Chapter 33: Bill All Grown Up!


"Me and Aoba split up with Els, we went to get some sodas. We're at the bench by the soda machine," Bill texted Alex. He put his phone away, before taking a long, hearty sip of his soda. "So, Aoba. What are your plans for summer break?" The tiger asked. His eagle friend pondered that question for a moment before responding.

"I guess that my main plan is to practice a ton for my flying license. One of the few perks of being a bird," Aoba replied. Bill nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah. Ever since Alex and Els stood by me when I got really sick over drinking that rabbit blood, I've become interested in reading about mythology, creation myths, and religion," Bill told Aoba. The bald eagle looked surprised; never in his wildest dreams did he think that Bill of all animals would take an interest in religion. Bill hadn't told anyone about the blood incident.

"Yeah, it's really neat stuff. There's this one story that's my favorite. Wanna hear it?" Bill offered. Aoba nodded, and gestured with his feathers for Bill to continue.

"So in the beginning, there were animals just like us, but they were mindless savages. Carnivores preyed on herbivores and didn't think at all. And carnivores weren't the highest on the food chain either. There was a race of ultimate predators that used tools and weapons to slay carnivores, called 'humans'," Bill began.

"Hoo-mans?" Aoba said, trying to pronounce the word correctly. Bill chuckled. "It's a 'u', not two 'o's," Bill snickered. Aoba blushed in embarrassment.

"Anyways, God got upset with them for some reason. He decided to start things over and caused a great apocalypse, taking those who were righteous and loyal to him to the heavens and casting the sinners into hell along with the devil. Then he remade all of the animals, imbuing them with sentience, and divided up the world," Bill continued.

"Divided up the world?" Aoba wondered.

"Yeah. He gave the oceans to the fish and other water-based creatures, the sky to the birds, and the land to the carnivores and herbivores. However, it took time for the herbivores and carnivores to evolve past their prejudices. They still viewed prey as food and ate them. That's why there's been so much conflict between carnis and herbs," Bill explained.

Aoba thought about that for a few minutes, before nodding. "Oddly enough, that makes a bit of sense. If I had heard that story when I was younger, I might have believed it," Aoba replied.

"Yeah, I know. This shit's really fascinating!" Bill exclaimed. They drank some more soda.

There was something else on Aoba's mind that he had to discuss with Bill, though. "I still can't believe you're friends with that herbivore…" Aoba muttered. "What, you mean Els?!" Bill huffed, a little surprised at Aoba's previous sentence.

"Yeah, I'm talking about Els! She's the ONLY herbivore you're friends with!" Aoba pointed out.

"So? Els is Els! She's nice, pretty, she has a good personality, and she and I get along well. She's a good female friend. And here you are, labelling her as a herbivore. Isn't that a bit speciesist?" Bill asked. Aoba glared at his best friend angrily.

"Don't you dare twist my words around like that! You asked that old dude if he was really selling his fingers for carnivores to eat, and if Alex hadn't been around, you would have paid to eat one of his fingers!" Aoba growled.

Bill was about to protest that he wouldn't have actually eaten one of the fingers, but Aoba pressed on. "And that evening, you went back to the black market to look for Legosi even though Alex said he would handle it! You never told any of us what actually happened to you when you went back there! I bet you ate his finger!" Aoba continued, his eyes blazing in anger.

Now Bill was angry. "The hell, Aoba?! At that time, I was so afraid for Legosi and Alex! I didn't dare eat any of the meat that they were selling, out of fear that the meat might have come from their corpses! And I found something in the black market that shocked me to my core. Something that made me decide to never eat meat from there again!" Bill retorted.

Though his fear that he might end up eating a piece of Alex or Legosi wasn't the only thing that kept him from sampling the meat at the black market. Most of the time, when his instincts and brain started to try and convince him that he absolutely had to try the meat, he pushed those thoughts away by concentrating on Els, and what she'd think of him if he ate the black market meat.

"Oh yeah?! What could you possibly have found that would have made you swear off eating meat?!" Aoba scoffed, disbelieving the tiger. Bill faltered for a moment. He had discovered an abandoned livestock holding facility there, as well as several documents containing pictures of the animals that had been held captive there. To his horror, many of the animals there were cubs that had been kidnapped from their homes and taken to the livestock facility.

One of the animals who had been imprisoned there was a young Louis. He couldn't believe that any carnivore could do such a monstrous thing. There was also an alpaca labeled '3', a bunny labeled '9', and a sheep labeled '7'. The sheep had more information about her: her name was Sebun Bellwether and was 12 years old when she arrived at the facility, managing to escape.

Bill explained all of this to Aoba, but omitted the parts about Louis out of respect for his deer friend. "Seeing those documents was like climbing the steps of adulthood," Bill concluded. Aoba nodded, before changing the subject.

"Though now that I think of it, Els isn't the only herbivore you're close with. Ever since that rehearsal right before the meteor festival, you and Louis-senpai have been thick as thieves. You seem to be pretty worried about that deer, if I do say so myself," Aoba replied, pulling out the school newspaper that the eagle had taken from the tiger's backpack.

Bill's eyes widened as he saw Aoba take a closer look at the school newspaper. The headline read, "Third-Year Valedictorian Louis (Red Deer) Still Missing". "You don't usually buy from the school paper, and this is a rather recent issue," Aoba commented.

"Hey, don't go snooping in my bag! It's summer break, so I have more free time! That's all!" Bill complained. The feline snatched the newsletter back from his best friend and stuffed it in his backpack. Aoba stared at him pointedly before Bill sighed and relented.

"He went and freaking vanished , man! He kept trampling over me… He's so arrogant and smug, despite his weak herbivore body. He's abrasive, and has an awful personality… I hated him at first. Then, I found out something about him. He's been through an awful lot in his life. That pompous personality he shows off in public is just a mask. We started to bond over how cruel the world was, and how it didn't care if you were a herbivore or a carnivore, life could just be an ass to you sometimes," Bill answered.

Aoba stayed silent as he saw tears form in Bill's eyes. "When Louis disappeared, I was really conflicted with my emotions. A part of me felt… glad that the deer was out of the picture. And then I thought more closely in depth about the situation. Without Louis around, I'm just… a villain…" The tiger sobbed. He sniffled, and Aoba wiped the tears from the tiger's eyes and patted him on the back comfortingly.

Bill felt a heavy weight in his front pocket. He had been carrying the papers that he had recovered from the livestock facility ever since he had visited there. Originally, Bill was going to give them to Louis in the leader's office, but he had decided to hold off on that when Louis opened up about his past to the tiger. Bill felt that he needed to give the deer time before he showed him the papers, as they might be an earth shattering revelation for the deer. "I have to find him," Bill muttered sorrowfully.

Alex stepped out from behind the tree. Bill let out a frightened noise that was a mixture between a snarl, a scream, and a yowl. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING THERE?" Bill yelped.

"Ever since the conversation about Els," Alex replied.

Bill relaxed, the tension leaving his body. "What did you need me for, Alex?" The tiger asked. "Come with me. Alone," Alex commanded.

Bill stood up and started to walk away. "Hey, what gives? Why can't I come along?" Aoba protested. Alex shot a dangerous, menacing glare at the eagle.

"This is a matter that does not concern you. Right now, Bill's the only one who can help me," Alex growled. He and Bill walked off.

"Alex, what's going on? If this is a super important matter, wouldn't calling on your friends in powerful places be a better idea?" Bill asked. "No, Bill. I believe that you're the only animal in the school who has a chance of saving Louis," Alex revealed.


Alex and Bill head to the black market to try and talk some sense into Louis. On the way there, Bill reveals something about Els! Can Bill really convince Louis to return to Cherryton? Plus, we learn about how Bill discovered Louis came from the black market! Find out on the next exciting chapter of BEASTARS: Converging Destinies!

Chapter 34: The Knights Of The Black Market! Bring Louis Back, Bill!