Chapter Text
Slowly, the air starts getting into Riki's lungs, the sore throat from the yells was present, as soon as he stopped. The human like creature on his bed still looking at him with his dropped ears like a puppy, but with the form of a big feline, and the most important detail: it has the voice of Masato.
If Masato were in his bed, he'd already be out putting himself between Riki and the creature, but he's not. That feeds the possibility that the creature, somehow, must be his friend.
"What's wrong?" The creature asks, still not moving from the bed.
"How you know my name?" Riki holds onto a chair, trying to gain some support to stand up; his legs still aren't responding.
"What? Riki it's me Masato!" The feline replies with a tinged of awkwardness and desesperation in his voice.
"Y–you don't look like him." Riki's breathing is charged with fear and his legs are unsteady.
Before the creature could check himself, a couple of strong knocks interrupt the confrontation.
"Naoe, are you all right? What's happening there?" The voice talking is from the dorm head. He's outside, concerned by the yells from moments ago; the hallway is full of students that went out after the bustle.
"It w- was..." Riki stutters, not really knowing what to do.
If he exposes the creature, would it hurt him before the students come in or get a teacher? But at that moment, when he was fearful for his life, he sees how nervous the creature looks at him. The way its hands fidget, nervous about what to say or do in this situation. But the detail that give away his identity were his eyes. Even when they now have another shape and color, they still have the same sadness and regret that Masato has shown since they were kids.
"S-Sorry it was... was a prank by my roommate. That scared me," Riki apologizes, still looking for strength to stand for himself.
An averlapping grunts blast outside the room, "Next time control yourself, we were alarmed."
When the hallway is empty, the two roommates are alone again, both look at each other, wondering how to proceed.
"Masato, look at yourself. What happened to you?"
Masato looks at his hands; they're an amalgamation of a human hand and a paw, they're layered with a thick orange layer of fur with sharp claws. The transformed boy yells in panic upon seeing the predicament he's into. Everyone outside the room thought the scream was for Riki's revenge and just ignored them.
"Wha- What's this Riki, what happened to me?" Masato leaves the bed, mortified with the inexplicable matter.
Riki still keeps his roommate at arm's length, looking at the creature that his friend morphed into. Masato's body type still the same, but the presence of the big pointy ears, claws, fangs and orange fur with black stripes made his body stay alert.
"I–I don't know... Masato." Referring the creature with that name feels weird in his mouth. "We need to think about something... But I don't even know where to start."
Masato walks from one wall to another while examining his body, with a thick and long tail behind him. There's fur in every centimeter of his body, looking at it makes him shiver. Where does the skin he had hours ago went? Would it still find under all of it, or is there another horror awaiting him?
"Riki," he cries out and falls on his knees, "What did I do?"
Even when Riki doesn't have an answer to the question, he must at least show him he's there; ready to help.
"We'll find out," Riki assures.
"B-But look at me," Masato stands up, "How could I even leave the room like this?"
"I-In the meantime, just stay here and I'll see what I can do." Riki doubts every word he pronounces. He can't be certain about what to do, but he must calm him somehow, even with those half lies.
The taller boy walks to the lower bunk and sits on it, defeated. Masato's eyes cast down to his feet.
--
Riki walks around the room for his uniform and books, as he would do in any normal day, while Masato remains static sitting on the bed. When the smaller student is ready to leave, he puts a hand over his roommate's shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"I'm leaving Masato," Riki says with a soft tone that gets no answer.
The fur on his friend feels warm and soft, and with a movement that feels rather natural, the smaller roommate travels his had from the shoulder to the top of his head. Which makes Masato's face lifts up as a lighting. His expression isn't hiding his surprise in the first not fearful eye contact, in the last 30 minutes.
"I'm leaving Masato, I'll be back soon and everything will be back to normal." Riki reassures, which his friend replies with an ample smile.
"Thanks Riki," Masato says with a brighter attitude.
--
When Riki leaves the room, Masato is alone with his thoughts, which eventually makes him feel hopeless about the situation he's in.
"No, don't be fatalistic," he stammers, "I can't let down Riki."
Riki's approval weigh on him in an unusual way. But it's better that than let himself run wild with his mind. Masato looks around the room, looking for something to distract himself with. The books are way too boring for him; exercising was tempting, but getting all sweaty without a bath isn't ideal.
The transformed boy just stays on the bed trying to not fall in panic. Until he closes his eyes, in an attempt to meditate in his situation. When a known smell reach to his new olfactory sense: it was a combination scents. When Kyousuke and Kengo visit the room, once in a while, they comment on how the place reeks of their sweat, even Riki have agreed with them, but even with that, his roommate has never stopped him from exercising inside.
Masato keeps his eyes close, recalling how thoughtful his friend has always been with him. The conflicted boy feels calmer with the idea of their scents, that might bring complains from others, now serve as evidence of them existing together in this room. Masato's unobservable blush heats his face and ears. He darts his eyes at the closed door, feeling ashamed for his thoughts, as if Riki would comeback to recriminate him.
Masato sheepishly crawls into Riki's bed, with the blanket right under his nose geeting to the source of his calm: the roommate of shining eyes and strong will.
"Riki," Masato hums with a smile on his covered face.
A massive puff leaves the bed, moving part of the smaller furnitures and decorations. Masato is back to his normal body, but he fall asleep, like a bird in their comfortable nest.
--
Meanwhile, Riki has been in class trying to keep his cool, avoiding the questions about Masato's fever. The basic excuse he could think of for everyone. Pretty common and easy to believe.
"I see," the teacher said, "After class go to the infirmary then."
Riki continues the day as usual, thinking about how he would even start asking for help, without exposing his friend as some sort of circus phenomenon.
At some point, in the middle of the class, while the history teacher explains about hunters and their relationship with the richer class. At that moment, the thought about Rin, and her knowledge with cats, flashes on her mind. Even when Masato is easily the biggest one she would see, she might be helpful.
--
At lunch, Riki manages to get a word with Rin, while she was feeding the cats in the school.
"Uh... Rin," Riki stammers, "Can you help me with something about cats?"
"Sure, what's the matter?" She asks not really paying attention to him.
"What'd you do if a there's a cat... That really isn't a cat?" Riki face-palms for the absurd nature of the question, but he still got a proper answer from the cat connoisseur.
"First off, I'd remind it who's the real one and help it accept it, with pride and love. I'd be supporting it in each step," Rin says while carress Cobain with tender care.
"Uh." Riki it's taken back by the answer, since he was expecting being called an idiot. "Thanks Rin, you must be right"
--
The classes end and Riki leaves the classroom straight for the infirmary. He needs to keep the lie of his roommate's sickness, as real as posible. Riki reaches for his goal, the room with a distinctive smell of antibiotics and hand sanitizer. The nurse isn't at his desk, but is attending a student in the third year with a fissure on two of his fingers.
"It hurts, be ca–" The president of the taekondo club groans. The nurse keeps quiet, while pressing enough the buddy taping.
When Riki tries to leave the place, to not hinder the real emergency. That's when the nurse notices him.
"Oh! Do you need something?" The nurse asks, ignoring the pain of the other student.
"Something for a fever," Riki replies.
"Alright." The nurse give a few taps to the fractured finger. "Gimme a sec, I'll get the medicine."
Both students end alone while the nurse patiently walks to the plastic drawers at the other room.
"... How did it happen?" Riki tries a small talk.
"Some beast last night wanted to fight me, for some stupid reason." The burly boy replies with a grimace. "He thought he could get me just because I was going home, but I taught him a lesson. These fingers are nothing compared with the kick I landed on his stupid face."
"Did you report them?"
"The coward fled when I turned back to him, plus I didn't see his face, but I could see the freak was smiling since the moment he encountered me, and after I probably broke his nose. But he was just strength and no technique."
Both keep talking about who could be and why, until the nurse walks back in the room.
"Here!" He announces, "Take one every 8 hours."
After closing the door with the medicine in his blazer pocket, Riki walks as fast as he can. He feels he wasted way too much time, leaving a his friend this much time isn't right. Masato could be desperate for someone to help him.
--
After trying to not panic in his way to the room, he stands next to the door, recalling the morning. The creature that revealed himself as Masato, the fear he felt and the regret after giving such reaction, his friend didn't deserve being seen as a monster by his dearest friend. Riki clenches his fist, ready to put Masato first in this situation, since he must be the most scared and needed of the two.
The doorknob slowly turns, and the student comes in. He notices a couple of things are moved, but still in a better condition than he expected.
There's a figure on his bed, completely under his blanket, making its chest rise and fall with the rhythm of his breathing. Riki prepares himself to wake him up and put the best face he could. But when he moves the cover, there wasn't any fur or big pointy ears, instead the calm face of Masato welcomes him.
"Masato!!" Riki shouts.
The other student abruptly wakes up, sitting straight on the bed, where a hug from Riki welcomes him in the dizziness of his return from dreamland.
"You're back," Riki's voice breaks, "you're human again."
Masato raises his hand, to see that the fur and claws are gone. With clumsy movements, he leaves the bed, still with Riki hanging on his neck. When they're out, the taller man squishes his friend. He starts spinning around the room, not caring about the books, magazines and chairs that fall with inadvertent hits.
After a couple of minutes of causing chaos in the small room, until, with at an abrupt halt, the embraced friends, still squeezing in each other, start talking.
"How? How did you comeback?" Riki asks almost crying.
At that moment, Masato recalls how the smell of the room as reminder of their time together, was what most likely brought him back. He couldn't say something like this, but how to lie to his dear friend? The same one that has been in his more secret thoughts.
"Masato?" Riki asks, his breath hitting the neck of the ashamed boy. It makes his skin react with its warmth.
"W–when I was," The conflicted boy stammers, "in your bed, where your smell and mine combined made me realizes th... That we– we exist together in this room. And that calmed me"
The words weigh in the room, Masato regrets his confession, but lying would make him feel unworthy to share a room with his dearest friend.
"Well." Riki takes distance from the other boy, still embracing him, with his feet's tips barely on the floor. "That means we still don't know how to stop whatever it's going on."
"But I'm human again, everything is fine." A part of Masato is glad Riki didn't make any comment about his confession.
Riki unholds his friend, looking at the evasive eyes of his roommate. "I'm glad you're back, but we still don't know what happened, how to stop it or if it'd happen again."
Masato knows that, but he still wanted to celebrate it, he craves to feel the lips of Riki close to his skin, the arms circling his neck. In an approximation that now feels shameful and forbidden.
"I know, but can we... do it tomorrow?" A selfish request leaves his mouth.
Riki knows it's irresponsible to leave things as they are, not really solving anything. But he can't find strength in him to say no to his friend, the one that must have been suffering all day. Depressed, considering how he was sleeping through the whole day until he returned.
"I guess we can dedicate the weekend to how to solve this," Riki says while Masato beams his widest grin. "Let's take a bath and eat something," he says, knowing at this hour is way too early for any student to bathe or eat dinner, leaving space if Masato goes back to his another form.
"Thank you Riki!" Masato shouts hugging his friend in a intense embrace, this time a slight blush is visible on his happy face.
--
Inside the locker room, Riki was proved right: the place was empty for them. Masato runs to the open door of the bath after leaving his clothes in a locker. While Riki takes his time planning an emergency exit, just in case something goes south.
After leaving his uniform and his clean outfit, he fixes his hair in the mirror, when a sneeze announces his arrival. That makes him stop, awaiting it, until it came. A strong puff manifests, which makes the open lockers strongly shut. Riki opens his eyes to see, with horror, how he's wearing an old outfit just like a hunter.
"What's this?" He says feeling the brown clothes and the old gun in his back. "Me too?"
He examines himself in the big mirror, when the voice of the teacher, in today's class, leaking through his mind. The topic was hunters and their relationship with the rich class.
"...And the hunters were focused on specimens with endangered population, making their heads a prestigious trophy, even when it could doom the whole species," the teacher said, tired of reading the same material every year.
Riki is brought back with the realization that if he's the hunter, then Masato is the beast he must hunt.
"Riki, are you coming?" Masato's voice gets closer to the closed door, along with his wet steps.