Chapter Text
Takumi always believed he was destined to be born as an alpha solely to protect Karua.
He knew it was quite an old-fashioned way of thinking these days, to believe alphas only existed to protect those of weaker natures, yet he couldn't figure out any other reason. Takumi was never the strongest guy around, not particularly fit or domineering either, yet when it came to Karua, his desire to protect always seemed to overflow. The beta girl wasn't even someone he ever saw himself marrying, but he wouldn't exchange her safety for anything in the world and that was probably the only “alpha-like” trait about him, really. She always described his scent as too mild, yet comforting to be around, and every time they walked next to another alpha, Takumi found himself even a bit scared.
So it always felt like the world made some kind of a mistake, making him one too, no matter the new trends or studies about their second genders, no matter how much Karua told him he didn't need to worry about a thing.
“I think you're a great alpha, Takumi!”
“But… but what does that even mean?”
There were always much more important things for him to think about. School, his parents, his friends, Karua, but when he thought about it, maybe the primal need to protect those around him did come from who he was born as, his instincts as a barely good-enough alpha.
“It means you're going to make that special someone happy one day, dummy! And that you're good to me too, you know…”
But Karua would leave one day too, once she found someone she wanted to stay with, and Takumi would probably employ his protecting skills elsewhere, if a person out there appreciated them enough. Appreciated him enough.
… Being seen as someone who can be trusted did feel pretty good, and Takumi wondered when the time would come to become an alpha for someone other than Karua as well.
***
… It's his need to protect that landed him at this place in the end, of course, with a bunch of strangers and new smells which were already mixing with each other, creating an amalgamation of a weird group.
His scent may have been not that strong, but Takumi would say his sense of smell wasn't half bad. There were definitely other alphas in the room which already terrified him a bit, but the noticeable presence of some omegas was what made him perhaps even more scared. He didn't get many opportunities to meet them in life even though he did know they were just people like him, yet something about them did always make him feel a bit hot under the collar.
… When it came to dating, people often stopped caring about both genders altogether, but Takumi was pretty sure he would like himself an omega were the choice to come.
Did that actually make him some sort of a pervert? And actually, why was he thinking about this in some sort of a hostage situation?!
He barely registered someone running around to try and find an escape, but before Takumi could really join the conversation, that strange message appeared, making them start introductions. It was exactly then, after a small argument, that they ended up complying, then that Takumi got to know this strange group with which he would be forced to spend the next 100 days, then that Takumi got what he craved for so dearly without knowing, then that his role as a leader started slowly developing.
...
The conversations with the other two alphas present in the room couldn't have gone more differently. Takemaru was exactly the guy Takumi imagined when someone tried to describe the stereotypically strong, violent yet protective alpha, but Hiruko was instead dismissive and quiet, clearly unbothered by the presence of two other alphas in the group. Takumi could already feel she was probably the strongest of them all, one not worthy of messing with, but that also gave him that sense of safety he so wanted to display too one day.
Tsubasa, Shouma and Darumi were the group of betas Takumi talked to next, all a bit eccentric in their own, unique ways. Between all the self-hatred, screaming and almost barfing, he tried to remember their respective scents and keep them inside his memory, something he always did, just as easily as remembering someone's names, and even though he felt optimistic and didn't believe they would be here stuck for long, Takumi still thought it was a pretty basic thing to do.
If something were to happen, Takemaru and Hiruko would surely be better at handling it, but he too, wanted to lend a helping hand.
As an alpha, he had to deal with people being scared of him too on a daily basis, so Takumi didn't really feel offended when both Gaku and Ima displayed clear aversion to talking to him at first. Kako, though, didn't really seem terrified or worried, and even though her brother barely let her speak, Takumi let himself appreciate that fact in silence. It was still nice to see Ima trying to protect his omega sister, even though it might have seemed a bit much, yet the fact that Ima was clearly an omega too bothered him a bit. They were still pretty young, so Takumi wondered where his protector was, but then thought of Karua’s situation and decided not to ask.
It must have been rough for them.
… Gaku was a mess of an omega too, clearly, with his distressed scent all over the place, and talking to him didn't really seem to solve the issue, but Eito ended up being the person who left the biggest impression on Takumi with his introduction.
“I was born with a strange mutation, is what they told me at the hospital… That's why I had to visit it so often, actually. Apparently, my second gender will just… never present itself.“, is what he said at one point in their conversation, and that definitely explained why Takumi was having such difficulty at identifying his nonexistent scent.
… Was that a good thing or a bad thing, Takumi wondered, but he couldn't really come up with an answer on his own.
All Takumi took away from the introduction in the end, though, was the realization that dealing with this group would be difficult, and only after a few days passed did he realize he would have to keep dealing with them for 100 days.
***
“W-what? What do you mean we can't have our medicine?!”
“The Gift-O-Matic simply isn't capable of creating something so sophisticated, I’m afraid.”
They all encountered a problem fairly soon. The fighting was one on its own, now with five of them joining the incredibly tiring battles, but other quickly came when Gaku tried going through the list of items craftable by the Gift-O-Matic. His panic soon made everyone else join him in the room, with both Ima and Kako looking at the list with him, and as soon as Sirei came and said his piece, Takemaru had to hold Gaku for him to not kick Sirei into his face.
“... Isn't that a huge hazard, though? Why wouldn't you have something like that ready? I mean, if we're here for 100 days, their heats are going to start sooner or later…”
No one dared to speak after Tsubasa for a while, but that was because they all kind of knew that already. Takumi has never been around an omega in heat in his entire life, but he did hear the stories, stories which sounded extremely distressing and often didn't end well.
He thinks he can control himself, he hopes he can, but could he really say that about the others? What the hell was Sirei thinking?!
“They aren't willing to fight anyway, so does that really matter? They can just stay in their rooms…”
“And risk that one of you animals will break the doors and take advantage of my dear sister’s vulnerable state, Mister Takemaru?! Absolutely not.”
It was a valid concern, yet one Hiruko didn't really seem to care for. She was the leader of their group for now, a title neither Takemaru or Takumi dared to fight for even though the others expected them to, yet she was clearly the best choice. A great fighter, a reasonable mind, an alpha, who better was there to fill the role if not her?
“They will all have to fight sooner or later. The alphas together with Darumi and Eito are certainly not enough to protect this academy for 100 days.”
The others still didn't look happy when she said it, but she could see some faces gaining resolve at her words. Tsubasa seemed to waver, Gaku too, even though that must have been caused by the stress of realizing they wouldn't be getting any heat medication, and even though Kako looked determined, Takumi already expected her brother to forbid her from fighting.
“Sirei, just give us the goddamn pills! Please?! ”
“No can do, Maruko. I’m sure you guys will be able to deal with this accordingly on your own!”
It's then that Sirei just disappears, leaving all the students in disbelief with Gaku almost sinking to the floor crying by the Gift-O-Matic. It was truly a pathetic sight, yet still also a totally valid concern. People started slowly leaving the room, only with a few of them staying, and Takumi realized he couldn't just leave things as they were.
He wanted to be a protector, didn't he? So he could totally start here, was what he was naively thinking as he made his way over to Gaku, kneeling down and mentally twitching when the omega glanced at him with visible fear in his eyes.
“... Just tell me beforehand and lock the doors to your room. I… I can bring food and drinks over, at least?”
He's sure he doesn't have to say this to Ima or Kako if their respective heats took place at different dates, they would be able to deal with this. But Gaku, on the other hand…
“W-why the hell would I tell you?! I’m not sharing the details of my heat cycle with an alpha, goddamnit! What did I do to deserve this?!”
… And really, all Takumi could do was to groan, wondering once again what he did to be born an alpha at all.
***
Their leader was gone.
No matter how long they waited, Hiruko never returned, like she disappeared without a trace and sound, vanished. The others were clearly distressed too, now without order, without the presence of an alpha who knew what she was doing, how to achieve the goal they were given, and no matter how scary she was while threatening the others of kicking them out, even the non-fighters clearly wanted her back by their side.
They were all doing so well, too... Even though it took some effort to convince both Tsubasa and Gaku to help them fight, both of them surprisingly ended up showing up to the battle, immediately displaying how much easier the fighting could be with more help, yet now one of their strongest fighters was gone?
Could there ever be more of a discouraging situation than this?
“We… I think we need a new leader. Temporary one, at least before we find Hiruko…”
Upon Tsubasa's words, no one even dared to disprove her and instead, all of their eyes were now on Takumi and Takemaru. They did all get a bit close to each other lately, after all, and probably got too used to the idea of some sort of a leader, someone to at least give them the illusion of safety. So who else to ask for such a role but one of the two remaining alphas?
… Takumi didn't know where it came from, but the urge to grasp for the position manifested itself within him quite strongly.
“I can do it, if-”
Takemaru clearly had the same idea, but once he looked into Takumi's face, something must have stopped him from continuing. Maybe he looked a bit scary, like he was suddenly ready to fight for the position, but Takemaru would have surely beaten him without breaking a sweat.
It must have been some sort of determination, then, one the biker could appreciate.
“I’ll do it. B-but if Hiruko returns, she can have the role back, of course.”
Maybe he just wanted to try it for once, the role of a protector for people who were still kind of strangers to him, to do for them what he did for Karua.
To practice before he'll perhaps find a mate of his own one day.
His face finds Gaku, almost afraid of him throwing some sort of a fit, but he just shrugged his shoulders instead, actually not looking that bothered.
“... That's fine, I guess.”
They did get a bit closer after their discussion about Gaku joining the fight too, and that warmed Takumi's heart a bit to know. Tsubasa was smiling at him now too, sharing her approval for him, so maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.
He almost wondered what Hiruko’s reaction would be like if she were to find out, but that meant they would have to find her first.
“I for one would have preferred Mister Yakushiji.”
“That's not for us to decide, brother dearest…”
She probably knew saying something like that out loud could make the alpha angry, but Takumi really wasn't that type of a guy. Takemaru also did look much more reliable than him, so he couldn't be even surprised, yet he stepped down from the position to give Takumi space, so none of them could complain too much either.
… He wondered whether it was normal to feel like all the fighters were now brought much closer together as a group. Was it the presence of a leader, the fear of constant death, were they just naturally brought together?
All Takumi was sure about was the fact he wanted to preserve this kinship somehow, and definitely convince even the others to join them in the struggle of protecting something still foreign to all of them.
***
The barbeque was truly what they all needed.
It was nice to see Gaku slowly calm down the more days passed, and now they were suddenly all outside, enjoying something so normal and out of place that Takumi let himself relax too, for a bit and enjoy the good food and atmosphere. He thought he was doing a good job as a leader so far, if he could say so himself, and even though not all of them still came together to fight, the non-fighting group didn't seem too uncomfortable around him anymore.
Apart from Eito, Takumi definitely still found Tsubasa the easiest to talk to, though. Even now, as she lay down and talked to him about her own experiences in life, he somewhat felt like he was conversing with an old friend, and the fact she was a beta probably contributed to the fact. Takumi didn't get many chances to find friends outside of betas even though he really wouldn't mind talking with alphas or omegas, so he was kind of glad to get to experience these 100 days no matter how morbid a thought like that might have sounded.
“You know, I would never actually guess you're an alpha if I didn't know better… S-sorry, that was probably rude…”
“No, no… It's fine. You're certainly not the first to think that, Tsubasa.”
It never bothered him either, Takumi also got quite often confused for a beta too, something which would probably offend a lot of other alphas, but Tsubasa already knew him well enough to know that saying something like that out loud was okay.
He did wonder, though, whether this quality of his would one day come to haunt him. What if he unintentionally tricks someone into believing he was a beta who didn't really have to worry about a thing all year round? Someone who didn't strongly react to scents around him, someone who didn't get those annoying ruts he hated so much, someone… safe?
How was he supposed to find himself an omega anyway? Just walk up to one, introduce himself as an alpha looking for a mate and hope he was attractive enough to be given a chance? Maybe he wasn't threatening enough, but what if that was a deal-breaker?
“It’s a bit exciting to meet all these new people, isn't it, Takumi? But the scents are driving even me a bit crazy… I wonder how I smell to everyone here…”
“W-what? Well… You smell like a comfortable workshop to me, if I had to describe it…”
“Hahah, of course I do… That makes me really happy, though.”
… Takumi was glad Tsubasa forced him out of that thinking of his, but it was still definitely bothering him a bit. How were scents supposed to even work? He has heard stories of people meeting their ‘soulmates’ and knowing they were perfect for them just from the scent the person carried, but that definitely sounded a bit… overboard. Weren't you supposed to get to know the person first before deciding on something like that? Or was there really a person out there who’s scent would make him feel so at home that Takumi would just… know?
… None of the scents present in their academy really did that to him, though.
“What do I smell like to you, Tsubasa?”
“Hmm… It's actually pretty hard to describe. A lot of the scents here are, actually.”
Takumi had to agree. Even though he liked to pick their scents apart and analyze them a bit, wondering what exactly they were supposed to represent, a lot of them still stayed ambiguous to him. He remembers Hiruko’s signature lavender and Takemaru’s smoke-like presence, Shouma’s scent was almost resembling a dog of sorts, in a comfortable way, and the scent belonging to the twins was on the sweeter side. What Gaku’s or Darumi’s scents were supposed to be though, was still a great mystery to Takumi.
He couldn't nonchalantly walk up to them and ask to let him smell them for a few minutes now, could he.
“Give me some time to think it over, will you, Takumi?”
“Well, now I feel bad for answering so fast…”
At times like these, he can only think about how much he actually misses Karua, how much he actually wants her to have fun with him and the others too, how much he wants her to be safe and sound. Would she be proud of him? For finally getting to experience the role of leadership? For finally standing his ground and assuming the role he always wanted to try?
If he did a good job as a leader of a small army of sorts, he wondered whether he would one day make a good head of a…
“Hey… Do you think we would make a good pack?”
“W-what?! That's…”
The timing of her question was seriously terrifying.
“I’m not serious! It's just a fun thing to think about! I mean, even despite all the fighting, this is… it's comfortable.”
Takumi definitely got what she was talking about, what she was feeling. Tsubasa must have gotten close to some of them at this point as well, probably also found out for the first time what it felt like to be stuck with both alphas and omegas in one building for such a long time, but to think about them as a pack was still a bit too far for him. Ima, Kako and Shouma didn't even want to fight with them at this point, let alone wish to form some sort of a ‘family’ with them, and Takumi could understand that. At the end of it all, they were all still a group of strangers, one that would probably never see each other ever again after all of this was over, so what would thinking about a pack even be for?
“And you do make a pretty good leader, Takumi.”
“I apologize for eavesdropping, but I have to agree with Tsubasa, Takumi.”
Eito suddenly came behind them with a huge smile plastered on his face and Takumi definitely felt his face getting red. Where the hell was this even coming from? He knew he was probably competent enough in ordering them during the fights, but did the others really think he was actually pretty… decent?
“Yeah! I didn't want to believe it at first, but you are a pretty great leader, dude!”
“Didn't think you had it in you when you volunteered to take the leadership role away from me, Takumi, but the battles are a breeze with your orders!”
Takumi could see the three non-fighters awkwardly turn away, but he was too busy trying not to freak out from all the praise to really give them any more attention.
He still does think they could all be convinced though, one day, so Takumi knew he still had a long way to go. That didn't mean he would just give up on them, of course, and he realized he still needed to work harder than ever before.
Takumi would like to stay as the leader, after all.
***
After wandering around in the deserts, after falling to his knees and onto the ground, after taking his last breath before falling unconscious, Takumi still couldn't possibly figure out how much his life was about to change once he opened his eyes again.
Waking up in a room identical yet different to his back at the academy was disorienting enough already, and seeing that creature similar to Sirei holding a plate of onigiri almost sent him back into a coma. Yet what bothered him much more was the absence of his friends, of his team, of those who he had to lead and who expected him to lead them in return.
Was he already attached to them this much?
…
He didn't know how he felt about meeting new people right now.
As Takumi made his way through the familiar hallways, looking for the gym where the little creature sent him, all he could really think about was how the group at this academy would react to a new person disrupting their camaraderie, an alpha, at that.
How many people were here? Did they even have any alphas or omegas here? Would he finally get some answers about this war? And what did the presence of a second academy even mean for their situation?
All that was on his mind as he finally stood in front of the door, taking a breath and wiping sweat off his forehead before Takumi decided to enter. Yet the sight of what awaited him in the gym made him stop dead in his tracks.
…
His mind couldn't quite catch up with it all, and his brain wasn't able to decide what exactly he was supposed to be focusing on the first. The fact there were less people than at their academy? That someone had a tomato on their head? The fact that there were clearly three alphas with a very strong presence inside?
..
Yet what ends up filling his mind is a very particular scent which made his way up his nose as soon as he opened the door. It's exactly the reason why his thinking felt slowed down, why he couldn't move forward and introduce himself, why it seemed like he arrived somewhere forbidden, somewhere he didn't deserve to be.
… His mouth tasted iron, and that's when he connected this sweet scent to that of blood, familiar blood, one feeling like home by now, after fighting in this war for so long. It made him want to get closer to the source, to taste this blood, to lick it clean, and once his eyes found the clear victim of these thoughts, Takumi finally found himself taking a step forward.
Among all these alphas, one quite… strange-looking omega stood behind them, grinning as soon as he saw their guest enter the gym. It was quite clear that the scent belonged to him, if not only from his attire and presence, and even though Takumi felt like getting closer to him was like walking right into a trap, he wanted to be caught between those claws of his.
… For the first time in his life, Takumi somehow tasted what being an alpha was like, and wished to get to know these feelings of his more, even more.
…
But Takumi didn't get a chance to focus on any of those things. Before he even blinked, someone rushed over to him and slammed their fist right into his stomach, sending him into the air for a brief moment before his body fell down with a loud thud. There was no time to wheeze or call for help, Takumi could feel the same person immediately grabbing him from the ground by his sides and then their knee lunged itself into him, feeling like it made a hole in his chest and crushed his heart in half.
He could hear voices behind them, ones he barely understood at that point, but those hands were starting to lift him up again, genuinely making him believe he was about to get murdered.
“M-miss Moko, what are you d-doing?! That's our precious guest!”
“Isn't it obvious, Nigou? Lady Moko is asserting dominance! It's quite up to the lesser alpha to secede.”
Right, so the person beating him to death was someone named Moko, clearly an alpha with an incredibly strong scent purely made out of sweat. The person speaking to the creature, apparently named Nigou, was that samurai-looking woman he saw while coming inside, rambling something about seceding or letting himself get beat up until this Moko was satisfied…
And here he was, thinking that alphas weren't so old-fashioned nowadays.
“I-I surrender, I surrender! Please don't kill me!”
It was his only option after all, and he wasn't feeling particularly ashamed for losing this unexpected fight he didn't even want to have, so he hoped the other alpha would simply stop seeing him as a threat. Only then did he finally get a good look at her as he hung from her grasp, still having difficulty breathing, but what surprised him the most was how kind her face looked like to him.
“Oof, that saves me the trouble of breaking any of your bones, then. Thanks, man!”
Compared to him, she was a giant, but the smile she gave Takumi once she let him down again was too genuine, as well as the act of letting him lean on her when he lost his balance. Well, he was the intruder here, and if this is how they did things around here, then he probably shouldn't intervene much.
But that scent, that bloody scent carrying itself through the whole room, was somehow making him want to act up again. Clearly, that was an extremely dangerous idea.
“This fine young man arrived here all the way from another Academy! Please do not harm him any further, I am sure he bears no ill will!”
“And how are we supposed to know he won't cause any trouble if he doesn't know his place, Nigou! Compared to an Oosuzuki like me, he's clearly a low-breed alpha with no sense of control!”
Well, that's a little harsh, Takumi thought, but then immediately understood why he was attacked in the first place. They all must have noticed how he was looking at the guy in the back, his face must have been a bit scary too, from what he was thinking about, and they probably sensed a coming danger.
… Takumi doesn't think he hated anything about himself more. He never had problems like this, he knew how to control himself, so why did he suddenly lose his mind a bit there, even if for just a moment?
What the hell did he get himself into?
All of the three alphas were suddenly surrounding him, definitely checking him out, and that gave Takumi the moment to take apart all of their scents again. The girl who later introduced herself as Kyoshika carried a scent of a wild forest, and once he got to talk to her more, he realized that Moko wasn't the only old-fashioned person around. When he got to think about it, she was somehow even worse.
Kurara, on the other hand, somehow managed to smell like cold hard cash. That wasn't a surprise, given her background and way of behaving, but it also seriously pissed him off. Even though she visibly believed herself to be better than everyone, Moko was still the appointed leader of the group there, but that wasn't a surprise either.
If they all had to go through that ordeal, Takumi was actually more surprised that they were all still alive despite the existence of the Revive-O-Matic.
But it was then that he was reminded again of that particular scent, and turned his head to an approaching set of footsteps. The guy carried himself with absolute silence, something which was incredibly impressive yet creepy, and once he got close enough, he raised his arm up to Takumi, clearly initiating a handshake.
From the way the others reacted, he somehow expected the omega to be a bit afraid, to display at least some signs of those stereotypes he got to hear so much about, but the more time he spent in his proximity, the more Takumi realized a very important fact about this person.
“My name is Yugamu Omokage. Got a little bothered about my scent there, didn't you? Poor thing…”
He was dangerous, and Takumi was about to dive into this danger head-first.