"Wait! What do you think you’re doing!? Stop that right now!"
"Hm? What’s going on...?"
Drawn by a shout that carried a sudden, hostile edge, Yugo and the others reflexively turned toward the source. There, they found a zoo clerk with a grim expression confronting a man who was being thoroughly chewed out.
"What’s the big deal~? Don’t shout so loud~! I only gave it a little flick on the forehead~."
"A little flick? It should go without saying that you aren't allowed to harm the animals! Leave this place immediately!"
"Tch... fine, whatever~. They’re just animals anyway..."
Apparently, one of the guests had been caught mistreating an animal in the Interaction Corner. The man, who had a grating habit of stretching out the ends of his sentences, offered no hint of remorse as he was kicked out, grumbling to himself the entire way.
"Some people are just terrible. And a grown man, at that."
"It would be one thing if a child did it without thinking, but he’s just a nasty piece of work who knew exactly what he was doing..."
Whatever the circumstances, bullying a defenseless animal was a despicable act. Thinking he truly was the lowest of the low—especially given his lack of regret—Yugo and the others were watching the man leave when something happened.
"Ugh... vugh... ushuuu...!"
"Huh? Is something wrong...?"
The rabbit Elena had been petting suddenly began to shudder, letting out a strange, guttural growl. Noticing the obvious anomaly, she reached out to check on it, but in the next instant, the rabbit’s eyes snapped wide. Its teeth bared as it lunged at her with feral speed.
"Kyaah!?"
"Elena! Look out!!"
Marcos thrust his arm forward to shield Elena just as she shrieked and fell back. The rabbit sank its teeth into Marcos’s arm instead, clinging there for several seconds before dropping onto the floor of the Interaction Corner.
"Marcos, are you okay!?"
"Yeah. It just caught my sleeve. It didn't even leave a mark."
Marcos rolled up his sleeve as he spoke, showing his friends that the skin where the rabbit had bitten him was perfectly fine. While the group was relieved, the animal's behavior left them with a growing sense of dread.
"What happened to the poor rabbit...?"
"Maybe it got upset because it saw that man bullying its friends?"
"No, even so, this is completely unnatural," Ryuga interjected. "Docile creatures don't go out of their way to attack humans many times their size."
As Ryuga pointed out, while an animal might nip if agitated, for a creature as mild-mannered as a rabbit to leap at a human was unheard of. Just as Yugo and the others began to realize that something was deeply wrong, screams started erupting across the Interaction Corner.
"Whoa!? What the—!?"
"Ow! Stop! Don't bite me!"
"Wh-what is this!? What's happened to them all!?"
The startled cries of men, children screaming from bites, and the desperate shouts of clerks echoed through the building as the animals fell into a bizarre, collective frenzy. By the time everyone realized they were in the middle of a full-blown emergency, more screams began to drift in from outside.
"Screams from outside too!? What's happening out there!?"
"I don't know! Let's go!"
The small animals here were a concern, but the clerks seemed capable of managing them for the moment. The situation outside was likely a far greater threat; if whatever was happening there reached this building, the situation would become impossible to control. Making that snap judgment, Yugo and his friends rushed out of the Interaction Corner Building, only to be met by a scene of utter chaos.
"No way... The animals are breaking out of their enclosures!"
Melt shouted in disbelief as she saw the beasts that had been resting peacefully in their cages just moments ago now rampaging through the paths. When the startled group looked at the cages, they saw that the structures—built to be incredibly sturdy—had been ruthlessly torn apart, leaving the animals free to roam.
"Did someone destroy them!? No, more importantly—!"
"Why are the animals acting so violent!? This is insane!"
Every single beast had escaped and was now gripped by a violent madness. Some were tearing into each other, others were smashing benches and statues, and several were lunging at the panicked guests. Just like the small animals inside, this was clearly a supernatural phenomenon. Among so many different species, there should have been at least a few timid individuals—and yet, every last one of them was acting as if they had been driven insane.
"What is going on...? What could have caused this!?"
"I don't know! But for now, we have to get everyone to safety!"
Though the situation was incomprehensible, the visitors were in immediate danger. Deciding that the priority was protecting the children and getting them to the exits, Yugo was about to give orders to his companions when Elena let out a sharp cry.