Fati ma
The Hybrid Dokugumi

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"Now, what do we have here?" Legosi's eyes widened at those words.

but before he could utter a word, he felt a strong hit land on his head. Black started surrounding his vision, and a mere second before he lost his consciousness, he caught a small glimpse of forest green scales, shining like jewels.

"A...K-Komodo...Dragon?"

These were the last three words he slurred out, before darkness took him in it's caress.

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A group of three students stood on the street of Back-Alley Market. A Bengal Tiger, Bill. A Bald Eagle, Aoba. And a Black Panther, Tao. Bill sighed as he chewed on a piece of meat.

"Seriously, Legosi doesn't know what he's missing. This meat's delicious."

"He is just too kind to eat meat, Bill. And he sure is not the only one, who thinks it's wrong."

Bill and Tao looked at Aoba with surprised gazes. Just a few minutes ago, he took their side and said that it's fine.

"Oi, oi, oi! Aoba, are you chickening out!? What's up with that, you were on our page just a few minutes ago! What changed?"

"Bill...I-I, I just can't eat meat, okay? I'm going to go now, sorry guys. I need to find Legosi, and apologise."

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As Legosi woke up, all he saw was pure darkness.

"Looks like he's up, boss."

"Take off the sack, I wanna get a good look on him."

Suddenly, Legosi felt a hand on his head, and he finally could everything. In front of him stood three komodo dragons, all of them wearing masks. But there was one who caught the boy's attention more so, that the other two. He is very muscular, his purplish-black scales shining in the moon light, he has white baggy pants, and a black shirt without a left sleeve on him. An aura of authority surrounds him.

'He's probably their boss.'

Suddenly, Legosi gets grabbed by the said male.

"Now, how about you tell us your name, young wolf? I wish to know who exactly dares trespassing the Dokugumi territory."

'D-Dokugumi? what exactly is that, where am I?' "Legosi, Komodo Dragon-san."

"Very well, Legosi. Now tell me, what were you doing on our territory?" " I got lost, Komodo Dragon-san. It's my first time in the Black Market."

The Komodo Dragon simply raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? Just how much meat did you ate to lose your coordination that badly?"

"None, sir. Me and my friends stumbled upon the entrance to it, I had a disagreement with them, because i didn't want to eat meat, and left."

"A carnivoire that doesn't want to eat meat? Very surprising, but I won't judge, especially since it doesn't matter."

"What do you- AGK!!!"

Suddenly the man took off his mask, and sank his in Legosi's shoulder, spreading venom through the boy's veins. Legosi gasped from the pain, but a few seconds later, it stopped. The Komodo Dragon, who already stood up and put his mask on had a surprised look on his face.

"You're immune to our venom, but how?"

After Legosi's got his bearings back, he answered.

"I'm a h-hybrid, my grandfather, G-Gosha, is a Komodo Dragon." "You're our former boss's grandson?"

Legosi's looked up so fast that his neck snapped, his eyes were wide as saucers.

"B-Boss!? What do you mean?!" "Men, release the kid."

"Yes, Savon, sir!"

The two Komodo Dragons behind the newly revealed Savon immediately cut the ropes with their claws. Legosi sat up on the floor, still looking shocked. Savon looked the boy in the eyes, confusion, surprise, and perhaps a bit of guilt swirling in his eyes. He sighed.

"Kid, I know we didn't give you any reason to trust us especially me, but please do believe me. We mean you no harm, now that we know who you really are."

Legosi's face adopted a very surprised look.

"But, why? A few seconds ago, you were trying to kill me, what changed?" Savon scoffed.

"Didn't I just tell you? You are the grandson of our former leader, and he was a very respectful man. Also, we simply don't harm our own, when others already are trying to do that...Caesar, show the kid our guest room."

The Komodo dragon to the left bowed, then offered his hand to the boy. "Yes sir!"

Legosi took the hand and got up. Then he once again looked at Savon. "You do know I can't stay here, right? I'm still a student at an academy."

"Of course I know kid, however it's not safe in the black market right now. The worst of the worst scum this place has to offer peak their heads out at this time. That's why you are going to stay in our compound till the morning, everything else will be discussed right then."

Legosi simply nodded, and followed Caesar. Savon brought up valid points, and even if he were to try to run, they would catch him in no time, and even if by some miracle he got away, he wouldn't know where to go. Savon walked off.

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Gosha is a very pacifistic man, not prone to conflict. Right now however, the circumstances were different. On his phone, he saw a very familiar name, Savon.

'What does he want? I thought we established that I'm in retirement." Gosha presses the 'accept' button.

"What do you need Savon? Didn't I make it clear that I'm not coming back?" "I'm not calling you to talk about that, Gosha. Just listen, please, Boss." "Don't call me that Savon, I'm not your leader anymore."

"Sorry, force of habit. Okay, weird question, do you have a grandson, perhaps?" "What is it to you Savon?"

"Weeeell, my men caught a grey wolf in our territory, said his name's Legosi-" Gosha immediately spat out the water he was drinking, melting a trash bin.

"WHAT!? SAVON, WHAT IS MY GRANDSON DOING IN THE BLACK MARKET!?"

"Calm down, Gosha-"

"OH, I AM CALM SAVON! I'M VERY CALM!!!"

Savon sighed.

"The kid went on a trip with a group of other student, they stumbled upon the entrance to it. Legosi split away from them, because of some kind of disagreement, and you can figure out the rest."

"..."

"Gosha? You there-"

"How long is Legosi going to be on the compound, Savon?" "Till the morning for sure, why?"

"Good, then wait for me to come by, I need to check on my grandson." "Oh, okay...WAIT WHAT-"

"Bye, Savon."

Gosha hung up and sighed.

"You just had to mess with my kid, Fate, didn't you? Welp, guess it's time to jostle the past a bit."

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As Caesar showed Legosi around, the wolf, couldn't help, but notice the curiosity in the eyes of all the komodo dragons around. Whispers could be heard from every direction.

"Who is he?"

"What is he doing here?"

"What does Savon want with him?"

Caesar slowed down and whispered down his ear.

"Don't worry, they won't harm you, not as long as I am here, or Savon gives the order to do so."

These words soothed Legosi's worries, if only a little. The boy whispered back. "And if I'm alone? What then?"

"By the time you are left alone with them, they'll know you're one of us." Those words left a lot to imagination.

'One of them? As in a member of Dokugumi? No, I'm just overthinking it. He means that i'm part komodo dragon.'

After another few minutes of walking, they reached a small, two-story building.

"This is a building to house the few guest, that sometimes come, be it couriers, business partners etc. Here is your key. It has the number of the room you'll stay in for the time being engraved on the tag. If you need anything, here's my phone number."

Caesar gave Legosi a small key with a tag, that had the 12 engraved on it, and a slip of paper with his phone number.

"Good night Legosi, we'll probably meet tomorrow." "Yeah...good night, Caesar."

Legosi walked inside of the building. Despite looking very worn, it's pretty taken care of. Soon the wolf found the door he needed. As he opened it and walked in, he took in the surroundings. It was a 4-room apartment, consisting of a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a hallway, that connected the first three rooms. All of the rooms were very compact, built not for luxury, but pure necessity.

'Okay, first I need to take a shower, I stink very badly.'

After taking a quick shower, Legosi quickly rinsed the dirty clothes and put them on a dryer right above the bathtub, and put on a spare set of clean clothes he always has in his backpack.

'Now, I need to eat. That is, if there is anything in the kitchen.'

Unfortunately, all Legosi found, was a piece of meat in the fridge, goose, if the scent didn't lie.

'Seriously?! That's all there is!? I can't eat that!'

Suddenly he heard the door open. As he put the meat back in the fridge, Savon walked in the kitchen.

"Hey kid, how are you fairing?"

"I'm okay, thanks for asking...Listen, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but is there anything else to eat besides the meat?"

"Why are you-...right, forgot you prefer not to eat meat. Sorry, but there's nothing else." Legosi stayed silent, though his face showed pure horror. Savon felt sorry for him.

"..."

"Kid, there is nothing shameful in eating meat. It's who you are." "But this is flesh of a sentient being, how can I eat it!?"

"...How long have you denied your instincts, Legosi? How long have you withheld yourself from eating meat?"

"...My entire life."

"And you can say that there weren't times where you almost lost control?" "..."

"As I thought. Legosi, you won't be able to run away from your nature, not in the nearest future. You should learn the taste of meat, and get used to it of your own volition, rather than succumbing to your urges, and devouring a still alive herbivore."

"..."

Savon sighed, noticing Legosi's wavering, but still determined gaze that said 'I can and I will control myself, just watch me'.

"I'm not saying that you should start eating only meat, Legosi. I'll repeat what i said, you can't run from your nature, you're a carnivore, whether you like it or not, if you don't try the flesh of an already dead herbivore, then you most definitely will try the flesh of an alive herbivore. Either do something that you will regret for a small amount of time, or do something that not

only will you regret forever, but also something that will make you a walking corpse of a carnivore...you can choose either the bigger or the smaller evil, that's the sad truth."

"..."

"Think about it, Legosi. Think who you want to be, a murderous devouring monster, or a normal carnivore."

Savon walked out, Legosi staying silent the entire time. Deep down, the wolf knew that Savon was right. He closed his eyes and nursed the bridge of the nose, then sat down on a chair.

'Who I want to be, huh?'

Legosi opened his eyes and looked at the fridge once again. Then he stood up, opened the fridge once again, and took the piece of meat in his arms. It was a bit small, a piece of a wing probably.

'Yeah, no. I'm not eating that raw. At least i know how to fry food, although it's my first time cooking meat.'

Legosi took out a frying pan, turned the stove on, and started frying the meat. 'At least there is some oil in here, wouldn't want to burn it.'

Ten minutes later, the meat was done.

'Good thing this meat doesn't give of that much aroma, or it probably would have brought the entire compound here.'

Legosi quickly put the thing on a plate and sat at the table.

'Whoever you were, I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, please forgive me.'

And then, reluctantly, Legosi bit into it. He immediately was assaulted with an amazing flavor, the juices flowing down his throat, the texture on teeth and tongue. But as he finally swallowed the piece, he started trembling.

'Oh my Rex! I'm so, so sorry whoever you were!!! How could ENJOY the taste of someone else's flesh!'

Legosi looked down, and remembered Savon's words.

'If THIS is the taste of flesh of the dead, the just how much stronger is the flavor of a living herbivore!? Savon is right, I would have lost control, and if I were to have a living herbivore as my first meal made of meat? I don't want to even think about it.'

After those thoughts, Legosi bit into the meat once again.

A few minutes later, Legosi finished his meal, washed the plate, and went to sleep. But as he layed he felt an inexplicable urge for more meat.

'Meat withdrawal?! No, that's not it, grandpa explained how it felt, what is happening to me is different...Come to think of it, is this how grandpa knew about meat withdrawals? He ate the meat of a living herbivore and experienced that on his own? At least I can control myself.'

After some tossing and turning, sleep finally claimed the wolf.

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"Legosi? Is that really you?"

As Legosi was starting to wake up, he heard a very familiar voice. 'Grandpa? Am I still dreaming?'

"Wake up kid."

Slowly, Legosi opened his eyes. Everything was really bright, and Legosi was struggling to make anything out. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he was shocked.

"G-Grandpa? Is-Is that you?"

"Of course it's me Legosi, who else it would be?"

Legosi felt tears prick his eyes, and immediately tried to wipe them, but to no avail. The wolf soon gave up, and simply embraced his grandfather.

"Hey, hey kid. I missed ya too y'know? Why didn't even call me?"

"There...There are so many reasons grandpa, b-but they're all so stupid that I actually can't believe I ignored you! I'm-I'm so sorry!"

Legosi finally stopped crying, released Gosha from his embrace and looked at his face, then smiled, his face full of happiness, relief and nostalgia. Gosha gave a hearty laugh.

"C'mon kid, you're what 17 years old already? What's with the waterworks?" Legosi started laughing, and Gosha joined him.

"You can't imagine how happy I am to see you, grandpa." "Right back atcha kid!"

But then, the smile slipped from Gosha's face, making Legosi's one disappear in turn. "What's wrong grandpa?"

"Kid, how did you even end up here?" "Didn't Savon tell you?"

"Why do you think he has to do anything with this?" "One, I can smell SAVON right outside the door." Savon cringed.

"Two, I don't think you would have known that I'm here, unless SAVON told you."

Savon cringed again, raising eyebrows of concern from Caesar, and the other komodo dragon

- Rutou. Gosha snorted.

"Can't hide anything from ya, hmm?" "You know it, grandpa."

"Fine, fine, but I want you to confirm what he had told me. You and a group of your friends stumbled upon the entrance to the Black Market?"

Legosi nodded.

"Then, you had a falling out with them, 'cause of the whole 'eating meat' thing, and split up?" Another nod.

"And finally, you stumbled upon the Dokugumi territory, while trying to find an exit out of the Black Market?"

A third and final nod. Gosha nursed the bridge of nose.

"Seriously Legosi, why do you always find adventures, where you shouldn't?"

"Me? Finding adventures? I think it's quite the contrary, Grandpa. I'm trying to live a peaceful life, and adventures find me."

After a few seconds of silence Gosha burst into laughter, making Legosi chuckle too. Afterwards, Legosi looked at the door.

"You three can come in, you know? We're done discussing anything private, at least right here."

Savon, Caesar and Rutou walked in. "Good morning, kid."

"Morning Savon, morning Caesar and, uhm-" "Name's Rutou, kid."

"Rutou, yeah, good morning."

"So, Legosi, seeing that the meat in the fridge disappeared, am I to assume that you followed my advice, and ate it?"

Gosha's eyes went comically wide, as he looked between Savon and Legosi, who suddenly adopted a sheepish and a 'this is the worst timing ever' face. Suddenly Gosha exploded.

"WHAT!? LEGOSI DID YOU-"

"Yes, Grandpa, please calm down, and don't get mad at Savon, please."

Savon, dismissed Rutou and Caesar, while Gosha took some deep breaths and gave a menacing look at the both of them.

"Alright, I'm calm. But you better explain yourselves you two!"

And so, the two explained their interaction in the apartment. As they explained, Gosha's face jumped between neutrality, anger, contemplation and agreement. At the end of the story, he once again took a deep breath.

"Alright, fine. I'll admit, Savon does have a point. However, I'm still mad." Gosha sighed.

"How are you feeling Legosi? No symptoms?"

"None, grandpa. I did have some craving for meat when I was trying to fall asleep, which took me about an hour, but that's it, at least for now. I guess the meat of an already dead herbivore, doesn't have quite the same effect as that of a living one."

"Good, good. I'll leave it, for now, but don't hesitate to call me, if you feel something's wrong."

"Okay grandpa, I will." Gosha hesitated a bit.

"Now, how about we go to some cafe, and catch, Legosi?" "Sure, sounds good."

Then he looked at Savon.

"What about you Savon? If you have any casual clothes, you can come with us." Savon's had a surprised look on his face. He thought about it a little bit, then answered.

"Sure, why not? I'd like to know what our former boss, and his grandkid are doing nowadays."

"Good, good. Then you better go change-"

A sudden cough from Legosi interrupted them. Both of the komodo dragons looked at the boy with questioning look.

"What is it, kid/Ya need something, Legosi?"

Savon and Gosha looked at each before snorting and tracing their gazes back to Legosi. "Uhm, after we do the whole 'catching up' thing, are we going back to the compound?"

Savon adopted a slightly surprised look on his face, but nodded. "Good, 'cause my clothes are still drying."

As the two reptiles processed his words, Legosi looked at them with worry. Then, he startles when both of them start laughing, as if they heard the funniest joke on Earth.

"Are you...okay? Grandpa? Savon?" The duo in question quickly calm down.

"Mhm, sorry kid, it's just that your question was pretty much, out of blue."

"Yeah, Legosi you just surprised us a little. But it's nice to see, that you're still very responsible."

"Hmm, now that i think about it, you really are in an entirely another set of clothes, aren't you? I didn't notice it last night."

Legosi nodded. Savon took that as his cue to go change, and walked out of the room, leaving the two family members alone.

After a few minutes Savon walked in, the mask devoid from his face, his whole attire looking more or less similar, but still different enough to be considered casual. Gosha nodded.

"Good, now let's go."

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After 30 minutes of walking, Gosha brought them to a small, retro-styled cafe named 'Route 66 Diner'.

"Well, here we are. This is a very cozy place, and i'm a regular. You still love french fries, don'tcha, Legosi?"

Legosi's face turned a bit red. "Yeah."

"What about you Savon? Still prefer that orange soda of yours, right?" Savon looked even worse than Legosi.

"Y-Yeah."

"Good, good. 'Cause they've got both of those!" Both of them perked up at those words. "Really!? Thank you, grandpa!'

"...Thanks, Gosha." Gosha simply laughed.

"No need to thank me, you two! I'm more than happy to oblige."

After they walked in and sat down at a table, a waiter brought the menus, and took their orders. Then, as the waiter left, the trio engaged in a conversation. Gosha spoke first.

"So, Legosi, how are you doing in school? How's Jack, and have you made any friends besides him?"

"I'm pretty good actually, struggling in History a bit though, but only because our teacher makes it so boring, and I can't study it on my own since I can't get the book with the whole thing. My favourite's actually Biology, we learn so much about how our organisms work, and about bugs!"

Savon adopted a curious look on his face. "Bugs? What about them?"

Gosha gave off a slight chuckle.

"Legosi here likes bugs, even got a horned beetle for a pet. how the thing's doing, anyway?"

"Great, actually. Although, he is getting old already. Anyway, back to your questions. Jack's okay, and I'm actually friends with some other dogs, they're all roommates of mine and Jack's, oh also, a few friends in the drama club, I'm a member of it, by the way, though I'm just stage crew.

Gosha smiled at that.

"Really? That's nice. But what's the stage crew mean?"

"I work on lights, decoration, stuff like that, grandpa. I like to work with my hands. Oh, i also haul around things quite a lot, and fix the electricity sometimes. Kinda like you work as a builder, but on a smaller scale."

"Good job, Legosi, but are sure about the 'electricity' part? That's dangerous."

"Don't worry, I am very careful."

"Good, so all in all everything seems great at school."

"Yeah..."

The sudden silence made Savon and Gosha worried.

"What's wrong, Legosi? Has something bad happened at school?" Legosi immediately adopted a panicked look for a few seconds. "No, no, don't worry grandpa, everything's-"

Savon immediately interrupted him.

"Not fine. Kid, I know a lie when I see one. Spill it."

Legosi hesitated, but seeing the sharp gazes of both of the reptiles, he sighed and gave in. "Well, first, there was a devouring."

This startled both Gosha and Savon.

'A devouring at school!? Just what the hell happened there!?'

Legosi took their silence as the permission to continue.

"The problem is, the student was from the drama club, an alpaca named Tem, so the most of suspicion falls on the carnivores from it, me included."

Suddenly, Legosi stopped talking, looking as if he wasn't sure if he could continue. Savon decided to help him a little.

"You can continue kid, we're not going to judge."

Gosha joined in, just as the waiter brought them their orders. "Yeah Legosi, don't worry, everything's fine."

"...Okay. So, the leader of our club, Louis, he's a red deer by the way, asked me to with him and another member of the club at night to practice the play, 'Adler', it's called. Not going to explain what it's about, sorry. Anyway, while I was on guard, I smelt a herbivore, a female dwarf rabbit. You can maybe guess, what almost happened."

Gosha's eyes widened with horror and worry, while Savon simply looked surprised. "Is she okay Legosi?"

"Yeah, she doesn't even know who it was. I'm not sure i want to tell her, and the fact that she tried to get into my pants doesn't help at all."

Legosi said the last part quietly, not quiet enough though, judging by the shocked looks on the two's faces.

'Oh boy, I should not have said that.'

Gosha simply looked at Legosi as if he's grown a second head, before taking a deep breath.

"I'll pretend I did not hear that. Anyway, anything else you wanna share?"

Legosi looked surprised at his composure, the same implying to Savon, who, despite still looking a bit surprised, mostly was calm, which encouraged him to continue.

"Well, during their practise, Louis fractured his leg, and although he played through the first part of the play, he couldn't continue anymore, since he made it even worse, he appointed Bill, a bengal tiger as his replacement. But because of that, there was no one to play the antagonist, and, well, they chose me."

This prompted Gosha to chuckle, but Savon simply raised an eyebrow.

"So? What's so bad about being an actor for once."

"Nothing much, really. I just don't like the spotlight. That wasn't the problem though. Right before the start of our performance, I smelled something weird on Bill. Turns out, he wanted to dope himself on rabbit blood."

Legosi shuddered in disgust.

That left the two adults speechless. Gosha's face adopted a disgusted look, same for Savon. "Seriously, what kind of kid is this Bill?"

"Yeah, well, I was mad too, so I decided to challenge him to settle it on the stage, during the fighting scene."

Savon and Gosha looked surprised that Legosi, despite being so kind and timid, did something like that.

"Kind of dumb, yeah, I know. But I was too mad to think back then. In the end, Louis had to interfere, to make sure we didn't kill each other, and make it seem like it was all part of the play...And, I guess that's it for now."

"...Dear Rex kid, are you sure you're in a school?"

"Yeah Legosi, have to agree with Savon. Are you safe there?"

"Yeah i am, grandpa. At least for now everything's okay. I'll definitely call if something does happen."

Suddenly, Savon took out his phone, and extended a hand to Legosi's one in a silent request. Legosi wasn't sure what Savon needed from it, but gave his phone nonetheless.

Savon typed something in, and gave it back to Legosi, putting his own back into the satchel he had on himself. Legosi looked at the screen, and saw that it was Savon's number.

"If you need help kid, and Gosha can't provide it, then ring me."

Legosi simply nodded. But suddenly, a boisterous and angry voice replaced the silence of the whole place.

"Oi, what is a pair of toxic lizards doing here, sitting on a good table?!"

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"Oi, what is a pair of toxic lizards doing here, sitting on a good table?!" The trio turned to the source of these words, and saw a group of birds.

"It's a full house, you damn reptiles. You ought to get out of here now, before you turn this place into a gas chamber."

Gosha immediately panicked a bit.

"Let's move out of here, Legosi, Savon! Hey, Legosi-"

Savon only blocked him with his hand and shook his head.

'This is ought to be interesting.'

"What? I don't think I heard you right."

Legosi stood up straightened to full height, and looked down on the hooligans menacingly, all while growling.

"Because to me, it sounds like you think that komodo dragons emit poisonous gas."

The leader was a little unnerved, but didn't back down.

"What? Don't get smart with me, you little pup!"

The guy puffed up his chest, trying to make himself bigger, the rest of the birds doing the same.

"You wanna fight?!" Legosi simply stood calm. "Sure, why not?"

At those words, Savon smiled, while Gosha looked shocked. 'L-Legosi!?'

Suddenly, a huge crocodile in chief's attire walked up to them.

"Excuse me. We've got other customers in this cafe, you see...You're going to have to wait in line, okay?"

The leader scoffed and started walking away. "What a shitty cafe."

He looked over to the trio.

"You're lucky the owner's a reptile."

Then turned back and walked out of the cafe. Legosi looked over at Savon and Gosha, who had been lookin at him the entire time. Savon simply looked proud, while Gosha had disappointment written all over his face.

"Legosi...you..."

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"I'm so disappointed in you! You really have turned delinquent! You acted like a thug like there!"

"Gosha, please calm down, the kid did nothing wrong."

"Yeah Grandpa, come on! Did you really expect me to let them talk you down like that?! I'm 17 already, I refuse to be a spectator like how I was when I was a little kid!"

Gosha stopped walking, and turned over to Legosi.

"You're still a little kid, don't be presumptuous...I suffered discrimination for 54 years, I'm used to it! You just have to let it slide, did you learn nothing about pacifism!?"

"That's the goddamn problem, grandpa, you shouldn't have to!!!"

Savon shook their shoulders a bit. "We've got company, you two."

The trio looked around them, they were in an back alley, surrounded by that group of birds from the cafe. The leader took a step forward.

"You really made asses of us, so now, that you're in this dead end and all, you know what's going to happen to you, right?"

The leader drew his fist and almost threw it at Legosi, before suddenly, Gosha is right in front of him.

"Don't touch my grandson!"

His own fists made contact with the bird, making him skidding across the ground.

"You're lucky i won't do worse, with feathers as soft as yours. So, like I was saying Legosi."

"You're still a little kid, but you at least have some maturity in you, so I'll start teaching you in more detail-"

Gosha grabbed one of the thugs, who trien to sneak him from behind. "-My snobbish policy actually has a second side to it."

He lifted the said thug above the ground.

"Pacifism is a fine thing, however, it only has meaning, if it is the strong people, that uphold it!"

'Grandpa, I've never seen you like this before, but right now, I feel like I'm seeing you once again.'

"Grandpa, what are you?"

"I'll tell you later Legosi, let's deal with these guys first, you can help me if you want to. Same to you, Savon."

But before any of them could step in, Gosha threw the guy he was holding, and lunged at another one, injuring him with his claws, like he did with the leader. Then, he hit another one with his tail, while he was trying to sneak up on him. Legosi simply looked in awe, while Savon was glowing with pride.

'This was such a hassle of a question to ask, but...which one is the REAL Gosha? The one, that is my overly kind and unprovocative grandpa, or the strong, aggressive fighter in front of me? Or is it BOTH?'

Gosha panted turning back to Legosi and Savon. "You two are not hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm fine grandpa/I am fine Gosha, they didn't even attack us."

"What about you grandpa? Are you okay?"

Gosha was so engrossed in the conversation, that he didn't notice another thug sneaking up behind him.

"Don't worry this is not my blood-"

Suddenly Legosi lunged and grabbed the thug by his neck. Gosha looked over with surprise, while Savon simply smirked.

"You're going to finish him, Legosi?"

Legosi simply looked back at the thug, before letting go and kicking him with all his might, sending the guy flying. The bird got up and ran away.

"Damnit, these guys are crazy!"

Legosi looked around at the bodies of the birds. "I hope they'll be okay."

Gosha smiled, all while picking up his cardigan sweater and putting it back on himself. "Well, i did smack them around a bit, but they'll wake up in few hours, give or take."

'Aaand he's back to the 'grandpa' mode, that cardigan sweater doesn't look good on him anymore though.'

"By the way grandpa, you better wipe away those stains on your face, you can't go out looking like that in public."

"Oh. Better find a place with water then!"

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After finding a place to wash off blood, the trio went back to the Dokugumi compound.

There were no more curious looks sent towards Legosi, everyone looked at him with either welcoming, or doubtful gazes.

'Seems like news spread fast here.'

When they finally stopped, a big building was in front of them.

'The main headquarters, if I heard Caesar right yesterday. But what are we doing here?'

Savon turned over to them.

"Okay you two, while we were walking back to the compound, I was informed that the elder members of Dokugumi demanded you two to be present at Lunch."

'Lunch, what's so serious about it?'

While Legosi was looking confused, Gosha tensed. Savon meanwhile turned his gaze to Legosi.

"I don't know what they want from you. But Legosi, while we are there, you don't utter a single word, and stay as calm as physically possible. It's considered bad behaviour for a komodo dragon, even if they are one only by a quarter, to be expressive during such formal meetings."

Legosi tensed immediately. Savon, noticing that, layed a hand on his shoulder and gave a firm squeeze.

The trio walked in the building, after a few minutes, and waiting Savon to change back in his normal clothes, they walked into a spacious room, with a big traditional rectangular table in the middle, at which sat 6 different komodo dragons. Legosi took the time to study them. All of them looked a bit younger than Gosha is.

'My best guess, they're in their early/late forties, give or take.'

All of the komodo dragons gave an almost imperceptible nod to Savon, which he reciprocated. Then he gestured Legosi and Gosha to their sits. As Legosi sat down, he found himself sandwiched between two of the elders, his grandpa right across the table. For a moment, they all traced their gazes towards Legosi, which made him tense up. Thankfully, they didn't remain fixated on him for more than a few seconds, and redirected their focus on Savon, who looked down at the food, and finally took the first bite. After that, as if by impulse, everyone else started eating, which prompted Legosi to do so too. As soon as he took ate the first piece, he felt his mouth being assaulted by an even stronger flavor than the first time. It took him all his willpower to not make any sounds, but he, thankfully, stayed silent, and only now noticed the accessing stares of the other komodo dragons, and even Savon regarded him with curiosity, while Gosha looked very tense.

'They are trying to see if I will break under the pressure. News flash, I'm just fine.'

Finally, their attention drew back to their food, and the lunch proceeded without any accidents.

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30 minutes later, everyone were done, and now were making small talk. At the same time, Legosi was thinking about the events that took place from yesterday to the current hour.

Suddenly Savon stood up, and everyone else followed his lead, which prompted Legosi to do the same.

'Probably because we're done with the lunch.'

"Gochisousama deshita!"

Savon's sudden exclamation startled Legosi out of his thoughts, and then he noticed that everyone opened their mouths to reciprocate his words, and he hurried to do it with them.

"GOCHISOUSAMA DESHITA!"

After that, everyone started leaving the room, and after a few minutes later, Legosi, Savon, and Gosha were all alone in the room. Savon gave Legosi an approving look.

"Good job kid. Everything went as I wanted it to. One thing I'm sure of, is that they don't dislike you. Also, now that we are done, you should probably go back to the academy. I'm sure people are worried sick."

Legosi's eyes went as wide as saucers. He completely forgot about it. Savon simply laughed at him.

"Come on kid, let's take you home."

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After taking all of his belongings from the guest apartment, Savon and Gosha have gone with to a car, standing in a garage. The driver brought them to the gates of Cherryton, and after saying their goodbyes, Legosi walked into the academy.

Глава

"Where the hell were you, Legosi!?" "I'd like to know that too."

Legosi stood in front of Louis and Bill, who looked equally, annoyed and, surprisingly, worried. All of the Drama Club were just watching. Louis spoke up again.

"Well? I don't have all day."

"After splitting up with everyone, I was lucky enough to find an exit. But, well, it wasn't the one we walked into, it lead to another block. The good thing is, that a good friend of mine was leaving there, so I decided to stay with them for the time being, and, well, we haven't seen each other for quite a long time, cause of Cherryton being a boarding school, so I decided to take the chance to catch up."

Bill seemed content with that explanation, so he simply nodded and left to do his thing, so did the most of the Drama Club members. Louis on the other hand, still was searching Legosi's face for something, before sighing and gesturing someone. A wolf came up to them, a girl, to be exact.

"This is Juno. She is the new member of our club, so please treat her with welcoming. She already introduced herself to everyone, except you. Now, I've said everything I wanted to, so I must go back to my business."

Louis walked away, living the two wolves in the room, alone, with the exception of a few other members still working on something of their own. Juno cleared her throat.

"So, as Louis-sempai said, I am Juno. What is your name?"

'She totally knows it. The look in her eyes says it all. Okay, I'll play along, for now.' "Legosi."

The girl gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, that he, no matter how innocent and pretty they looked, didn't like.

"So tight lipped. I hoped we could get to know each other better." Legosi absolutely DID NOT like her. Not with that suggestive tone.

"S-Sorry, I've got things to do, gotta talk with the others, with me disappearing for almost a day, that is. I don't really have time, sorry, bye!"

Legosi immediately turned away, and swiftly walked out of the club, not even listening to Juno calling him.

'What is wrong with that girl!? Aren't you supposed to, i don't know, talk about such things...Wait, didn't she say that she wanted to get to know me better? No, no, she definitely did not mean what I have in mind. Plus, I only love Haru-chan anyway.'

Legosi stopped in his tracks.

'Wait, do I really love her? Or is it the predator in me speaking?' Legosi sat down on a bench and cupped his head in hands.

'Is it really love, or do I wish to eat her so badly, that it turned into an obsession, that I mistook for love?'

"Legosi?"

The wolf in question looked up, and in front of him stood Jack. "Jack?"

"Where were you!? I was so worried!"

"Uhm, Jack, how about we discuss it in our dorm? I don't really wanna talk here, in public." Jack just fondly shook his head.

"Sure thing. Now that I think about it, everyone were worried, so yeah, a reasonable request. C'mon!"

Jack started walking in the direction of the dormitories, and Legosi was right behind him.

After a few minutes of walking, they were standing in front of the door to room 701. Legosi opened it, and was assaulted by what effectively was a dog pile. The four dogs started firing a question after a question. Legosi desperately looked at Jack, silently asking for help, which Jack provided.

"Alright, alright everyone, calm down. Let Legosi go for now, let him explain what happened."

'For now? Are you serious Jack?'

After that, Legosi gave them the same excuse he made up for the drama club, patiently answering any questions, the resident canines had for him. Suddenly, Collot spoke up.

"Anyway, we are glad to have you back, Legosi. Now...EVERYONE, DOGPILE ATTACK!!!"

'Wait, what did he just-'

Before Legosi could utter a word, everyone, even Jack, jumped on him, starting a roughhousing match, that happened quite a few times, although Legosi never joined those.

Right now though, he couldn't bring himself to care, as he had the innate urge to join in, like he always have, although this time, he decided to indulge.

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About 10 minutes later everyone were laying around the room, panting and laughing. Even Legosi, known for being pretty inexpressive, was chuckling, which surprised all of the dogs in the room. Durham decided to voice what everyone had on their mind.

"Didn't know you could smile, let alone laugh, Legosi."

Legosi quieted down immediately, which made everyone groan in disappointment. "You just had to ruin everything, Durham."

"Shut up, Miguno! I wasn't the only one who wanted to say that, and you know it!"

"Yeah, yeah.On a more serious note though, Legosi, you should do more of that, smiling and laughing, I mean."

This prompted Legosi to smirk, with fangs, which made everyone do a 'Le gasp'. "Yeah, well, I'd prefer to keep my mysterious aura safe, y'know?"

Everyone sat up.

"...Who are you, and what you did with our Legosi?!"

After a few seconds of silence, everyone burst out in laughter, except Legosi, who this time only smiled.

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On the next day, Legosi came earlier than most, so there was almost no one in the practice room.

'I came here too early.'

He looked down on the projectors, took a rag, and sat down on the floor.

'I should just polish the equipment...Huh?' Legosi looked in a mirror.

'Am I getting taller?'

He groaned with exasperation, and layed down.

'I wish I'd stop growing...Great, my nails are elongating again.'

Suddenly, another pair of arms appeared in his vision. He looked to the left, and saw Juno laying there.

"Is this some kind of a good luck ritual to energize yourself, or something?"

'Or something...WAIT WHAT THE HELL!?'

Legosi immediately rolled away. 'How did I not notice her get here?!'

"Juno-san!W-w-w-when did you get here!?"

Juno sat up on her knees, and her face adopted a sheepish look.

"Just now. I'm sorry for scaring you...You're pretty early, Legosi-Senpai." "Well, I'm usually never busy."

'Okay, I'm going to talk to her, and then when a good moment comes up, excuse myself.' Legosi inwardly sighed.

'Although, I guess she's very beatiful, so maybe it'll be somewhat okay.' "So, what team you're in, Juno-san?"

"I'm in actor team, Legosi-Senpai."

"And how's it going for you? Having any fun?" "Actually, it's been kind of difficult lately." Legosi raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

Juno looked genuinely sad for a few moments. 'Sheesh, now I kinda feel like I'm being rude to her.'

"Well, due to the recent devourings, people's been...hard on me." Legosi winced.

'Yeah, kinda understand you there, Juno-san.' "Must be rough, hope everything will be fine." Juno brightened a little.

"Thank you, Legosi-Senpai...You know, the actor team is supposed to dance in light along with the dance team. After my audition, I was assigned a role, but I was the only one who wasn't told about it."

'Sabotage? Strange...I thought everyone in the club got along, or at least, are tolerant to each other. Even me and Bill, although the relationship between us is pretty loose, we tolerate each other just fine.'

"It doesn't help that the female members are avoiding me for some reason. But I've gone off track. So, my role is supposed to be a carnivorous tyrannosaurus..."

"I was later told, 'I bet you can pull this role off just fine'."

'Well, that's just plain insulting. No one should offend a female like that, no matter what species.'

"...But you know, while that may have been an idea of theirs to tease me, I decided that need to dance beautifully, no matter what role I'm offered, so I came here early to practice."

Legosi couldn't help but be impressed by her determination. 'Maybe I misjudged her back then.'

"You know, I could help you. I am in charge of the lights after all. And the year before that, perhaps I can offer you some advice.''

Suddenly, Juno's eyes lit up, and she jumped right next to him. "I want you to watch me dance! Now!''

"What? Right now?"

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A few minutes later, Juno was dancing, and Legosi was giving the rhythm.