Chapter 139 (Beastars)

Running Across the Twilit Fields (茜射す空 畑を駆け) is Chapter 139 of the manga Beastars written and illustrated by Paru Itagaki, published in the Weekly Shōnen Champion of the Akita Shoten publishing house.

Synopsis
In a fast food restaurant, Melon orders both a carnivore and herbivore set, annoying the cashier with a sinister look. Later, Melon eats his lunch while listening behind him as they praise how tasty the food is, something that he is not capable of experiencing. He feels an indescribable fury and bloodlust towards the animal just for saying the word "tasty" in his presence, as well as not knowing the meaning of this word. After the brief flash of bloodlust, Melon explains that he did not inherit the herbivore or carnivore sense of taste. When it comes to vegetables, eggs, and vitamins, it doesn't matter how much he tries to amplify their taste, for a hybrid like him everything tastes like sand. He thought he would have gotten his sense of taste since he woke up with that "new thing" on his body.

After leaving the restaurant, Melon monologue that both his leopard side and his gazelle side, regardless of whether he is walking around town or doing nothing at all, his two sides are always purring and grunting. He doesn't feel the urge to eat an herbivore when he sees one, instead he feels the urge to kill indiscriminately, and when he sees a carnivore, he gets struck with an irrational sense of terror. To contain himself, Melon visits a special tattoo studio. Melon asks for a specific tattooist, but the chief tattooist refuses to let that psychopathic killer approach any of the customers, claiming that despite being fired a week ago, he still has his stuff here. Melon happens to see the tattoo artist, who turns out to be a sloth named Holger. He asks him if he is actually going to leave the place and claims that he is going to get killed if he does. Holger being extremely slow, shows no response even when Melon threatens him by putting a gun to his forehead, and in response he only maintains a gawky expression, which Melon finds funny.

At the same time, the chief tattooist wonders if Melon is going to be okay, claiming that he doesn't want to throw out another corpse. A novice tattooist asks him why they call Holger a psychopathic killer, and the boss explains that Holger's tattooing skills are second to none and when he applied beautiful tattoos, his name would spread all over the Black Market, and they would not stop getting customers. However, customers lost too much blood and went through too much pain being tattooed by a sloth who cut their skin slowly, thoroughly and diligently enough to make them lose their minds. Despite all the animals he has killed, Holger still works as a tattooist, and they call him a psychopathic killer because they are afraid of him. Currently, Melon is his only client.

Melon undresses, claiming that Holger should already know what he wants just from the fact of coming here. He points to a leopard spot that manifested on his thigh, so he entrusts Holger to tattoo a melon leaf over it, just like he always has. Melon declares that he knows that the parts that are more connected to his inner flesh will hurt a lot and that is what he wants. He asks him to make a field of melons with his own hands. Melon claims that he appreciates Holger being a slow talker, as it prevents him from saying stupid things, and lets him whine to him as much as he wants. Melon wonders if in the future he will end up turning into a leopard or on the contrary his gazelle antlers will grow more. When the process begins, Melon is flooded by a great pain that fills him with great satisfaction and makes him feel alive, and alleges that "pain" is the only indiscriminate proof of life. He wonders what will happen to him when his body is full of melon leaf tattoos, and declares that the future is looking bright for him.

Later, after half a day at work, a tattoo artist cleans up Melon's blood, surprised that he managed to walk away after losing so much blood. He tells Holger that he wishes he could clean up his own mess, but assumes it would take him a week. Upon discovering that there is a client in the neighboring booth, he asks him not to be scared and assures that no one was killed. The client, who turns out to be Legoshi, responds that he is not scared. Legoshi can not believe that he has traced Melon's smell to this place and now, by compromise, he is stuck there. Legoshi agrees to get a tattoo so he can stay in the place and investigate without raising suspicions. He deduces that Melon seems to frequent this place, so he might as well get some information about him. He hears Holger speaking to himself, belatedly responding to everything Melon had told him previously, so Legoshi proposes to listen to him to get some information.

Characters

 * Melon
 * Holger (debut)
 * Legoshi

Important Events

 * Melon is revealed to have a sense of taste that makes all food taste like sand.
 * It is revealed that Melon's body develops leopard spots, which he covers with melon leaf tattoos.
 * Legoshi manages to track Melon to the tattoo parlor.
 * Legoshi gets a tattoo and listens to Holger's belated conversation for information on Melon.

Trivia

 * This is the second time a herbivore working in the Black Market has been introduced, with Cosmo being the first.