Chapter 17: Cherryton's Corruption! The Terror Of The Black Market!
Two days had gone by since Legosi and Haru had officially met and started their relationship. In that spare time, nothing too important had happened. Progress on the Tem murder investigation was still going slowly. Alex had decided to spend today with the drama club. He noticed a new member, Juno, who was a female gray wolf, walking by him and Dom. "U-um, Dom, is Legosi-senpai coming here today?" Juno asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Dom asked curiously.
Juno hesitated, as if she were coming up with an excuse. "He saved me this one time, so I want to thank him for that," Juno answered. Dom and Alex instantly knew something was up.
Alex had seen enough love-stricken females to know one when he saw one. While Dom explained that Legosi was preparing for the meteor festival, Alex thought about this. His assessment of this girl showed that she wouldn't mesh well with Legosi on a romantic level, and if she chased after Legosi like the other love-stricken girls he had encountered, she would only get in the way of Legosi's relationship with Haru.
"Juno, may I have a word with you? Perhaps in that hallway over there?" Alex asked.
"Sure!" Juno responded.
Alex led Juno away from the other drama club members, then glared at her. "You. You have a crush on Legosi, don't you?" Alex demanded.
Juno giggled. "Gee, is it that obvious?" Juno said.
"Now, you listen here. Legosi's going through a lot right now, and he doesn't need another girl trying to get his attention," Alex ordered.
"But he's a gray wolf, like me! We'd be the perfect couple together!" Juno protested. Alex groaned.
"Animals cannot be in love simply because they are both members of the same species!" Alex told her.
"He saved me, though! That proves that he cares about me!" Juno countered.
"That's your hormones talking! He saved you because he's a nice guy!" Alex argued.
"That doesn't mean he won't love me if I get close to him and win his heart!" Juno objected.
"You know what, I'm going to go and ask him myself. I'll film his response, and then I'll show it to you," Alex decided. The albino wolf stormed off, heading to his car. He needed to find Legosi. Using the technology that the ZPD had placed in his car, he activated a radar that would triangulate and home in on Legosi's phone.
Alex scanned the radar, plugging the coordinates that Legosi's phone was showing up at into his phone to pull up a map of Cherryton. Alex gasped at the coordinates. Legosi was approaching the area of the town that Lem had told him was infested with dangerous criminal activity. The wolf rammed his keys into the ignition and floored the gas, driving as fast as he could legally to Legosi's location. He hoped that he wouldn't be too late.
Fifteen minutes later, Alex arrived at the location. He turned off his radar after seeing Legosi in the window of a restaurant. He got out of the car and walked in the food place. "So it's all about the stripe patterns for you, huh?" Aoba the bald eagle asked.
"Absolutely! I love a good striped ass, and I don't want to break up with her," Bill replied.
Alex silently pulled up a chair to their table and sat down. "Let me guess, Bill. You're only in that relationship with this tigress to get laid," Alex guessed. Bill blinked, then blushed.
"Y-yeah, how'd you guess from only that snippet of our conversation?" Bill sheepishly responded.
"Because I know you , Bill," Alex answered. Bill chuckled, remembering that Alex was a cop and decided not to push the matter any further.
"So Legosi, when are you gonna lose YOUR virginity?" Bill teased.
Legosi blushed intensely. "H-how do you know that I'm a virgin?!" Legosi stammered.
"Some animals develop some kinda 'sex sense' after they get laid for the first time," Alex answered.
Bill nodded, confirming Alex's statement. "Hey, wasn't there a cute wolf girl who joined the club recently?" Bill remembered.
"Yeah, her name is Juno, and she is madly in love with Legosi," Alex answered. Everyone gasped at this revelation.
"No way! Juno likes Legosi?" they all exclaimed. Legosi gulped nervously.
"Uhh, Alex?" Legosi said desperately.
"Let me guess, you want to tell her no but you're too much of a coward to tell her?" Alex said.
Legosi nodded sheepishly. "Y-yeah… I'm going through a lot right now, and I don't need some girl chasing after me," Legosi said. Alex pulled out his phone and started recording.
"Legosi, would you ever go out with Juno?" Alex asked. Legosi hesitated for a moment, before giving a heartfelt response.
"Probably not. Don't get me wrong, she's a beautiful young woman, but... she's really not my type. I don't need another woman to deal with right now," Legosi admitted.
Alex hit the end recording button and pocketed his phone. "Great, I'll show that to her when I see her again," Alex promised.
The five of them paid for the lunch and they left the restaurant, though they got lost. Alex's phone began glitching, his GPS would not work for whatever reason. They couldn't all fit in his car, and he couldn't risk Aoba or Tao finding any secret compartments or anything that could tie him to being a member of the ZPD. Everyone that they asked for directions pointed them towards this alleyway, claiming it would take them to where they wanted to go.
Alex didn't like how the situation was going. His instincts were on high alert, and the wolf felt that he was walking into danger. Legosi then approached a elderly animal, asking for a favor. Alex was horrified when the elderly animal revealed that some of his digits had been bitten off, and offered them to the group of predators. The elderly animal reached up to touch Legosi, and Alex reacted. "Get your filthy paws off of my friend!" Alex roared, baring his fangs threateningly. The elderly animal squealed and backed up into the wall.
"Uh, guys…? We're in the black market!" Bill shouted. Alex realized that the tiger was right, and he was in unfamiliar, dangerous territory. The tiger then turned to that old animal. "Can I really eat one of your fingers for 70,000 yen?" Bill asked curiously.
"BILL!" Aoba cried out angrily, greatly upset by the tiger asking the morbid question so nonchalantly and casually.
"What the fuck are you thinking, you moron! What would Els do if she found out you had paid seventy thousand fuckin yen to eat someone's finger? Or Pina!" Alex roared.
Bill pondered this for a moment before his eyes widened. Alex was right. They'd probably never want to see him again. Shamefully, the tiger's head sank and his ears folded up. "God, I'm such a douche, Alex," Bill sighed.
"Yeah, I know," Alex replied.
Bill then got into a discussion with Tao about the predators they had seen walking by, and that they were so much happier than the animals at the academy. "It really makes you wonder… is that what it means to grow up?" Bill wondered.
Alex then realized that they were one person short. "Where's Legosi!?" Alex shouted. Everyone's emotion turned to panic.
"Shit, I think he went inside there!" Bill nervously responded. Alex's eyes narrowed, and he began to tense up.
"Bill, Aoba, Tao! Get to the fucking train station NOW !" Alex commanded.
"But we have to stay and help you find Legosi!" Bill protested.
Alex's eyes turned into blazing disks of fury. "No. You and I both know that it's too dangerous for you to be in there. You're young, meaning that your minds are easily suggestible. I bet that if you were alone, you would have eaten that guy's finger. This is the kind of place that will screw with your mind. Therefore, you will not be coming with me," Alex explained.
"There's strength in numbers, though," Aoba countered. Alex laughed darkly.
"Numbers?! You guys aren't numbers, you're liabilities in that hellhole!" Alex pointed out. Then his eyes turned into slits and the wolf pulled his taser out of his belt, pointing it threateningly at them. "Now GET YOUR ASSES TO THE TRAIN STATION, or you'll be tasting electricity," Alex ordered.
Bill stepped backward, realizing that Alex wouldn't budge on his stance. And the white wolf was right. They would only hinder him in his search for the gray wolf. "May God be with you," Bill told Alex, before grabbing Tao and Aoba and running off. "Wait there until I come back with Legosi," a text from Alex read as it popped up on Bill's phone.
Once Bill and the others left his field of vision, Alex turned around and faced the entrance to the black market. He uttered a prayer of protection, before clutching his taser tightly in his left paw and charging into the black market. "I'm coming for you, Legosi," Alex swore.
Alex heads into the hellhole known as the Black Market, desperately searching for his friend Legosi. Suddenly, he spies someone who might be able to help him! But will THEY be willing to assist Alex? And even if they do, what sorts of dangers await Alex in the Black Market? Find out next time, on BEASTARS: The Divergent Variable!
Chapter 18: Into The Depths Of The Black Market! The Search For Legosi!
