St Mary's private school [Alltake]
13
The Touman meeting room had never been so full.
They stood in clusters—rivals, enemies, strangers bound by a single thread: they had all loved the same man. They had all been saved by the same ordinary person with ocean-blue eyes and a chocolate mint scent. And now that person was gone, hidden somewhere in the school's depths with Yuzuha, and they were left to tear each other apart.
Mikey sat at the head of the table, golden hair falling across his face, dark eyes calm and watchful. He didn't speak. Didn't move. Just watched the chaos unfold with the patience of a god observing lesser beings.
Izana stood across from him, silver-white hair gleaming in the dim light, lavender eyes blazing with fury. His pack flanked him—Kakucho silent and watchful, the Haitani brothers lounging with predatory grace, Mochi solid as stone, Shion bouncing slightly on his heels, Mutou an unreadable shadow.
On the other side, Draken stood with his Touman brothers—Baji wild and feral, Chifuyu pale but determined, Mitsuya calm and calculating, Hakkai trembling but holding his ground, Smiley and Angry twin pillars of barely contained emotion, Pah-chin and Peh-yan loyal and ready.
Sanzu lurked in the shadows, pink and black hair falling across his scarred lip, watching everything with those cold, knowing eyes.
Kazutora's black-gold hair caught the light as he paced like a caged tiger, his stripes seeming to shift with his movements. Hanma draped himself over a chair like a contented snake, his smirk never wavering. Kisaki adjusted his glasses in the corner, observing, calculating, waiting.
Taiju loomed near the back, his massive frame impossible to ignore, yellow eyes burning with something that might have been grief. Seishu stood beside him in his high heels, sunflower hair bright, emerald eyes fixed on Mikey with undisguised hatred. Kokonoi sat nearby, dark hair styled in that wild death hawk, golden earring glinting, his expression unreadable.
And Hina—pink-haired, dark-eyed Hina—stood apart from everyone, her face a mask of controlled fury. She hadn't spoken since entering. Didn't need to. Her presence alone was a threat.
Twenty-three alphas. Twenty-three monsters. Twenty-three people who loved the same ordinary man.
And Mikey, who had him.
The argument started quietly.
"You had no right." Izana's voice cut through the room like a blade. "No right to take his gland. No right to risk his life. No right to touch what wasn't yours."
Mikey's dark eyes drifted to him, serene as still water. "He was mine. He's always been mine."
"He was ours." Kazutora's pacing stopped, his black-gold eyes blazing. "We all loved him. We all saved him. In the game, in the ending—he chose all of us. Not just you."
Mikey's smile was gentle. "The game isn't real."
"It was real to us!" Shion's voice was high, desperate. He wasn't bouncing now—he was perfectly still, which was somehow worse. His fingers twitched at his sides, playing with themselves in that nervous habit he couldn't control. "He talked to me. He listened to me. He said I wasn't just a monster—"
"You are a monster." Mikey's voice was still soft, still gentle. "We all are. That's why we need him."
Hanma laughed—that lazy, chaotic sound. "And you think keeping him locked up, tearing out pieces of him, is going to make him love you?" He tilted his head, those empty eyes glittering. "News flash, Manjiro: that's not how love works."
"I know how love works." Mikey's dark eyes fixed on Hanma, and for just a moment, the room seemed to darken. "Love is possession. Love is forever. Love is doing whatever it takes to keep the ones you love safe."
"Safe?" Kisaki's voice was mild, curious. "You tore out his scent gland. You could have killed him. How is that keeping him safe?"
Mikey's smile widened. "He's alive, isn't he?"
The room erupted.
"You could have killed him!" Baji's voice roared over the chaos, his black hair whipping as he lunged forward. Draken caught him, held him back, but Baji's eyes never left Mikey. "He trusted you! He loved you! And you—"
"He loves me still." Mikey's voice cut through the noise, calm and certain. "He'll always love me. I'm the one who brought him here. I'm the one who gave him life in this world. Without me, he'd be nothing—just another player, another voice, another person who would have forgotten us."
"He wouldn't have forgotten." Chifuyu's voice was quiet but steady. "He wasn't like that. In the game, he remembered everything. Every conversation. Every promise." The two-toned boy's eyes were wet. "He told me he'd never forget me."
"He told all of us that." Mitsuya's voice was controlled, but his hands shook. "That was the point. That was why we loved him. Because he saw us. Because he made us feel like we mattered."
Hakkai spoke for the first time, his voice trembling. "He saved me. From my brother. From the abuse. From myself." His dark eyes flickered to Taiju, then away. "He gave me hope."
Taiju's yellow eyes narrowed. "He gave me hope too." His voice was a low rumble, heavy with emotion. "He looked at me—at me—and didn't see a monster. He saw someone worth saving." He stepped forward, his massive frame blocking the light. "And you took that from him. From all of us."
"I didn't take anything." Mikey's voice was still calm. "I preserved him. Protected him. Made sure no one else could claim him."
"No one else?" Ran's voice was silky, amused. He lounged against the wall, black-and-blonde hair falling across his face, dark eyes glittering. "You mean no one else could have him. Because you wanted him all to yourself."
"Is that so wrong?" Mikey's dark eyes met Ran's. "To want the one you love to be only yours?"
"Yes!" Rindou's voice was sharp, his blonde-and-toothpaste-green hair catching the light as he stepped forward. "When that 'one you love' is a person, not a possession. When they have feelings, wants, needs of their own."
Mikey tilted his head, that bird-like gesture so familiar, so terrifying. "His needs are simple. Safety. Comfort. Love. I can give him all of those."
"You gave him a scarred neck and nightmares." Seishu's voice was flat, his emerald eyes hard. He stood perfectly still in his high heels, the burn mark on his forehead seeming to pulse with his anger. "You gave him pain. You gave him fear. You gave him us as enemies when we could have been family."
"We were family." Kokonoi spoke quietly, his dark eyes fixed on some middle distance. "In the ending. All of us together. No fighting, no possession, no games. Just... peace." He looked at Mikey, and there was something ancient in his gaze. "You destroyed that."
"I didn't destroy anything." Mikey's voice was soft. "I preserved it. Kept it safe. In here—" he touched his chest, over his heart "—he's always with me. Always loved. Always mine."
"He's not yours." Hina's voice cut through the room like a blade. The pink-haired alpha stepped forward, her dark eyes blazing with a fury that made even Mikey pause. "He's not anyone's. That was the whole point. That was what made him special. He didn't want to own us—he wanted to free us."
Silence.
Hina continued, her voice trembling with emotion. "In the game, when he achieved the hidden ending, do you know what he said? He said: 'You don't have to be monsters anymore. You don't have to own or be owned. You can just... be. Together. As family.'" Tears streamed down her face. "And we believed him. We loved him. And then you—" She pointed at Mikey, her hand shaking. "You tore him away from us. You dragged him into this world. You made him a prisoner in the very place he freed us from."
Mikey was silent for a long moment.
Then he smiled.
"You're right," he said softly. "He did free us. In the game. In the ending. But that wasn't real." He stood, golden hair catching the light, dark eyes absorbing it. "This is real. This world. This pain. This love. And in this world, the only way to keep someone safe is to keep them close. To claim them. To make them yours."
"He's not yours!" The words came from multiple voices at once—Izana, Kazutora, Baji, Hina, Shion, a chorus of denial and grief.
Mikey laughed.
It was a soft sound, almost gentle, but it made the hair on everyone's arms stand up.
"He's in my room," Mikey said quietly. "He sleeps in my bed. He wears my mark—even without a gland, he wears my claim. He belongs to me. In every way that matters."
"For now." Izana's voice was ice. "But he's not there now, is he? He's with Yuzuha. Hiding. Running from you."
Mikey's smile didn't waver. "He'll come back. They always do."
"Not this time." Kakucho spoke for the first time, his voice rough. He'd been silent throughout, watching, waiting. Now he stepped forward, his dark eyes fixed on Mikey. "This time, he has someone who actually loves him. Someone who isn't trying to own him."
"And what is Yuzuha doing?" Mikey's voice was curious. "Holding him? Touching him? Pressing her scent into his skin?" He tilted his head. "That sounds an awful lot like owning to me."
Kakucho's jaw tightened. "That's different."
"Is it?" Mikey's dark eyes swept the room, meeting each gaze in turn. "Is any of us different? We all want him. We all need him. We all love him in ways that are broken and wrong and absolutely real." He spread his hands. "I'm just the only one honest enough to admit what I am."
In the silence that followed, Shion's voice piped up—high, nervous, his fingers playing with each other in that endless dance.
"I just want to see him again." His eyes were wet, desperate. "Just for a moment. Just to know he's okay. He always made me feel... calm. Like I didn't have to be so... much."
Mochi's dead eyes flickered. "He was kind to me. No one's kind to me."
Mutou said nothing, but something shifted in his expression—a crack in that unreadable mask.
Sanzu smiled from the shadows, that thin, dangerous curve. "This is fascinating. Really. Twenty-three alphas, all in love with the same omega." He chuckled softly. "And none of you willing to admit you're exactly the same as Mikey."
"We're not the same." Draken's voice was rough. "We didn't tear out his gland. We didn't lock him up. We didn't—"
"You didn't what?" Sanzu interrupted. "You didn't want to? You didn't dream about it? You didn't lie awake at night imagining what it would be like to have him all to yourself?" His cold eyes swept the room. "Don't pretend. We're all monsters here. The only difference is that Mikey stopped pretending first."
The words hit like a physical blow.
Because they were true.
Every alpha in that room had imagined it. Had fantasized about it. Had wanted, in their darkest moments, to take Takemichi away from everyone else and keep him forever.
Even the ones who pretended otherwise.
Izana broke the silence.
"Maybe we are monsters." His lavender eyes were hard. "Maybe we all want things we shouldn't. But that doesn't give you the right to hurt him. To mutilate him." He stepped closer to Mikey, close enough to touch. "You went too far. And we're not going to let you do it again."
Mikey looked up at him—this silver-haired alpha who had once been his friend, his rival, his almost-brother.
"And how will you stop me?" he asked softly.
Izana's smile was terrible. "Together. All of us. For him."
He looked around the room, meeting eyes, making connections. "We all love him. We all want him safe. So let's work together—for once—to make that happen."
Silence.
Then, slowly, Kazutora nodded.
"I'm in."
Hanma's smirk widened. "This should be entertaining."
Kisaki adjusted his glasses. "I'll observe. And advise."
Taiju's massive frame relaxed slightly. "For him."
Seishu and Kokonoi exchanged glances, then nodded.
Ran and Rindou shared a look—a whole conversation in a single glance—and shrugged in unison. "Why not?"
Mochi grunted. Shion nodded eagerly, his fingers still playing. Mutou said nothing, but moved to stand with the group.
Kakucho stepped forward, joining Izana's side.
Hina's eyes blazed. "I'm in."
Sanzu laughed softly. "Oh, this will be fun."
And the Touman members—Draken, Baji, Chifuyu, Mitsuya, Hakkai, Smiley, Angry, Pah-chin, Peh-yan—moved as one, forming a loose coalition with their former enemies.
Twenty-three alphas, united against one.
Mikey looked at them—this army of monsters, all united by their love for a single ordinary man—and smiled.
"Interesting," he murmured. "Very interesting."
He stood, golden hair gleaming, dark eyes absorbing all the light in the room.
"Go ahead," he said softly. "Fight me. Try to take him from me." His smile widened, and it was the most terrifying thing any of them had ever seen. "But know this: I will never let him go. Not to you. Not to anyone. He's mine. He's always been mine. And I will burn this entire school to the ground before I let anyone take him from me."
The room was silent.
Then, slowly, Izana smiled back.
"Then we'll just have to make sure you can't."
In Yuzuha's secret hideout, Takemichi shivered.
Yuzuha noticed immediately, her yellow-orange eyes sharp with concern. "Cold? I can get another blanket."
Takemichi shook his head. "Just... a feeling. Like something bad is about to happen."
Yuzuha moved closer, wrapping an arm around him. Her touch was warm, gentle, nothing like the possessive grips of the others. But still—still, Takemichi felt his omega instincts stir. The part of him that remembered what it meant to be prey, to be claimed, to be owned.
Even without a gland, the instincts remained.
"You're tense," Yuzuha observed. She reached up and began to massage his shoulders, her fingers finding knots of tension he didn't know he had. "You need to relax. You're safe here."
Takemichi closed his eyes, tried to believe her.
But in the darkness behind his lids, he saw golden hair and dark eyes and a smile that promised forever.
He saw Mikey.
And he knew, with absolute certainty, that this peace wouldn't last.
Yuzuha had been preparing for weeks.
The hideout was small but comfortable—a bed, a small table, a few chairs, shelves stocked with food and water and supplies. Candles provided light, their warm glow making the space almost cozy. Blankets piled high on the bed, soft and clean.
Takemichi sat on the edge of the bed, watching as Yuzuha moved around the room, straightening things that didn't need straightening, adjusting things that didn't need adjusting. She was nervous, he realized. Trying to make everything perfect.
"You don't have to do this," he said quietly. "Spoil me, I mean. I'm fine with just... being here."
Yuzuha paused, her ginger hair catching the candlelight. "I want to. I've wanted to take care of you for so long." She crossed to the bed and sat beside him, close but not touching. "In the game, you always took care of me. Listened to me. Helped me. Now it's my turn."
Takemichi's heart ached. "That wasn't real, Yuzuha. I was just pressing buttons. Typing words."
"It was real to me." Her yellow-orange eyes held his, fierce and vulnerable. "Every word. Every moment. It was the first time anyone ever made me feel like I mattered." She reached out and took his hand, her fingers warm against his. "And now you're here, in the flesh, and I can finally repay you."
She'd already done so much. Found clothes that fit him—soft, comfortable, nothing like the uniform he'd been wearing. Prepared food she knew he liked, somehow—rice balls with pickled plum, his favorite. Even found a small notebook and pen, so he could write if he needed to.
It was overwhelming.
It was terrifying.
Because every kindness reminded him of what she was—an alpha—and what he was—an omega, even without the gland. The instincts were still there. The awareness of predator and prey, hardwired into his very cells.
"Yuzuha," he said carefully. "You're an alpha. And I—even without my gland—I'm still an omega. My instincts still... react. To you. To your presence."
Yuzuha's expression softened. "I know. I can feel it. The way you tense when I get too close. The way your pulse quickens." She squeezed his hand gently. "But I won't push. I won't claim. I won't do anything you don't want." Her eyes met his. "I just want to be near you. To take care of you. To love you, the way you loved me."
Takemichi wanted to believe her.
God, he wanted to believe her.
But he'd believed Draken too. And Hina. And look how that turned out.
"I don't know if I can trust anyone," he whispered. "Not anymore."
Yuzuha nodded slowly. "I understand. After what they did to you—what Mikey did—trust is hard." She lifted his hand and pressed it to her cheek, warm and soft. "But I'll earn it. However long it takes. I'll be here, waiting, proving that I'm different."
Takemichi looked at her—this beautiful, broken girl who loved a version of him that existed only in code—and felt something crack open in his chest.
Hope. Still hope. Even after everything.
"Okay," he whispered. "Okay."
Yuzuha's smile was radiant.
And for one brief moment, in the candlelit hideout, Takemichi felt almost safe.
Outside, the war was just beginning.
Mikey stood alone in his room, staring at the empty bed where Takemichi should be sleeping. His dark eyes were calm, serene, utterly terrifying.
"They think they can take you from me," he murmured to the empty air. "They think that together, they can defeat me." He smiled—that sweet, gentle, insane smile. "They don't understand. You're not just mine because I claimed you. You're mine because you chose me. In the game. In the ending. You chose all of us, yes—but you chose me first."
He picked up a pillow, pressed it to his face, inhaled deeply. Takemichi's scent was fading—without the gland, there was no new scent to replace it—but traces remained. Chocolate mint, sweet and clean, slowly disappearing.
"I'll get you back," Mikey whispered into the pillow. "I'll bring you home. And then I'll never let you go again."
He set the pillow down and moved to his laptop, opening files, accessing systems no one else knew existed.
Lines of code scrolled across the screen—the game's architecture, the world's foundations, the very fabric of reality.
Mikey's fingers hovered over the keyboard.
"Let's see," he murmured. "How to make them understand?"
He typed:
> STATUS: PLAYER HANAGAKI TAKEMICHI
The screen flickered.
PLAYER FOUND.
LOCATION: UNKNOWN
STATUS: HIDDEN
BOND: SEVERED (GLAND REMOVED)
OWNER: SANO MANJIRO (DISPUTED)
Mikey's eyes narrowed.
DISPUTED.
"Not for long," he whispered.
He typed again:
> INITIATE: TRACKING PROTOCOL
> TARGET: HANAGAKI TAKEMICHI
> METHOD: SOUL RESONANCE
WARNING: SOUL RESONANCE REQUIRES SIGNIFICANT ENERGY
WARNING: PROLONGED USE MAY DESTABILIZE LOCAL REALITY
WARNING: THIS ACTION CANNOT BE UNDONE
Mikey smiled.
> IGNORE ALL WARNINGS
> EXECUTE
The screen went black.
Then, slowly, a single line of text appeared:
TRACKING INITIATED.
ESTIMATED TIME TO LOCATION: 72 HOURS.
Mikey leaned back, satisfied.
"Three days," he murmured. "Three days, and you'll be home."
He looked out the window at the dark school grounds, at the hidden corners where his enemies plotted, at the vastness of the world he'd created.
"Enjoy your freedom while it lasts, my love."
His dark eyes reflected nothing but adoration.
"Forever is coming."
In the hideout, Takemichi stirred in his sleep.
He dreamed of golden hair and dark eyes and a voice that whispered promises he couldn't escape.
He dreamed of a screen and code and hands reaching through.
He dreamed of forever.
And when he woke, gasping, in the candlelit darkness, Yuzuha was there—warm and real and holding him close.
"Shh," she whispered. "Just a dream. I'm here."
Takemichi pressed his face into her shoulder and tried to believe her.
But in his heart, he knew the truth.
Mikey was coming.
And when he arrived, nothing would ever be the same.
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