Song of the Beasts (Beastars)

Feelings Unknown

credit to the artist for the picture. This will be like the last chapter but from Mari's side.

As the festival drew closer, the students of Cherryton rushed to get everything ready. Meanwhile, Mari was stretched thin. Dom needed her help sewing costumes for the performers, the music club had asked her to review some of their sheet music, and the garden club needed all kinds of plants moved to their booth. 

During all of this, Mari avoided Louis, she had yet to talk to Legoshi, and now she could hardly talk to Haru with out it being awkward. Thankfully, she was kept busy since she wasn't ready to talk about what happened yet. The conversations they did have were brief and awkward, mostly club related about what needed to be done. 

As she was headed back to the garden club booth after checking in with Sanu in the drama club, she spotted Legoshi getting some water for the sculptures he and Kai were working on. He seemed distracted so decided to have a little fun and surprise him.

Skip since this happened last chapter

After that rather awkward meeting with Legoshi, Mari made her way back to the garden booth to finish rearranging the displays at the front. 

Haru had left to go to the bathroom for a moment, leaving the human girl to do her work in peace. She felt bad for the tension between her and Haru, but she couldn't help it. Even though she hadn't walked in on them, she still was in shock over the fact that she and Louis were together, and for a while, from what she had picked up from their conversation. Mari didn't think she could even look Louis in the eye now, not to mention the pain in her chest when she replayed what had happened in her mind. 

How could she have been so oblivious? Now that she thought about it, anytime that she and Haru were together and Louis' name came up, the rabbit had a dreamy expression on her face. Mari had figured that she was just a fan like every other girl in the school was. She was only half right, anyway.

As she watered the flowers and hummed a quiet tune to herself, she failed to take notice of the footsteps approaching her while she worked at the back of the booth.  

As for Louis, he had a dreading feeling of guilt eating a hole in his chest as he approached the girl. Like her, he felt like he couldn't look her in the eye ever since she had found out about his and Haru's relationship. Especially after he had promised to mend the broken ties between them. His biggest fear was her leaving the academy like she said she would. The thought alone was enough to send him into a panic. He had to fix this with her and to also find out what her relationship was with that annoying wolf. 

He didn't like the idea of Legoshi being so close with her, or any carnivore for that matter. It still irked him when he remembered how the wolf had come looking for her at the garden club. He knew right then and there that he needed to tell her his feelings, the same feelings that he had harbored since they were young.

'It's now or never.' Louis cleared his throat to gain her attention. 

"Oh!" She dusted her hands on her shorts and turned around. "How may I...oh!" She froze when she saw Louis. She quickly averted her gave to the ground, an embarrassed blush coating her cheeks. "H-Haru's not here right now. Sorry." She quickly turned back around, not comfortable with facing him at the moment. 

Louis sighed. He couldn't stand it, seeing her like this because of his selfishness. He needed to fix this or risk losing her for good. "I didn't come to see Haru. I came to see you. We need to talk, please." 

The girl simply kept her back to him. "Now's really not a good time. Unless it's club related, then I don't have time for casual chatter." She could feel small tears prick at the corner of her eyes. "I'm pretty busy right now."

"Mari, please. What you saw in the shed...I'm sorry. I didn't expect for you to find out like that, or at all for that matter." The girl clicked her tongue.

"I honestly don't even care anymore. What you do is your business. Haru told me about her reputation, I just find it funny how she never mentioned even knowing you at all and vice versa." She clenched her fist. "Whatever, at least next time tell her to give me a heads up. I'd rather not walk in at the wrong time again."

"Except there won't be a next time."

"Huh?" She turned to the deer with a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

Louis sighed, bracing himself for her reaction to his words. "Haru and I plan to stop seeing each other like that. It's better that way."

"But, why? Haru really cares for you." Mari said in surprise. "Don't you care about her as well?" 

" I do. But she agreed to it as well. We both said we wouldn't get attached in the beginning, so she understands." Mari knew that wasn't true, at least on Haru's end. Any mention of Louis and the white rabbit would match the color a rose. Mari wasn't that oblivious, she could tell that Haru was in love but it was clear that Louis wasn't, yet he still led her on by having sex with her. This made the human's blood boil. 'All those little hints, flirts and moments between us these last few months...was he just leading me on as well?!' 

She turned her back again, trying to calm the fire burning in her chest. "Whatever, and like I said, I'm busy right now. And I'm definitely not interested in what ever weird harem that you have going on." At that, Louis had enough. He grabbed her arms, spinning her to face him and forced her chin up so that he had her full attention. 

"I don't know where you got the idea of a harem from, but that's not true. Haru and I were never together to begin with. She knows how I feel and she's okay with it. I only care about one person and thats you!" The girls face erupted in red, her brain ceasing to work for a moment as she processed what he said. She snapped back to reality, pulling herself from his hold. 

"How do I know your not just gonna use me like you did Haru?!" she snapped.

"I never used Haru!" Louis retorted. "She's still my friend."

"Oh really?" Mari crossed her arms and glared at him. "What do you know about her other than that she loves gardening?" Louis froze at the question. "Just like I thought." She turned to leave only for Louis to grab her wrist.

"Look, I realize that what I did to her was wrong, but we agreed to stay friends. And I swear that I never planned to lead you on." Mari tried to pull her wrist free.

"Yeah, right." She scoffed. 

"I'm serious. And I'll prove it." She yelped as he pulled her to his chest. "Please, just give me a chance to show you how much I care about you." Mari's face burned even more. She couldn't handle this right now, there was too much information coming at her all at once. She needed some air, she needed to get away from here. 

"I-I need to go." She tore from his grasp and ran off, not really caring where to.

"Mari!" Louis called to her, but it fell on deaf ears. Louis clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "Dammit!" He slammed his fist against the tree near him. "I'm such a fool." He whispered angrily to himself. "I may have just lost her again." 

So the two childhood friends are now at odds, but that doesn't meant that Louis is ready to give up and is out of the picture. I have a lot more planned for these two as well as her other love interests in future chapters. Sorry that this took so long. I had no idea how I wanted this chapter to go and im still not sure how I feel about it. May edit this whole book at some point but thats still undecided. Love you all my beautiful and faithful readers!!!