Lougosi

"Louis-senpai. Why don't we run away...? Right now."

- Legosi to Louis (chapter 76).

Lougosi is the slash ship between Louis and Legosi from the Beastars fandom.

Canon
We first see Legosi and Louis meeting in the place where Tem died, both paying him tribute. In that scene we find out that Louis is Legosi's senpai - he's one year older than him - and that Legosi has a lot of respect towards him, already kind of admires him. When Louis notices Legosi staring at him, he - among other words - says he has a favor to ask and tells the wolf to follow him. Legosi agrees and goes with the deer.

Louis tells Legosi to fit Zoe's outfit before tomorrow's Drama Club rehearsal, since he'll be Tem's replacement. Not long after that, Kai barges into the room, while Louis is scolding Zoe for not knowing the script. When Zoe leaves, Kai looks at Legosi and asks him why is he here, since he's 'a nobody' from the art department. After that Legosi says he'll leave too, yet Louis stops him, telling him he can stay here. When Kai tries to punch Louis, angry at what he says about him, Legosi blocks the attack and protects the deer, saying that actor's safety comes first and barks at the mongoose. After Kai leaves, Louis smiles and tells the wolf he's surprised that Legosi showed his fangs just to avoid a fight. Louis is the first character that realizes that a 'herbivore' behavior is just some part of him and Legosi has some carnivore ferocity within him too. When the wolf heads towards the door, Louis stops him by grabbing his tail. He persuades him to keep watch, while the actors from the Drama Club have a secret rehearsal, joking about offering him one of his legs.

Louis returns from the stage, hindered by his ankle injury. His inner dialogue shows frustration that his body is naturally weak as an herbivore. Legosi enters the office to discuss lighting changes for the play. Louis backs Legosi into a wall, asking him why he hardly exert his strength as a carnivore. Louis puts his fingers in Legosi's mouth and demands Legosi bite him. Legosi pulls away and apologizes.

After Bill replaces Louis as Adler in the school play, Legosi is given Bill's original role as an antagonist who attacks the hero. Legosi corners Bill in the bathroom after smelling something suspicious in his coat. Bill is revealed to have a vial of illegal rabbit's blood. Legosi, triggered by the rabbit blood (reminding him of his encounter with Haru), attacks Bill on stage, and the fake fight scene escalates to a real one. Louis enters the stage as Adler and breaks up the fight, declaring Bill an imposter. Bill leaves the stage, and Louis offers Legosi his hand, helping him up as Legosi looks towards him in admiration.

Later, in Episode 9, Legosi sees Louis laying flowers on Tem's grave. Legosi hides, knowing Louis mostly likely wanted to be alone. As Louis is leaving the hallway, a leopard student pounces towards him. Legosi is able to tackle and restrain him without Louis noticing. The student reveals to Legosi that many carnivores at the school are trying to attack Louis to prevent him becoming the next Beastar, as an herbivore Beastar would further reduce the position of carnivores in society. Legosi vows to protect Louis and decides not to try to hurt him and Haru's relationship out of respect for Louis.

Louis and Legosi get into a fight after Louis refuses to help Legosi find Haru (the mayor agreed to erase Louis' past in the black market in exchange for his silence about Haru). Legosi leaves to find Haru, and Louis later leaves to find Haru too. Louis shoots the boss of the Shishigumi.

Two months after Louis disappears during his encounter with the Shishigumi, Louis reappears at school to hand in his leave report. (Legosi mentions searching for Louis within the past two months, with no success.) Louis greets Legosi casually, much to Legosi's shock and surprise. After handing in his leave report and saying goodbye, Louis walks to a car surrounded by lions, revealing himself to be the new boss of the Shishigumi.

After Louis disappears again, Legosi is visibly distraught, spacing out and getting distracted by another deer's antlers as they reminded him of Louis. His inner dialogue states he was very happy to see him again, despite their last encounter before the disappearance being a brawl. In Chapter 54, Legosi's is shown thinking of multiple ways to get Louis to come back to school.

In Chapter 66, Legosi accidentally meets Louis in the middle of the Black Market on his way to meet Gouhin. Louis sees Legosi with a bag of meat and assumes he bought it to eat it (in reality, Legosi was buying meat for meat resistance training with Gouhin). Louis' inner dialogue reveals his heartbreak, that "within the depths of (his) heart, (he) solemnly believed, even now, that he was different from the others; a carnivore with a good conscience."

In Chapter 75, the Shishigumi accuse Legosi if spying on them. Legosi tries to backpedal, but the Shishigumi members get offended by the way he looks at Louis and that fact that he is so happy that he keeps wagging his tail uncontrollably when looking at him. Louis allows the members to rough up Legosi, still angry and unaware that the bag of meat he bought was for resistance training and not eating.

Louis invites Legosi to dinner with the Shishigumi, testing Legosi on whether he'll eat meat. Legosi lies his way out of it, saying that he is a fox only able to eat tofu. Louis excuses himself, and Legosi meets him outside. Louis asked Legosi to hit him, but Legosi embraces him instead.

Continued in Chapter 76, Legosi and Louis share an intimate moment with each other. Louis' inner dialogue reveals his unwavering affection for Legosi. Legosi asks Louis to run away with him, but Louis refuses as he is part of the Shishigumi. Legosi tells Louis he is concerned the Shishigumi will corrupt him. Suddenly, the Shishigumi pull their guns on Legosi. Louis yells to Legosi that he is already corrupted by society, but that Legosi is not - Legosi can still become a hero.

Legosi refuses, grabbing Louis in a headlock. Louis tells him that he knows Legosi would never hurt him, and to just say what he has to say. Legosi admits he knows Tem's killer and releases Louis, letting himself fall off the ledge of the building.

In Chapter 88, Legosi cross-dresses as female wolf (one who Ibuki describes to be "ugly as hell") in order to get to Louis without alerting the Shishigumi. Louis is visibly distraught and flustered. Legosi tells him, seriously, that he plans to fight Riz. Louis laughs at him, unable to take his made-up face seriously. Legosi takes his amusement as a yes and quickly leaves the bar before Louis can protest.

In Chapter 91, Louis has a revelation in the car - he likes carnivores, and it all began with Legosi. He hastily tells Ibuki that he needs to leave to see Legosi, and says he wants to leave the Shishigumi. Ibuki tells Louis that he can either shoot Ibuki, or let Ibuki eat him alive. When Louis cannot bring himself to shoot, Free shoots Ibuki from behind before he can hurt Louis. Free tells Louis that he and Ibuki made a vow: if Ibuki were to ever try to eat Louis, Free was to shoot him. Free tells Louis to leave, and that he would eat him if Louis ever showed his face in the black market again.

By Chapter 95, Louis has caught up to Legosi at the bridge where he is fighting Riz and has pulled him aside from the fight. Legosi thanks Louis for everything he has said to him, saying that Louis saved him. Louis, overwhelmed by the possibility of Legosi dying and his helplessness in preventing it, begins to cry uncontrollably, the first time he has cried in his life.

Louis makes a drastic decision - to let Legosi eat his left foot, in order to give him strength to fight. By Chapter 97, Legosi is back in the duel, ready to fight. Riz is astonished, and gives up on the duel as Legosi and Louis has proven the existence of genuine carnivore-herbivore relationships.

The police arrive and arrest Riz. Legosi and Louis exchange a witty banter, and Legosi thanks Louis for his leg. He tells Legosi to smile for him, and says to himself that "his (Legosi's) fangs are what finally broke my curse". As he is lifted into the ambulance, Louis promises to see Legosi at school again.

Quotes
"...what are you doing here, Senpai?!! I am so glad...that you're still alive."

- Legosi to Louis; Chapter 76

"Even with their environments changed, they never lost their trust in each other. Only the moon sees them now."

- Chapter 76

"Look at me, Louis-Senpai. Don't you recognize me? You were always in my thoughts, Senpai...Louis-Senpai...It's really you, Louis-Senpai..."

- Legosi; Chapter 76

"Ugh, read the atmosphere! Please, tail! I know that you're happy that we met Louis-Senpai after such a long time, and that he seems to be doing well! I really do! But now is not the time!"

- Legosi; Chapter 76

"His expressions filled with purity give me a dizzying sense of hopelessness."

- Louis; Chapter 77

"Louis-Senpai. Why don't we run away? Right now?"

- Legosi to Louis, Chapter 77

"This guy. Do I have to kill him to make him stop acting like a complete psycho?!!"

- Louis; Chapter 88

"Why do we have to be fighting wolves? They all look like Legosi. I can't focus."

- Louis; Chapter 91

"I like carnivores. I think I have for a long time now, all because of that idiotic upperclassman."

- Louis; Chapter 91

"Louis-Senpai. You were always there to keep me from becoming a monster. Louis...you saved me."

- Legosi; Chapter 95

"If you want to die so badly, then go ahead. Just leave me, the weakling, out of it...just go."

- Louis to Legosi; Chapter 95

"I don't want to see another dear friend of mine die. The fawn inside me is still crying in his cage. I'll break you out. You are free now. You are not weak anymore. Eat me, Legosi. I'll give you the strength to fight."

- Louis; Chapter 95

"Louis-Senpai, I can feel your flesh spreading throughout my body...It's like a forbidden magic. I'm going to use it all tonight."

- Legosi; Chapter 96

"Hey, Legosi. Are you truing to reduce me to a flashback character? I'm alive, you dumb dog."

- Louis; Chapter 96

"Our relationship will always be that of an herbivore and a carnivore...and now, I'm able to see that as a good thing...his fangs...are what finally broke my curse. A carnivore's fangs are what cursed me, with the pain of being a weak prey, and only by those fangs could by curse have been broken."

- Louis; Chapter 97

Fanon
Lougosi's main rival ships are Legoharu and Louno. Both Lougosi and Legoharu are the most popular ships in the fandom.

Both Louis' and Legosi's sexuality is ambiguous: Louis states he is attractive to carnivores, confirmed in Chapter 91, and Legosi is exclusively attracted to herbivores, confirmed in Chapter 114. Legosi also admits Pina (a male herbivore) to be attractive in Chapter 66.

While the author's original idea was to make Legoharu an endgame, there are many hints for a quite possible, future romantic relationship between Legosi and Louis after all - or at least for Lougosi being a semi-canon ship. It for sure has a big potential for eventually becoming more than just a fanon pairing. A lot of the Beastars fans are also questioning Louis's sexuality - especially after the chapter 157 in manga - and think he might be gay or bisexual. One thing's for sure - Paru Itagaki is teasing Legosi and Louis's relationship quite a lot and it's hard to say, if it's only ship teasing for the Lougosi shippers content, queerbaiting or is she considering them really being together at some point.

On AO3 Lougosi is the most written ship for both characters. It is also the most written ship in the ビースターズ | BEASTARS tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * It's revealed in one of the extras in the manga (Unpacking Legoshi's Belongings) that Legosi started carrying a nail file in his backpack after Louis drew attention to his hands (chapter 11 in the manga; episode 3 in anime).
 * In the last panel of Chapter 77, the narration for Louis and Legosi's hug state that "even with their environments changed, they never lost their trust in each other. Only the moon sees them now."
 * "The moon is beautiful" is a euphemism for "I love you" in Japan.
 * Manga chapters 75-76, 88, 95-99, and 114 contain much of the Lougosi content of the series.
 * In Chapter 99, Louis is shown keeping two strands of Legosi's fur as a memento of him eating Louis' leg.