Chapter Text
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Having told Legoshi that “The Hint is within you”, Rokume slithered away and left the wolf alone in front of the closed auditorium. Without having anything more to do, Legoshi went back to the laundry room to collect his basket of cleaned clothes. Walking back to the dorm, the gray wolf grabbed a toolbox to fix the hole he had punched previously through the wall right above his bed. After reaching Room 701, the first thing that Legoshi did was sorting out his laundry and following that he started repairing the damage done to the wall. All of his roommates have fallen asleep in the meantime. It took almost 2 hours of work to patch up the wall. It was midnight by the time he finished his work. Legoshi wanted to go to sleep like the rest of his canine friends but he couldn’t because of the task that he had been given by Rokume. He didn’t know where to start looking for suspects and he was frustrated because of the lack of information he had at his disposal. To calm himself, the gray wolf proceeded to gaze at the moon through the dorm window. That night the moon shone brightly and illuminated the lawn and the path in front of the dormitory. Legoshi looked with hope at the moon, thinking that maybe it will help him solve this case
After a few minutes, the gray wolf looked down at the path and saw something. It looked like some kind of animal, he couldn’t tell which species exactly because it was wearing a hoodie that covered most of its upper torso and face. Legoshi thought: “Nobody leaves the school that late, maybe he is the best suspect to start my investigation with?” He stood there for a few seconds thinking before throwing an old hoodie onto himself and dashing down the stairs to the entrance of the dormitory. Having reached the front door, he opened it gently and started looking around for the animal he saw earlier. He spotted it still walking down the same path which led to the school’s front gate. He sneakily approached the path and followed the animal keeping some distance between him and this creature. Seeing that the animal didn’t notice him or at least didn't seem to notice him he took the time to analyze what kind of animal he was walking behind. The first thing he noticed was that both of the sleeves of its hoodie were rolled up and he could clearly see a gray fur that covered the muscular arms of this creature. After seeing that, he decided to sniff out the scent of the animal, but something was wrong. He could clearly distinguish the gray wolf scent but there were also other scents mixed in. Something was clearly wrong but Legoshi didn’t give up and followed the animal till they reached the main gate. At that moment the creature finally spoke:
- If you wanted to spy on me you should be more discreet about it.
Legoshi was suprised by that and quickly took on his fighting position, preparing for what may come next.
- What? You want say anything young wolf?
Legoshi was even more surprised and thought: “How in hell does he know that I am a wolf?! He didn’t see me at all!”
After that there was a moment of silence. During that moment the animal turned around and took off its hoodie which at first revealed a set of canine teeth then a canine snout and then, at last, the whole head. Legoshi was stunned, right before him stood a gray wolf that looked a lot like him. He had a very similar color scheme as Legosi but his dark fur was a darker tone of blue and his light fur was a lighter color than that of Legoshi’s. Even the eyes of those two wolves were the same.
Legoshi stumbled a bit after seeing almost an identical face looking directly back at him.
The creature spoke again with a bit of a smirk on his face:
- Like looking into a mirror right?
- Who are you?! - Asked confused Legoshi.
- Someone that you probably suspected for doing something terrible. My lucky shot is that you are suspecting me for being that murderer which killed that Alpaca some time ago - said the creature.
Legoshi stood there dumbfounded. “How the hell did he know that I was following him for that exact reason?!”
- So I was right, you are suspecting me.
- How the hell did you know?! - finally asked Legoshi.
- Pretty simple. First of all, normal students aren’t awake at midnight and wouldn’t try to follow an unknown animal that was walking in the middle of the night. Secondly you wouldn’t try to be sneaky if you weren’t suspecting that I was dangerous.
Legoshi was once again dumbfounded and the only thing he could spat out was:
- How…
- You aren’t one of the brightest aren’t you?
The wolf only looked angrily at the other wolf before asking again:
- Who are you?
- A person that might help you with your little investigation and may have a few tips for you, but if you want them, then you have to go with me.
After that, the wolf turned around and went on its way. Legoshi having no other options and being desperate to have anything to start his the Killer’s case decided to follow that mysterious wolf to wherever he was leading him to.
It took some time to get to the place where this mysterious wolf was going. During the walk, Legoshi noticed that they were approaching the surrounding areas of the Black Market. This made him feel uneasy but this feeling strengthened, even more, when he saw where they arrived. Before him stood an old warehouse. The front wall of this building was in a rather poor shape, rust was appearing near the roof and letters on the signboard that hung above the main door were missing. Speaking about the doors, this warehouse had two of those, the first one was made of steel and was massive. Underneath it laid a railway track that was probably connected to the main railway in the town. On the side of the building, there was another door, a lot smaller than the previous one and it seemed that it led into some kind of room. The stranger that Legoshi had followed pulled a key out of his pocket, inserted it into the lock and opened the door. The mysterious gray wolf gestured to Legoshi that he could come inside with him. Even though Legoshi still felt that the whole situation was shifty, he decided to go inside.
After passing through the door the grey wolf found himself standing in what he assumed was a living room mixed with a kitchen. In front of him, he could see a blue sofa and a coffee table with an armchair and on the right side, he saw a fully fitted-out kitchen with everything you would need to cook every dish you would desire. On the opposite wall, he saw three doors probably leading to other rooms of this weird house. The stranger seeing his guest standing in the doorway said:
- Go on, get inside and sit there on the sofa. I’m going to prepare myself a cup of black tea. Do you want one as well?
- Ehm Yes, yes, ... thank you.
Legoshi proceeded to go and sit on the sofa while the other wolf in the room started heating the water for the tea. After a few minutes the silence was broken by the whistle that was coming from the kettle. The strange wolf quickly poured the hot water into two cups, placed a teabag in each one and placed them on the coffee table. After that, he sat in the armchair and looked straight at Legoshi.
- So I guess we should start our conversation by introducing ourselves. My name is Kacper and I am a second-year student at Cherryton academy. As for you I already know your name is Legoshi and you are a part of the Drama Club - said the strange wolf.
- Wait, how do you know my name? - asked surprised Legoshi, feeling even more uneasy.
- Well, you remember when the Drama Club was putting on that play about the Grim reaper or something? I went on the second day of the premier because I didn’t have time to attend it on the first day and then I saw you beating the shit out of that tiger. I’m impressed and sad that I didn’t go on the first day if that was going to happen - said Casper in a gentle voice with a little smirk on his face while stirring the tea he was holding.
- Oh, that one, Heh I wasn’t acting that day, I was a replacement for another actor, and that day I didn’t take hold of my emotions - said Legoshi with an awkward smile on his face. He was ashamed of what he did that day.
After that there was a moment of silence. A minute later Legoshi finally asked:
- Hm... you said that you are a second-year student at Cherryton, right?
- Yep.
- So why haven’t I seen you on the campus before today, a wolf of such stature would surely stand out from the crowd and turn heads.
- Well, most of my free time I spend in the school’s Library doing homework and I usually sit in the corner near the bookshelves, that’s probably why nobody notices me there. Also, I usually leave the campus at 8 p.m. so most students are occupied with their affairs, so they don’t see me leaving the school…
The wolf stopped talking for a second before continuing.
Also for that matter, I don’t really have friends at Cherryton... Most people are afraid of me so most people don’t dare talking to me… If I recall correctly you are pretty much the only person I have ever invited here to my house…
- That’s interesting… I have one more question for you.
- Go on.
- Why are you living here alone, where are your parents, or even grandparents?
Casper looked disturbed. He took a long sip of his tea, probably looking for an excuse to change the topic of the conversation. After a minute of silence the grey wolf finally spoke:
- So maybe we will change the topic and get back to the murder case that you are trying to solve, right?
- Yes, so what are the tips that you have for me?
- Well, I think you should start looking for suspects in the Drama Club?
- And why is that? As a matter of fact, why don’t you suspect that I was the murderer and I am just trying to cover my tracks?
- The answer to the second question is that a murderer wouldn’t come here with me because I could easily overpower him and also turn him in. Besides I just know that you aren’t a killer. As for the first question, I have looked through Tem’s social media accounts before trying to solve this case myself and from what I could tell, he didn’t have any relations with carnivores besides those from the Drama Club, so I think that you should start there.
- Okay, you proved your point but how should I start the search? I can’t just say “Hey carnivores from Drama Club, so Tem was murdered a while ago. Who do you suspect was the killer?” This would be just stupid.
- Of course, it would be! In my opinion, you should drop hints or certain words or phrases that may trigger the killer, HOWEVER, don’t make it too obvious that you are trying to find the culprit because the killer will figure out that you are looking for him and will try anything to get rid of you. Another strategy would be to talk to each carnivore on their own and try to extract who they suspect is the murderer. But doing this would mean you would need to talk to Bill and that would make for another brawl between you two, so that strategy is busted.
- So basically you suggest that I should try and trigger the killer?
- Pretty much, but be careful and don’t get yourself in trouble while doing that.
You for sure have a weirdly good knowledge of the situation for being a person that doesn’t belong to the Drama Club…
- I just have my ways of gaining knowledge… Anyway I can see that you aren’t really good at this all so I will try to help you with that, here is my phone number. Just send me a message if you found out about something new that would help solve the case or if you get yourself in trouble - after saying that Casper handed Legoshi a piece of paper with the number on it.
Legoshi took that note and put it into one of the pockets of his hoodie. Following that Casper took one last sip of his tea and said:
- Ufff it is very late, I need to go to bed or else I won’t get enough sleep.
- And I should probably go back to my dorm already, I hope none of my roommates found out I went somewhere - while telling that the grey wolf wanted to get up from the comfy sofa, but Casper stopped him.
- Whoa, wait it’s dangerous to go out at this time even for carnivores, especially here when you are near the Black Market, and also the dormitories close their doors at 1 a.m. and it is already past that time. So I propose you sleep here in the bedroom. What do you think?
- But the housemother will probably be very angry that I wasn’t at the campus?
- Meh, I will tell her that I was helping you learn for the next big test, that will surely diffuse her anger, also we will arrive there pretty early so I don’t think she or your roommates will even see realize at you were gone.
- Okay, but this isn’t going to be a problem for you?
- Not at all - said Casper with a little smile on his face.
- Okay, then I guess, I can stay the night. I will sleep on the sofa though. I don’t want to take your bed.
- Oh no you won’t. You are the guest so you will sleep in the bed and that’s final.
- Ehhh… Fine. So where was this bed that you were talking about?
- Right there - pointed Casper in the direction of the three doors on Legoshi’s right side (left side of the room looking from the main door’s perspective) - The second from the left is the bedroom, the first is the bathroom, and the third is just... a “closet”.
After saying that Casper proceeded to get up from the armchair that till this moment he was inhabiting and showed Legoshi the inside of said bedroom. This room was painted in light gray and featured a big bed in the middle of the space that was resting up against the opposite wall. There were a few pictures hung on the wall, but most of them were of landscapes and some were of some type of train. In the left corner, there was a chair and a desk filled with papers and all sorts of office equipment.
- Sorry for the mess - said embarrassed Casper - As I told you, I don’t really invite anybody here, so I clean this desk very rarely.
- No problem, I don’t really mind. - replied Legoshi.
- Well, as I have mentioned you can sleep on that bed, I will sleep over there on the sofa. If you need anything just wake me up, I’m a shallow sleeper so it shouldn’t be a problem.
- Oh about that, I’m very, very hard to wake up in the morning, so sorry for any problems that it might cause you.
That won’t be a problem. I have my own ways of waking people up... - said Casper with a bit of a smirk on his face
Legoshi didn’t know what Casper meant but he didn’t bother to ask.
- I forgot, If you want to take off your clothes you can put them on the chair there.
After saying that the other grey wolf proceeded to stretch out his arms and take off his shirt and hoodie. What Legoshi saw on the other wolf’s body was at least a bit disturbing. Legoshi saw a field of scars on Caspers torso and arms. He couldn’t see it before because they were covered up by his clothing. The gray wolf wanted to ask about those wounds but he decided to let go of this since it was already late and also the other wolf had already left the bedroom.
In a few minutes both wolves had fallen asleep and that was the end of this very eventful day.
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Authors note: This is the whole first chapter, at least it semi-finished version (I need to have it checked from the grammatical side), but if you want to you can read this chapter in a form of a manga. My friend from Reddit has done an amazing job and converted this chapter into manga form almost without changes. I really advise you to see it. Link is here: Link
Update (30.01.2023): Hey there again! I tweaked the story here and there trying to make it better. Maybe after that year long haitus I will finally continue the story... Who knows...