"W-What…" Ren had completely blanked. What he was reading made no sense.
'This can't be right! W-What the heck is a, neck inhibitor?!'
Ren gawked at the paper in encroaching panic. Specifically it asked for a red one, which gave Ren zero indication of what it was supposed to be, exactly. He had heard the word before, he vaguely recalled, but he didn't know it was an object!
A bunch of other students already ran off and Ren was left completely stumped for what to do.
'N-No! How can it already be over for me!? Didn't they manually filter these for unreasonable requests!?'
He shook his head. He wasn't giving up just yet! This was clearly a cheat move, but he was determined to overcome the odds this time. Ren rushed off, leaving the stands behind. He entered the first school building and started looking around.
'I gotta find it, something red and under 15 kilos! That's gotta be something pretty obvious!'
If it really is valid and this object does exist on school grounds then, where would the Alphas hide it? He'd check every club room that was primarily Alphas first!
But, he found nothing, so Ren checked every gym room. He passed by several students also searching, one being Tsuda Katachi who had more than one object into his bag, though he couldn't imagine what he could have gotten to need more than one object, but slowly the numbers thinned out as the clock ticked down.
Ren was running out of time. He had searched just about everywhere he could think of, nothing that was big or red!
'I'm doomed...' He sulked to himself as he dragged himself down the hall, desperately considering his options. 'It's not like a fire hydrant is also called an inhibitor, right? I guess, putting out a fire is a kind of inhibiting?'
Ren slumped down out the door and to the main school building. Maybe he made the wrong call about it being in their dorm. But as he glanced inside classrooms and club rooms he grew more and more uncertain, till he slumped down at the end of the downstairs hall in low spirits, hearing voices in the distance of the cheering of the crowd.
He perked up. He heard a different voice much closer and peeked around the hall's corner. It was Akagi Naoto and the student council head teacher.
Akagi angrily gestured around. "Because I can't understand it, Sensei. That bastard, I'm telling you he's the problem! Why does he keep getting a pass! He should be expelled. Masanori was tricked!"
"Masanori was not expelled," The teacher said calmly. "He is on leave for his rut. You know that."
"Exactly! It's so obvious what happened but no one wants to look into it!" Naoto cried.
"It was ultimately Masanori-kun's choice what happened," His teacher stated, then let out a sigh. "We can't have you prominently targeting an omega student like this, and riling up the entire Alpha student body against the omegas. Those are not the principles that this school stands for, and you know it."
"But, Sunaeda-Sensei, you told me before what we should do when it comes to omegas, so why now…!"
"And I told you why there's nothing we can do when there's not enough evidence. And, the specifics of his enrollment would make an investigation pointless anyway. All of the teachers know the kind of person he is and he's no real concern or danger to anyone."
The teacher sighed. "You're graduating this year Naoto. I thought you were doing well in your student council role, but you must let all this go and focus. I haven't asked you much, but you must treat them as expected in public at the very least. You have a bright future, don't waste it on getting involved in this. The same went for Masanori-kun, and see how that went."
"Sensei…" Akagi said through gritted teeth, looking like he was holding back as his eyes flashed with vague illumination of red.
Ren was trying to keep up. 'A teacher telling Akagi to stop targeting someone? But, who?' Ren pondered it, but couldn't see it as him. Why would the teacher want Akagi to stop terrorizing him? Maybe it was someone else. But, it looked like Akagi didn't have as much power as Ren thought previously. He was just another grunt for the school after all.
That was a little terrifying. If a simple grunt had MIND CONTROL then he had no clue what the headmaster could do.
"What's wrong, Takeshita-kun?"
Ren looked up surprised, but luckily it wasn't Akagi or his teacher as they had already walked away, but rather Hajime, his one eye poking from his heavy banged hair.
"Oh, Hajime-kun. I'm fine, just thinking of ideas. I got one that I can't figure it out." Ren replied, and that statement was still true.
"There shouldn't be any abstract ideas to find, is it that bad?" Hajime said. "Or, you didn't get something considered student contraband too, right? I got a pack of cigarettes. Hope Sensei won't mind me borrowing it…"
Ren sighed. "Thanks for trying to help, but you should head to the finish line if you have it." He said, about to resign to his fate.
"I stopped to help you though. We're in this together, right?" Hajime softly smiled. "What did you get?"
"Good question…" Ren grumbled. "W-Well, It's something called a red inhibitor. Sounds like something totally made up."
"Red?" Hajime hummed. "Well I guess that's not a common color, you got a tough one…"
Ren looked up in alarm. "Y-You know it?!"
"I wish," Hajime sighed. "Well, have you tried some first year omegas lockers? They usually have something like that."
Ren shot up and thanked Hajime with a hug. "Thanks!"
"Okay? Well, good luck!" He called out as Ren ran away, wind against his face as he sped away.
Ren ran through the school grounds and away from the path to the secondary building where the private school lockers were.
He skirted to a stop when someone stepped out onto the path, staring right at him.
'H-Huh?' Ren was quick to notice that they weren't the only ones. His first thought was the omega guard, but he quickly saw their appearance was more unusual than that, along with a few recognized Alphas, with their malicious glares.
Ren turned and found he was surrounded.
They grabbed him with little effort and dragged him off into a clearing away from the main path. A Delinquent looking Alpha approached from the trees. He was no longer in his gym clothes and had on a rugged jacket around his shoulders, striking a menacing figure like an old school yankee. He snarled and raised a bat at him from one of the games, but wielded it with enough intensity to make it look intimidating.
"Got you now."
Ren's first reaction wasn't fear, but rather anger. He glared at the group with a furious snarl.
"So you'll stoop this low huh?! You're a bunch of cheaters and now you're kidnapping me as a last resort so I can't win! You're shameless, cowards! Despicable-!"
"Shut up!!" They shouted over him. "This has nothing to do with the scavenger hunt!! You knew this was coming messin' with me, now you're finally gonna pay now, Takeshita Akira! First you get off scot free because you let yourself get attacked and then that kunodanshi tailed you all week. But now I've got you, and when I'm done I'll leave them a message they'll never forget: NO one messes with me and gets away with it!"
"Yeah! No one messes with Nagi-Aniki!" The head lackey shouted with a raise of his fist.
"...huh? You mean Teru's guard?" Ren asked, not fully following. "He's not a Kodanshi or whatever you just said. You just made that word up?"
Ren got kicked behind by their lackey, who spit at the ground next to him. "Let's hurry this up before we're spotted, Aniki!"
One of the beta delinquents gave a creepy laugh. "Can't wait till you show this creep what he's been asking for. Maybe he'll finally stop and give senpai some peace!"
"Don't make it weird," Nagi growled, and ripped off the jacket dramatically, letting it flow into the wind. "I'm not stupid, I won't be going that far. Just enough to set the record straight. J-Just don't make it too fun for me, alright Omega?" He added in a playful tone, but he had a twisting scowl on his face almost like a grimace.
Ren gulped, and it occurred to him that he might be getting beat up today. He didn't even have the energy to fight back or run away: he was too tired from the day. Couldn't he just lie down and take it?
No. Of course not, he had a scavenger hunt to still win! If he came in late the omegas would get zero points from him, and they needed to win!
'If this really wasn't about the hunt but the umbrella accident, then…'
The Alpha delinquent Nagi started messing with his belt when he suddenly glared at the other students.
"Stop staring! Go and turn around!"
"Ah!! Yes Aniki!" The three lackeys turned their bodies as Nagi turned red in the cheeks.
That's when Ren stood up, making Nagi stop fiddling with his belt for some reason.
Ren then did a full 90 degree bow to him. "I'm sorry for smacking you in the nose and making you bleed! I know you want to beat me up but I have to win this scavenger hunt so I have to go, goodbye!"
Ren quickly spat out these words then tried to run away.
He succeeded. Nagi stood there in shock as Ren bolted for the hills. A few seconds later he heard him yelling and he tried to pick up speed. He had to get to the omega dorm!
But, Ren wasn't very fast. He'd spent the last few hours participating in various sporting events after all, and he was tired. He got grabbed by one of the beta beta guards, who laughed at him. "Should have ran back to the main path, idiot!"
Then, Ren heard a whizzing of air past his ears. Suddenly there was an origami throwing star lodged in the delinquent's forehead. They stumbled back howling in pain, and Ren was let go.
The other delinquents emerged just in time to get rained on by more ninja stars. Nagi grit his teeth and motioned. "It's the Kunodanshi! Don't fall back!"
Nagi tried to rush forward when someone jumped in front on him, a student with a mask covering their face. He then kicked his legs in.
Ren stumbled back in shock. The ninja turned back to him and glared. "This makes us even. Now go!"
"What…?" Ren responded, mouth agape.
"You fucking…!" Nagi shouted, rising back up swinging his bat. The ninja ducked low and, pointing two fingers out, prodded with precision into Nagi's eyes.
"Agh! Fuck, Damn you…!!" Nagi hollered and cursed but then, his face changed when he made blurry eye contact. All he saw was a pair of golden colored eyes before he was then kicked in the face.
He got back up nose bleeding again but he didn't look half as bothered, his eyes wide with mesmerized wonder.
"Who the, heck…?"
Ren would have wondered the same, if he wasn't already gone. He had sprinted from the scene without a second to waste, leaving the delinquents far behind.
Or at least he thought. One of them jumped out in front of him and pushed him down.
Ren winced and grunted. "You guys are really persistent…"
The delinquent cracked their knuckles and grinned. "Aniki's been really looking forward to this, better not leave him waiting– WOah!" They then cried. Suddenly, they had been picked up by a mountain. The delinquent paled and quivered. "F-Fujiwara.…!"
"Ryusei?" Ren gasped. Ryusei tossed the delinquent aside and watched him run off. Ryusei then bent down and offered Ren a hand. "You okay?"
Ren took his hand, even as he felt his face heat up without his consent.
"R-Ryusei-kun. What are you doing here?" He asked meekly as he stood up. He was suddenly extremely nervous, finding it oddly bizarre to see Ryusei wearing a normal white tee and shorts, despite not noticing earlier.
"Heard some yelling coming from this way," Ryusei replied. "Yer not too good at stayin' out of trouble are you?"
"No, I guess not…" Ren sighed. "But, won't you get in trouble for talking to me? They say that, Akagi Naoto forced all Alphas to avoid me."
Ryusei crossed his arms and leaned down. "I wasn't avoiding you because of Naoto. Don't care what he's been doin' ta be honest."
"But then… why haven't you let me see you all week?"
Ryusei's subtly narrowed almost like he was annoyed before he straightened his back and moved his arm, gesturing his hand over him. "Because of all of… this."
"Eh? I…?" Ren stiffened. He then pulled at his gym uniform with a self-conscious hum. "I-I've been working out…"
"Do ya only hear what you want?" Ryusei sighed tiredly, crossing his arms. "I meant yer behavior. Whatever happened between you and Masanori, I figured I was to blame somewhere. Didn't want any more mixed messages goin' around, y'know." He lightly shrugged with only his shoulders.
"Huh? How's it your fault? What mixed message?" Ren asked.
"Yer a real nuisance, ain'tcha? No wonder ya drove Masanori off the wall. Thought he was a little more put together though."
Ren shook his head. "He's not crazy, and it's not your fault Ryusei. Trust me." Ren then grinned. "I think I figured it out actually."
"I'm not gonna misconstrue that… but maybe don't repeat that to others," Ryusei said, then asked. "You'll be heading back then now, right?"
Ren nodded then paused. "Oh… I actually haven't found what I"m looking for! I-I'm totally going to lose." He croaked through a pained smile. "Where would I even find a red inhibitor at this point?"
"Hm, Arai Kura has one." said Ryusei suddenly.
Ren jumped up. "H-Huh? You know?!"
"I work with the medical office," Ryusei stated plainly, as if that would summarize things to him.
Ryusei led Ren to his locker, which weren't locked in their school but the hall was covered in cameras.
Ren nodded about to thank him and run off. But he stopped and turned back.
"Um. S-So… if you don't care then I can come back to the office later?" He asked sincerely. He had a lot to talk about, and a lot to ask about. He was sure he had a lot to tell him too, about Masanori and everything.
But Ryusei then loudly huffed, hands on his sides. "Wow. Yer real dense."
Ren's face fell. "Rude. Why is Shino-kun the only one with sense around here to be polite?" He muttered. "Can't we just be…" Ren stopped himself and glanced at the camera. "Can we just, go somewhere private and talk? A-After the scavenger hunt…"
His heart pounded with excitement, for what they could be doing next.
Ryusei rubbed his chin and looked upwards. "Look… rather things not get complicated but… I guess it's too late. Don't take this the wrong way."
"Huh? What's too late?" Ren asked. "Take what–"
Ryusei didn't answer him. Instead he suddenly grabbed his head, lifting his eyes up as he leaned down and kissed him.
It was only a few seconds but felt like the universe had collapsed and rebirthed itself across an infinite stretch of eternity. He'd never admitted it but he imagined it, what it would be like to kiss him and he imagined it would be like being crushed, but he felt like he was free falling instead.
When Ryusei pulled away Ren came crashing down to earth, burning up like a meteor hurling through the atmosphere. The feelings he pushed aside flared in his chest until he couldn't see straight, and he turned too red to distinguish.
"W-Wh-? W-Wha…!"
Ryusei put his hands back in his pockets looking unbothered. "While yer gettin' the picture, I should say sorry fer marking my scent on you before. Most omegas woulda noticed without me having to spell it out, but yer not most," He tilted his head. "Got it? Don't wait up for me. Ya can still come to me if you need advice about your health, but make those lovey dovey eyes at someone else."
And with that Ryusei turned and left, leaving Ren alone. After he had long walked away Ren collapsed onto his hands and knees.
'I…Insane! He's Insane! He just kissed me to reject me again!! Who does that?!!?'
Ren did eventually make it back, though he was one of the last to make it over the finish line. The only people that did not were eventually disqualified, mainly the delinquents that had come covered in paper cuts. A first year class won the class average with the 2nd and 3rd being one with Akagi and the other equally unknown.
Thus, Sports day came to an end. But of course the day wasn't over. As promised, the Alphas and Omegas were punished for earlier hectics, putting them solely in charge of cleanup while the beta students were let go early to their dorm.
That allowed Tamura to sneakily tallied up the points of the Alphas and Omegas separately.
With that including the Alpha Watanabe Nagi and the Alphas in general being much slower than the omegas, the omegas won the overall gender points, secretly passed around between them as they cleaned.
Because of this it was only Chihei who noticed Ren's distracted and dissonant behavior. It was only as the omegas were finally heading back to their dorm before the Alphas, but Ren was still sweeping the track did he speak up. Chihei scowled, frankly irritated.
"Ugh. Why the heck are you upset when we won?"
Ren's response was cut short, or rather faltering, as his attempt to speak quickly followed by him losing the strength in his legs and he fell down. Chihei immediately dropped his trash bag and rushed over.
Across the fiend, Naoto watched Ren collapse on the field while have a small crowd of omegas following after the first.
Naoto growled. "What is he doing now?"
"Let it go," Ryusei said over his shoulder, hands back in his pockets. "Yer capable of doing that for once, aren't ya?"
Naoto stayed where he was, kept watching from a distance. With his impressive eyesight, he was able to catch when Ren's eyes grew misty, and when he blinked them away and gave a weak smile.
A twinge of softness spread on Naoto's face, like an ebbing tide, before he quickly turned away and buried it. "Tch. Let's go. You're telling me what happened."
"I don't think I will." Ryusei said, turning and walking away.
"Hey!" Naoto shouted after him, raising an angry fist. "We're not done cleaning!!"
…
The next day when Ren woke up he was bone tired. He was mentally spent but moreso, his body was overexerted from all the activities, and he was sore to even move. He could only groan and moan into his pillow amidst his roommate's attempts to wake him.
He's learned his lesson the hard way. He never wanted to do sports ever again!