Shinoku and Bill walked out of the changing room they were met by the sight of a number of the club members near the door, looking at them. What was worse, Louis was at the front of the gathered crowd, clearly not amused in the slightest. 'Ah shit…' both thought simultaneously as they knew what was coming.
Bill tentatively looked at Louis with a slight gulp. "Heeeey Louis, something the matter?" The tiger asked.
Louis narrowed his eyes as he looked at the two. "You two, leaders room, NOW." He ordered.
'Fuck...' Both Shinoku and Bill thought as they just nodded at Louis, following the deer to the leaders room, the rest of the club that had heard the light scuffle moving to try and listen in after the door was shut. The pair looked at Louis as he faced them, to say that his expression was one of displeasure would be an understatement. All Shinoku and Bill could do was anticipate the onslaught of anger to come.
"Louis, we can explain..." Bill said as he looked nervously at Louis.
"Can you?" Louis asked with a huge amount of skepticism, it was clear that he wouldn't really believe or like any answer given. "Because I'd love to hear what made you two decide to cause a scene and why I shouldn't suspend you both."
Bill gulped a bit. "Well...you see…"
"Bill was helping me improve my acting." Shinoku said suddenly, causing Louis to look at him with a very unconvinced arched brow as Bill blinked at him.
"That's bullshit." Louis scoffed as he looked at Shinoku, his voice clearly conveying that he didn't believe one bit of the lie. "If you're going to lie and try to insult my intelligence then I'll just go ahead and kick you from the club entirely."
"It was my fault." Bill chimed in. "Shinoku didn't do anything wrong, I just took some advice badly and overreacted."
Louis glanced at Bill. "Is this true?"
"Y-yeah..." Bill said hesitantly, "But I've apologized and there won't be any more issues, trust me."
Louis just sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "There had better not be. If I have to deal with a situation like this again I WILL suspend both of you."
"Right." Bill nodded.
"Understood." Shinoku replied.
"Then you're free to go Bill. As for you Shinoku..." Louis said as he stared down Shinoku. "you and me need to have a talk."
Shinoku arched his brow as he looked at Louis, not backing down. "Alright..."
Bill looked at Louis and then Shinoku, "OK...I'll just…let you two have some privacy then." He said simply before turning and leaving the room, only to blink as he saw the others looking at the door. "What, Geeze do you guys have nothing better to do?" The tiger asked as he let out an annoyed grunt while shutting the door, only to see Anya as he tried to get past. "Oh, Anya, Hi." Bill said with a slight smile.
"Why did Louis call you and Shin into the leaders room?" Anya asked. "And why was there a crowd looking at you two?" She inquired suspiciously.
"Oh...uh…no reason…" Bill said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "And uh...as for me and Shin being in the leaders room….just a bit of actors business." he lied, hoping not to get berated anymore. Anya just arched a brow as she crossed her arms, causing him to gulp. "Well, anyway, I gotta get to my stretches...same goes for the rest of you guys." he said as he looked at the other actors before hurriedly excusing himself.
Anya eyed him as he left, only for Sheila to put a hand on her shoulder. "He likely did something stupid, not the first time."
"Yeah, and I'm going to find out what." Anya huffed as she looked back at the leaders room door, her expression not all that pleased.
"Well I'd wait for Shinoku here if I were you." Sheila advised. "I get the feeling Louis wouldn't tolerate any interruptions if Bill did do something stupid."
"Right…" Anya said with a knowing look/
"Just don't wait too long, we do have a schedule." Sheila said as she looked at the other dancers that were gathered, "Come on guys, we've got to go through stretches and our routine too." she ordered before making sure they all left the vicinity of the leaders room door save for Anya, who waited for Shinoku to exit.
Louis narrowed his eyes a bit more after Bill had left, "You've only been in the club a day and you've already been the cause of an issue." he said with a clear disliking in his voice. "Bill might have been the one to cause today's incident, but it's clear that you antagonized him to cause what happened today, whether what you did was justified or not. I don't care what your reason for doing so was, in this club I am the authority here."
Shinoku narrowed his eyes in response, standing his ground. "I understand completely, you don't have to worry about me causing any more incidents with Bill."
"I'll believe it when I see it. Carnivores like you and Bill are the most troublesome, so full of pride in what you are and using your natural strength to excel. And you, predators like you are the worst." Louis remarked. "You act nice and in line, even accepting being ostracized, but we both know what you truly are. Those eyes of yours during your last attempt gave away your true nature. You're a carnivore who's most at risk to going feral, to give into your urges eagerly." He said as he then forced his hand into Shinoku's mouth, much to Shin's surprise. "Just how little would it take for you to give in? Would you gladly eat my hand and arm if offered?"
A low growl could be heard from Shinoku's throat as Shinoku glared at Louis before jerking his head away, he would have jerked Louis' arm but he didn't want to risk it being used against him. "Don't you dare judge me like that." Shinoku said in a low voice with a bit of anger. "While it is true I take pride in being a predator, I wholeheartedly believe in coexistence. That's why I try to keep things peaceful, and why..." He paused for only the briefest of seconds, deciding to not hold back in the declaration of war. Shinoku looked Louis dead in the eyes. "Why I am intending to become Cherryton's beastar and see the society as it should be, one where all can live together without fear, where there is respect and understanding between species."
Louis scoffed. "You, the beastar? Don't make me laugh. Someone of your reputation doesn't stand a chance. To even think you do is not only delusional, but as naive as the dribble you just spouted."
Shinoku stared at Louis, eyes as stern and serious as the deer was prideful. "It might be true that I have the odds against me, but I WILL be the beastar and change this society for the better. Sure the other students don't have the best opinion of me, but that will change in due time."
Louis' expression changed into a sneer. "So, a declaration of war is it?" He remarked. "Just know this, we were never nor will we ever be equals." The red deer said as though it was an undisputed fact. "I will crush you, just like I would crush you if you were to even think about playing Adler. "He added. "While you might have potential to be the beastar due to being one of the top athletes, I am the star and favorite of this school, not you."
"Don't be so full of yourself Louis, you might not see the fall you're walking towards." Shinoku said with narrowed eyes. "Consider me being Adler a second thing for you to worry about." He added.
"We'll see about that wolf." Louis said as he crossed his arms, "I'll give you this, unlike Legosi, you actually have a spine." He remarked. "Not that it'll do you any good. Now go, before I decide to find an excuse to kick you out of the club."
Shinoku merely huffed as he turned to leave only to glance back at Louis. "Pride cometh before the fall." He remarked, giving a very brief finger gesture as he neared the before exiting the room, only to see Anya there with a concerned yet questioning look that made her look like a suspicious parent. "Oh, Anya..." The arctic wolf said in slight surprise.
"What happened?" Anya asked, sounding surprisingly like a caring mother questioning a kid that was involved in mischief.
"...nothing?" Shinoku said as he walked away from the door, Anya following him.
"Shin…" Anya pushed.
"It's settled anyway there's no need to…" Shinoku insisted.
"Tell me." Anya pressed.
Shinoku sighed."Bill might have...smelled you on me and after the comments I made yesterday and him and I maaaybe having a tense talk while I was changing….it might have pissed him off enough to….hit me." He admitted.
Anya's eyes narrowed as she got visibly angry. "He what?!" She growled loudly, causing Bill to flinch in fear as she shot him a glare.
"It's fine! He didn't hurt me...we settled things and are cool now.." Shinoku tried to explain before Anya stormed off towards Bill, fuming with him not far behind.
Bill could only gulp as the smaller tigress stomped up to him and yanked him down to eye level. "If I hear you that you hurt Shinoku or attacked him again, I'm going to KICK. YOUR ASS. You understand?"Anya growled as she glared at Bill.
Bill just rapidly nodded his head as he sweated. "Y-yeah...don't worry...me and Shin are cool now."
"Good." Anya huffed before letting him go. "What me and Shin do or what we are is none of your business." She stated.
"Y-yes Anya..." Bill said as he gulped, only for Anya to huff once more and head to go do her stretches. The tiger just blinked, the look of fear still on his face. "Tigresses man, sometimes they're scary as hell." Bill commented to Shinoku.
"Yeah..." Shinoku said with a blink as he watched Anya walk away. "I think it's more protecting what they see is theirs though."
"Yeah…" Bill agreed.
The rest of the drama club went without incident, Shinoku did his stretches and after Sheila had a brief talk with Louis he was allowed to help Anya practice. Though the arctic wolf suspected Louis only agreed because of Bill what Bill had done, that and possibly making sure Shinoku didn't improve on his acting too quickly. Whatever the reason Shinoku didn't mind, he was in no rush to show Louis up and would eagerly take helping Anya practice. When the club time was over Shinoku went to the changing room, his mind focused on talking to his coach then sneaking supplies over to Anya's room. As he was changing he blinked as Tem walked over to him.
"Oh, hey Tem, need something?" Shinoku asked.
"No, just wanted to see if you might be interested in hanging out a little with me, Legosi, and some of the other guys." Tem asked.
"Thanks for the offer, but I got to talk to my coach about scheduling time with my other club and take care of something else, maybe another time if that's alright." Shinoku replied. "I didn't exactly show up last time so...yeah."
"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem." Tem smiled.
"Great." Shinoku said with a slight smile.
"You know I got to say, you really don't seem like what the rumors about you say you are." Tem remarked.
"I've been getting that lately." Shinoku chuckled.
"Well it's true." Tem smiled. "Honestly I don't see why you don't try to do anything about the rumors, you're really a nice guy it seems." He added.
"It is what it is I suppose, I just never really thought it really worth putting too much effort into it." Shinoku remarked. "Others will see and believe what they want no matter what you do."
"Geez, you really do sound like Legosi." Tem commented.
"Told you!" Bill chimed in.
"Do I really sound like that?" Legosi asked.
"Yes." Bill replied.
Shinoku blinked as the two talked before looking back at Tem, "But that doesn't mean I still think that. I'm actually going to try and start changing that, just not right now, I got some...personal things that need taking care of first."
Tem smiled. "That's good to hear, because I think you could become quite the popular student, you're already a great athlete."
"Thanks." Shinoku smiled back.
"So, what changed your mind?" Tem inquired.
"Oh...just deciding to pursue a sort of dream of mine." Shinoku replied simply.
Tem arched his brow a bit. "What's that?"
Shinoku cleared his throat a bit. "To uh…to be the beastar."
If there was any sound in the changing room, there wasn't any after Shinoku said that. As soon as he did, the rest of the guys in the locker room looked at him in surprise. It was enough for Shinoku to wonder if he shouldn't have mentioned it given how awkward he was starting to feel.
"No shit...you want to become the beastar?" Bill was first to say.
"Well, yeah...I actually firmly believe in coexistence." Shinoku admitted.
Tem smiled. "Sounds like you'd make a great beastar if you decide to go for it." He remarked. "Though does Louis know you're interested?" The alpaca asked.
Shinoku rubbed the back of his head as he gave a slightly awkward expression. "He uh...does now."
Bill blinked as he looked at Shinoku. "Was that why he wanted to talk to you alone?" He asked.
"No, let's just say me and him don't exactly get along." Shinoku said simply.
Tem looked at Shinoku with a slightly concerned expression. "I don't think you two really have interacted before, so why do you two not like each other?" He inquired.
"And what did you two talk about?" Bill asked.
Shinoku sighed slightly. "Let's just say that it's kind of a top performer thing. He doesn't necessarily like me because of things and there are just things about him I don't particularly like. Needless to say those feelings were expressed today and...well...I may have issued a declaration of war for beastar." He explained, much to the others' slight surprise. Legosi himself seemed to have kind of a mixed feeling to it, likely a more unsure feeling towards Shinoku even though the gray wolf could respect Shin for seemingly being one to care for other animals.
"Hopefully this won't cause any problems..." Tem commented.
"It shouldn't, at least I hope so." Shinoku said. "Me and Louis at least have a sort of professional understanding to a degree. There are things about him I respect, and I'm sure there are things about me he can respect, even if he won't admit it."
"That's good to hear." Tem said with a smile.
"Well just know you got my support for beastar." Bill said as he beamed.
"Thanks Bill..but I'm not quite ready to start going about trying to get the support." Shinoku smiled slightly. "Like I said, I got some...personal matters that I need to deal with before going about trying to become the beastar, not to mention find the right opportunity to start."
"What kind of personal stuff?" Bill asked.
"I'd...rather not say." Shinoku replied. "But it's nothing bad, trust me, it's just some things that need taking care of so I can have my full attention on becoming the beastar."
"Fair enough." Bill shrugged.
"I'm sure you'll find the right opportunity Shinoku. I'll admit that it'd be tough for me to choose who to support though, both you and Louis seem perfect for beastar."
Shinoku smiled. "Thanks Tem."
"Well at least he doesn't have to worry about carnivore support." Bill chimed in.
"I'd rather not have their support based solely off me being a carnivore and them not liking Louis." Shinoku stated. "I'd much rather have their support because they agree with me that we all can be equals and live without prejudices or animosity, that we can truly live together without fear."
"Spoken like a true beastar." Tem smiled.
"I'll say." said a brown bear that walked up to Tem, "I know between him and Louis it'd be a hard choice on who to support, but given what Shinoku just said I might be leaning towards him."
Shinoku looked at the bear. "Thanks...uh..."
"Oh, this is Riz." Tem said as he continued to smile, motioning to the bear. "he's one of my good friends and the kindest bears you'll meet."
Shin nodded as he offered a paw, "Good to meet you Riz."
Riz smiled as he shook it. "Same, you going to come hang out a bit with us?"
"Unfortunately not today Riz, Shin's got some things he's got to do." Tem explained. "But he said he'd be free to another day."
"Look forward to it then." Riz said happily. "We better getgoing, don't want to lose anymore time." He added.
"Right, see you later Shin." Tem said before he, Riz, Bill, and Legosi headed out.
"Later." Shinoku replied as he offered a wave as they left. After he had finished changing back he gathered his stuff and walked towards the door. Despite the little mishap with Bill and confrontation with Louis, Shinoku couldn't say it was a bad day. Especially when he was spending another night with Anya to look forward to. And that, that made him smile and his tail way.