

Yasui nodded glumly and sat down at the weathered old table that was in the room. He watched Chaussette absently while he mulled over his woes.

(Would talking about something this painful and embarrassing help? It's not like I've ever felt the need to talk about my feelings before. But what if it does make me feel better? And Chaussette isn't the type to tell anyone else. She's too nice to gossip about anyone. Geez, she really is a better friend than I am, and a better person too I bet. She has so much to be unhappy about, but she never lets it bother her. I don't think I've ever heard her actually complain once about anything. She'll talk about how she doesn't like this or thinks this is frustrating, but she never really complains about it.)

Yasui huffed and shook his head. (Oh well,) he thought, (It can't hurt at this point.)

"I… did something. And I'm not entirely sure I made the right choice."

"Oh?" Chaussette stopped reading some recipe or other and turned her focus to Yasui. Yasui nodded.

"I think it was the… moral thing to do. But it really hurt to make that choice, and I feel miserable. And now I feel conflicted because I don't know what I want anymore, or if I still want what I thought I wanted or don't want it. Understand?"

Chaussette hesitated before flicking her tongue.

"Ssssorry, but… no."

Yasui sighed. Maybe he had been too vague. He probably should just tell her if he wanted her to understand.

"I have this friend." Yasui began. "Who's a girl. I've always had a bit of a… thing for her. But then something happened that made things complicated between us, so I told her that I was solely responsible for what happened and that I didn't have feelings for her anymore. I did it because I didn't want to stop being friends with her, but I just… hurt inside now."

Chaussette slowly slithered over to Yasui.

"Oh, Yassssssui. I'm sssssorry. I can't imagine how hard that mussssst have been."

Yasui sighed and hung his head.

"The worst part is that I don't even really know why this hurts so bad"

"Well, do you ssssstill have feelingsss for this girl?" Chaussette quietly asked. Yasui shrugged.

"I don't really know. I mean, there was no way it was going to work out between us. Especially because she made it clear lots of times before that she didn't feel that way towards me."

"But you wanted to be in a relationsssship with her."

It wasn't a question. Just a simple statement. Yasui nodded.

"Yeah. And I know that I was definitely a bit too hung up on it, but it doesn't make it any easier to stop."

Yasui just sat there as Chaussette quickly wrapped him a small snake hug before pulling away. He smiled at her, and she returned the expression.

"Don't worry, Yassssui. You're a really nice guy. You'll find ssssomeone you like who ssshares your feelingsssss eventually. Any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Thanks, Chaussette." Yasui replied with a weak smile. "You're very mature and a good friend."

Chaussette returned to what she was doing, and Yasui idly watched her. Eventually, he walked over to where she was making cookie dough.

"Whatcha up to?" Yasui said with a slight tilt to his head. Chaussette flicked her tongue.

"Jussssst… practicing. I wanted to make sssssssome cookiesss and figured I'd do a trial run firsssst."

Yasui nodded.

"Want some help?"

"No thanksssssss, Yasssui. I'm trying to do it all by myssself."

"Ah, I can understand that." Yasui replied. He retook his place at the table and stared at the wall. He still felt terrible, and incredibly confused. But despite wanting to be alone he was fine with Chaussette being around. She was good company.

Eventually, Yasui said goodnight and headed back to the dorms. Only to realize that if he did that Chaussette would have to slither through the cold. So instead he waited until she was done making cookies and carried her to her dorm. Whenever she rode around on his shoulders and chest, Yasui was always struck by how much bigger Chaussette was than you originally thought. She spent so much of her time coiled up near knee-height that it was easy to forget that she was actually longer than Yasui was tall. But fortunately she wasn't overly thick and heavy, so Yasui could still carry her easily.

Once he was back in his bed, Yasui found himself staring up at the ceiling trying to sleep. But despite how tired he was, his mind was still whirling. Why did he feel so miserable? Was it because he was sad about officially shutting the door on any romance between him and Diana? Was it just remorse for his role in their awkward situation? Or was he just being dramatic?

[Or maybe you're upset because you took things too far, again.]

(What's that even mean?)

[Well what started as a little crush on someone turned into an unhealthy obsession.]

(It wasn't an unhealthy obsession. My feelings for her are real.)

[Oh please. You were just fawning over this perfect version of her you built up in your head. You practically worshiped her! That's not healthy! Not to mention she didn't think of you in that way, and it would have been very weird if you two did develop feelings for each other!]

Yasui frowned. His own nagging voice was really ticking him off.

(She might have had feelings for me! Or she might have developed them over time! Maybe I should have told her that I still have feelings for her.)

[Why? To make things more awkward?]

(To be truthful!)

[No, you're just shamelessly obsessed with her. If you ever want to be happy and develop any sort of emotional depth, you need to LET IT GO!]

Yasui rolled over. He knew that this was all in his head, but arguing with his own mind was confusing and exhausting. Even still, those little voices snipped and growled at each other into the late hours of the night, preventing Yasui from sleeping.

And so it was with bloodshot eyes that Yasui sat down across from Shinrai for breakfast on Saturday. The squirrel looked him up and down before giving him a concerned frown.

"You feeling alright?"

"Not really." Yasui yawned. "Didn't sleep well last night."

Shinrai nodded and returned to his food. Yasui stared at him before asking.

"So, what are you doing today? We could hang out or something."

Shinrai grimaced.

"Oh… sorry, dude. I already made plans with Hikaru. You're usually too busy to do stuff, so I didn't even think to wait."

Yasui held up a hand.

"It's fine! I get it. I'm just… trying to slow down a little. I realized I haven't really been spending much time with my friends."

"Well next weekend we can do something." Shinrai said with a grin. "It's been too long since we just went and had fun together. I'll look into stuff we can do."

Yasui nodded and smiled weakly. He didn't want to be alone right now. If he was alone with his thoughts, he'd go back to arguing inside his own head again. With that in mind, Yasui made his way back up to his dorm, wracking his mind for anything to do. It was as he was passing room 701 that he froze and peered through the partially opened door. Inside, Jack and the other guys, minus Legoshi, were putting on their shoes and clothes while discussing their plans.

Yasui rapped on the door.

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

Jack grinned when he saw him.

"Yasui! Long time no see! How have you been, buddy?"

Yasui shrugged.

"I've been worse. You?"

"Doing pretty good!" Jack excitedly replied. "We're heading to B-Strike to chill for a while. Legoshi has Drama Club, so he can't come. What about you, what're you doing today?"

Yasui shook his head.

"I don't know. Shinrai is busy and I have no real plans."

Collot grinned and leaned into Yasui's field of view as he pulled on a sweatshirt.

"You could tag along. Be our stand in Legoshi for the day."

"Yeah." Miguno said with a snicker. "Just be sure to look glum and a bit dopey. Otherwise it ruins the effect."

Durham gave the hyena a noogie and laughed.

"We don't need dopey! We have you!"

As Miguno and Durham roughhoused, Yasui smiled faintly at the assembled canids.

"Sounds fun. Give me just a second to brush my teeth and I'll be ready."

Once Yasui had brushed his teeth and gotten his wallet, he joined the 701 boys as they made their way off school grounds. As they walked, Yasui slipped back to walk beside Jack.

"Jack, where are we going?"

"Hm? Oh, it hadn't occurred to me you might not know what B-Strike is! So it's a big… well I don't really know what you'd call it. But it's got lots of sorta game things that you can use. Like climbing walls and stuff like that. You know, to let loose and follow your instincts."

Yasui looked glumly down at the ground as Jack's attention was diverted by Collot throwing an arm around his shoulders and showing him a meme on his phone. He still felt bad. Just… vaguely bad. He couldn't even put his finger on what was causing it. And thinking of this B-Strike place made him feel nervous.

(Following my instincts caused all these problems in the first place! I wish I didn't have instincts, or feelings for that matter. Gosh, it was so much easier back before I came here and I didn't feel nearly as much. What happened, why am I constantly just… feeling stuff?!)

At the bottom of the hill, the group made a beeline for the train station. The boys all got seats on the train as it rumbled into the city proper, with Yasui sitting on the edge of the clustered dogs. Currently, Durham was showing them all something on his phone.

"Did you guys hear about what happened yesterday?" Durham asked as he pulled up a video. "It's super messed up, check it."

A recording of a news program began as the train stopped at a station. The news anchor, a serious looking turtle, looked stoically into the camera.

"The police department of our city are facing another scandal after an unfortunate misunderstanding occurred yesterday. A police officer was responding to a report of a robbery, when he arrested the victim instead of the robber. We now go to the scene where the wrongfully arrested individual is being released from custody after witnesses came forward to explain the situation."

The video changed to a very angry looking weasel standing outside of a police station. Several reporters had microphones and were asking him questions.

"Could you give us your account of what happened?" One asked. The weasel sneered.

"I'll tell you what happened! I was unfairly profiled by a cop because I'm a carnivore!"

"How did this happen? Could you walk us through the moments leading up to the arrest?" Another reporter asked. The weasel nodded.

"Alright, I can do that. It was just after nine thirty or so. I had gone out to have a few drinks with some buddies and stepped outside to have a smoke. This bird walks up to me, some sort of parrot or cockatoo, and asks if I could help him move a box because it's too heavy for him. I figure, 'what the hell, I can spare a minute or two' and follow him. Once we're in an alleyway, he turns and pulls a gun on me! Tells me to hand over my wallet and phone."

The weasel wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sighed.

"So I'm absolutely freaking out, and tell him that I'll do it just don't hurt me. Then boom, this cop runs into the alleyway with his gun drawn. I figure 'holy crap, I'm saved!' But then the piece of crap points it at me and tells me to get on the ground! He assures the robber he has it from here and cuffs me! I'm trying to tell him that I was being robbed, but he won't hear it! So I get thrown in prison and the actual criminal goes free! We need to do something about the police and their unfairly targeting carnivores! Herbivores can be criminals too!"

The video cut back to the turtle who looked sternly at the viewer.

"This unfortunate incident occurs after a slew of controversial changes in the city's police force beginning with the replacement of the former chief of police Rikimaru. This wrongful arrest is further causing complaints among carnivores as it is shortly on the heels of the extremely unpopular decision to replace the former public relations liaison to the schools of our city, a beloved shiba inu named Beth, who had visited schools to teach children about safety and emergency preparedness. She was replaced by a female rabbit which led many people to complain that her removal was solely based on species. The police chief had this to say."

The video feed changed again. A tall, muscular bull in uniform stood behind a podium and surveyed a group of reporters. He spoke in a deep baritone.

"Our decision to change our school liaison was done to encourage children of all species, carnivores and herbivores alike, to consider becoming police when they are older. We believe it helps to dismiss preconceived notions that being a police officer is primarily a carnivore vocation, as well as not to play into harmful stereotypes about dogs."

Miguno shook his head as Durham stopped the video. They had reached their station, and now they had to get off the train. As they walked out of the car, the hyena growled.

"It's total crap! You know the reason why they're replacing all the carnivores with herbivores is because some jerks somewhere are whining about not feeling safe around carnivores. Like freaking usual."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Calm down. I'm absolutely certain there's no big conspiracy to replace all the carnivores. It's just a bunch of coincidences."

B-Strike turned out to be a large, multistory building that was relatively busy for being somewhat early in the day. Once the boys had bought their passes, they walked through the entrance and to where the directory was. Jack rubbed his chin as he read the board.

"Let's see, what do we want to do first?"

Everyone crowded around Jack, while Yasui hung back and glanced over what was offered. There were climbing walls and obstacle courses. Scratching posts, hammocks, sand and ball pits for burrowing, as well as something called the "power zone". Yasui also noticed there was something called the "fetch room" and a bathhouse. So there was honestly just a lot of everything.

Yasui returned his attention to the 701 guys who were arguing about where to go first. Collot shook his head at something Jack said.

"We can't go to fetch first, we gotta save the best for last! We could go do the climbing wall, that's pretty fun!"

Durham shivered and crossed his arms.

"You know I don't like heights. Maybe the power zone? That's always good for some laughs."

Voss leaned over Collot's shoulder and spoke up.

"Why not ask Yasui what he wants to do. It's his first time."

Everyone's attention shifted to him, and Yasui held his hands up defensively.

"Don't look at me! I have no idea what any of this stuff is."

Miguno pointed to the directory line for the sand and ball pits.

"You'd probably enjoy that, given you're a fox and all. Foxes like burrowing… I think."

Yasui shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"I'm only half fox, remember? So I really don't care."

Jack nudged him with his elbow.

"Well, what do your instincts tell you to do? What do you want to do on an unconscious level?"

Yasui frowned and scuffed his shoe on the floor.

"Literally nothing. I don't feel like doing anything."

(Because clearly my instincts aren't exactly great for making decisions.)

Jack shrugged and smiled warmly at Yasui.

"Well, if you think of something just let us know. Or if you see anything you want to do."

Yasui nodded and followed the other boys as they headed deeper inside. Yasui watched curiously as creatures of all shapes and sizes used the amenities. Squirrels dashed up and down climbing walls and obstacle courses, moles burrowed through pits of dirt and sand, and birds glided along on a small indoor wind tunnel. It was as they passed by the "power zone" that Collot stopped everyone.

"C'mon, guys! Wanna test your might?"

As the 701 boys challenged and teased each other, Yasui looked around the area. Larger animals of all sizes ranging from bulls and lions to an elephant were all exerting themselves in various tests of strength. There was a punching bag, a pull-strength tester, an arm wrestling machine, and a grip strength tester to name a few. Yasui followed along behind as the boys made their way inside and made a beeline to the pull-strength tester.

This machine consisted of a length of rope attached to a pulley system. The further you pulled the rope, the harder it got and the better you scored. Collot rubbed his hands together and grinned.

"Alright, dorks. Let me show you how it's done."

The large sheepdog gripped the rope with both hands and stood in a red box marked on the ground in front of the machine. He rolled his neck and began pulling the rope backwards as much as he could, hand over hand, without leaving the box. The boys all cheered him on as the display began showing his score. First it bypassed "shrimp" to land on "noodle arms." Then Collot slowly passed through "fuzzy kitten", "spring chicken", and "mister mediocre" to finally land on "beta wolf." Finally, Collot stood grunting and straining with all his might before he had to let go of the rope with a gasp. He shot his friends a cocky smile and cut a mocking bow.

"Thank you, thank you." Collot said with mock sincerity. "I'm glad to offer some pointers if you need them."

Durham hurriedly took the sheepdog's place and shooed Collot away.

"Alright, you big show off, my turn." The coyote sniffed. He rolled up his sleeves and wiped his palms on his pants. As he settled into a steady stance, he licked his lips.

"We coyotes might not be as large as you, Collot, but we're wiry! Observe!"

Durham began repeating the motion Collot had done, pulling the rope end over end with fierce determination. He began to slow at "spring chicken" and stood straining and grunting as he pulled with all his might. Yasui joined in as the boys all cheered and clapped for him to keep going. With a final massive strain, he reached "mister mediocre" before abruptly losing his grip. He stood hunched over, panting as everyone either congratulated him or teased him. Miguno shouldered him aside and snickered.

"Alright, you've proved your mediocrity. Let the real men get to work."

The hyena confidently took his mark and began to make his attempt as Durham stood behind him. Just as Miguno reached "shrimp," Durham's hand darted forward and pushed the back of the hyena's knee. Miguno yelped as he lost his balance and let go, leaving him in the "shrimp" category. The 701 boys laughed, and Yasui unsuccessfully tried not to, as Miguno lept and began chasing Durham around as the coyote laughed at him.

"Dammit, Durham! Get back here! I didn't screw up your attempt!"

"But if you're a 'real man' then a little push shouldn't bother you!"

Jack nervously rubbed his hands as he took his position and took several deep breaths. Miguno and Durham both stopped to watch attentively as Collot grinned and rubbed Jack's shoulders.

"You've got this, little buddy! This time for sure."

Jack nodded and heaved with all his might against the rope. Much slower than the other boys, he climbed past "shrimp" and "noodle arms" before he stood trembling like a leaf as he pulled with all his might. Gradually, with the retriever's limbs shaking like mad, he reached "fuzzy kitten" before letting go and sitting down hard. As Jack winced and rubbed his bottom, the other boys cheered loudly and rushed him, jostling him and slapping him on the back. Yasui raised an eyebrow at Voss who was still standing nearby.

"I feel like I'm missing something." Yasui whispered to the fennec fox. Voss pointed to the machine.

"That's the highest score Jack has ever gotten on his own. He usually barely gets past 'noodle arms.'"

Yasui nodded and joined the others in congratulating Jack. Durham made a point of rolling up Jack's sleeve and squeezing his bicep.

"Dang, Jack! You're getting pretty swole! Before you know it you'll be a real stud!"

Miguno bumped against Jack and chuckled.

"With an ass like yours and those muscles, you'll be beating the gals away with a stick!"

Jack covered his face and blushed.

"Noooooo! My butt isn't that big! I swear, I've really gotten more toned this year! I do stretches every night before bed."

Collot patted the smaller dog on the head and laughed.

"Hate to break it to you, Jack, but stretches don't build muscle."

Jack saw Yasui and hurriedly switched the focus to him.

"Hey! Yasui still needs to do it! Let's go, Yasui!"

Immediately the boys all cleared the area in front of the machine and gently herded him towards it. As Yasui grabbed the rope, Miguno clapped loudly.

"Alright, Yasui! Show us what that wolf half can do! I'm expecting you to show up Collot!"

Yasui skeptically looked at the large sheepdog, who stood a good head and shoulders taller than him. He was definitely much bigger than he had been before Winter Break, but he still was technically in the upper end of the medium sized carnivore classification.

(Then again, these are a bunch of city boys who haven't had to do manual labor growing up. To quote Dad, "Us Mishiranu men are tougher than tree stumps and twice as stubborn." Plus, I've been doing that exercise regiment Doctor Gouhin put me on to deal with my… problem. Although I've definitely slacked off a little bit lately. But I've been so busy it's not really my fault!)

Yasui snapped back to attention and worked his jaw. He wasn't about to let his Dad down by getting shown up by a bunch of "soft-fingered fancy pants" as he would have described Jack and the other dogs. Which, Yasui thought, was a bit harsh to describe guys who ostensibly were his friends.

(Less thinking, more pulling!)

Yasui steadily began to pull the rope back, keeping his feet steady as he did. It was honestly a lot like pulling stumps with Yone and Dad, you just had to not only use your arms and let your whole body pull together. Yasui grit his teeth and put his whole body into reeling that rope. Hand over hand, pivot at the hips, hand over hand, pivot at the hips.

Yasui forgot to even look at his score as he focused on the rhythm of hauling on the rope up until he couldn't drag even the slightest centimeter more rope out of the machine. With a grunt, he let go and rubbed his sore hands. The real challenge had been not losing his grip at the end. Immediately Yasui was set upon by a pack of yelling dogs as the 701 boys dogpilled him. As Yasui was jostled and shaken by the excited highschoolers, he saw his score was "muscle lion." Apparently that was good.

"Hot daaaaaaaaaamn!" Miguno and Durham chorused as Collot wrapped an arm around Yasui's shoulders.

"You're as strong as an ox, dude!" Collot cheered. Voss, who was now riding on Collot's shoulder, leaned forward.

"Maybe it's because you're a hybrid? You could have super strength for an animal your size."

Yasui rubbed his head in embarrassment before joining Jack on the sidelines as the other guys insisted on trying again to attempt to beat Yasui's score. Jack grinned at him.

"That was super impressive, Yasui! You're really strong!"

"Well…." Yasui glanced around before whispering to Jack. "It's more technique than anything. Did you see how I pivoted my whole body? You guys were only using your arms, so you had less leverage. It's something my dad taught me. You know, farm work stuff."

Jack's eyes went wide.

"That is so cool! Quick, show me how to do it!"

While the other 701 boys urged Durham on in his second attempt, Yasui surreptitiously began demonstrating how to replicate what he had learned from hours of farm work. Yasui placed his hands on Jack's waist and guided him on how to pivot his body without moving forward or backwards. Once the Labrador had the hang of it, he winked at Yasui and strutted forward towards the machine as Collot failed to beat his previous score.

"Alright, my turn." Jack said with over exaggeratedly bravado. He made a big show of stretching before taking the rope and beginning to haul backwards. Yasui watched as Jack almost perfectly replicated his movements and soon flew past his old record of "fuzzy kitten" and reached the same score as Collot, "beta wolf." Yasui laughed as Durham stared in shock at Jack, who immediately strutted away from the machine like a peacock. Miguno shook his head in disbelief.

"No, there is no way that Jack's stronger than me! You cheated or something! How did you suddenly do that much better!?"

Jack turned and patted his rump.

"You guys were talking about how big my butt is and it gave me an idea. These buttocks are pure muscle, baby. Just had to clench them a little."

Collot howled with laughter and clasped Miguno and Durham on the shoulders.

"Better not tick Jack off, or he'll demolish you with his herculean ass!"

Yasui made eye contact with Voss, who was watching him with a smug look. Immediately, Yasui knew that Voss had figured it out. Yasui held up a finger in a shushing gesture. Voss narrowed his eyes before grinning mischievously and pretending to zip his lips. Durham, who considered himself quite the athlete, very quickly wanted to move on to something else.

For the little while they remained in the power zone, Yasui mainly just watched as Collot and the other athletic types took turns on the punching bags and arm wrestling games. However, soon enough the 701 boys were excitedly herding Yasui towards what they called "the main attraction."

Yasui found himself standing in a simple room with what looked like a pitching machine inside. At first he was confused as Jack giddily placed a tennis ball into the machine and joined the others waiting eagerly in front. Yasui tilted his head.

"So what exactly is—"

And then the machine shot the ball across the room. Without hesitation, Yasui joined the mad scramble to be the first to get the ball. He almost had it, but Miguno slid between his legs and grabbed it with a cry of glee. Immediately everyone ran back to the machine and urged Miguno to place the ball back inside. Once the hyena had replaced the ball, the machine beeped and played a recording.

"Good job! You're doing so well!"

Miguno smirked at the others as he rejoined them in the semicircle. Jack turned to Yasui.

"You had a question?"

"Nope, I get it now." Yasui replied. Most surprising to him, Voss had actually almost gotten the ball first. Despite his small size, the desert fox was pretty quick when he wanted to be. The boys all grew more excited as the machine prepared to throw again. Durham groaned.

"C'mon! Throw it already! I can't stand the anticipation!"

Yasui stood bouncing on the front of his feet as he anticipated the next throw. It was absolutely what he needed. Just shutting his brain off and chasing a ball. No worrying about all the bad weirdness he was feeling, just waiting for—

"BALL!" Everyone cried as the machine shot the ball over their heads. Yasui got tangled up with Collot as Jack pounced on the ball and giddily ran it back to the machine. Eventually, six very exhausted canids smelling strongly of body odor shuffled out of the fetch room. Yasui was grateful that this place had a bathhouse attached. He didn't want to walk around stinking to high heaven the rest of the day.

As Yasui eased into the warm water with the other guys, he yawned widely. He was beat from all the running. Yasui glanced beside him at Jack as the Labrador's stomach growled loudly. Jack smiled bashfully.

"Sorry, I'm hungry. We should grab lunch while we're out and about. Any chance to not eat cafeteria food, am I right?"

Miguno and Durham both grinned before chanting "Sunny's! Sunny's! Sunny's!", which Yasui assumed was a restaurant. Collot and Voss joined in, and Jack rolled his eyes.

"Fine. We can go to Sunny's, you shameless horndogs."

Yasui raised an eyebrow at Jack, who waved him off.

"You'll see."

Yasui shrugged and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. As the other dogs of room 701 began excitedly chatting about all sorts of random things, Jack scooted closer and tapped Yasui's shoulder. Yasui sluggishly looked at him, wondering what he wanted.

"You seem to be in better spirits." Jack happily said. Yasui frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you seemed really down in the dumps this morning. Which I understand."

"You do?" Yasui asked.

Jack nodded and scratched his ear.

"It's a stressful time of the year with exams coming up. Plus, you've been running yourself ragged recently. Every time I see you you're hurrying here or there to do something. When's the last time you just, you know, relaxed?"

Yasui pursed his lips and looked down at himself. Maybe he had been working too hard. He couldn't remember the last time he just… hung out with Shinrai or another of his friends. Was that why he felt so bad? Was he just burnt out? Well, in addition to the other thing.

Yasui looked at Jack and took a deep breath.

"Hey, Jack? Can I ask you something?"

"Hm? Sure thing, buddy! Ask away!"

"Okay, well… say I did something that I sort of regretted because, while I really wanted to do it, it ended up hurting someone who I care about. So then I lied about it to make them feel better, well not exactly lied just bent the truth a little. It's complicated, but I guess I want to know… am I a bad person for that? Like, should I feel bad? Especially if I still really want to do what I did but just said I didn't to make this other person feel better."

Jack blinked in confusion. The Labrador laughed and rubbed his neck.

"Sorry, Yasui, but I'm lost. What happened?"

Yasui huffed. Apparently he was being too vague.

"There's this girl who I've always had a crush on, but who I know doesn't like me the same way. But something happened while she was sick that led to us getting a bit… physical. She felt really bad about it because she thought that she'd started it and had ruined our relationship, when actually it was sort of both of us that caused it. But I told her it was all me because I really like her, but that I don't feel that way anymore. Did I do the right thing?"

Jack rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow in concentration. Finally, he responded.

"So… do you like this girl?"

"I do, or I did. Honestly, I'm really confused about that now! Because I know we can't be together and I've effectively made sure of that, but I still really really do find her attractive! But at the same time, maybe it's that I'm just obsessed with her a bit and haven't even thought about the possibility of liking anyone else that way! So I keep going back and forth about whether my feelings for her were real or just me being an obsessed little freak!"

Jack leaned back and blew out a long breath. He looked at Yasui and shook his head.

"That's… some heavy stuff, Yasui. I mean… I don't think that any of what you said makes you a bad person. You're allowed to have feelings for whoever you want. And you taking this girl's feelings into account and trying to fix things to make her feel better is mature of you. As for the stuff about your feelings, only you can decide if they were ever real. But if you ask me, I think you're taking this way too seriously."

Yasui gave Jack a confused look, and the dog elbowed him.

"You're what, sixteen? Seventeen?"

"Doctor's aren't sure, but somewhere in that range. We're just sticking with seventeen for now."

"Okay, well you're still young. You'll have lots of girls you end up liking for different reasons! So just… be open to that. You don't have to marry the first girl you get the hots for."

Yasui nodded and felt his stomach unclench a bit. Jack's perspective made sense. He was taking this all way too seriously and way too far. As Yasui was being introspective, Jack elbowed him again and grinned.

"So was it someone I know? Maybe a girl from one of your classes?"

"Well… she was older than me."

"Oh, you sly dog! An older lady, huh? Was she cute?"

Yasui blushed.

"I think she's very pretty."

"C'mon, dude! Details! What did you like about her?"

Yasui crossed his arms and averted his eyes.

"Well she's very smart and we have lots of fun spending time together."

Jack smiled mischievously at him and waggled his eyebrows.

"That's the sort of thing you like about a good friend. If that's all you felt towards her clearly you have your answer about how you really felt."

Yasui picked at his chin and mumbled something. Jack frowned and leaned closer.

"What was that, Yasui? I couldn't hear you."

"And… she's smoking hot. Like, way hot. I mean, not just her boobs. Although those are just… incredible. But her face and everything! Super hot!"

Jack laughed and thumped Yasui on the back. Yasui joined in, which made the other guys curious about what was so funny. Weirdly enough, airing that info out helped Yasui not think so intensely about it. When you said it outloud, it made it seem a little on the ridiculous side. He definitely had gotten a bit carried away with his crush on Diana, and it went from finding her attractive to something closer to worship.

Once the group had dried off and left B-Strike, they followed Collot to the restaurant. Sunny's turned out to be a building painted bright blue with a yellow sun on the sign. Their motto was "Where it's summer all year long." Upon entering the building, Yasui and the 701 guys were greeted by a very attractive female zebra wearing a skin tight white tank top with a very low neckline and bright yellow "shorts" that made Yasui's underwear seem like pants. The zebra beamed cheerily at them.

"Hey there, boys! Welcome to Sunny's! You here for lunch?"

Collot, Durham, Miguno, and Voss were all grinning excitedly as they nodded. Jack held up a finger.

"Can we get a booth?"

"Sure thing, sugar." The zebra tittered. "One booth for six. Follow me."

Yasui stared in disbelief as the zebra turned and strutted into the restaurant. Her "shorts" left a generous amount of her butt open to the air.

(I feel like this is technically indecent exposure.)

She escorted the group to a large booth and began handing out menus as they sat down. Yasui ended up on the end, and did his best to not look when she bent over to hand Miguno a menu and ended up with her exposed chest directly at Yasui's eye level… and about eight centimeters from his face. She grinned perkily at them and rested a hand on one hip.

"Alright, cuties. Your server will be out shortly. Have a nice meal!"

And with that, she was bouncing away. At least… part of her was bouncing. Yasui blinked and looked down at the menu, Miguno bumped his shoulder.

"I know, right? Best restaurant ever."

Voss grinned at the two of them.

"I'm telling you, those Americans have some great ideas now and then. Baseball, peanut butter, and Sunny's are at the top of the list."

Yasui grunted. Of course it was an American restaurant. Only an American would come up with such an idea so incredibly—

Yasui lost his train of thought as an incredibly pretty snow leopard waltzed by balancing a tray of beers for the table across from them. Yasui liked to think of himself as a gentleman who cared more about the mind and soul of a lady rather than her body. But dang if her legs weren't hot. Yasui shook himself.

(Get your mind out of the gutter!)

Jack snickered and leaned towards Yasui.

"Yeah, they totally like this place for the food and that's it."

"Yup." Collot said as he craned his neck to watch a waitress walking past. "The food is good."

Yasui buried his head in his menu to avoid ogling any of the waitresses like a creep. He knew that it was natural to be attracted to pretty ladies, but he didn't want to stare at them like they were a piece of meat.

Their waitress turned out to be a shiba inu who looked to be in her late twenties if Yasui had to guess. She smiled at them as she stood with her notepad ready to take their orders.

"Hello, gents. I'm Beth, and I'm going to be your server today. Now, what can I get you all to drink?"

Yasui ordered a cup of cola when it was his turn. It was still such a novel idea to him that he could technically have soda whenever he wanted. Back home, it was a rare treat. As Beth left, Durham leaned towards the center of the table to whisper.

"Dudes! That's Beth the police dog! I remember her from elementary school!"

Yasui just frowned in confusion as the other guys all grew looks of realization. Jack gasped.

"I knew she looked familiar! Remember, she got replaced as the representative to all the schools! It was in the video! But why's she working here now? Did she actually get fired or something?"

Voss shrugged.

"Maybe she just decided she didn't want to stay somewhere she got replaced."

Collot frowned.

"That's really sad. I loved when she'd come to my elementary school. Honestly, I used to have a bit of a crush on her. Lots of boys in my class did. We all thought she was super cool because she was a police officer."

Yasui joined in.

"Alright, I'm confused. What's going on?"

Jack leaned into him so he could be heard more clearly.

"So she used to come to elementary schools in the city to do presentations on safety and things like that. You know, how to tell if someone is choking and how to call the ambulance. It was always lots of fun. The fact that she's a waitress now makes me so sad."

Beth, the former police dog, returned with their drinks and began to hand them out. Miguno hesitantly cleared his throat.

"Uh, sorry, but… are you actually Beth the police dog?"

The shiba inu smiled and nodded.

"That was me. Beth the police dog. Remember, 'keep yourself safe first, and then help others.' Ah, that takes me back. Why do you ask?"

Miguno sheepishly held up his phone.

"I absolutely adored you when I was little. Can I have a picture?"

Beth laughed.

"Geez, that makes me feel old. I guess it's not so bad since I was fresh out of high school when I started being the rep for the police department. But sure, I'll grab a picture with you."

Miguno excitedly stood and took a selfie with her before Collot tilted his head.

"I gotta ask, why are you working here now? I know they replaced you as the representative to schools, which I strongly disagree with! But why aren't you doing something else with the police?"

Beth sighed and crossed her arms.

"Well, after they replaced me they wanted to make me a desk jockey. Essentially I was going to be an over glorified receptionist. Personally, that sounded like torture to me, so I accepted an early retirement and came to work here. I'm planning on going to college soon, just haven't decided what to study. Now, enough about me. What can I get you guys?"

Once orders were placed and the food later arrived, Yasui listened to the conversation of the other guys as he ate his spicy black bean burger. It was pretty good, maybe something to make during Cooking Club sometime. But he had realized that Jack was right. He'd been pushing himself a bit too hard. He needed to just relax for a bit. And so once they were all back on campus, Yasui said his goodbyes to the group and texted Shinrai to see if he wanted to watch a movie.

Y: Hey, Shinrai! Want to go watch a movie?

There was a brief pause before the squirrel replied.

S: sorry dude

S: you're usually busy on weekends so I'm hanging out with Hikaru

S: but we could totally do something tomorrow :)

Yasui exhaled in disappointment.

(Well there goes that plan. Maybe I should just go study in the library for a bit and then I can read or something. Jack was right, exams are the week after next. I should probably get a head start on preparing for them.)

Yasui went back to his dorm for his textbooks before making his way to the school library. It was as he was sitting down that Yasui noticed somebody familiar at one of the other tables. It looked like Shiro from Yasui's study group, but Shiro never went to the library. Yasui tilted his head and waved a bit, trying to get the attention of the doberman. Shiro looked up at Yasui and grinned. He hurriedly picked up his textbooks and slid over to the seat next to Yasui.

"Yasui! Dude, how's it going? We all missed you yesterday during study group!"

Yasui held a finger to his lips and shushed the currently yelling dog. A few students gave them withering looks, and Shiro looked a bit embarrassed. The dog lowered his voice and continued.

"Where were you?"

"I had a meeting with the headmaster." Yasui grumbled. Shiro frowned.

"Uh-oh, whaddya do?"

"Well, some people apparently complained about my Advanced Literature teacher giving me special treatment, which is ridiculous. So the headmaster had to put me on probation until they investigate or something."

Shiro pulled a disgusted look.

"Well that sucks. Does that mean anything for you?"

"Not at the moment, but I need to be careful not to get in trouble."

Shiro nodded and gave Yasui a thumbs up. Yasui gestured to Shiro's book and papers.

"What are you working on?"

"Oh this?" Shiro said as he lifted the paper. "I failed my math quiz so I'm doing a worksheet my teacher gave me. Let's just say my parents weren't happy."

Yasui winced. He couldn't imagine failing a quiz. He always did his best to be prepared and study. Plus, he tended to have natural academic aptitude. Maybe he got that from Nishinoya.

"Sorry to hear that, Shiro." Yasui said. The dog sighed and miserably picked up his pencil.

"Yeah, it sucks. My parents are always like 'stop being so dumb!' and 'you need to study more!' I even told them about our study group, but they just said that knowing me it was just a gaggle of morons who all goof off together. But whatever, I'm hoping to make a C on the next one."

Yasui hesitated. He wasn't sure how exactly to respond to that. He decided to just be nice.

"Well if you need any help, I'm happy to help you."

Shiro cheerfully nodded and gave Yasui a thumbs up before returning to his homework. Yasui began to work on his studies when Shiro slid his worksheet towards Yasui.

"So what's the deal with equations? Do you go left to right or right to left?"

Yasui blinked and frowned.

"Like… after you PEMDAS?"

"What's PEMDAS?"

"The order of operations. It's the order you're supposed to follow when solving equations. It's an acronym for 'Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction.' You know, PEMDAS."

Shiro shook his head.

"That's news to me."

"H-how?" Yasui asked in astonishment. "Have you missed classes or something?"

Shiro sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"It's so boring I tend to space out a lot. Yasui, help me remember this stuff! If I fail another test my parents will kill me!"

Yasui fatalistically closed his own homework and began trying to reteach Shiro everything he hadn't been paying attention to. It was during this that Yasui noticed the somewhat familiar face of Juno walking through the library. He wanted to say hi, but as soon as he tried to leave Shiro got all sad and dejected as he moaned about failing his exams. Before Yasui could talk to her, Juno was gone again.

(That sucks. She's cute.)

As Shiro began painfully working on his math problems, Yasui shifted focus to Juno again. Now that he had officially "gotten over" Miss Diana. Well… was attempting to. But now that he was trying to forget his feelings for her, maybe he could look at meeting someone else he ended up wanting a relationship with.

(Yeah, that would be a great way to get rid of those feelings! I could find someone who might actually be interested in me! Well… for starters they'll need to be cool with a hybrid. Most people date within their species, and I can't exactly do that when I'm a one-in-a-million freak of nature. And I really want someone with similar interests to mine. You know, someone smart who likes books. And if they're funny and fun to spend time with that's even better. And of course I want to be attracted to them.)

Yasui leaned on his arm and stared into space towards where Juno had been.

(Juno is pretty, and she seems smart. Also a little on the shy side, which I like. I was pretty shy myself less than a year ago. Maybe I should try hanging out with her more and see if she's interested in dating outside her species? But… not in a creepy way.)

Yasui was relieved when he could ditch Shiro. He liked the guy, but there was no beating around the bush. Shiro was just… a bit dumb. A really nice guy, but not exactly the brightest bulb on the Rexmas tree. And trying to teach him was exhausting. Most of the time he just gave Yasui a vacant look while he tried to explain concepts to him. Shiro even struggled with basic multiplication and division.

There was one remarkable exception to this. Most remarkably, Shiro was practically a genius when it came to languages. His grammar sucked, but as far as Yasui could tell Shiro was basically fluent in four languages without really trying. He could watch movies in Japanese, English, French, and Seaspeak. When Yasui tried to point out how amazing that was, Shiro adamantly denied it. In fact, Shiro constantly just gave up halfway through a problem saying it was too hard. It was during one of these defeatist moments that Yasui had enough.

"I'm not actually good at anything!" Shiro whined. "I can just sort of bumble through somethings. Let's face it, I'm practically mentally handicapped."

"Shiro," Yasui groaned. "What's going on? Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because it's true! I'm a brain damaged, worthless moron who's going to be cleaning bathrooms or collecting garbage for my entire life while all my friends get real jobs. I'm an idiot!"

"Shiro, do you think you can learn this stuff if you try?"

Shiro glumly shook his head. Yasui threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Well there's your problem! If you tell yourself you can't do something, you'll just always set yourself up for failure! You have to believe you can do this!"

"But I don't! Because everyone knows I'm stupid!"

Yasui stood up in disgust.

"Fine! If you're just going to give up I won't waste my time trying to tutor you. But if you decide that you want to learn this stuff and actually start to try rather than always saying you're too dumb to learn, I'm more than happy to help."

Yasui shoved his things into his bag and stormed off. He could understand struggling with school, but giving up was just cowardly. His mom's motto had always been "Do what you can, then accept what you can't." It just irked him that someone who clearly had a talent for something wouldn't even try to make something of himself.

Yasui was so angry he almost didn't notice Chaussette slowly making her way towards the front gates. Yasui trotted over to her and waved.

"Chaussette! What're you doing?"

The snake turned her head and dipped slightly in acknowledgment.

"Hello, Yasssssui. I'm… on my way to… visssssit my parentssss. We're… having dinner… tonight."

Yasui frowned. Those pauses meant that Chaussette was struggling with the cold weather and her metabolism was slowing down. Yasui barely even noticed the chill wind that was blowing off the harbor through his coat and thick fur. Yasui offered her a hand.

"You live pretty close by, right? Want me to give you a lift? I feel like going for a walk to clear my head anyway."

Chaussette gratefully nodded and slithered around his torso under his coat. She propped her head against his shoulder and sighed wearily.

"Why doessss winter have to lasssst sssso long here! Apparently in ssssome placessss the weather sssstartsss to get warm in February."

Yasui shrugged, adjusting his clothing to sit more comfortably while he had a large reptile coiled like a thick rope around his torso and neck.

"Guess we're just lucky."

There was silence as Yasui walked down the hill before Chaussette spoke again.

"Are you feeling any better today, Yassssui?"

Yasui snorted in moody mirth.

"Well I was. I realized that I'd been pushing myself too hard and needed to rest so I didn't burn out. That and I've been working out some emotional issues. But then one of my friends really ticked me off because he's just giving up on trying to do well in school despite any help I give him. It's just frustrating, you know."

"I can imagine. Life can be hard, but you need to keep pusssshing forward."

"Wise words, Chaussette. Shiro could learn a thing or two about perseverance from you. It's really admirable that you never give up."

Chaussette shyly looked away as Yasui reached the bottom of the hill. She gave Yasui the directions to her house, and Yasui started off down the road. Chaussette's home was about twenty minutes away from Cherryton, a small house tucked in the middle of a long line of houses. It was a plain white building with two thin stories. For Yasui's family it would probably be a bit cramped, but for a family of pythons it was probably comfortable.

Upon ringing the doorbell, Yasui was greeted by one of Chaussette's parents. At first glance, he had no way of knowing if it was her mother or father. It was pretty hard to tell the gender of a snake at a glance due to their general lack of features. But the voice of this snake was definitely feminine as it spoke.

"Oh, hello there. Can I help you?"

Yasui bowed slightly.

"Hello, I'm Yasui. I'm a friend of Chaussette's, and I was walking her here."

Chaussette popped her head out of Yasui's coat and hurriedly slithered inside. Even from the doorway, Yasui could feel how warm it was inside. Chaussette's mother bobbed her head.

"Oh! We've heard all about you! Come in! Come in! That way you can warm up after being out for a while."

"Thank you very much, ma'am." Yasui replied and moved inside. Immediately he was struck by a wave of damp heat. It was practically a sauna in the house. Hurriedly, Yasui removed his coat and hung it up as Chaussette greeted her parents. Chaussette's father was stirring a pot of some type of soup or stew on the stove and excitedly slithered over. Now that he could see both parents in full, it was somewhat striking how large they were. While not as massive as some pythons, both snakes were easily as thick in diameter as his torso was. Apparently Chaussette still had a lot of growing to do.

"Hello! We are very happy to have you over!" Chaussette's father cheerily intoned. "I am Colten."

Chaussette's mother slid over.

"And I am Miranda. We're very happy to have the opportunity to finally meet you! We've heard all about you!"

Yasui smiled and surreptitiously loosened his collar to vent some heat. It was uncomfortably warm here, and practically one hundred percent humidity. Feeling as if he had steam rising off his ears, Yasui smiled at the three snakes.

"Well it was a pleasure to meet you all, but I don't want to intrude."

Colten flopped his tail and gave Yasui a snakey smile.

"You aren't intruding! Join our family for dinner!"

Yasui hesitantly smiled as Chaussette and her parents excitedly begged him to stay for dinner. Sure enough, he caved and found himself sitting on the floor with the snakes. Their table had no chairs, and was almost flush with the ground. It made sense. Chaussette had always been mildly uncomfortable sitting in a chair. It was easier for her to coil up on the floor, so obviously that's how the furniture would be arranged in a snake home. In fact, there were a few things that Yasui was noticing as he waited for dinner.

For starters, everything in the house was low to the ground. It made Yasui feel like a giant to have to bend his head to see the tv and decorations. The furniture was also different from most houses. No couches or chairs, just cushions on the ground around a low coffee table. But it was as Chaussette's mother was talking happily, but slightly slowly, that something clicked in Yasui's head. He had almost forgotten about how Chaussette had spoken to him at first before they got comfortable. Mrs. Miranda was deliberately avoiding using words that contained the letter "s" because snakes considered it polite to avoid hissing in formal conversation.

"Mrs. Miranda." Yasui said as the female snake finished a story about her job. "Please, there's no need to be formal around me. I take no offense at you hissing when you speak. I can only imagine how annoying it must be to avoid the letter 's' when you talk."

Miranda shot her daughter a sour look.

"Dear, you told him about that? It really… well… not exactly polite…."

Yasui bit his lip. Clearly she had meant to say "is" and couldn't think of a substitute for the word. Chaussette dipped her head in a serpentine shrug.

"He asssssked. Yassssui findsss ssssnake culture interessssting."

Yasui nodded vigorously.

"She's right. I never realized how different snakes have to live than everyone else. So please, don't inconvenience yourself on my account. I actually find the hissing charming."

Both Chaussette's parents laughed merrily as Chaussette looked away in embarrassment. Yasui was having a fun time talking to both adults as Colten cooked dinner, refusing Yasui's assistance when asked. The only issue was that Yasui felt like he was melting.

The heat from the stove and oven added to the already sweltering atmosphere in the house. Yasui was breathing deeply and a little dizzy as Mrs. Miranda began setting the table in preparation for dinner. He hadn't noticed that Chaussette was missing until he heard a subtle "psssst!" from behind him. Yasui looked around and saw Chaussette beckoning to him from the hallway that led towards the stairs to the second floor. Yasui excused himself and wearily loped towards her.

"Yeah?" Yasui weakly asked. Chaussette was waiting next to a door, and without speaking pushed it open and pushed Yasui inside with her head before closing the door behind him. Yasui was about to respond in confusion and anger when blessed cool air washed over him. He turned and found himself in a small bathroom with the window wide open.

Yasui desperately pushed his torso out the window and sighed in relieved bliss as cold air surrounded him like water. He filled his lungs with crisp, winter air and immediately felt much better. He grinned as he looked back at the bathroom door.

"Chaussette, I could kiss you right now!"

He didn't hear a reply, so Yasui assumed Chaussette had returned to the living room. For his part, Yasui happily rested his arms on the windowsill and enjoyed the air. It felt so nice to breathe air that didn't seem like hot soup in his lungs.

Once Yasui felt less like he was about to suffer a bout of heat stroke, he left the bathroom and joined Chaussette's family in the kitchen. As he was walking down the hall, Yasui overheard Chaussette and her mother talking.

"Chausssssssette, where'ssss Yassssui?"

"I opened the bathroom window sssso he could get sssome air before he passssssed out."

"Good grief! I hadn't realized the poor dear wassss overheating! I wisssssh he would have told me!"

Chaussette's father chuckled.

"That young fellow ssssseemssss too polite and mild mannered to complain. I can tell why you like him ssssso much, princessssssss."

As Yasui left the hallway, Miranda hurried over and looked him over with a concerned expression.

"Oh, I'm ssssso ssssorry! I hadn't realized you were too hot! I can turn down the heat to make you more comfortable."

Yasui shook his head and held his hands up placatingly.

"I'm fine now, ma'am, I just needed to catch my breath. Please don't worry about me. It's a lot easier for me to deal with being a bit hot than for you all to be cold."

"Well… okay. Jussssst let me know if you need anything. Water, ice, you name it."

"Thank you, I will."

Colten carefully set a large pot of stew on the table to rest with the bowls and cups of hot tea. Despite his recovery in the bathroom, the thought of eating hot stew and drinking hot tea in a room as steamy as a sauna still made Yasui feel a little sick. But despite that, the creamy vegetable stew was very good. Notably, everything being served was soft enough to eat with his gums.

During the meal, Miranda and Colten chatted excitedly at Yasui the entire time. Yasui got the sense they didn't get company very often, especially when Colten refilled Yasui's bowl for a third time despite his insistence that he was full. Miranda laughed and turned her head towards Chaussette.

"You can't imagine how happy we are that Chaussssssette issss in your club. Ssssshe'sss alwayssss been very sssshy, and had ssssso much trouble making friendssss."

"Mom!" Chaussette moaned in embarrassment. Colten's eyes sparkled as he looked at his daughter.

"Don't rob your mother of thissss. Ssssshe'sss sssso excited that you brought a friend over."

This time Miranda turned a baleful look to her husband, who rested his tail on hers with a laugh. With the meal done, and Yasui once again feeling a bit shaky from the heat, they made their way to the main room to take seats on the cushions. Miranda pulled out a large album and giddily showed Yasui old pictures of Chaussette.

"Here'sssss Chausssssette before ssssshe hatched. And here ssssshe is right after! Look how little and cute ssssshe is!"

"Aaaw," Yasui said with a grin. "You were adorable!"

Chaussette hid her face in her coils. A muffled cry to stop embarrassing her came from somewhere in the middle. It was close to nine before Yasui finally made his excuses and left to head back to school. Both Colten and Miranda plied him with tea before he left, inviting him to come over again. Once he had left, Colten made his way to the kitchen to wash the dinner dishes while his wife joined Chaussette in the living room.

"I musssst sssay, he ssssseemssss like a very nice boy." Miranda tittered at her daughter. Chaussette glowered at her mother.

"Did you have to pull out the baby picturessss?"

"Oh hush! He had fun! Bring him back sssometime, I almosssst thought you'd never bring ssssomeone over. I wassss ssstarting to think you were embarrasssssed of ussss."

Chaussette rested her head on a coil and sighed.

"Well, you can undersssstand why I haven't. Mosssst people aren't comfortable around me. Yassssui'sss the only perssssson who makessss me feel… normal."

Miranda covered her mouth with her tail as she snickered.

"That'ssss ssssweet! I can undersssstand why you're ssssweet on him. He certainly issss handssssome. Although, I'm not entirely certain what he issss. Isss he an odd red wolf or a tall fox?"

Chaussette made a choking noise and whipped her head towards her mother. Miranda was looking with a combination of amusement and smugness.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Chaussette hissed. Miranda rolled her eyes.

"Oh pleassssse. You looked like you were barely resssstraining yoursssself from coiling around him and nuzzling hissss cheek. You ssshould have sssseen you expressssion. Oh, that takessss me back."

Chaussette shook her head.

"You're totally misssssundersssstanding! Yassssui and I are jusssst friendssss! Nothing elsssse!"

"Oh calm down. It'ssss ssssomething mosssst sssnakesss and reptilesss feel at one point or another. There'sss a definite appeal to a handsssome warm blooded guy. I'm not judging you honey. Jusssst… warning you. It'ssss okay to be interessssted but don't get too upssset if he doessssn't return your feelingsss."

"Mooooom!" Chaussette groaned. "Can we pleassssse not talk about thisss!"

"Okay, okay." Miranda giggled. "But whenever you want to talk about boysss, I'm alwaysss here for you. Trusssst me, any feelingsss you've been having are onessss I probably had too."

Yasui had a bit of trouble sleeping again that night. He still kept thinking about his feelings towards Miss Diana whenever he wasn't doing something. They were all jumbled up and backwards, and he just wanted them to go away already. It was so easy to say you were over someone and to know that it was true, but getting his heart on board was proving difficult. His tinge of melancholy continued even into his weekly Sunday biology room time with Izumi the otter.

As was usual, the large (although now not nearly as gigantic compared to Yasui) otter was gruff and sarcastic. Yasui was staring blankly into the water mulling over his own angst when Izumi flicked his ear.

"Ouch!" Yasui yelped. "What was that for?"

"Quit your moping and give me a back massage, twerp." Izumi grunted. Yasui sighed.

"Sorry, I'm not in the mood."

Izumi walked in front of him in her one piece swimsuit and rested her fists on her hips. She glared down at him with a sour look.

"Let me guess, you're pouting over how hard life is for you now? Everything's awful and people don't like me, waah waah waaah?"

"You're not helping." Yasui growled. Izumi pounced on him and wrestled Yasui so that his belly was on the floor. She then took a seat on his back and tugged on his whiskers. Yasui grunted.

"Get off! Nff! You're too heavy!"

"Cry me a river." Izumi yawned. "Either you stop being a little bitch or I'll make you my bitch."

"I thought we were friends! Or like… on friendly terms!"

Izumi inspected her claws.

"Uhuh, whatever. You done pouting?"

"I'm not pouting! I just feel a bit weird!"

Izumi sniffed, and Yasui felt her turn on his back as her weight shifted.

"Okay then, either spill your guts so I can laugh at you and call you a dork or I'll rub my feet on her head. Which you unwisely told me you would despise."

"Izumi! I trusted you with that information!"

"A terrible decision on your part." Izumi nonchalantly said as she lifted her legs. "On the plus side my feet have been aching a bit today and this might feel a bit like a massage."

"Stop! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Izumi lowered her legs back to the ground and poked Yasui in the head.

"Okay, get to talking."

"I'm having some mixed feelings about this girl who I used to like. I cut things off with her but still have feelings for her! And I don't want to!"

There was a pause before Izumi boredly spoke again.

"Okay, and?"

"And what?"

"Clearly there's more than that. You've been acting bitchy for a while now, and it keeps getting worse."

"That's it, I swear!"

"Mmmmm, nope. Don't believe you. Your face is going to be my footstool."

"No! I told you everything! That was the deal!"

"Tough luck, dumbass. I don't believe you."

Yasui began desperately squirming and trying to think of anything that was making him upset.

"Fine, fine!" Yasui squealed as Izumi's paws slowly moved towards him. He was getting unpleasant flashbacks to an earlier incident that was extremely similar to this.

"Here's everything that's bothering me! I'm self conscious about my looks! I'm homesick again! I keep getting horny and don't like it! I think it's my classmates from my advanced classes who keep complaining about me and I don't know why! I feel like a bad friend, and I'm wasting my life!"

The tail end of that tyrade came out as a sob as Izumi's paws hovered mere centimeters from Yasui's face. Izumi clicked her tongue.

"Damn, if that ain't something. You're pretty messed up, huh? And that's not even touching on your truly confused fear of feet. But it sounds like you need to stop being a bitch and pull your act together. Like, seriously, just stop doing all that crap. It's that easy."

"Really?" Yasui sniffed. "But how?"

Izumi began tallying with her fingers.

"Stop obsessing over your looks and whether people like you. Everyone else can go to hell. Just accept you are what you are like I do. And as for your horniness, most teenagers are horrifically horny. Either take a cold shower or rub one out and move on."

"…Ew." Yasui sneered at her last comment. Izumi scowled and stepped on Yasui's head, making him squeal like a small child.

"Oops, did I accidentally do that?"

Surprisingly, Izumi's advice was actually pretty good. As Yasui left the room, his mind was about to return to all the little things that were bothering him when he simply told himself that he didn't care. He had to repeat it a lot, but it actually worked.

(Wow! Izumi's actually good at this! See, despite her gruff exterior she's actually very warm and kind. I always knew she was a sweetheart on the inside! Like a big old—)

Yasui almost fell as Izumi pushed past him.

"Later, goober." Izumi snorted. "Better change your tune before next Sunday or I'll really make you squeal."

Yasui watched as she stalked down the hallway and frowned.

(Or she's a psychopath who enjoys tormenting me. Both are viable options.)

But after that he and Shinrai finally got to watch a movie together again. Apparently it only took a couple months for them to actually take the time to do something they mentioned doing again. This time it was a comedy movie about people with really awful bosses. Watching it just made Yasui hope he never had a boss like that. Mr. Nabuyo, who ran the cafe Yasui worked at, was a very nice guy.

Overall, Yasui felt much better at the end of the weekend than he had in a while. Maybe Izumi was right. Maybe he was his own worst enemy, and just needed to stop caring so much about trivial things. Yasui had a spring in his step as he entered the Cooking Club's room that Monday and greeted Chaussette who was already there.

"Hello, Chaussette. Having a good day so far?"

"Pretty good. It lookssss like you're feeling good today."

Yasui shrugged.

"I realized that I was just overthinking my problems. Instead, I should just stop caring so much about stuff that doesn't matter."

Chaussette frowned.

"What sssstuff doesssn't matter?"

"You know, what people think about me. I should just stop caring about everything like that."

Chaussette looked like she wanted to argue, but then thought better of it. Slowly, the Cooking Club members filtered in. Yufine and Maihime joined Chaussette at the table while Baz stood awkwardly against the wall. He still was nervous about breaking things, and tried to stay out of the way. Yasui smiled at his assembled club members.

"So, what should we do this week?"

Everyone exchanged glances. Usually when this happened everyone had their own idea of what they should do and they couldn't agree on anything. Noticing the silence, Yasui clasped his hands.

"So, I had the idea of doing something for Valentine's Day. Any ideas?"

Yufine raised her hand.

"We could do a bake sale? Make some pink cupcakes or cookies and sell them to people to give to each other?"

Yasui pointed at her.

"That's a great idea! Anything else?"

Maihime picked at her teeth and shrugged.

"I don't really care. Cookies sound good to me."

Yasui swung his eyes to Chaussette, who nodded her agreement. He then looked at Baz. The massive polar bear shuffled his feet and looked embarrassed.

"That sounds nice. I can carry the table out to the main building and we can sell them during lunch tomorrow? That way people will have them ready for Wednesday."

Yasui nodded.

"Good idea. We can make them today and put them in the refrigerator, that way they stay fresh."

Yufine clapped her hands.

"I'll make the frosting!"

They all got to work making cookies and cupcakes. They divided up into groups to make things run smoother. Yasui made the cupcake batter while Baz and Maihime made cookie dough. To Yasui at least, cookie dough was slightly harder to mess up. Things were going well, but one thing everyone noticed was that Chaussette was actually doing a surprisingly amazing job decorating the baked goods.

As Chaussette effortlessly swirled frosting and put sprinkles on top, Yasui slid over to her and grinned.

"Wow, you're really good at that!"

"Thankssss. I've been practicing."

"I can tell. Heck, maybe you should be president of the club. You definitely seem to be more invested in this stuff than I am."

Chaussette shook her head.

"No way. You're a great presssssident! You jusssst have a lot on your plate and haven't had assss much time for the club recently."

Yasui patted Chaussette on the back.

"Well I'll be sure to give more time to the club from now on. Starting with this bake sale."

Unfortunately for Yasui and the other members of the Cooking Club, they drastically underestimated how many containers and plates they had to store baked goods in. Once they had exhausted all their trays and plates, they moved on to bowls and pans. Soon the fridge was filled to bursting with cupcakes and cookies and Yasui was desperately trying to balance a tray of cookies precariously above a bowl of cupcakes.

As per usual, Yasui and Chaussette stayed to clean up before heading to dinner. After dinner, Yasui did homework before heading to bed. He was actually looking forward to Tuesday and the Cooking Club bake sale.

Tuesday morning went smoothly, and as promised Baz carried their table out of the Cooking Club room and set it up on the entrance to the main building. Yasui and the other members began setting out pink iced cookies in the shapes of hearts covered in sprinkles, and cupcakes covered in swirls of pink frosting. At first, Yasui was afraid that they had made far too many pastries because only about four people bought something. That is, until Shiro and his roommates showed up.

Shiro and the gang of equally boisterous dogs rounded the corner loudly talking about baseball. Shiro grabbed one of his friends, a dingo, and pointed at Yasui and the Cooking Club.

"Dude! Cookies! They're selling cookies and cupcakes!"

Another dog, a tall German shepherd, rushed forward and examined a cupcake.

"Heck yeah." The German shepherd barked. "I'm about to destroy some cupcakes!"

Shiro read the sign and slapped a few yen on the table.

"I want one of both!"

The dogs began handing over bills and taking cookies and cupcakes. Shiro eagerly took a massive bite of cupcake, pink frosting smearing across his snout. He licked his chops happily and held up the cupcake.

"Goof schuff! Erry taschty!"

The dogs happily munched on cookies and cupcakes as they left, laughing as they smeared pink frosting on each other. Several other students noticed the group enjoying baked treats and made their way over to buy some themselves. There was steady traffic as students finished their lunch and began to filter out of the cafeteria. By the time lunch was almost over, most of the treats were gone. However, this still left almost fifty assorted desserts that they had to do something with.

Once classes were over, Yasui hurriedly crammed the leftovers into the fridge before rushing down towards Cafe Lapine. He changed into his apron and joined Mimi behind the counter, ready to start his shift.

Business was the same as usual. A few animals would come in ones and twos, spend some time enjoying a coffee and some snacks, and then leave with a wave. But Yasui was eagerly watching every time the door opened, hoping for a certain customer to return. And lo and behold, he was not disappointed.

Yasui grinned as an attractive vixen wearing fashionable clothes and sunglasses walked through the door. She saw Yasui and sniffed, resting one hand on her waist.

"What's that look for?"

Yasui shrugged.

"Just glad you came back. Welcome to Cafe Lapin."

Ten smirked as she pulled her wallet out of her purse.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you enjoyed my company. Anyway, I'll take a double espresso with just a bit of milk foam on the top."

Yasui accepted the money she gave him and bowed.

"Certainly! I'll bring that out to you momentarily."

As Yasui gave the order to Mimi, she looked across at Ten and raised an eyebrow.

"That lady's back. Guess she didn't get tired of your yapping and decide to never come back."

"Yeah, isn't that great! She's really cool."

Mimi watched as Ten applied some black lipstick to match her dark dress. The gothic rabbit nodded approvingly.

"Okay… she does seem pretty cool."

Yasui impatiently waited for Mimi to finish the drink and then happily brought it to Ten. She gave Yasui a slight smile as he set the cup down for her and then sat across from her.

"So, Miss Te— uh… Miss. How have you been?"

Ten traced the rim of her cup with a nail and laughed softly.

"You know, I think that's the first time anyone has asked me that in… well… at least a decade."

"You don't have any friends who talk to you about your day?" Yasui inquired with a tilted head. Ten rested her head on a propped up fist and smirked at Yasui.

"My line of work doesn't really mesh well with small talk and close friends."

"Well, I'm happy to be your friend if you want me to Miss… er, what do you want me to call you?"

Ten tapped her chin and hummed as she thought.

"Tell you what, why don't you call me Miss Shi. That's pretty vague and easy to remember."

"Alright, Shi. I can do that. Bit of a silly name though."

"What if that's my real name?" Ten said with a raised eyebrow, her face stern. Yasui gulped.

"That's a great name! I just… assumed…."

Ten laughed and reached over to pat Yasui on the head.

"I'm teasing you. No need to be so nervous around me. Although if you make me angry I will make you disappear."

Yasui laughed weakly, hoping that was a joke. Ten sipped her coffee and looked at Yasui from behind her sunglasses with a warm expression.

"I'm doing well, thanks for asking. My work is busy, but that's nothing new. But honestly, I don't want to talk or even think about my work. Tell me, what is it all you high school students get up to nowadays? What's the latest gossip?"

Yasui grinned.

"Oh, well teenagers are teenagers. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so everyone is all abuzz about who's giving what to who."

Ten smiled with a faraway look.

"Ah, Valentine's Day. I remember back when I cared about stuff like that. So, do you have anyone who you're hoping to get something from?"

Yasui shook his head.

"No, I'm not exactly looking to get into anything right now. I just recently had a bit of… relationship drama I guess. I'm just focusing on my grades and enjoying my friends. Trying not to burn out by doing too much, you know?"

"Oh, how admirable of you."

Yasui looked around and then whispered conspiratorially.

"Actually, I want to ask you something. So, there's these other students who I think have been making complaints about me. But I don't know why they don't like me! What should I do about them? They're just… starting to annoy me."

Ten folded her hands and spoke in a sweet, mild voice.

"Well, my advice would be to absolutely crush them beyond all recognition. Not physically, just mentally and emotionally. Humiliate them so utterly they permanently have no recourse but to recognize your superiority. Cause them to fear getting on your bad side so much that they never cross you again."

Yasui stared wide eyed as she finished and sipped her drink. Ten dabbed her lips with a napkin and then added.

"Or turn the other cheek. Be the bigger man and all that. But that's not nearly as fun."

"Well… I'll consider both options. Thanks for the advice."

"My pleasure. Let me know if you want them to meet with a little accident. I could have my girls introduce them to the scary parts of the city. A night of being told they'll be sold to a brothel and forced to make their living selling their bodies to strangers will scare them straight."

Yasui gulped and stared at Ten as she looked back innocently.

"You know… thanks but no."

Ten shrugged.

"Suit yourself."

After that morbid turn, their conversation turned to much more pleasant conversation. Once again, Yasui found himself losing track of time talking to Ten. She was definitely scary, but oddly pleasant to be around. He was actually sad to see her go at the end of the night. But, she had to get back to her criminal organization, and Yasui had to close up the cafe. Just normal things like that.

Wednesday saw all of Cherryton filled with excitement. Girls moved in packs, giggling as they walked past their male counterparts. Occasionally one would dart out to give a gift or card to the boy of their choosing before rejoining their friends with a chorus of laughter and excitement.

Yasui was feeling a bit distracted as he sat in his Advanced Literature class. The three other dogs still treated him like he was old garbage, turning up their noses whenever he got close. It burned him up that most likely these were the students complaining about him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. You couldn't exactly punish students for complaining, hence why they were doing it, most likely.

But Yasui just ignored them. He couldn't exactly stop them, but he could rise above them. In fact, he was going to do something nice just to prove that he was the bigger person. He would eat lunch with Chaussette and carry her books. If anyone deserved a good turn, it was her. With that goal in mind, Yasui headed towards the middle school to meet her on her way towards the cafeteria.

It was in the middle school building that he came across an incredibly shocking display. Two third year middle school students were laughing at a rather humiliated looking Chaussette. A box of heart shaped cookies was lying on the floor, a few cookies spilling out onto the floor. One of the two boys, a hyena, howled with laughter and pointed at the cookies.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you thought anyone would want a valentine from something as nasty as you! Like, seriously! What was the plan? 'Oh, hissss! Happy Valentine's Day, hiss! I hope you find my slimy, cold self attractive, hiss!'"

Both boys burst into laughter as Chaussette looked down in embarrassment. Yasui felt pain in his hands as he reflexively clenched his fists until his claws pierced his skin. How anyone could bully someone as kindhearted and harmless as Chaussette was beyond him. Yasui stormed over to the boys and got right into the hyena's face.

"You apologize to her, right now!"

The hyena and his friend backed away, but then the hyena snorted.

"What, are you her boyfriend? Here to stick up for the slimy little creep?"

Yasui jabbed his finger against his chest.

"I'm her friend, and the president of her club. It's my duty to protect her. Besides, what kind of coward are you to bully a girl? Back home we beat people up for that."

The hyena sneered.

"Oh, I'm so scared of some freak and his gross snake girlfriend. Do you have sex with that slimy thing? How can you tell one emd of it to the other."

Yasui grit his teeth, baring his fangs.

"You will pick her box of cookies up off the floor and apologize for everything you said, or I will make you wish you had."

The hyena chortled and bent down to pick up the box of cookies. He closed it and looked nastily at Chaussette.

"Here you go, catch!"

The hyena threw the box, which hit Chaussette square in the nose. Chaussette recoiled and covered her face with her tail as blood trickled down from her nostrils. Without hesitation, Yasui tackled the hyena and began pummeling him. The hyena snapped his jaws and tried to bite Yasui's arm, but Yasui pulled backwards before clenching both fists together and bringing them down on the hyena's nose with a nasty crunch.

Red spurted across the floor and several fangs clattered against the ground as the hyena began to wail pitifully. Yasui went wide eyed as he realized what had happened. He felt sick as he saw the damage he had caused to the younger boy's face. The bully had needed to be stopped, but Yasui knew he had gone too far. This was not going to end well.

Yasui stood in shocked silence as the nurse took Chaussette away to treat her nose, and the hyena was taken away in an ambulance. The police questioned Yasui, and the others who saw the fight. He had to go with them to the headmaster, and sat in terror as they discussed what needed to be done. Fortunately, Gon convinced them that Yasui had done nothing deserving of arrest or criminal charges. He had acted in defense of a fellow student. But even still, he had no choice but to suspend Yasui and schedule a hearing to determine if he was to be expelled for seriously injuring another student.

Under police supervision, Yasui gathered his belongings and was escorted off school grounds. Shinrai heard what had happened, and rushed out to meet him. Apparently everyone knew what had happened. People stared at him as he passed with his police escort. They all looked either angry, scared, or both. Once he was outside the school gates, Yasui uneasily sank to the ground and held his head in his hands. Shinrai rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Yasui. There's no way they'll expell you."

"They might." Yasui miserably sniffed. "I started it, and I went way too far. That kid's going to need surgery because of me. I don't know where to go! What should I do!"

Shinrai hugged Yasui, patting his back reassuringly.

"I'm sure my mom will let you stay at my place. She absolutely adores you after you rescued me. And I'll be sure to let everyone know about that too. If enough of us students protest and stand up for you, the school board will have to let you stay."

Yasui wiped his nose and nodded before silently following Shinrai to his home. Sure enough, his mother gladly told him to stay with them. She made a bed for him on the couch and assured him that he would be fine.

"Protecting a middle school girl from a guy who threw a heavy box into her face isn't something that they should punish you for. And if they do, I'll let any news station that will listen know that that school promotes bullying and punishes anyone who stands up for their underclassmen. That'll show them! Just relax, Yasui. It'll be okay."

Yasui sniffled and began to cry.

"I didn't mean to hurt him that bad! It was an accident!"

Shinrai's mother, Hanako, cooed and gave Yasui a hug. She did her best to sooth him as he hugged her tiny squirrel body in his larger arms. She rubbed his arm and smiled.

"You're not a bad person. These things just happen sometimes. It'll be okay, we'll sort it out. Don't you worry."

Across the city, Diana set her phone down and looked angrily at the wall. Charles raised an eyebrow.

"Bad news?"

"Yes." Diana growled. "That was Yasui's school. As his emergency contact they called to inform me of his suspension for attacking another student. Apparently he did a number on a student who was bullying a younger girl."

"That's not good." Charles rumbled. "What are you planning on doing about it?"

Diana grinned wickedly.

"Charles, call Gyobe. I think it's about time I sick my favorite lawyer on some school board members. If they want to expel my heir, they'll not do it without looking like monsters. Mark my words."