Classes went as usual. There was no extra security at the door or in the halls, but this made Ren even more paranoid.
'What must they have up their sleeves to keep me in? I have to find out before I can plan my escape...'
For the most part classes were quiet, except for the one in 3rd period, when a group of kids came by to "check" on him.
"I heard you had it rough the last few days Takeshita, how are you feeling?"
"Heard you fell down the hill by the lake on the first day. He's still covered in bandages!" A boy with a lanky build remarked.
"Those are taking a while to heal, don't you think? I hope you can make it ok back to the dorms, its a little concerning after last night...
"Yeah it might actually be better to go in groups since that." The other boy spoke. "You could hear the Alphas howling throughout the school all last night. Spooky..."
"To think they'd all break curfew for that, they're getting what's coming to them, huh Takeshita-kun?"
Ren nodded along. 'So, this was how they were going to intimidate me?' He thought. 'if you think I'm going to be threatened by a bunch of high schoolers, then you're sorely mistaken!'
It was at lunch he concluded he would go and find the wall.
'Break time would be too obvious, and they'll bust with other students around this time too; so I'll head to the courtyard and sneak away through the bushes. The wall is directly north of the school, if I remember correctly...'
Ren felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he turned around, glancing around the room behind him. Was... Someone watching him? Probably, or maybe he was getting too paranoid...
Leaving his last class, Ren was ready to put his plan into action.
But when he stepped outside the lunch hall, the boy from the infirmary was standing on the other side of the hallway, trying to move through the flow of kids going through. He was directly looking at Ren, and with it Ren felt an icy chill down his back.
He decided he was going to go the other way, but the boy didn't stop following him. After a while, Ren decided to start running. He lost him somehow, but Ren feared he was still waiting around somewhere, and now he was at a part of the school he didn't know. By the time he got his bearings, lunch period was already nearly over.
Ren hoped he would stop, but he kept being persistent. He tried to approach him during break, even outside a few of his classes, getting more and more persistent as time went on.
He didn't get a chance to check the wall that day. Or the day after that either. Ren sat at his desk, biting his pen and grumbling to himself.
"Two days wasted! I never thought they would use that boy as their own walking security camera! There's gotta be a way to shake him, somehow..."
That somehow came on the weekend, when he overheard the students talking about their plans to leave the school.
"What's that about, Kakeru?" Ren asked his other roommate, who was always studying whenever he saw him.
Without looking up, he spoke: "Some students with signed permission can leave during the weekend. Should have asked your parents to sign the slip if you forgot."
Kakeru stopped to flip over his paper, then continued. "If you need it now," he sighed. "You'll probably have to wait until next week for the forms to come in. Ask your parents instead of me."
'Yeah, as if I could do that.' Ren thought to himself.
He had a stern attitude, but Kakeru had been really helpful for these kinds of things. And a lot of the time he wasn't even in the room, so Ren decided he might not be a part of the school's plot after all.
'A lot of the students here like him must be completely oblivious.' Ren pondered.
"Why aren't you going?" Ren asked.
"Mine got delayed or something." he said nonchalantly. "Don't care much anyway." He really didn't think anything of it.
But Ren was running circles in his mind.
'Delayed.' He speculated. 'Of course it would be. Because they don't want anyone actually leaving the school!' He grinned widely, because if Ren was right about it, he may finally have a chance to escape!
Ren thanked Kakeru and headed out, thoughts swirling.
"If the other students are the same as Kakeru, then it's obvious this weekend outing isn't for the students. It's a ruse to give the semblance of freedom! In reality the people that can leave, it's for the staff! The spies! It's all a major ploy, but I can take advantage of it: If that boy is part of the spies then he'll surely be taking his break, which means I'll be in the clear today!"
He beamed. "Thanks Kakeru! I'm sure.... when I get back to my old body, I'll come back to save you...!"
Ren's excitement ebbed down. Now having a clear plan to leave, he begins to think about what that really means. Once he leaves they'll be left here, to continue eating whatever they were putting in the food, forced to experience what he had to go through, not realizing they were being lied to. If he could, he'd prevent it, but...
His melancholic thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wave of nausea. He leans against a wall to keep his balance.
"Tch. This keeps happening. Is being hungry supposed to make you feel this sick? Must be a side effect of not being on the medicine. Either way, I won't last much longer without food. I can't ponder this, I need to get out of here and find some food that's not poisoned fast! I can come back later!"
The school grounds were full of students resting, so Ren spent some time trying to sneak past them all.
He's waiting for some to pass when, he swears he hears a shuffling in the bushes.
'Is someone following me?' He gulps. This could ruin his plans again!
He crouched down and hide further into the shrubbery, waiting for signs of movement. He heard footsteps...
"Oh, Kotaro? Still here? Are you heading out towards the gate soon?" A boy's voice called out.
Ren could see an elbow poking out from behind the bush. "Yeah, just trying to finish up this project here..." Another voice said with the shuffling of papers.
"That can wait, it's too much to be working so hard this early in the year. Wanna watch that new movie that's out?"
He heard two sets of footsteps walk away. Ren pondered what he heard. Did one of the spies lead the other away? But they said it took openly, was he not a spy at all? He felt hesitant to continue, but at this rate, there was no reason to stop now!
He kept traveling through the bushes, past a few outlining buildings, until he finally arrived at the back wall.
"What...What the hell is this?!"
The walls in the book were made of stone, not much taller than a door frame's height, easily climbable if you put your back into it.
But this wall was at least twice that height! And along the top, sharp spikes!!
'It's completely different from the walls from the books, this thing is built like a fortress!'
Ren grumbled. 'Of course, that book was just another plant. Why would they reveal such a weakness so easily. I need to think fast-'
"Takeshita-san."
Ren spins around. His feet stop cold on the dirt and his breath hitches. It was the boy from the infirmary, he had followed him.
Only one word entered Ren's mind.
'Shit!'
The boy began approaching Ren.
"Look, I know you don't want anything to do with me-"
Ren in his panic held up his bag like a weapon. "Stay back! I'll chuck it at you! T-There's a book in here! A real big one, I got from the library!"
The boy crossed his arms. "No you didn't, you haven't been back since that night..."
Ren froze. Damn, he got him!
The boy tensed and their eyes widened. "That didn't... I didn't mean it like–" the boy waved his arms exasperatedly before moving his hand towards his neck before seeming to change his mind. He took another step forward. "Listen–"
Ren raised his bag higher. "S-Still! Back off!"
The boy did stop moving. He took a step back with a wrinkled brow.
'He looks worried'. Ren thought. 'Maybe this wasn't what he had planned.'
Ren smirked. "What, did you lose me this morning and you're worried you'll get in trouble?"
The boy's brow wrinkled further. "What-?"
Ren scoffed. "You'd think I'd come back with you just because you caught me? Well, tough luck!! I'm climbing that wall whether you like it or not!!"
Ren threw the bag at him and started to run. He flew down the perimeter of the wall, eyes scanning and searching for any opportunity.
'An opening, an opening.....gotta find someway up!'
Ren looked back. The boy was running right behind him, and gaining fast.
"What the-!!!"
Ren tried to run faster, but he was no match for his speed. "Why the hell- huff -is he so- huff! -f-fast?!"
Ren turned a sharp corner, reaching the end of the back wall. He kept running along the side wall, feeling escape moving farther and farther away, and capture only closer. He needed something, anything. Or he was going to get caught. Why was he so short? Why was this wall so big?! If he was as big as this spy—
Ren stopped in his tracks with panted breath. Taking a huge gulp of air he whirled around, and faced the boy directly.
The boy stopped as well, not even looking like he broke a sweat. But he was dead ahead. Ren arched low, hands touching the grass as he readied a sprint. The position came naturally, though he didn't remember if he ever ran track.
He felt it through: he likely did.
He rushed towards the boy at breakneck speed, propelling himself forward at a speed much faster than before, and faster than the boy could react. Before he reached him he jumped and pushed on his shoulders, using them as a springboard. Pushing one foot against the nearby wall he hopped with just enough height to grasp the top of the wall and scramble his way up.
The boy quickly rose back off the ground now covered in grass, staring up at him in alarm.
"Wait! Get down from there! It's dangerous!"
Ren was having difficulties keeping his balance, but he didn't care. He grinned down at the boy triumphantly, catching his breath.
"Ha! I'm not- huff getting caught that easily! You can tell huff! your boss: this one got away!!"
"Now hold on, please just listen to me! You clearly got the wrong idea-!"
"You- huff -are just- gasp -trying to save face!!" Ren shouted breathlessly. "I want- huff -nothing more to do with you and this school's experiments!"
"Experiments?!" The boy yelled out, "What experiments are you talking about?!"
"The school's experiments with the students! That Alpha and Omega stuff! How you're trying to control me!!"
The boy's expression grew fierce. "If you didn't want anything to do with it then you shouldn't have joined in the first place!!" He hollered.
Finally, Proof. He already knew there was something going on but hearing it only sent his blood raging more.
"Did you think I had a choice!? Ren shouted out. "I never wanted to be here! In this stupid body!!"
The boy's anger faded. His expression grew somber. "....I get it. I never wanted this either..." His eyes turned downcast towards the grass. "But there are some things you can't run away from..."
Ren's expression scrunched. He didn't understand what he said to make him so somber, but he was distracted. He began to move down the wall until he was out of the boy's sight.
'Was he mocking me?' Ren wondered to himself. 'What would he know about being in a different body? He couldn't... Could he?'
Ren pondered this thought as he heard the boy finally realized he had slipped away, and found a gap to slip between the bars to the other side. He hesitated.
'If they know I've been body swapped... is that another experiment they're doing? How many do they have going on here? How many are being affected...'
And if he left now, how would he know how to help them? There may be more going on at this school than he's realized, even when he came back was there a way to help everyone. And after the stunt he pulled to get here, how much worse would their security become? Would they build an even bigger wall?
"T-Takeshita-san! What are you doing?"
Uh oh. He's been found, he hesitated too long. He should jump now and run off into the woods beyond... but he sat frozen there, not moving.
"Takeshita-san? Are you... stuck?"
Ren turned around, a determined look on his face.
"I... changed my mind! The woods look... pretty dense! I don't think I can navigate it on foot. And after all that effort getting up this crazy wall!" He said stiffly, both to the boy who he thought would be a mouthpiece, as well as himself.
"oh... ok?" The boy confusingly replied. Ren slipped back through the bars and jumped back towards the ground. Ren ignored how warped the world was becoming and tried to keep his feet steady.
The boy jumped back before his hands started to hover out towards Ren. "Are you sure you're ok? You didn't hurt anything? Your body..."
Ren scowled. "So, you really do know that I've been body swapped!"
The boy's face went blank. "B-Body? What??"
Ren stood up, staring triumphantly down at the boy. "I may be staying, but don't think I'll play along with your games! My name is Koyamada Ren! And I refuse to live in your Alpha and Omega fantasy world!"
Ren never saw his reaction to what he said, because as soon as he finished the whole world started spinning.
"T-Takeshita?!" Was the last thing Ren heard, before he passed out one more time that week.