Subaru just ignores him.

"Her family has absolutely pulled strings. They gotta have. There's absolutely no way police would ever believe an alpha claiming to have been assaulted by an omega."

"Oh get over yourself, Yamada, I know you can beat anyone up, but the police are still sexist as fuck."

"It's just rich, coming from Hōji. She was literally using me for punching practice, she wasn't nearly as—"

"—okay she was beat up worse that day than I was yesterday but not any thanks to her. And besides she didn't even break anything, that beta from months ago had a lot more motive—"

"That does not help."

"Ugh I'm starting to think a billion more sexist things to say about her."

"Alphas are all shitty."

"—okay I guess you of all people are generically allowed to be sexist but if this goes to court—"

"I'm not stupid."

"And what's the defence gonna be anyway?"

"What do you mean? The truth! He was protecting that omega!"

"Keep up, Kokonoe, I don't need to spell it out for you."

"Rut is a defence for rape accusations but using force to prevent it from happening anyway is still legal!"

"He's lying about it. Everyone knows he's violent and unstable. Here are two dozen alphas to corroborate the story that he just beat them up out of the blue for no reason."

Inori slams his fist on the desk. "No reason?!?!" The librarian shoots him a filthy glare and says "Shhhhhh!" with the kind of volume only librarians are capable of.

"What'd you expect? Hirune is a rich family and if other rich alphas from Kokonoe High are nudged by them they'll definitely rally around them. They're going to lie through their teeth."

"Okay, then maybe we can get other witnesses? The omegas themselves? Okay, fine, the system is rigged against omegas and they'll trust the words of the alphas and most importantly their money. That's disgraceful."

"My family—isn't that bad, but they're the kind of bad who would not weigh in one way or another. They wouldn't give me money to help. And your father..."

Snort.

"That's a nonstarter, yeah." Sigh. "Well, the actual solution here is this doesn't go to trial at all, the case just isn't airtight enough, but if Hōji's family is actively pushing for it... What we need is a good lawyer. And... money to pay for them."

"My parents have money."

"Inori-kun, I love your family but they do not have the kind of money to compete with the Hirune."

Sigh.

Ugh.

"—wait."

"...?"

"I need to go, I'll—sorry, I need to go look into something, but I don't want to—uh." He gets up. "I'll see you on Monday."

"You're skipping the rest of today's classes?"

"Yeah. Uh, I'll just—go."

And he goes.

"The fuck was that about."

"I know as much as you do." He sighs again. "I... think I do not want to be at school anymore, either. Are your parents home?"

"Kuroji is, Haru is probably back home by now but I dunno."

"Then—can I come over to your place?"

"...why are you asking me, do whatever you want."

"—right. Let's go, then? Kinda feeling claustrophobic here."

Inori gets to his feet and leads the way.

"...claustrophobic?" he asks after a couple of seconds.

"...feels like I'm in a sort of hostile environment, I guess," he says in an undertone. "Can't... trust anyone in Kokonoe High."

"...you can't trust anyone anywhere."

"I should've seen that one coming."

"Tadaima!" Inori calls as he walks into his house and takes his shoes off.

"Inori-kun!" calls Harutsugu's voice from upstairs, and in a few seconds he's coming down to greet him. "And Tōkan-kun. He told you, then? 😰"

"Yeah. Um, is Kuroji here, too?"

"I am," he says, joining them in the foyer coming from the kitchen. "Did you need something, Tōkan-kun?"

Tōkan then drops to his knees and bows low enough for his forehead to touch the floor. "I am so sorry. This is all my fault. They're not trying to get at Inori, they're trying to get at me. Inori is, is collateral damage to them, they're—" But he has to cut himself off because now that he's allowed himself to say and think all of that he's on the verge of tears.

...what the fuck.

"Oh, Tōkan-kun... 😔" says Harutsugu, coming down to his knees too and placing a hand on Tōkan's shoulder. "It's not your fault, it could have happened anytime..."

"It couldn't, it really couldn't, it—" He clears his throat and tries to keep his voice steady, forehead still on the floor. "The only way this happened was because, because there's money involved. And there's money because—because of me. They're mad that I'm, I'm calling them out on being—"

"Get up."

That startles him and he does look up.

"Up. Come on." He pokes Tōkan's thigh with his foot. "I need you to be up here so I can kick your fucking ass."

"Inori-kun! 😨" says Harutsugu, horrified.

"...that's terrible incentives."

"Fuck off with your posh rich boy words." Then he pushes Tōkan hard enough with his foot to make him lose balance and have to catch himself. "And fuck off with your martyr bullshit, too. You're just trying to make me break up with you."

"...?"

"Fuck. Off. I'm not breaking up with you, if you want to get rid of me do it yourself you coward. But if you do it for my own good I will break your legs."

"But—"

"Shut up. And come help Kuroji make dinner."

He doesn't wait for a response, and pushes past his parents to go to the kitchen. Kuroji looks between Harutsugu and Tōkan, shoots Tōkan one last apologetic look, and follows after Inori.

"...he really likes you," Harutsugu says quietly, gently. "He likes you very much. And... he's right. It's not your fault. 😕 Maybe it got bigger because of it being Kokonoe High, but... people like this will always exist."

Tōkan gets back to his knees but doesn't bow again, and just looks at Harutsugu. "I guess, but—but he could go to jail—"

"A minimal amount of investigation will reveal the truth 😤," Harutsugu says, firmly. "My son has been making a name for himself, hasn't he? 'The Shikiri demon' 😌," he says, looking fondly exasperated.

"—you know about that?"

"😁 Of course I know about that. And I know that a lot of people outside the little bubble of rich alphas do think he's doing a good thing. Protecting all those kids from, from—" Shudder. "As his parents we are constantly worried that he'll bite more than he can chew, someday, but... but I can't say we're not proud. He's our little demon. 😊"

That's so surreal Tōkan starts laughing. "I like him more than I can say," he admits.

"I know." He gets back to his feet and offers Tōkan a hand. "Come on, let's help the loves of our lives take care of us." Tōkan accepts Harutsugu's hand and gets to his feet. "It will work out fine. It's a headache, but... that's life. We deal with these things, one at a time."

Inori still looks like he's fuming when they get to the kitchen, and Harutsugu walks up to his husband to hug him.

Yeah, good idea. He walks up behind Inori and hugs him, too. "I really like you. I'm—yeah I guess you're right, I... kinda was..."

"No shit I'm right. Asshole. Get out of my way."

He pulls back from the hug to give him space.

Then Inori cleans his hands on a hand towel before turning around and putting his hands on Tōkan's cheeks and kissing him. "Go grab the nori."

!!!!!!!!!

Harutsugu laughs and walks around the counter to grab some stuff from the freezer in the pantry, while Kuroji is cutting up some vegetables with a smile on his face.

...their life looks like heaven. Tōkan cannot believe how lucky he's been to find Inori and to have a real shot at a life this good.

Inori snaps his fingers in front of Tōkan's eyes. "Stop standing there like an idiot and go grab the nori!"

"—yes, sir!"

Many steps of cooking aren't sensitive to the number of people helping so this doesn't go mostly instantaneously but it still goes much faster than it otherwise would.

While Kuroji is setting the table up Tōkan's phone rings. He frowns at the unknown number and picks it up.

"Yes?"

"Hello. This is Ōta Makino. Am I speaking to Kokonoe Tōkan?"

Ōta Makino... why is this name familiar...

Oh.

Oh.

Inori notices Tōkan's facial expression and tilts his head inquisitively.

Tōkan makes a "wait" gesture before replying: "Yes, this is him. How may I help you?"

"Is Yamada Inori near you? I tried to call him just now and he didn't pick up, but I'd been told he often misses calls and that I should call you if he did. Could I talk to him?"

Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit—

"Yes, ma'am. Would you rather call him again? I'll let him know he should look at his phone."

"That would be ideal, thank you. I will call him in a minute." And she hangs up.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit—Inori-kun, do you have a missed call from someone just now?"

"...?" He grabs his phone to check. "Yeah. Who?"

"It's Ōta Makino, from Ōta & Ōta." Both Harutsugu and Kuroji stop to stare at Tōkan at that. "She is a famous lawyer who—"

But Inori's phone rings, then. He frowns at it, too, but picks it up. "Yes."

"Is this Yamada Inori? I am Ōta Makino."

"Yes."

"Would it be possible for you to go somewhere Kokonoe Tōkan isn't likely to overhear you?"

"...why would I want that?"

"You may share the contents of this conversation with him at a later point if you judge it safe but I would prefer it if initially it were a conversation between only you and me. If you do not have a safe way to do this, please respond with 'I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I don't think you're talking to the right person'."

"...safe...? What, you think this wimp could make me do stuff I don't want to do? Fuck off, I'll kick his ass."

The other three slowly facepalm in unison.

"...that is a reassuring reaction," she says, her voice changing from full professional mode to something a lot softer and fonder. "I would nevertheless feel better if you had space for yourself here."

Ugh. "Fine." To Tōkan: "I'm gonna be in my room, don't go upstairs, I'll break your arms if you do."

Loooooooooooove~

He goes upstairs and closes the door behind him then sits on his bed. "I'm alone. What is it?"

"Do you know about Ōta & Ōta?"

"Tōkan said you're a lawyer. A famous one. So what?"

"Our firm focuses on corporate law but my husband and I have a history of activism for omega rights. And when we can, we take cases where rich people—and let's be frank, here, it's mostly rich alphas—are abusing the corruption of the system to oppress omegas."

"I'm not fuckin' oppressed, I just got a shitty alpha on my case 'cause she's mad I beat her up when she was trying to rape a middle schooler."

She sighs audibly over the phone. "Well, we can help with that, too."

"If you need rich person money—"

"We do not. Yamada-san, we do this pro bono. My husband and I, we became lawyers because we wanted to change things and make it harder for, as you say, 'shitty alphas' to get away with all that they get away with. If this goes to trial we'll be there for you, but we want to make it not go to trial at all. We're going to need your help. Are you up for it?"

"...yeah. Fuck 'em."

"But on a related matter... Are you okay with Kokonoe Tōkan? Do you need help leaving him?"

"What? Fuck no."

"So... you trust him? You believe you are safe and he's on your side?"

"Of course he is! Fuck kinda question's that, I wouldn't let any shitty alphas tell me what to do."

Her voice takes a softer, fonder tone again. "You can understand my worry, though? He is the Kokonoe heir..."

"He's not his shitstain dad, stop making assumptions about people you've never met. Tōkan is Tōkan, not just some alpha."

There's a brief pause before she says, "I see. Then I am happy you found someone who's good for you."

"...yeah."

"Well, we'll be in touch to talk about this further on Monday. If there's anything you'd like to discuss or ask, feel free to message me, and for anything urgent you can call me. I'll message you my email and my husband's phone number and email, too. It's been a pleasure to finally meet you."

...finally? The fuck. "Yeah. Thanks." Then he hangs up and stares at his phone for a few more seconds (during which he does get messaged with the stuff she said she was gonna message him with) before putting it away and going back downstairs.

Suzume's come out of her room while Inori was upstairs and is watching TV, and their dads and Tōkan are talking to each other in low tones. When they spot Inori they stop talking, though, and Kuroji asks, "How did it go? What did she want to talk about?"

"She said she's gonna help with the whole thing. For free," he adds.

Harutsugu nods. "Tōkan-kun was telling us a bit more about Ōta & Ōta."

"She and her husband are both omegas," he says, "and they're both very vocal activists for omegas' rights."

"Ugh, omega this, alpha that, this shit's exhausting." He pulls up a chair and flops on it.

Tōkan takes the seat next to him and wraps an arm around him. "Yeah, it is. —uh, if there's anything in the conversation you wouldn't want me to hear about..."

"Nah she just thought you were abusing me or some shit." Snort. "As if. It wasn't very interesting, she was talking about how they'd help omegas against shitty rich alphas when 'the System'," and he does air quotes around that, "is rigged. Then she went on and on about how much you sucked because you were a Kokonoe alpha and I told her to stop making stupid assumptions."

Tōkan smiles and buries his face in Inori's shoulder. "Please don't be rude to people who are trying to help you."

"Then they shouldn't be rude about you. Stupid people making stupid assumptions..."

"What I wonder," says Harutsugu, "is how she even heard of it this quickly. 🤔"

"...my best guess is Subaru."

"Huh?"

"You remember how he suddenly ran away earlier today, when we were in the Kokonoe High library? Maybe he has some kind of connection he called on?"

"That's a friend of yours?" wonders Kuroji.

"Yeah. He used to be shitty but he got better."

"Gonna ask." He sends Subaru a text, but when the response isn't immediate he puts his phone away. "Well, let's eat, then?"

His stomach growls in response, and no one needs any further confirmation.

Suzume fills Tōkan's ear with chatter about her school and friends. She has a crush on this beta boy called Take and he's finally asked her out—which amuses Tōkan to no end, they're ten—and now they walk around school holding hands and do homework together. It's honestly disgustingly adorable.

After dinner they decide Tōkan is sleeping over tonight—he's got a few changes of clothes at the Yamadas' to make this easy to decide on the spot, and even Harutsugu is no longer really bothered by the idea, Tōkan is effectively part of the family now—but while he's helping Haru do the dishes he gets the reply message from Subaru.

> hey
> you know who called us today?
> Ōta Makino!
> was that you?

oh cool <
that was quick <
yeah that was me <
I thought I would have to be the one to tell you the news <

> well, thank you!
> this is
> I just have no idea what I could possibly say here
> this is just... huge
> like

it's fine <
I was not about to let Yamada go to jail <
or even if not jail it would still have been a hefty fine and a criminal record <
but it could well have ruined this life <

> I mean yeah
> exactly
> so you've
> saved us, really

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration <
but yeah, I hope it works <
I'll always be here for you, and if you two stay together then I guess that means I'll always be here for him, too <

> ...damn
> Subaru you are the actual best
> lemme treat you to dinner
> or a blowjob
> or both

There are a few rounds of him starting to type and then stopping and then resuming, but eventually he continues with:

maybe later <
but I don't want to feel like I did this for a reward <
it's just the least I could do, given that I could <

> yeah, how exactly did you?
> like, what's your connection to Ōta?

Another pause, this one shorter than the last.

it's complicated <
or not really <
but uh we can talk about it later maybe <
or not I'm not sure if I want to talk about it <

> fair enough
> don't wanna pressure you into anything that'd make you uncomfortable
> just... thank you
> thank you so much

don't mention it <

"I was right, it was Subaru."

"Your friend? What did he say?" asks Harutsugu.

"Not much, he said he wasn't comfortable talking about how he knew Ōta-san, but he did confirm it was him who got her. —hey, Inori-kun," and he hands Inori his phone open on the conversation.

Inori reads it then throws Tōkan a questioning look.

"Just, I don't know, it seems like he likes you? And cares about you? And that makes me happy."

Shrug.

Tōkan shrugs too and smiles to himself before getting back to helping Haru with the kitchen.

But like many bad things, Monday often shows up again when it is least wanted.

The funny thing is, Tōkan isn't one of those people who always bemoans Mondays and such. He just... actually kinda genuinely likes going to school? That's where his friends are, a lot of his social life just is school and doing things with people from school. But today, today is...

...he's alone. Some people are trying to be subtle, some not at all, and so the end result just is in fact unsubtle: there's almost a bubble around him, an untouchable space mysteriously bereft of people. No one wants to be close to him. When he actually notices that he freezes for two seconds, then starts laughing a cold, bitter laugh, as he immediately decides he's gonna skip class and go up to the roof. Of all things, of all the fights, of everything he's done, this is what finally breaks the camel's back, this is what makes people start doing the thing he's been surprised they'd never done before. Inori. The person he loves.

He guesses Subaru really was right. People really didn't believe he meant what he said, all those times. They humoured him, they got a bit nervous about it and mostly talked around it, and tried not to get on his bad side too much. But now it's staring them in the face too hard, too impossible to ignore, and they've decided they're leaving the sinking ship. This is so ridiculous, it feels like he's in some American teen drama, it's surreal.

He's so fucking mad.

The reaction is much stronger than he'd anticipated. He'd always known it was a possibility, he told Subaru as much just a short while ago. But it's getting to him hard enough that he actually walks over to that one corner with the plants to dig into the spot where they hide cigarettes.

Tōkan doesn't smoke, not really, not for smoking. It kinda tastes rancid, and smells worse. But on the other hand it gives him a Bad Boy™ vibe and is useful as a socialisation tool. He's happy he didn't turn out to be one of the people who gets addicted to them, he made sure to test it before he ever consumed a cigarette in public, but as he takes a deep, horrible puff of it and lets the disgusting smoke fill his lungs then leave through his lips it does kind of still his nerves.

It's the suddenness of it, he thinks. He... just hadn't seen it coming. At all. Not the way Karato and Hōji would react, not the way the rest of the school did, not the police report, not today. He didn't see it. He thought he'd have seen it. It's just... making him second-guess himself in a way he just doesn't do, ever. What did he miss, how did this happen without him noticing? He should've had more warning, should've had more time to deal with it, to counteract it a bit, talk to the right people, pull the right strings. The rumour mill going from "*gasp* is it really true?" to "hey asshole I'ma beat you up for it" over the course of a school day is probably nothing surprising, but... it just... doesn't add up.

Another deep puff as he grabs his phone and starts browsing Twitter idly. Combining Twitter and smoking is probably a horrible idea, it's poison for the mind and poison for the body at the same time, plus nicotine is habit-building. He doesn't stop, though.

"Yo."

Tōkan looks up and watches his friend walk from the door to the rooftop over to where he is and sit next to him, leaning back and staring at the sky. "Hey."

"Not feeling like school today?"

"—oh, so the miasma didn't touch you? Okay, that's a lot less bad than it could've been."

"Miasma?" He reaches for the pack of cigarettes and Tōkan offers him it and his lighter.

"It was kind of funny. I was walking into school and towards class and there was this... bubble. No one wanted to get too close to me. Unreal." Puff puff exhale.

"...no, no miasma. Couple of people were looking at me a bit funny but no one was shunning me actively like that. Holy shit."

Shrug. "It's irritating, and most irritating of all was how it just kinda happened all of a sudden. I'll need to eventually figure out what to do about it but..." He forces a grin. "It is rather despair-inducing for stuff to happen like that with no warning."

"What... would a warning have looked like?"

"Tami-chan telling me that her boyfriend was acting kinda grumpy, and Ishiyo mentioning later that she'd seen him and Karato having an argument the other day. Naoko passing me a note in class. Taro stealing nervous glances between me and Takuo. Hōji yelling at me earlier, she's really not the kind to bottle things up and I have no idea how this managed to just suddenly explode."

"...dude you're kind of scary." He puffs deeply from the cigarette and blows it out. "Maybe she just kind of decided it in the heat of the moment?"

"Nah. Doesn't fit."

"What doesn't fit?"

He takes a deep breath and shrugs. "Dunno. Could try to think about it but a lot of this shit is kinda subconscious, you know? When stuff fits it clicks. When the little models of people I have in my head start saying the same things they said in real life, when everyone makes sense. Everyone doesn't make sense right now."

The door out opens again and two girls poke their heads through then start walking towards the boys. "Hey," says the taller one.

"—hi, Naoko-chan, Tami-chan. What are you two doing here?"

"Vibe's off downstairs," says Naoko, sitting down on the floor. "Feels like someone's died."

"...dunno that I'd say that, but... yeah. Kinda."

...why does he feel like crying. This is so fucking stupid. Ugh he's having the same problem Inori does with processing his emotions in public, isn't he?

He leans back and shuts his eyes so that they won't see it if a traitorous tear escapes an eye, and blows some smoke up to the heavens. "Not gonna lie, I'm really happy the two of you are here."

"Why?"

"Kinda thought I'd have no one left in my corner other than Subaru."

"Bullcrap, Kokonoe," grumbles Naoko, opening her bag and grabbing two bentō boxes out of it. "You're not gonna find me kissing the ass of Hirune fucking Hōji and her cronies."

"She's got cronies, now?"

"Seems like it, yeah. Kind of funny that she used to be your crony. What even happened back then, you haven't been together in months and now there's the thing with Yamada and then Friday..."

"—she and Karato tried to rape a middle schooler having her first heat and Inori ran into them and beat them up, I was mad at them, they kept making excuses."

"You're... dating the guy who beat them up? Damn."

"Naoko—"

She lifts her hands in surrender. "I know, I know, that was shit of them, just, yeah, I can get why they'd be pissed off." She elbows Tamiki who blinks and also grabs a couple of bentō boxes from her bag.

"Do the two of you always have more than one of those? It's not even lunchtime."

"I like sharing," says Tamiki. "And Naoko does too even if she likes to pretend she doesn't. She's got an image to keep, see."

Naoko elbows her again.

She grins.

"...these are for us?"

"Unless you have your own then this one's mine," says Naoko.

"—uh, yeah, keep it, except, it's not lunch?"

"Yeah but we figured Tōkan was gonna be bummed out up here and food always cheers me up."

"You were right, I am bummed out." He puts his cigarette out and accepts Tamiki's box. "So, I see you got over yourself?"

"...you're still fucking Subaru, right?" asks Naoko.

(For some reason Subaru starts coughing horribly—probably the smoke—and Tamiki offers him her bottle of water.)

"Yeah."

"Thought so."

"You could still have just come talk to me and asked if I'm still DTF..."

"Can't blame a girl for wanting to step lightly there." There is a fainty flush to her cheeks but she presses on. "Situation's highly unusual. Also you're not bringing Yamada with, he's cute but I hate the way it feels around omega pheromones. Itadakimasu." And she starts eating.

Subaru isn't particularly hungry, though, and despite the coughing fit he continues to smoke some more.

"...so... I don't suppose you guys know anything about that shit."

"About what?" wonders Tamiki.

"Hōji suddenly acquiring cronies and getting them to beat me up, the police thing..."

"Police thing?"

Naoko looks equally confused.

"Damn. You really don't know, huh. Hōji is pressing charges against Inori for aggravated assault."

"...he's an omega. Who in this country would believe her that an omega beat her up? Hell, what cops would believe that, and what cops would even take it seriously? Joke of the year, scrawny omega boy beats two alphas up at the same time, on his own."

"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."

"...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."

"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."

"But they could do that, couldn't they? Get some of those alphas together, get them all to say it was out of the blue, and then who's the judge going to believe, them or the omega riffraff," he says, with a high degree of distaste leaking through his voice and his face, "that come to testify in Inori's favour? If any even come, rape and attempted rape cases are..."

"Kokonoe-san is correct, but even a single alpha coming against this story would suffice to practically guarantee that no prosecutor will take the case if we can find one, and even if we cannot the more victims we get the less likely it will be to work. But the most important ace we have is actually Inori-san's reputation. He is well-known in many Tokyo high schools as the 'Shikiri demon'—their words, not mine," he adds, with a small smile. "The guardian angel of those oppressed by alphas, the rumours of him rescuing people from such dangerous situations have become very widespread."

"...back at school people just say he's crazy, violent, and unstable."

"At Kokonoe High, the elite all-alpha school, that may be the case. My son is a senior at Wani High and has heard many different stories about Inori-san, without having ever met him. And my wife and I have been keeping track of him for a while, now."

"...you have?" wonders Kuroji, seemingly unable to decide what emotion he's feeling right now.

"Certainly. And that, more than anything, almost guarantees this will not go forward. Prosecutors do not accept cases they do not know for a fact they will win, in this country."

Wait... their son is at Wani High? Ōta... Aoki? Well isn't that interesting. He'll file that for later, though, this is more pressing.

"What about the money, though? I... would've expected this wouldn't have even started, normally, it must be Hirune pulling strings."

"We have no evidence of this, of course, and we must work with what we have regardless. That said, even if hypothetically such a situation were to be the case, that is not outside the realm of our expertise. Trust, if not my word, my track record. This will be, at worst, a headache."

"So... what happens next?" wonders Harutsugu.

"Police may hold him in custody for up to two days before they either get a prosecutor to pursue the case or let him out, although with Makino here it'll likely be less. Then the prosecutor has another day to accept the case, and if they do, Inori-san may be held up for another twenty days at most while prosecution and police gather evidence."

"Twenty-three days?"

"It either gets dropped or goes to trial before that in the majority of cases," Kaiyō reassures them. "And each step here is less likely to lead to the following. A prosecutor will only take the case if they are being paid enough to overcome the hit to their reputation in the likely chance that they lose such a high-profile case—which I must warn you this will become, if it advances, I'm afraid—but the Hirune are not likely to be willing to part with that much money. And then if they do, we will have a long time to gather our own witnesses and," in a lowered voice, "learn more about whatever may be motivating this, if hypothetically there were anything less than fully legal happening in this investigation."

"Ōta-san, this actually makes me feel a lot better to know. Thank you so much."

"Trust in us, Kokonoe-san. We will be keeping you updated. Right now all we must do is wait; Inori-san's interrogation may last a while, but Makino is more than ready to be at his side for however long it takes. You will be able to visit him afterwards."

And so they wait. Ōta excuses himself after a while to go back to reviewing some cases and at one point gets up to go have a teleconference meeting with a client. Morning turns to afternoon, and Harutsugu goes to get them all takeout for lunch since they're definitely not leaving the precinct until Inori's been released and it seems the cops are being dicks and taking their sweet time. They are required by law to provide Inori with food and water, at least, he's not being tortured or anything, but it's still many hours to be questioned for.

Ōta Makino eventually shows up, in the dwindling hours of the afternoon, looking prim and proper and professional and exactly like what a person who had just spent several hours in an interrogation room being prim and proper and professional would look like. She makes a beeline for them, and they all stand up. "You must be Inori's parents and Kokonoe-san? It is a pleasure to meet you in person, and I trust Kaiyō gave you an overview of the situation." She turns to Kuroji and Harutsugu. "You have a very remarkable child, you must be very proud of him."

"—we are," says Harutsugu, looking surprised.

"He did not give an inch to the interrogators and merely repeated that he would wait for his lawyer every time they tried to goad him, from what I understand. He was perfectly collected and... I must say, I have met forty-year-olds who are more easily swayed or, well," a small bitter smile, "bullied by authority than he is. I would say he is approximately the ideal client, here."

Kuroharu do look like they're swelling with pride, at that, but Tōkan is just grinning widely. "No one gets Inori-kun to do anything he does not want to do," he says, with deep, deep fondnes.

She looks at him, then, and says, "And you must be a remarkable young man, for him to love you so. I'm afraid I had some preconceptions about you in advance, which have been thoroughly dispelled by now, and I must apologise for them."

"Ōta-san, I wouldn't dream of holding it against you for a second. Kokonoe Tochima is my father, I'm an alpha from Kokonoe High, you are completely correct to be wary of me and I can only respect you for it."

"Tōkan-kun has been nothing but a blessing in our lives," Kuroji says. "He and Inori-kun... are very good for each other, and I am proud to call him family."

"Kuroji, you're going to make me blush."

Makino and Kaiyō exchange the type of looks that only people who have been together for decades can exchange, then she says, "Well, you are free to go see him, now. He will need to remain here overnight, and Kaiyō will stay here on retainer for him should anything come up. I got all of your numbers from Inori-san and have messaged you our contact information, and we will message you or call you for anything important. Nothing is likely to happen, though, you should rest easy. Now if you'll excuse me, I should return to the office." She embraces her husband for a moment and then departs.

Harutsugu talks to the person manning the reception, and soon enough the three of them are sitting at a table with Inori, there. Tōkan kissed him as soon as he saw him, and after some flailing and blushing Inori yielded and kissed him back, and now he's just holding Inori's hand and looking at him with an adoring gaze on his face.

Inori is trying not to let that distract him.

"Are you alright, Inori-kun?" asks Harutsugu.

"Fine. Was a waste of time."

"How did it go with Ōta-san?"

"Okay. I dunno, they just kept asking slimy questions trying to get me to say stuff I don't mean like I'm some five-year-old they can trick."

"What did they want to know?" wonders Kuroji.

"They had this whole list of, like... times I kicked someone's ass. And were asking about 'em as if I'd remember them all." Shrug. "And they kept being like, trying to make me say I started it, or I couldn't be sure the alphas were a danger. Fucking pissed me off."

"Ōta-san said you were the perfect client and that she'd met 40-year-olds less capable of holding their own than you were."

He shrugs again. "I'm the strongest," he says, but even under the mask the faint pink is visible.

"They said you'll need to stay here overnight."

"I'll stay here with you 🥺," says Harutsugu, eyes watering. "I won't leave my baby alone here."

"...why? You're just gonna sleep badly outside."

"I want to be here for you if you need anything."

"...'kay."

They stay there a while longer, catching up or just chatting, which of course Inori does not love, but this is going to be a very long while anyway, so he might as well get used to the tedium now.

Eventually they have to go, though, and Harutsugu once again gets all teary-eyed when he has to say bye to Kuroji. "I'll call you if anything happens," he says. "I'll miss you, I love you very much."

"I love you too, Haru," Kuroji says, fondly exasperated.

"Tōkan-kun, stay over at our place tonight?" he asks. "It... would feel good, to have you there, so you can be with us if... if anything comes up."

"—yeah, sure, I can do that. I'll come visit him here tomorrow, too."

"I know you will."

"We should go, then. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye~~~! I'll miss you~~~~!"

Kuroji rolls his eyes but gives Harutsugu a quick peck on the lips before leading Tōkan back to the car.

"...you know, Kuroji-san..." he says, once they're driving. "Your relationship with Haru-san gives me a lot of hope."

"Hope?"

"Yeah. I... knew that in theory it was at all possible for an alpha/omega couple to work, but... you two are so happy. I didn't really believe it, before."

Kuroji smiles, flushing softly. "I see what you mean. I'm a very lucky man, Harutsugu is everything I could have hoped for. And... it may be hard to believe, but it only gets better, from where you are. Our relationship has only grown over all these years, I couldn't imagine feeling the way I do, right now, back when I first started dating Haru."

"That only makes me more excited for the future."

"Good. You should be."

He smiles to himself and leans back and against the window, grabbing his phone again to idly browse Twitter.

Everything will be fine. This will be remembered as a scary but ultimately pointless situation that lasted a week, if that.

Then he sees a post and freezes for two seconds before saying, "That asshole."

"—huh? Is everything alright Tōkan-kun?"

"No, it's not," he says, scrolling slowly down the webpage he's reading. "It's actually worse than I'd thought. This whole thing is my father's fault."

"...it is? How do you know?"

He runs his hand through his hair and says, "I guess I could be wrong, just... Today he was at the inauguration of a new hotel owned by the Kokonoe group, and he had my cousin Kokonoe Dai be the one to cut the tape. Which is basically telling the world that Dai is his heir, or at least heavily hinting that way. I'd never seen Dai with him before, he's a year older than me and from a less important branch of the family..."

"That's... a lot of politicking within a family," Kuroji says, frowning.

"You tell me." Sigh. "So this is a message to me, in a way, he's saying that if I don't shape up he'll disown me, look here he even already found a replacement and I should stop feeling safe in my position."

"This is really hostile. ...but what does it have to do with Inori-kun?"

"It's hard to explain. It's... a lot of different pieces coming together into a more coherent picture if it's him. Last Friday, that whole thing came out of nowhere in a way that doesn't make sense without... uh, enemy action. And then this today, especially after Ōta-san mentioned all of the costs and barriers that are being somehow overcome, the Hirune family doesn't have that much money, but my father does. It all makes sense as a whole if I imagine that my father is trying to remove Inori-kun from the picture and either remove me with him, if I won't leave him, because then my reputation will be tarnished by association, or force me to cut ties and become a proper heir.

"I know it sounds like kind of guessing but I... I'm usually right about these things."

"Everything I hear about this man makes me like him less and less."

"Try being raised by him." He covers his eyes and looks away. "So it's really, actually my fault that this is happening to Inori. It literally just would not be happening if it weren't for me."

Kuroji pulls over and stops the car, then turns to face Tōkan fully. "Tōkan-kun."

Well that's not terrifying at all. He squeezes the emerging tears out of his eyes and turns around to look at Kuroji.

And what Kuroji does is take off his seatbelt and hug Tōkan.

!

?

"Haru and I have been thinking... do you want to move in with us?"

What the fuck.

"What?"

"I know it's farther from your school and it's certainly not as nice as your apartment, but... Having the constant shadow of that man over you can't be good for you, can't be healthy. I know Inori-kun would be thrilled, in his own way."

"—but—"

"Tōkan-kun," Kuroji interrupts firmly. Then he softens a bit, "I understand where you're coming from. You're... probably right, that if Inori-kun hadn't found you this wouldn't be happening. But I've never seen him happier in my life, and you're family now. We stand up for our family. You know his history, you know a bit of my history, we're not the types to just cower and bend when bullies like Kokonoe Tochima start swinging their power around, and you're just as much a victim of his as we are. And he, if what you say is true, is trying to no longer be your family, himself, so... We would welcome you with open arms into our home." He pulls away, and he's sporting a watery smile, too. "You're like a son to us, too, now, and it breaks our hearts to see how much you suffer. We'll get through this, together, no matter what that man tries. Okay?

"You don't need to answer right now. Just think about it, okay? The offer will be there forever."

He has to look away again and to breathe deeply a few times to get his voice steady. "Okay. I'll think about it."