Chapter 21 (Beast Complex)

**The Zebra and the White Tiger** (シマウマとホワイトタイガー, *Shimauma to howaitotaigā*?) is the twenty-first chapter of *Beast Complex*.

## Synopsis

In a coffee shop, a young zebra, Mika, waits to meet her date, whom she met through a dating app. After her date tells her by text message that he just arrived at the place, Mika hopes that this guy is "the one", since she has used this app for more than six months with the illusion of meeting the zebra of her dreams, however, she has only met fake, rude or uninteresting guys, so she feels that she is further and further away from being able to meet a good man. After the only zebra on the site turns out not to be her date, Mika is surprised, because her date had to tell her that she had arrived, so she checks the profile of her date, Atari, who strangely has a very tall height for him. a zebra and does not show his face in his profile picture. Although Mika knew better than to date someone who wouldn't even deign to properly display their face in their profile picture, she didn't allow herself the luxury of being picky. However, she is surprised to be found by Atari, who turns out to be a white tiger.

This being the worst encounter she has ever had in the application, as it is a false profile, for which Mika leaves indignant, being persecuted by Atari who assures that he did not lie in his profile description, since it has a pattern of black stripes. But, Mika reproaches him for putting it as a zebra in the species section and Atari also reproaches her for having a remarkably doctored profile picture, which is the reason he couldn't find it at first. However, he claims that his real appearance is much prettier, stating that everyone lies on dating apps at first and he just wants to be liked a little more. For her part, Mika realizes that the reason all the zebras she's ever met have been fake, rude, and boring, because she's so different from her profile picture. Atari declares that he was very excited to see her in person and even knowing that she could be a predator, Mika, visibly frustrated, ends up agreeing to continue with the date, so they both have coffee together.

Mika reflects on how she had never been able to see a white tiger so close, since only one in a hundred is born, noticing how beautiful its eyes are. Seeing how another tiger refers to Atari as "barcode", Mika asks what this means and Atari informs her that this is just a nickname that common tigers use to refer to white tigers, Mika thinks that's something discriminatory, but Atari just says it's just something between tigers. Telling that there was even a time when he dated a tigress who only took black and white photos with him, because he was surely ashamed of dating a white tiger. Mika, for her part, says that this is something that zebras usually do, since they don't need to take color photos, so she understands why Atari wanted to hang out with zebras and she apologizes to him for accusing him of so many bad things, but Atari apologizes too and both shake hands. Watching their striped patterns converge is something special, as animals with stripes look for partners with patterns similar enough to connect with each other, and once that destined partner is found, they feel as if their bodies are fused together and they communicate like if they were a single animal.

Later, both walk through the city and Atari thinks that he is too old to believe in spells, seeing how both are covered in the same shadow, bathed in the same light and wear the same pattern, which makes him very happy. At this point, Mika offers Atari to have some adult fun by visiting a zebra-only nightclub, where Atari can claim to be surrounded by others like him. Atari doesn't feel comfortable in the place and as soon as he is separated from Atari, Mika is unable to find him in the crowd. In this situation, Atari reflects and realizes that the stripe patterns that he and Mika have are totally different, since Mika's are to camouflage and protect themselves from predators, while his are to surprise their prey. After instinctively pulling Mika out of the crowd with a single pull, Atari backs off in embarrassment, being followed by Mika, who he tells her that his stripes are those of a predator, denoting how he used his striped pattern to blend in and surprise her. For which Atari declares that they are not alike at all, however, Mika proposes that he find her around the city, using her stripes to camouflage himself, without using any dating app, he must find her naturally. Forming a promise that made his stripes blend back into the environment, until the day comes when this game of hide-and-seek ends.

## Trivia

* This is the third chapter of Beast Complex that has a tiger as one of the protagonists.
* This chapter inquires about the fixation animals have with stripes, confirming the canon of beauty that they have. Which had been investigated in Beastars.