Beastars: The Discover Check

Chapter 142: Making Up

Louis shuffled his feet uncomfortably. He had never had to make up with someone before. Azuki never cared enough and most people did their best not to get on his bad side. This was different. He tried to find Yuta, but the sheep had disappeared. Covering his tracks like the professional he was. He had contacts that even Louis didn’t know about. Yuta had made sure to teach him a lesson. At the very least, he could try and fix things with Juno. She had made it easy to find her. Whether purposefully or not, it wasn’t his place to be assumptive. He had been in the wrong last night, and he needed to do this. He couldn’t be alone. He needed people in his circle.

He didn’t have anything. He didn’t want to appear desperate or flowery. He just wanted to clear the air. Point blank, done and done. He inhaled and raised his hand, hesitating only a moment before knocking on the door. There was shuffling on the other side in the hotel room and the light from the peephole went dark. He heard the chain slide out of the lock and the door opened. Juno stood in the doorway and just looked out.

“Hey,” she greeted, very much like a friend. Only a friend. And it felt odd.

“Hi,” he answered, face showing his apologetic nature. He didn’t try to enter the room and just began with what he wanted to say.

“I’m sorry for last night,” he started. “I wasn’t myself. I was still phasing between Myself and Adler.”

“Louis, I thought you were done with Adler,” Juno said. “I could have sworn you weren’t going to be that vigilante anymore. That-that was now Legoshi’s thing, until he sorted out what he needed to sort out. And I thought you were going to try and leave the Shishigumi while you could.”

“It’s not that easy,” he said.

“Isn’t it?” she retorted. “The way those cats look up to you, I’m sure they would make an exception. It’s your own damn pride that isn’t letting you leave. You feel this need to continue on when there’s no reason to. Others will take your place and life will go on. You can live normally.”

“But-”

“You’re not special,” she snapped. “You don’t seem to understand that others can do your job just as well as you can, if not better. But you don’t know because you never give them a chance.”

Louis stood there and swallowed.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “I got too excited and jumped too soon at the opportunity. It is like an addiction. And I need help quitting.”

“That’s a two way street,” she said. “I can help, but you have to really mean it.”

Adler raged from inside his head, but Louis ignored him as best he could.

“I mean it,” he said.

She looked him up and down, face softening as she stepped forward and reached up, kissing him on the cheek. He reached up and grabbed her hand, rubbing it with his thumb.

“Dinner tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said. “See you there.”

She returned to her room, but paused in the doorway.

“I know you mean well,” she said. “You know how?”

Louis raised an eyebrow.

“You’re standing on your real leg,” she added with a smile before closing the door.

Louis looked down and noticed it as well. He had shifted his weight to the real leg, rather than his prosthetic. He smiled to himself as he walked away. Time to make a reservation.