"Inori was in heat at the time, too," adds Subaru.

"...Yamada beat Karato and Hōji up, on his own, while in heat? What the fuck, Subaru."

"The epithet is apt."

"Remember the sports storeroom thing back then?"

"Sto—that was you?" asks Tamiki, looking somewhere between shocked and morbidly curious.

"We didn't break in. We got locked inside it because we were hiding there from eight people who wanted to get revenge on him."

"He does sound like he'd have a crowd after him. —wait, how'd you—from the inside—"

"He shattered the chain by pulling the door hard enough. With one hand. From the inside."

"You are such a liar."

"I can grab him and get him to show you."

"H... how? That's just..."

"Superhuman, I know, I have no fucking idea, but that's the dude that beat Karato and Hōji up while he was in heat."

"...so the sex..."

"I think he would not be happy if I said anything about our sex life as it pertains the fact that he could snap me in two like a twig if he wanted to."

"You're wild, dude."

(Subaru's fallen silent, again, staring off into the distance holding his cigarette between his teeth.)

"Well, anyway, Hōji doesn't control the school, actually some of us aren't interested in being pals with her and hers and the two of you are cooler," says Naoko, and Tamiki nods along. "Even if you're kinda a bit too into this whole SJ stuff."

"'This whole SJ stuff'," he says, with a raised eyebrow.

"You know, this thing where you're championing for the weak and downtrodden, fighting the oppressors, etc etc etc. I respect it but it's not my jam, I'm not going into politics."

Sigh. "Tōta getting an omega girlfriend didn't cause nearly as much bullshit..."

"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."