"They broke up last month," says Tamiki.

"Good for her, he sucks. I have legitimately no idea why omegas keep doing this to themselves."

"This whole SJ stuff," repeats Naoko.

"What! It's not SJ stuff, Tōta is in fact an asshole and is more specifically an asshole to omegas and thinks they're barely people! Just from a purely practical individual perspective, I cannot imagine what she was getting out of it."

"Maybe but what you said was 'omegas doing this to themselves'. Which is kinda sexist, when you think about it."

"...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. "Moshi moshi?"

    "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."

"It's what I'm here for. I'll talk to you in a bit."

Tōkan is already on his feet and striding away, food and cigarette forgotten. "I have to go, I'm sorry," he says, throwing the other three an apologetic look and flying off.

He arrives at the Yamadas' at the same time as Kuroji does, having taken the rest of the day off work. Suzume is at school, so Harutsugu writes a note and leaves it on the fridge for if she arrives before they're back, and then drives them to the nearby police precinct.

Ōta Kaiyō is recognisable at a glance: he looks professional, well-put-together, busy, and very unapproachable, which is quite striking in this environment. This is a police precinct and even the people that work here who aren't themselves police officers (who are mostly alphas) deal with police officers all day, and there is this palpable air of authority everywhere, like you should know better than to be here wasting the time of law enforcement, plus he's small for an omega, and despite all of that he gives off the strong impression that he is the one who owns the place.

When he notices Tōkan and the Yamadas he shuts the file he's been reading and puts it in a folder and the folder into a suitcase, stands up, and strides over to them. "Yamada Kuroji-san, Yamada Harutsugu-san, Kokonoe Tōkan-san," he says, bowing. "I am honoured to meet you. I am Ōta Kaiyō."

    The other three bow, too. "The honour is ours," says Kuroji.

"My wife is already in the interrogation room with Inori-san. You need not worry, he is in excellent hands."

        "Interrogation room? 😥" asks Harutsugu, blanching.

"This is normal praxis, when police detain a suspect of a crime. It is very good that you contacted her so quickly, that means Inori-san was not very long in there without a lawyer."

"—oh I had not thought of that. I hope Inori didn't—" but he cuts himself off and shakes his head. "My apologies. Inori can sometimes be... very headstrong, and this is not the best of situations."

"It is unlikely to be a problem." He gestures towards the cushioned benches around a table which is where he'd been working and when they all take their seats he continues. "They don't have a case at all and they know it, use of force is permissible for self-defence against alphas, especially if they are in rut, and the only way they could build anything at all would be by denying that it was self-defence."