Beastars: A Steep Fall From Light

Chapter 4: A Doctor's Patients

"I'm not getting the urges anymore," his patient said. "So that's a good thing. Right?"

"Have you replaced it with something?" Gohin asked. "Usually urges don't just go away. They are redirected towards something else."

The brown bear thought for a short while.

"Salmon," he responded. "I have cravings for that."

"Good thing it's cheap."

"I know, right?"

"So, nothing? None of the usual symptoms of hunger when you're around herbivores."

"Unless they happen to be carrying a fillet of salmon," Riz shook his head. "No."

"This is good. This is good," the panda said, flipping through his clipboard of paper. "Your court order says this should be our last meeting, but I'd like to keep up your therapy for another month, if that's alright with you."

"That should be fine."

"Good," the Gohin remarked, standing up.

Riz also stood and the two shook hands.

"See you next week, right?"

"Obviously."

Riz left the psychiatrist's office and the panda opened a window, lighting a cigarette. So what if they weren't allowed in the building? His office, his rules. That had been his last patient in the steadily winding down day. He was free to go home now, though he felt more at home here than he did at his actual home. But he wasn't allowed to live in his office. He would be kicked out as the building closed. He began packing to head out when the phone rang. Which was odd. He purposefully listed his office hours an hour before he closed so he could have his last meetings in peace. It must have been a spam call.

He finished packing and was about to leave the office when the phone rang again. He went over to the phone and the caller ID read: Unknown. He picked up the hand set and held it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Gohin?"

"Kyuu you know my office hours," he sighed.

"I know," she said. "And I thought I could catch you just before you left."

Gohin rubbed at the inner corners of his eyes. His old student was persistent. She never wanted to meet in person but continued to want to talk over the phone. Especially at the most inconvenient of times.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just calling to say hello."

"Listen Kyuu, if you want to get together, let's settle a date and time to meet."

There was a pause on the end of the line.

"Hello?" he asked to see if she was still there.

"Sorry there was a sound from the ventilation," she said. "What was that?"

"How about I come over tomorrow after I close," he suggested.

"Sure," Kyuu said, as if her attention was focused on something else.

"That's tomorrow a few minutes from this time now," he repeated.

"Okay," she answered. "See you then."

The line went dead and the Gohin put the handset back on the hook. Kyuu had been acting strange the past few years. She had become quite the fighter since he saved her from the Back Alley livestock markets. She still fought in ring fights to earn money. They weren't necessarily legal, but Gohin didn't mind. He had scoped the place out once and there weren't acts of meat eating, which was good enough for him. And she was really good at it. Though he didn't like showing his face in The Drusk, given his history with the place, if he needed a quick buck or two he could bet on Kyuu for a definite win. She, of course, didn't know he went to her fights. A good thing too as it would mess her up and he would lose money. Gohin kinda knew why Kyuu acted so odd around him. He hoped their meeting tomorrow would straighten things out.

When he got home to his apartment, practically across the city, he started brewing himself a pot of his bamboo tea before taking a seat on the couch. He opened up another pack of cigarettes and lit one up, taking a long drag and letting the smoke fill his lungs. The stress of the day melted away with the exhale. He flipped on the television, grabbing a dumbbell from a rack against the wall. He still kept in shape after his days in the Back Alley Clinic. Not only was it healthy, but he still dealt with carnivores who sometimes behaved erratically. He started his bicep curls as the newscaster finished giving the weather for the next seven days. His former patient had really turned her life around since her incident of predation.

"-derstorms starting tonight around 11 and going all the way through until 2 pm tomorrow," said the fox. "We then have overcast for the rest of that day. Should clear up overnight to give us a beautiful sunny day on Sunday. Back to you Ogai."

"Thank you Ai," the anchor said. "In other news, The Horns Conglomerate stock is up again. This time by a whopping thirty percent, as the company continues to grow since it's investment in 'Fish and Squid', the new sushi chain appearing across the city. In a recent interview Kikkawa Nakamochi, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, stated 'Though we remain a company comprised of only herbivores, we continue to push for facilities, companies and other operations that work towards making life easier for all, and to close the gap between carnivores and herbivores for the betterment of society.' Another bold move by the conglomerate's chairman, but one made with the best intentions in mind. And, it shows."

Gohin drank some of his tea before switching the weight to his other arm. He didn't like the taste of fish. Though other bears were crazy about it, the texture felt odd to the panda. He was perfectly fine sticking to his diet of bamboo.

"Still no word on the incident this morning at the center of town," continued the co-anchor. "The Cherryton Police Department has yet to offer any insight as to who the victims are, and whether or not they are related to the disappearances that have been happening recently. There are reports however that they are asking for the assistance of the retired sublime beastar, though nothing has been confirmed."

Gohin stopped his repetitions and shook out his arms.

"On a similar note," the elephant continued. "The notorious Benjamin Black, otherwise known by his alias as Halsenberg, is finally behind bars. The badger responsible for the creation of blood-meth, so called because of its color and "secret" ingredient, was handed over to authorities today by the masked vigilante Adler. As seen by this mugshot, the drug lord put up quite a fight before the reaper, and these are in Mr. Black's words, 'hung him over the precipice of death before letting him choose between oblivion and prison. Obviously, I chose the latter."

Gohin flipped the channels. He only watched the news to see how his patient was doing. And she looked like she was doing just fine. He didn't care for the news about The Horns Conglomerate, or the stories from the criminal underworld of The Drusk. That act of predation in the center of town though, that had caught his attention. He tried to forget as that chapter of his life was over. He had new patients, and his body wasn't as prepared to hunt down carnivores as it had been. He had faith the police would find the murderer. Carnivore's were always sloppy when feeding. He had to have left some trail.

Finding nothing else of interest, he shut off the TV and finished his exercises in silence.