Curious how a single thing can be stuck in your head for a long time. Like a scene on your mind playing on repeat in an endless loop.

It could be a song so catchy you could not get it out of your head, no matter how much you try. It could be some new information that you learned in class and found so interesting you couldn't avoid thinking back at it and reflecting on it every few moments, as it was something that you considered important, or life changing. It could be the trailer of your favorite movie franchise that you just watched and could not stop thinking about, either because it was great or awful, and now it was stuck on your mind, for better or for worse.

It could be something really bad that happened, if you were unlucky.

Or, it could be something that, on the moment, you didn't saw as a great thing, and you just kept thinking back at it for whatever reason it was.

For Legoshi such an event happened that night.

It was not the look Louis gave him when he tried to protest. It was not the apprehension of being caught by the professors as he stood on watch. It was not his encounter with the cricket. It was not when Zoe came to him crying for help and they went inside to find Louis writhing in the ground after falling from the stage and the hybrid had to lend him his shoulder to help him up.

No.

It was that bunny girl.

The one with dark eyes and pure-white fur.

The one who he talked with when he saw her sobbing and whom Legoshi, for some reason, could not get out of his mind.

He kept thinking back at her when he walked back to his dorm and then laid on his bed to sleep.

During the night, as he slept, he was pretty sure he had dreamed with a white face with black eyes.

Then, when he woke up and stayed on bed, looking up, Legoshi somehow found himself thinking about her. And he continued to think about her as he went out to do his morning exercises, and then came back and showered while thinking of her black eyes, and he kept thinking about the way she smiled at him when she said he was nice as he dried and then brushed his mane.

Even later on, during breakfast, Legoshi could not stop thinking about her sobbing form.

She sounded just like a sad child... Legoshi thought to himself as he thought back on how she talked to him. She was putting a brave face, he could tell, but her voice seemed sad, for some reason. She reminded me of Zana and Zora...

"Oy, Legoshi." The familiar voice of his friend Jack brought Legoshi back to reality, causing him to look over at his Labrador friend as he was looking at him. "Did you heard what I just asked?"

Legoshi blinked as he looked at Jack, he had forgot that he was sitting at table with all of his friends. All of them had been very distracted with each other, as they talked and chatted as they ate their breakfast so they could have the needed strength to have a great start of their day.

"What's up with you today, Legoshi?" Jack asked as he looked at his hybrid friend, who had been pretty much spaced out since he woke up, and was nearly a robot as they did everything from showering to dressing and now eating. "Got your head in the clouds today?"

Legoshi felt a little ashamed for being so distracted. He barely even touched his food. Legoshi apologized, saying that he was just "thinking about stuff", and went back to eating his food, which he had barely touched until now. They didn't had egg sandwiches today, but they had bread. Legoshi liked bread.

Soon, the hybrid was eating his food, trying to pay attention to it, but not being able to stop himself from thinking back at that little bunny whose voice reminded him of his baby sisters. And on how she was sobbing back then.

Legoshi also sobbed when other kids picked on him for being a hybrid...

He sobbed so many times.

"Hey, watch it!"

The sudden voice broke Legoshi of his reflections and made him look on the way from which the angry voice had come, just like a lot of the students there on the dining hall. Everyone was now looking at the two carnivores who were having a discussion.

Apparently, one of them had bumped into the other, and now they were having a heated argument because of it. An argument that was becoming louder and louder as both of them seemed to be growing in anger with every word they traded.

Then, as the discussion reached its zenith, one of them lunged at the other.

A girl somewhere screamed as everyone watched in terror as one of the carnivores was now biting the other's arm!

"Hey!" Said the carnivore being bit, who was a fox. "Let it go! Let go, you idiot! You know what will happen if they catch us like this!?"

However, the other carnivore continued biting firmly, even when the fox started to punch his head to try and make him let go of his arm. All the while, the herbivores around all freaked out due to the developing scene.

"Someone call a teacher!" One of the herbivores called out in fear, while everyone else continued to look at this developing scene with growing apprehension and terror. The herbivores sounded like they were about to freak out for real, and no one was stopping on that. The herbivores out of instinctual fear of getting in a fight between carnivores, and the carnivores because of some short of spectator effect.

Legoshi looked around and saw all of those herbivores growing more and more apprehensive, and the two carnivores currently fighting seemed to be far too focus on each other to notice.

"It is important that you are always attentive to the herbivores around you, Legoshi." His father's voice sounded on the hybrid's head. "Herbivores in general are not like us. They are not warriors, and most of them are painfully aware of this. That is why they are always so nervous when around carnivores like us. They easily get scared, and this often translates into us, carnivores, getting into trouble. So, always pay attention to the herbivores around you. Always be sure they are not nervous, and always make sure that they don't get nervous because of you. It is way too easy for carnivores to get in trouble, even when we have done nothing wrong. So remember this, son, and remember well, you must always be careful to not let the herbivores around be scared. You are bigger and stronger than most of them, so you have a duty to make sure that they are safe and calm. This is the least you can do as a carnivore."

This was one of the many lessons that Legoshi's father taught him, and the hybrid took it to heart, along with nearly all of his other lessons.

That was the reason why he protected Louis from Kai yesterday, and was why he knew that he could not just stand and do nothing while those two carnivores were causing all of the herbivores on that dining hall to become more and more anxious and scared.

"Hey!" Legoshi screamed "Cut it out!"

The two carnivores finally stopped fighting, and they were now looking in direction to the animal who screamed, seemingly at the two of them, a big wolf with a hoodie.

It weren't only them, as Legoshi noticed that everyone was looking his way now with surprised, even shocked, expressions. This included his roommates, who had never before seen Legoshi raise his voice like that.

Legoshi, the socially awkward animal he was, all of a sudden got aware that he may have been louder than he had to, and regretted having done that. Legoshi seemed to shrink a bit as he hunched over even more, and pulled his hoodie closer over his head, to the point where only his muzzle was visible.

However, this did little to deter all of the attention that was on him. Including...

"Hey, you!" Said the fox, as he had his attention on the bigger carnivore. "What's your deal, huh, big guy?"

Legoshi looked at the fox, who was looking at him with anger. The hybrid looked around, and then he approached the fox, and he said, in a low voice.

"Look, sorry for yelling, but I needed to make you two stop fighting." He sounded apologetic as he spoke that, "You were making the herbivores all nervous with that fight, and you needed to stop."

"And what is it to you?" The fox demanded, not worrying abut keeping his voice down as much as Legoshi, this caused the bigger carnivore to flinch slightly. "So, you got a problem with me fighting some loser? Well, then in this case I should fight you."

Okay, now that was something Legosh didn't wanted.

"No!" The hybrid said, backing away, and the fox growled at him.

"What, think you're too good to fight me?" The fox said, "Think that just because you're big I have no chance! Well, I'll show you!"

"No, I don't want to fight!" Legoshi said. The hybrid was sure that he could win. Not only he was bigger, but he was superior to the smaller fox in nearly all aspects. His mixed heritage gave him a great advantage over most other carnivores. Not to mention his years of training that made him as fit as a professional martial artist in comparison to that fox who probably never had any formal training.

However, Legoshi would not be going into a fight with the fox. He knew that it would be worse if he did. Besides, he was taught by his grandfather not to go into fights unless he had absolutely no other choice, and Gosha made sure to instill his pacifist values on his grandson while teaching him how to defend himself.

That was why Legoshi was already trying to figure out a way to make it out of there without actually going into a fight. Or, at the very least, of trying to make it lose convincing when he lost on purpose...

"Now, come over here." The fox said, calling the bigger carnivore closer. "Get down here and pull that hoodie down so I can bite a big chunk of your neck."

As the fox said those words, Legoshi froze in place, his plans to lose on purpose forgotten for the briefest of moments.

"Come on! Get down here you weirdo!"

"I'll bite a chunk of your neck out, you freak!" Said an animal who was towering over Legoshi, holding him by his hoodie as the hybrid whimpered. Legoshi felt like he could start crying at any moment, and all of the carnivores around him noticed it.

"Look, the weirdo is going to cry!"

"Half-lion? He must be half-chicken!"

"He may have feathers! Get his hoodie out."

"If he actually has any feathers down there, then we will pluck them out one by one!" Said another one, and all of them agreed with this. Soon, they had their hands on his hoodie, and they were trying to unzip it and remove it from the young hybrid.

"N-no!" Legoshi said, "Stop! No!"

But they didn't stopped. They continued trying to get his hoodie out, all the while they continued to taunt him cruelly as they said the things they would do to him once they had that hoodie off of him.

How they would hurt him until he cried.

And how he deserved it for being a weirdo.

"NOOOO!"

NO!

His fangs bared, his pupils contracted into vertical slits, and Legoshi's hands shot forward before the hybrid even realized what he was doing.

The fox didn't had time to react as the bigger carnivore grabbed him by the shirt and easily lifted him from the ground, bringing him to his eye level and growling right on the vulpine's face.

"You little vermin!" Legoshi growled on his face as he glared at the smaller canine. His face was mask of rage. Meanwhile, all of the aggressiveness that the fox was showing until that moment was out like a blown candle on a birthday cake, as the fury clearly shown by the much bigger carnivore killed any spunk and confidence he might have.

In fact, now the fox was desperately apologizing, begging to be let go and promising not to get into fights again. However, Legoshi didn't let go of him. Instead, he was starting to open his mouth, nearly as if he was getting ready to...

"Damn." The voice suddenly came, "You carnivores are always making a scene, aren't you?"

Legoshi blinked, and he then looked in direction to the animal who spoke. Louis, meanwhile, walked on his direction with a confident step.

"It must be natural for you to get into fights, but you really don't need to do during lunch. Seriously, have some decorum." The deer said, and Legoshi looked his way for a second, before he realized what he was doing. He looked back at the fox, who was looking like he was about to pee himself.

Blinking, Legoshi let go of him, casing the fox to drop hard on his butt, while the hybrid was apologizing profusely.

"You freaky psycho!" The fox said to Legoshi, rubbing his butt. Legosh flinched as he heard that, and the fox seemed that he had a lot more to say to the bigger carnivore. However, before he could, Louis was speaking again:

"You better not go around shifting the blame, when you two were the ones who started it." He was speaking to the fox and the other carnivore, the one who was biting him. "The wolf was clearly just caught up on the developments of your actions."

"What!?" The ox said, "You can't be serious! He was ready to bite my head off!"

"Oh?" Louis said to the fox. "And it wasn't you who were saying that you would bite off a chunk of his neck? What, were you expecting him to just hear that and not do anything about it? Would you just roll over and bare your neck at someone who said it to you?"

The fox had no answer for that, even though he looked like he wanted to protest. He was only succeeding in making himself look like a fool.

"You call someone for a fight and you expect them to just be your punching bag?" Louis asked to the fox. "Or maybe you were just trying to put on a front? What, you trying to pass the image of the big and strong carnivore? Well, sorry to tell you, but this type of image is not very popular here. This is a school where we value the ability to coexist and live in society, not behaving like a savage who can only flex his strength by baring his fangs and trying to intimidate others. I really suggest you two to clean up your act, if you want to end anywhere other than jail upon leaving Cherryton."

"Yeah, he is right!" Said an herbivore among the crowd.

"Go get stuffed!" Another one spoke, and soon the fox and the other carnivore saw that they were the ones who would be getting in trouble if they didn't left now. So, the two of them did. But not before the fox shot Louis a murderous glare before leaving as he muttered "stupid rich brat" under his breath.

As they left, Legoshi pondered about what he was about to do. And how Louis was the one who came in and prevented him from doing it.

He was just... so angry at that fox.

Legoshi then looked in direction to Louis, who was still being applaud by the people on the cafeteria.

"Louis-senpai." Legoshi said, as the deer came closer to him. "Thank you for that."

"Don't mention it." Louis said to the wolf. "Consider this me getting even with you for yesterday evening."

Legoshi blinked at Louis. He wondered if Louis was talking about him helping him during the night on the auditorium, but then he realized that Louis was talking Legoshi protecting him from Kai.

"Seriously, thanks." Legoshi said to the deer. "If it wasn't for you, I would..."

"Have bitten that fox's head off?" Louis asked him, and Legoshi blinked.

"What? No!"

"Well, it looked like it was what you were about to do back then." Louis said at the wolf. Legoshi realized that it might have looked like that was what he was about to do!

No wonder the fox looked so scared.

But he was not going to bite. He was just...

"That is the second time that I see you bare your fangs, Legoshi." Louis said to the carnivore, and the hybrid looked at him, before looking down and apologizing.

"You really are one strange wolf, aren't you?" Louis said to him, and Legoshi flinched. "I'm gonna keep an eye on you."

As Louis turned around and left, he added mentally to himself:

So I can figure you out for good.

Meanwhile, Legoshi went back to his table and sat with his friends, trying to go back to his food as the others looked at him and Jack kept asking him if he was okay.

And he kept reflecting on what he had been about to do.

Later on, everyone was gather at Drama Club, and they were all getting ready for the upcoming play of Adler. The stagehands were busy with getting everything working and in order for the day the play. The actors were, of course, rehearsing for the day of the play.

And, among the actors, none stood up more than Louis.

He clearly gave his all into the play, and he demanded all of the others to do their best as well. He told it in very clear terms for the carnivores playing the role of the enemies that they should not hold back when attacking him, even thought they all seemed worried for Louis to be panting so much.

"Wow..." Legoshi said, as he was transfix by the show that Louis was giving down there. "Louis-senpai is so impressive."

"What, you in love with him or something?" Kai asked, as he was up there along with Legoshi. The hybrid was teaching Kai about how to fix and deal with the electric equipment, and they were both watching what was happening down there.

"Oh, come on, Kai." Legoshi said to the mongoose. "You gotta admit that Louis is impressive when he is playing the role."

"Yeah, he is a petulant rich brat, that's what he is." Kai said still looked beamed as he looked down at Louis with a lingering resentment. Legoshi continued to look at the smaller, scrawnier carnivore with an awkward silence, which he eventually decided to break.

"I'm sorry for what happened on the office." Legoshi said to Kai, and this caused the mongoose to look his way. "Sorry for growling. I didn't meant to scare you."

Kai looked at him for a few seconds, before sighing and saying it was okay. He even admitted that he was out of line for trying to punch Louis. He had lost his cool with his demotion. He was much calmer now, as he had come to terms with it, and he even thanked Legoshi for stopping him from actually hitting Louis, as he knew that it could have landed him into some serious trouble.

"You know, you are right." Kai admitted, as he looked back at the deer, who was rehearsing the combat scene with the other actors. "Louis really is impressive when he wants to. Even though he is still pompous jerk."

Legoshi had to agree with it, and this served as a conversation starter in between the two of them.

"Everyone in Drama Club is unique, you know?" Kai said to the hybrid by his side. "Everyone here has some kind of secret that makes them special. For example, you see Mina over there?" Kai was gesturing to the giraffe. "You notice how she always avoid going near the mirrors? Is because she has trypophobia. She is terrified of her own spots, so she can't handle looking at her own reflection."

"Wait, really?" Legoshi asked, surprised by this information. He never imagined that an animal could be scared of their own spots... Well, save for...

"And there is Moro over there." Kai continued, pointing at the rhino girl who was next to Sheila. "She believes that her front horn is her spirit guardian. She is very into spiritually and this stuff. Got it from her mother, I think. I caught her talking and praying to her own horn on some moments."

"Sheila over there used to be a dominatrix at a fetish club back when she was fourteen." Kai said, and that made Legoshi pause and look at him.

"Wait, she worked on a... sex club?" Legoshi said, "At fourteen!? Ain't that illegal!?"

Kai looked at the wolf.

"Yes, it is." He said, "But this world is full of creeps... I heard she did it because her family was really poor, so she had to take that gig to help put food on the table."

Legoshi looked back at her. He could hardly believe what he just found out.

How poor do a teenager's family has to be for her to decide to work with sex? This certainly made Legoshi feel glad that his family was relatively well off. At least to the point where they never went hungry or anything.

"And, there is me." Kai said, "A mongoose who was adopted into a family of hyenas. Never knew my biological parents, I was just a baby when Zuma and Kaoru took me in. Actually, I used to think I was a hyena myself until I was ten. It was when they explained to me how they found me. It is not usual, you know? For a couple to adopt a child of a different species. It made me unique enough for the club's producer to come to me and invite me to join."

Wow... I didn't knew that. Legoshi thought to himself. That certainly... wait, did Kai just said he was adopted by hyenas? And their names are Zuma and Kaoru? But, those are the same names as Miguno's parents! Wait, don't tell me...

"What about you?" Kai asked, distracting Legoshi of the sudden revelation he just had. "What makes you unique enough to be invited to join Drama Club?"

Legoshi tensed as he heard this question. He knew it was because he was a hybrid. However, he was not about to tell Kai that. Not when he went through so much to keep it hidden from everyone else. He barely even registered the fact that the producer that Kai was talking about, the animal who gave Legoshi the written letter inviting him to join Drama Club, must have known of his secret.

Legoshi said nothing, hoping Kai would drop it. Luckily for him, Kai did, as he shrugged and mentioned that most members of Drama Club preferred to keep secret of their "uniqueness", anyways. As Legoshi looked away from the mongoose, and to the deer who was rehearsing down there, the hybrid could not help but think:

What could be Louis' secret?

Later that day, Legoshi was having a meeting with the rest of the stagehands. They included Kibi the Anteater, Fudge the Red Panda, Kai, Legoshi himself, and their senpai and leader Dom the Peafowl.

They were currently discussing ideas for the upcoming play, and on what they could produce to make this year's play to be memorable.

Dom had an idea:

"You want to fill the main gate of the auditorium with roses?" Kai asked, and Dom nodded.

"Yes, like this." He said showing them a drawing, which depicted the auditorium's main entrance, covered with roses making it seem like the portal of a garden. "It is inspired in one of the main scenes of the Adler play."

"What a great idea, Dom-senpai." Kibi said, "It will definitely look amazing!" Everyone agreed with the anteater on that. Kai was less enthusiastic than the others, but even he had to admit that the entrance of the auditorium would look gorgeous like that.

Legoshi too was a great fan of the idea, and he was all aboard with it. That is, until Dom said...

"Eh!?" Legoshi said in surprise. "You want ME to go ask the Gardening Club members for the flowers!?"

"Yes, Legoshi." Dom said to him, and Kibi was talking with the hybrid as well.

"You still don't have a lot of social skills." Kibi said to him, "It will be good for you."

"B-but..." Legoshi said, "The Gardening Club is all formed by herbivores. Won't they be scared of me?"

"Come on, Legoshi. Just give it a try." Kibi said to the hybrid, "It will be fine. You just have to be polite like you always are whenever someone talks to you. Tem was always telling people who kind you were and how you only looked scary, but we just needed to talk to you to know you are oe of the nicest guys around."

Legoshi blinked, looking at Kibi, who has just made a mention to Legoshi's dead friend. This got the big carnivore to think.

Well, Tem once told me that I should try to talk to others more and be more sociable so they would see I'm not dangerous. Legoshi thought to himself, and he looked at Kibi.

"Okay, I'll go." Legoshi said, and this made Kibi smile. "But, I want you to come with me, Kibi-kun."

This made the anteater blink.

"Eh?"

Legoshi's reasoning was that if he went there along with an herbivore then the other herbivores of the club would be calmer and not freak out when they saw him. Dom and the others accepted this answer, and so it was decide that Kbi would be going to the Gardening Club with Legoshi.

Kibi himself accepted the idea. But Legoshi had the distinct impression that the anteater was not looking forward to go there at all.

"Kibi?" Legoshi asked to the anteater, as both of them made their ways through the halls. "Is there a reason why you don't want to go to the Gardening Club?"

Legoshi was asking out of pure worry, as he was seeing how Kibi was acting in regards to the whole thing, and it nearly seemed that the anteater considered dangerous to go there.

Kibi, of course, tried to deny it. But it was not very hard for Legoshi to eventually get him to talk. As it turns out, there was a reason why Kibi didn't really wanted to go to that specific club.

"There is a girl in there." Kibi said to Legoshi.

"Oh?" The hybrid said, looking down at the anteater. "You got a crush on her or something?"

"No! Oh, heavens! No." Kibi said, looking up at the carnivore. "She is not the type of girl a guy should ever have a crush on."

Legoshi looked at him, confused, and the anteater continued.

"There is a rumor around the small herbivores of Cherryton about this bunny of the gardening club. They say that she seduces any guy she sees and makes them go to bed with her. It doesn't matters if the guy is single or if he has a girlfriend, she will seduce any man she lays eyes on. She is a total slut."

Legoshi reflected on what he just heard.

"A slut, you say?" The hybrid asked, "And, you are scared of her?"

"You are supposed to be scared of girls like that." Kibi said to the wolf, "They look at you as if you are food, use you as a toy, and then, when they are done, they toss you away like garbage. They can be the most dangerous kind of girls around. Some guys say that girls like that can be worse than any carnivore. No offense." Kibi added the last part quickly, as he didn't wanted to pass the wrong impression to his carnivore friend.

"Did you... ever talked to this bunny girl?" Legoshi asked, to what Kibi confessed that he didn't, but that he had heard enough of the rumors to know that she was not the kind of person he wanted to be around.

Legoshi reflected on what he just said.

"We know everything we need to know about you from the stories we heard. We know that you don't deserve to be our friend, you freak!"

This... seemed wrong. To be judge like that based on rumors. Legoshi wanted to say that to Kibi, but he was afraid that, if he did it now, he would come out as too strong. He nearly always came out as too strong, or even as rude, whenever he talked to someone right after remembering his pat bullying. So, Legoshi decided that he would just go with Kibi to the gardening club to get the roses.

Who knows, maybe, after Kibi saw that this bunny girl was not as bad as they said her to be, then Legoshi could just tell him not to judge others based on rumors anymore.

Soon, they were on the door, and Legoshi was mentally preparing to go inside, as he remembered all he was taught on how to behave around herbivores to avoid making them uncomfortable. He would definitely need to be on his best behavior to be there, especially if there were small herbivores between the members.

He already knew that they had at least one bunny.

"Man, the flowers sure smell nice." Kibi said, and Legoshi had to admit. His sensitive wolf nose could pick out all of the scents on the other side of the door. The scent of all of those flowers, as well as of the soil where they grew. Not to mention the smell of the fertilizer that was use to help nurture the flowers so they could grow. There was also the smell of... of...

Wait. Legoshi knew that smell!

The bunny from yesterday!

"Well, we better get going, right?" Kibi said, as he opened the door before Legoshi could say anything about it.

As soon as he did, the animal who had been on the other side of the door, tending to her little garden, looked in direction to the open door and the animals who made their way through it.

This was how Legoshi's second meeting with Haru happened.