Masanori entered into the tucked away section of the school, pushing past the rolling racks of costumes.
'Its gotten messier since I was here last. All this old storage: why take anyone here…'
Going a few doors down he went straight for where he heard voices.
But when he pulled open the door, he was met with a cacophony of shouts and explosion of noise.
"I-Is it a type of fruit!?"
"No!! Last question…!"
"Hurry up and pass it!!"
"Say something stupid or I'll kick your ass Takota!!"
"U-Uh…!!!"
They walked in on the fervent game of heads up. Everyone in the room was shouting at once.
"W-What is going on?" Masanori stuttered out.
Instantly the room silenced. Many faces briefly flashed with fear. But then, they relaxed when they saw who it was.
"Masanori-senpai."
A student stepped up with a belated answer. "We're playing reverse heads up! One person is it and they have to guess the card on their head. You get 4 questions, and if you can't guess it then you have to pass the headband to the next person and get a new card. Winner gets 100k yen!"
"Oh…o-kay? Wh-Where are they? That Ishikuma brought I mean."
"He's in the next room across the hall. He was too loud so we had to gag and place him somewhere that was more muffled. Just take the key and.-" The student paused.
"Wait… how did you get in here? The door was locked."
Masanori rubbed his neck with a bemused frown. "It wasn't??"
The students turned to the now empty table where the key was. They all became as pale as ghosts.
Masanori crossed his arms, suddenly looking irritated.
"...Ok. Ishikuma won't find out you lost the key. Just tell me where to go."
"R-Right Senpai…"
They gave direction and Masanori turned and stomped away.
'I don't have time for this…'
Masanori reentered the hall to head to the room when he stiffened and jerked back, holding his nose when he was hit with a strong Alpha scent.
'What the? Who's been stinking up the place like this?'
He found his answer rather soon, unexpectedly finding Ruota leaning against the wall as if he were waiting for him.
"Hayashi-san, what brings you here? It reeks…"
"An Assessment. I'm thinking of a proposal to reinstate some older clubs to enrich the school's growing diversity." Ruota said.
"I didn't think you had that kind of power…" Masanori grimaced. "And the smell?"
"As for the smell, some students were here earlier causing a scene. I just scared them off."
"This is yours?? Did you need to go so hard on the smell? If there are any omegas in the area…"
"I've found that Omegas are much harder to break from a couple extra pheromones than they say. Life would be easier if they were."
"Well some Omegas are that weak so please be more careful or you'll cause an incident. Alphas have more control of their pheromones than them so act like you do." Masanori then sighed as he tried to roll off his agitation from his shoulders.
"Well in any case because this I can't smell where the student I'm here for should be. The dust doesn't help either… have you smelled anyone passing through here recently?"
He shrugged. "Beats me. The dust like you said."
But Ruota then pointed down the other hall. "But I heard some loud students over in that room there."
"I already talked to them, but thanks. Just get some windows open for crying out loud."
Masanori left Ruota, unaware of the eyes boring into the back of his head.
But Ruota didn't follow. Instead he pulled out his phone, reading the text he already knew was there.
- Better to keep those two apart, trust me. You're already there.
Ruota glared at the text. 'Not my problem. I have my own issues.' Lets see, I can get him out if he's smart, but the extra baggage...' He swiped the message away and got on with his own plans.
–——
Masanori approached the unlocked door and entered the old classroom, coughing as he inhaled some kicked up dust.
'This is unsanitary…'
In the back of the room with Kokichi, Ren and Shino froze.
'Is it Ruota?' Ren wondered, but Shino covered his mouth and silently motioned to Kokichi to move him away. With Kokichi out of the ropes Shino motioned for help and Ren helped push Kokichi into hiding, with what meager strength he had to lift a roughly equally sized junior high student. This is to say Shino did the leg of the work after Ren nearly fell over from the effort.
Masanori made his way to the back of the room. But there, he found an empty chair. Masanori held up the cut up rope with a frown.
'...Why were they tying up students with literal fucking rope? Think of the rope burns... Who's the poor fool that got on Haruka's bad side for this treatment?'
Only a few feet away, Ren hid underneath the table and watched Masanori's legs approached the chair. Seeing Shino ahead of him he followed along, slowly beginning to slip away.
That's when Ren bumped into a table. Masanori turned around.
"Who's there?"
Ren froze. Ren had been so busy trying to avoid them, he hadn't even see who it was, but hearing his voice he couldn't help but peek out. Em he finally saw who it was he was hiding from, his jaw hit the floor.
'Wuh… Masanori-kun? What is he doing here?! He's looking for Kokichi?'
Ren leaned back to hide better, but it was too late. Masanori began to approach the direction of the noise and Ren just lost the opportunity to run away.
Ren began to panic.
'I'm gonna get caught if I dont think of a way out of here!'
Plik!
But then, all of a sudden the lights went out. Masanori stopped in his tracks and looked up to the light bulb.
'Just my luck. I hope I dont trip on anything in here...'
Masanori turned and went in a different direction, searching instead for the exit.
Ren waited for Masanori to pass as his mind raced.
'Why... Why is here here right now?! In the den of the maybe beta experiments? Here to help, maybe? He can help carry Kokichi.... Huh?'
Ren looked around and realized Shino had gone past him.
'Oh no… where did Shino go?'
Masanori began to look around, unaware of who was in the room with him exactly.
Masanori sneezed. He rubbed his nose. 'I can't smell anything… what am I doing? Searching for an escaped student for a petty crime? Haruka's dramatic but I'm not helping by feeding into his ego.' Masanori shifted some old posters and sighed, glancing inside a box absentmindedly. He then grimaced.
'Fuck. Is he trying to get in trouble? Shit. I'll be implicated for this if I bring it up…'
Masanori turned back to the room. And whoever was trying to leave might have some misunderstandings. Suddenly Masanori was a little more serious, and he closed his eyes. He listened through the silence for any sounds.
'...I can hear you breathing. You... sound scared. Try not to be, I'm not anything like him. Damn it, I don't even know if you're a beta or omega...'
Ren crawled away as quietly as he could, and Masanori followed as slowly as he could. Trying not to alert him he knew exactly where he was already. Someone on the smaller side. Likely an Omega, then. He'll be gentle then...
Ren's heart was racing and he tried to speed up. Regardless pf why Masanori was here, if he was caught he would definitely disappoint him! That motivated him to keep going, navigating through thicker jungles of old poster standees and rolled up banners. Ren finally saw the door, just withing his site and only a blind rush away.
That's when Masanori ducked down below the table, finding himself facing the back of the student. He attempted a gentle smile.
"There you are. We should get you out of-"
POW!!
Ren reacted by kicking backwards, hitting Masanori in the face. Even if ultimately Ren's arms were terribly weak, his legs had the strength to stagger.
As Masanori fell backwards, Ren rushed forwards, eyes set firmly on the door.
Because of that he bumped straight into a box and fell down. Ren crawled back and pushed forward past it, taking only a quick glance at what he bumped into. He froze, taken aback.
'What... is that, what I think it is?'
Ren was certain that what he was staring at was an assortment of sex toys littered about. Some very easily identifiable, but others in more bizarre shapes.
Ren's ears flared hotter than ever before.
'Wh… what?! Is this a box of sex toys? Wh-What's this doing inside a high school?!?!'
Ren didn't have time to think about it, he just ran. He emerged into the hall and ran down.
He looked for a room to hide in, but all of them were locked. He was about to move on but as he was looking through the door to one he paused, peering deeper in. There was another locked door, an eerily metal door, its murky window in its center, leading to a pale, sickly lit room beyond.
"What is…?"
That was when Ren was pulled back. He jumped like a startled cat but it was just Ruota. He tucked him under his arm and like a basket and hurried away.
…
Masanori stepped back out in the hall. He sighed, taking a moment to rub his nose a little more.
'... Rats. I'll just say it was rats....'
Masanori heard the commotion but to be honest he was also so equally flustered by the sex toys he saw in the box, then the pile spilled out on the floor, he decided he simply wasn't going to have to have that conversation today. Whoever it was was unlikely to blab about the treatment here anyway.
'Thanks god theres no cameras in the rooms... Forget it. I'm just going to forget this ever happened.'
…
They easily got away. When they stopped Ruota put Ren down on the grass and pulled out his phone and began typing with one hand.
"I'll alert a few of my men to handle this. "Dogs" you called them? I prefer goons like before. And no worries for the blue-haired interloper, he'll get a nice stay at the infirmary. Off the record, as usual..."
"If possible - he's prickly enough as is. And…"
Shino's stance was collected, but as he reluctantly answered his voice shook.
"Th-Thanks."
Ruota leaned down with a suffocating closeness, his voice a soft hum. "As long as you keep your promise."
Shino lowered his eyes. Then, he looked up and stared Ruota coldly in the eye.
"Of course. I'll keep the club. I won't go ask Ishikuma for help… for now."
Ruota grinned. "And you'll finally-"
Shino stuffed a rag into Ruota's mouth, shutting him up before he continued.
"I never said that. I only said I would do the thing you've been wanting from me. I never said I'd do MORE than one of those things. And, I do like my club. It's mine after all."
Ruota lurched back in disgust and the rag, but outrage from Shino's words. "You tricked me…!"
But suddenly, Ruota returned to a smile, though with more loathing that snaked through his words. "This was all just a trick wasn't it? You and I both know that would have been a mistake to go to Haruka, but you went anyway. There's no way you would have been so desperate," He shrugged with a smug grin. "So it was all a mind game to charm me? You keep exceeding my expectations."
"What sense does that make… you're insane." Shino turned away and Ruota only smiled more.
Ren glanced between them. 'Shino is keeping the club? But, this doesn't feel right… and where's Kokichi again?'
"But," Shino then added, eyes glancing at Ruota. "I WOULD also like it if you'd lay off my back. At least, for a while."
Ruota's sinister looking smile grew wide. "A while? So after that? Is that finally an invitation?"
"If it were, then kindly uninvite yourself." He turned back to Ren, lowering his voice. "You should head back to your dorm for the day, Akira-kun, take care."
"What… that's it?" Ren blanked.
"Were you expecting something more?" Shino asked.
Ren really hoped so. He got nothing again! Except a vague sense of embarrassment from seeing something he shouldn't have.
Shino nodded. "I know you know this already, but do be careful when it comes to Alphas more. Trust me. And, thanks again." Shino then turned and left without another word.
Ruota stepped forward, his arm reaching out. "Hold on-"
Ren moved in front of him. "You hear him? You better stay off his back, Ruota!"
"You couldn't stop me if I tried," Ruota scoffed. But, he did stop.
He turned his eyes away. "Oh, and thank you."
Ren flinched back in surprise. "Huh?? For what?"
Ruota brushed his jacket as he gave a sigh. "For saying whatever you omegas say to each other to get him to stop him from going through with his plan. Being here has made negotiations much easier."
"But he's not an omega," Ren scowled, not liking his tone of voice. "Why do you keep thinking that? Are you stupid?"
"I'll ignore that. As long as you retain your value, Takeshita Akira. But please, when you aren't useful, leave us alone."
"Ha, as if!" Ren loudly proclaimed. "Shino was MY friend first!!"
"Friend... is that what you think we are?"
"Yeah? That's what he told me! So you're you really are either stupid or insane!"
"Huh..." Ruota craned his neck back. He massaged the side of his head. Suddenly he looked extremely tired. The bags under his eyes that Ren remembered when they first met became visible once the glimmer in his eyes faded away.
"...fuck. then, at least leave me the hell alone. I'm getting a headache." Ruota walked away. Ren loosened his fists and grumbled. But unexpectedly, he felt a little bad.
'He did help me escape Masanori... Well, at least I saved Shino from danger with whatever was going on here. Even if I guess Ruota helped prevent whatever it was? Wait, who was he going to see anyway? Maybe if I find who that guy was guy in the hakama...'
For now, Ren had to get to this dorm before curfew.
———
The next day, Ren sat in the club room with Shino. Ruota was nowhere to be found, and Kokichi was assumedly inside the closet once more.
At least he assumed. He glanced at the closet and was going to check, before Shino spoke up.
"Kokichi is fine, but he's not in there today. I already prepared a get well basket, but he already left the infirmary on his own."
Ren crossed his arms and sighed. "Yeah, he was just sleeping yknow! After being dragged off! They could have done anything to him like that, kids these days…!"
"I don't know what his age has to do with anything, but I think he should have stayed a little longer…."
"I bet he was embarrassed…" Ren mumbled, more worried than he was willing to admit.
'It seems Kokichi is going to be okay then? No weird experimentations making him turn into a crazy Alpha or anything like that? Good… I'd apologize for forcing him to come with me in the first place, but he'll probably come running to me shouting and yelling about my betrayal. I'll forget to apologize then.'
Ren shrugged and forgot about it completely.
"Shino-kun." Ren instead leaned over and slightly poked Shino, spooking him from his read. Ren asked in a whisper. "Hey, is everything ok?"
Shino nodded. "For now."
"And Ruota is listening. He helped , right? Then…do I have to thank him? Because he… saved me from getting caught."
Shino seemed taken aback by that. He closed his eyes.
"... you don't have to do anything for him. He's getting what we agreed on."
Ren nodded. "Yeah but I feel like it might hang over my head if I don't say thanks properly. I don't want anyone to feel like I've caused them trouble, so when you see him again could you tell him I appreciate his help even though he didn't have to do it."
'Plus after sleeping on it, maybe Ruota as an ally might be useful. But I was so antagonistic to him yesterday he'll probably never talk to me again.' Ren thought to himself.
Shino was oddly quiet, but soon continued drinking as he nodded back to him. "...Sure. If you say so. I'll show him some appreciation."
Shino perked up. "Oh, I almost forgot. Someone brought this for you."
Shino then handed him a note. "I didn't read it of course. But the student who delivered it is…" He trailed off.
Ren already opened and quickly read the note. He quickly rose from the table.
"Thanks. I need to go and see someone."
"Someone you know? Not to be a nuisance but…"
Ren nodded. "Oh, yeah. He's just another beta, like you, so no worries."
Shino's face relaxed. "Oh. Okay then." Shino took a sip of his tea as Ren moved to the door.
Ren stopped and pointed at the new box next to the door.
"Are you gonna put it in the closet with the others?"
Shino sighed. "There's no room," Shino put his cup down.
"Maybe I'll… look inside it first. Before I decide to toss it out."
Ren nodded. "If you say so! See you later Shino!"
As Ren left, Shino remained holding his hands on the table, seemingly frozen.
'...no, he really didn't have to do anything I asked. I guess he's not wrong…'
Ren arrived there, waiting in the same class… and he waited.
For half an hour he waited. Until the sun began to set.
By the time the door opened Ren was irritated out of his mind and actively angry.
"Sorry sorry, I got caught up with something." Yukihiro languidly apologized.
"Was it that important to keep me stuck here!?"
"It always is," Yukihiro smiled. In truth, he had been watching him the entire time. It was a sort of mini experiment, but it had ended rather unceremoniously. As agitated as he was he hasn't leaked a single whiff of his scent out into the room. It wasn't a failure, but he did find it to be a disappointment. He was getting a little curious what his pheromones must smell like when he wasn't in his heat. He wondered if anyone knew.
That's why he had prepared something for him.
"Now, about your little instincts problem, here's something that might help." Yukihiro pulled something out of his pocket, handing it to him.
"....Someone's tie?" Ren held up the school tie wrapped in the folds of a yellow paper envelope.
Yukihiro leaned against a desk smiling mischievously. "Yep. Now it's got someone's scent on it, and I want you to figure out who it is. It's someone you know so it should be easy. Don't try to cheat and ask someone because you'll bring up all kinds of questions with others about why you have it." He began to unwrap a lollipop to suck on.
"...how did you get this?" Ren asked, unexpectedly, making Yukihiro twitch.
"Ha! Good question," He grinned, rubbing his chin. "I have my ways. Plus, someone owed me a favor after I helped them out of a jam the other day."
Ren nodded. "Okay, so I have to learn how to smell these pheromones properly."
Yukihiro snapped his fingers into finger guns. "Bingo. With a little work, you can figure out a lot of things from one whiff. A million things, from their emotions to even what they're thinking. But your nose would have to be more than a little special for that."
'So he's trying to say that this is the secret to the mind powers. Of course mind control might start with mind reading. Though, mind reading powers? There's no way the Alphas have mind reading powers, right?'
Before he could coordinate that thought, Yukihiro continued. "Try to keep that close to you so no one else contaminates it, and put it by or in your bed," Yukihiro pulled the now empty lollipop stick out of his mouth, flicking into the garbage. "Proximity is very important. Focus on this instead of trying to chase Masanori-kun or you'll just draw unwanted attention to yourself. It can be your next mission."
"My next…? O-Oh," Ren blushed, the connection striking in his mind. "You know about- No, n-not a mission. Maybe, can you just call it a task? B-But I'll accomplish this, you can count on it!"
Yukihiro chuckled, hidden under the smile on his lips. 'I only hope. With a little Alpha scent invading your homestead, maybe it'll stir something out of that deluded head of his.'
"Oh and…" Yukihiro held a finger up to his lips, his mouth fully lifting with a coquettish grin.
"Heh. Our little secret, okay? It's not exactly school approved to have other student's uniforms after all."
Ren folded the jacket and tie and stuffed it into his bag. "I'll keep it a secret. Promise."
Yukihiro jumped off the desk, heading to the door. "Good. Do your best on that, and be careful where you place it. No where out in the open or your roommate's scents might contaminate it. Put it right where your things are."
"Wait," Ren stopped him at the door by grabbing the door. "Promise you'll look at it later? The thing I wanted to show you before."
Yukihiro's hands pulled the door open all the way, ripping it from Ren's hands as a result. He then put his hands on his hips. "I said I don't have the time. I'm not sure what IT even is. Be specific."
But, Yukihiro had a good guess. Something of the crazy variety. He expected though that Takeshita wouldn't verbally be able to go into specifics due to his paranoia and he'd back off. After all, they weren't real friends. Half of his involvement was just a favor he was doing, with some of his own fun to keep him entertained.
But then, Ren pursed his lip with a bit of a smirk. Then, he put a finger to his own lips and grinned as he answered Yukihiro.
"That's a… secret too."
".....Sure sure, I'll look at it later." Yukihiro sighed and walked out the classroom, waving a hand behind him. "seeya."
Ren waved back to the quickly retreating Yuki. "Okay, see ya later, Yuki-kun!"
Yuki was almost to the end of the hall. But right then, he came to a sudden stop. He stood there for a few seconds, just long enough to catch Ren's attention.
Yukihiro turned his head back, just enough for Ren to catch the glint of light from the window against his eye, moonlight peeking in from the nearly set sun.
"...You don't keep anything else by your bedside, do you?"
"N-No?" Ren answered. "S-Should I be?"
Then, Yukihiro began to loosen his own tie. He tossed it to Ren.
"Take this with you too."
Ren caught the tie. "Huh? Yours too?"
He lightly shrugged. "Well, why not? You don't need to figure out the scent for this one, but keep it around."
"Oh… alright." Ren said dumbly, standing there a bit confused.
'But… I thought the point was to figure out who it belongs to using my mind powers. So what's the point if I already know who it belongs to?'
Yukihiro then, surprisingly, loudly sighed. He turned back fully and walked back over to him.
He then took the hanging piece of the tie, folding it into his palm.
"I mean… it'll be a good control. It should come easier with me than you don't know as well. You do that, and the other won't be much trouble. Besides… you shouldn't have only one. A guy like you…"
"What do you mean? I should have more… ties? And I don't know what your scent is supposed to be so how am I suppose to know? Do you have one, even as a beta?" Ren poured out his list of questions to an oddly unresponsive Yuki.
Yukihiro turned his head away from him, his eyes burning into the wall.
"Find a place you'd like it most…"
Then, he just walked away without another word.
Ren frowned. 'Okaaay… must be a test. He's helping me right now… Maybe it's not a good idea to tell him about the school. I… even if he knows, how much would that be? Maybe I should try to figure that out first… oh shit,' He looked outside properly.
'I'm definitely late for curfew! M-Maybe Yaruno will let me crawl into the window again? Haha…' Ren gulped and ran off like his life depended on it.
Likewise, Yukihiro hurriedly walked away. He kept going, hardly looking where he was going. Then slowly, his steps slowly came to a stop as he found himself lost in the dark. He covered his mouth, breaking a sweat.
'Ha… that's not… at all what I expected to do. He just keeps getting more interesting…'
He smiled wide through his hand, but it was almost nauseating and stiff, done of necessity more than actual amusement.
'Ha! I better keep him on the screen before I offer him my kidney next…!'
Somewhere else within the school, Ruota was finishing up in his office. Tired eyed and jaded, he finally shut off his lamp and stood up to return to his dorm. He was long supposed to be back, but he wasn't going to be stopped if anyone found him.
So it was unexpected where there was a knock at his door.
Ruota opened the door and immediately clocked the small object at his feet. Though it was wrapped in a bow it was very clearly a lunch bag. Ruota looked inside. Visibly confused he walked back in the office and sat back down. He then pulled out the bento box.
There he found the note stuck to the front.
- Something told me you never had someone make you a bento. So, enjoy dinner. I know you missed it again. And thanks for helping.
Ruota chuckled. 'Impressive still. Playing games with me to get me to reopen that useless club. Like I could if I even wanted to. But…'
He stared at the bento. His head sunk to the desk, resting in his arms. His eyes leveled with the bento, he just stared.
'.....hm.'
In his room, Ren gently tried to smell one of the ties.
'... I'm not getting anything. Fabric softener i think. Wait… Which one is which again?'