Lament of the Moon S&H - Ch.08: Dancing no Bara - Ep05
#5 of LoM 08
As the show was ending, Hazard left the seating area and searched through the circus for the performers' lounge. He was looking for that dancing fox girl and was determined to find her. He arrived at the lounge front door, but found a big elephant guy standing as a security guard between him and the door.
"Hey big guy, mind if I took a peek inside? It'll only take a second," Hazard kindly asked of the guard.
"Non-employees aren't allowed here," the elephant simply replied.
"Come on, big guy, it's not like I'm a big fan here or anything. I just know somebody in there," Hazard tried to persuade him, but the guard wasn't convinced.
"Sure, you and everybody else. Look here, either turn back or you'll regret it," the hulky elephant sternly huffed through his big trunk and patted his steel baton on his palm.
"Okay, easy, no need to get rough. Yeesh, damn security guards... always making it harder to sneak in places since they came up with them," Hazard grumbled, mostly to himself, and turned around, only to see he was face to face with the one he was looking for. The fennec fox stood right before the golden wolf, as they both stared silently at each other, too inundated to speak a word. Hazard opened his muzzle and tried to say something, anything, but the words just weren't coming out. He was in total shock, because he was positive. It was her.
"Ha... Hazard? Is that... Is that really you?" she finally uttered and the wolf's ears perked up when she called his name.
"Rinami..." Hazard muttered, and her eyes gleamed at the sound of him uttering her name, confirming her suspicion.
"Haz? What's going on?" Sasuga then asked when she and Panja showed up after secretly following Hazard. The wolf panicked, confused at what he should say.
"I... well..." he stammered nervously, but then he was stunned by Rinami moving up to him and pulling up his shirt, exposing his bare chest."What the...?!" Hazard gulped in surprise, as both of Sasuga and Panja gaped by the scene, especially the kirin since it was the first time seeing Hazard's chest scar.
"Oh my God! It is you! It's you, Hazard!" the vixen exclaimed in pure joy when she saw the big burnt scar on Hazard's chest, discarding any shroud of doubt. Rinami threw herself at Hazard and hugged him so tightly. "Oh Hazard! I can't believe it's you! But it is you! I always knew I'd see you again! And here you are! Alive and well and all grown up! Oh Hazard I'm so happy!" the fox cried out happily as he snuggled the wolf, pressing her face on his chest and not letting go.
"R-Rinami! C-Calm down! Take it easy!" Hazard stammered some more, blushing bashfully.
"What the hell is going on here!?" Panja demanded, totally lost.
"Do you know her, Haz?" Sasuga asked, despite the answer being obvious to her.
"Erm, I guess you can say that..." Hazard replied timidly, trying to keep up with the vixen's loving snuggles.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I was too overwhelmed!" Rinami finally let go of Hazard and turned around to face the others. "You must be Hazard's friends! I saw you sitting with each other at the seats. Nice to meet you, all! I'm Rinami Katsuragi! Hazard's long lost childhood friend and future fiancé!" she introduced herself with a cute smile, unknowingly shocking the three of them.
"Buwaah!?" Panja's jaw dropped, as Sasuga's blushed brightly at the unexpected news, while Hazard just palmed his face in distressed.
"Hoo boy..." the wolf sighed warily.
To be continued...