By the time they arrived down into the courtyard the bleeding student was sitting at the table, holding their jacket up to their nose. When they spotted him, the student stood up, vigorously shaking his fist and stomping his feet.
"Akagi-san! Akagi-san, get that bastard-!" They grunted through a clogged nasal then wincing as they held their stomach.
Ryusei forced him to sit back down. "Calm it down. Tilt forward a little more there, you'll stain your uniform."
Akagi stomped a foot inside the bloodied puddle, angrily looking around. "What the hell happened here? Who did this?"
A beta student started waving their hands around. "Some crazy omega! He came along and was acting funny, making zero sense! He was looking for an alpha and threatening to pass out if Kotaro-aniki didn't mate with him!"
"W-What!?" Naoto shouted. "What did he look like? Where did he go?!" Naoto looked around angrily. "Tch! I can't track him!" Naoto's eyes filled with fury. A flicker of a red glow went in his eyes and the beta student flinched back. "D-Dark hair, big eyes, on the shorter side…" He shrugged. "S-Smelled like another Alpha?"
"Hm. Didn't see this coming," Ryusei said, strumming hand to his chin. "He really is a strange fella." He then pulled a small med-kit out of his lab coat, handing the bleeding student some more tissues for their nose.
"Bastard! Does he think he can get away with this?!" Naoto snarled. "Once I find him I'm taking him right to the disciplinary teacher!"
Suddenly, Yukihiro burst out of the school doors, looking around frantically.
Naoto clicked his tongue. "Hirabayashi! Finally you ass - where's that omega you keep protecting now?!"
"Eh? Why would I know?" Yukihiro replied and waved a dismissive hand about. "Forget about that, have you seen Masanori around here by chance?" He scratched a section of his hair. "I was clearing the way back to the dorm and he disappeared. The signal gets too shoddy right now so I can't call. This isn't- His perceptible period just started, so I don't know..." He frowned.
"Masa's rut, now?" Naoto muttered. "I didn't realize… Is that why he did this?"
"That's probably not it. Yer jumping to conclusions." Ryusei said, blunt as a mallet.
Naoto yelled at him. "Shut up! This is your fault!"
Yukihiro blinked. "Takeshita-kun was here?"
"He's the reason he's bleeding!" Naoto snarled, angrily gesturing at the bleeding student. Yukihiro in response loudly snorted and covered his mouth with a laughing grin. "Pft. Hahaha, how interesting…"
"You're sick in the head or something," Naoto scowled at him. "There's a real problem now," He turned and glared at the crowd. "And its about time someone helped." He suddenly turned his head and looked into the formed crowd. The students parted until one lone student stood there, glaring right at him.
"You've been following me since earlier," Naoto bared a fang and shadowed over him. "What are you getting out of being a stalker working for Takeshita Akira, huh? I'll let it slip if you do the right thing and bring him back to pay-" Naoto flinched when they kicked him in his shin. They ran away, shifting past the crowd like they didn't exist, even dodging an attempt to snatch him by the beta student delinquent. Into a bush and he was gone.
Yuki whistled watching Naoto holding his leg in pain. "Wow. Your reputation with the omegas has really gone downhill."
"Why didn't you chase him!? Just shut up! Don't you have camera access: Figure out where they all went on the cameras!"
"If you were listening Typhoon-kun, I already told you the signal's shoddy. Only place still working would be the main security office in the school," He paused to sigh. "But I would really like to avoid Sensei or he'll give me more work…"
"Lazy bum! We're in the middle of a crisis here! Whatever the omegas probably ran back to their dorm. I'll finding Aruki-sensei for permission to grab him while you find Masanori."
"Fine fine." Yukihiro stretched his arms over his head and turned to go back into the school. "It's probably fine. He's obsessive, not impulsive…"
"I'll deal with this and go get Masanori-kun's medicine." Ryusei said, leading the bleeding student away.
"Fine," Naoto growled. "I have a bad feeling. Takeshita's a far more dangerous problem than I gave him credit for, and Masa's too damn nice for his own good…"
Naoto just scowled. He looked upwards towards the school, where he left the second floor window now wide open.
———
Ren didn't get very far.
Specifically he tripped on a rock and scraped his knee through his pants. Seriously, he was that weak? By the time he recovered from wincing at his injury, Masanori had caught up to him.
Ren gulped. "G-Good evening. How's it been…?" He choked up a nervous grin, internally panicking.
'Fuck, I'm dead! He totally saw me accidentally attack that student! Why else would he be looking at me with so much anger?!'
"Takeshita," He said, his tone noticeably cold. "We need to talk-"
"I… I didn't mean to attack him!!"
Masanori stopped short. "That… what?"
Ren started to wave his arms around him in a frantic motion. "It was an accident, I swear! It was one of those tiny umbrellas with a release button and I didn't mean to hurt him in any way like that and I really should have asked Yaruno-kun instead because I'm starting to think it was a trap set up by-!" He paused to take a small gulp of air. "-my other roommate and I only meant to test out if I have the same powers but I didn't know how to get them working so I ended up telling him I knew about them and now I'm a criminal-!"
"W-Wait, hold on-"
"And I'll tell you about it soon, but first I really need to go take a bath!" Ren shouted.
"You…" Masanori's face blanked. "You what?"
"Just trust me!" Ren cried, swinging his hands out in front of him. "There's a whole thing - bonds and smells a-and psychic powers-! Imada-kun!" He suddenly gasped. "Did you know, we have psychic powers!?"
"H-HUH?"
Ren snapped his fingers. "I knew it, it's a really big secret! It sounds nuts but I'm telling you! See, there was this thing that Akagi Naoto said-" Ren stopped mid sentence, waving his arms. "A-And I promise to tell you the truth, but this is urgent! Please forgive me!!" Ren then turned heel and sprinted away.
"W-Wait!" Masanori shouted, but watched him sprint away through the brush and back out towards the path. He watched him leave, then he crouched down and buried his head into his knees.
'What… The hell am I doing?'
Masanori shouldn't be out here. He was supposed to be heading to his dorm room. He just became so blindsided at what he saw…
More concerning was what he heard. He attacked someone? Was this what Yukihiro wanted to show him earlier? If Yuki looked that enthusiastic about it then it probably wasn't a big deal. Takeshita Akira wasn't without a flair for the dramatic and jumping to conclusions, he noticed. But psychic powers?
'I can't believe it. It's crazier than aliens,' He laughed a little, before his face darkened, gritting his teeth. 'I shouldn't have chased after him in the first place. I mean, good thing his nose seems to be broken…'
Even with his inhibitors and holding back, it wasn't enough, and his head was getting dizzier by the minute.
Masanori pulled at his collar. 'Clear your head, you idiot. I couldn't smell his pheromones, thank goodness. Even if, I was hoping…' He shook his head. 'No, it would have been a mistake. Forget it.'
It was a relief actually. It was a foolish thought. He was irrational, unstable, and uncertain of his own limits. One whiff of an omega could make him lose his senses, he had to get to his dorm room.
'I-I might have… Damn it, what am I doing here still?' Masanori turned his back from the direction of the omega dorm.
———
Ren reentered the dorm. Next to his room door he slumped his head against the wall, waiting for his heart to calm down from the long sprint.
'Jeez… what am I gonna do? Sooner or later, they'll definitely…'
He lifted his head when he heard his room door open. But it was just Yaruno. He leaned against the door frame, so Ren nervously bowed his head as he slipped past him with a nervous smile, thinking he was being polite and letting him go first. "Just grabbing some clothes to shower." He explained. But when he went for his drawer, he noticed the state of his bed.
He looked towards Yaruno still in the door frame, and pointed towards his mattress. "Where's my blanket?"
Yaruno's head tilted and his shoulder slightly rocked, looking uncomfortable as he explained. "Kanaseki-kun took them to the laundry room. He said he couldn't stand it. He's gonna go complain to the dorm leader this time, so watch out for that."
"He… what?" Ren said.
"I just wanted you to know." He said then left. Ren opened his drawers while thinking. Why wash his sheets before leaving? He thought Akagi Naoto and Kanaseki were in cahoots with the school, but their actions contradicted each other. He was certain Akagi Naoto planted the scent, but if that was the case
Kanaseki wouldn't try to get rid of it, but if the scent was bad for the school in some way, Akagi Naoto wouldn't have planted the scent.
'Its almost like, he's against it?' As if their motives weren't aligned.
'I'll go get them really quick.' Ren decided. He checked his hiding spots one last time then grabbed his change of clothes and headed for the laundry area for his dorm. He pulled out the sheets from the fryer and placed them in a hamper.
He flinched. Suddenly, when he felt the fabric slide down his arm it tingled. He slid his fingers across and felt a shiver, so suddenly and sharp he slapped his hand down on his skin like a mosquito had bit him.
Weird. He only just noticed how sensitive he was. His skin felt tingly and raw, heat flushing up and down his body. It was subtle and somewhat uncomfortable, and it reminded him of…
His breath hitched. 'Heat?'
But it wasn't the same. His mind was still clear and he didn't feel weak or like his insides were on fire. And he thought there was something different to it, palpable and lingering, though it might be his imagination.
What a relief. He couldn't handle another one of those heats right now. Even with the medicine, he felt so weird…
Ren held his cheek, feeling as slowly got warmer, as he couldn't help but think of what happened during that time.
'It's diabolical. Back then… Making me do things like that, while thinking about someone innocent in this. Masanori-kun's busy surviving this awful place, if he knew..…'
Ren suddenly remembered what Ryusei said yesterday. That Masanori had an eye on him. He wasn't sure what that had to do with rejecting dating him, though.
'What was he talking about, being picked? Maybe it was just an excuse. He didn't need to! I thought we were being honest…'
Ren sat back against the wall next to his sheets, frowning. 'Masanori-kun keeps an eye on me? I never realized…'
It was nice he was doing so much for him, helped him meet Ryusei to help find evidence, even if his own feelings seemed to get in the way. He was a nice guy overall, proof the problem is not the students but the school itself.
This worked well with his current theory though. Ren nodded to himself. 'It makes perfect sense! Hmm… I think I have to do more field research though. Yeah yeah, definitely. We'll see who comes out on top with mate bond supremacy once I…."
Ren's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. He heard something coming from the entrance. He walked towards the entrance of the room and looked to his left then his right.
He looked to his left again. Suddenly, the path was blocked. This time he recognized them. The students from the secret guard!
He panicked and backed up, but was grabbed by the arms that appeared on the right side. Next thing Ren knew he was being dragged again.
"Hey!? Let me go!"
Down the hall, Yaruno looked up and saw him being carried off down the hall kicking and shouting bizarre things.
"-guys are bad news! I thought you'd know who the real enemy is but you're a just bunch of wussies! Why don't you guys fight fire with fire instead of getting mad at me when I didn't do anything!?"
He watched as they dragged him off into a different room.
"... This has to count. But…" Yaruno muttered under his breath. He pulled out his phone to text. Hesitantly he looked at the number, one he named simply, "School principal's kid."
Kakeru Yaruno, only a few days ago, had been approached by Imada Masanori, who gave him his number and asked him to keep an eye on him in case Takeshita Akira was acting suspicious in any way.
"I know it's a big ask, but he has a tendency to cause a lot of trouble and if we could get a heads up beforehand…" He had asked. Yaruno didn't care much about his roommate's troubles, even when he skipped his pills or didn't wear his inhibitors (that Yaruno had never seen him put on, by the way) he only got to go to a much quieter room then anyway.
But, it was Imada Masanori. He was not only the school president's kid, but also the leading council member on student discipline. But while he'd rather not get on his bad side he also didn't want to deal with any of what was going on, which was why he never told him about how Ren had snuck back in after curfew reeking of half a dozen Alphas.
But it was getting worrying, so he clicked on the name and started typing. Better safe than sorry this time.
He only kept off then since it seemed like a private matter, but enough was enough.
-Takeshita. Suspicious scheming. Something about Mate bonds and fighting.
Yaruno put back on his headphones, hoping for a quick solution that didn't affect him too much.
He didn't expect a message back soon quickly.
-Where?
Yaruno briefly hesitated, but typed his reply.
———
Yukihiro walked into the security office, sucking on a piece of candy. He stopped outside it to wrap the candy back up, sighing as he pushed open the door.
When he walked inside a chair turned towards him, and a watery eyed, glass-stare man in groundskeeper's clothes stared at him like he was looking through, his face was red and his gut was as large as ever, cradling a case of beer he'd already downed half of.
"Yuki-kuun? What are you doing here? Have you come to check the cameras for me? Smart boy you are but always asking too many questions, you do…"
"Luck's on my side today…" Yukihiro muttered to himself, then he smiled as he walked over to the teacher, and handed him a 10,000 yen bill with a small pat on the back. "Sensei's been working hard, so your pupil wants you to take the evening off. Better hurry then before it gets late."
Yuki hardly paid attention as he scrambled out the door, slipping past him to the main monitor. He sat down and sorted through the system. He sneered his nose at the cumbersome and outdated operating system, slowly filtering through live feeds.
"He's not anywhere indoors, and outside cameras are limited. Hmmm. If that guy was in the courtyard… I'll have to check back the footage. Where did sensei put the files…"
Yukihiro leaned back and watched the feed of the courtyard and adjacent halls, watching and waiting. He glanced at a small feed showing Naoto bursting out into the hall then disappearing off camera, then another focused on he grinned at the footage of the courtyard, ready for a show.
"Oh, hold on hold on! I have to grab this." He pulled a usb from his pocket and bent down below the desk to push it into the PC.
But when he looked up, his camera feed was gone, the software closed.
"Huh?" He looked around the same place, but all he got were errors.
"Don't tell me it auto-deleted already? Did sensei break something in the backing settings…"
Yukihiro opened back up the live camera software, running a system check.
While checking, he spotted Masanori.
He leaned against the desk and sighed. "Well there he is anyway. Where's he…" Yukihiro inched closer to the screen.
"Why's he…" Yukihiro stopped. His eyes widened. He quickly turned in his seat and snatched his phone up, rushing to make a call.
Naoto grumbled on the other end. "Finally, where is he then? I haven't found Aruki Sensei yet-"
"The omega's dorm."
"Yeah?" He said with irritation. "What about it-"
"Masanori's inside the Omega dorm. Right now."
———
Ren had already imagined in his head the entire ordeal of being dragged back to their secret office and being stuck there for hours, so when he was instead dropping into the locker room for the dorm bath, he was more than a little stunned.
"Sakechi wanted us to wait, but Teru recently called and said he's uncovered the culprit anyway so you're going to shower." One of the two students said, pointing rudely at him with an aggravated glare.
"Oh… oh? Wait, but I was gonna do it anyway!" Ren exclaimed. He then angrily pointed back at them. "You dragged me here for this!? You made me leave my change of clothes in the laundry room!"
"Oh… really? Sorry then." They apologized quickly, with one of them nodded towards the other before leaving, closing the door behind him. "But its about time...but just in case, you better get undressed."
Ren sat down while they were clearly guarding him and started pulling off his socks and shoes, feeling that strange sensitivity he tried to be quick before chickening out and taking it slow. Maybe a soak in the bath would call him down. This time of day the place was empty too.
Good thing, because he noticed something else that was a bit too sensitive right now.
Much as he wanted to explore reasons on it, he felt like broaching on that subject of heat and desire was not something to think about while readying to get into the bath while in trouble and watched by a bunch of kids playing police. It would go away if he just ignored it.
He focused on the guard student instead. The student left was a fairly normally built teen, a black earring in his left ear and hair highlights at the tips. Ren pulled off his jacket and folded it. "Can I have a towel?"
One was thrown to him. Ren pouted. "Rude kid. So is your guard just a bunch of muscle slinging brutes dragging and throwing stuff around?" He asked, slowly pulling down his pants. "Don't any of you have mate bond powers?"
They had to know about it, if normal kids like the omega he talked to earlier did. So why all the brute force, and why haven't they tried to fight back themselves.
"What a weird question," They replied coldly. "If there is they aren't saying it. No one in this school is allowed to do stuff like that with each other, it's against their stupid principles and would cause a million little problems. We're just here to get our education away from the rest of the world while the big guys play pretend, so when we graduate our parents can sell us off to some Alphas anyway. I don't know why you can't keep your head down, it will only-"
"WHAT!?!"
Thump! Ren had shockingly slipped as he lost grip of the bench's smooth surface, half flopping onto the floor.
Sold off!? He hadn't considered something like that! Wait, what if they were scared to fight back because they could get sold!?
The student lifted him back up by his shirt. "What's up with you? Are you faking an injury?"
'No, I'm freaking out!! Sold, like slaves or like-! Produce!? Is this school some kind of farm like that one anime!? M-Maybe mind control powers just makes our brains taste better and that's why-!'
Before Ren could fully start to break down into overthinking, the student suddenly slapped him in the face.
"Man up! You're weak and pathetic looking right now! Look, I know some omegas like to cling onto some Alpha scents but don't get all hung up on a guy." They shook him a little. "Get over it! You're worth more than they could ever dream of!"
Ren choked on his own spit. 'W-Worth more!? What am I worth in yen to you, exactly?!' He didn't care that he was just called weak when there was an unknown number value above his head.
The student sniffed. "What's up with you, a different one? What kind of company do you keep? I heard a rumor a while ago, about that uncaught omega causing trouble? Teru's been looking but maybe…"
Ren gulped. Uncaught trouble maker omega? That's gotta be him! And if Teru is looking for him…
'I knew it, they are trouble! I hoped they weren't, but they must be! The people who orchestrate the spies! They're gonna rat me out to the school about that, then everyone's work will be for nothing!'
Seeing his fear on his face the student smiled victoriously. "Ha, you are…!"
But immediately after saying that, his smile suddenly dropped. He looked up. His face paled into shock, then fear. A voice spoke up behind Ren.
"Drop him."
"I-I-Imada-kun?" Ren looked past the other student, recognizing the voice.
It was Masanori. But…. Something was different.
———
Naoto ran up to the front of the omega dorm, past the security and up to the door of the lobby. Before he could open the door, he was pelted in the face by a shoe! He loudly cursed and glared at the person responsible, watching them step in front of the door.
"You again!" Naoto growled, anger overriding desperation. "Let me in! Right now there's-!"
"You're looking for Takeshita Akira-kun, yes?" Teru growled back. "But you're done with him now, Akagi Naoto!"
He jabbed a finger at him. "I've been following you, correct, but I'll let you know I work for no one! My investigation is complete, and you, Akagi Naoto of the student council, are the culprit! Guard!"
Multiple omega students emerged from the bushes and trees, surrounding him. Naoto glanced around, shocked but more so confused. "What? What crime did I commit exactly!?"
"Manipulation and coercion! I've seen you stalking him all day. I won't have you slander an innocent omega into uncouth acts for your pleasure! This is a final warning! Keep your pheromones out of my dorm!"
"Hold on you fucking- I haven't manipulated anyone!" Naoto loudly cursed.
"Not to mention pheromone contamination! I've been wanting to put you on the Red list for a while now, but I had to stay partial and play fair, but now the entire Omega's dorm will know you're a rat bastard!"
"You're the rat bastard, I don't give a shit about your stupid lists now let me in-!"
At that moment a student burst out the lobby door.
"Teru-senpai, you're here! Please help! T-There's an Alpha inside-!"
Teru whipped his head towards them in shock. "What? When!?"
"He just walked in earlier, we couldn't stop him a-and now he's…!"
Naoto growled and stomped forwards, trying to get in. But Teru stepped in front of him and pushed him away. "No more Alphas inside the dorm!"
"I'm trying to help you!!" He snarled. "Don't make me make you!"
"Threaten us and you'll really be sorry!! Tie him down!"
That's when someone threw a rope at Naoto, lassoing from behind, locking his arms to his side and pulled him backwards.
Down the path Yukihiro ran, stopping on top of a slope. He watched as Naoto fought with the omega students as they all held onto the rope together as Naoto tried to pull away, like a 1v6 game of tug of war.
Yukihiro watched this with a straight face, before he took a half turn back.
"...I'll go get the student patrol." He turned back fully and ran to the school again.
———
Masanori was standing there right by the locker room entrance. The first thing Ren noticed was that his eyes were glowing yellow. He'd already seen it but it surprised him anyway.
But something else was strange about him now, Ren couldn't place it. Something was harsher, more rugged and sturdier. His demeanor had shifted and he looked a lot less like a pretty boy teen with an idol face and more like a commanding figure like an army general.
But there was also something wild there, in his eyes. For a flicker of a second, Ren saw him like a wild beast, on two legs staring down prey with eyes like a predator.
Ren gawked at him like he was glowing radioactive. For a moment he didn't recognize him, half because of this shift and half because, at that moment his brain had miraculously stopped working correctly. There was a feeling suddenly, one that pricked his skin and now thrummed in his head, making something about Masanori difficult to stop looking at.
"Drop him." Masanori said with such an intensity that Ren shivered. He was dropped so quickly Ren barely had a chance to catch his fall.
"Get out." Masanori growled. The student rushed out. Ren backed up when he felt a rush of heat go down his back. He watched Masanori go up to the door and lock it with only vague recognition. Ren was spell-locked, stuck in a haze so never registered Masanori's fast approach to him, the heat of his skin as he picked him up like a cafe signboard, or the way he gently placed him back down on the bench without so much of a creak of the wood.
For some reason, Ren noted through the daze that Masanori's presence had put him in, Masanori looked scared. But then he'd turn angry again, eyes flashing yellow, as he'd paced back and forth.
"Umm…" Ren trailed off. He couldn't speak. There was a lot he wanted to think about, but none of it felt as pertinent right now. Something happened earlier. Was it the mind control? But that wouldn't make sense, he wouldn't use it on him and it didn't feel at all the same as Akagi's more subtle ambushes. He wasn't feeling well so he must be mistaken.
Masanori suddenly stopped. Through gritted teeth, he forced two words out.
"Your. Pants."
"My pants...? ...Oh." Ren looked down, his pants had fallen off to his ankles and he was sitting down in his boxers. He pulled up his pants amd redid his belt. Guess it was bothering him.
Finally, Masanori calmed down. He sat on a bench opposite where he placed him. He sat his chin on his hands and stared at him. Even though his eyes returned to normal, it was clear he was still angry, and he didn't speak for what felt the longest time, Ren and Masanori looking at each other in silence.
Ren was speechless on the situation, and Masanori was struggling to come up with what to say without yelling it right to his face. He still had some sense left, and he was going to use it.
"What the hell were you doing?" He eventually asked in a low and dangerous voice, just above gravely.
Ren was trying to think of what he meant. Not to toot his own horn, but he had done a lot lately.
He then remembered earlier. He wanted clarification.
"Do you mean… when I tried to use the mate bond? I know, I didn't mean-"
Suddenly, Masanori cleared the space between them in a instant and covered Ren's mouth with his own. "Don't ever do that again. Do you hear me? Don't ever bring up something like that, ever again. Damn it," Masanori let go and started to pace the room again.
"I've been trying to get them to stop for weeks, and you go and do this? And after you start ignoring me too!! And then you do this? And this!"
Masanori pulled something from his school jacket. A green notebook.
"I found this by your bag abandoned inside the school. Why... why does it have the name of so many alpha students? No, it's all of them! Clubs, classroom number, Favorite foods, schedules! Then I saw you running to the side of the school and I…!"
And… He couldn't stop himself. Now what was he doing? He didn't know anymore.
'Why does he have this?' Ren briefly wondered. Last he saw that it was in his bag that was ripped from him by Akagi Naoto. He didn't have time to ponder it much though.
"Do you already know what people are saying about you? Do you?!" He yelled.
Ren's face dropped, sinking like a rock in water. The rumors? No, they couldn't be turning him away now too? He shook his head quietly to himself. Masanori took it as an answer, and he scowled at him.
"They think you're an Alpha baiter, Takeshita. A slut looking for an Alpha to take them as their mate!"
Masanori knew it had to be a misunderstanding. That he was suspicious of Alphas, that he was talking about mate bonds. It couldn't possibly be what he thought. But the rumors sprung to his mind and Masanori's mind wasn't quite being reasonable. It wanted answers, he wanted answers. And the look on his face was drawing his mind into the no longer baseless assumption, and he was close to losing it.
"Was Naoto right? Are you a fucking Alpha baiter? Are you a slut? Do you do this at every school you go to? Because-"
"Of course not!" Ren shouted. Masanori halted.
Ren looked at Masanori fiercely, almost like tears were caught in his eyes. "No I don't go sleeping around like a slut! I don't bait people! Do people really think that?! I wouldn't ever sleep around here! Never!"
'This school may have these strangely sexual gay students everywhere and this mind control that made me want to do the same, but like hell I'll go around sleeping with anybody here! Doesn't matter what's going on with my feelings right now!"
Masanori looked at Ren strangely. "....never?"
Ren shook his head. "Of course!" He nodded fiercely. Underage is underage even if it was only by a few years. Also, he'd say he wasn't into guys but his feelings were confused on that for the moment. He wanted nothing to do with anyone, but escape.
"So…" Masanori closed his eyes with a pained grimace. He sucked in his breath through his teeth, then quietly cursed. He sat back down on the bench.
"Explain to me what happened exactly."
He nodded. "Sure. Well, there was what Akagi Naoto said to me when I snuck into the beta dorm," He paused. "Sorry, I didn't tell you, but I did. I didn't get caught though!" He added quickly.
"I already thought so. Don't do it again," Masanori sighed, suddenly pondering his conversation with Ryusei then. "You're a mess. Do I have to save you from every situation you put yourself in? I'll ask around to try to cover this up…" He muttered, wiping some sweat off his face.
Ren beamed, smile hopeful. "Does that mean you can help me from getting in trouble with that Yankee's nose I broke earlier?"
Masanori's head shot back up. "Say what?"
Somehow he failed to mention that part. A broken nose wasn't an exaggeration to call that an attack; did Yuki know about this?
Ren hiccuped. Anxiously he moved his arms around. "Well, t-that was, l-like I said- Kch!"
Ren flinched, accidentally bumping his elbow into his knee, hitting the scrap. Masanori stiffened. Then gently he placed his hand on his knee.
"...Did you hurt yourself? When you fell earlier?"
Ren's ears went hot. "No!" He shouted out like a gut reflex. He immediately controlled his voice and tried again. "N-No. I'm fine."
"...Did you, just lie to me?" Masanori asked, suddenly bening down on one knee to get closer. He looked him in the eye with a genuine hurt look. "Be honest."
"W-Well…" Ren pittered off then gulped, looking guilty. "I, don't want you to worry. I'll be fine." He waved off.
"Stay still," Masanori softly grunted, "Is it alright if I check?"
Ren sighed, giving up. "Oh, sure…"
"Let me see," Masanori started to roll up his pants leg. "I'm sorry, I must have scared you earlier, losing my temper like that. I…" Masanori trailed off and Ren looked down. He rolled it up to past his knee, white smooth skin tainted by the bright reddish pink of both the scrape and his dainty skin.
Ren huffed seeing it, resting his cheek on his palm. "It really sucks how weak and soft I am now," He sighed. "Cuz if I were still in-"
Masanori suddenly ripped the fabric back down, startling Ren. Masanori quickly backed up and stood back up.
"Um. You should get that checked out at the c-clinic. I need you to go do that, alright?"
"S-Sure, later…" Ren turned his head away feeling awkward. He couldn't explain it but something in the air was weird. He couldn't smell it but he could feel it and it made him tense, a flight or fight vertigo like staring down from the top of some high point. Something was screaming run, but he couldn't find the danger.
He tried to ignore it, his mouth opening trying to calm his heartbeat.
"W-Well while you're here, I can tell you about what happened! There's a lot of things I know you already know, I assume Ryusei-kun told you since we're allies, but there's a ton more-"
"Actually I have to go." Masanori quickly cut him off, and guiltily looked away. He was already completely screwed, but it would get worse if he stuck around and school staff showed up. This was going to get him in trouble too.
"Wait, but I have a lot of questions!" Ren shouted. "I-I was going to ask Ryusei-kun but things got complicated," He rubbed his head and winced then went on. "Didn't you come to ask me about things? I really have to know what'd up with Alagi Naoto, because when he threatened me I learned something then I experimented, and some other omega students mentioned something else then Ryusei-kun had-"
"S-Slow down!" Masanori scratched his head, heavily sighing. "I… forget me asking. I-I was worrying for nothing. Let's drop it." He lowered his head and scowled. What was he thinking?
Ren dropped his hands. "Oh… Alright."
"Alright…" Masanori nodded and stsrted to move away. But his hand grazed Ren's arm, and Ren shivered with a small unexpected sound from his throat, quickly yanking his arm away.
'Still sensitive. Jeez I hope he doesn't ask about that. I don't know why it hasn't gone away yet.'
Masanori didn't ask, but he felt his sanity break a little. He just moaned. From just touching him? He thought he hadn't noticed...
His pheromones leaked out more against his will, and somehow they finally hit Ren's nose. Roses. But even Ren could tell, there was something else to it.
An aura around it deeper and heavier. It was almost physical,
This one, smelled of fire, or more like others would think, like a fire burning down a garden of roses.
"What's up with this smell? Rosy..." He mumbled out. He couldn't help it. It was strange, but not alarming. It ws pleasant, like it was before, but it also made him feel… Dizzy. His head felt a little numbed, lazed out and hazy like he'd lied in the sun for too long. Ren looked his way and found a pair of eyes, boring deep into him.
"... do you like it?" Masanori asked.
Ren shrugged and quickly looked away, avoiding his great blue eyes. "W-Well I don't hate it…" He stuttered, suddenly out of breath. What was wrong with him? He felt like he had something to say but his head wasn't working quite right.
Masanori lingered, then inched closer. He wasn't thinking, but the moment just…
He stopped. Because finally he smelled pheromones on him.
But it wasn't what he wanted. Not at all.
"Why do you smell like… an Alpha?"
"Yeah, that! That's why I'm in here, to get it off me!" Ren spluttered out, then pushed Masanori away.
He grinned, a thought returning to him. "I figured it out I think! We can talk about it here since you locked the door, right?" He briefly lowered his voice to a whisper before continuing normally. "The other omega students called it "possessive" but I think it's deeper than that! By having it on me I can't-"
"Why is Ryusei's scent on you?" He interrupted.
"R-Ryusei?" Ren shook his head. "N-No, its gotta be Akagi Naoto, right? And it makes sense, because I think this scent on me is blocking my psychic powers, that's why he did it!. Blocks other connections so no one else can bond with me! At least I think so but now I'm worried I'm missing something. It was the pheromones all along, I was wrong about the medicine, Ryusei really…"
Ren lowered his head, and felt his face getting hot. He was really helpful. And honest. And made him feel more at ease.
But it couldn't be him, that would mean something that he couldn't fathom. That's why he was certain it was Akagi, that made sense.
Masanori watched. He watched Ren go quiet, watched his face get red, his expression become complicated. And Masanori got angry.
Not just because he watched him blush thinking about another Alpha. No, because it was then, only then, just a sliver he smelled a hint of his pheromones.
While thinking of a different Alpha. While thinking of an Alpha like that.
"...I must be seeing things. I'm seeing things, aren't I?!" He suddenly snarled, his voice unlike any Ren's heard before, and he froze.
I-Imada-kun?"
Masanori was silent, his eyes became shaded.
"I just thought of something. I've let you run wild this entire time. You're hard to keep under control…" Masanori leaned in, arching over him. "I think it's times like this you make an exception."
"Eh?" Ren blanked.
Suddenly, Masanori's scent increased two times, three times than it was before, and the words that were forming inside Ren's head vanished. Masanori's eyes glowed again, brighter than before.
"I can solve this problem easily, right now. One where there won't be anyone else, but me."
Masanori lost the last of his senses. Though he tried to deter it by coming here for answers, it only made his desire grow steadily more anyway. And now here he was, contradicting himself, but he lost meaning the moment he came here anyway.
Before Ren could even react, Masanori lunged. He consumed the entirety of his mouth. He let their lips pressed together in a delicate way once, then immediately pounced his tongue inside with no mercy.
"Mm!?" Ren let out a little sound that quickly turned into a moan. Masanori had a hand near Ren's right ear, playing with his hair and cheek, and the other held his head so he could thrust his tongue in deeper. Finally, some of the heat that had buried his mind lightened up and he stopped. He licked Ren's bottom lip for a second taste, god how he had wanted to taste him. He bit softly on them and moved on.
He pushed him down, and Ren could feel Masanori start to play with his chest. His nipple was rubbed through his shirt, then lightly pinched, and Ren made an alien sounding noise to his ear, of pain and pleasure married, and his mind went void.
Masanori panted like crazy. He was already getting ready to blow. He began kissing past Ren's chin, to his neck, while he started to unbuckle his pants…
He growled. This other scent. He needed to get rid of it. He'd correct his mistake ten-fold until he was all that was left.
He went back to kissing his skin, sucking on his neck to entice those weak pheromones out. There wasn't enough. His hand reached down into Ren's pants and started stroking him through his underwear.
Ren began to moan even more, and before he knew it he had his hands inside Masanori's thick, light brown hair. "A-Aah…!"
Ren had both never been more confused, or turned on, or confused about being turned on.
'oh God… what is going on?' his thoughts were interrupted by the small but rough kisses Masanori began to place around his mouth, then his cheek, his jaw.
His heart was trying to explode from his chest, every part of his body tingled like static and every part of him Masanori so much as breathed on sparked with pleasure. The room was drenched in that smell of Roses, burning, and it made everything else fade away. It flooded his mind and left no room for rationale, not anymore.
"Haa…I-Imada…" Ren moaned out, stuck between a gasp and a whisper.
The sound made Masanori pause. He then lowered down and bit one of his perked nipples through the shirt.
It enticed another moan, this one more defined and much more vocal.
"Ha! I-Imada-kun…!!"
Masanori stopped and stopped stroking, retreating and glaring at him.
"Hey. You… you were familiar with me first. You can't distance me after everything I've done for you."
"N-No I…" Ren breathed in deep, a shaking arm covered half of his eyes and his lip trembled. "M…Masanori. Haa, Masanori-kun…" He groaned. His eyes glazed over, breathes growing heavier, pleading. "I'm sorry, please…"
Masanori brushed his cheek, past the streak of red from his earlier slap, before forcefully grabbing his arm and moving it away "That's better. Don't call me by that name again." He went back for another kiss, then kept going.
Masanori couldn't take it anymore, and he started ripping clothes. Jackets torn off, buttons forcibly popped, belts flung out of loops, ripped down. He caressed Ren's naked bare legs, rows of kisses from the thigh to the knee.
He couldn't take his eyes off of the engrossing expression he conveyed, deep pleasure with placated content. The moment he stopped doing anything they frenzied, eyes that silently begged for more even as he became nonverbal, and simply moaned over and over, filling his ears with the sound he desperately wanted to hear.
But something was missing still. His scent, it wasn't enough. Where was it? He got rougher, and bit more along his stomach, searching for the right button to release the hatch. Maybe he'd release them if he finally gave him what his soaked boxers wanted, what his own bulging pants wanted…
But that was when, finally the door to the changing room slammed open, and heard several footsteps come inside.
"Imada! Let him go!"
Ren heard them enter and Masanori snarl, animal-like, and it jolted him from his daze.
"Back off!" Masanori grabbed Ren and pulled him a bit away. Briefly, Rem felt a change of his scent. Something seductive and heavy scent turned urgent.
Ren snapped fully out of his horny daze and glanced over at the door. Five students, and he could feel them all clearly. But not just their face, but the auras they were emanating, their scents. From just one whiff Ren could tell, they were all Alphas.
The sudden bombardment of so many smells overwhelmed Ren, and in a sudden desperate act to get away he slid out from under Masanori and dropped onto the floor.
Ren didn't realize, but the pheromones had made him too weak to move. So when he went to stop his fall, his reflexes were too slow, and he hit the floor face first, and just like that, his lights went out.
———
Ren woke up in the clinic. Again. That was the first thing on his mind, wondering how often he'd end up here from trying to stop the school, when his memories came soaring around, like a flying saucer crashing into a thick wooded forest of his mind.
"Holy fucking… what the fuck?!" He gripped the sheets to hold onto reality, because nothing that was happening in his thoughts felt real. How could they be!? What the fuck!?
"So, the wicked do have regrets."
Ren quickly turned towards the sound. There, sitting in a swivel chair in the corner of the room, was Alagi Naoto. He turned the chair around, his head pompously high with his legs crossed. In one hand he held something. He tossed it aimlessly, light glimmered off its shiny surface, while the other scrapped a fingernail across the chair arm, making a faint but irritating sound.
"Regretting your actions, omega? Or is this another act? I want to see you worm your way out of this one looking innocent."
'That sound is annoying. And that's… an apple?' Ren thought, recognizing the object far too slowly. He knew right away how strange that was.
He had odd moments of peculiar recognition before, with his school work, his personal life details, a random convenience store snack. They just came back like looking at the right picture stored in an old photo album, but he'd eaten way too many apples for this kind of dissonance.
He held his head only a little and felt a little pain. He must have hit it hard, but he wasn't sure how. But his nose, definitely a little bruised.
"What are you thinking, omega? Ignoring me?" Akagi spoke up. Ren tensed up as he started to rise. He stopped after only walking a few steps.
"Don't be scared. We both know you'd love me to do something. Making others to act then playing victim is your bread and butter. I'm not here to do anything to you, except give you a warning."
He tossed the apple around in his hands while he spoke.
"We're no longer playing nice. There's no one who will protect you from me, because you got him suspended. You made our thorny rose have his first rut in years and made him break the same rules he was supposed to enforce. If it wasn't for the principal, he would be in jail. I trusted Masanori's word and you proved him wrong. Now it my turn to deal with freaks like you."
His eyes were like stinging dark rays piercing the air between them, and for a moment they began to glow a red faint glow.
"Stay away from the Alphas. You're rotten fruit on the inside, and until the day you and the worm are out of here omega, I'm going to do what's the best for us, no matter what Masanori says. You are and will mean nothing in the end. You can imprint your cursed pheromones on the damned."
He stopped tossing the apple. "You got some kind of nerve, coming here and trying to mess things up. We're not the most renowned or high achieving, but this place is still prestigious, Masa would say something like that anyway." He growled. "He's not like the rest of us. But somehow, you've taken his life and you've made it hell. Don't think I can't do the same for you."
Despite all of the threats and accusations, the conversation springing back to Masanori had distracted him. Last he recalled, he…. Ren's face twisted with worry.
"Is Masanori-kun ok?" He asked.
Akagi halted, then scowled. "The hell do you care?! Do you know what you did to him?!"
Naoto turned to look at Ren, all he found was concern.
He scowled deeper. "Just stay away! You and your posse! Masa doesn't need any more trouble from you!" He threw the apple and it smacked against the wall. It landed, bruised, on the clinic table on the other side of the room. Before Ren could turn back from watching it fall, Akagi had already slammed the clinic door behind him.
Ren stared at the door.
'Jeez. He's a little dramatic. It's not like Masanori-kun's dead or anything. Why is he blaming me, Masanori-kun acted on his own right?'
Ren stiffened.
'Or… Did he? I-I completely forgot, but the beta dorm experiments…'
Ren winced, his head pounding against his skull. Even if he hadn't quite processed the situation, Ren was sure that hitting your head so hard you conk out instantly was probably a bad sign. He decided maybe, some sleep would be good, and he'd rework his thesis later.
You would think Ren would be scared after receiving such a menacing threat but something felt very clear from all of this.
They were winning. He was close to unlocking his power, and Akagi Naoto could only try intimidation. Ren right now was unstoppable.
He might be able to finally achieve his first step: find tangible proof.
And more so, Masanori was far more special than he expected, enough to get special treatment. He was right before: him and Masanori were meant to be! They would get out of this then. Guaranteed! He pumped his fist with a light of hope in his chest.
———
Somewhere, in a darkened room where bars covered the windows between bright red curtains, Masanori sat in the middle of a destroyed room, sitting on a velvet cushioned bed bench with his head in his hands, messy hair clung to his forehead from sweat, hair he had clawed through a hundred times that night alone. His eyes peeked through his fingers. Where there once was uncontrolled rage, then pensive sorrow and despair, now locked itself inside a dazed, intense heat. Eyes deeply longing.
"...Akira."
He smelled amazing. He needed more. Such a sweet smelling flower, not one he knew the name of though. He wanted to know the name...
He snapped from his daze in a instant. In a frustrated rage he pulled at his hair again, hitting his fist against his forehead. He slumped down, head now nearly reaching his knees. He ignored it, every call to do something, every ache in every place. He'd bear through it. He wouldn't, never again.