Today was the day. Ren sat hiding in a bush on the school grounds, peeking out with his makeshift spyglasses over towards a specific third floor window of the left end of the main building.
He had been formulating a plan for nearly two weeks. After days on end of spying and gathering crumbs of info, Ren was sure he finally found the angle at which to further develop his plans of uncovering the school's mysteries.
The heads of student council.
While other groups varies in ratio of betas and Alphas, Ren had come to notice that on Thursday, the group's highest members had a very close knitted meeting! The ones involved? All Alphas. If there was ever a place to get the truth of the School's game, Ren felt this was it!
Was it a meeting discussing how to distribute the medication? How did the system and its powers work?
Probably not. These were the lackeys, the spies Ren figured, just like Masanori was. This would only be a first step to figure out what members were involved in this crazy experiment. Ren hoped at least to gauge when and where their patrols were, so if he needed to make a quick escape at some point he'd know where to avoid.
So on that Thursday afternoon, Ren grabbed his satchel and notepad, watching the moment that the room was emptied of the usual shifting figures, and made his way upstairs. Walking while acting inconspicuous, he stealthily opened the door and hastily snuck into the meeting room roughly 30 minutes in advance. He hid in one of the closets situated inside. There, he waited.
Soon one after the other, 5 members gathered within. They came in with casual conversation and banter just sitting around talking or silently off to the side, but as soon as the teacher entered their chatter stifled.
"...No Hirabayashi again?" The teacher sighed. "If he doesn't come by next week…"
"Oh, he'll come," one of the members said nonchalantly. "He'll always show up before his strikes are out."
"Ah, that's Yukihiro for ya..." Another member nodded with a snarky bite.
Ren took out his notepad and started to write. 'This Hirabayashi Yukihiro is even mysterious to the student council, huh? I have to keep an eye out for them.'
The meeting started.
"For the upcoming Parent visit day, Tanaka…"
"Fujinaka sensei wants us to help with sorting these after her last tests…"
"When is the auditorium free next? The Broadcasting club…"
It was all really boring, Ren was extremely disappointed. After he had spent the week scouting the room and trying to figure out the best place to enter, looking for the best place to hide without being seen, the council seemed to be talking about normal, perfectly average student council things.
Well, he thought it was pretty normal. Ren had never been in a student council, that much he remembered, so he wasn't completely sure. Just in case, he wrote down any possibly important information, at the very least to give him something to do.
'Two new clubs using rooms on the third floor… The drama club uses the auditorium on Tuesdays… there's a greenhouse. This school sure has a lot…'
Ren's thoughts triled off, getting distracted.
'...How come I'm so confident that I was never in student council, but I can't recall things like the name of my parents, the street I grew up on, or the name of the highschool I went to…'
Ren repressed a yawn. He was getting tired standing in a closet for this long. His legs were getting tired, but there was no room to crouch. Ren tried to stop himself from trying to lean against the walls of the closet, fearing it might make some noise if he did. He tried to focus, pay attention to what the dull Alphas students were discussing.
"And there was an attempt of some students trying to climb the north wall again. The teachers felt it's our responsibility to educate everyone on why that area is off limits to the school."
"Shouldn't Masanori-san be in charge of that? Why isn't he here yet?"
Ren jolted upright. He was nearly dozing off, and the sudden change in subject had startled him so much his pen slipped from his hand. It fell with a clatter against the floor of the closet.
"What was that?" One of the members said, and Ren felt his body freeze up like he had just been plunged into a river of icy water, and he had gone numb from the shock.
The closet door then swung open, blasting his pale skin into the light, and Ren's legs felt like sinking into the floor.
"What the- there's a student in here!" The student shouted out, and Ren was grabbed by the shirt and pulled out of the closet.
Out in the light, Ren winced as his eyes adjusted, then winced again as he felt the stares of five Alphas on him all at once, with one beta teacher in addition.
"A second year?" The teacher said.
"What was he doing in there?" A student with long, green-haired called out, the one that pulled him out with a spectacle purse of his lips. "What a small dude…"
"We've got ourselves a spy…?" A purple-haired student mused with a satisfied smile. "To be expected. It's flattering honestly, but I'm busy at the moment little admirer, come back later."
"Why must you assume this is about you, Haruka?" Ruota sighed in a lazy drawl before waving a dismissive hand out and saying, "Anyway, I know that face. Takeshita Akira correct?"
Ren's chest tightened. 'My anonymity!!'
"Look, he's holdin' a notepad?" One bulky student grunted.
"Tell us then." One of the students said, coming from the other side of the table and got behind him while he was distracted by the students in front of him. He gave Ren's shoulder a squeeze, and Ren flinched.
"Seems like he's a beta." They scoffed.
Ruota begin to open his mouth. "Beta? Well about that…"
Ren's entire vision spun, like the entire room was spinning. He was going to blab!
"Alright, enough." The teacher then spoke, over the crowd finally rising from his seat. Ruota went quite and lazily slouched over his seat instead, no longer paying attention. Ren silently sighed in relief, but stiffened back up when the teacher started to approach him.
"We can handle it Sensei; this little voyeur hasn't caused a disturbance, haven't they? The Alpha behind him said in a belittling tone.
"Not if he faints first. Are you alright?" The teacher looked down at Ren whose face was now paler than a dead fish.
Ren felt like melting into a puddle; the Alpha behind him was making it hard not to do so. He was terrified. Terrified of what they would do. Images of Masanori punching through a wall (greatly exaggerated even more) kept flashing in his mind, and his legs turned to jelly.
"If he'd say why he's here then we won't need to waste time with this. We have some more things to go over." The Alpha behind him said.
"You're terrifying the student, let me talk to him." The teacher order and leaned down a little towards him. "Hey, why were you in the closet there?"
Suddenly, Ren felt that he had the game. Color returned to his face and Ren raised an eyebrow.
'This is good cop, bad cop, isn't it? Do they think this will work on me?' Ren scoffed and shot the teacher a stink eye, throwing the kind acting teacher off guard and he flinched back.
"You'd think I'd spill because you're being nice to me?" Ren shouted. "Forget it! I won't spill why I was here!"
Suddenly, the notepad in Ren's hand was gone, and he looked up to the Alpha that was behind him, noting the bright red hair on his head.
"Look at this. He's been writing down what we were talking about. This is so weird…"
Ren fired a sneering grin at him. "Only thing weird here is this secretive meeting you're having where nothing interesting was said! If you're gonna make me wait in a closet then at least make it worth my while!"
The hand on his shoulder gripped Ren tighter as the Alpha glowered at him. "Do you think this is funny!?"
"Enough!" The teacher raised their voice then sternly ordered, "Akagi, and Takeuchi you too, you're dismissed for this meeting. Get this student to Disciplinary since he's not going to talk to us." The teacher's look hardened, which only solidified further in Ren's mind that they were trying to trick him.
"Tch. Fine!" The red-headed student growled. "Come on!" He shouted as his grip tightened on Ren's shoulder before he roughly pushed him forward, but Ren kept his confident smile.
"Ha! You'll never make me talk!" Ren shouted with triumphant laughter.
They dragged him out of the room, as Ren sternly and silently glared outwards, ignoring the two students grumblings as they continued to talk to each other.
"What a pain, but maybe it's a blessing in disguise, we got out of the meeting early." The green-haired student said with a sigh.
"For you maybe, but I had important things to discuss after the meeting with Sensei." The red-head with his shoulder growled. "What is this little junior doing spying on the student council, huh?" He squeezed his shoulder again as he leaned down to Ren's eye level.
"You have some serious explaining to do, junior. If the teacher wasn't there and you weren't so cute, I'd have beaten the infomation out of you by now..."
Though Ren didn't react or look his way, a shiver went down his spine. 'Direct threats w-wont sway me!' he yelled internally, though his voice failed him then.
"Enough, back off the guy!" The other student warned him, but his voice was lighthearted and unserious.
"Come on Tamura-kun, what do you say?" The red-headed student teased. "A little time with me and I'll definitely get him talking. One way or another." He whispered, leaning closer to Ren's ear for that.
Ren stiffened, flashbacks suddenly exploded into his mind, flashbacks to the library.
"Don't be joking like that, Senpai." Tamura warned seriously this time. "Not after what happened the first week of school. School's really cracked down on punishing this kind of thing so don't joke."
"Please, that was completely overblown," The red-headed student scoffed. "No one even got hurt, but they expelled them all when normally they would have just given them some extra study hall! It's that damn Omega's fault for stinking up the school library, then they wouldn't have gone crazy! If anything it should have been that Omega that was the one to- ugh!!" The red-headed student suddenly grunts in pain as Ren unexpectedly jabbed him in the abdomen with his elbow.
Ren took the reflexive release of his shoulder to start running, glancing back at his furious senpais behind him.
"You fucking-! Hey!!" He shouted after, but Ren kept running.
'I am not getting in another situation like last time!' If I get to a crowded part of the school then those student council Alphas wouldn't dare to-'
That's when Ren slammed into someone, knocking him back and making him fall to the floor. Rapid footsteps approach, and Ren tensed at the situation.
Behind him, the two that had caught him spying and one he elbowed after making strange comments.
And in front: Imada Masanori.
'Curse my luck!' Ren thought despairingly. He was supposed to stay low and now here he was caught red-handed!
"Masanori-san? Good timing!" Ren heard the red-headed student say behind him.
"Sorry about being late, I was just dealing with a troublemaker…" Masanori apologized, then looked down at Ren. He looked back up then asked, "What did he do?"
The red-headed student scoffed. "Spying on our student council meeting! He admitted to it too, then he hit me and ran away!"
Masanori looked at the situation troublingly. Ren shot Masanori a guilty look and he averted his eyes to the floor, feeling a even deeper wave of despair.
"Don't worry about this Imada-senpai," Tamura said. "You continue onto the meeting and we'll handle this."
"No, it's fine." Masanori said. "I'm already crazy late anyway. It's you that should be back in the meeting, Akagi-san. You have things to talk to the teacher still right?"
Ren looked towards the red-headed student and saw him nod silently. Ren frowned as his brows pinched. 'What things?''
"How about I take it from here?" Masanori continued, "You return to the meeting, I'll take him to discipline." He suggested.
Tamura began to protest. "Please Senpai, we can't trouble you-" but the red-headeded student gives him a tap on the back of his head and shuts him up. "Don't refuse his kind offer, Tamura. We'll explain it to Sensei!" He called back, already running back towards the meeting room. After Tamura handed Masanori Ren's notepad he also turned to leave, the footsteps retreating behind Ren.
Masanori crouches next to Ren, who is still sitting on the floor. He extends a hand slowly. "Come on, Takeshita-san."
Ren could cry. His savior! But just as he was about to take his hand to help him up, overjoyed with a brightly beaming smile, he froze.
'Wait… they were waiting for Masanori and expected him? Doesn't that means…'
Ren sharply stood up on his own and started to back away.
"Ma… Masanori-kun. Are you… a part of the student council?" he asked slowly.
"Huh?" Masanori blinked and muttered, "Well yeah. It's not important though… No, don't distract me." Masanori shook his head then gave Ren a stern look, crossing his arms and looking angry. "Takeshita-san, why…. What were you doing spying on the student council meeting?"
Ren deflated, suddenly feeling like becoming a puddle aack in that meeting room wasn't a much worse fate. He doesn't reply, his expression stagnant, but his mind was like a rushing river, a raging torrent in a storm filled with thunder and lightning. Ren became twisted, not sure what any of this could mean.
'If he's a part of the council and my theory is correct, then he really might know way more than he lets on. But he always seemed so confused about the details of the experiments, so how could he know more but be so confused?'
In Ren's mind this was a contradiction, and it caused him to comb over the situation in his mind.
'Why did Masanori insist on taking me? Is it because he's on my side, or are those two not involved after all and this is…' Now it was Ren's stomach that was swirling like a storm.
Masanori frowns in the silence. 'I finally find him doing something particular again and it's this, now he doesn't want to talk. What can I do?' he sighed.
"Takeshita-san." Masanori repeated, then gently pulled at his uniform sleeve. "Come on let's walk." He began to walk away, slowly pulling him along and forcing Ren out of his head to move his feet after.
Ren's fear lessened slightly when they passed by the hallway that would have led to discipline, and finally spoke up again.
"Where… where are you taking me?" Ren only noticed how dry his lips felt.
"I don't want to bother Aruki Sensei with this." Masanori replied sollemly. "I'll file this report fully myself, for disturbing the school's peace and safety."
Ren's worries deepened. 'why is he doing it himself? Is the disciplinary teacher not involved either? Who is and isn't involved in this?'
Ren stiffened as an idea came to mind.
'What if: this was what he was planning? Was this all a plot to get me here!?'
Ren broke free of Masanori's grip and turns around to face him.
Maybe this was why he hadn't seen him as much these past few days, why he told him to lay low! Were they monitoring his plans to get into the student council meeting!? Maybe they knew he would be caught, and when he did they sent Masanori to claim him! It was all a trick, a game!
Ren scowled. "Are you toying around with me, Masanori-kun?"
Masanori's movements halted, and his frown grew. 'What could he mean by that? Does he mean…'
Masanori rubbed his neck awkwardly. Wasn't now the time to do that?
"Listen, I'm sorry about before, that night; what I did was too much. It wasn't my intention to make you feel like I've been playing around."
Ren stared at him befuddled. He hadn't expected this response. 'What does that mean? Too much? Intention?' Ren didn't understand but felt he should and frowned grumpily. Masanori takes it as him not accepting his apology.
"You don't have to accept," Masanori said, "I just wanted to apologize properly. You can keep glaring at me if that makes you feel better."
Ren glared in response. 'Is he making fun of me!?' Ren openly growled. "Hey! Why didn't you tell me you were a part of the student council, Masanori!?"
Masanori sighed again. "Because it's not important like I keep telling you."
"B-But you're the student council!" Ren angrily stuttered, hands gesturing out with disbelief. "The head honcho students of the entire school! Surely at least one of them has to know something about what's been going on! Come on, can't you tell me, is this the time where we can finally talk!? Or-!"
"Shh, not right now!!" Masanori hissed as quickly shushes him, rushing over to him with a finger to his lips to whisper it close to his face. He quickly looked around the near empty school halls in a nervous frenzy.
Ren also grew quiet, nodding his head along seriously. Right! The school must be listening! So he WAS on his side! Ren promptly forgot his suspicions about Masanori, considering them suddenly silly now.
Masanori's reasons for shushing him however were very different from what Ren thought.
'If anyone else heard his crazy rambling then they'd make fun of him, then he might become triggered to try to do more reckless things. If he starts going nuts over something like the student council who knows what he might get confused. I better get him out of here…'
"Come on," Masanori muttered, and pulled him along the halls with a much faster pace.
They soon arrived in a room with the words office for rules and safety regulation hanging above the door. Inside, there was a larger than normal but otherwise typical sort of teacher's office, with a few office desks and filing cabinets off to the side and a big meeting table in the center. Masanori pulled out a chair for Ren and he sat down, keeping his eyes on Masanori as he moved towards the right side of the room towards the filing cabinets.
Masanori pulled out some kind of filing paper. "Can you tell me what happened exactly?" He asked. "These kinds of things aren't ok. More than recklessness, this is breaking school rules completely. If you keep things up like this you'll really have to be seen to the disciplinary teacher."
Masanori looks up at Ren, who had yet to sit.
"But I'll make it work out for you Takeshita, to make up for before. Just tell me what you thought was going on."
"W-Well about that…" Ren gulped, "Masanori-kun, don't you know? It's super suspicious how they're all Alphas! And I mean who else could know more than the students with the most power! thought, you know, if I could listen in on their meeting…" An embarrassed flush rose on his face as he fumbled his words, realizing just how little evidence he had to explain his actions.
Masanori sighed. "That's not right, Takeshita-san. Look, there's nothing shady going on with the student council, trust me. You shouldn't break school rules just to gather information."
"But there IS something shady!" Ren argued, rising a little from his seat, "What that red-headed guy said was kinda weird, right?"
"That's nothing." Masanori sighed and his eyes looked towards Ren with an apologetic frown. "Takeshita-san," He placed the papers on the table next to him and leaned down lower to get more on Ren's level, looking into his eyes warm-heartedly. "Look, I don't want to see you in any more trouble. You need to stay out of the way of these Alphas, or you could be hurt, for real. Let's just stop all this for now, alright?" He asked softly.
"So what, you expect me to just do nothing?!" Ren exclaimed incredulously.
"Of course not..."Masanori sighed, trailing off as he thought with a weak smile, 'That would be too easy wouldn't it…'
"I won't expect you to do anything," Masanori continued. "Except just stay out of trouble, alright? Hey, If this is about gathering information why don't you ask around, talk to some other students? I'm sure they'll have plenty to say about things!"
'That way the other kids can inform him of the actual nature of things.' Masanori thought, 'Once he's heard enough normal testimonies surely he'll snap to some kind of realization, right? At this point I can't do it or he might lose it again…'
When Ren silently nodded, Masanori rose and waved him off. "Great. So you're free to go."
Ren leaves the office. Masanori shakes his head as he picks back up his paper for the report. 'Still causing trouble, but he's not spouting things non-stop about body swapping and experiments. Maybe he's already over whatever nonsense that was and he's onto some other crazy scheme. It still makes little sense to me, maybe this really is all some game. Maybe trying to get back at me after I nearly kissed him that night, or maybe when I chased him back behind the school...'
Masanori rubbed his forehead and sighed, muttering to himself, "But believing what he said was true or just trying to mess with me, either way he's a bit of a mental case. Luckily I steered him into talking to other students, maybe that'll help him realize that he's blown his perception of Alphas way out of proportion…" Masanori finished and put the file away for later, satisfied that he handled the situation again.
Already long gone down the halls, Ren sifted through his notepad. 'Nothing here seems of interest, but what could be something is what that Akagi guy was so keen on talking about. What is he trying to talk about with his teacher?'
Of course Ren couldn't just take Masanori's advice. He had already tried to talk to other students about things, and got dead ends. But he did want to listen to his advice, Masanori was his only ally after all. He wanted him to stay out of trouble, so he would. He couldn't get into any more trouble as long as he didn't get caught!
Ren decided if he was going to crack this, he was going to have to get more info from that student council, Masanori would forgive him for breaking rules once he sees the intel he was able to gather. Though he had no need to go back into another meeting, not that he could wait another week anyway. Instead, he had a new plan. The student with a secret Masanori kept brushing off! No matter what he said, it was suspicious! Masanori was clearly being kept out of knowing things about the council, so he might have been told to not look into it and that's why he doesn't want to tell him, because he also doesn't know! There must be something going on!!
Ren had his next target. He was going to stalk that red-headed Alpha student, that Akagi Naoto.