"...yeah, it is, you're right, my bad."

"—you were meant to tell me that was bullshit and I was being oversensitive, not agree!"

"No, you had a point, generalising like that just isn't cool. Just, man, did you know I still have fucking nightmares about this one time I was playing in the playground and then the omega and beta kids all left because they said that alphas are above them and they shouldn't mingle, my father had said so. We were five. That was fucked up."

Tamiki looks around warily then says, in a lower voice, "Your father's kind of a dick, to be fair."

"...my parents weren't much better," Naoko admits.

"And my guess is that their parents weren't, either. I dunno man it just makes my blood boil every goddamn time."

Tamiki pats Tōkan's knee and says, "There, there," before returning to her food.

...right, she shared food with him out of the goodness of her heart, he should not be ignoring it to wax poetic about how much alphas suck. "This is very nice," he tells her after eating a bit.

"Thank you! I could bring you more tomorrow if you'd like."

"I might take—" But his phone rings in his hand and interrupts him. It's Harutsugu. "Hi?"

"Tōkan-kun. Inori-kun's been detained by the police."

"Motherfuckers. Have you called Ōta-san?"

"I don't have her number—"

"I'll call her. When?"

"Just five minutes ago."

"Fuckers. But it's good that it took them this long, I think, means they're struggling to build a case—this isn't legal advice. I'll call Ōta-san. I'll be on my way to your place soon."

"Thank you, Tōkan-kun. Also if you could message me her number...?"

"Of course, I'll do that now. Thank you for calling me, Haru."

"Of course."

Tamiki and Naoko look rather spooked. "What happened?" Tamiki asks.

"My guess is the police decided to detain Inori. Fuck."

He's already on the line, and Ōta picks up before the second ring. "Kokonoe-san. Is this urgent?"

"Yeah. Inori just got detained by the police."

There's a pause. "I'll call you back in five minutes. Get his parents if you can and go to the precinct, if you know which one it is. It will be fine."

"I hope so. Thank you so much, Ōta-san."