Chapter 8.1

A Talk About Pair (1)

“Good, now all we have to do is wait.”

I threw all the uniforms into the washing machine. It wasn’t equipped with a drying function, so the laundry duty have to be done until we hang the uniforms dry at a decided place after washing. It took about 40 minutes for the washing to be finished.

In the meantime, I talked with Narumi. We both sat down side by side on the small round chairs provided there.

This chair didn’t feel very comfortable to sit on.

“We should’ve bought some drinks.”

“Umm, what do you want to talk about?”

“Hm? Ah, it’s not that I want to talk about something with you. It’s just that you looked like you’re so curious about a pair. Am I wrong?”

Apparently, he was worried about my reaction when hearing the word ‘pair’, and called out to me. That was very like him.

Even during the futsal match, Narumi was paying attention to all of the members. And it wasn’t just the members of his team, he was paying attention to the members from the enemy team too. If anything, he even paid attention to the people on the bench. That was the kind of person he is.

I guess that was why he didn’t miss even my slight reaction. On top of that, he even gave me a follow-up like this.

Narumi, who was standing next to me, tilted his head and stared at me with a very gentle expression on his face.

I hesitantly opened my mouth.

“…How… does it feel like to have a pair?”

“How?”

“In many ways. Doesn’t it feel scary?”

I still didn’t really understand what a pair was like. I’ve tried looking into it several times, because it was an important thing for omega.

But the more I looked into it, the more scared I became— and in the end, I stopped.

That contract is too unfair for omega.

Well, it might be good that the pheromones from our heat would only affect one person. Being in heat because of anyone and everyone is scary, and I think it was better to have an alpha rather than being alone all the time with this endless desire.

But, I didn’t like the fact that I have to give up my life in the hands of someone else. It still feels scary for me. There was no way I could feel safe when I know I might die if I lost my pair alpha.

On top of it, omega couldn’t make any mistake.

Omega could only have a pair once in a lifetime, only a single person. If by chance a wrong person becomes our pair— just the thought of that always scared me.

“…Scary, huh. Hmm. I never felt that way about Ten.”

“How did you decide that you want to be his pair?”

“Let’s see, I just thought that he was the one.”

For a moment, I thought he was joking.

But, Narumi’s expression was showing that he was serious. I could tell that he really felt that way and decided to become Amagi’s pair. He was making that kind of face.

“…Are you two a ‘fated pair’?”

“Fated pair? Isn’t that just an urban legend?”

“I don’t know… But, did you feel it was like that?”

“Hmm, I don’t feel a sensor going off inside me when I met him. But it’d be nice if it was fate.”

—Fated pair.

It was said that both alpha and omega have a partner that was called that. Just as Narumi said, it was more of an urban legend, but there were many people who believed in it. In fact, many people said that their own partner was one of it.

I didn’t really believe in it, but it was the first thing that came up to my mind when I heard Narumi’s story. If they both thought of their partner as the one for them, it must be fate.

“Well, I never regretted my decision to become a pair with him, and Ten is very important to me. I’m also aware that he treasured me too. I think that’s about enough for a pair.”

“—How long have you two become a pair?”

“It’s been almost ten years. We hit it off and started dating right after entering high school, then we became a pair after we both turned eighteen. That brings back memories.”

It was way longer than I had imagined.

Moreover, they started dating when they were younger than me. Maybe that’s why they have such a stable relationship.

I just saw them for a short time, but they seemed to not hold anything back with each other. 

“By the way, you said you go to a beta school. You didn’t meet any alpha, right? What do you do about it?”

“About what?”

“When you’re in heat. Do you just drink the meds and sleep?”

“…..What do omegas usually do during heat?”

“Hmm, in my case Ten has always been by my side since my first heat. I’ve never had any problem with that, though. It varies between people. If there are people who do this and that with many partners, there are people like you who only drink meds and stay put.”

“This and that…”

“Haha. I knew Sou would react that way.”

Perhaps he had anticipated what my reaction would be, Narumi said that and laughed. I couldn’t really laugh about it, though. 

I’ve never talked about heat so openly like that before. Because this topic is something I’d rather avoid. I didn’t really like talking about sexual things. Just as expected, I felt a bit put off by Narumi’s words.

Narumi patted me on the shoulder as if knowing I felt turned off. He grinned, and I could tell that he was trying to lighten the atmosphere.

“…Well, Isn’t it fine for you to just stay this way? I think so.”

“Stay this way?”

“I mean staying as pure as you are now.”

This time, Narumi patted me gently on the head. It felt like that hand was stroking me.

As I made an indescribable expression on my face while thinking about the meaning of Narumi’s words, my phone vibrated to inform an incoming message.

“Hm? An incoming message?”

“Ah— …Maybe.”

“Go ahead and look at it. I’m a bit thirsty so I’ll go buy some drinks.”

Narumi said that and left the room, only taking his wallet with him.

As I was left alone, I pulled out my phone from my pocket. The message was from my parent. I replied “Yeah.” to the message that asked whether I’d have dinner or not.

While I was on my phone, I opened the chatting app with Yuugo. Lately, it has become my habit to open the app. Even if I didn’t have anything in particular that I want to ask, I ended up sending a message to Yuugo like this.

[What do you think about a pair, Yuugo?]

[Ah, no. There’s just someone I know that was an omega, and I just met that person’s pair.]

[Yeah. He seemed to hate me, though.]

Seriously, that was the only way to describe Amagi’s reaction to me.

He had glared at me from the start, and he always furrowed his eyebrows as if to show his annoyance.

No matter how I look at it, the fact that he hurriedly left after barely saying a word to me was the proof that he hated me.