Ren hated his heat, and more than ever before hated his body. He wanted to think of where he went wrong, but thinking wasn't so easy when his mind was on fire, both literally and metaphorically.
Kakeru Yaruno stopped by and gave him some fruit, a note came mentioning a gift basket but none arrived, and his dorm leader gave him a lecture about not having the proper measures taken about his heat over and over.
Even after it was over, Ren forgot his mind for a few days. Somehow, things began to hit him like a truck and he couldn't get his thoughts straight.
During class Chihei tapped him and whispered even during lessons if he was feeling alright. Ren always nodded, then tried to refocus before slipping back out of reality.
After school Ren slumped over to his club room with his eyes to the ground, his hands in his pockets. He stopped just outside the door with his hand on the handle. He lifted his head. He could hear two people arguing inside.
"If you knew he stole it why didn't you stop him?" One said, sounding like Shino but he sounded a lot angrier than usual.
"An Alpha in this school takes what they want, as long as it has no long term consequences… You know that as much as I do, don't you?"
It was Ruota. Ren hoped he would have stopped bothering Shino by now, but it looked like he was still around.
"It was a gift. Where does your decency lie if it's not in basic ethics?" Shino said back.
"Ethics?" Ruota scoffed. "I only care about results and what others can give me. You're an exceptional case study. Even if you refuse the position I offered you, you still managed to find a way back to your use. I gave an inch and you took the mile. What are you complaining for?"
Then, Ren heard a loud smack, followed by a silence.
Ren didn't see what happened but a few seconds later Shino stomped out the door without seeing him and when Ren peeked inside Ruota was standing in the middle of the room holding his cheek, looking just as stunned as Ren.
Ren slowly backed up and quickly turned and walked away. It was a good thing Shino finally stood his ground against him, but he wasn't going to be in the room to see what happened next. Ruota honestly gave him a weird feeling.
With nowhere to go, Ren went back to the sumo club. As he went, another thought creeped along into his mind.
'...Those two… they're not dating, are they? Hitting him in the face like that: it's like something out of a TV drama. But why a guy like that, Shino-kun? He's got some bad vibes, please have some better standards Shino, or else…'
Ren slowed down. His face slowly reddened like a ripened tomato. He wanted to forget, but the image of Akagi Naoto came to mind. He shook his head and walked forward again, more force in his steps. But his thoughts crept back.
I mean, did HE even have standards himself?
He stopped dead in his tracks. He then coiled down to his knees, burying his head into them with his hands over his head.
He couldn't forget it. At some point, he had to address it. His heat this time, it wasn't just flurries of fire. It was filled with so much more than that.
It was full of lust and desire, fracturing his mind into scattered pieces, reflecting unimaginable amalgamations of himself, of everyone.
The memory of Masanori's voice, his touch on his body, smell of his pheromones. Naoto's breath on his skin and his mouth on his neck while it pulsed and ached, even Ryusei's grip on his body, desperately want it to pierce past his clothes and drag underneath, and the deadly recollection of that blinding final blow.
Ren couldn't take it. He touched himself he didn't even know how many times, gasping and moaning their names until he was too spent to even raise his body to continue. He thought of more things that made even less sense, a drifting memory of winter pine and brown eyes, for one. They reminded him of Yuki, but that confused him even more, especially when something throbbed somewhere down below him that he, even in his clouded state, refused to investigate further.
And before, he'd blame all of it one one thing, on the Heat. On the heat and the school and Akagi Naoto. He wanted to believe that Naoto had caused the heat as punishment for what he did, with his mind control powers.
But, Ren wasn't so sure. The way he felt before his memory became hazy, he had felt it before with Ryusei. A desire for just a little bit more, to lean in and get closer, the excitement of being able to hold onto just a little more.
He felt that way now with Naoto, and also Ryusei. He wasn't sure how much of what he felt had to do with Naoto's power, but he couldn't ignore that there was something a little more to it than that. Because if he tried to dismiss it, he had to consider that what he felt for Ryusei was also some kind of mind control. But, Ryusei had rejected him, so unless it was some sick twisted game that couldn't have been the cause.
Ren thought Ryusei was a fluke. But when Akagi Naoto said he had some interest in him, in that way, he felt a little like he was interested too.
It wasn't as hard to accept as he thought, that he liked guys. The real issue, was….
'They're all younger than me! I mean not by much, but they're all basically underaged! I'm gonna get arrested once I get back in my body for all the stuff I did with Naoto alone! With Masanori I guess I'd be fine, but...'
Ren stood back up, the thought clearing his head, even if he didn't feel all that much better. Maybe, it was just some leftover feelings from Ryusei making him confused. Maybe that was it.
Despite their previous encounter, Ryusei had no real grudge against him. How could he when he caught a crush after only knowing him for a few weeks then kept unintentionally dumping his feelings on him? Considering how rude he was usually, he couldn't expect much else.
But, Ren didn't want to see him again. He found he handled heartbreak like a pile of wet tissue. It was soaked and impossible to hold without falling apart but if he left it alone long enough it would dry, and he could dispose of it safely then. That's what he'll try then.
The only question now was why and how it all this connected with his heat. It would be weird to have his heat make him want to do things like that when it was supposed to be a kind of punishment, which would be something they would want to make unappealing, right? Maybe that made him abnormal?
'I'm not sure… And I don't know who to ask. I… don't really want to see any of them right now.'
Ren got so busy thinking that he ended up forgetting about heading to the sumo club, instead heading back to the dorm.
…
Masanori hurriedly scribbled lines on the pages of his council work, going through each page before every corner could even touch the desk, the pen clacking down with sharp and precise strokes.
Yukihiro tapped the desk. "You're going to murder the legibility at that pace."
"There's a million things to do. Why did they take me off as punishment if they were going to let the work pile up like this?" Masanori grumbled.
"It's still just student council work. And most of the dorm's rules are self-governed."
"Except the beta dorm which is apparently a free for all." Masanori bickered back.
Yukihiro raised his head with an observant gaze.
"...There's something else. I wonder if… you're trying to get out of here quickly to watch the cameras again?"
Masanori's hand twitched, stopping mid stroke, though his hand remained steady over the page. "Why would you think that? I"m not going to stalk the cameras when I have so much stuff to do."
"Well you're not going to the security office when you've got it on that tablet in your bag."
"You…"
"I knew it. Don't think I didn't realize when my phone went missing two days ago, then you started carrying around that thing out of nowhere."
"I told you it was for catching up on work…" Masanori said.
"That excuse would only work with your pops," Yukihiro looked at his hand with a self-assured look. "Just admit you caved. You said you would avoid looking at him, but here you are."
Masanori's eyes darkened, his gaze lowered to the desk grimly. "It's different this time. You know… it's after his heat and I wasn't there to see if he took it alright, and-"
"Save your excuses for someone else. I don't need them."
"Then why would you bring it up?" Masanori sighed. "Normally you'd be too lazy to care."
'Just a little annoyed. It would be inconvenient if you spoiled yourself for the surprise I have planned.' Yukihiro thought silently.
"I already removed it anyway," Masanori went on. "It was just until he recovered from his heat."
"Recovered. I guess so…" Yukihiro hummed. His nail tapped the desk as his eyes went far away.
"Hm? He is, isn't he?" frowned Masanori, eyes lifting to settle on him.
'Depends. He's been looking a little downtrodden,' Yukihiro thought. "I can guess it was something unrelated, but…'
His little mistake before in kissing him made it a little harder to predict. Was this the cause of some kind of omega post heat depression, or did he remember something?
"I'm sure it's nothing." He eventually replied.
Masanori returned to his paper with a more worn brow. Now Yukihiro was nervous? He said nothing was wrong, but Yuki wasn't the type to hold these things back. What could it be?
Masanori couldn't keep his mind off of it now.
'I can't talk to him, but maybe I can, get him something? A gift… with a little note inside or something. Yuki can tell me how he reacted later.'
…
Later on at the Omega dorm, Ren abandoned his dorm room and went to the lounge instead. He was sick of seeing his dorm bed at the moment, and the confusing conversations around him kept his mind busy.
It was then he was heard a student approach him, Hikei.
"Hey, are you feeling alright? Just asking, I don't normally see you out here around this time."
'Hikei is Hajime's friend, right?' Ren thought, before letting out a sigh. "My head hurts… and there's a lump in my throat."
"I'm not your doctor, why are you describing how you're feeling like you're listing symptoms." Hikei grunted.
"Well I feel a little sick," Ren cracked his neck a little, his frown deepening. "Maybe I just need to get my mind off of things more than this… Do you think maybe I can try to play some games or something?"
"Like video games? Koisuke's busy so we can't use his console. Just download something on your phone?"
"Uggggh…"
Ren covered his eyes with his arm. He hated phones, especially since looking at Akira's made him think of Naoto now.
Hikei turned for the doorway. "I'm going to the kitchen. I can make you some of my smoothie while I'm in there?"
Ren slowly nodded. Long after Hikei had left Ren finally peeked out when he heard the sound of loud footsteps coming from the hall. He turned and peeked over the couch arm to see half a dozen students marching in unison through the hallway. They stopped once just outside the door, shouted something that sounded like military jargon at each other, before marching on.
Ren got up and peeked down the hall at them.
"What's going on with them?"
"It's Teru," One of the students answered. "He's had his security running patrols around the dorm for days. Apparently there's been someone trying to sneak in but no one's seen anything."
'Sounds like he's just making up things for them to do then.' Ren thought, but curiosity blossomed regardless and he watched them march around a corner before following, trying to catch up.
"Clear!" They shouted just as Ren caught up, only for them to turn another corner.
'This is so boring. Why would they willingly go along with this kind of thing? Maybe Teri's threatening them. I should ask-'
Swoosh!
Ren turned around and leaned against a wall as a window had suddenly opened. He hid around a corner and watched as a student snuck through, quietly shutting it behind him.
'Holy crap, Teru was right!? There's someone trying to break in!'
Ren gulped and tried to get a look at the culprit, but he couldn't lean out far enough. Eventually he saw them go back to the window and Ren heard them leaving again. When he fully peeked out again he was gone.
'He just left? But then why… huh?'
Ren looked down to see a small wheeled robot on the ground. It turned and quickly wheeled away from Ren down the hall.
'H-Huh!? W-Wait!!'
Ren ran after it but it was faster than him, with a strange triangular design that seemed designed for speed. Whenever hit a bump it would flip over but just keep on rolling without losing momentum. Ren turned a corner and bumped right into Hikei, spilling most of his smoothie all over him and the floor.
Ren stopped, giving him a giant bow. "I'm so sorry!!" His head shot up and looked over Hikei's shoulder to the robot as it turned down another hall. He pushed past Hikei and kept running past it as Hikei's words snapped at him from behind.
Soon Ren lost it. His eye searched down the hall intersection, when he bumped into Teru and he fell down.
Ren gasped. "T-Teru-kun! There's this robot…!"
The sound or rolling wheels made them turn down one of the hall, seeing the robot speeding past. Teru looked past him and ran after it, so Ren followed. Any students that were in the hall moved out of the wall for it and them, seeming no more than mildly interested in what was going on.
Members of the guard came from around a corner in the path of the robot and it came to a quick stop before it turned to the right hall. They chased it down and cornered it until finally it got caught into a corner.
"Grab it!" Teru shouted. One of the guards lunged at it, but it dodged him then jumped up into the air, forcing the guards to dodge away and letting it sped away.
Or it would have, if Ren didn't trip and happen to fall right into its path, and it hit his stomach.
Ren fell down as Teru quickly snatched it up, its wheels churning on air. Teru flipped its switch on the bottom and it turned off. He clicked his teeth with his tongue and handed it to one of the guards.
"This is the fourth one! This won't stand for a minute longer! Not in this dorm!"
"But we don't know who's doing it, Senpai." One of the guard said.
"We don't have proof you mean. I have my suspects…"
Ren meanwhile groaned while clutching his stomach, slowly standing up. Teru grabbed his arm and pulled him up the rest pf the way, giving him a rather sharp glare.
"You're going to help us."
Ren balked. "Wuh, me!? But I didn't do it! There was a guy that entered on his own!"
Ge started to pull him along regardless.
"This all happened because of you so the least you can do is help around here!"