Ren walked into Masanori's dorm room and looked around. At first glance it was surprisingly smaller than the dorms for the omegas, with old-fashioned style of tatami mats and furniture. But Ren quickly noticed that there were no beds, just a center table and a few amenities, so he searched around automatically for where they would keep their futons, despite his own dorm having large bed frames with a connected desk. That's when he noticed on the left and right walls of the room were actually sliding doors, meaning this room was just the central space and two were other separate rooms.
As Ren looked around, Masanori moved over to the back of the room, grabbing his phone that he left on the counter then moving over to the window to pull it open for Ren.
He looked out into the back garden with an apprehensive sigh, before turning back to motion for Ren to sit down at the table. As Ren sat down Masanori glanced at the clock on the wall. There was time.
But the moment Masanori could even take another step, Ren had already begun to speak, questions spilling out of him.
"What the heck is up with these pills? Why did I get sick again like last month? What exactly does that Akagi guy, did you know he has powers!? Are there-"
"Slow down!" Masanori raised his voice, pleading. When Ren stopped Masanori was silent for a moment, thinking.
'The last time I outright told him he was nuts he wouldn't listen. But it's been a few weeks, maybe he's changed his mind on some things?'
Masanori sat down on the floor to sit at the table opposite of Ren. "What… do you think?" He asked slowly, folding his hands.
Ren puffed out his chest in confidence, smiling confidently. "Well…" He leaned over the table excitedly, "The school, it's totally doing experiments on the students, isn't it? These powers, these different types, the pills, everything!"
'P-Powers!?' Masanori held back a grimace and the urge to bury his head. W-When did he come up with them having powers? He had only picked up crazier ideas since before!
Masanori bit his lip nervously. 'As I thought, Still crazy. How can one person come up with all this?' He needed to get some things straight. Despite what crazy ideas he had, just telling him to stay low wasn't working.
Still Masanori's words stuck in his throat. He couldn't simply just say he was wrong.
"...Have you talked to a teacher about this?" He asked instead. Masanori had already asked around but no one ever had anything to say about him, meaning he wasn't standing out, but also that he likely hadn't talked to any teacher about this.
Ren proclaimed loudly, "Of course not! If I told them exactly what I figured out they would do more than send goons to watch over me, they might try to stop me entirely! And, haven't you noticed? They're really only around for class, then they just leave! They don't even show up around the clubs! They barely get involved with things, like they're just here to watch over us!"
'At least he's aware of that, but he's overthinking it a little…' Masanori sighed. No, he didn't think he would trust the teachers. Even if he did, Masanori wasn't sure what they would do anyway: if they haven't stepped in yet then they must not see him as a big enough concern to do so. This was their problem, and he had to be the one to fix it.
"Anyway. The school's experiments… they aren't what you think." He began.
Ren's ears perked up. "What do you mean?"
Masanori was thinking frantically of a way to tell him gently that everything he's thinking is completely nonsense.
"The experiments are… to try to integrate the genders into the school more equally."
Ren blinked blankly, "Huh? Genders?" Masanori could see his confusion and continued.
"Our second genders. Alpha, Beta, and Omega."
Ren's eyes lit up. "Oh! I see now, the different groups! You call them secondary genders!"
Masanori nodded, continuing, "This school has had a long history of only accepting only Alphas and Betas but never Omegas, even after its restructuring. But when my father inherited the school, he wanted to accept not just beta but omegas too. He built the new dorm and put systems in place to house omega students. His vision is to create harmony between the different genders, to find betterment in ourselves by caring for and maintaining balance, to be better members of society…"
'Specifically he wants the Alphas of this school to learn to care for betas and omegas as future leaders of society… and learning to control our instincts.' Masanori thought to himself, 'But that's not something important to Takeshita right now.'
"The experiments… they're just various implementations of different systems to make the school safe for Omegas. That's all it is. The safe closets and security detail. Do you understand?" Masanori asked, letting out a sharp exhale and a deep inhale. He was waiting for Ren's reaction.
Ren's head spun like gears, working like they never had before. He had a lot to process. As he was making connections in his mind, a question made him break the silence.
"Hey. How do you…get this… secondary gender?" Ren asked hesitantly.
Masanori cocked an eyebrow in confusion. He hadn't expected this kind of question.
"What? Well, we were… born with them. They don't present until we're older and get evaluated in middle school. I'm sure you remember..."
Ren didn't. He didn't know a thing about the person he was inhabiting except his name. But he did know this now: the school's testing went farther back than Ren realized, and even deeper than he anticipated.
'So, a secondary gender is what they call the different test groups!' Ren thought, nodding his head to himself with complete confidence, 'it makes sense that they'd give them a proper name for everyone to use that sounds logical, even though it really sounds like total bullshit! I mean kids are dumb, but who would believe that they just suddenly gained a new gender in middle school!! What kinda name was a secondary gender anyway? It's clearly all a giant trick!'
Ren huffed assuredly, certain of another thing. 'And, Omegas are a new variant, just like those sumo kids said: otherwise why would they only be allowed in recently? They must have to tell them this lie because creating a whole new gender would be too ridiculous even for these kids to believe!'
Masanori sat there in silence watching him think, wanting to believe that this meant he was properly considering what he said. He wasn't outright dismissing him this time. As he sat there he began to wonder how best to cover up his scent from his roommate. It wasn't technically against school rules to bring other student to your room, but it would be a bad look for him.
Though now that he thought about it he didn't know what his scent was like besides from when he was in heat, but he usually blocked it out and tried to not focus on it, otherwise he'd lose his senses. Though, he would know by now wouldn't he? What was his scent like…?
Masanori stiffened, stopping himself from leaning over the table to try to sniff it out. Suddenly he was far too aware that he was alone in a room with an omega…
Masanori's insides started twisting from his nerves. 'What if someone comes by to talk to me about something, how would I explain this? No, the dorm's mostly empty, that's unlikely.'
Masanori paused, then his brow furrowed. 'H-Hold on, isn't that worse though? N-No, what am I thinking...?!'
'But why?' Ren continued to contemplate, scrunching his nose in concentration, 'This school's been doing this for years, and no one's noticed or batted an eye? I understand they've been given this medicine in middle school, but why would they see this as normal when they must have access to the wider world? Maybe they're told it's sensitive information and shouldn't talk about it? That school director that brought in the omegas-"
Ren suddenly froze, then looked back up to Masanori with wide eyes, making him jump up, thoughts flustered and in a panic. 'D-Did it show on my face that I was thinking about his scent?!'
"You mentioned that your father was the one that inherited the school!" Ren shouted and tilted his head curiously, "Imada-kun are you… the school director's son?"
Masanori blinked, eyes wide with shock, before shouting back, "Y-You didn't know that already?!"
"Well, before I thought you were just a lackey sent to spy on me," Ren sighed frustratedly, crossing his arms, "Then I saw you were my ally, so I didn't think it was important to look into you!"
'Makes sense that he didn't know I was in the student council…' Masanori sighed. Masanori tried to relax his posture again and cleared his throat, saying, "Takeshita-san, do you understand now? That the experiments aren't something to be worried about?"
Ren hesitated, then nodded at Masanori. Masanori breathed a sigh of relief. 'Maybe this will calm him down now. Though, he felt like it was taking things too well? No, maybe it really was something as simple as explaining it to him, maybe that's why the teachers never stepped in…'
As Masanori was mulling over this, Ren suddenly nervously scratched at his cheeks, "H-Hey and, thanks for saving me from that guy." He said.
"Guy?" Masanori said confused, then relaxed, "Oh, you must mean Akagi-san, right?"
"Yeah," Ren nodded. "I mean, he was totally threatening me, wasn't he?"
"Well you're not wrong…" Masanori said in a low voice. He already planned to talk to Akagi Naoto later.
Ren scowled, "It's just like I thought, the alphas in this school know something! The Alpha students clearly know what's going on: their behavior is extremely suspicious and they always talk like they're better than everyone else! I think, they're-"
"No." Masanori coldly said, putting up a hand to stop him. He faced him seriously, a darker look. "Please stop." He paused a moment before easing up a little, " No I… I think you should stay away from the Alphas, but it's not because they're part of some school conspiracy, Takeshita-san."
Masanori wouldn't avoid being firm on this. When it came to other Alphas, Masanori had no patience for beating around the bush. If this delusional omega got mixed up with some Alphas students because of his weird behavior, it could be disastrous.
Ren sighed, "I know you're trying to protect me, because they're dangerous! I know, I've seen their power! But that Akagi guy: he might be the key to figuring out what's going on! He'll know why we're all here, who did this to us!"
"No he won't." Masanori said firmly, his gaze hardening a little, "Akagi Naoto is just the leader of student wellness. His job is to make sure the students are happy and not disturbed, and you caused a disturbance last week. I'm sure he'll stop bothering you once they see you… have no intentions of causing any further issues," Masanori swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and continued, "You should ignore him if he or anyone else comes back around saying things like that to you. They just think you're up to no good, which is why I said to stay out of trouble."
Masanori didn't want to say exactly what he was referring to, mainly because the discussion was a little embarrassing to bring up, and he didn't want to come off like he was confronting him. Accusations like that were treated very seriously, and he didn't want him to end up suspended or expelled for the wrong reason. He was just crazy, not some Alpha baiter.
Ren pondered Masanori's words, squinting slightly with his confusion. 'I don't get it. He's agreeing that they're dangerous, but he's also telling me to not look into them? And he's been giving me a weird look. He's definitely still holding back something too…' Ren then nodded. 'I think I understand. He's telling me to stay away and denying the truth because we're still being listened to, even here. The dorms don't have cameras like the main school building, but they could still have listening devices!'
"Okay. I understand. I'll avoid those guys and try to stay low." Ren lied boldly, giving Masanori a knowing look with a playful grin. "No more of that heat stuff! I hope so anyway. Oh right," Ren paused and his voice changed to something calmer, "Hey, is there some way to avoid it in the future?"
Masanori didn't know what that look in his eyes meant and found himself nervously tapping the table again. He tried to focus, thinking of what he said about his heat. He might seriously end up like this next month at this rate, someone should explain to him what it was and how to handle it properly. An omega in his dorm maybe? He should probably do it but... He glanced at the clock again.
"You seem pretty confused… I think you should have a talk with the health advisor." Masanori finally replied, "That or the health monitor. He's in charge of helping with medicine supplies and managing health issues, so he's pretty knowledgeable." He paused, then added, "But all of the dorm health advisors follow his orders, so you should maybe talk to yours…"
Masanori didn't think he could properly explain an omega's heat as an Alpha anyway, better get someone who knows what they're doing. Sending him to Ryusei should be fine in any case: he owed him a favor and was fairly straightforward when it came to speaking. An honest guy like that should clarify things better than he ever could.
Ren nodded, letting out an excited grin, 'So, he's directing me to the next clue by telling me to meet with one of the student council members with the front of my health!' Ren's eyes shone with admiration. 'Imada Masanori-kun: you're such a clever guy!'
Masanori averted his eyes from Ren's glowing gaze with an uneasy squint, rather turning his direction to the clock again. He started to stand, seeing how much time had passed. "If that's all, then we really need to-"
Ren snatched and pulled at Masanori's arm, making him freeze mid-rise.
"Wait! Tell me: are the pills good or not?" Ren asked, a dangerously eager look in his eyes. Masanori's brow gave a lopsided anxious smile. If he was asking that kind of question then he really didn't understand anything.
"Yes, the pills are good. What made you think they weren't?"
Ren made a face, annoyed. "How about the heat sickness? Seriously, why did this happen twice in a row now, and why is there a pill for it? Do you have to take the pill when you get sick too?"
Masanori's head spun at that question. 'Take the pill? Me, in heat? Seriously… I don't think now is the time to mention Alphas get ruts. Definitely not a good idea. At least he's asking questions that are more reasonable, maybe there's time to answer them...'
Ren perked up, tilting his head with another question, "Right, and what about that stuff Akagi kept talking about? Besides threatening me, I think he said something about scent? I feel like I've heard about that somewhere... do I have a weird smell?"
Masanori's cheeks turned a shade of pink. He forcibly released his arm from Ren's grip and took a step away. "I don't... have time to explain anymore. Just go ask a health advisor. Let's... just get to class, alright?"
Ren nodded and got up as well. Ren opened the door and turned back when he saw Masanori had not only moved to follow him, but had turned himself away.
"Ren cocked his head, perplexed, "Imada-kun, are you not coming?" He asked.
"No, I... It's best to not go down the hall together." Masanori answered, turning his head slightly to call over his own shoulder, "You go on, okay?"
Ren nodded, understanding, 'Right. Akagi only let me go because he thought I was being punished by him, like back when I spied on the student council.' Ren thought to himself, 'If he sees us leaving his dorm room together they'll know we're allies and it'll blow Masanori's cover! Even if they're listening, we can't act like we're friends!'
Ren turned into the hall but suddenly stopped, turning back to shoot Masanori a thumbs up and a winking grin, with a loud whisper, "I'll see ya later then Imada-kun!"
As Ren closed the door Masanori stood for a moment in silence before falling forward to lean his weight against the countertop, a short, gasp-like sigh breaking out from his throat. He covered his mouth with his hand and felt the sweat of his exertion drip onto his fingers, trying to steady his heart by squeezing his brow together.
'That was close... I really almost tried to smell him there. Fuck, was my self-control so weak? Yuki would say some shit about being pent up... I must be losing it.'
He let out a tired groan. 'Thank god that's over with at least… hopefully. This time I hope he gets it…'
Masanori tried to recall how it could have gotten to this point, but from the beginning Takeshita Akira seemed to continue getting into trouble. Now even the student body couldn't turn a blind eye to his antics. If it really was all just a way to gain attention, he certainly had it now. Masanori didn't know why he kept trying to help him, but he just couldn't help himself. Even if he acted so tough, something about them seemed so helpless. Really, he had to save him from himself...
Masanori paused, realizing something.
'He... he called me by my last name just now, didn't he? He doesn't usually do that…' He shook it off. For now he should work on talking to Akagi when it comes to Takeshita.
As Ren left down the hall he was wondering if he did the right thing. "He gets pretty touchy about the subject, doesn't he? I have to be careful in how I explain the situation to him…" he said to himself. After hearing Masanori out, Ren was putting his thoughts together bit by bit.
'Masanori was told he was born this way, probably since birth. That's why he believes all this like it's completely ordinary. He was told since birth that this was going to happen to him! Maybe they're all in this sort of program since birth, like their parents put them in it.' Ren's face shifted, filled with enlightenment at the thought of new theory. 'Is it possible…. Are they all some kind of genetically engineered superhumans?'
That's why Ren decided to not break the news to him for now, that and the potential listening devices nearby. How would he react to being told his life has been a lie? Masanori's entire world-view might shatter! Something like that, it might drive you crazy! And right now Masanori his only real ally, he wouldn't put that burden on him so soon. Masanori knows that something is wrong with the school too, otherwise he wouldn't be helping him so much, and that's all he needed for right now.
'That's what I'll have to go with for now.' Ren nodded, sure of his choice now, and thinking of other details.
'So, if they WERE told from birth about this, then the the internet they must use is limited and closed off, just like how the Chinese do it! All the info there is fabricated just like the books at the library! Good thing I've avoided going online after all: it would have really confused me! And now, I know my first clue is to look into the medicine with health monitor leader like Masanori directed me to to find real information!'
Ren grinned, 'Ha, the school director's son allying with the outsider who knows the truth: This is a match made in heaven! With his help we'll definitely uncover what's going on and take down this crazy school!'
———
Classes returned to normal for Ren, but he saw them all in a different light. He saw them with pity.
'Poor kids…if they were really born this way or forced to believe in this like Masanori then they don't know anything. This darn school, how could it do this to its own students?'
And Ren believed that solely the school was behind this entire thing, because if anyone outside of this school were to be involved, someone would have surely heard about it somewhere. These kids and their strange abilities, surely it would have been talked about somewhere before. And Ren was still confident, that he was still in his world and that this school was the only source of all this madness, this bizarre world of secondary genders and heats, Alphas and Omegas. There had been nothing conclusive so far to make him think otherwise.
'I wonder what kind of parent would agree to this… Even if it meant your kids get cool super powers, to put them in such a promiscuous environment and forcing these erogenous feelings: this must be some kind of child cruelty! Thank goodness there are no cameras in the dorms, otherwise…!'
Ren didn't finish that thought, imagining instead the lawsuits that were sure to come their way once the parents realized this was the cost for their powers, because they certainly couldn't know!
Ren suddenly realized something. 'Ah, I should have asked Masanori what some of those Omega systems were! Guess I'll do it later when we find a better place to chat…'
He stopped, frowning. 'Wait, I shouldn't be hanging around him so much, should I? With the listening and not wanting to look friendly, I should be more careful. I can't pop up at the dorm again looking for him. Besides, whenever he understands what the school's true nature is or not… He knows about some of the experiments with the new omegas, but he doesn't realize just how deep it goes.'
Ren believed that Masanori was just as clueless as every other student, that while Masanori understood there were tests, he didn't know their true purpose or reasoning, thinking most of this was normal.
'But it isn't… and until I can find a way to convince him, I don't want to get him into any more trouble. They've already been questioning me…hm.'
If Ren hadn't already been through highschool already, he would have done terribly in class that day. But fortunately he recalled being a diligent student, and so the work came pretty easily to him.
Ren headed to club after school that day, keeping to his promise to be there once a week so it didn't get shut down. He had already missed 6 days, so he figured it was best to head there now.
"Ah, Takeshita-san." Ruota the club monitor said to him at the door of the club room when he turned towards him. He looked down at him with a salty glare, watered down by the sagging around his eyes of some eternal fatigue. "You're feeling better now then?" He asked.
The door opened a little more and Shino peered out, looking towards him with a calm smile. "Oh Takeshita-kun. Excuse me Hayashi-senpai."
As Ruota walked away Ren entered with a mildly worried glint in his eyes. "Why's the club monitor coming here? Am I… too late, and the club's been shut down?" He asked with a wrinkle of his eyes.
"Not at all." Shino replied calmly, already sitting back down. "If Hayashi-senpai had a reason to do so, he would have done it already. No matter what he says otherwise..." Shino said vaguely, calmly opening back up a book he was reading, then said, "Oh, but could you drop by twice a week just in case?"
Ren nodded, feeling like it was the least he could do for leaving him hanging for so long. He opened up his notes from his bag and spent the next two hours working on his notes. While he was doing so a student stopped by to talk to Shino, talking in low voices in the corner that Ren zoned out.
People did come by on occasion to talk to Shino, Ren assumed it was due to him being popular, or maybe because he was so knowledgeable because of how much he liked to read. Guess that was why his club room had so many boring looking books, probably related to the point of the club but he had honestly already forgotten the name of it. Something boring sounding, he recalled.
Instead he focused on the classical music playing on the old fashioned cd radio that Shino always had on in the club room. With all his book reading and relaxing music, Ren thought Shino was a pretty classy guy.
Just then, a few minutes before Ren was getting ready to leave, Kokichi burst into the club room in a screaming, angry huff. "Shino!! What the hell did you say to that bastard!!!" His face was twisting into a snarling grimace, red up to his ears from rage.
Ren silently sighed. He was so loud every time, he could really do with some earplugs!
Shino barely looked towards him as he continued to read, "I told you if he bothers you just ignore him, Hirota-senpai."
"Ignore him!? Do you remember what he DID on monday!?" Kokichi hollered with a gnashing of his teeth, "He strung up my UNDERWEAR all over the dorm entrance!! One of my shitty roommates gave him access to my stuff!! I can't forgive him for that!! Now he's saying cryptic shit about my health and mentioned you! I bet you fucked up and said something stupid!!"
Ren scowled at him, cutting off Shino's reply. "Hey, shut up you loud asshole! You're the stupid one for coming in here and disrespecting Shino-kun! Even as his senpai, you're being a total dick! I bet you deserved that stupid underwear prank because you said something offensive again!!"
"Psh!" Kokichi growled at him, "Stay out of this Takeshita! You're more unreliable than a status ailment chance on a 65% accuracy move! You've been gone for a whole week completely ghosting him and you're complaining to ME about being a dick?!"
Ren growled back, suddenly having some choice words to throw at Kokichi, but Shino loudly cleared his throat, making him stop.
"Takeshita-kun, it's alright." He still didn't put down the book but he did lift his head to look at Kokichi, speaking more tensely, "Hirota-senpai, no such thing happened. Hayashi-senpai was just trying to upset you," He then spoke more soothingly, "Now I'd suggest calming down, it will do you no good to rile yourself up so much... I'd say get something to drink to cool down, but I hadn't been able to buy more without our usual budget."
Ren raised a brow at his word, mouth slightly agape. Something happened to their club budget? That wasn't his fault, was it? It would be awful if he really did cause issues...
Kokichi meanwhile made a few more angry sounds from his mouth, balled fist swinging around angrily, but eventually turned around and stormed out the room. With him gone Ren finally got up to leave, letting out an exasperated sigh as he rose, "What a tiresome guy! Honestly I can see why everyone else wanted to kick him out!"
"Have a good rest of your day Takeshita-kun." Shino calmly said to him, already back to reading.
Ren stopped at the door and turned to ask, "Oh, hey do you know where the health monitor is? I have to talk to him."
Shino lifted his head from the book giving Ren a surprised raise of the brow. "Fujiwara Ryusei? Well, his office is on the second floor down the east wing."
But before Ren could turn to leave Shino stopped him, "Actually while you're heading that way, can you hand him this note for me? It's very important."
Ren took the folded up note from Shino and nodded with an affirmative smile. Of course he'd fulfill his request. He put it in his pocket, because of course he wasn't going to read the note, he wasn't Kokichi.
Ren arrived outside the correct office once he found it. He took a deep breath, feeling a little anxious.
'This might be a new ally! One of Masanori's friends that can clue me on more of what is going on in this school!'
So with an anticipatory flush in his cheeks, Ren knocked then entered the office.