Chapter Text
April 4, Monday
The sun was shining bright and early in the morning. A blue car drove down a highway in the long, gray city.
In the driver's seat was a large wolf with gray fur and a cream-colored streak traveling from his face down to his belly. On his right eye was a claw mark scar.
In the passenger's seat was a beautiful female dwarf rabbit, her fur as white as snow. She had an adorably feminine face that was currently staring at a smartphone in her tiny hands.
The contrast between these two could not be more apparent. A giant and intimidating wolf and a cute little rabbit. Predator and prey by nature. Yet the teenager in the backseat was something incredibly unusual in nature.
What looked like an abnormally tall rabbit stared out the car window. He tapped a finger on the glass in boredom, his lengthy and sharp claw clicking against it.
His fur pattern was identical to the wolf in the front, indicating a genetic relation. Behind him, he didn't have a little cotton ball-like tail, but instead a long and fluffy one, clearly canine, and atop his head were some very long rabbit ears.
While it was clear who his parents were, he didn't have either of their eyes. His father's eyes were closer to a reptile than a wolf, as that was who his grandfather was. The wolf-rabbit instead had gold-colored, lupine eyes, supposedly inherited from his grandmother on his father's side.
He was wearing the Cherryton school uniform. It consisted of a blue vest, vertically striped gray pants, and suspenders. It also came with a blazer but that part was optional, so he left it off.
The male lupine driving the car was Legosi the gray wolf, a factory worker at the Denko steel plant.
The female rabbit next to him was his wife, Haru the dwarf rabbit. She doesn't have a full-time job like her husband. She just grows flowers in a greenhouse to sell when they're ready. However, she takes her work very seriously.
Haru turned away from her phone to look at her son. "Excited to start high school, Lee?"
The wolf-rabbit stared wistfully out the window as the buildings and people of the city flew by. "Yeah."
The city is always a twenty-minute drive from home. Like I always have to be away from it. But now I have to live here?
His mother turned towards him with a sad but understanding look. "You're not looking forward to it, are you?"
Lee sighed. "School always sucks. Carnivores make fun of me, and herbivores are afraid of me. I can never make any friends."
Legosi shook his head. "That's not true. You've got some old friends. They're going to Cherryton too."
The wolf-rabbit looked unconvinced. "We've known each other so long because you're friends with their parents. Nobody else ever wants to talk to me or even be seen with me."
Legosi's ears lowered sadly, but perked back up as an idea hit him. "Why don't you join the Drama Club? That place was like a bridge where herbivores and carnivores could get along. I'm sure they'll be accepting of a hybrid."
Lee looked uncertain. "Is it still around?"
Legosi nodded. "Yeah, Louis-senpai told me that they're restarting it this year."
The wolf-rabbit stared thoughtfully out the window again.
Drama Club, huh? Well, it's something to do, I guess.
The car came to a stop right outside the school, and everyone got out. Lee grabbed his blue backpack and tossed it over one shoulder.
He could see students walking around the campus. A massive variety of colorful beasts, big, small, or something in-between.
The campus itself had tall buildings of various colors and was situated at the top of a plateau, which gave him a great view of the city.
Everyone looks so different from each other. Maybe I won't stand out as much.
Legosi tightly embraced his son with a smile on his face. "Take care, Lee."
The gray wolf released Lee, allowing Haru to hug him next. "Love you, sweetie." Her eyes glinted mischievously. "And if anybody picks a fight, remember your training. Aim for the legs."
Legosi gave his wife a disapproving stare. "If there's no other option."
Haru waved dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever the situation calls for."
The gray wolf rolled his eyes but looked away from her and at his son. "Just stay out of trouble, Lee."
Lee laughed loudly as he backed away from his parents. "Thanks, guys. I'll see ya!"
The wolf-rabbit walked away, heading straight to the dorms. As he walked, he could hear his father mumble something. "Twenty years and it still looks the same."
Immediately, several students started staring at the hybrid and talking.
"That's one tall rabbit!"
"Hey, that's not a rabbit! He has a wolf tail!"
"Duuude, he's one of those hybrids!"
"Aren't they super dangerous? Why is one here?!"
"So freaky…"
"I get that he's tall and has claws, but you guys realize you're being intimidated by a rabbit, right?"
Lee's ears lowered, and he sighed in frustration with an irritated look.
First day of school is always the most annoying. People won't stop whispering. But like anything else, they'll get bored of me eventually. Or at least most of them will. Outside of being a hybrid I'm just not a very interesting person.
Lee continued on his way, unwilling to engage with anyone talking about him.
The campus was so big and open, the ground covered in dirt paths. The wolf-rabbit reached into his pocket, pulled out the pamphlet all new students got, and started reading it.
I'm in the male herbivore dorms. Now, which building is that?
Lee stood outside room 216, located on the second level of the building.
He stepped inside the room to find it was somewhat cramped. All the beds seemed to be little holes in the wall with curtains on them for privacy.
Smaller than I would've liked, but I guess this is okay. Dunno how I feel about sleeping in a literal hole in the wall.
Lee put his backpack in a nearby closet and pulled out a black permanent marker. He approached the top bunk on the right side of the room.
Dad said to write my name on the bunk I want. I don't think the pamphlet said I can't do it.
He started writing down his name. As soon as he was finished, he cringed at his horrible handwriting.
Now my roommates get to disapprove of my genes and my proficiency with a marker.
The wolf-rabbit's ears twitched when he heard the door open. He took a deep breath, readying himself.
Please don't hate my guts... Please don't hate my guts…
He turned to face his roommate but flinched in surprise.
Before him was a fairly tall rabbit, however, he was still shorter than Lee. His fur was perfectly, vertically asymmetrical, his right half black and his left white, indicating he must be a harlequin rabbit.
However, what caught Lee off-guard was how big the rabbit was. He was very overweight for a rabbit, with a huge belly, chubby cheeks, and a thick layer of fat completely obscuring his neck.
He wore a uniform that seemed tailor-made to fit his large body, and he carried a red backpack on his right shoulder.
The rabbit's expression soured immediately, glaring at Lee angrily. "The hell are you staring at, punk? Wanna say something about my weight?!"
Lee gulped, his face looking panicked, and his ears lowered in shame.
Oh, great! I've offended my roommate already! Good going, Lee! You're doing a real bang-up job making friends!
The wolf-rabbit quickly lowered himself into a deep bow. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare! I won't allow it to happen again!"
“...Snrk…”
Lee looked back up at his roommate. The rabbit was covering his mouth, seemingly holding back a laugh. Then he put his arms at his sides and started laughing with a big and happy smile on his face. "It's okay, man! I’m not mad, just messin’ with ya.”
The wolf-rabbit stared blankly for a bit before nervously laughing.
Rex, I hate when people do this kind of crap. Gah, whatever. I shouldn't have been staring at him anyway. Just makes me a big 'ol hypocrite.
The rabbit bowed. "The name's Oscar."
The wolf-rabbit bowed back, this time not as deep. "Lee."
Oscar looked Lee up and down. "Man, I thought I was tall for a rabbit. You're…"
The rabbit trailed off as he spotted Lee's claws. His eyes then traveled to the wolf-rabbit's fluffy tail. He seemed baffled as he studied the wolf-rabbit’s anatomy.
Lee braced himself.
Here we go…
Oscar looked back up at Lee’s face and nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Uh… This question is gonna sound super rude, but… What are you, exactly?"
Lee scratched at his ear unconsciously. "I'm a... hybrid. I'm considered a 'wolf-rabbit'."
The rabbit looked incredibly surprised. "No shit? Never met anybody like that before. That's pretty cool." The rabbit set his backpack down. "Hey, can I borrow that marker real quick?"
Lee handed him the marker. "Yeah, sure."
Oscar smiled. "Thanks."
The rabbit climbed up a ladder by the beds and started writing his name over the bunk beneath Lee's. The harlequin rabbit's handwriting looked considerably better than the hybrid's.
Lee had a quiet sigh of relief.
Thank Rex. This guy doesn't seem scared of me. Small herbivores usually react the worst around me.
The door opened again, and this time a rooster walked in. He had white feathers and red fleshy flaps on the top of his head and under his beak. His backpack was black with some kind of band logo on it. Lee couldn't read the name of the band though. It seemed to be in English.
He had a very strange smell to him. Lee could make out a faint scent that he didn't recognize. Whatever it was, it didn't smell good.
The rooster had a laidback smile. "Yo. Name's Eli."
Lee's ear twitched as he heard the rooster's voice.
That accent. Is he American?
Oscar and Lee bowed and introduced themselves.
Eli approached and stared at Lee for a bit looking very disturbed. "Uhh… I'm not hallucinating, am I?"
Lee shook his head. "I'm a wolf-rabbit hybrid."
The rooster gave a sigh of relief. "Good. I don't remember taking anything yet, so I got a little worried.”
As Eli walked by, Lee raised an eyebrow in confusion.
The hell is he talking about?
The door once again opened. A short, white goat came in with a gray backpack on him. He was fluffy with a very scrawny physique.
He nervously bowed. “H-hi, I’m Theo.”
The three introduced themselves. Theo set down his bag before turning his attention to Lee. He stared at him for a while until he seemed to notice the wolf-rabbit's claws and tail.
Theo’s face turned pale and he seemed very frightened. “Y-you’re…”
Lee winced.
I guess it was too much to hope that all of my roommates would be cool about it.
The wolf-rabbit held his hands up. “H-hey, there’s nothing to be scared about, man. I’m an herbivore, like you.”
The goat stared at him with distrust before walking past and over to his bed, seemingly trying to hide his trembling.
The door creaked open. An anteater was the next to come in. He was short and gray with a very lengthy snout. His green backpack was fairly large.
The rest of the room introduced themselves again.
The anteater looked incredibly bored. "I'm Stanley."
He took a look around the room and spotted Lee. He tilted his head curiously for just a moment, but then he just walked by.
I'll take indifference over a freakout any day.
Once again the door opened, signaling the arrival of what had to be the final roommate. This time it was a slim yet muscular zebra. He was built like an athlete.
Everyone introduced themselves.
The zebra set down a gray duffle bag he was carrying. "Albert." He didn't sound terribly enthused.
Albert's eyes were immediately drawn to Oscar instead of Lee. The zebra looked surprised, but that shock quickly turned into disgust, making the harlequin rabbit shrink back uncomfortably.
Lee glared at the zebra disapprovingly.
This dude's gonna be a total dick. I can feel it.
The zebra's eyes were drawn towards Lee at last. The more Albert looked at him the more disturbed his expression was until it turned into one of great fear, looking at Lee like some kind of monster. "Wh-what the hell are you?!"
Lee sighed with great exasperation and held his hands up again. "Look, man. I'm an herbivore like you. I'm just half-wolf. I don't eat mea-"
The zebra rapidly turned around. "Oh, fuck this!" The equine started running away down the hall, moving at an incredible speed.
The wolf-rabbit's ears lowered in sadness as he watched his roommate run from him in terror.
This is gonna be a problem.
Lee sat down in a large classroom. The desks were all just one long surface everyone shared and they were elevated off the ground with each one being higher the further you go back.
The front of the room showed a gigantic whiteboard and a male gazelle teacher sat at his desk, typing on a laptop.
As the classroom filed in, his eyes were drawn to a very tall, skinny, bespectacled brown bear that was just now taking a seat. Despite being massive, the ursine was largely ignored by most of the class. Yet several herbivores were staring at Lee fearfully.
The wolf-rabbit's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.
How come nobody's scared of that guy? The hell did I do to freak them out? I'm nowhere near that dude's size.
He glanced down at the bear again. The ursine smiled as he handed a spare pencil to an aardvark sitting directly next to him.
Then again, his face does look pretty friendly. Maybe if I had Mom's eyes...
Lee reached into his backpack, pulling out a laptop to take notes with.
Can't get distracted by this crap. Mom and Dad won’t be happy if I fail my classes.
Lee walked into the lunchroom and was caught off-guard by its appearance. It was a very large and open space dotted with countless tables. The very center was decorated with a large tree that had a clock carved into the face of the trunk.
Along the wall were a variety of signs indicating which food for which species were available. They must have to produce a massive amount of food. He grabbed a tray off of a big stack atop a nearby table and walked over to a sign with some tasty-looking veggies on it.
As he approached the counter, a female okapi smiled and grabbed a pair of tongs. “What would you like, dear?”
He pointed at a metal bin. “Can I get some of that salad over there?”
As the okapi started filling his plate she seemed to notice his claws and tail. “Are you… part wolf?"
Lee nodded. "I'm a wolf-rabbit."
The lunch lady pointed towards a sign with a picture of some brownish, meat-like patty. "We've got fake meat for carnivores if you want some."
Lee's left eye twitched as he tried to force a smile. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm an herbivore. I don't even eat fake meat."
Why do people keep thinking I’m a meat eater?! I don’t have fangs!
The okapi shrugged. "Just thought I'd ask. Another hybrid student came in and wanted the patty."
Lee looked at her with a baffled expression. "Another hybrid? What kind-" He cut himself off as his ears perked up. He nearly forgot.
"Uh, I need more food." He reached into the breast pocket of his vest, removing a doctor's note and handing it to the lunch lady.
She looked at it a bit but then blanched. "Geeze! Well, the note looks legit." The okapi handed the paper back and started piling more salad onto the plate. By the time she was done there was so much food it threatened to fall from the tray if he moved too fast.
Some of the other herbivores stared at him and started whispering.
The wolf-rabbit's ears lowered in embarrassment.
I can't help how fast I burn calories.
Ever since Lee was a small child he was very difficult to feed. Average-sized portions were too small for him and left him hungry. A doctor examined him and learned that his hybrid body burned calories at an unusual rate, and he digested his meals quickly. He was a pretty expensive child to feed.
"Hey, Lee-kun!"
Lee turned around and looked down to see Oscar standing in front of him with his own plate of food. He balked for a bit, staring at the tower of vegetables on the hybrid's plate. He shook himself out of it quickly though. "Y-you wanna sit with me?"
The wolf-rabbit nodded. "Sure."
Oscar started walking towards the nearest open table, taking a seat. Lee followed suit, sitting across from him.
The harlequin rabbit smiled. "So, Lee-kun. What're your parents like?"
Lee leaned back in his seat a bit. "My dad's name is 'Legosi'. He's a pretty big dude. He's super strong and works at a factory moving all the heavy stuff. He's usually super nice and polite."
Oscar chuckled. "Well if he's so big he's gotta be the wolf, right?"
Lee nodded. "His fur looks exactly like mine."
The harlequin rabbit took a bite of his salad. "So your mom's the rabbit then?"
"Yeah. Netherlands dwarf rabbit. Her name's 'Haru'. She's-"
" Pfft! Ack! "
Oscar started loudly coughing, gagging, and punching himself in the chest, looking confused and dismayed.
Lee shot up, a look of panic and concern on his face. "Oscar-kun?!"
The harlequin rabbit gulped, seemingly swallowing something. "I-I'm good. Just uhh… went down wrong."
Suddenly, Oscar seemed incredibly nervous. "H-Haru, huh? That's a nice name. D-did she go to this school?"
The wolf-rabbit looked surprised. "Yeah. Yeah, she did."
The harlequin rabbit put on a big smile, yet there was an undercurrent of discomfort and fear.
What's he so nervous about? Should I even ask?
Oscar took a bite of his salad again. "Heh heh. Good thing the food here is so healthy and tasty, right? I uhh… need to lose some weight in case you couldn't tell."
Looks like he wants to change the subject. Eh, whatever. At least I found someone willing to hang out with me.
The wolf-rabbit's stomach growled loudly. He couldn't wait anymore and started eating. Halfway through his plate, he noticed Oscar staring at him with shock and confusion.
Lee tilted his head. "What?" Finally, it clicked and he remembered. The wolf-rabbit also eats faster than most people, shoving food down his throat at an unreasonable pace. His table manners have always been pretty poor. "S-sorry."
Oscar waved it off. "Don't worry about it, man."
The wolf-rabbit chuckled nervously.
After class ended, Lee checked his pamphlet to find the Drama Club.
I hope Dad is right about this place.
Lee spotted what was clearly the practice building. It was made of brick and featured large, metal double doors.
He approached nervously, slowly opening the doors. Inside was a large room with a stage, props, steel catwalks, and theater lights. Everything about this room screamed "expensive".
The first person he noticed was the large brown bear from his first-period class. His height made him stick out like a sore thumb.
There were a few familiar faces, Stanley and Theo specifically. The instant Theo spotted Lee he scowled and looked away.
Maybe if I'm in this club long enough I can get my roommate to like me… I hope.
Immediately upon walking in, several students started staring at him. Herbivores looking intimidated, carnivores looking like they're trying not to laugh. All of them were crowded around someone he couldn't quite see, but could hear. Whoever it was had a very sweet and melodic voice, clearly a woman.
Hang on just a sec. Is that?
He pushed his way through the crowd, trying to see the center. He had a shocked look on his face when he made it.
There was a very pretty and curvaceous female black sheep standing in the center of the circle, holding a tablet and speaking to the crowd. However, Lee couldn't focus on what she was saying, too shocked by seeing such a familiar face.
He muttered under his breath. "Jolene-chan."
Why is she here? Isn't she Louis-san's secretary? Why is she running the Drama Club?
He looked her up and down. She wasn't wearing the Cherryton uniform or gym clothes. But it made no sense for her to be because there was no way she was a student. She should be twenty at this point.
Instead, she wore a fuzzy white sweater, a blue skirt, and a pair of black high heels. Dangling from her neck was a yin and yang necklace. Her wool was thick and as black as midnight.
The sheep looked up from her tablet to see Lee and jolted a bit upon seeing him. She seemed to glance around nervously, before clearing her throat and putting on a smile.
"Good to see you, Lee-kun." She pointed towards a hallway. "If you're here to join Drama Club, you should get changed into your gym clothes."
Lee nodded as if paying attention, but something was buzzing in his mind. A worrying and upsetting thought.
If Louis-san's secretary is here, then does that mean-?
Before he finished his thought his ears twitched as he heard someone walk in.
"Apologies for being late. I got just a tad caught up. Surely that won't be an issue?"
Lee's tail bristled as he recognized a familiar and unwelcome voice. That arrogant tone. There's only one person who could possibly be behind him. He turned around and his tail bristled with fury.
A golden-brown-furred, blue-eyed wolf entered the room. He was a slender young man with an angular face that had a pompous smirk. One that disappeared upon making eye contact with Lee, replaced by shock and then a hateful scowl.
The most noteworthy thing about this wolf though was the pair of deer antlers atop his head.
