Cherryton was a school like any other.
Okay, not like any other. I mean, it was the country's official school for Nen-users. The place where the future users were all brought to learn all they needed to know to go out in the world ad fulfill their roles, entrusted to them by their predecessors so they could keep their society safe and running like clockwork.
And this, of course, included the beastars, who came almost exclusively from Cherryton. Often chosen among the most promising, most pro-active students who made it to honor roll and were evaluated as the ones who were the fittest to take on the role of becoming the main beasts to influence society of the third-year students, settled to be officially nominated at their graduation day, unless they either refused the nomination or had it revoked before graduation day due to decision of the school board with sanction of the All-Organism Council due to "unbefitting behavior".
So, basically, it was a very fancy school for special beasts to learn how to awaken and control their supernatural powers, which they would then use to perform some of them most important jobs their society could possibly have. But, other than that, it was a school like any other.
With a huge campus, classrooms and halls of the lectures, with a square on its center for the students to hang out on their free time.
And with a lot of flowers around to decorate the place and make it livelier and more welcoming.
And someone needed to take care of said flowers.
The school had a gardening crew to look after everything of course, but that was not to say some students didn't took their time to look after those flowers as well. Especially those who were member of a club within the school that revolved specifically around taking care of plants.
Such was an example of a certain rabbit who was currently watering some flowers under the balconies on the back of the female herbivore dorms.
She was humming to herself as she poured water from the watering can all over those flowers, being sure to give an equal amount of water to all of them, to be sure all would have the chance to grow.
Including that one that looked all floppy and without coloration.
That one certainly looked like it needed more than just water to feel better.
"You pretty down, aren't you?" The rabbit asked as she kneeled by the side of the of the flower, looking at it intently with her black, beady eyes, which contrasted with her white fur.
"I see, it has been unusually dry this spring. Barely any rains. But it's just the start of the spring, anyways. I am sure it will get better soon." The rabbit was speaking to the flower as she would to a beast, and she seemed not to see anything strange with it, despite the looks that some passing students gave her, whispering to each other as they passed by the bunny while speeding up their step slightly.
"Until then..." She said, putting her hands closer to the flower. "I'll help you and the others as I can."
As she said that, she activated her nen. She focused it on her hands and allowed it to pour forward through her palms as she pointed them in direction to the flower. As she spread her aura, it surrounded the flower, and then, it started to take effect.
The flower started to lift, it's stamen straightening as its petals opening in full bloom, the color returning to it until it was as healthy and strong as the other ones around it.
"There, that's better, ain't it?" The rabbit asked, removing her hands. "This should help you stay healthy until the rain comes. And don't worry, I'll do it as many times as I have to." As she said those words, she was smiling brightly at the flowers. The flowers, obviously, said nothing in return, but the bunny still looked at them fondly, as if they were thanking her for her hard work in helping them.
She looked happy right now.
That was when something happened to ruin her happiness.
She hardly heard the mattress coming down until it landed right on top of the flowers she'd just been tending to, causing her to let out a cry of surprise as she got up on her feet.
She then looked up, to see the face of a squirrel who she didn't knew looking down on her, snickering.
"Oops, my bad!" Said the squirrel from up there. "Guess it missed you, huh? Well, too bad!"
The female bunny looked at her with an annoyed expression.
"Seriously!? Did you just tossed your bed's mattress through the window trying to hit me?"
"Oh, no!" The squirrel said, "That mattress is yours! I got it from your bedroom!"
"Wha..." the rabbit looked down, and then she realized that it was, indeed, her mattress.
"Well, it is too bad, isn't it?" The squirrel said from up there as she giggled. "Maybe you can get one of your many boyfriends to help you take it back to your room, tramp!"
She was practically dying from laughter, all the while rabbit glared up at her. That was when someone else, a prairie dog, showed up.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Look down there, Mara!" Said the squirrel. "Look what I did to her!" She was pointing at the rabbit down there, who was currently removing the mattress from the soil, to see that the flowers beneath it had been completely crushed. Unsalvageable. This caused her to frown.
Meanwhile, up there, the prairie dog's eyes widened in horror.
"L-L-Ludi! What the heck!?" Mara asked, "Do you know who that one is!?"
"Yeah, I do, that's the one who everyone says is a man-stealing tramp, no?"
Mara, on her end, was quick to tell her friend that the one down there was Haru the Dwarf Rabbit, and she made sure to tell Ludi exactly who that rabbit was.
And who she was connected to and how.
At that point, all semblance of a smile vanished from the squirrel's face, replaced by a look of absolute dread.
"O-oh... oh crap." She said, and then she turned to Haru down there and said:
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I-it was just a joke! Just a lighthearted joke! B-but I see now I went too far! I'm sorry!" The squirrel said. "I-I'll go down there and help you bring it back up!"
"You don't have to!" Haru yelled at her loudly, picking her mattress from the ground. She had folded by rolling it up and was now carrying it over her shoulder as if it weighed nothing at all, despite it weighing 1.5 times the rabbit's own weight, at minimum.
It was easy for Haru. It hardly even counted as using her nen at all.
"If you want to help me, then go look for the gardener and let him know that there are some flowers down here that need to be replaced!" Haru yelled up. "And be sure to explain it's your fault they got crushed to death!"
"Y-yes, I will! I'm so sorry!" the female up there said to her. "Please, don't tell the sensei!"
Haru didn't even dignified to answer to that, as she only carried her mattress over her shoulder back to her room. She didn't really have any help, as most people basically avoided her.
There was an example of one boy who came to ask her if she needed help, only for his friend to come to him in a rush and whisper:
"Dude! Not in public! We might be seen, and you-know-who might hear about it! Besides, you have a girlfriend!"
To that, Haru could only let out an exasperate sound as she, very politely, told the boy who offered help that it was okay, and that she can deal with it by herself.
At least he had the guts to offer help, unlike the rest of the guys on the school who are too afraid of talking to me in public, but don't hesitate to meet me in secret to fool around. Haru thought bitterly as she continued her way forward, without anyone else even approaching her, but they were looking her way and whispering, what Haru did her best to ignore, but she could still not help but overhear.
"Slut."
"Tramp."
"Man-eater."
"Homewrecker."
"Weak."
At those moments, Haru cursed her own big ears, and wished she could just learn how to shut off her hearing sense and pretend she was the only beast left alive on the planet.
Once she arrived at her dorm, she found her roommate in there, calmly playing crosswords, not even looking up at Haru as she came in. However, as the rabbit stopped in front of her, with her mattress still wrapped like a burrito above her shoulder, the bunny asked:
"You were here all day, right? Why didn't you stopped that girl when she came here to steal my bed?"
To that, the squirrel with whom Haru shared a dorm with only said:
"Herbivore of the Bovidae family with backward-facing spiraling horns. Four letters. That one got me stumped for a while, any ideas?"
"Why didn't you stop her?" Haru asked, not nearly demanding it. "Why did you just let her steal my mattress as if it was not your problem?"
To that, the squirrel now looked up at Haru and said, in a very casual way:
"Because it was not my problem."
Haru glared at her for a second, before scoffing and going to her bed, to place the mattress back in place. She also said:
"Try 'kudu'. K-U-D-U."
The squirrel looked at her, and then back at her crosswords.
"Oh, yeah!" She said, "It does starts with a 'k' and ends in an 'u'! It even helps with the other one I was stumped into as well! Thanks."
Haru, however, was quite vexed at that moment. As soon as she had her mattress, slightly damp and caked in dirt from falling on top of the flowers that had just been watered, was back in place, she turned to look at the squirrel.
"Next time someone who is not me come here and tries to take my belongings, I want you to stop them, got it?"
This was less of a request and more of a demand. Haru did it so because this roommate of hers' already proved she was not willing to do the rabbit any favors, either she asked for them or not. So, demanding sounded like the best course of action.
However, that also seemed like it was not going to work.
"Or what?" the squirrel said coldly as she put her crosswords down to look at Haru.
"Will you tattle on me to Kazma-sensei?"
Once Haru left the dorm, she was in an even worse mood.
Going to watch on the training grounds did little to help her. Watching how the other students used their many nen skills in ways that she just could not see herself doing only served to remind her how out of her league she was among the guys in there.
All those amazing ways in which they controlled their aura to achieve the most impressive results. Creating things that they could use as weapons, even when said things they created looked like harmless everyday objects. Producing blasts of pure power on their enemies. Shaping their nen into hands and claws and using them to attack the enemy.
All of those were impressive, including the ones coming from the younger students.
All much more impressive than what Haru, who was on her third and final year of Cherryton Academy for Nen Users, ever managed to do since she started on that school.
Why did I even come here? The white rabbit caught herself thinking, before turning around and walking away, not noticing that someone, who had their eyes on her ever since she arrived on the training grounds saw her leaving and followed her with their pose.
And those were also noticed by someone else, who was down there with the students overseeing their training...
They are all so strong... Haru thought as she continued her way. The things they do... I would never be able to do the things they do. Not in a million years.
She continued her way, not noticing someone coming behind her, until she could feel the emanations of their aura.
Of the hostility coming from them.
And this one was familiar.
"Hey, Mizuchi." Haru said coldly, before turning around.
It was, indeed, Mizuchi the Harlequin Rabbit. She was standing there, with those two friends who were always by her side, following her around like shadows. They were all looking at Haru with smirks on their faces.
"Oh, you noticed us coming?" Mizuchi said, walking to the white, shorter rabbit. "Guess you are not completely incompetent, after all."
She was smirking as she said that. Haru, on her end, could only clench her fists as she glared at the bigger rabbit.
"Oh, are you mad?" Mizuchi asked, "Are you going to do something? Are you going to fight me? Oh, right! You can't! Silly me!"
"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Haru demanded. To that, Mizuchi coldly said:
"You know very well why, you tramp..."
Haru looked at her, and then she said:
"Oh, right. That boyfriend of yours."
"Yes, that's right!" Mizuchi said to the rabbit. "My boyfriend! The one who you have been trying to seduce since the first year! And who you finally managed to at the end of last semester!"
"I have not been trying to seduce him." Haru said annoyed. "He was the one who kept coming to me. Ever since we first met in class, by the way. He had been quite insistent in getting me to bed him."
"Liar!" Mizuchi said back. "He would never! We are the only harlequin rabbits of the school! The future of our species relies on us being together! He would never just go after some random rabbit of another breed! You made him do it! You used some short of nen technique to make him want to bed you, didn't you!? I heard about it! Some manipulators use their nen to make their victims feel as if they are in love with them! That's how you even get as many boys as you do, ain't it!? You put my boyfriend under a spell! Admit it!"
She had grabbed Haru's wrist as this point, and she was squeezing it hard. The dwarf rabbit, however, was not going to just take it.
A sudden burst of nen on her wrist was enough to case Mizuchi to let go and stumble back.
"First of all, I am an enhancer, not a manipulator!" Haru snapped at Mizuchi. "Second of all, I don't need to put any spells on guys to make them want to sleep with me! It is not my fault if they can only think with what's between their legs! And that, of course, includes that womanizer of a boyfriend of yours! Did you know that, while he was trying to get me to sleep with me for the last few years, he bragged to me about how many girlfriends he has? And, if harlequin rabbits are as rare as you make it seem, then I assume that a lot of them were regular rabbits, or maybe not even rabbits at all."
"So, if you want to be mad at someone for being promiscuous, I suggest you start getting mad at that boyfriend of yours for chasing after tail when he is in a relationship with someone." Haru told to Mizuchi. "Also, you might want to tell him that you two have a responsibility to save your species, since he seems not to be aware of it. Or maybe it is just the case you are the only one who actually gives a crap."
Haru then was turning around.
"Maybe it is not as important, to begin with." She said as she was leaving.
And, boy, did Mizuchi not take it well.
Haru noticed the shift in energy behind her, hear ears twitching instinctively. She only had time to drop to her knees as something passed by her head right between her ears as they dropped out of the way. The fist-shaped nen bullet passed right above her head, going forward until it hit the wall in front of Haru, leaving behind a fist-shaped dent.
"Mizuchi!" One of her two cronies said as they were shocked that Mizuchi had just tried that.
I mean, they knew that she was mad at Haru, and said many times she would like to hurt her, but they didn't think she would try, considering...
"You tramp!" Mizuchi said, as she attacked again. Haru had to dive out of the way to avoid more blasts of Mizuchi's Harlequin Punches. She continued to throw bullets of energy coming from her fists with punching motions, sending fist-shaped blasts into Haru, who had to avoid them by jumping out of the way quickly.
Mizuchi was far from being a prodigy with her nen techniques, but the emitter harlequin rabbit was good enough that she could give most people a decent fight. Especially once she changed her tactic.
She gave another punch, and Haru dodged that one bullet. However, as it hit the wall behind her, it bounced off the wall, and them on the floor, and then on a nearby column, and hit Haru right on the side of the body, causing her to cry out as she was brought to her knees by this blow, holding the side of her body in pain.
"I got you now!" Mizuchi said, lifting her fist and getting ready to attack again, when her two friends went and stopped her.
"Mizuchi, stop!"
"Mizuchi, you have to stop now! If you keep hurting her, then Kazma-sensei is going to come at you even harder when he finds out! He might kill you!"
Mizuchi, however, was barely hearing. She was too focused on Haru, who was still clutching her side in pain.
"I will beat her up and show everyone just how weak and pathetic she truly is!" Mizuchi yelled in rage. "Then no one else will be interested in her! Maybe ever Kazma-sensei will see how much of a failure she is and just give up on her! Honestly, I can hardly believe they are even related!"
Hearing it made Haru flinch.
It made her flinch even harder than the blow she received.
By the time Mizuchi had freed herself from the other two, Haru had gotten to her feet, and she was standing in place.
"Oh, stopped trying to run?" Mizuchi asked as Haru just stood there, with her hands closed in fists and her head low.
"Good! That makes beating you up easier!"
And with that, Mizuchi lifted both her fists and thrusted them forward, sending two aura bullets towards Haru.
This time, however, the dwarf rabbit was waiting for it.
Haru lifted her arms, reinforced with nen, and used them to block the coming blows, which exploded in sparks of aura.
The white rabbit was forced back by the blow, with the sleeves of her uniform being tore by the impact. However, her reinforced arms were virtually unharmed, and the rabbit was easily able to shrug off the pain and then charge forward, as the extra aura on her legs allowed her to run forward surprisingly fast.
Mizuchi was surprised as Haru caught up with her, and she didn't even had time to react as Haru lifted her fists and slammed both on her chest in a double-punch, sending her flying back and colliding heavily with the wall behind her.
"How about that for weak!?" Haru demanded from Mizuchi, who flinched hard as she coughed out some blood.
If she was a normal beast, that blow would have caused her some serious internal damage. However, the mere fact of being a nen-user with awakened nen power was enough to make you tougher than a normal animal. They could take way more punishment than non-users before they were to suffer some serious damage, especially with the training they had in martial arts to help perfect their nen skills.
And Mizuchi, much like Haru, was a third-year student, what meant she had quite the amount of combat training under her belt. Enough that she just took around five seconds to recover fully and get back to her feet, charging more nen on her fists and getting ready.
"I'll get you for this!" She said, firming her feet, and her friends knew what was coming, which was why they both quickly hid behind the columns for cover, just in time as Mizuchi liberated her Harlequin Bounce Fest.
By thrusting her fists wildly, not only at Haru, but all round, she liberated Harlequin Punches everywhere. Those nen bullets, which bounced of any surface that was hard enough, went around like high-speeds rubber balls, resulting in Haru being attacked by nen bullets coming from several directions, bouncing from the walls, floor and ceiling towards her.
The bunny reacted mostly by instinct.
She closed her eyes, stopping to rely on vision, and instead relying on another sense to feel the attacks coming.
Not her hearing. She trusted on her nen.
She could feel the energy of the blasts. She could feel the moving closer to her, feeling their direction, distance, and how fast they were closing the gap towards her.
With that, she was able to duck, sidestep, and swing her enhanced arms into the incoming projectiles, causing them to miss her and explode in aura sparks as they either collided with her nen-coated limbs or bounced one too many times, and it allowed her to move closer and closer to her attacker.
However, with the amount of nen bullets coming her way, Haru could only block a certain number of them. Some of them hit her body, exploding in sparks as they hit something they could damage while causing an impact that would send a medium-sized carnivore writhing to the ground in pain.
Haru managed to take it by enhancing her body to take the beating, but there was a limit to how much she could take.
She was stopped by a Harlequin Punch that bounced from one of the columns and them on the wall directly behind Mizuchi, then hitting Haru right on the face and sending her crashing into the ground, groaning in pain.
As she fell, Mizuchi stopped punching, and the bouncing blasts of aura soon all exploded and vanished.
"I got you now!" Mizuchi said as she charged as much aura as she could on her fists, aiming straight at haru before delivering a double Harlequin Punch, powerful enough to send a big-sized carnivore to their knees in one blow.
Haru only had time to get to her hands and knees as the double blast approached her as fast as a pair of cannonballs.
And they were intercepted before they could hit her by being hit by a leg that send them flying away, disappearing into the distance as they were kicked in an angle that they flew straight towards the sky.
They were kicked by the leg of a rabbit who was much taller than Haru, but that had the same white fur.
Seeing that big rabbit seemed to make Mizuchi snap out of her anger. Her ears went down as she looked at him.
"K-K-Kazma-sensei..." She said, and then the rabbit's eyes turned towards her.
At this moment, terror like Mizuchi never felt before on her life took a hold of her. Her heart sped up and she broke into a cold sweat nearly immediately as her mind was filled with very vivid images of what that rabbit was going to do to her in just a few seconds.
That was Kazma-sensei's bloodlust. It was as terrifying as Mizuchi always heard, and it was all focused on her like a beam of the purest, undiluted hate.
Mizuchi no longer had it in her to fight. She was too scared to attack. It would be suicide to try to attack Kazma-sensei, after all.
She wanted to run, but she was too scared to move her feet. He would have caught up with her in less than a second if she even tried to run, either way.
At that moment, as the tall white rabbit gave slow steps towards her, she was too scared to even pee herself.
"So, you like attacking other students, don't you?" Kazma asked, his voice sounding like a merciless winter wind as his glacial contempt showed through is words. "Don't you know it's against school's regulations unless it is during sparring?"
Those words could be casual, but they carried the weight of a threat. A threat so heavy that it would be less threatening if he just pulled a gun and pointed it at her.
And Mizuchi was still too scared to even say something in her own defense. All she could do was to stand there, trembling like a leaf as she felt herself pressed down by a bloodlust so intense that she felt she would be crushed to death if the tall rabbit gave a single more step on her direction.
However, someone stopped him before he could.
"Stop it!"
Those two words made Kazma stop on his tracks and look over his shoulder.
At Haru, who was still on the ground, getting up.
"Stop it... just stop." Haru said, trembling slightly.
"Stop covering for me like I am a helpless child."
Kazma stopped, looking at her.
"Haru-chan..."
At that moment, his bloodlust faltered. This caused Mizuchi to drop to her hands and knees, before scrambling away just a second later, rushing out of there as fast as her legs could carry her, with her cronies, just as terrified as the harlequin, rushed out of there after her, leaving the two rabbits there to pay attention only at each other.
Kazma looked at Haru as he approached, before kneeling by her side.
"Haru, sweetheart, are you okay?" He asked her. "Does it hurt anywhere?"
He was about to put a hand on her, when she moved away from his reach.
He saw this reaction, and then said:
"Come, I'll take you to the infirmary. Then I will be talking to Gon about those idiots."
"No." Haru said.
"Hey, sweetie..."
"Why don't you leave me alone!?" Haru snapped at him.
"What?"
"Stop treating me like a child!" She said to him. "Stop treating me like I am a poor victim! I don't want to be treated like that anymore! I want to stop being a helpless little girl!" She turned to look at Kazma.
"Ain't that the very reason why you brought me to Cherryton in the first place!? For me to become as strong as you!? So I could learn to look out for myself!? And yet you keep checking on me each two hours as if I am a darn baby! Why do you even care so much!?"
"What do you mean 'why do I care'!?" Kazma shot back at her. "Of course, I care! I care about all my relatives! Especially you, Haru!"
He looked at her, and then he tried to reach for her again.
"Haru, you are my family..."
At this point, Haru just snapped.
"That's exactly the problem!" Haru said as she slapped the taller rabbit's hand away, before getting to her feet and running away. Kazma looked at she go, calling her name, but she did not stop. She just kept running until she could no longer hear his voice.
"We are here." Louis said to the other two. "You can stop suppressing now."
With this, the three of them collectively stopped using Zetsu. Or, at least, they stopped suppressing enough that they could easily perceive each other. Legoshi, in particular, had been virtually invisible while using zetsu, for using his type of skill suppressed your presence so much that it was very hard to detect you, even by regular sight.
"Okay, let's go inside." Louis said to the goat by his side, while turning to Legoshi.
"Remember, you keep out here using zetsu to hide and pay attention if you notice anyone approaching. If they do, you go inside and tell us so we can all leave. Do not let anyone come without you noticing. We'll all be in deep trouble if they catch us."
"Yes, senpai." Legoshi said. Louis barely paid any more attention to him then he had to, and he just guided Zoe inside, closing the door behind them, their presences becoming even fainter behind those closed doors.
Legoshi looked at the door for a few moments, before sighing, and then suppressing himself completely, vanishing so deeply it was as if he had just winked out of existence...
Haru really wanted to disappear sometimes. Not only hide from detection using zetsu to suppress her aura so it didn't leak out. She truly wanted to disappear. She wanted to vanish and never be found by anyone anymore.
She had wanted to ever since her first training session, which was a flop so big that it cemented her reputation as "Kazma-sensei's failure of a relative".
Apparently, everyone had great expectations from her because of who she was related to. They assumed that she would, at the very least, be way stronger than a regular nen-user. However, she turned out to be just like any newbies who just figured out how to use nen and don't know how to do anything properly yet.
Even now, on her fifth year on Cherryton, she progressed slower than others, instead of doing it at leaps and bounds as Kazma was said to have done back when he was a child and awoke his nen all by himself. Haru the Dwarf Rabbit was, in comparison to everyone other student in the school, below average.
And that was enough for the same beasts who were all over her when she joined on her first year now barely giving her the time of day.
That is, save for the boys, who were still as over her and wanting to be with her... out of Kazma-sensei's sight, of course.
At least until after they had sex, and then they spend a while with her and realized she was nothing of what they had been expecting, and then they all started turning the cold shoulder on her too, only ever talking to her again if they wanted "seconds".
Guess I end up being a disappointment to everyone... Haru though to herself as she stayed on the stall of that female restroom. Eventually, she decided she had been in there for long enough. She was pretty sure the bigger bunny was not following her.
He would have found me already if he was looking for me. He always did.
So, Haru finally made it out of the stall, stopping for a moment to look on the mirror at her own face.
Her bruises had already healed. Good thing she was taught how to focus her nen in order to accelerate her natural healing so her bruises would disappear faster. And it was Kazma himself who had taught that to her.
He always looked after her, since she was a child. According to her mother, because Haru reminded him a lot of himself when he was her age...
"Seriously, are those two even related?"
"I know, right? Hard to believe someone related to Kazma-sensei could be so lame."
"And she relies on him to defend her all the time! Seriously, she can hardly even defend herself! What, does she plan to rely on him for the rest of her life?"
"If she does, she will be even lamer. Is already bad enough she is so weak."
Weak.
This was a word that had a strong meaning among nen users.
In the world you need to be strong in order to survive. This was particularly true among users. For, while nen could make you leagues above a non-user, it was not to say that simply having it made you invincible. Not against other users.
Proof of it was how Haru, a below-average ehnacher, barely manage do hold her own against an average emitter such a Mizuchi.
And, since Mizuchi was "average", this meant everyone else on the school was either as good or better as her.
So, for all purposes and effects, Haru was one of the less impressive nen users in Cherryton.
"Seriously, why do weaklings like that even bother coming to Cherryton? They might as well just live boring lives with the nobodies of society."
Haru turned around from the mirror, walking back to her dorm. And that was not a quick travel considering how far it was, and how late it was.
She would be in trouble if she was caught out of her dorm so late, now that they reinforced the curfew in light of recent events.
Kazma would certainly be informed.
I better cut through the fountain... Haru thought as she went her way, unaware of the fated meeting that was destined to happen in there.
It is late... Legoshi thought as he moved from side to side, reaming in the shadows as he suppressed his aura so only a barely-noticeable amount of it leaked outside. It would be very hard for anyone, even a teacher, to notice his presence.
But still, the risk was there.
Would I be in too much trouble if they caught me out here so late? Legoshi caught himself wondering. Would they punish me too bad? Maybe... expel me?
Legoshi stopped, as his mind pondered on that option.
To be expelled. To be sent away from Cherryton.
It would be serious. Being expelled from school always was. However, even being expelled would not change the fact he was a nen user. That was the kind of thing no one could take from you.
Unfortunately.
Why unfortunately?
But if I was expelled, then I would have to go back home to grandpa... and to...
Yeah, they are both still there, no? Wonder how they would react...
Suddenly, Legoshi's ears perked as he sensed something.
It was a cricket.
What is this little guy doing out so late?
Bet he could ask the same about you.
Yeah, that's true...
You should go and eat it.
"Wait, what?" Legoshi caught himself saying.
No, that is not an interesting meal... barely a snack. Different from what is coming up just now. ~
"W-wha...?"
You feel it, don't you? Pay attention!
Legoshi blinked, and then he felt it.
A presence.
Not a bug. Something bigger.
Not too big.
He felt the presence before he even felt the smell.
Herbivore. Rabbit.
Perfect.
Get in position.
Now!
It is so late now... Haru thought as she made her way across the place, passing right in front of the fountain.
Amazing how a place that looked so beautiful and welcoming in the morning, could also look so eerie and terrifying during the night.
And everything else, by the way.
Truth was, even though nen users were seem by the average public as beings who were far above the "mere mortals" of the world, even they could not help but feel uncomfortable in the dark. To feel like someone could leap out of the shadows into them any second.
Especially if they felt that.
This presence seemed to come out of nowhere. A presence that was eerie and oppressive. A presence that had its attention focused only on Haru, like a pair of eyes in the dark who were looking straight at her.
A pair of eyes she could not see, but still knew were there somewhere, because she could feel the presence of their owner.
Their dark intentions.
She could feel it on her bones.
Who... is this?
Haru's ears were down, her body was shivering, and her senses desperately tried, by pure instinct, to find out where the sensation of imminent, impending danger was coming.
And she soon did.
There was a figure.
A figure crouching in the darkness.
Their muscles tensing as they got ready to...
Attack now! Catch your prey!
Legoshi's head rose, his fangs bared and his eyes glowing red. His body moved before he even understood fully what he was doing. His body propelled itself through the air much father than it should have been possible, at the same time, the oppressive, terrifying presence he gave out reached its peak, causing Haru to be unable to do anything other than to turn around and run.
With a burst of nen on her legs, he managed to cover a decent distance, but it was nowhere near enough to escape from the form flying towards her.
They crashed, stumbling into the ground before they came to an abrupt stop.
Haru now found herself enveloped by a pair of arms and by a terrifying aura that was like a cold blanket so snug Haru felt she would suffocate in it.
I... can't move...
She was shaking.
Legoshi could feel her shaking.
He could feel the way her small, fragile body shook as he had it safely on his arms.
She was so small. So frail. So much that she could break if he squeezed too hard.
He wanted to loosen his grip. To let go. But he found out that it was as if his arms had locked in place. Locked around that small rabbit.
She is still on the bite-size area, but certainly a more substantial meal than a mere cricket. She will do well.
She will... do? Do for what?
Why, for your dinner, of course! You haven't eaten yet, after all, and is late. A light dinner is the best right before bed!
I-I... no. No! I can't!
You will.
I can't.
Why not?
Because this is wrong!
No, it's natural! It is what a predator is supposed to do, and you will do it! I am telling you to!
I don't have to listen to you! Who even are you!?
Legoshi could practically hear the smirk on that disembodied voice as if talked to him next:
Oh, Legoshi... You know exactly who I am...
And then, Legoshi saw it.
A figure, standing a distance away. It was dark, and he could not see clearly, but the figure seemed... vaguely familiar.
Then, it started walking towards him. Legoshi watched as it came closer and closer, while he was still down on a knee, holding the trembling rabbit on his arms.
As the figure came closer, Legoshi could make the features better.
Canine. Wolf. Male wolf. Then, he saw it was...
W-what...? N-no... I-it can't be...
Legoshi's entire body tensed.
I-it can't be HIM!
But it as.
It was him, standing there and smiling down at Legoshi. That same terrifying smile from that night, five years ago.
You have grown, Legoshi.
NO! Don't come near me! Go away!
Is that a way to talk to me, boy? You should be more respectful!
No! You... it's your fault! What happened to Mom is your fault! Because of you, she... she... GO AWAY! I HATE YOU!
...oh... So, you still haven't forgiven me, have you? I am sad to hear that. But we can discuss this later. Now, it is time for your dinner. Eat so you can go to bed.
"N-no..." Legoshi said, so quietly even the rabbit he was holding only heard his voice as a strangled, nearly inaudible whimper. Meanwhile the shadow before him, the monster in front of him, touched his arms.
You feel it, don't you? The soft flesh hiding beneath the clothes? So warm and tender. That is the best kind of meat, easy to chew. And it must be delicious, judging by the smell. Did you know that rabbits are rich in protein? Certainly, a wonderful mean for someone like you who is still not done growing. Yes, this will be very good for you, Legoshi.
No! I won't do it! You can't make me!
Look at me, Legoshi!
He didn't want to, but he did anyways.
That shadow before him was now less of a wolf, and more of a demon.
This meat will help you become strong! You are a carnivore! This meal will nurture you and help you on your path to become all you can be! To become a powerful carnivore! A carnivore who can change the world! LIKE ME!
I DON'T WANT TO BE LIKE YOU! YOU'RE A MONSTER!
LEGOSHI!
The great figure towered over the wolf.
You will eat that rabbit right now! This is an order! An order from your FATHER!
No! Go away! Leave me alone!
But he was not leaving. Not this time.
He left five years ago after what he did to Legoshi's mother, but it was only because his grandfather forced him to. Because he forced him to leave by standing between him and Legoshi.
But Gosha was not there this time. He was not there to protect Legoshi from him. So, this time, he could close the distance and put his arms around Legoshi as he whispered on his ear.
It's okay, Legoshi. This is what carnivores like us are supposed to do. This is our nature, and we should not be forced to be ashamed of it because our FOOD tells us to. Now go ahead and do it. We both have waited seventeen years for this very moment. The moment when you'd finally get rid of your weakness and become truly strong.
Legoshi was trembling.
He was trembling as much as the rabbit on his arms. She was enveloped by his arms, as the strangest thing happened.
It was as if Legoshi combined ten and zetsu at once. His aura leaked around his body and condensed, creating a bubble around him and the rabbit while not allowing anything to leak outside of that one area of condensed aura.
The result was that he had the rabbit completely involved on his agitated nen, keeping her too terrified by his bloodlust to do anything other than tremble in fear, but also kept not only himself, but the rabbit he had his arms around, completely undetectable by any outside observer.
You... I... I hate you. I hate you! You destroyed my family! I lost my mom because of you! I got mad at grandpa and stopped talking to him because of you! It is all your fault! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll-
Eat you!
E-eat... you...
Legoshi's lips curled even more into a deep snarl.
I'll eat you. I'll eat you. I'll eat you! I'll eat you! I'LL EAT YOU!
Yes! That's it, Legoshi! Do it now! Do it in one bite and become strong! Make your father proud!
The rabbit on his arms let out a weak squeak of fear as Legoshi opened his jaws, ready to take a bite when...
"Legoshi!"
It was not the shadow how spoke it. It was another voice.
A real voice.
One which was also familiar to Legoshi.
"Legoshi!"
I-is that... Zoe?
"Legoshi!" The goat called again. "Legoshi, where are you!? It's an emergency! Louis is hurt!"
It was as if Zoe's voice lifted a veil from round Legoshi. The evil wolf that had been speaking to him vanished completely, leaving Legoshi confused as to what he was even doing.
His grip on the rabbit softened, with the oppressive presence of his aura vanishing completely.
With this, Haru snapped out of it as well, and she managed to shake herself free enough to slam her elbow into Legoshi.
The impact, infused with enough nen to make her elbow as hard as steel, was enough to cause the wolf to flinch hard. As he did, his claws grazed at the rabbit's other arm, opening long gashes as they cut through her sleeve and skin, but the bunny didn't even seem to notice, as she only ran out of there as fast as she could.
As she did, the wolf looked up, casting a last glance at her as she ran into the distance at great speed, soon vanishing as if shew as never even there.
"Legoshi!" Chloe said, "There you are!" he ran to the wolf, who was still crouching, and looked at the goat who came frantically.
"You have to come! Now!"
And Legosh did, only to find out that Louis was laying on the ground, looking to be in pain.
His left ankle was bloodied.
"I didn't mean to!" Zoe said. "I stepped off the stage when we were rehearsing, and Louis rushed to help me! It was so sudden, I didn't had time to stop them!"
Legoshi felt queasy seeing that blood, considering what just happened.
Zoe's skill Syrup allowed him to control his nen by giving it the quality of viscous fluid and control it. This allowed him to perform a variety of techniques by using it. However, Legoshi was unaware that, in recent times, Zoe took his hand on combining some emission with his techniques, using it to separate his nen from his body in the form of a semi-autonomous entity shaped like a fish and with teeth sharp like those of a piranha.
"The Gel Chompers follow a pre-programmed behavior of protecting me from attacks! When Louis came rushing to me to help me when I stepped out of stage, they interpreted it as him charging at me! I only managed to stop them after they took a bite at his ankle!"
Zoe was in panic. Louis ankle looked bad. He was glad he managed to stop the origami piranhas before they caused any more serous damage, but they had already damaged Louis' leg enough that they would need to take him to the infirmary right away.
That was what Zoe planned, until Louis told him not to, as he knew that taking him to the infirmary would cause someone to ask how his leg ended like that, and what they were doing out of their dorms past curfew.
"Legoshi..." Louis said through teeth gritted in pain. "Go fetch... Legoshi."
And Zoe did.
Once Legoshi was there, Zoe understood why Louis asked for that.
Legoshi kneeled by Louis side and, without even thinking about what he was doing, clasped his hands together. His aura focused on his palms, forming a ball between his hands and then condensing into smaller points.
By the time Legoshi separated his hands, there were small dots in there, buzzing and glowing in a soft green coloration.
Louis flinched as those small, glowing green bees flew around his foot and started stinging him.
However, the pain only lasted for three seconds, before being replaced with a feeling of relief, as that area became numb and then started tingling in a way that felt... kind of nice, to be honest.
"I didn't know you could do that, Legoshi." Zoe said as he saw the bees Legoshi just created stinging Louis foot and seeing how the bleeding had already stopped.
Legoshi then explained to Zoe about his Lifeline Bees. How he was inspired to make them after reading about apiculture as a younger child, and how he thought it was amazing that bees could make people feel better, and he wanted to create nen beasts that could do that, so he could help people if they ever needed.
"I guess they ended up better than real bees." Legoshi said, to what Louis then chimed in:
"I'll certainly say. You used them to help Dom when he got a gash on his arm while he had gone up there looking for you last year. I saw you doing it. His gash was gone ten minutes later when I talked to him again. Can I expect my ankle to be good as new by then as well?"
However, Legoshi shook his head, as he explained that not all wounds healed the same with the Lifeline Bees
"They have a healing compound instead of venom on their stingers. Once they sting, they alleviate pain and stimulate healing. Small cuts heal in just a minute or two, but a wound like that... it could take two or three hours. But you should still go to the infirmary, Louis-senpai, just in case they don't heal you properly..."
"No infirmary..." Louis said, getting up. The pain had subsided enough that he was able to get up, but he still avoided stepping on that foot, as to avoid his ankle t start bleeding again. The bees had stopped glowing and fell to the ground dead, and were already disintegrating, but Louis could still feel the healing compound their stingers injected at work.
"I just need you two to lend me your shoulders."
With this, Louis supported himself on both Zoe's and Legoshi's shoulder. He and the goat didn't notice that Legoshi's claws were caked in blood, nor saw the wolf wiping that blood on his pants while the deer supported himself on his shoulder.
Legoshi had to help Louis limp to the herbivore dorm. Once they arrived at the front, Legoshi left the two there, with Louis thanking him for the help and, once more, emphasizing how important it was for Legoshi not to tell anyone about tonight before him and Zoe went into their dorm.
However, Louis didn't need to bother telling Legoshi that.
The wolf had already decided he would not be telling anything about that night to anyone.
He didn't want anyone to find out what he almost did.
He himself could not believe what he almost did.
The very idea was now enough to make him nauseous.
So much that he stopped by the restroom on the way to his dorm, resting his hands on the sink while breathing heavily, and ready to run to the toilet in case he suddenly needed to vomit.
You didn't eat the rabbit.
That strong, disapproving tone reached him, and it was enough to make Legoshi's fur stand on end.
Not only that, but you saw a wounded deer, an easy prey, right in front of you, and you didn't try to claim that kill for yourself as well.
Legoshi rose his head, looking at his own reflection in the mirror.
Except that the face looking back was not Legoshi's own. It was his'.
And he yelled:
You are still weak!
Legoshi's fist moved before he even realized it. He only knew he had punched the mirror after removing his knuckles from it and seeing his own shattered reflection on the broken surface.
Legoshi looked at it with a face devoid of any emotion for a few seconds, before turning away and walking back to his dorm, only wanting to sleep and forget that night ever happened.
Haru would never be able to forget that night.
She knew she would be remembering what just happened until the day she died.
The sheer terror she felt as that carnivore, who and whatever they were, lunged at her and tackled her. Th feeling of pure debilitating despair as they held her on their arms. The hot breath on her neck as they were getting ready to bite but, for some reason, they let go.
She could not believe it.
She could not believe someone had just tried to eat her.
However, it happened. Her bleeding arm, with gashes left by her assailant's claws, was more than enough proof of it.
Who even was it?
Was it another student?
Was it the same person who devoured that alpaca from a few days ago?
Haru clutched her arm in pain.
She needed to tell someone.
She needed to tell someone she was just attacked!
She needed to tell... to tell...
She then paused.
What would she tell them?
That she turned around and ran upon being attacked like a poor coward?
That she didn't stood her ground and fought like a proud student of Cherryton would have done?
That she only stood there, shaking like a poor helpless child while someone was about to devour her, and she wasn't even trying to fight for her life?
That she was unable to protect herself?
She could not. Haru knew she could not.
Not only this would cement, once and for all, the image everyone had of her as a helpless little chump, but Kazma, upon hearing this, would never again be willing to let her out of his sight for more than thirty minutes at a time.
And both of those options are things Haru didn't want.
So, as she rested her head against the wall, breathing steadily to calm herself and then focusing her nen on her arm to speed up her own healing, she decided she would not let anyone know what happened tonight.
That she would not tell others she was nearly devoured, nor ask for their help with anything.
She would be doing as a proper nen user of Cherryton and would be solving this herself.
She would take matters on her own tiny white hands.
She would become stronger, and then she would find out who was that carnivore who had attacked her and defeat them in a proper combat. This would prove to Kazma, and everyone else, that she was not as helpless as they all believed her to be.
That she was not weak.
With this resolution, Haru looked at the moon. The same moon that had been glowing above her as she was attacked by the mystery carnivore.
"I don't know who you are..." Haru said, talking to the carnivore who tried to eat her. "But you made a serious mistake! I'll find you and beat you up!"