Beastars: A Steep Fall From Light

Chapter 28: Doing Their Best to Patch-Up the Leak

"No, Oyama I'm completely in the dark over here," Louis said over the phone. "I just assumed there was a mob outside my house for completely benevolent and mundane reasons."

Razor had remained true to his word. He had leaked a full blown report including every single past dealing the Horns Conglomerate had with the Back Alley Market. The chairman hadn't read the actual thing but Razor had sent an entire novel to the news outlets. The deer had noticed the growing riot outside which gave him cause to return inside and switch on the television, and that was when he realized what was going on.

"Listen, I'll be in later today," the deer told the stammering and hysterical goat. "But in the meantime tell the rest of the board to clear their calendars for today. Cancel all the meetings and tell them that when I arrive, we're meeting to sort this out and get stories straight, okay? Oyama! Did you hear what I said? Good, then do it."

He slammed the handset onto the hook and leaned on his hands. He then sat down before his legs gave out. The effects of the venom would wear off, he'd been told, but he would be in a weakened state until his antivenom treatment worked through. He blinked the fog from his eyes and took off his false antlers before his neck vertebrae collapsed. He inhaled and reinserted the IV drip into his vein and lay back, letting his blood carry it through his body. He exhaled his held breath before rubbing his brow with his free hand. Razor had said seven days, why was he exposing them this early? He must have known that Louis found out about the files and decided to strike before the final steps were made to completely cover it up; Properly this time.

"How do you expect to head into the office given your condition?" Azuki asked.

"I take the IV drip with me," the deer said. "Hide it in my coat and keep my arm straight."

"It won't last long," she muttered. "You'll forget it's there and end up breaking the needle in your vein. In which case you'll actually have to go to the hospital."

"Well maybe I should go to the hospital," Louis spat. "Might as well just tell everyone about the reaper, right?"

He was still sour about last night. He had been paralysed and couldn't protest to Azuki calling in that opossum. Granted he had saved his life, but now there were even more people that knew his alter-ego, because on top of that, there was the aye-aye that Yuta hired to mend Adler. His butler vouched for her but the deer knew everyone had their price, or nerve that would force them to give up anything.

"What were you thinking?" Azuki demanded. "Did you honestly expect to keep that a secret forever? Especially from your wife?"

Yuta gave him a look that had, I told you so, written all over it.

"And what if I hadn't found out last night?" she continued prodding Louis. "Did you just expect to recover from a higher than normal dose of taipan venom?"

"I could've fought through it!" Louis said, steaming.

"You're such an idiot!" she shouted. "You would've been dead come morning, so you're welcome for saving your life!"

Louis was taken aback at being called an idiot. So that's what it felt like. It boiled in his blood and seared his brain. She was right, which was what he hated. He had no case against that.

"Sir," his chauffeur said, knocking on the office door from outside. "Your car's ready."

Louis slowly stood, reaching for his fake antlers.

"No," Azuki spat, holding up a finger. "I'll go in your stead."

"What?"

"Being your wife for five years, I think I know the business well enough," she said. "I can act as your proxy. Just tell me what needs to happen."