Okay, I'm gonna call it Stripped Jet... Bill thought as he put his thoughts in order, reflecting about the thing he just had to do in order to avoid being bitten.
He had done it totally by accident, as seeing that thing lunging at him caused Bill to freak and made him focus his aura on his legs. He had been planning to try and attack something, but he sainted propelled his nen as flaming energy that propelled him like a rocket into the air for three solid seconds before he went back into the ground with the grace and elegance of a mango dropping from a tree.
But I'll tell anyone who asks it was on purpose.
Meanwhile, the warbeast, seeing that its intended target had managed to escape, was now looking at him despite having no eyes, growling and snapping its jaws while drool leaked from its lips and drippled to the ground.
Bill was on guard as the thing got ready to lunge at him again, crouching as its muscles tensed.
Okay now. No holding back. Get ready for my Blazing Paws!
With this, Bill focused his nen on his hands, condensing it into balls that he immediately ignited with his transmutation skill. The visual effect was of him manifesting a ball of flames on each one of his hands out of thin air, right before he pulled his arm back and threw one of them on the warbeast.
The ball sailed through the air, missed the warbeast by nearly two meters, and continued its way until it vanished upon reaching the edge of the ring.
Bill blinked, and the warbeast then roared as it charged at him again.
Oh, crap!
Once more, Bill managed to get out of the way by focusing his Tiger Blaze on his legs and emitting fire from the soles of his shoes, managing to rocket-jet himself out of the way of the attack once more. This time he managed to remain on the air for five seconds, and he landed with a lot more grace than before, while the warbeast roared and then started walking as if it was stalking him, its tendrils whipping in the air as it stalked Bill, who saw himself on the place of the prey in this situation.
An embarrassing position for anyone who had as much carnivore pride as that tiger.
Don't let it get to your head, Bill. Focus. FOCUS! The tiger took a moment to take a deep breath, as he inhaled through his nostrils and let it go through his mouth. Okay, let's try again.
Bill tried the Blazing Paws once more. This time, he made sure to keep the focus on his nen from the moment the fireballs formed until they moment they left his hand.
And it worked, as this time the ball of flaming aura sailed through the air and hit the warbeast square on the face, causing it to let out an ear-splitting shriek as it stepped back, shaking its head in apparent pain.
"Now we are talking!" Bill said with a smile, and them, as the flames washed off the warbeast, revealing its face to be slightly charred, it roared in Bill's direction. The tiger was, however, ready this time, as he materialized more balls of fire from his hand and, in rapid succession, threw one after the other into the thing he was fighting.
The warbeast, however, was also prepared. As the balls of fire flew towards it, the tendrils on its back straightened, and then, as if they were actual whips, they started lashing out in the air.
Each swing of those appendages hit one of the fireballs midair, causing it to explode into sparks of aura, which quickly vanished into the air as the energy was spread out. The movements were so fast that some people among the crowd had difficulty to follow them. Others, however, could follow them easily.
"That tiger is toasted..." a softshell turtle said as he and his friends, the elephant and the snow leopard, all looked with varying expressions, but all seeming to be quite relaxed, to the spectacle unfolding, as the newbie down there continued trying to fight the warbeast all by himself.
It was always fun seeing those losers land flat on their faces.
Dammit, how do those things move so fast!? Bill caught himself thinking. Okay, new tactic! Once more, bill caught himself improvising, as he now made balls of flame on both his hands but, instead of throwing them, he started running in direction to the warbeast, getting close enough until he brought his hands together, clapping and liberating a burst of flames that washed over the front of the creature, causing it to stumble back.
That was how Bill invented his Heat Wave, which gave him some time to prepare yet another attack. Put his hands together and focusing his Tiger Blaze as a big fireball between them, Bill let out a roar as he thrust his arms forward and released a stream of flames right on the creature's face, causing it to once more shriek in pain.
"Ha ha! Now I got this!" Bill yelled in victory, as he made sure to keep a steady stream of flames washing over the creature, even as it started stumbling away, the tiger only kept following it while pouring flames into it.
He was pouring too much into it.
"Bill, stop!" Legoshi yelled. "Bill, you are using too much aura!"
But the tiger didn't hear, as he just wanted to make sure that thing was crispy and ready to be served on the cafeteria.
However, after nearly three minutes, Bill's vision blurred for a second, his head suddenly becoming very light as he caught himself swaying.
The tiger stumbled back, his footing uneven his stream of flames stopped.
He had poured too much aura into it at once and, as a result, he was starting to feel the strain.
"Idiot." The snow leopard said with an indifferent expression while, by his side, the softshell was smirking as he looked.
It was getting to the part he liked.
And poor bill soon realized, as the creature roared, and swung a paw at him. Bill had to quickly duck out of the way and roll to avoid being batted like a small ant by the monster. Then, he decided to attack again by enveloping his hand in fire and swinging it like a torch towards the warbeast.
This proved to b a mistake, as a tendril came and wrapped itself around the arm and squeezed.
Bill let out a scream of pain as he felt the bone fracturing under the immense pressure of the appendage. The damage was only not worse because Bill instinctively used ten in order to harden his arm enough to prevent the bone from being completely shattered.
However, that did nothing to stop the warbeast from swinging him around like a ragdoll as it held him by the arm, slamming him into the ground one, two, three, four times, and then tossing him into the distance and causing him to bounce into the ground three times before colliding with a stone pillar so hard it would have snapped his spine was not for ten giving him protection.
"Uhhh, he is gonna feel that tomorrow..." Kazma said under his breath as he saw that impact. Bill, on his end, could only groan, as he was feeling that right now, and he was wishing he had thought better before doing this.
Meanwhile, the warbeast wasted no time, as he charged, roaring as its fangs were bared and its tendrils flailed about. Bill looked up in time to see it jumping, sailing through the air in a pounce as it had its paws, and sharp claws, turned straight to him.
Kazma tensed, his legs flexing and his muscles preparing as he got ready to lunge forward. However, before he could, and just as Bill covered his head with his arms reflexively, the warbeast screeched as the side of its head erupted in blood.
It fell to the ground trashing as it wailed in agony, and Bill looked at it in shock.
"Sorry, but I couldn't bear to watch." Said the voice casually. Bill turned his head to see Louis standing on the edge of the ring, a shotgun with a copper-colored barrel on his hand as he had it pointed straight at the warbeast, the pipe still smoking from the shot it just fired.
"It really bothers me seeing a member of my club in trouble." Louis said casually, as everyone around grew excited as he joined. Bill, on the other hand, felt annoyed.
Great, Louis coming to steal the show... this was supposed to be my turn to shine!
"Better stand down, Bill!" Louis said, as he opened the shot gun. A bullet with a bright red shelf materialized on his other hand, which he quickly loaded into the weapon. "Don't want to be hit by a stray bullet like this one."
Bill was about to protest, when another screech cut through the air as the warbeast got up and charged at Louis. The red deer was unfazed, he simply pointed his shotgun at it and fired.
The bullet sailed through the air at blinding speed, hitting the warbeast right on the shoulder and exploding in flames. The flames were of a deep blue coloration, as the Inferno Round produced a fire that was like LPG, a flame so hot it could cauterize flesh in an instant, and it was certainly efficient in dealing with this specific warbeast, as Bill was kind enough to demonstrate it was sensitive to flames.
However, even that fire was not enough to cause the rogue nen beast to back down, as it only got angrier and then pounced at Louis.
The deer, however, did not backed away. Instead, he materialized another gun on his other hand. This one a standard semi-auto pistol which Louis immediately started firing on the warbeast. And he didn't need to reload, as the Nen-88 worked by draining Louis' aura and firing it as bullets of pure nen, allowing for a supply of ammunition that was only limited by the red deer's own aura.
The bullets were not very strong, but they were still able to hit at a very rapid succession and with enough power that the warbeast was once more forced to back away by the constant stream of fire. Louis, seeing an opening there, immediately rushed forward as the warbeast opened its maw to roar, and jammed his shotgun in between its' jaws, wedging the big fanged mouth open.
"You need to learn not to be so loud." Louis said, casually, the nenbeast glared at him with hatred. Behind it, its tail whipped about, its mouth opening as it quickly moved around, lunging at Louis like it was a snake striking, so fast that there was not way Louis would be able to react on time.
However, the deer didn't need.
A sound of a Gatling gun resounded, and it was followed by a splatter of blood and by the tail dropping to the ground as it was blown clean off.
The warbeast screeched through its mouth, and then the tendrils flailed, both aiming at the deer. They had the same fate as the tail, as two more volleys of gunshots took care of them.
The warbeast stumbled backwards as its three appendages bled profusely. Louis only looked at it with an indifferent expression, as two objects became visible, floating by his sides, and both looking like machineguns mounted on hoovering supports like aerodynamic drones.
"He is using the Fire Support Hoovers!"
"Ohhh, Louis-senpai is serious!"
The crowd was getting more and more riled up. Kazma, on his end, was only watching intently while not making a fuss.
He used in to make them invisible while making them fly near him, ready to fire at any sign of incoming danger. That's smart. The rabbit thought as the deer continued to look at the warbeast, focusing entirely on it as if nothing more in the world existed.
The warbeast finally managed to crush the shotgun that was wedged on its mouth, and the it roared at Louis. However, it didn't charge at him right away, instead, it started lurking around him, growling as it walked around the deer.
"Oh? Are you playing safe now?" Louis asked, "What, is the big and scary warbeast scared of a little deer like me?"
It was not clear if the warbeast could even understand Louis' taunting, but it growled anyways, and the deer seemed as unfazed by it as by everything else.
"Well, if you are not coming to me, then I'm coming to you." He said and, before anyone could react, Louis charged.
The speed with which he moved was greater than anyone would expect a common red deer to move.
And the punch he delivered right to the warbeast's face was also a lot stronger than one would expect from someone with Louis' physical, causing the beast to stagger.
"So fast!"
"And that was such a strong punch!"
"And he is not even an enhancer!"
Everyone was in awe at Louis' skill. Including Legoshi, who looked at Louis go on, and he could not help but think how incredible it was that he could use different types of nen so skillfully.
Louis was not like Bill, who was a transmuter, capable of altering the properties of his nen, turning it into flames. Neither was a he a manipulator, who could use his nen to control objects and people. Still, he used both of those skills on his guns, as he forced his nen to turn into bullets that he could fire from his pistol and was able to control his floating machine guns to follow him and protect him from attacks. His pistol also used elements of emission, as they fired his nen into targets, and the fact that this was the most incompatible nen type with conjuring made that even more impressive. And, of course, Louis could strengthen his body with decent force, despite not being nowhere near as good at it as a proper enhancer.
His true power, however, laidd on his conjuring skills. For he, like Legoshi, had a type of nen that allowed him to condense his nen and use it to materialize objects. But, while Legoshi created bug-like nen beasts, Louis created guns and bullets, and he was a true pro at handling them. That was why he was known as "Cherryton's Gunslinger".
And that showed as he materialized his Multi-Purpose Shotgun, a special shotgun that, while not being different from a regular one, was special because it was the only weapon that was capable of using his Multi-Purpose Rounds, a series of special bullets, each one with a different unique ability, and that would only ever work properly if fired by that one gunshot Louis could create.
The fact that Louis made it so those rounds would only work on this very specific weapon that only he could create made for a condition that increased their overall power, as this compromise with himself was proof of his resolve and willpower and made his nen shine all the stronger. It showed the strength of his spirit.
And Louis once more demonstrated it.
He materialized a new instance of the Multi-Purpose Shotgun as the warbeast staggered back, opening it as he then conjured two instances of the Multi-Purpose Rounds. Unlike with his regular bullets, which he could just materialize inside of the barrel, he needed to manually load the rounds on the shotgun, as part of the condition. This meant leaving himself open while he did so.
Luckily, the warbeast's dizziness gave him the chance to do so no problem, as he loaded a single round on the shotgun, and then pointed it at the warbeast and fired.
The round hit it right on the center of the head. It didn't go very deep, neither did a lot of damage. However, as it hit, that point started glowing, and then several chains stretched from that point, wrapping around the warbeast's head, neck and front legs.
The monster was only able to roar in frustration as the Binding Round held it in place, allowing Louis to load the next one calmly.
As he fired the next round, it did as little damage as the previous one. However, much like the previous one, this one was not meant to damage. The Tracing Round was to create a targeting point.
Once that bullet hit, it started blinking, sending a nen signal that was picked by the Fire Support Hoovers. At that instant, those two floating weapons that normally only served to protect Louis from incoming attacks, switched into offensive weapons, as they aimed into the target emitting the signal and started firing with prejudice.
The warbeast could do nothing as it was petted with so many bullets that it was eventually reduced to a bloody mass, which fell into the ground, twitching weakly before going still.
Just like that, it was over.
The crowd went wild, all of them cheering for Louis as the deer, with a smirk on his face and his shotgun resting on his shoulder walked out of the ring, pausing at Bill to say:
"Be more careful in the future. It would be sad to lose a fellow nen user before graduation."
Bill, on his end, could only glare at Louis as he walked off, his own nen agitating and nearly igniting around him as he was totally pissed with how full of himself Louis could be.
And he was not the only one who was not happy with a how the red deer acted.
Two hours after the end of training, everyone was still talking about it. About how Louis handled the warbeast like a pro, and how he showed once more why he was a beastar candidate.
After all, not only he was willing to step up to defend someone else, but he was also one of the best fighters and nen users of the school.
If not the best of them all.
And some didn't liked hearing that at all.
As Louis would be soon finding out as he was on his way to Drama Club, passing by one of the Hallways adjacent to the one of the same lecture hall where Tem died, and which was still locked for the public.
Louis thought about going there to pay his respects, but that thought was forgotten as he suddenly felt a presence... no, three presences behind him.
It only took him two seconds to recognize all three.
"Seriously?" Louis said, his voice denoting more annoyance than anything else. He stopped and, without turning around, he said:
"So, is that how you and your friends pass their time now, Yugo? By stalking a fellow beastar candidate?"
By the time he turned around, the three figures walked out of the hallways as if emerging out of thin air. The softshell turtle was on the center, with the snow leopard coming by his left side, and the elephant coming right behind them, taking almost the entire hallway with his massive frame in relation to the smaller animals. All of them, like Louis, were wearing Cherryton's uniform (what, in case of the turtle, meant he was wearing shoes, satchel belt [to carry his belongings, including phone and wallet] and a tie around his neck, just as not to be considered technically naked), depicting them as student. More specifically, those three students, much like Louis, were third year students and Cherryton's year beastar candidates of that year.
Louis didn't get along with any of them.
"Hey there, horns." The turtle, Yugo, said to Louis by using that nickname.
"Okay, is this important?" Louis asked, not wasting any time. "If it's not, then you can cut it and just let me go. If it is, then make it quick. I have a rehearsal to attend."
To that, the elephant snorted a trumpeting sound through his trunk, mumbling something about "snotty theater geeks". The turtle, however, was more to the topic.
"You gave quite the show back there on the ring." Yugo said, "People are still talking about it." He gave a step forward, the other two mimicking his movement. "Everyone is once more talking about 'the best beastar candidate of this year'."
"And, as you well know..." Yugo said, as he stood before Louis, the other two walking around him, as if they were a pack of predators surrounding their prey. "When they start talking about how awesome Louis the Red Deer is, they start asking why we are not as awesome."
"You are making us look bad!" The elephant said to Louis, who was unfazed.
"Am I, Larry?"
"Yes, so!" The elephant said, "Some people are saying we don't deserve to be beastars just because we are not as invested as you!"
Louis turned his head just to look at him. A smirk tugged on his lips.
"And is that a lie?" He asked, and the elephant trumpeted once more, his arms flexing as he gave a step towards to Louis. As he did, a Fire Support Hoover became visible by Louis' side, pointed straight at the elephant, who stopped on his tracks.
"Just to remind you, those work through both proximity and aura detection." Louis said, "If anyone with hostile intentions approaches a certain distance from me, they start firing." He looked at the elephant. "Don't worry, this one won't kill you. I use non-lethal rubber rounds unless I am fighting a nen beast or think my life is in actual danger, but I promise you they hurt."
The elephant paused, looking at that hoovering firearm and reminding of how it tore through the warbeast with volleys of bullets as if it was nothing. Even if he hadn't, he had seen Louis sparring enough times to know that even his non-lethal bullets packed enough punch to send someone to the infirmary, even though Larry was confident that, as a top enhancer, he could fortify his body enough to take it.
"You are not supposed to use your nen techniques outside of training, Louis-san." Said the snow leopard. "You should know that."
"I do, Paco." Louis said as he turned to the feline. "As much as you know that you are not supposed to stalk and corner other students. And yet, here we are."
The snow leopard did say nothing in return. He only looked at the deer with eyes that were as cold as the winter itself.
"Okay, that's enough of this crap." The turtle said, "Look, we don't mind if you want to show off. We all like doing that if we have the chance. But when you show up too much it is bad." He had Louis attention as he spoke.
"Why, because it raises the bar more than you'd like?"
"Because it creates too much expectation, you dumb herbivore!" The softshell turtle spoke. At this moment, Louis reminded himself that he was one of the few species of turtles who, unlike the rest of their kind, were considered carnivores. "You are making people expect too much from beastar candidates. They will start expecting us to show off as much as you. To make effort on the training, and to care for those stupid social questions around school just like you. If we don't, they will make a stink about it, and the teachers will hear."
"We may lose our nominations if that happens." Paco said, his voice not wavering in the slightest.
"And none of us wants that." Yugo said once more. "You know how big of a thing the title of beastar is, right? Prestige all over society, free access to any and all public services, full-on immunity to anything lesser than treason, all of that wrapped on a high salary for just appearing in public and making some speeches every now and then about prosperity and harmony. It's a pretty sweet gig, you gotta admit."
Louis looked at him, not showing any reaction to how he called being a beastar a "gig". However, a beam of hostility sprouted on him, directed straight at that turtle.
Once more, Yugo showed he didn't understand at all what it meant to be a beastar, neither all the responsibilities such a position brought.
"But we need to graduate and be officially nominated first." Yugo said, "And that cannot happen if too many people complain about us not doing enough. Which brings us here." The turtle walked to the deer, not coming too close, but close enough.
"Look, if you want to be such a stick in the mood, taking everything serious and acting as if the world hinges on your back, then go ahead. But don't you dare ruin what we have setup for our future." Yugo said, "If you do, you can be sure none of us is going to be happy with it..."
The meaning on those words was so clear one could not even call if "veiled".
"That's a lot of nerve of you, Yugo." Louis said, a pistol materializing on his hand. Seeing this put the other three on edge. "To threaten me so blatantly just because I do what you should be doing without needing to be told to."
"We are not squares like you!" The elephant said, "We are not lame losers!"
There was silence following those words. Then laughter.
Louis was laughing. His laughter, however, didn't care a shred of humor.
"Did you just call me 'loser'? Me?" Louis said to the elephant. "Do I need to remember you that, from all of us, I am the best fighter? That I am the one with the greatest rate of victories in sparring? Not only that, but on the times I fought two of you, I absolutely demolished you. Or have you forgotten, Larry? How I handled you that big butt on a platter?"
Louis looked at the elephant. The scowl on his face told Louis he remembered it very well.
"You are still mad about it, right?" Louis said, "You are mad because I showed to everyone that you were not the strongest nen user just for being the biggest. Just like now you are mad because I'm being better at being a beastar candidate than any of you, and that makes everyone realize none of you is as good as you should."
At this point, Larry had enough.
"You bastard!" The elephant trumpeted as he tried to charge at the deer, only for the Fire Support Hoover to immediately open fire as a being with a hostile aura came too close.
A barrage of rapid, charged bullets, forced the elephant back. Larry stumbled back, his back pressing on the wall as he held his chest and stomach, feeling burning on the points the bullets of hardened rubber had hit him.
By the opposite side, the snow leopard gave a step forward, only for Louis to lift his gun at him.
"I'll shoot." Louis said, "Don't doubt it, Paco."
"I don't." The snow leopard said, still with an even voice. "Just like I don't doubt of all that strength you have. That strength you spend years building up, and that you now use as shield to hide a weakness that will never go away, no matter how much you fight it."
He tilted his head.
"Do you really think you can move on by stepping on your past forever?"
Louis didn't realize he had pulled the trigger until he heard a cry of pain.
Larry's.
"Again!?" The elephant cried out while, on the opposite side, the bullets that hit Paco fell to the ground, while the snow leopard stood unbothered. Louis scoffed.
"Still making others take the brunch rather than taking it yourself." The deer said as the snow leopard had something emerging from his shoulder: elephant doll made of straw with button eyes and wearing Cherryton's uniform. It had small dents on its body that corresponded exactly to the points where Louis' non-lethal bullets had hit Paco.
Louis was looking at him, but his eyes wandered back to Yugo as he could feel his nen acting up.
The turtle was the strongest of the three, and all present beasts knew that. In fact, his sheer nen amount was probably the only area where he completely outclassed Louis himself, and the turtle already showed he was not afraid of using it.
"You can't defeat me, Yugo." Louis said, as he turned to him. "You know that."
"I have been practicing since our last sparring." Yugo said, "I have a new trick that should put you on your place."
"Oh?" Louis said, "So, did I inspire you to actually put in some effort on improving yourself? That is certainly another point in my favor, no?"
Yugo's fists clenched, as he was now ready to put that stupid deer on his place and wipe that arrogant smirk off his face once and for all.
His aura stretched, focusing on his hands, gathering as it changed, taking the form of...
*SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS*
All four animals froze on their tracks, their eyes turning up as they saw something coming out from the ceiling.
This was not natural, by any means. It was not the fact that it was a perfect sphere of the color of sand, glowing as it came floating down like a balloon, a single black point moving across the surface of the sphere, focusing on each one of the four animals, one at a time, in rapid succession. And it had an amount of nen emanating from it that was greater than that of the four beasts combined.
They all looked at the sphere as it floated down, halting midair and looking straight at Louis with its black iris.
Yes, for this was not just a sphere.
It was an eye. And it was staring straight at Louis.
Then it shifted to Yugo, as the black spot spun across the orb until it was pointed at the turtle, who was quickly lifting his hands defensively.
"H-hey. H-hold on." Yugo said, walking back. "I-it's not what you think... W-we weren't doing anything. We were just... comparing techniques! Yes, that's it, we were just showing each other our nen styles so we could give each other pointers! You know, so we can do better during sparring?"
The eye continued to look a him, while the turtle tried his best to not look like he was sweating bullets under his shell. Then, the eye moved, the point in it spinning across the smooth surface of the nen construct, until it landed on Paco, who had already quickly picked the straw doll that emerged from his shoulder and hid it on his pocket.
The eye focused on him for a moment, while the leopard looked back with a perfect, emotionless poker-face. Then, it moved again, passing by Louis and then focusing on Larry, who was still on the ground, clutching his abdomen.
His own eyes widened as the eye floated to him. It levitated right in front of his face, the pupil moving as if looking at him up and down. After a while, Larry seemed like he finally remembered how to talk.
"I-I... uhhhhh... I got an ill-feeling on my stomach suddenly." Larry finally said, "I guess it was the hay. It may have gone bad. Someone should tell the guys on the cafeteria that they need to throw that away."
The eye continued to look at him for nearly forty seconds, before it changed its focus again. Now it was looking at the one animal left: Louis himself.
The deer looked at the eye, which stared at him. Silently. Expectantly.
Waiting for his version of the facts.
Louis looked at it, and he cast a side-glance at Yugo, who was looking intently at the deer, gesturing at him as if telling him he would regret it if he didn't stay quiet. He stopped as soon as the eye turned to look at him, before it turned to look at Louis once more.
Ten agonizing seconds later, and Louis finally spoke:
"Yes, that was what happened. Yugo wanted my saying on a new technique he had been developing, as well as pointers for it in case there was room for improvement. That was even why I materialized one of my guns." Louis gestured to the Fire Support Hoover floating close to him, which he then dismissed, causing it to decompose into dots of nen. "Of course, we could have looked for another place to do it rather than the halls, in hindsight. It was foolish of both of us. We will try not to cause a scene next time."
The eye continued to stare at him in silence. The lack of a face it hard to know if their explanation had been enough to convince or not.
However, soon, the eye's focus shifted. It floated again, and Louis moved out of the way to let it pass. Paco did the same, and the eye continued forward, until it reached the wall. It emitted a sound like a hiss as it touched the wall, causing it to ripple as the eye phased through it, going to patrol another area of the school.
This left the four animals looking at the wall through which the eye disappeared, before three of them let out the breath they had been holding.
"Man, that was close..." Yugo said as he passed the back of his hand over his forehead, his heart still beating so hard one could feel it through his shell if they bothered to place a hand there.
"Are we done now?" Louis asked, looking at Yugo. "Because, if we are, then I have a rehearsal to attend and oversee."
Yugo looked at the deer, they both glaring at each other with equal intensity, before the turtle finally sighed as he closed his eyes.
"Fine, go to your theater." The turtle said, before gesturing to his two friends. "Let's go, guys. Let's go to the city. Maybe we can have some fun today."
"By 'have fun'..." Louis said, as the three of them walked away. "You mean that you will abuse the power you have as nen users to bully and harass unsuspecting non-users?"
Yugo's answer?
He lifted his hand and, without turning around or even slowing his step, flipped Louis.
Now that was a classy comeback... Louis thought, before letting out an exasperated sigh and just went his way to Drama Club, wondering how those three were ever even considered as suitable beastar candidates...
As troubling as interacting with Yugo and is friends often was, Louis all but forgot about them once it came the time to rehearse for Adler.
A true classic of Cherryton Academy's Drama Club. A play that some said was nearly as old as the Drama Club itself. And the Drama Club was said to have been a part of Cherryton's tradition since its' founding decades ago.
The play was important, and Louis would not allow anything less than perfection whenever they played it.
Which was why, even when he was hit directly by a lash of one of the actors who played the nature spirits, he told them not to dare to hold back. To keep attacking him with all they have, so the audience could truly feel the weight of what they were doing. So they could truly pass the image of the hero of the play fighting with all his might against nature itself to preserve the life of one woman as they both learned the joy of life.
And, despite the different skills that the members of the actor pool displayed, incorporated into their acting and into the characters they played, the one who shone and stood out the most was, without a doubt, Louis.
He was the one who draw all the eyes as he delivered his lines with perfection. A prompt sword on his hand, being bathed into a thin layer of nen through shu, causing it to become capable of taking in the nen attacks of the other actors without breaking. All the while he maintained an air of perfect concentration and properness that one could even find to be a form of nen use as well.
Even Legoshi, remaining out of sight up there, looking down on the actors playing their roles down there, could not help but have his eyes drawn at Louis.
"Yoh, Legoshi!"
The wolf nearly jumped out of his own fur, before looking back at Kai.
"Are you going to teach me how to do the electric thing, or will you just keep ogling at Louis all day like some creepy fanboy?"
Legoshi's ears pressed flat against his skull as he apologized to Kai. The same way he apologized to him for startling him when he deactivated his zetsu when the weasel came looking for him.
"It's just that... it's hard not to look at him..."
Kai looked at the wolf, and then back at Louis, who was back at swinging his sword while the others came at him.
"Yeah, that much is true..." Kai had to admit. "He really stands out, that's for sure."
As they looked, the two of them talked. Kai, who became a lot friendlier after getting used to how things went on the stagehands. As it turns out, he felt more at ease on the backstage than under the spotlight. Maybe that was his calling, after all.
And, during their talk, Kai told the wolf something interesting about Drama Club.
"You see, the thing about this club is that everyone in here has some kind of secret." Kai said, and he pointed.
"She Sheila there?" He was pointing at the cheetah senior who was the leader of the dancing team. "Before she was scouted for the club, she used to work as a brothel. Yes, as a minor. She was a dominatrix. What probably explains her nen ability..." Kai was referring to Sheila's Command of the Mistress, which was a feat of her manipulator aura, allowing her to deliver a blow to someone with a whip, no matter the size, and cause them to be compelled to obey a single, one-phrase direct order with no possibility of resisting, as long as they were hit.
"Mina over there has trypophobia. That's fear of patterned spots, so she is scared of her own. She cannot look herself in the mirror in any way." Kai pointed at the giraffe, before turning his finger to the rhino. "Moro over there thinks that her own horn is a spirit guardian. That's why her nen ability, Materialization, allows her to shape her aura like a giant arm coming out of her horn. She believes that this is not really a nen technique, but her guardian spirit manifesting physically, and no one can convince her otherwise."
"Just take a good look around the club." Kai said, gesturing. "You will find all kinds of stories here. Each person here has a secret. A backstory that makes them unique. You can say that Drama Club is all about people who have a unique view of the world." Kai then looked at the wolf. "What about you? What is your secret?"
Legoshi didn't answered to that. He could not.
He had a lot of secrets.
Starting with the fact he was not a pure-breed wolf.
That alone would be something he would not just go telling everyone, due to how society often treats hybrids in general.
However, more than that, his secret was that he was...
Legoshi seemed to shrink into himself, his zetsu activating instinctively and making him literally vanish right as Kai was looking at him, causing the weasel to ask Legoshi what was wrong. Legoshi, on his end, could only think how he could not tell Kai about that.
That he could not let anyone find out about that.
If they did...
If they found out about that, it would be far worse than if they found out he was a hybrid.
"Hey, Legoshi!"
A voice made Legoshi come back to reality. It was Louis'.
"Now is not the time for you to disappear!" Louis said to the wolf, who suddenly became more present as the deer looked straight at him. "We are rehearsing the forest scene now, and we need your bugs!"
"O-oh... right!"
There was a reason other than being a good electrician that Legoshi became a stagehand. Yes, it was the reason on the beginning. However, as years passed, and they performed their plays religiously, Legoshi proved to be more useful than even Louis had initially anticipated.
For, while the wolf could be a failure (or pretend to be) in combat, he was still good enough to martialize small bugs that they could use for a myriad of effects in play. His fireflies could form a good illumination for specific scenes, creating an eerie ambient-like illumination for scenes were a spotlight was not needed. And, by creating a mantis or centipede and have it move in front of a light beam, he could create a great shadow of a monstrous creature for scenes were an actual nen beast on stage would not be feasible in the slightest.
And, of course, he could create a whole swarm of butterflies for the forest scenes. Keeping them floating around the stage with mental commands, fluttering their wings with colors that varied from the bland brown to the multicolored to give a woodsy, even mystical, air for certain scenes. Like the iconic scene where Adler and the woman he saved were in a deep forest, hiding from the elemental spirits while recovering from their last brush with one of them.
And Louis showed that he was not only a great fighter, but that he also could convey a lot of emotion on that particularly emotionally charged scene. He truly was a complete actor and nen user, as he not only was strong enough to stand out on fighting scenes, but also had the strength of spirit to speak eloquently and let everyone know his feelings.
As he looked at that talented deer, that captivating herbivore down there, Legoshi could not help but think back to what Kai told him, about how everyone had something that made them unique. A secret that made them see the world on their own unique way.
What could be Louis' secret?
"Legoshi?" The voice, much like Louis' earlier, made Legoshi snap out of it and pay attention to what was being said to him.
"Did you heard what I just said?" Dom asked once more, and Legoshi had to, once more, apologize and ask him to repeat it.
Dom wanted to use roses for the entrance for the day of the play, covering all of the door like an arc, in a homage to one of the key scenes of the play.
"So, what? We find someone to conjure roses for us?" Kai asked, to what Dom shook his head.
"No, conjured roses would not be feasible." Dom said, "Kazma-sensei always tells us that using nen for something we could usually do without it is a waste of energy. No, I was thinking about going to the gardening club. I heard they had some roses that just recently bloomed and look very beautiful. They would be perfect for this."
"Right." Fudge asked, "So, someone goes there and convinces the beasts of the gardening club to let us have their roses. Easy peasy. Want me to go? I am a manipulator, so it would be easy for me to convince them. ~"
Dom dismissed the idea. He admonished Fudge for joking about something so serious, and then he turned to Legoshi.
"Me?" The wolf said in surprise.
"Yes, I know that you are not keen on talking to people, but you are actually the more approachable of the stagehands."
"Besides, it would give you a chance to practice socializing." Kibi said excitedly. "Come on, dude. Just go for it."
With them insisting like that, Legoshi decided that he didn't had a choice in the matter. Once more, the wolf wished he was not such a pushover and that he knew how to say "no" when people asked him for a favor.
That is a sign of weakness.
Legoshi's ear twitched, and he told them that the would do it. He did, however, asked Kibi to come with him.
Despite having been the one encouraging Legoshi to go, it soon became clear that Kibi himself didn't want to go there. From the way he hesitated before saying an unconvincing "no problem", to the way he seemed apprehensive as he and Legoshi made their way there, it was clear that the anteater had no desire to go to the Gardening Club.
He nearly seemed scared.
"Are you sure you need me here, Legoshi?" Kibi finally asked as they stood in front of the door leading to the place where the Gardening Club was.
"Yes." Legoshi said, "The members of the Gardening Club are all herbivores, so I guess it will be better if an herbivore is here to talk to them. I'm sure they would prefer to talk to you rather than to me."
They will feel less threatened by someone weaker than them, rather than someone who far outclasses them. That's why you brought one of the weakest members of your club here. Smart. You might have a chance to take a bite when they lower their guard.
Wil you stop talking... just for a day. Please...
"Well, the flowers certainly smell nice." Kibi mention, and that was something Legoshi could agree. He could smell a lot of flowers in there. Many. And... something else. Another smell among the flowers.
It was... wait.
No. No, that couldn't be.
However, as Legoshi stretched his perception forward, and he felt the nen coming from the other end of the door, there was no way he could mistake that signature.
The rabbit from last night!
The prey you let escape! My, oh my, what a great opportunity! Now you can finish what you started!
No! I can't! I won't! I... I need to get out of here!
However, before he could, Kibi knocked on the door, and then, as if it was alive, the metal door swung open by itself, and Legoshi found himself facing the same herbivore who, less than twenty-four hours before, he almost devoured.