Early that morning in the Alpha's dorm came a knock at Naoto's dorm door.
When it opened, unkept red hair barely poked through the gap.
"Don't got time. I'm too... Masa?" Bleary eyes squinted at Masanori's face peeking through the slotted gap.
Masanori patted down his uniform in the barely lit hall. With a stiffness to his shoulders and a stoic face, he looked all business as usual.
"I need something from you."
Naoto pulled the door open all the way.
"Ok sure. But it better not be..."
"Sorry to disappoint you. I need you to watch out for him, while I handle Yuki."
Naoto scoffed and looked back inside the dorm room. He knew who he meant of course, but for him to do it in his stead? What did that even mean? To stalk like Hirabayashi Yukihiro.
Naoto grimaced. "Are you that bent because of the stunt with Watanabe Nagi? I've got real council duties, and I'm sure he hates me more than anyone here anyway."
"You don't have to do much. Just keep an eye on him in case he tries something, make sure he gets help when his heat inevitably comes back around. Please, at least for a while."
Masanori even dipped himself into a nearly full bow, a rarity for him to do for another Alpha.
Naoto's face tensed and his jaw hardened. As much as he'd prefer to stay out of the way, Masanori was just looking for the best option.
"Alright." Sighing with resignation he leaned against the doorway. "I'll look after the little omega."
Masanori nodded. He then coughed into his hand. "And. Try to call him by his... other name."
"Fuck no," He firnly shook his head. "I'm not giving into stupid delusions. But.... I'll do it."
"Thanks." Masanori left his bow and his face relaxed a little.
Naoto brushed his hair back and his eyes averted away with a silent respiration. "I know there was a lot of confusion yesterday. You know, if you need to talk again to clear anything up, I could set up another distraction."
"No. It's not the time. Things need to die down a little."
"Will it ever?" Naoto's eyes lifted with amusement. "Yeah, whatever you say, Masa."
Masanori walked away. But Naoto suddenly stopped him again.
"So where is Hirabayashi you need someone to hold down the fort? Maybe I'll just join you and speed things up."
"....he's not here," Masnaori slowly answered. "He said he needed to help with the footage to cover up yesterday, but he didn't come back to his room."
"Maybe he's still feeling sick from that paint. I'm still feeling clogged up myself, honestly."
"Maybe... I'll talk to Nemura again today, but I have no idea where he went."
Masanori walked away, determinedly as ever. There was no knowing anymore. But, Yukihiro, ignoring his texts?
'If he really is avoiding me, he won't be able to forever. I'll find him.'
...
Ren after class that day was a man on a mission. He had no sooner peeled out of the classroom than he was already at the old gym, barging in right up to Nagi.
There was still a deal that had to be honored, after all. And technically, Ren had successfully brought the Kunodanshi to Nagi, even if he hadn't actually done the pushing.
But even so, a deal was a deal. Ren was ready to fight on this.
But luckily he didn't have to. Nagi scowled as he came in, then motioned with his hand with a roll of his eyes, and a delinquent handed Ren a paper. "Here, take it. Map of the entire school."
Ren looked over the map, amazed at its scale and detail. And it was up to date!
But slowly, the excitement faded.
"No offense... but this won't help me."
"What! Then what do you want!?"
Ren pointed at a specific spot on the map. "See, this place here. I know how to get in, but it's like a maze. I need some kind of map in this area, but you have it completely blank."
Nagi squinted at the space Ren was referring to. His eyes bulged.
"That's...!"
Nagi shook his head. "No way! That's student council territory. Sending anyone there is a death sentence. You're on your own!"
Ren marched up to his face before anyone could stop him. "We had a deal! If someone like my club president can get a map, then so can you!"
'No offense Shino-kun, I just need to make this big idiot see that I'm not asking for too much for who's supposed to be the delinquent leader!'
But rather than contorting back into rage again, which always seemed to be his state for every kind of friction, Nagi's face seemed to calm with a more intent curiosity, before he returned to his usual aura.
"Your club president? Oh, so it's a nose thing then."
"Nose?" Ren repeated blankly.
"No one should have a map of those storage rooms," Nagi began to explain. "And it's all storage - storage that's used a lot. It gets moved around all the time. I bet he just smelled his way there by following the most recent trails they made. Just go find someone with a good nose to help you."
'Trails is a weird way to put it. Smelling the footpaths made by others is so dog-like... wait.'
Ren stumbled back in shock. 'Holy shit. A good sense of smell... like Yukihiro was always talking about! Did he know? Maybe he planned to lead me there once I learned!'
His nose expelled heated puffs of excitement. Now he had the drive!
Nagi sighed. "Just ask your student council buddies. All those Alphas have expert noses, especially Akagi-san and Tamur- Hey!"
Ren left out the door. Nagi slammed his fist against the wall and sagged. "Damn it! I'm completely ignored now?!"
Giro coughed into his hand. "A-Aniki! Have you heard the news yet? The omegas that were found trespassing were let go this morning. One of them was the Kunodanshi, right? What's the plan to get him? Um, Aniki?"
"Maybe later... I don't want to chase after cowards." Nagi sighed.
Giro slowly nodded. "O...Ok, Aniki."
...
Ren got to it right away. He grabbed the two ties still hanging above his bed and tried to work out how exactly his sense of smell might be awakened.
He got nothing, and sighed endlessly for his failures over and over again.
'Well what did Yuki use to say? I need to visualize my intent? But I don't know who to visualize or what my intent is supposed to be. I know this one is Yuki's... so maybe that's why he gave me his. If I can figure out his scent.'
Something flashed in his mind. Naoto telling him his scent was different than usual.
'I guess humans do have scents. But its not something you really notice unless you get really close to someone... now that i think about it, I don't really think i've smelled anyone's scent or cologne like that since I've been here. At least I don't think so... maybe this body's nose is broken?'
Ren sat up straight and focused on his board of notes.
'Well whatever! Since I can't work out Yuki's scent I'll just focus on the other tie. I'll make up a list of possibilities! Yuki wouldn't give me something I couldn't recognize, so I must have some clue already what it could be. I'll just go down the list one by one until something happens.'
Ren began charting.
'Its from a third year, so I'll make a list of every third year I know.'
But as he looked over what he had, it didn't seem to be much.
'So: Imada Masanori, Akagi Naoto - Ruota, Kokichi, Ryusei... then there's Hinaguchi Teru, Watanabe Nagi, and Idoru. I think some of the omegas in the dorm I talked to were also third years, but let's start with who I know the most. Hm...'
Ren really thought it over, and pretty soon the choice was extremely obvious.
'...even though we don't talk much, I think I've been around Kokichi-kun the most this term. And it wouldn't be hard for Yuki to know we share the same club either. It's worth a shot!'
And so, Ren went to his club room in search of Kokichi.
"Oh. Well if you hurry you might catch him." said Shino, head buried into a massive and heavy looking book as he gave instructions, said book being covered in a wall of Kanji Ren could only discern being related to law.
"Thanks," said Ren on his way to the door. "Oh. And uh... what um. What would you say Ruota-kun smells like to you?"
Shino's eyes peeked out from the book, his eyes abnormally open.
"What?? W-Why do you..."
"N-Nothing!" Ren laughed and quickly backed out the door.
'It's too embarrassing to ask something like that after all. Also, if it's him it might be cheating. I'll do it on my own."
Ren followed Shino's instructions and walked upstairs to a hall of study rooms.
'Looks like even Kokichi needs to study. I wonder if he'll look normal for once with textbooks and reading glasses instead of a laptop and giant headphones.'
But when Ren rounded the corner, he hadn't expected to find instead Kokichi standing outside the study room. He was being handed a suspicious bag. Even more surprising was the person that was giving the package, Ryusei.
Before Ren could dip away, Kokichi spotted him. He jumped up, snatched the package from Ryusei then ran into the study room.
'Uh... that was, suspicious. I wanna know, but...'
Ren's eyes met with Ryusei. Nervously Ren began to back up.
"S-Sorry about that..."
Then in great surprise, Ryusei laughed.
"Ain't a big deal. Never thought you were too good fer sneaking around anyway." He was smiling. It was full of intrigue, but mostly an uproarous sweetness.
Or, maybe his ears had heard wrong. Regardless, Ren blushed. Surprised to hear this, his voice came out dry and meek. "R-Ryusei...?"
Ryusei patted his head. "Hey, cat got yer tongue?"
Ren finally got his words out. "What's with the different attitude? I thought you were kinda..."
"Avoidin' you: you noticed that? That's good, I wouldn't what to have to kiss ya again to try to clear the picture again."
Ren blushed harder then whipped his head away. "D-Don't say something like that as a joke, y-you... jerk."
Ren wished that Ryusei would pull away now, seeing as he figured it was just a figment of his mind that he was being so warm and sweet. But rather than pulling away, Ryusei's hand ran deeper through his hair and he knelt down, though Ren still had to raise his head to meet his warm eyes. Eyes that filled him with a bubbling frustration. But still, he couldn't look away.
With his mouth somewhere between a smile and a frown, his words sounded as if they were carried by a gentle, softly but felt down over his skin.
"Lucky thing, Yukihiro and Masanori are out of bends with each other. Nice to have some leeway fer once."
Ren tried not to panic.
"Uh, leeway? F-For what?"
His heart made such loud thumps in his chest he could barely breathe. But the thought of mind control couldn't even parse, he was too confused. What was happening? He couldn't be saying what he thought he was saying! He was just playing around with him again, right?!
Ryusei laughed, and it was oddly crisp to Ren's ears, like the clacking of Setta sandals on tatami floors.
"Teasin' is fun and all, but you should take it to the next step if ya wanna get anywhere like this."
Ren gulped, hard. His hands started shaking. He could swear the pores on his skin had started to pulse, particularly around the neck. It was hard to tell when everything was growing too hot to handle!
Ren pushed him away and didn't meet his eyes.
"S-Stop... Y-You can't say things like that about your fellow student! H-Have some, decency...!"
And just with that, Ryusei stood up and backed away.
"There it is. I wonder, why you don't act the same fer him. With how much he likes ya. I guess you're both in the same camp of bein' too difficult to read."
"Huh? Read?" Ren blinked confusedly as Ryusei pulled something from his jacket. Vials. Some were filled with strange materials like cotton, but others just empty. As he opened one and held it up, he spoke down to him with only a minor mourning glance.
"You don't even know who I'm talking about. Yeesh, I don't envy Masanori."
"M...Masanori-kun? I don't understand..."
Ryusei patted his shoulder. "I'll work on sumthin' to help with that. Thinkin'g it'll be beneficial fer the both of you. Better get it done before Yukihiro gets back."
"O-Oh, you mean Hirabayashi Yukihiro? Or the Yukihiro I know that's a beta?"
Ryusei bent down again, though not as low. He narrowed his eyes at him, though less speculative and with more concerned. "What kinda lies has he been feedin' you? I really can't-"
"Ah, Fujiwara-kun!"
Tamura came up but he stopped just short of reaching them. His face looked right at Ren and he then looked at Ryusei.
Ryusei backed up and Tamura pulled Ren away.
Ryusei put on a strange face from his usual, almost resembling anger.
"...What the hell? Is there something wrong?"
Tamura patted Ren's shoulder and smiled threateningly at Ryusei. "You're getting a little chummy with this omega for what reason? People tell you ya need to keep some distance. You're too overbearing whenever you're around any of the omega students here. It's suffocating."
Ren raised his head. "He's- He's not-"
Ryusei put his hands in his pockets and turned away. "Naw, it's nothing. I gotta get back to work. Be careful, Akira."
Ryusei left. Ren looked to Tamura who was smiling at him kindly. Ren felt he was sorta saved from his strange teasing, and felt a little more grateful. Suddenly, he got an idea.
"Tamura-kun, maybe you can help me since I'm a little stuck right now. I-If you don't mind..."
'This is also my next chance to get my name out his book!'
Tamura's smile grew wide and eager. He leaned down, and Ren thought he took in an especially long breath.
"Hm, guess I'm not busy... what seems to be the problem?"
"Well. See..."
As Ren quickly explained the situation, Naoto watched from a distance.
'Tamura now? The hell...'
First he had to worry about what Ryusei was doing, and now Tamura was stepping in. He could feel some grinding gears scraping in the back of his mind. What should normally be working smoothly was beginning to find issues cropping up. Normally Tamura approaching an Omega wasn't his business. But now he had to be proactive on a friend's behalf.
'Don't overthink this. He has no pheromones...'
It was unfortunate that Naoto just happened to be too far to take in the pheromones that Ryusei had calculatingly extracted out of him.
Tamura smiled brightly at Ren after he finished explaining. "Oh, so you want some help with your nose, that right? I did notice you're pretty unreceptive to pheromones unlike other omegas. Hm, have you tried the hot water pressure in the showers? Steam opens up the nose well."
Ren shook his head. "I'm not sick or clogged up from allergies or whatever. My nose just doesn't work very well."
"Bad nose," Tamura cocked his head and held his chin with two fingers. "I know someone with such a bad ego he'd take real offense to you being unable to smell his pheromones... though I don't care that much if your sniffer functions or not," He shrugged. "Long as you're capable."
Ren nodded along. "I've been getting help from another student, but he's really hard to find for some reason."
"Well I don't know what they've been doing, but I know a sure FIRE way to open up the nose. If you'll follow me of course."
Ren nodded eagerly. "I'll try anything!"
Tamura brought Ren to the track. Holding a towel around his neck he smiled with confidence at Ren.
"Alright, now run a few laps for me."
Ren stared at the track open mouthed. Even though he had obdediently put on his gym clothes just minutes before when told, he was still in shock.
"W-What!? You want me to run to open my nose!?"
"Exactly! Our bodies excrete pheromones even when we're not consciously thinking about it, and just like anything else our skin can become clogged. Since our pheromone systems connect to the rest of our bodies its possible your're backed up enough to cause the sudden smell blindness. And the easiest way to release any clogged up phermones is to get all sweaty and release fluid through you skin."
Ren was aghast. But after some thought his words made perfect sense to him.
'I wonder why Ryusei never thought to mention this... or maybe he did? He's hard to figure out...'
"W-Wouldn't a shower do then if its just about washing out the clogged up pores?"
"Nooope. Its gotta be sweat. After all, it had to really get in there and out. Soap would just clog it up more! Trust me nothing is more reliving than moving your body until its a puddle of sweat. And omegas are excellent runners aren't they?"
Ren felt embarrassed, and he really didn't want toc run and have people see just how bad his stamina was. If it wss anything like his muscle building then he wouldn't last five minutes!
But it wasn't like Ren was a bad runner, like Tamura said. So, with a poor running start he ran.
Around the second lap his breathing grew haggard, and he stopped to take a rest.
Tamura jogged over. Glancing him cover twice, his coy smile manahed to show dissapointnent.
"Not even close to enough. Try to run at least five this time."
"F-Five!? I could barely last one!!"
"Well you have to sweat by working your body. Come on, you're doing great."
Ren couldn't help but feel warmer by his words. He kept running. He could feel the sweat began to build up, soaking through his shirt, dripping down his legs past his shorts, damping down through his hair. His breathing was already haggard, and no part of him wasn't burning up in some shade of pink.
Around lap four Ren tripped, falling down and hitting his nose on the concrete. He rubbed his face, thankful there wasn't any bleeding...
'Huh? Blood?'
A patch of bright red could be seen against the green grass a few feet from the part of the track he was.
'Was someone injured recently? It looks fresh...'
Somewhere hiding in the bushes just outside the track, Naoto was desperately trying to cover up a bleeding nose.
"Are you alright Akira?" Tamura asked, helping him up.
"Yeah... I think I'm pretty done now, y-yeah?" Ren asked, gettung an omonous feeling with the blood and the way he felt his body had been pulled like silly putty. But Tamura's unrelenting smile said otherwise.
"Noope," Tamura clapped his hands together, giving him a small round of applause. "A little more laps! Come on Akira-kun, you're going well. In fact, you're just amazing at this!"
'D-Don't praise me like I'm doing anything special...' Ren blushed.
Half an hour later finally he couldn't run anymore. He collasped on the track completely spent.
A cold water bottle his his forehead and he gratefully accepted it from Tamura.
"Ok, a shower's in order! Hm, since you're an omega I'll use my student council authory to lend you a private shower room."
"We have those?"
"Yes, in the new gym."
Tamura brandished a key and let Ren inside the small shower room.
When the water washed over him Ren felt instant relief. Tamura was right! Feeling the cold shower after a hot and heavy run really was cleansing of his body!
'Ahh, I wish we had showers like this im the omega dorm! I should come back here and shower from now on!!'
Naoto walked along the outside wall of the gym, making sure his eyes were on the entrance.
'Tamura... he must have brought him here for the showers. But then why don't I hear water running for this side.
The gym had two sets of showers, in order to not mix between Alphas and Omegas. But the side he went to was silent.
Naoto had a harrowing thought.
'On the other side? But that means...'
He walked over, and he could hear the water running in one of them. He could also hear Ren's voice, echoing through the open ventalation system.
"Ah Tamura you're the best! This really was a great idea!"
In hearing Ren refer to Tamura, his mind jumped to the first thought it could mean.
'Tamura's in the shower with him? What idea?! Damn it, he's up to something with him!! Masanori's gonna kill me!'
Masanori grabbed onto the outside ventilation funnel.
The gym he constructed did have some design quirks that were requested by his peers, of which were lazily improved by Hirabayashi and not once looked over by the adult that encouraged their autonomy.
Such autonomy meant that when given the chance, the slew of perverted Alpha students, most of which were already expelled in the first place, had advocated for several additions. Such as, the open air ventalation, shich was designed to help air the scent of any omega that used the shower. They also advocated for the heavy foliage around the vents, in order to prevent the scent from wafting towards the school.
Another aspect was not given much detail in the offical blueprints, but existed all the same were the mirrors inside the ventilation. It was a way to, as the design plans only brushed upon, assure that the systens remained powered through solar engineering.
Said mirrors also worked, secretly, as a way to see inside. The method to do so required hold the vent and shifting it so the mirror inside hit the right angle to bounce against the mirror at the top of the vent to reflect the scene that mirror faced, which happened to be a sneakily nice angle within the shower rooms.
The thing was, not even the teachers would approve such a blatantly perverted design choice for the omega showers. Which was then why the designs were put inside the Alphas, and last minute the signs were switched.
Naoto had approved it. It served Omegas right to be used when they used Alphas all the time, and as long as omegas took a hot shower the steam would fog the mirrors, so anyone that chose otherwise was asking to be spied on. But Naoto never thought he would use this himself, or that it would actually work if he did.
Right away as the mirror focused, Naoto went red as a furnace. Ren was alone, and completely naked, soaking happily under the icy cold shower.
He grit his teeth. He was wrong. But he kept looking to make sure he wasn't in the corners where it was harder to see.
But then he couldn't help but see, Ren's ass was a plump as a peach. Or rather, two peaches.
The words that crossed his mind caused a cascading fall of his mental fortifications. That was an ass just begging to be grabbed. Plucked ftom the highest tree and slammed down. To be bitten into.
'No, no. No no no no!! F-Focus! Damn it if Massnori found out I took a peek at his omega...!'
With an oblivious happy grin, Ren finally stopped basking in the cold shower that began to feel uncomfortable, and began to run some down his skin.
'Even if he said it might clog it up some more, I think I'd just end up smelling all day like sweat if I didn't use at least a little.'
Naoto's breath hitched. His eues bulged. His breathing intensified but he couldn't look away. Naoto himself wss still rather clogged up, even after one shower. In that state, it was much easier to get aroused as your pheromones worked overtime to release the tension.
Ren flinched. He released a small groan, uselessly helded back between his lips.
'This soap is so rough on my skin. Stupid sensitive body...'
'He's doing this on purpose.' Came Naoto's rational thoughts, attempting peace with the ones most unholy.
'He's an omega, who somehow knows he's being watched. He's doing this to rile me up...!'
Before, that would hsve made Naoto angry, and his lust subside. So why did he instead only grow more aroused?
As Ren was finishing up he had a thought.
'You know, I wonder if since its though my skin if the pheromones are like sweat. Would they taste salty like sweat? If I taste pheromones... well, I can't put the tie in my mouth! But....'
Ren stepped back an inch from the freezing water and Naoto sighed, relieved that he was no linger in his direct line of sight.
Ren gulped. 'This is the only time I'll have this kind of privacy... I'll wash up afterwards.'
Naoto was seconds away from leaving, when his body let out a gasp. As gasp of only described as amorous disbelief, Ren put a finger in his mouth and began to suck.
'Hmm... nope, I just taste skin. Maybe a more sweaty part like the palm...'
Ren's tongue moved down and licked down the center of his palm.
'...oh! A bit of salt. So just sweat then. Or maybe I already washed it all away. Oh well.'
Ren stepped back under the shower and did one more rinse of his hair to comb through it. It was so stringy he needed the water to shape it or else he'd walk back out there with hair with a cowlick. His hair wasn't this annoying in his old body!
Naoto had already peeled away, burying his head into the bushes. The position hurt, especially with the erect pole in his pants, bu he couldn't find the will to move.
'I... have to tell Masanori I can't do this. I have to tell him I can't fucking do this!!'
After washing his hands Ren left the shower back in his school uniform, Tamura having waited patiently outside.
"Great, so last step is right here." Tamura then brought Ren to a few lockers within the gym.
"Unwashed gym clothes, nothing with more pheromones than that. You'll find scents loud enough to see. I'll unlock them for you."
'Will this work? Won't I just smell weak old sweat and dirt?'
But Ren got to it. He sniffed and sniffed until he got dizzy, and then...
Ren suddenly recoiled. But not entirely ftom Tamura. This one scent, it was...
"Oh, this one is... nice."
It hadn't taken much, but he picked up on something. Aside from the smell of soap and the materials, he began to smell something that didn't quite belong. A cologne of sorts, but thicker. Though, it didn't seem very special. It was a one off comment that didn't bear much weight beside a curiosity.
Tamura saw what he had then went over to the lockers he had gotten it from.
"Let's see... yep, he's not busy."
"What?" Ren could only ask, suddenly grabbed by the wrist and pulled away.
"That's the scent of Kokuga Higaraki. It might just be a compatibility thing." Tamura said, all smiles but for once his words felt very carefully chosen and not at all the usual carefree sentence spaghetti it felt like before. Ren felt the potency of it and took in his words at full force.
'Compatibility? Is it, that I'm not compatible? No, wait, this isn't about my mate bond connection, it's about just trying to smell my way through a maze! He's taking me to just see some random Alpha, but what if that Alpha's a spy that reports me!? I can't go! Please, stop-!'
Ren didn't get the chance to complain or try to pull away. Instead at the moment he planned it, a hand grabbed his wrist from the hand that was being dragged by Tamura. Naoto pulled hard, ripping Tamura's their hands apart.
He then stepped in front of Tamura with a level of glaring previously untopped. He looked like he was a teeth clench deeper away from ripping him to pieces. Ren briefly saw behind him like a tiger baring the nastiest of snarls. Despite this, his voice was calm and elusive.
"Where are you going Tamura."
"Naoto, what's the big deal? I'm trying to help him."
Naoto glared at Ren then back to Tamura, if softer. "I'm doing a favor. And he's off limits until he gets back."
'Gets back? Who?' thought Ren with a tense look back at Naoto.
"Hm." Tamura's eyes squinted at Naoto, a look Ren didn't see as he was still behind him. Then he waved and turned away.
"If you say so. See you later, Takeshita. Maybe some other time?"
Ren watched him leave, becoming annoyed even as he originally didn't want to. Maybe it would have helped!
But as he turned to Naoto to give him a piece of his mind, he found he was alone. Naoto had already left!
Ren stomped off, unaware that he wasn't actually alone. Naoto watched, but his heart wasn't in it. He wanted to take a nap, a long one.
'...Masanori will find Yukihiro. Then this will all be over. Don't think about it don't think about...'
He was already growing a new one, even thought he already had to deal with his last erection in such an unsavory place. He did so little but Naoto felt like his little engine had turned intona rocket, and souldn't stop reaching for the stars.
Because of it, he almost missed Tamura dragging Ren off, and he couldn't take it anymore and stepped out of line. He would apologize to him later, after he explained to him what they were doing.
Luckily for Ren, and Naoto in turn, their thoughts were his alone, and Ren had a few thoughts to consider himself.
'What was he talking about? Who left? Whoever it was... maybe it's a golden opportunity?'
Ren had already made up his mind on what happened. Tamura was trying to help him and naturally Naoto stopped him from progressing in his development of his abilities. But by doing so he accidentally let slip why: the person that normally watches him was gone for some time. That was why Naoto was put back on spy duty even when that teacher told him to stop!
But if it was just Naoto, then Ren grew excited. Not only did he know how to easily spot those specific locks of red hair and purple eyes in a crowd, Ren knew Naoto's schedule very well! With this, he could easily avoid him!
Suddenly pulled off from what he was doing before, he decided to put off once again the issue with his nose and put forth a different plan he had.