The next morning they released Ren from the clinic, but it wasn't without discord. Suddenly he was told he was basically grounded, locked in his dorm room for three days. He was given schoolwork to do by the dorm leader, but that was it.
Ren was relieved to be out of that room and back to classes, but he expected more of a fight after everything. He wanted to know where Masanori went, but it was pretty clear he was still suspended so likely wasn't anywhere he could access him.
Much as he wanted to, he shouldn't go looking. Without Masanori to help him, he didn't know what kind of trouble Akagi Naoto had in store for him.
But he wasn't standing down. He still had a mate bond to figure out after all…
Ren couldn't help but be pulled from his thoughts, as the stares and whispers that constantly surrounded him grew louder, sounding in the halls whenever he passed. Anytime he tried to stop and listen in they would quiet down and look away, so he was certain it was still about him.
He sighed. Masanori never got the chance to help with that, did he?
'Right. What happened then…'
Ren had gotten good at putting these things out of his mind, but he couldn't run away from it forever. There was a lot to consider, and he was working on his theory. But before he could commit to the details, something else came up.
After even the homeroom teacher had to shush the class, he said their class representative was to make an announcement.
"Despite recent events and the absence of one of our leading council members, our sports day events will continue as usual. Please prepare for it on Saturday."
"Already that time, huh? I remember mine a little when I was still in high school. Lots of fun… But what's the point of the event if the parents aren't gonna be here? Unless the parents are involved, maybe they would want to check on them…
The class rep continued. "Any one with a spare hand, the student council encourages anyone to aid in putting the event together, as working as a community is vital to…"
Ren zoned the rest out as the words students council registered to his ears. It immediately put Ren on high alert.
'What does the Alphas of the student council want with the sports day events?'
Suddenly it was extremely suspicious, especially with Masanori's recent suspension.
'Well maybe I can ask Ryusei.' He thought rather logically. He was part of the council too, wasn't he?
However, before he could go right after class ended he was suddenly circled in by a bunch of beta students, hounding on him like sharks.
"Psst! Takeshita-san! So, what happened between you and the student council?"
"Huh? T-That's uh…" He panicked, unable to speak. A surprise interrogation!
"Come on, you at least have to tell us. It's you isn't it? Involved with what happened that made Masanori leave."
"What happened? That's, well that's kinda…" Ren wanted to explain, but he didn't know how to approach it. Should he even tell them?
"A-Actually, forget it." They suddenly said, looking weirdly nervous. They suddenly made a swift apology and ran off.
'Huh? What the heck was that about?' He frowned. He grabbed his collar and sniffed his clothes. It wasn't another smell thing was it?
Ren stopped by the office during lunch. But, he was blocked at the door by his assistant. Ren could see Ryusei working on something in the back.
"Any chance you could convince him it's important?"
"I could try." They just muttered. Ren sighed. He looked back and for a second he could have sworn Ryusei had looked his way.
Ren was suspicious, wondering why he was avoiding him. He perhaps had a plan of his own he was trying and didn't want him to be involved? There was no way he was actually working with the council after all, so it had to be. They didn't sit well with him either though. He thought they were allies, so why shut him out now?
'Well, maybe it's because of Masanori.' He thought, and so trusted that there was good reason. But Ren was now more certain the event had to do with something, so he pivoted his focus. He'd find out what was going on in secret and tell them all about it later!
And Ren did, or at least he tried. Attempts to sneak into the student council room after school proved impossible. The halls to their meeting room, which were usually rather empty, were now flooded with students and the moment he tried to get past them they all stared, like living searchlights surrounding a fortress.
Ren ran away that day, trying to think.
'I guess that's the measures he took. That's not just Alpha students but everyone in the student body. I'm not sure what he told them to become his living fortress, but I won't give up!'
But Ren found there were some things even he couldn't crack. The rest of the week passed without him getting so much as a peek into their meeting. The crowd was always there up to when they left the meeting room for the day, and he'd have to dip out of sight to prevent being seen.
Ren was spotted once, by one of the other members with the green hair, Teuchi Tamura, smiling and waving like Ren wouldn't still take it as a mocking taunt of his failures.
When Ren's efforts failed, he tried to go to the gym to work out. But seeing all the Alphas hanging around giving even worse stares, Ren opted to stay away. He wasn't scared, but he could see why the omegas stayed weak. He tried to stop by the sumo club for directions to a different gym not filled with Alphas but their captain shooed him off. After the third day he surprisingly pulled him inside and lectured him on using small pocket weight instead.
Ren lifted the small weight with disgust. "I'm not this weak! Give me like a 20 kilos!"
"You'll break something like that, start with something manageable!" They huffed. "What the heck's even your name again?"
"Uh, Takeshita Akira." He answered.
"Huh. Same as that omega Akagi Naoto's been mad at… Must be bad luck. Remind people you're a beta so they don't bully you by accident." They said.
With that though the end of the week came around, and Ren was sat miserable at the table of his club room after school, grumbling with despair with sore arms. When Shino walked in he was surprised to see him.
"Takeshita, how have you been? I haven't seen you all week."
"I've been busy…" He said. In honesty he would have gone to weight lift but even if his arms didn't feel like lumps of clay, the sumo club leader had come down with something that was going around so Ren decided to spend the afternoon resting instead. As in, thinking of a plan.
"...Do you have any distraction devices by chance?" Ren suddenly asked, completely serious.
"I'm not sure what you'd need something like that for, but try to calm down," Shino answered coolly. "By the way, what's that in your hair?"
"Oh," Ren pulled out another origami throwing star from his hair. "Another one. They keep showing up, I think someone's been throwing them around the school lately."
"Throw that in the trash or you'll get in trouble," Shino informed. "Well anyway, I'd hoped to see you sooner after hearing what happened. Speaking of, I realized I don't have your phone number. May I…?" He acted politely.
"Oh. I don't have a phone, sorry." Ren sadly replied.
Shino looked confused by this. "Really? I never took you for the type to have that kind of discipline. It's not good for you anyway, good for you. Anyway, I hoped you liked the gift basket."
"Huh? Gift basket?"
"Oh… well that's disappointing. I'll look into what happened to it." Shino said amd returned to his tea.
Ren grumbled. "I need to know more about tomorrow… can't you feel it? Something totally suspicious about the whole thing."
"I think it's perfectly normal," said Shino. "But, if you're looking for more details…"
Ren lifted his head and sat further in his seat.
"...Just go to the school website." Shino finished. Ren groaned and slammed his head back into the table.
"There's really nothing," Shino continued. "Maybe a distraction for everyone, with things as they are."
"A distraction? All for Masanori-kun being suspended?" Ren grumbled.
"Masanori-Senpai was suspended?" Shino said, looking surprised. "I thought he was just out sick."
Ren lifted his head. "Out sick? Why would you think that?"
"Is that right? Hm. It seems things have been more worrying than I previously thought."
"What do you mean?" Ren asked.
"Oh, maybe it's nothing to do with you then. I just, recently noticed the Omega students have been especially hostile with the Alphas lately." Shino explained. "They won't talk about it but whatever happened seems to be a private matter, so maybe it's not related to you specifically."
"Hostile?"
Shino nodded. "There's been some odd tension between the Alphas and Omegas. It's like cold war in the lunch room sometimes," He then sighed. "I can tell there's some frustration, but there's nothing I can do if I don't know."
'War? Between the Alphas and Omegas?' Ren thought about the way the omegas acted in the dorm. They didn't act that different, and he'd seen nothing from that guard.
"If they say that about Masanori… do you know what they're saying about me?" Ren suddenly asked.
Shino stared into his workbook in silence. He then flipped a page of his work and responded.
"I don't really listen to those kinds of rumors, I just hope you're doing okay. But, no one knows who it was, except that the Student Council ordered complete silence. They say, Masanori-senpai went into isolation out of guilt."
"They say that!?" Ren yelled. Such a blatant cover up!
"Um Takeshita-san?" Shino spoke up. "Is there any chance… no, never-mind," He shook his head. "It's a shame about Masanori-senpai, he seemed like a reasonable person. But managing to get suspended despite being the position in the student council he has…" He trailed off.
"Masanori-kun is a reasonable person, though." Ren said.
"If you say so," Shino hummed. "But be careful with him."
Ren frowned. 'Sounds like he's been fed bad information about Masanori. Maybe because he's close to me?' He thought with discontentment. 'But, using sports day as a distraction for something else? Maybe that's it…'
Soon, the weekend arrived. Due to the size of the school and the unique boarding situation the event was running all afternoon, split between two major halves of non-competitive and competitive events, with a brief break for lunch in between. The morning games were light and more of a carnival, with sections run by the teachers and staff, with any winnings going to set amount of points per class, with the aim to gain as many points for your class as possible.
Aside from that, Ren found nothing dissimilar to what he remembered from his school days. Ren went along with his classmates in their gym clothes and his assigned number, lined up along the school's main track.
Oddly there was a crowd, people he had never seen before coming in from the front gates. But as suspected there were no parents. Or at least, none that acted like them.
As the band did their ceremony Ren looked around, realizing he knew next to none of the names of his classmates that weren't the Alphas. There were only three Alphas in his class exactly, none he ever had any specific suspicion of but ones he intended to continue avoiding.
There was one thing he couldn't avoid. Across the field next to his class Akagi Naoto had a pair of vigilant eyes peeled on him, inescapable.
Ren tilted his head away feeling his eyes burning into the side of his head. 'He thinks I have something planned. Haha, I wish I did. You win today so just take your win and let me sit in the background today in peace.' He pleaded silently, eyes finding Fujiwara Ryusei in the crowd as well, who he found a little more less irritating to look at.
Ren noticed he along with Akagi were wearing a red sash across their chests, representing the student council. He noticed then several students that wore blue arm bands, like Ryusei's assistant Fumio. He counted sashes and bands with his eyes, absentmindedly wondering where the sixth mysterious council member, was when suddenly an argument broke out between his classmates on the topic of teams for one of the races.
"What is it?" Their homeroom teacher asked them.
"We don't have enough groups to pair up."
"Oh dear. Yes you're right. I guess that would happen," The teacher crossed their arms looking troubled. "Without enough even groups, a few might have to sit out a few games. Maybe a rotation?"
"Even group pairs?" Ren lifted his head up and asked.
The teacher visibly twitched when he noticed he was there. "Takeshita-san. Well it's for the cooperative games. We make teams with one of each gender to go in groups for the activities, but there seems to be a shortage." He explained.
"...but there's always only been boys in this school?" Ren said.
"...Uh no, I mean one of each second gender." The teacher corrected, looking out at the crowd. "Unfortunately there's been a outbreak of a virus within the Alpha dorm, and topping that with the expulsions last month, Alpha numbetd are lower than average. Things were a bit more even at the beginning of the year, but already…"
Ren frowned. 'Oh, right, they call it second gender… wait.' He recoiled back in shock. 'What!? T-The sports events involve working with the Alphas and Betas!? Why is that business involved in this!?'
The teacher began thinking out loud. "Well we could perhaps ask to shift some students around with a different class..."
"No hold on!" Ren began to shout. "Why are the events centered around the genders? That's ridiculous, what does that have to do with that bogus bullcrap!?"
The teacher gave him a weird look and seemed at a loss for words.
"Well. I also believe in gender equality Takeshita-san, but it's a school tradition around here," He calmly explained. "I'd say making equally divided teams is fair for everyone."
"Exactly!" One of the Alpha students suddenly scoffed. "You don't know anything new guy, so why don't you stay out of it? I don't want to pair up with you either, but who's going to babysit you otherwise?"
The other Alpha students hissed at him. "Kuromi, keep it down…!"
"Sensei, I agree," Boldly spoke up one of the beta students, looking right at Ren. "I hear he's bad luck."
"Well I don't want to work with you either!!" Ren said, glaring at them. "In fact, I'm not working with any Alpha students!"
"Well you could just sit out the competition events if you insist." The teacher said.
"I will!" Ren loudly grunted. He sat on the stands as they finished the initial ceremony, pouting and ill-tempered.
'What kind of nonsense is this? Pushing this other gender weirdness onto sports day! This is some kind of indoctrination, telling them they're different where they're all exactly the same!'
He grumbled a little. 'But, it does kinda make sense. The different groups are test experiments right? So why wouldn't they be testing their physical attributes? Then was this all just a test, disguised as their sports day event? But it's a misuse of their tradition and staple of their school life!' His brow furrowed angrily.
Though, he was suddenly a little excited. If all events needed an equal amount of
Maybe they could beat the Alphas in something? That would prove the Omegas have their own strengths outside of sharing the mind control ability. It's not like they were going to mind control the entire omega student body! Even he thought that was too out there.
So Ren watched the events take place while he chose bean bag tossing for not needing to focus on very hard. He watched and waited, for anything of interest.
Yet due to focusing so hard, Ren noticed more than before how little the other students engaged with the activities. And it was easy to see why. Even though many of them were technically non-competitive, there was a lot of skill involved. He found even in these small events, Alphas were on top. Their strength, reflexes, agility and stamina, were miles above the rest.
It wasn't helped that Ren noticed exactly which students were being picked for some of the more physically active activities. It was the Alphas, always the Alphas! They were usually more physically built, some with defined muscles like a professional body builder.
"How are a bunch of high schoolers this built?" Ren muttered. Watching giant teens throwing their weight around, sweating like crazy from the late spring Japan heat. He watched a whole mountain of them doing a human pyramid and felt a wave of jealousy, as well as a sudden wave of heat from somewhere.
He kinda wanted to join too but, the fear of being crushed reared its head rather prominently.
Ren was walking back from his last different activity when he happened to peek at some hidden figures hiding in the wings.
Ren scoffed and rolled his eyes at the duo making out under the stands. At this point it was the norm to catch, but it was never so out in the open. Was it because security was busy elsewhere today? Ren sat back with his class and sighed.
"Hey Sensei, aren't there any specific omega events to do?" He suddenly asked his teacher. His teacher flinched again when he spoke but cleared his throat.
"No not really… students can participate in all events." He answered.
Ren pouted. 'Yeah sure. Tell that to the other classes where only the Alphas or Betas are being picked because the omegas don't want to do anything.'
In general, the teams with more Alphas always got better scores. He also noticed how some classes were practically begging some Alpha students to participate with them specifically, practically fighting over them even though all of their points for their class went into the same pool anyway.
'Do all they care about is winning? What about the pride of their class? Well, I haven't really thought about the students in my class either, but they're not really my classmates: they're Akira's. But, no wonder they mentioned wanting even teams. If there was a team full of Alphas they'd win by a landslide.'
At least his class was fairly normal. Weirdos like Kokichi had to be dragged kicking and screaming from the bleachers and mountains like Ryusei moved around like a train that everyone had to stand behind the line for as he came through. Ren gave him a cranky side-eye, still agitated at being ignored earlier that week.
He at least noticed Yuki at one point completely acing a 100 meter dash. It was nice to see anyone else, so he silently gave him a nod of approval. He planned to talk to him but he only saw him that one time before he vanished, waving his class goodbye the moment his feet crossed the finish line far, ahead everyone else. Ren found some amusement at watching Akagi fuming at his departing figure, stomping something into the dirt in a rage at his absence.
Ren also finally noticed Teru from the omega guard trying to pull his weight during a sack race, but it was only an attempt. Comparing it to some of the events Alphas participated in, it was next to nothing.
But no one came anywhere close to Akagi Naoto in anything else. He was unrivaled in just about anything he touched, completely trouncing the other classes by a wide margin. He congratulated their wins with high fives to all the Alphas like he was the start of the show, all without breaking a sweat. Meanwhile, Teru by the end was wheezing and using an inhaler from overexerting himself.
'No wonder he must be their leader,' Ren thought of Akagi Naoto. 'Not sure about that Teru guy. But, at least he's trying.'
Most Omega students seemed to sit out or barely participated! It seemed more like they preferred to watch and talk to each other, whispering to each other about the Alphas.
'Discussing battle plans maybe, in case there's war?' Ren thought. He was liking the idea more and more, though he wasn't sure why they were angry at the Alphas. If they had already realized what was going on in the school on their own, he wouldn't be much help to anyone, not with a weak body and no abilities. He wasn't certain of that though.
'I gotta work harder at my body's strength.' He silently sulked. That or figure out his mate bond.
'This is bad though: at this rate they'll think us omegas can't do anything and only the Alphas are strong. And if they really do go to war, they'll be completely wiped. Half the battle is good moral and self-image! There's gotta be a way to show them they can beat the Alphas!'
And even more so, Ren was sure if they gave up now he'd never convince them even when he did gather his evidence!
Finally it was the stretch for the multi-team and more competitive activities after a lunch break. Ren watched as all the students filed back in and felt a surge of confidence. As he watched the crowd he looked around for a path.
Steeling his focus just before the teachers could come back from their lunch room Ren sprung up from where he was and ran past his class and other students, until he climbed up and stood on top of the set winner podiums.
Immediately, Akagi pushed past his own class and began bounding towards him with an angry snarl. "YOU…!"
Ren glared at him, then gestured out at every class in the school. "Listen up! This whole second gender cooperation thing, is a total scam! All the Alphas that keep winning all the games, aren't you tired of it?! We don't need to be paired up with them!! I say we fight against them! Omegas versus the Alphas!"