Chapter 064 (Beastars)

A Dancer Does Not Need Pointe Shoes (踊り子にトウシューズはない) is Chapter 64 of the manga Beastars written and illustrated by Paru Itagaki, published in the Weekly Shōnen Champion of the Akita Shoten publishing house.

Synopsis
One night in a strip club, an okapi dancer named Cosmo is preparing for her show. Cosmo explains how carnivores use the Black Market as a way out of their daily frustrations, and that it has other places besides butcher shops, in this case, strip clubs. In these clubs, when a dancer takes off an article of clothing, it causes a cacophony of echoes from carnivorous customers. Cosmo begins her show in a cage to avoid being attacked by a client. Cosmo receives the acclaim of the public while undressing. She stands out, as the pure smell of a herbivore with no clothes is fiercer, fresher and sweeter than any meat in the butcheries. Cosmo sets out to drive her customers crazy with lust and appetite. From the perspective of Cosmo, her customers are those who are in a cage and she is the boss.

After her show, the club director shows Cosmo his concern about the danger she is exposing herself to, but she claims not to be worried and retires. Cosmo thinks that an herbivore who works in the Black Market dances with death every day. After removing her makeup, Cosmo goes out to smoke while claiming that her purpose is to squeeze the money from the carnivores while she's still alive. When Cosmo leaves, she meets Louis and both are surprised to see each other. Cosmo realizes that Louis is a teenager and asks him why he is in the market. Cosmo states that there are two types of awful clients that she always had to deal with in her eight-year career - carnivores who genuinely pity her and herbivores who come to ridicule her. After a moment Cosmo leaves telling Louis that he will be eaten if he stays at the market and tells him to go home.

Shortly after, Cosmo goes to a public men's room where she meets a client, a South American bear whom she has already met ten times, to give him oral sex, doing so at the expense of the strip club to earn more money. Cosmo alleges that this type of personal service is not alien, but it bothers her that every time he is that client, he holds her head with more and more force. Cosmo proceeds to ask him why he likes receiving her services, despite him being a carnivore and she a herbivore, which confuses her client. The bear asks if desire needs any distinction, and he fiercely proceeds to strangle her while preparing to devour her. Cosmo realizes that the day of her death has come, but both are stopped by the Shishigumi who enters the scene and reveal that the strip club is now part of their territory. The lions go deal with the bear, and Louis reminds Cosmo that she told him to go home and reveals that the Black Market is his home, Louis asks Cosmo to get along, from one herbivore to another.

Characters

 * Cosmo (debut)
 * Louis
 * Shishigumi

Important Events

 * The Black Market is revealed to have other entertainment venues in addition to butchers, such as nightclubs and strip clubs.