The Path of Beastars

Sharing Secrets

Earlier this Morning

"Are you sure you're okay Louis? Your leg injury doesn't look like it's getting any better." Haji asked.

Ever since that night, Louis and Haji made a pact to keep whatever injuries they got hidden. Louis didn't want to sit out for the play, and Haji didn't want to reveal that he was attacked by a carnivore.

Louis took 2 painkillers and flushed them down with water.

"I'm fine Hajima." As Louis stood up from his seat, his left leg gave out, causing Haji to catch him before he fell. "Wow, my hero," Louis smirked.

Haji let out a small laugh while rolling his eyes. "Just shut up and let me tend to your leg." Louis sat back down as he let Haji do his thing. "You know, we're lucky that this was one of the things I was taught while growing up. If I hadn't known what I was doing, we'd be screwed."

He cleaned Louis' bruised area, then applied an ointment which helps the healing process, lastly, he grabbed the bandage wrap from his medical supply kit to finish it off. Haji then took his shot and asked Louis a very strong question. "Hey, Louis. So, we've been associated with each other for some time now, don't you think?"

Louis questioned what Haji was saying. "I guess we have recently. Why do you ask?"

Haji looked at Louis as he finished wrapping the deer's leg. "Because you never referred to me as Haji. You're always so formal whenever you're around me and with others, but when it's just us, you're more, I'd say, loose?" he said questioning his choice of words. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

Louis stopped him as he was talking. "No, I get what you're saying." Louis thought long and hard about whether he should tell Hajima, but he also thought of a way to get closer to him. "Can you keep a secret Hajima?" Louis asked him.

Hajima sat there in confusion, sitting up on his chair. "I mean, we basically agreed what's in this room, stays in this room, Louis."

Louis smiled, breathed in heavily, then exhaling all the stress building up.

He proceeded to take off his right shoe, then his sock. "When I was little, I wasn't homeschooled all my life, I was sold in the Back-Alley Market, destined to become a carnivore's platter. This number here is my product ID, as well as my curse." Louis put his sock and shoe back on, continuing his story. "My father isn't my real father. He bought me from the market because of his inability to bear his own child. My childhood was trauma, then it was work, so I never had the opportunity to make friends." Louis looked at Haji, who was soaking in the story he had just heard.

"That makes much more sense. I'm sorry that you had to go through that Louis." Haji wiped a single tear from the story, causing the buck to smirk.

"Well, now it's your turn. What secret do you have that you want to share?" Louis asked.

After much consideration, Haji thought that it was only fair for Louis to learn about him. "Okay, you may want to take some notes. You remember what my species is right?"

"You're a human, it says so on your student ID card," Louis said sarcastically.

Louis was suddenly aware of what was happening. Haji wasn't messing around this time; he was being serious.

"What do you think happened to those humans?" Haji took out his phone, opening his gallery to an album of pictures, which displayed texts from a book he had back at his original home. "There's a reason why Gon exempted me from taking the honors history class, something that not a lot of people know about. In that class, we are assigned a project to discuss the history of our species, but my species' history can't be shared with anyone." Haji handed Louis his phone, allowing the deer to read through the words and quotes highlighted. "Let me ask you something Louis, who were the beings that roamed this land before us?" Haji asked.