Chapter 17 (Beast Complex)

The Tortoise and the Goat (カメとヤギ) is the seventeenth chapter of Beast Complex.

Synopsis
In a school where a young goat named Kiyosumi sits behind a retracted-limbed land tortoise known as Abu that has the word "hell" written on his shell, and wonders how he can live a normal school life with such a word. Written on his back, he doesn't seem like he has many friends and has never spoken to her, Kiyosumi just isn't the one to act unless asked. Later, a teacher informs Kiyosumi that there are students who smoke in the school and, since she is a member of the school committee, she asks her to inform her if she has any idea who it may be and Kiyosumi agrees, Kiyosumi just gives the best of herself when asked.

Shortly after, Kiyosumi meets the school smokers, who when discovered are determined to continue smoking and tell Kiyosumi that they do not care that she discovered them, even when Kiyosumi tries to tell them that she only does what they asked her and does not look to give them away. At that moment, everyone is interrupted by the arrival of Abu with his limbs extracted, who says that they are in the place where he usually takes his nap, terrified, the trio of thugs apologize and leave his "territory", Abu asks Kiyosumi if she is okay and she asks if it is really him, not recognizing him for having his limbs exposed and showing his multiple tattoos, Abu states that it is him and retracts his body to show it, Kiyosumi asks if he is some kind of bully, Abu denies it and alleges that everyone just turns away from him when he stretches his limbs and shows his tattoos, which are mostly done by himself, Abu explains that he wants to become a professional tattoo artist and has tattooed himself as practice and reveals that he has always wanted to tattoo Kiyosumi, more specifically, her deadly horns. Kiyosumi remembers being told by doctors that if she grew her horns they would eventually stab her in the head and Abu was the only one who realized that she was approaching death day after day.

After school, Kiyosumi accompanies Abu to his tattoo studio, where Abu claims that he didn't think Kiyosumi would go overboard on it and dissuades her from getting a tattoo just to thank him for helping her with the bullies and Kiyosumi alleges that's not it. Abu declares that she has very beautiful horns and that he is glad to be able to tattoo them, but asks if she does not plan to cut them, Kiyosumi claims that she is not sure and relates that she simply cannot take action without someone asking her and assumes that she just needs someone to somehow tell her what to do, revealing that she has always wanted someone to save her life, but has ended up heading for her death for 17 years without anyone noticing, like a fool.

Abu begins to tattoo Kiyosumi's horns and tells her that everyone dies eventually, so everyone is too busy with their own lives to pay attention to him, no one even paid attention to him when he got his first tattoo on his shell, so he thought that life is much easier when you think about it. After finishing the tattoo, which is a pattern of tulips, Abu invites Kiyosumi to spend the night together to make them bloom, so Kiyosumi and Abu spend the rest of the night walking around the city and having a good time. A week later, Kiyosumi returns to school after a week off from her surgery to cut her horns and is told by a classmate that without her horns her face looks brighter. Kiyosumi promised Abu that no one would know about the day they spent together, and he is probably congratulating her on making her first decision of her own, because next to the "hell" of his shell there were some flowers blooming.

Capítulo 17 (Beast Complex)