"Anyway. My point is that I, I'm not. I wasn't. I don't know if I am. Mad like you, I mean. Yamada is one of only a handful of omegas I've talked to since I was little, and I know very few betas, too. It's so easy to, to rationalise. To side with your friends. And being in rut is still a legal defence, and if the omega claims they weren't in heat who's gonna believe them? And maybe they weren't but then the alpha can just claim they smelled someone else's pheromones and tried to hold back but lost control."

"They do that for beta rape cases, too," Tōkan adds.

"Huh?"

"If an alpha rapes a beta, they'll claim they got in rut earlier and lost control. It's almost literally a get-out-of-jail-free card." He looks up at Subaru, more seriously. "This world is fucked up. 'Course I'm mad about it all the time. I still have to see Karato's fucking face every other day in algebra and pretend that I don't want to punch it in. The history teacher's revisionistic bullshit gets on my nerves every time, I will someday lose control and stab the P.E. teacher, I will someday lose control and reduce Hakeru-san to pulp when she calls me to her office to tell me I need to portray a better image because I'm bad PR."

"She does what? I thought it was about your grades!"

"Oh, it is. But not just my grades. She always has more stuff to say, as if it were her job to protect my father's image. Fuck that." He shakes his head. "Anyway, yes, I'm mad about it."

"And I... want to be. Mad about it. Like you. I want to, to get it, to understand how much all of this sucks, on a, a gut level. To get rid of this bullshit programming this school and my family keeps writing in my brain, to not have all the excuses ready-made and then have everyone around me agree with them."

"They'll still think it," Tōkan says, leaning back. "For as long as you're in an alpha school, anyway. And it'll make you stand out, make you another thorn in everyone's side. And you're not popular enough that you can afford it, or so you think; you're gonna get shunned, your friends will leave you, you'll get bullied again. Being Kokonoe's best friend won't help. Right?"

"And I can't sweeten the deal for you, that might actually happen! Although I don't think it will, the school has many decent people in it, and the fact that I've already had all of those fights myself means that it's no longer really new, and if anyone would agree with Kokonoe, well, it would be Kageyama, right? But that might still happen. And... and I knew it could, when I realised how much every alpha around me sucked and how I wasn't going to just let them suck. Maybe I didn't quite know the scale of it, but I back all of my choices, here. If the price had been being alone then... I'd have been alone. Better alone than surrounded by unrepentant rapists."

"...Yamada said the same thing."

Tōkan smiles. "'Course he did. He's a smart boy. Anyway, what did you two talk about?"

"Oh, I... actually think I shouldn't tell you? Oh for the love of—stop doing the mindreading thing. Respect your boyfriend's privacy."

"Sorry, can't really help it. But I'll try not to draw too many conclusions. And, Subaru? Thanks."

Inori isn't sure why he's dithering.

He thought about the thing Subaru said long and hard, and found something that almost made sense in it, and he thinks... that he's in love. He thinks so. He does. And that was what Tōkan had asked for, wasn't it? Before he'd agree to pairing, Inori had to be in love. And he wants to be paired. Right?

But still he's dithering.

And this is the kind of shit that Tōkan would be great at figuring out but he can't well ask, can he? He's all... compromised.

This is confusing and he hates being confused and he wants to hit the thing he's confused by but he likes the thing he's confused by so he can't go punch it and that's extremely irritating and just makes him want to hit something even harder.

"Hey Haru."

"—oh, good morning, Inori-kun! I didn't hear you come downstairs. Not spending today with Tōkan? 🙂"

"He's studying for finals with friends. Where's Kuroji?"

"He just left for work, said he needed to finish some stuff at the office. Did you want to talk to him?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh! What about?"

"How'd you know you wanted to pair Kuroji?"

"I knew I wanted him from the moment we met~ 😌" he sighs dreamily. "And when we started going out I knew I was going to marry—wait," and he turns around to stare at Inori with horror. "Why are you asking this? 😨"

"What's it got to do with getting married?"

"Yamada Inori you are expressly forbidden from pairing with Tōkan!! You are both too young! 😱"