Ren spent the next day after school trying his best to follow Yuki's advice.
'Visualize… intent…life force…'
Ren sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere. How was he supposed to tell if anything was happening?
"...." Yaruno sighed. "Akira-kun, can you please stop staring at my back?"
"...you don't feel anything?"
"I feel annoyed. Whatever it is you're thinking, don't cause any more trouble."
Ren nodded. "Wouldn't dream of it!"
Ren's plans were definitely troublesome.
He had spent all his time silently glaring down his peers, trying to see a reaction to his pheromones 'mind control' ability that was tied to his instincts. To him they were all cowards anyway, and they certainly looked that way when even just looking at them sent them packing. The little omega that was the center of a nasty rumor now looking at them all defiantly, unsubmissively. Ren was uncertain, but he didn't think his pheromones were the cause of them all running away. They all just looked annoyed too.
'What can I do? No one will give me any feedback..'
Ren slouched. 'Is it too late to go to Yuki Senpai and ask?' He wondered, already getting used to calling him such, considering he had mentioned his longer experience at the school it felt appropriate.
'Hm, but Yuki still lives at the beta dorm, but I don't want to get caught again. Getting into the dorm will be impossible with that darn-'
Ren jumped up. 'It's Thursday! Akagi Naoto is a part of the student council, he must be in a student council meeting by this time! This is the perfect chance to do it!'
He stopped. He could go find Yuki, or…
'This might be the only chance of the week to try to get inside the Alpha dorm too. If I get caught inside the beta dorm Naoto would just go tattle on the teacher again. But if he got inside the Alpha dorm, I could find out who this secret council member really is and… maybe he could see how Masanori is doing.'
He'd wanted to talk to him all week, but after hearing that he was suspended from the student council, he didn't know where else he would be after school.
Ren shook his head. He didn't even know where Masanori was, and for his sake he needed to stay under the radar. It was back to the Beta dorm... to break in. Under the radar, of course.
He then quickly made his way over to the dorm again, trying his best to not catch attention so he could find a way inside.
Since many people were doing club or other activities, Ren found a prime position to enter the building by distracting the guard at the door with a few stone throws.
'Yes! Now I just have to figure out what room he's in.'
He did have a plan for that, and that was by heading over to Shino's room. He had told him which one it was some time ago, and that his roommates were friendly. If he could ask anyone where to find a certain omega, he trusted him.
Ren slipped on the hood and sunglasses before he entered the hall. It was for the cameras he couldn't always avoid, but also the students. Now that he was pretty famous due to the rumors, he was too recognizable.
'These rumors don't really matter to me, I know it's all just to try to beat me down, but word can't get out I was around or it could lead back to Naoto…'
But when he knocked on the door no one answered. He stood outside the door at a loss for what to do now. 'I guess I didn't consider that they would be gone too. Then, what do I do…'
He heard the grumblings from down the hall of a familiar frequency, and sure enough a blue-haired gaming obsessed beta came down, eyes glued to his screen.
"Kokichi-kun!" Ren ran up beside him. "Hey, do you know someone here with white hair and brown eyes? Pretty tall too."
Kokichi gave him the most uninterested glare Ren had ever seen. "Huh? Who the hell are you?"
Ren looked left to right down the halls before slipping down his glasses. "It's me!"
Kokichi rolled his eyes and waved him off. "Why would I know? Tch, You're messing with my concentration!"
Ren huffed. "Couldn't you stop gaming for five seconds and help me out? Then I'd get out of your hair!"
"Help yourself! You're not even supposed to be here and you're bothering me for help? Should have come in with a better build instead of begging for freebies!"
"I still have no idea what that means," Ren said, turning to leave and grumbling to himself about rude children.
Kokichi looked up. He gave him another stink eye before returning his eyes to the game, but grumbled out loud enough to hear. "If you're looking for a guy like that… ask Piko. He lives on the second floor in 2-C."
Ren stopped and blinked in surprise, but then gave him a small thanks and left him to his gaming.
It was the top floor of the beta dorm. Room at the end of the hall to the right. He walked down the empty hall quietly, resisting the urge to rush because he didn't want to draw attention to himself but also avoiding the cameras this time. He got ready to turn a corner.
"-know what you're talking about."
Ren froze. He recognized Naoto's voice. What was he doing here?
"Do you?" A voice laughed. "But it seems to be a lot more than even the school knows. You're student wellness but you haven't realized how strange this omega really is and what he needs. What have you done except get all angry like now?"
Ren recognized that voice as well, Yuki.
Naoto growled. "What I've done? That fucking omega-"
Ren slid around the corner and stood in the center of the walkway.
"Hey!"
Naoto turned to face him. "Huh?" He looked him up and down speculatively before asking. "What is it?"
Ren grinned. His disguise worked! He seemed to have prevented him from telling Yuki about who he was and the rumors, as well as stop him from trying to defend him. If he knew Yuki would go and confront Naoto on his behalf that then he wouldn't have told him about it.
Ren wanted Yuki's cooperation, even if it meant lying about who he was, and that he had to deal with Akagi Naoto to keep it that way.
"I..." Ren started to say, but drew a blank. He hadn't thought about what he'd say next to make him leave Yuki alone!
That was when Yukihiro snorted and covered his mouth with a humourous grin. "What are you wearing? If that's supposed to be a disguise you'd be better off just swapping school jackets. Actually..." Yuki hummed and seemed to consider it.
"Disguise? Who the hell do you have going into disguise?" Naoto grunted.
"You assumed I put him up to it?" Yuki sighed. "Have you that little trust in me, Tsunami-kun? Well he's certainly the best for it, being scentless and all."
"What? Then he's..." Naoto stopped and suddenly he finally recognized him. His face twisted into anger once he did. "You...!" Naoto's hands balled into fists, his eyes beginning to burn a faint but piercing red. Ren stiffened and the idea of running became very difficult.
'Crap, not the mind control! I was too careless!'
He was hoping he could run away, but he found himself trapped anyway. And now he was caught sneaking into the dorm, meaning he might really…
Yukihiro looked over at the scene with curiosity. "Interesting…" But he made no move to help him, simply leaning against the wall with a relishing smirk.
Ren saw him quickly approaching, stomping over. Ren picked up a scent, a smell like fresh fruit in a storm. Ren thought briefly about a beach. Why did the memory only come up when he showed up?
Naoto started to approach, and Ren snapped out of it. He started to run.
'Ha! So the mind control only works for a short amount of time!'
Emboldened, Ren picked up speed down the hall like never before, though he knew he couldn't possibly out run him.
'If he's anything like Masanori…' He risked a look back.
'Shit I think he's faster!'
He needed a change of plans.
Ren, instead of running inside the stairwell at the end of the hall, ran right into the dead end.
Naoto chuckled. "Bad move Omega." With his amused smirk and the bright red glow of his eyes.
Ren seized the moment. While Naoto was reveling in his victory, Ren tried something. As he got to the wall, he ran up to the window and pulled it open. Then, he stood on the gap, the window just tall enough for him to crouch inside. He gulped looking up at the ground below before turning back to face Naoto.
Naoto faltered, stepping back in shock. "What are you doing!? Get the hell out of that window!"
"Just try and stop me! I'll leave right out this window!" Ren threatened.
"You little freak!!" Naoto stomped over. But the moment he got close enough, Ren acted. With this better height it was a lot easier. He jumped back inside, trying to grab and pin Naoto to the ground with his higher vantage point. He'd watch a bit too much of the sumo club mess around and thought he could try something there.
Ren however overestimated his gymnastics abilities. Instead of pulling off a cool athletic feat and overcoming his enemy, Ren found himself just crashing into him instead.
"Eugh…" Naoto groaned, his body slammed into the ground while Ren landed safely on top of him.
Ren hastily flew off of him, shaking off the sudden fall. He looked down and Naoto was glaring up at him. Ren turned and ran back down the steps, wondering why he avoided it in the first place.
'Come on come on! Now would be a great time to figure out how to use the mate bond!'
Ren wondered if maybe the pressure of being chased might help him unlock it somehow, but he had little hope of that at the moment.
He could hear Naoto rush down the stairs after him, and he had only gone down one flight. Ren increased his speed, nearly tripping once or twice.
He made it to the first floor. There were a lot of people looking, but Ren had no time for them, he had to keep going. He stumbled, crashed into the bucket and spilling it all over the floors of the hall someone was cleaning.
"Sorry!" He called behind him. Right behind him though he heard Naoto slip.
Though relieved, Ren let out a frustrated grunt as he fled the dorm. 'This is such a pain!! All I want to do is see someone, and I have to deal with this crazy goon!'
Ren ducked into the school. There, he finds a corner to catch his breath.
"What a mess… but if this means that I can still talk to Yuki-kun a little longer, then…"
Ren sighed. 'I gotta get out of this crazy school…'
He looked down the hall to his left, thinking if he could make it to his dorm before-
A fist slammed against the wall to Ren's right. He flinches from shock. In front of him Naoto was giving him a murderous stare.
"Ah," Ren pinched an paling, broken smile as his stomach sunk. "Naoto-kun…"
Naoto hoisted Ren up like a stuffed bear, and slung him over his shoulder. Ren scowled. "Hey! I can just walk can't I? It's not like I can run away!"
Naoto carried him back to that same office, Discipline, Aruki Sensei. Yet still, they were not there. Naoto growled. "Damn it…" He still looked pissed, but his eyes had stopped glowing.
'A bit of a relief,' Ren thought, 'Because I don't know what power lies behind those eyes just yet. Perhaps it's how their powers are activated? Masanori used strength then, so maybe Naoto's is only the mind control?'
Ren speculated, lost in thought even though he was being stared down like he was sizing him up for the dinner menu.
'I wonder, why do they have different powers? Hm, since they're trying to stop my powers, do all Omegas have the mind control ability? Maybe Naoto is a special case for Alphas, and that's why he's the only one that can do it? If he was the first, then maybe his power is so powerful to the school that they created a whole new group of superhumans to refine it? Or to make an army? No, Naoto is too young to be the first unless he had mind powers since he was a baby but Masanori said…'
Ren looked down with his eyes scrunched in concentration, his arms crossed while tapping his arms with his fingers in a rhythmical pattern.
1 2 3 stop. 1 2 3 stop.
Naoto just about snarled. First he makes him chase him down across the school where at one point he slipped and now his pants were wet, but now that he has him he's completely ignoring him!
Naoto placed a hand on Ren's arm. "Stop that." He growled, his teeth bared.
Ren frowned. "I'm not a bother am I? What do you want? Don't we have to wait for Aruki Sensei?"
Naoto growled even more, and briefly a red glint wavered in his eyes. Ren tensed.
"Out of all the Omegas I've met, you are just the- most-" Naoto grunted snarled and grumbled. He was exasperated. He was already having a bad day after the short meeting and being forced to address the beta dorm issues with Yukihiro; this was making him go overboard.
Ren meanwhile tried to think. 'If he gets all glowy again, then who knows what kind of power he'll use. He might have strength as well. What happens if he uses the kind of strength Masanori did to the wall on me?' Ren decided. 'I can try to fight back with the mate bond. Now's a good time while he's distracted!'
He tried to visualize, to bring forth the intentions of his emotions into a physical form, or whatever Yuki said.
'Back...off…' He closed his eyes in concentration. 'Maybe if I…'
Ren grabbed onto the closest part of Naoto, which just so happens to be the hand he was currently retracting in confusion.
"Whaat...?" Naoto said, his confusion elevating.
Ren kept concentrating. 'And…ha! Is this-?'
Ren opened his eyes to a wide eyed Naoto, his face conformed to a confused shock as Ren suddenly went from telling him off to holding his hand and looking at him strangely. With focus.
Then, Naoto smelled it. His scent.
A person's scent in heat is often at such a condensed intensity that people can have a hard time quite placing what it was, especially since to an Alpha one's state of mind is and memory is disrupted while their instincts take over.
So though Naoto couldn't describe Ren's scent before this moment, suddenly a whiff brought it all back.
Oddly, earthy. Like fresh soil, or the cut of lettuce. But there was a hint of something sweet, like fruits or flowers on a vine. Unmistakable still, the scent of an omega.
Naoto's mouth twitched into a small, amused smile. He started to chuckle, then a low laugh. Ren froze.
Naoto was laughing, but his expression looked pained, almost angry. As he laughed, he ran his free hand through his hair, and looked at Ren with a humorous grin.
"Of course. You Omegas are all the same. Now you think you got me, you're gonna try to seduce me?"
Ren was so shocked he let go of Naoto's hand.
'How the hell did he get to that conclusion?!?'
Naoto leaned in, his newly freed hand resting on the desk that Ren had been sitting on. "Well then," Naoto murmured to Ren's ear. "I can give you want you want, Takeshita. Anything but a bond. I'll die before that happened."
Naoto looked to Ren's ear with anguish, whispering low. "You never change."
Ren was both annoyed and confused by this intimidation method, and was going over plans to push him while he was busy whispering nonsense when he gasped. Suddenly, Naoto had started to gently bite and nibble on his ear, and the sudden contact blew the air out of Ren's lungs.
"H-Hey, what's…" Naoto moved to his upper neck, then to his jaw. Both of Naoto's hands leaned against the desk as he sucked down on Ren's neck.
Ren stood no chance. His skin jumped alive and sent sparks firing up to the tips of his brain, and a gasping moan shuddered through him.
Suddenly he was too sensitive, all at once, with the smallest quiver or tremor burying him in,
That scent. The scent of a shoreline with an ocean breeze, and that whiff of some kind of juicy fruit that Ren suddenly really wanted to bite into.
No. To devour. Just like…
Ren snapped out of it. He repressed a moan and tried to think straight, but Naoto wasn't slowing down, and started to feel down his chest. From his collar bone to his navel, then right back up to his chest.
Naoto's other hand moved towards Ren's opposite side of his head, pressing down on his head so his kiss could press deeper into his skin. This time Ren could not repress this moan, which shocked him enough to jolt him out of his sudden daze.
"Wah- wait-" Naoto only kissed more, his lips moving down to Ren's lower neck, near his collarbone.
"A-Akagi-kun. What are we-"
Naoto seized his neck kissing, so suddenly Ren briefly felt a flash of regret, confusing him further. The hand on Ren's chest moved to his forehead, then pushed his hair up so roughly his head back a little as well. Ren straightened his head, and stared at Naoto straight on. He looked stern.
"What are you going to say? Do you want more? Because I know you want more."
Ren grimaced and shook his head. "I do not!"
Naoto then chuckled, mouth uplifted with an amused malicious smirk. "Really now? Have you seen yourself? You're pretty easy to set off."
Ren blanked, not understanding. Then he followed his eyes and looked down. Once Ren could see it, suddenly the feeling was obvious.
'Oh, I have an erection.' He thought plainly, not entirely surprised by it. He glared back up at Naoto. "With all of the touching you were doing, why the hell wouldn't this happen?!" He growled. No, Ren had had erections before. It was the heats, Ren concluded, they were the cause. But he was sure he was okay now, so this could only be the work of mind control. This is what he wanted to happen!
Still, Ren's frown pressed further. His hands also, he realized, had started to clutch onto Naoto's shirt and side tightly. He was more surprised by this honestly, and even more when he realized he didn't want to quite let go yet.
This situation left him fumbling for what to do next. Wasn't he going to run? Push him? He was trying to think…
Naoto just stared. He kept looking at Ren's current state, searching for something that made sense. Naoto was ready to go down, to reach into Ren's pants and give him what he so clearly wanted. But, Naoto could smell his scent now, could smell his pheromones. And right now… they weren't right.
His body was turned on but his scent wasn't. It was more like the passive scent one gives off when greeting an acquaintance, than an omega riled up for sex, or even one trying to flirt. But, didn't he just try to flirt with him? Why was it all wrong?
Naoto scowled, spooking Ren who had gone back into a state of deep thinking. Naoto removed his hand from Ren's hair, from his thigh he had been preparing to intrude, and placed them back on the desk.
"What game are you playing?" He growled. "What do you want?"
Ren blinked. He released his hands from Naoto's shirt. He frowned angrily, his senses fully returned.
"For you to leave me alone! The school and any other damn Alpha lackey!"
Ren suddenly plopped down from the desk, forcing Naoto to back up a step.
"You're evil, a pawn of the wicked forces at work here! Just like at the beta dorm, you're a part of those experiments!"
Naoto raised his brow. "The experiments? Oh right," He rolled his eyes. "Masanori-kun already cleared that up, didn't he?"
Ren stared, then his face twisted away in frustration and he balled his fists. He turned away from Naoto. "W-What are you saying? Masanori told me? Then what he told me was a lie!?"
"What?! When did I say he lied to you?!" Naoto yelled back.
"You lie to everyone, including yourself! You trick everyone into believing this lie!" Ren turned to face him again antagonistically. "But that doesn't mean I'll give up! You can spread false rumors and lie to me, turn others against me, but I won't give up until I'm out of this school, out with the truth, then, out of this body!"
Ren shoved past a baffled Naoto, right to the office door.
"So you better stay away from me for now on! I bet my mate bond will make yours look like kitty litter!" And Ren slammed the door.
Naoto stood there in stunned silence. He tried his darn hardest to wrap his head around everything he had just heard.
'what is he talking about? Me, tricked him? Lied to him? Like I did something wrong?' Naoto thought about it, but shook his head. 'Masa was wrong about him. W-Wasn't he?'
Naoto leaned back against the desk, thoughts turning on it, along with the scent lingering in his nose.
"....kitty litter?" He muttered.
———
Yukihiro looked at the camera feed of his dorm office. Yukihiro hummed a small tune and cracked into a piece of candy. He pulled out his phone but stopped, glancing at the keyboard.
Then, with the soft end of his pencil he pressed a key down, deleting the footage.
'That won't be any good for him either.' He thought, and put his phone down and leaned back against his chair. And he got out of working on the beta dorm for the day: that was an overall win for him.