SPOILER warning!
Right away things get quite steamy. We find out why Haru is so promiscuous, how she met Louis and yes, they’re involved. She saw his weakness when he shed his antlers. Legoshi realizes that his strong feelings for Haru aren’t predatory in nature but romantic, and he blusters about how to tell her. Feeling awkward because interspecies relationships are strongly frowned upon in this society- even more so when between carnivores and herbivores. Then he sees Louis and Haru sharing a brief moment of affection in public, and recognizes who his rival is. At the same time, the female wolf Juno thinks they’d make a perfect match and is flirting heavily- but gets confused and hurt when her attentions aren’t reciprocated. A lot of the students go into town preparing for a festival day. The herbivores are urged to return home by dark because of a recent increase in murderous attacks. Legoshi finds Haru there late and offers to walk her home. But when they have a disagreement while waiting for the train, bystanders think he is attacking her and instead of facing the questioners, they flee together. Bill the tiger learns something dark about Louis’ past but when he confronts him with it, Louis pulls out a gun, threatening the big cat to keep his mouth shut (I didn’t see that coming!) We learn that Juno has high ambitions and isn’t afraid of standing up to guys, Louis’ background isn’t as noble as he pretends, some of the carnivores in the school have it out for the red deer, and then Legoshi tries to confess his love to Haru. She’s refusing to listen- and then she disappears.
Borrowed from the public library.
