Ren had the mysterious ties for only two days when Yaruno finally discovered them. As in, Ren has accidentally led him right to their placement in the frame above his pillow when he asked him to grab his bag from his bed.
"You keep them right up to your head. Isn't that a little suffocating?"
"So they're too close together?" Ren just murmured to himself.
Yaruno puts his hands to his waists. "Is this something you're copying from somewhere? Hey, I know it must not be easy but I think it's better to not get too attached to any Alphas here at all, especially-"
Ren zipped over and covered his mouth with both of his hands, very loudly hissed. "Don't tell me! It's a test!"
"Mhhgh mrggngg grm?" Yaruno tried to ask something.
Ren nodded. "I am, safe as I can be!"
"Mnrrn nm grrmmn nm." He said looking less than thrilled. He pulled his hands away. "And let me go."
Ren gave him a thumbs up. "Oh don't worry, the person who gave me the test isn't an Alpha anyway."
Ren sprinted off to class.
Yaruno sighed. 'Did he even understand what I asked? Who's giving tests to keep S class Alpha scents with him? He's such a headache. I should really try to move rooms too…'
As Ren went down the path he felt lighter than air. He had a bright mood today, and just a lot of energy lately.
'But I haven't figured out anything new lately…'
The ties still remained ties, and Ren remained no closer to proof.
Teacher's desks and offices were boring, and he checked plenty. Everything was more digital than he initially realized. He didn't think it would be in a place obvious like that anyway.
The next day, Ren was distracted scribbling in class. He tried to whisper over to Chihei again.
"Are you sure there's no where I can find Hirabayashi Yukihiro outside of his dorm?"
"I'm not a gossip expert! If you want to talk about Alphas go make new friends!" Chihei hissed at him, intentionally covering his ears, which only got him a scolding from the teaching for not paying attention.
Ren sighed and stopped bothering him. Dead end after dead end. How was this going to help him find something tangible to show everyone about the truth of the school?
There was the mysterious forbidden hallway, but he had asked Shino and he simply told him to not go looking for trouble.
Ren chose not to, but only because he didn't have a clue how to navigate inside that messy classroom on his own. He still didn't know how Shino did it: It was a dark, confusing maze. And even if he did find the door again, he didn't know if it would even be unlocked, and he didn't have Ruota to make a distraction.
But no amount of searching actually gave him the way to the hall normally, so he was at a loss.
'Masanori would… no, I can't ask. It's probably not worth chasing if he's involved. He must have a good reason for being there. Maybe this was a misunderstanding?'
If they were THAT blatant, they would have been caught ages ago!
'I guess I'm just worried. Well regardless I'll have to switch gears. I'll get started after class today. Though I feel like I'm forgetting something important…'
Ren was right when a massive pile of studying textbook was dropped on his desk. Chihei apologized and quickly moved them over to his desk, but Ren had already grown pale.
'Oh no… It's the end of term testing coming up!! How could I forget!?'
Ren stopped.
'Wait. Why am I so worried? This school's not real, if I fail the test, it's not like they're gonna kick me out. Ha, I can rest easy after all!' He leaned back in his chair, instantly relaxed again.
"Ehem."
Ren's homeroom teacher stiffly cleared their throat, standing right by his desk and Ren jolted back upright with a gulp.
"Takeshita-kun. A word."
Outside the classroom Kawazu-Sensei tapped on a report.
"Your grades haven't been as well as they were in the beginning of the year. Regarding recent events… if there's something going on, I can make the suggestion to talk with Matsuoya-Sensei."
Ren blanked. "Who?"
"The school's counselor. Have you not been introduced yet?"
Ren squeaked. "No! I mean, yes, but I'm perfectly fine! My grades will be back to normal in no time!" Ren scooted away and reached for the door to the class.
The teacher stuttered for a response. "Oh… then-"
But Ren left back inside, back to his desk and right to studying. He wasn't going to take a threat like that lightly!
'But how am I going to get the study material… the library I guess, but I've been avoiding that place…'
Luckily, Chihei saved him the concern when he gave him half of his textbooks after classroom, mentioning that the company accidentally sent him double by accident.
"I can't take this. They must have been expensive to buy."
Chihei scoffed. "No? Books aren't expensive. Just take them already or I'll throw them in the trash instead."
And so after class Ren carried his new pile of study material through the hall. Despite only being a few on the smaller side, Ren was struggling.
'Studying wasn't this heavy before….'
Slam!!
Ren ran right into someone and knocked all his books to the floor.
'What the hell, who-' Ren sucked in his breath.
'N-N-...Naoto?!'
Ren hadn't seen him since before at the lake. What was he doing here now? It had to be because he knew he broke the rules and trespassed!
Akagi Naoto noticed him. Briefly he seemed surprised.
His eyes then glanced over to his right side, but when Ren followed there was nothing there. Naoto growled and looked away, storming away in a huff.
Ren scratched his head. 'Oh, I guess not.'
Ren watched him leave, noticing he had a book tucked under his arm.
'Yeah, I guess even seniors need to study too.'
Ren picked up his books and continued on, more relieved than he expected to be. 'The study rooms must be packed so I'll go study in the club.'
…
Yukihiro twiddled his thumbs sitting at his desk.
He couldn't help it. He was distracted. The other night replayed in his mind. He searched for an explanation for his actions within himself, but he only found his heart torn asunder, and a strange amount of aching in his hands. Like the beast inside him wanted to tear something open.
'Who else is getting more in touch with their instincts, huh?'
But was it that surprising? He had already formed an attachment when he had a taste of him during his sudden heat. And now imagining him, an omega alone in his room with only Naoto's scent to hold onto: What Alpha could just let that go? Yukihiro just thought he had a little more self-control than to act so recklessly. Apparently not.
'Well I better hold it in, or I'll risk him realizing I'm not a beta. Even if he said otherwise, his apprehension towards Alphas might be a problem when I still need him to trust me for a little longer… If only Naoto wasn't so caught up in his hate boner for omegas and failed to take him last week, then I could keep him at a distance.'
Still, Yukihirio had thought he knew all there was about the nature of being an Alpha, but he just discovered something new. He, maybe, owed Masanori an apology there.
He rubbed his chin. 'Still, he should keep a lot of his liked scents around his bed, it's a proven means of calming the psyche. Maybe if he grew more nesting behaviors he might calm himself from his insanity on his own. Yep, this should work out nicely… just need to shake this. An Alpha's inclination to take care of an omega can be pretty hindering to my work! It would be so easy... but Nori can forgive me for helping him see his fogged mind, he won't forgive that. But Nori... you're as much Alpha as me I know, but right now, I wish you kept that desire to be distant from him like you did before. Then…'
His brow suddenly deepened with discomfort but he shook it off. Finally he stopped twiddling his thumbs.
'Let's ignore my giving my own scent, this little hiccup won't change that he still has Naoto's. By the end of today I'll either get what I want or some good results for my experiments. If he can start showing his nature more overtly with his pheromones around then
Yukihiro leaned back in his chair. As amusing as he tried to imagine it, he found himself frowning. Over and over.
'...I need a buffer. Forget my gift to him… Let's see if Nemura can whip up a different gift for me. Why isn't he up yet after sleeping all day, I'm getting really annoyed again…'
He lifted from his chair and walked out his bedroom door. "Ne-Mu-Raaa!"
…
Masanori was at his desk. Like so many others he was also drowning in work and textbooks.
'Thanks goodness Yuki's not here; I need to focus on this. And I still have to study…'
And yet, his phone chirped with a notification. He picked it up expecting another unavoidable distraction.
"Huh?"
It wasn't from Yukihiro. Instead, Masanori got an unknown email with a mysterious and short message.
- Watch out for that friend of yours.
Massnori messaged back.
- Who is this?
For a moment they didn't reply. With a purse of his lips he copied the address to his clipboard.
'I can ask Yuki to trace this email address. I don't have time for any distractions from whoever this is...'
Ping!
The mysterious email sent another message.
- Why hasn't he given you all of the sports day footage?
'Sports day? What?' Masanori thought bewildered. He was given the footage from that day already by Yukihiro, albeit heavily edited in such a way clearly pocketmarking Takeshita Akira. Masanori had rashly chosen to delete the file after only a few minutes in.
'There shouldn't be anything he left out that wouldn't be important. Yuki wouldn't. Why would they be…' He shook his and promptly shut off his phone.
He had too many potential enemies right now to be entertaining this. Anyone could have sent that to try to fracture him in search of a weakness. All the more reason to not entertain any added interest in Takeshita outside of his student council duties.
'...Maybe I can still retrieve the file from my trash bin…'
…
Ren went to his club room but found it completely packed. Nearly wall to wall students taking up space, bent down and crowding the few tables within the shelf-lined room.
"What…what is going on?! I just came here to study…"
Shino sat in the same spot he usually did, seeming as tranquil as ever.
"You had the same idea, Akira-kun? Everyone's looking for a space to study in peace these days. All of our club members included"
"What for? We have study rooms!" Ren cried, actually irritated by the crowd.
Shino shook his head. "There was an accident in one of them unfortunately, and the entire wing was sectioned off for renovations. But half a dozen study rooms means there's less place to focus."
"Then they should use their dorm rooms! You know, at their individual desks!"
"Do you think all dorm rooms have individual desk space?"
"Oh well… I guess not."
Ren never considered it, but he had just assumed all the dorm rooms were the same. All of his roommates had separate desks and with distinctly sectioned off corners for their things, something he'd also seen the rooms of other omegas and Massnori's that one time. Though there wasn't a desk in the living room, in his bedroom? But the fact that he did have a separate room with a door on top of an entire main living space the omega dorms didn't have, made Ren wonder how different others had it. His room here WAS way fancier than what he had in college, for sure.
Ren left the club room. He instead tried the sumo club. Ren found it was a lot easier to bother the sumo club leader instead to let him stay in his club room than actually make the long trek back to his dorm. The sumo club leader despite his constant bemoaning of him never making it in their club would give him very vocal tips about stretching and proper form. He didn't like him but he wasn't half as hostile. Rem assumed it was because he hadn't figured out he was an omega yet.
"You'e hopeless, I dunno why you keep bothering me. " He tutted.
There wasn't any space to properly study either there, but Ren enjoyed the peace because of that. He could feel the energy getting more hectic lately as the end of first school term approached. Luckily, he didn't worry since he doubted they would actually be let go for summer vacation.
"...do you eat enough?" The sumo club leader muttered. Ren looked at him funny.
"What about my size? I eat fine."
"No, just… if you wanna be in the sumo club, maybe eat a little more. Put some more skin on your bones… you're just way too skinny. To join the club i mean."
"I guess." Ren huffed, not sure what he was on about. Soon, the club leader left, and Ren sat down now alone. There wasn't anywhere else to be, or a clear destination to work towards. With a suddenly empty slate to fill, Ren had time to reflect a bit more on his situation. For the first time in a while, he wondered why he was here.
'Though my memory is foggy, I'm definitely sure I was a different person. A college man, not even of legal drinking age. That is clear but… everything else is so…'
Ren rapped his head searching for the memories that were out of reach, like he was fumbling in a thick fog for the handle of a door to where his past lied.
'Nothing,' Ren sighed. 'I really don't have much to go off of. Perhaps it was how whoever put me here intended it. Perhaps I agreed to this? I highly doubt that, who would willingly agree to go to this hell? I may not remember much from my life before, but I don't recall being the heroic type. Unless somehow I'm getting paid to do this…'
With nothing else on the mind, he ran through theories. 'Would it be some kind of test? A simulation? No, that kind of technology doesn't exist yet. Putting people's minds inside a computer? No no, that's just science fiction. But I am currently in a school with superhuman teenagers with super abilities… so anything is possible. But… I just don't get why it has to be him. Why this guy, this scrawny kid? I can't figure it out if I don't figure out how to use his power…'
That was when Ren pulled out the wrapped gift. Not the strange grey object, though he had reexamined it earlier.
'Which one is it? Is it from Yukihiro to help me with my mate bond, or a trick from the school?'
So he avoided it. Instead, what he pulled out was the rose.
'So… how do I use it? Yuki-kun could have been more specific… but I suppose maybe it's a secret so he doesn't want this information to get out?
Ren couldn't decide, and the panic was apparent on his face,' He groaned out in frustration. 'Forget it. Whatever it is, it can wait until I talk to Yuki after passing his test to know for sure.'
Instead he held up the artificial rose again, lifting it up with both hands.
'Is this… important for something?' It threw him for a loop more than the grey object. He wanted to ask Masanori, but since he figured he was busy studying like everyone else, he'd have to work out something else for the day. And the thing was...
Ren relaxed his hold on his pencil that he had started to grip a bit too tightly. Ren's resolve seemed to harden as if in reaction to it.
'Alright! That will be my new goal! Thinking about getting out of here or getting this power to work will have to wait anyway, so let's try to figure out who I'm supposed to be!'
So, he stuck the grey device and rose back in his pockets and went off.
…
Naoto sat at his council desk. He was especially angry lately, then he just HAD to bump into Takeshita in the hall when he'd been avoiding him for days.
'The world's gone turvsy. Masa's lost his mind along with that idiot omega. I don't care if he's crazy, he's still looking for trouble.'
He kept repeating that to himself, but something still kept gnawing at him. The fact remained, if Takeshita was well and truly only acting out from a delusion and not from any malicious intent, that made his actions overblown and irrational.
'Like hell. I don't care if he acts crazy, no one gets into Masanori's good graces without something weird going on. He has to be doing something to him…'
Someone then knocked and entered his office.
"Akagi-Sempai! I have reports of more hostile activities of the Omega guard, sir!"
Naoto grumbled. "Not this shit again. Do those clowns have any respect for anyone but themselves? This is not the time to be causing issues."
"Some students have been suggesting going to the teachers directly if something isn't done soon. What should we do?"
"Nothing, they'll get over it. If the Alpha students can't handle some stupid pranks they call protests then they can run off to some other school in shame. This school's dignity won't be destroyed by some whining omegas. The students that actually care about their future will win."
The student agreed but added, "But the delinquents, they've been especially active lately. It might become a real conflict soon…"
"They aren't my problem but they better stay out of trouble or they can go down with the omegas."
"Yes Sempai!" The student affirmed. They then cleared their throat nervously.
"A-And I wanted to ask… have you fixed that problem you were having?"
Naoto slammed his hand on the desk. "There isn't a problem! Tell the boys to stop starting rumors about me!"
"But that day… no one's seen you reject someone so harshly. And you've been very agitated lately…"
"Get out if all you have to say is bullshit!" Naoto shouted, and the student scurried off.
Naoto's face buried into the palm of his hand with a grimace.
'They're getting ahead of themselves, I swear…maybe I just don't have an interest in sleeping around at the moment. Damn it… I let that omega affect my head more than I thought.'
At first it was just a little agitation, but at the lake incident he dug into the crevasses of his head and he couldn't dig him out. Now whenever he just tries to unwind, he couldn't shake the image of him. The image of when he had him on the desk and hands all over his body. But all he could think about was the confusion, and it followed him everywhere.
His phone rumbled on the desk. Picking it up he read the text and immediately got angry again. It was from Yukihiro.
I thought you might wanna know that omega's up to no good. Better check out the south halls.
'Why's he telling me? Masa's that far gone? It's nothing but suspicious behavior after another.'
Still, Naoto left a scathing text instead to fuck off.
They texted back.
Did you know that Takeshita had his heat right after he ran into you? But lucky for you, Masanori didn't find out. He will if you force me to bother him while he's studying. So, so do it for me? （＾ω＾）
'This motherfucker..!!!' Naoto tossed aside his chair and stomped out the door. 'I'm getting him then I'll kill that white haired psycho!'
…
Ren's first idea was to check the main office, guarded by a single secretary that he had never seen leave his post.
Ren peeked out searching for a way past them.
'How do I distract them to slip past? Maybe…'
Ren turned back and jolted. Then he relaxed.
"Oh, you're friends with Yuki, right? Does he need anything? He better not keep me waiting half an hour again."
The student adjusted their glasses, light through the window making it hard to see his eyes.
"I'm just passing by. But you look lost, don't you. Do you need help finding something? It's weird to see any students around the teacher's main office these days."
"There's a teacher's main office in there!?" Ren grew excited. That must be a gold mine of evidence then!
Nemura raised their hands grimacing. "No?! Uh…!"
They grabbed Ren's arm. Their glasses slipped as they suddenly scrambled, and Ren saw the frantic and red-eyed student.
"They adjusted their glasses back. "I mean… you look a little worn out. Have you gone to see the school counselor yet?'
'Who looks worn out? You look like you need a coffee… wait. That's it! The counselor! They must be able to access student records!'
Ren turned to leave, waving farewell behind him. "Go and get some rest, I have to go now!"
"R-Right…" Nemura adjusted his glasses and watched him leave.
The office was open and empty. Inside Ren moved around the desk, turning on the computer.
'A password… I won't have time to try to crack it. Maybe there's something in here that will help me…'
While Ren was inside, Naoto approached down the hall.
'I can't believe he threatened me! That shithead is getting what's coming to him once I grab the stupid omega-!'
At that moment he got another text.
- Ah, he went inside the counselor's office. You remember meeting him there a while ago, don't you?
He scowled and glanced up at one of the cameras up above. 'Creepy fucker. At least pretend not to be a stalker!'
Naoto stomped down the hall, barreling towards the council's door to barge in on him.
That's when he was suddenly stopped by Teru, stepping right in his path.
Naoto huffed. "You. Been sniffing you out for a while. Get out of my way if you know what's good for you."
Teru glared. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just feel like stopping our student council member for help. That's what you're supposed do, right?"
"You don't want any help from me," Naoto growled. "And I already told you I'm not the one that put that scent on him! That was Ryusei! Now stop following me!"
Teru scoffed. "I can see you're just trying to push blame onto others. But I made the right call making you my enemy. You're the exact kind of Alpha this school needs less of, and you had no respect to our wishes to stay out of our dorm showing you don't respect us!
"I usually only care about what happens inside the dorm, but for YOU, I make an exception."
"Get out of my way or I'll make you." Naoto warned.
"I won't. It's a good thing I was in the area today and I got that text. I thought you might have learned some sense, but I guess not!"
Ren went through all the drawers and cabinets. Nothing, nothing he could use. He started to pull some books off the shelves, some nonsense about psychology of more secondary gender nonsense. He did however pause on a book with the title: "The importance of Suppressors and Inhibitors in a modern society."
His memory flashed at the word.
'That's right, sports day. Oh, an inhibitor! Isn't that…'
Naoto reached down and gripped Teru by the collar. "Hey! Will you listen to me…!!"
Ren perked up. Yelling from outside the office? That couldn't only mean…
Slowly he peeked through the door, and sure enough Naoto was in the hall, bearing down on a student unidentifiable from his angle.
He thought about going to help them, but fear gripped him about what Naoto would do. And, what could he do?
Ren creeped out of the room while Naoto was distracted and tried to casually walk away.
Once Naoto spotted him though he shouted. "Hey! No escaping! I know you were doing something in there!"
Ren paled. 'H-How did he know?!'
He turned his heels and started to run the other way.
But as he ran his way was blocked: a wall of stacked chairs.
'Who put this here?!' Ren quickly looked around the hall, but it was a dead end. Was he going to get caught again?
No! Ren heard Naoto approaching from behind and, took the first closet on his right and shut the door and locked it behind him.
Naoto stopped outside the door. He tapped his foot impatiently with a scowl. "Get out of there… it's not going to help you here!"
Ren looked around in the dark and found a light switch. Once he turned it on an air conditioner began to blow from the ceiling. It was a small but plain room with white walls and floors, almost sterile.
'Weird storage closet. I think I've been in one before…'
Naoto banged in the door. "Don't make this difficult. Hiding in there is disrespectful to any omega student that would actually need it right now! You'll play games with even something meant to help you…" Naoto shook his head. "Despicable."
Ren growled and banged his foot against the door. "I am NOT despicable! You're the one that cornered me in here!!"
Naoto startled back but soon growled back at him. "You were breaking into a teacher's office!"
"You have no proof of that!" Ren proclaimed, despite not knowing if it was true. If it was, it had to be security footage, and Masanori would help him erase the evidence if he asked, right? Just like with the beta dorm cameras.
Ren puffed his chest and got more confident with that. And who was Naoto to chase after him when even the teachers were against it? There was an escape after all!
"There's not much you can do, Naoto-kun! You're just a bully and a jerk chasing me like its so sick joke! How about you get a life instead of being a sorry sucker!" Ren smirked, emboldened by the locked door. "You'll see, I'll get away with it! Then you'll be-!"
Ren stopped when he heard a key in the lock, and the door pulled open.
"Ah…" Ren slowly backed up.
He scoffed. "Of course I have a key. I'm a part of the student council. Now get out. You're coming with me."
"Unless you're going into heat, I have the authority to force you out, so don't make this difficult." Naoto scowled, clenching his jaw. He'd just dragged him out like earlier, but he couldn't imagine what he was planning while in here. How easy could he be holding back his pheromones until he tried to force his hands on him, only to claim he had attacked him? Monsters do that!
"My heat? What does that have to do with this room?"
"Duh, it's a safe closet for emergency breakouts of heats or ruts! There's no way you're asking than earnestly, you're just stalling the inevitable, aren't you?"
Ren's eyebrows pinched and his frown pulled into a confused grimace.
"What's a rut?"
Naoto crossed his arms. "There's no way you're this stupid. How can you live in this world without knowing that much? Just, come here," He started to walk in beckoning the retreating Ren to him. "And just try anything. I'd love the proof that you're a manipulator to Masa-"
THUD!
Naoto whipped his head around as the door suddenly slammed shut.
"What?" He pushed against the door with his shoulder, but despite being still unlocked the door was shut tight.