"Ugh! How much more will we have to work on it!?"

That was the third or fourth time that Kai whined something like that since they began their current work of painting the great dinosaur models for the festival.

Someone told him to just suck it up and do it. If it was Fudge, Kibi, or even Dom-senpai, who was probably tired of the weasel's constant complaining about their task, Legoshi could not tell.

The hybrid was more worried with trying to paint the best he could without getting any of that paint on his jacket. He did, however, panted a little, thinking how nice it would be if he had some cool smoothie right now. Or at least some iced tea for his heat.

However, none of them was at hand at the moment, even though Legoshi would make sure to go grab one as soon as he had the chance to step down from there for a moment.

The fact that he was wearing his jacket with the hoodie pulled over his head in the heat of the coming summer did nothing to help his case. The days were getting hotter by the day.

In moments like that, Legoshi wished he was born cold-blooded, like his grandpa, who never was too bothered by the heat.

Some people even asked him if he'd like to take off that hoodie since it was such a sunny day outside. However, Legoshi refused. His second pair of scaly arms moved slightly under his clothes, and his sweat was starting to make his mane feel damp, but Legoshi kept his clothes right where they were.

Just like a certain other animal of their group was keeping her mask.

"You sure you want to keep that thing, you lady?" Asked one of the Dobermann securities that were going around the local of the festivities, as an extra reinforcement to be sure that everything was in order. "It must be hard to breathe with that thing over your face, no?"

It was. That much was true. Just like it was that Kiira would rather remove it and just let her beak be washed by that warm spring breeze. However, the very fact that she had a beak despite looking mostly like a lioness was the very reason why she kept the mask on her face in the first place.

She gave the Dobermann an excuse that she was allergic to the smell of paint and that she could have some serious breathing problems without the mask. That was enough for him, who wished her a good day before going back to his patrol.

After he left, Kiira ventured to look up, at the figure that was higher than her thanks to being in a platform, painting the area near the head of their T-rex model, while Kiira was on the ground painting the leg.

She had had her eye on Legoshi for a long time now, as she could still remember the advice that her best friend gave her just a few days ago.

"You gotta approach him!" Juno told her. "You have to try and talk to him, and this time you gotta invite him to go somewhere! Ask him what is the thing he likes the most! If it is something you enjoy doing, say that you two can do it together! If it is something you never did before, then ask him to do it with you so you can see if it is something you like! It will be a great way for you to get closer to him, and it will show that you are a girl who can take initiative. Boys love that! Maybe you can use the chance of you both being outside of school to try and go somewhere!"

The wolf had been pretty insistent about this. Kiira knew for a fact that she had, most likely, gotten that idea from all the romance novels they've both read. However, there was some logic on her advice and, from the two of them, Juno was the one who had the most experience with boys.

Well, she dated two boys, but it was still two more than Kiira thought she would ever date.

So, the female hybrid was willing to take her word.

All the while, the object of her attention was still working diligently in spreading pain on the surface of the false dinosaur that they had made from scratch specially for the occasion. He stopped a moment to sigh, thinking on how nice it would feel to pull back his hoodie and allow some of that breeze to pass through him.

He did maintain his hoodie, but he took a moment to look around.

Because he was on the top of a platform so he could paint the dinosaur's head, he had an advantageous position from which he could see a good portion of the festival. He could see the canines of the hired personal security firm that the City Hall was employing to ensure order on the festival, and he could see the people who were coming, many of them curious bystanders who wanted to see the preparations for the upcoming festival, which was a great celebration whenever it happened.

However, the ones that Legoshi was truly paying attention to would be his friends of the Drama Club. They were, after all, invited to take part on the festival as a "exposition of the talent and promise of their young". However, Legoshi did heard Kai mention that they were more like a "low-budget entertainment" than anything else.

He and the other stagehands were over the dinosaur painting it, while the actor pool and dancing team were closer to the center of the park they were into, as they were using it to practice the routines they would perform on the festival.

The actors would be showing a performance that tackled on the origin of the festival, nearly sixty years ago, when they first decided to celebrate the dinosaurs and the event that, as it was widely believed, caused their extinction.

Meanwhile, the dance crew was still rehearsing the dance they would make, inspired by the dinosaurs of old days, or so they claimed. It was quite nice, watching from a distance.

Legoshi then caught sight of a figure walking away from everyone else.

Where is Louis-senpai going? Legoshi caught himself wondering, looking at the deer as he walked past the barracks, looking like he was going to somewhere in particular as he walked away from everyone.

Legoshi looked in the direction it seemed Louis was going.

Haru-chan! Legoshi thought, as he saw the small white rabbit in the distance, tending to the flowers that she intended to sell on the festival. She looked pretty busy with what she was doing, and Legoshi reminded how, on that same morning, he helped her load all of the vases in a cart and take it all the way into the festival, including the bigger ones she would find very had to stroll there by herself.

She turned around to look at Louis as soon as she noticed his presence.

Is Louis going to talk with her about something? The hybrid thought as he saw the two of them interacting, with Louis crouching over to be closer to her eye-level.

Legoshi had, from the day he arrived and found Louis in there with her in the shed, the impression that the two of them didn't exactly got along, considering how distant Haru seemed to be with the deer back then. However, as he looked at them from a distance, he could clearly see that the bunny was smiling.

"I mean it when I said I never had any intention of offending or upsetting you." Louis said to her, "I just want to make sure you are not hurt. Physically or otherwise. I worry about you, Haru. That much is true."

The deer was honest as he said that. Perhaps more honest than he did when he said half of the things he spoke to the PR Club for their journal. And honest enough that Haru truly believed what he was saying.

Haru didn't exactly considered herself a forgiving person, but she often found very hard to remain mad at Louis whenever he did or said something stupid. Not when he apologized like that and told her that he was sorry for what he did.

She was able to smile and tell him that it was okay.

Then, Louis reached with his hand towards her head and petted it.

Haru always liked when people petted her head like that. From her mother to some of her boyfriends, and now Louis. Some people did it in a condescending way, and that was annoying for the bunny. However, Louis was never condescending when he did something like that, and that was enough for Haru to have her tail twitching behind her happily as she was petted on the head.

Legoshi's eyes widened as he saw Louis petting Haru's head like that.

He watched it, and then he watched as Haru smiled, she SMILED, as she looked up at the deer.

"Look, the things between me and Louis are... quite complicated. You don't need to worry about that."

Those were the exact words Haru told him when he asked how close they were.

When he felt the scent of Louis coming so intensely from her that it was like they had rubbed themselves on each other.

Back when they were alone on the shed...

The same shed where Haru once told him she would spend her time when she was all alone in that club, including on the days when she told him that she would be busy and that he should not come.

In that moment, everything became clear to Legoshi.

She smelled like Louis because they were rubbing themselves on each other! They did it on the shed! Haru wanted Legoshi to call her on the days he would come so she could make sure to tell him not to come on the same days that Louis came to see her, so the hybrid would not catch them in the act!

So he would not find out that they were together.

But he knew now.

He figured out after seeing that one interaction they had and using it as the final piece that made the puzzle make sense.

Legoshi had always been decently good at puzzles, maybe not the best, but he was good at them.

And that was one he had actually not been happy to solve.

Legoshi felt something bubbling up inside of him. An ugly feeling that was very much like anger. A feeling that burned into him and caused his lips to curl in a snarl, his eyes to contract into slits, and his muscles to clench hard. Including his fingers, which were currently holding a small can of water-based paint that he was using to paint, completely crushing the metal can and causing the red paint to stain his hand.

Legoshi didn't understood this feeling, but he knew that it was not like his panic attacks. He could only glare at the two, as he felt some unexplainable hatred towards Louis, of the like she never experienced before for as long as he has known the deer.

A hatred towards him touching Haru like that. A hatred for him being looked up to like that by her. A hatred for knowing that he was receiving her affections instead of Legoshi!

As that final thought settled into him, Legoshi was finally able to understand the feeling that had built up on his chest and was threatening to explode.

It was jealousy.

He was jealous of Louis.

Jealous of him being looked like that by Haru, and of him being able to touch her as he did.

Because he wanted to be the one to whom she looked at while she smiled like that.

Because he was the one who spent so much time with her after classes helping with the garden. Because he was the one with whom she spent time outside of club hours. Because he as the one with whom she connected as they talked.

Because...

Because...

Because... I love her...

"Yoh, Legoshi!" Kai's voice coming from down snapped the hybrid out of his thoughts. "What is this red thing trickling down from there!? Did you spill paint or something!? I hope so, because it seems some people here are starting to think this might be blood! They look freaked!"

Legoshi looked down, seeing a few people in there looking down and up at him. They were attracted by the red substance that was dripping from up, and Legoshi realized it was the red paint of the can he crushed.

The hybrid cursed at himself, and apologized for everyone, letting them know it was only paint, as he got down, saying that he would be going to wash his hand from the paint before it stained his fur.

On his way out, Kiira tried to talk to him, but Legoshi was in such a hurry that he ended up completely ignoring her, and the masked female only continued to look at him as he vanished in the distance.

Kiira would have gone after him was not Dom-senpai asking her to help him paint the other side of the leg, and she went to help him.

Legoshi-senpai looked upset with something...

Legoshi really couldn't help but flinch as he felt that water soaking both his hands as he washed the paint off. There was a reason why he made all he could to avoid being outside while it was raining.

He disliked water.

Even the sound of thunder outside or of the raindrops hitting the window sometimes made him want to rub his face.

That was a result of his feline inheritance.

Legoshi sighed as he finished washing the paint out, shaking his hands to try and get all water out while he wished he had brought his portable blow-dryer, so he could just dry his hands to that he would not have to feel his own fur clinging to his body.

"Legoshi?"

Legoshi nearly jumped back as he heard someone say his name, and he saw it was Haru.

The bunny was looking at him, and then she asked if he was available now.

"You did promise me to help with setting my stand." The bunny said to him. "Not going back on your word, are you?"

Legoshi was most definitely not. He told her he was free, even though it was not exactly truth.

However, Legoshi seemed to have completely forgot about the task he was performing with his friends of the stagehands. As if painting a giant dinosaur was far less important than helping this little rabbit with her plants and vases.

Perhaps because of what he saw just a few minutes ago.

Legoshi only knew that he wanted to spend some time helping Haru with what she needed. Nearly as if he wanted to show her how reliable he was, and how strong and dependable he was for whenever she needed him.

Way more than a certain deer...

"Where the heck is Legoshi?" Kai asked as the members of Drama Club all gathered to see the work they did on the dinosaurs, and someone pointed out that a certain member of their club was nowhere to be seen.

"Last time I saw him was when he said he was going to wash the red paint off his hand." Fudge said, and Kiira confirmed that this was the case. She had also noticed that Legoshi-senpai had not returned on the hours after he had gone. It certainly got her worried, as no animal would spend that much time washing their hand, especially one that was part feline.

She herself felt uncomfortable with long baths...

"Wait, I think I saw him earlier..." Said Sheila, "I think he was near one of the stands, the one of the Gardening Club."

"Huh? The school has a Gardening Club?" Juno asked.

"Oh, you mean the one of the white bunny?" Fudge asked, the way he was asking being a bit mischievous as he looked at Kibi.

"Well, either way, it is time for us to go." Dom said, "Kibi, could you please go fetch Legoshi? We should all take the train back home together."

Kibi nodded, and soon, he was going in direction to the place where he knew the bunny was settling her stand to sell flowers, all the while wondering what Legoshi was doing there with her.

I mean, he should not be this close to her after she basically jumped him and tried to take off his clothes. However, he has been hearing rumors that Legoshi had been seen going in and out of the garden on times when she was there...

Could it be that...

Kibi arrived soon in time to see that the hybrid and the bunny were both talking to a lion with a very friendly-looking face.

"You don't have to worry, sir." Legoshi said to the lion. "She won't be in danger, I will be with her all the time, and I'll take her back to school as soon as we are done."

The lion nodded.

"If you say so, young man. Just be sure not to stay out till late. It has been rather dangerous lately, and it is not good for two kids like you to be out on the streets so late. The last thing I want, as the mayor, is for two young to end up crossing paths with unsavory figures that, very unfortunately, roam our city during the night. Take care."

With that said, that lion, the mayor of their city, turned around and left, leaving the two animals to go back to what they were doing, with Haru writing the prices on pieces of carboard while the hybrid finished putting some of the bigger, heavier vases on the displays.

"Did you notice how weird that lion's face was?" Legoshi said to the bunny, as he could not help but notice how much the mayor's face was different from his own father's, nearly to the point where Legoshi was not sure if he was even a purebred lion...

His question was left unanswered, as that was when Kibi came to check on him.

Legoshi, realizing that he had spend most of the day on the festival helping Haru with her plants instead of helping with his own club. This did make him a little embarrassed, and he ended up apologizing to Kibi for that.

"Anyways, we should all be going." Kibi said, "The rest of the club is waiting."

"You guys can go without me, I'll be for a little longer." Legoshi said, "I have to help Haru-chan finish here and then I'll accompany her back to the school."

Kibi was a bit surprised, but he eventually said that it was okay and then walked away. He was, however, looking over his shoulder at the hybrid and the bunny whom he was helping, and he could not help but wonder...

They finished a little later than they hoped. It was already dark, and the two of them realized that they were going to arrive late at the school for sure.

"Let's hope our supervisors don't give us a hard time." Haru said, as she picked her bag and was carrying it under his arm. "Well, I know for a fact that my roommate is not going to be worried with me. I did spent nights out before, anyways."

"You did?" Legoshi asked, but the bunny simply continued to walk, and this forced the hybrid to have to rush to keep up with her, as it surprised him how fast as an animal with legs way shorter than his own could walk.

They had a little mishap on the entrance to the station, as Legoshi could not find his train pass, and people kept telling him to hurry up because he was holding up the line.

"Just go on, you big-ass wolf!" Said someone, and Legoshi soon saw himself rushing past the many people in there after he finally found his pass and managed to walk alongside Haru to the station.

There was a reason why he disliked being among so many people.

Now, all that was left to do was to stay in there with Haru standing by his side as the two of them waited for the train that would take them both back to the school.

"Today was a good day." Haru said to him. "I would have taken a lot longer to finish the stand without your help, and I don't think I would have been able to bring so many vases. Thanks a lot, Legoshi-kun."

"Y-you're welcome." Legoshi said, looking at her, and then saying, after a brief silence:

"You said that... you spent nights out before." Legoshi said to her. "Did you... spent those nights alone or... with someone?"

Haru looked up at him, and she could not help but notice the way that the hybrid asked that question, while he looked at her questioningly.

After a moment of silence, she said:

"It is not fun to spend a night alone."

This was her answer, and Legoshi had the impression that this was all he needed to hear. However, he still felt like he needed to hear more.

"You spent your nights... with Louis-senpai?"

Haru looked at him with surprise.

"I... saw you two on the festival..." Legoshi said, "I was not spying or anything, I was just on top of a platform helping paint the dinosaur and I saw you two. And he was petting your head, and then you smiled to him..."

Haru looked at the hybrid.

"What is it to you?" She asked rather drily. This caught Legoshi off-guard, and this made the hybrid flinch a bit.

Haru then sighed, and said that she did, indeed, spent some of her nights with Louis. Other of her nights were spent with other boys.

Legoshi blinked, looking at her in surprise.

"What, upset that I am not the innocent cute bunny you thought I was?" Haru asked him. "Well, you should not be all that surprised. It wasn't you who said that I was a slut back on that day? You want to judge me now? Go ahead, judge me all you want. Just like everyone else."

She then looked away, and Legoshi continued to look at her in surprise. A train passed by them.

"You have no idea what is like..." Haru said to him. "To be so small and weak like me. To have to live every day in fear. Being looking down by everyone around you only because you are weak and frail. To know you are weak and frail and that there is nothing you can do about it, because that's the way you were born."

The train was stopping, and Haru still had her head down. Legoshi was still looking at her, and he said her name, but she ignored him.

"Let's just go." Haru said drily, as she walked forward to the open doors of the train. Legoshi, however, could not let her walk away like that.

He had the impression that she was mad at him. And he did not want her to be mad at him.

"Haru, wait!" Legoshi saiud, reaching forward and grabbing her arm, stopping her from entering.

"Hey, let me go!"

"Please, just hear me out." Legoshi said.

"I said let me go!"

"I wasn't looking down on you, I swear! I wasn't judging you!"

"I said let go!"

"I just want to pet your head like he did!" Legoshi said, barely thinking of what he was saying at this point. This last phrase, however, made Haru stop and look at him in surprised.

That was when they both noticed that people were looking their way.

I mean, why they would not look, when there was a huge carnivore seemingly bullying a much smaller herbivore?

In fact, some of them were already asking someone to bring in a carnivore cop to deal with this.

And, as luck would have it, there was one on beat right on that very station.

"So, you are harassing the herbivores, aren't you?" The coyote cop said as he looked the massive wolf up and down, all the while Legoshi desperately tried to explain to him that this was not the case. He asked Legoshi to pull the hoodie back, so he could take a good look at his face.

And, of course, Legoshi refused.

"Oh, so you also defy authority, huh, boy?" The coyote said, "I am not kidding. Pull that thing back, now!"

"Run!" Haru said, grasping Legoshi's hand and pulling him along.

"What?"

"Run!" Haru repeated and pulled as hard as she could. Naturally, she didn't actually had enough strength to actually force Legoshi to move, but the hybrid went along with her, following her as she pulled her hand, despite his own confusion and the protests of the coyote cop who was telling them to stop.

"Do you know how easily it is for a carnivore to get arrested!?" Haru said to Legoshi as he protested on to why they were running. "Legoshi, I don't want to see you get in trouble!"

Hearing that...

Hearing that made a new feeling come to Legoshi's chest.

Haru was worried with him.

She cared for him.

This feeling made his legs finally start working properly and, before he knew it, he had scooped the small herbivore on his arms, and he was carrying her like a child as he ran from the cop as fast as he could.

It was hard, but eventually they managed to hide from him in an old restroom, as they cooped together into one of the stalls and waited until the coast was clear.

However, it was not that easy to hide from a canine. Not with their sensitive sniffers that could pick up even the faintest scent.

He could smell the female bunny, as well as the cologne that the wolf was using, it was quite strong.

He was following the smell, and it was guiding him to a certain door, when...

"Excuse, me sir?" Said someone, and the cop stopped sniffing and looked at the person who just talked to him. He relaxed, upon seeing what kind of animal it was. "Is there something wrong? Are you looking for something?"

"Actually, yes." The coyote said, "I am looking for a wolf. I caught him trying to harass a bunny, but then he took her on his arms and ran away."

"Oh! You mean, that massive fella wearing a hoodie and carrying a white rabbit on his arms?" The other animal, "I saw them pass here just a minute ago. They went that way."

As the animal pointed at a direction, the cop thanked him and went on the direction he pointed, completely forgetting the smell he had just been following and taking this stranger's word for it.

As the cop left, the animal looked his way, and then looked at the door of the restroom.

"You're welcome..." the animal said, however, no one could hear him. Not the cop who just departed, and neither the two animals hiding inside of that restroom, who would both remain on that restroom for several minutes before they both felt confident enough to get out and once more try to get a train back to their school.

"You know, this was the first time I ran from the police." Haru said to Legoshi as they both walked across the school grounds. "It was kind of fun."

Legoshi was not sure if he agreed. He was too worried about what his parents would say if they heard that he had ran away from the police.

The two of them eventually made a stop in a bench, and now they talked about what happened at the station, with Legoshi telling her that he was sorry for having held her arm the way he did.

"You are right, I... I don't know what it is like to be a small herbivore..." Legoshi said, to her. "But, that doesn't means I don't know what it is like to have others look down on you."

Haru looked at him, and she stopped to consider.

She remembered how Legoshi told her that he had been bullied on his previous schools, and she knew now that it was, most likely, due to being a hybrid. She was not stupid. She knew that most people had a bad opinion about hybrids in general.

Even the young ones...

"I know what it is like when they look down on you for being the way you are..." Legoshi said to her. "You didn't ask to be born the way you are, and yet people think this is an excuse to treat you differently... It is not fair."

Haru looked at the hybrid, as he pulled back his hoodie, revealing his mane.

"It is really not fair..."

Haru continued to look at him, and now she realized that she had no right to say those things to Legoshi.

He had his own problems, and they could possibly be even worse than her own.

She apologized to him for being so brass to him, it was just that she was sensitive about being so small.

"Everyone always treated me like a frail little thing because of my size, and no one ever took me seriously." She said to the big hybrid. "Unless when it came to sex."

Legoshi looked at her in surprise.

"I did find out that, when I was in bed with someone, they didn't look at me differently. They didn't treat me like a child or like a helpless maiden. I was just another woman they were in bed with." Haru said, "I realized that, when it came to sex, I could stand on equal terms with everyone else. I guess that was how I started being so... active."

She sighed.

"In the end, I guess I was using the boys I went to bed with to feel better about myself. Just like they were using me for pleasure."

Legoshi blinked, looking at her.

"Including Louis?" He ventured to ask, Haru took a moment before shaking her head.

"Louis is different." She said, "He's always been..."

Legoshi was not sure if this was an answer he wanted to hear or not. However, he knew that, the dreamy look on Haru's face as she spoke of the deer made him uncomfortable, that ugly feeling of jealousy once more starting to show it's face to him once more.

"I kind of learned to shrink and stay out of sight." Legoshi said to her. "I guess it is because of my grandfather. You know, the Komodo dragon?"

"Every time I went out with him, I noticed how people would be mean to him, telling him to go away or to stay in a corner. They were scared of his venom." Legoshi said, "Grandpa told me that this was normal treatment for venomous animals, as unfair as it could seem. The non-venomous animals were scared of them, so they wanted them to stay away from them and not come too close. I do remember that, whenever we went out and got into any dining place, then we were forced to sit in a corner by the shadows. People always left grandpa alone if we did."

"I guess that I kind of learned that if you stay in the shadows then people don't pick up on you." Legoshi said, "I guess that is why I grew not to like being on the center of attention. I guess I was just trying to do like grandpa and just stay in the shadows so people would leave me alone..."

Legoshi then looked up.

"I have been doing it since I started in Cherryton." He said, as he looked at the moon. "I didn't really want to be out in the light... until I met you."

He then looked at her, seeing that the bunny was looking at him once more.

"Haru, I..." He reached out, and his hand touched her much smaller one.

"I want to stay under the light with you... at least for a little more."

She looked up at the hybrid, only looking back on his eyes as he held her hand so gently on his own.

As they had this moment, there was an animal watching them. The very same animal who threw the cop off their trail back on the station, and who followed them all the way there.

He saw the way they were looking at each other. And he saw the hybrid's hand on the bunny.

And he didn't quite like it.

"Legoshi..." The animal said, his hands clenching into fists. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"