Chapter Text
Akira was led into the courtroom to face his sentencing. But all he could focus on right now was how the heel of his shoes grazed and caught on the short carpet. Or how the collar of his suit had started to chafe due to the cold sweat that started to build up there. His nerves were on fire, everything seemed to make him jump, and his mind was running at two hundred percent. Nothing good was to come out of an omega in this position.
The man at the door to the courtroom gave him a dirty look but held open the door for him anyway. A basic respect that any traditionalist would show omegas but the disgust he could feel behind the action made his stomach flip. The strong air conditioning that gust out of the room sent a chill down his spine. He was most certain that Hell was cold. His lawyer pulled out the seat on the far-left of the room, the table sat in front of the judge's podium that loomed above the rest of the room and while sitting it felt like he were to be judged by a god himself.
Akira looked to the lawyer on his right as he shuffled through the papers in his briefcase. His lawyer, Sato-san, caught him making eye contact and stopped shuffling for a second and turned to him.
“Don’t worry Kurusu I’ll make sure that you get the least time served as I possibly can.” Sato-san gave him a grin. The beta was too cheerfully optimistic for his own good.
He went back to digging though his briefcase and looking through his notes. Akira closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair homing in on the buzz of the fluorescent light panels above them. He thought back to that night, the noise from the lights becoming those of lampposts after dark, and the cool air conditioning becoming the coolness of the late winter breeze. He woke up on one of the side streets home like he had since that night. He looked ahead and began walking.
He could hear the distant yelling of a woman ahead and a man’s gruff slurred speech trying to keep her quiet. Akira picked up his pace and eventually caught up to the voices he had heard. He stood back behind one of the walls belonging to the homes littering the street to assess the situation in front of him. The bald man, who looked to be in his mid to late forties, had a young brunette by her wrists and was shouting at her. His bright orange glasses made Akira feel sick.
Akira looked up to all the windows of the homes on the street as the shutters and blinds closed and lights went out. Everyone turned a blind eye to what was happening before them. It made Akira seethe with anger they were going to let this woman be violated and act if nothing happened. He shook the thoughts out of his head and came out from behind the wall to confront the man before him.
“Leave her alone!” Akira felt his hands connect with the man’s chest before he realized what he had just done.
The man fell to the floor and his brow connected with the street divider making a metallic click. The sound brought Akira out of his haze and truly became aware of the situation before him. He could now smell the strong scent of alcohol and angry alpha. The man’s neon orange glasses had fallen cracked on the pavement and Akira was enveloped in the smell of too much cologne mixed with copper, the alpha scent made him feel sick. But among the suffocating pheromones he picked up the very meek and soft scent of the omega behind him. She smelled like warm laundry straight out of the dryer and freshly cut grass. Akira could picture a very homey scene around her despite being disheveled and missing the top button from her blouse.
His attention from the woman was cut short as the man on the ground addressed him. Akira looked down at the bald alpha who had gained a sizable gash on his forehead from the metal divider.
“You’ll regret this kid I’ll sue for assault!” the man brought his hand up to wipe away the blood reaching his eye.
“You fell all by yourself you creep.” Akira scowled, clenching his fists tightly to the point his nails dug into his skin.
The alpha looked as he was about to speak then stopped and looked over Akira. Suddenly, Akira felt like he should cover himself, but all he could do was cross his arms and break eye contact with the other set of narrowed eyes. A sickly grin came across the bald man’s face and Akira could feel his skin prickle.
“What is it with you omega bitches and getting in my way? I will make sure that you get what’s coming to you.” the alpha reached for the cracked neon orange glasses and rested them on the bridge of his nose. He looked to the woman behind Akira, “What did you see here tonight?”
“I— I saw this young man come up and start attacking you for no reason.” She stuttered as the alpha glared urging her to keep going with the story, “And was threatening to mug us.”
Akira could only hear ringing in his ears the shock was too much for him to the point his body was just shutting down. The next thing he remembers is being cuffed and stuffed into the back of the police car. One of the officers placed his hand on the side of Akira’s head and slammed it on the top edge of the car while pushing him into the back seat. He could not even gain his bearings before the door closed behind him. The last thing Akira was able to do before the car departed was to make eye contact with the woman one last time before she got in the black SUV on the arm of the drunk alpha.
The drive to the police station was silent besides the occasional call on the police radio. He was promptly put through all the paperwork and mug shots and thrown in the holding cell. He held onto the bars and started before another omega in the cell spoke up for him.
“Kid if you’re looking to make a call don’t expect it until hours from now.”
Akira turned and looked at the other occupants of the cell. All of them were women. Omega women. He had been placed in an omega cell, of course he would not expect different, but all these women he could tell. They were all sex workers.
“Don’t look at us so shocked,” an older woman, maybe in her late thirties, laughed and clutched her fan, “when you live a life of being the bottom of the barrel might as well just make a living out of it. Not like many of us are well respected anyway.”
She made space on her bench and made a friendly gesture for him to sit. Akira looked back behind his shoulder into the rest of the precinct before meekly taking a seat next to the other omega. She wore a very low-cut red dress and too much makeup. Akira caught eye of bruises that were starting to form on her arms and thighs. She caught him looking at her and she lent him a tired smile.
“It comes with the job,” she touched her fan to her lips, “so why are you in here kid must have pissed off someone pretty bad to land up in here. Plus, not every day you see a male omega either…”
Akira told the woman of his plight to where the other omegas started to listen in on their conversation. It was cut short with the officers letting him have his phone call. His parents of course were not at all pleased with what had become of their son in more ways than one. With his father an alpha and his mother a beta it was less than fortunate that their son was an omega, but now a delinquent. They had some very colorful things to say to him including that he should just rot in that cell. However, the police informed them that they needed to come pick him up since he was still a high school student.
Akira hung up the phone and sighed. An officer led him back to the cell and slowly rested a hand on the small of his back. Akira froze and avoided looking at the officer feeling a cold sweat starting to run down his back. He could hear the officers breath hitch and Akira sped up out of the touch to where he could see the cell. The officer quickly tried to match his pace behind him.
“Even though you’re male all you omegas are just too damn beautiful.” thankfully the officer unlocked the shared cell and closed the gate behind him.
Akira did not realize he had been holding his breath the entire time and finally let his lungs relax. He could feel some tears well up in his eyes but wiped his face before any could fall. Everything would all just go downhill from this moment. Really, what separated him from any of the other omegas here? He felt like he was going to collapse.
“All rise for the honorable, Judge Watanabe.”
Akira was yanked out of his recollection and hurried to stand from his chair along with Sato-san. A man with salt and pepper hair made his way to the podium and took a seat and waved his hand. With that everyone in the courtroom sat back down the seats in the room all creaking just seconds off from one another. The judge looked to the empty table on the right than to Akira and his lawyer on the left.
“Unfortunately, your accuser will not be here today Kurusu,” Judge Watanabe adjusted his bifocals, “However, your accuser is very forgiving and asked that you don’t serve time but instead are given probation. Since your private omega school has expelled you, we will be relocating you to Shujin Academy who has openly welcomed your attendance for rehabilitation purposes.”
Akira wants to gag at the thought that the bald alpha asked personally for a sentence for him. The judge takes another look at the forms on his desk and looks to Sato-san. The judge folds his hands and looks down removing his bifocals. He sizes up both Sato-san and Akira before he begins to speak.
“Sato, I need you to make sure that your client understands the terms of his probation very well.” The judge closes his eyes and starts again, “He will be on probation for an entire year and is to record his time under probation about his rehabilitation. He will not cause trouble in public nor in school and will lead a respectable life for the next year. And last, but the most important rule that your client must abide by,” the judge pauses, “Mr. Kurusu must start a strict regimen of suppressants to hide his secondary sex due to the nature of Shujin only accepting Alphas and Betas among their students.”
Akira’s heart sank. He would need to hide his omega nature and be stuck around betas and alphas for an entire year. Akira did not dislike anyone for their sex, but you hear things, especially among an all omega school. There is more of a danger being an unmated omega around young driven alpha and betas. Akira gripped the edge of the table listening to the terms of the probation.
“Mr. Kurusu,” the judge addresses Akira causing him to look up, “your safety in this position is still one of our concerns please keep on the regimen to prevent any problems at Shujin.”
“Yes, your honor.” Akira nods and looks down at the table hearing the gavel adjourning the hearing.
He is led out of the courthouse along with his lawyer who stopped on the steps behind him. Akira had let himself fall to rest on the clean white stairs and put his head in his hands. Sato-san kneeled to Akira’s level and was quiet for a while. Akira did not need to hear anything right now, but Sato began anyway.
“This could have been much worse you know; they could have sentenced you to do time in a juvenile facility.” Sato reeled back his cheery demeanor, “But I understand how you must feel with this outcome. It isn’t the safest for an omega nor will the relocation be easy. At least you will be able to get a fresh start away from here.”
Akira quietly listened to the beta’s words and tired to consider the pros of being away from all of this. No one would know him in Tokyo it is much bigger than Inaba where everyone knows everyone, he could easily blend into the crowd. His past and record would be kept secret and he would be rid of this in a year with his hands wiped clean. He wouldn’t have to be around his parents, in fact they wouldn’t even try to have contact with him at all, which felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders. He didn’t mind separating himself from them.
And the suppressants… pros: he would stop his heats all together which no one is a fan of them. It would give him some sense of normalcy at least. Cons: he would lose his sense of smell. Not all of it of course but he would lose the ability to smell other people which cut off a lot of unspoken communication ques. He would have a harder time interacting with people and making connections in society built off social connections.
“I’ll follow through with it,” Akira raised his head out of his hands and looked ahead, “plus if it just helps me forget everything that’s happened in the last month then it would have been worth it.”
Sato clasped his hands together in joy glad that they had come to a mutual agreement on the probation. He got up from his position on the steps and lent Akira a hand to stand back up. As they both walked, they went over the finer terms of the probation agreement as well as where he would be staying for the duration of the year in Tokyo. His parents gladly set that up for him knowing they could distance themselves from him. He’d be someone else’s problem for a while.
April 9th, 20XX
Akira didn’t have much to bring with him on the train other than a small bag filled with some of his things. The rest of his clothes had been mailed off a couple days before. Akira wasn’t aware of what awaited him when he arrived in Tokyo, so he decided to wear his new school uniform just in case. He had also added a pair of fashion glasses to complete his look. Apparently, there’s something about glasses and posture that make you look like an entirely different person and Akira was thankful for that.
The ride was long and tiring especially with Akira needing to take a few connecting trains to make it to Shibuya. Akira drifted off to sleep at some point and was woken by the glare of the sunrise coming through the train window amplified by his new frames. The train made an announcement for the Shibuya stop and thanked the riders for their patronage. Akira looked at his watch to check the time, it was about time to take his next suppressant. Thankfully, they had sent the medication in a normal prescription bottle and not as the normal birth control package. Of course, they wanted it to be as discreet as possible so no one would question him on the medication this way. He could just write it off as normal medication for a heart condition or whatever Akira wanted to make up at the time. He had gotten it in the mail a few days ago at his home and it was enough to last a month. They had sent it along with a notice that they would all be sent to his next residence in Tokyo from now on. They started the day after the sentencing, so he had been on them for over a week. The pills were a reddish-brown color and extremely small, able to sit on the tip of Akira’s finger, he had to make a mental note to be careful and not lose any of them due to their size. He needed to take them with water and be sure not to let them sit on the tongue too long due to the unbearably bitter taste. He grimaced with each he took. He overheard a couple of schoolgirls on the train talking something about a mental shutdown. He hadn’t heard anything like that before maybe it was just rumor in the area.
He clicked the bottle closed as the train came to a stop and he got up sliding his school bag over his shoulder. He made it down the stairs and into the busy streets of the Shibuya downtown he hadn’t seen in person until today. Akira became painfully aware of his lack of scent where normally he would be surrounded by an amalgamation of scents, but he could only smell the concrete, food from the many restaurants on the main streets and the distant smell of cigarette smoke. He checked his phone for the address of his residence in Yongen-Jaya and the directions to the connector train.
Akira heard his phone ping and it exited his directions instead opened a little icon with a red eye on a black background. He didn’t recognize or remember ever downloading anything that looked like this. Maybe it was malware that had made it onto his phone, Akira stopped to think about it for a second. As he stopped it was like the world around him copied and everything froze. No one made any movement and you could hear a pin drop in the massive crowd surrounding him. Akira made a quick turnaround observing the strange phenomena almost as if time had completely stopped. As he turned his eyes set on large blue flames at least fifty steps ahead of him. They were swallowing a large black form that seemed to be making eye contact with him. Akira could feel a chill run down his spine as he kept contact with whatever it was. There was a flash of light and everything around him started back up as if nothing had just happened. He looked back to his phone screen where the icon was still reflected brightly on the screen. Akira dragged the bold icon down into the trashcan on his phone deleting whatever application it was. He made one last glance around observing the crowd who have since kept walking before continuing himself.
Akira was able to find the connector train to Yongen and ended up in a small backstreet coming out of the subway station. He passed some small secondhand shops, a bathhouse, and even a batting cage while he looked around for the address even stopping to ask for directions. He made it to a house on the far side of the backstreet where a delivery guy was having trouble. The delivery guy looked up at Akira who had made it to the gate.
“If you’re looking for Sakura-san he’s probably at his café LeBlanc right about now.” The delivery guy adjusted his cap to see Akira better.
“Thanks.” Akira brushed his hair out of his eyes as he turned around to head back toward the train station.
He found the quaint café hiding among plants and tucked into the wall with a small menu sign sitting outside the door. Akira took a deep breath before he opened the door and was met with a small chime from the bell attached on the inside. It didn’t take long to scan over the inside of the café it was small enough on the inside to do so quickly. There was a man in a pinstriped apron with slicked back hair and beard sitting on a stool reading the paper across from an elderly couple enjoying some coffee. The T.V. was reporting on a bus accident that happened earlier today and the elderly couple started discussing it obviously wanting the other gentleman to add into their conversation, but it fell on deaf ears. The man in the stool glanced at Akira over his glasses and picked his head up.
“…Oh, right.” The man set the paper on the counter as he stood, “They did say that was today.”
The elderly couple got up and thanked the man and mentioned something about being thankful there were no cars before passing Akira out the door to the side street. The other man brushed off the statements and turned to Akira rubbing the back of his neck.
“So, you’re Akira Kurusu?” the man looked him up and down obviously making a profile on him.
“Please take care of me.” Akira made sure to put on his best puppy dog eyes. He had a strange sense of humor.
“…Uh-huh.” The man sighed resisting the urge to roll his eyes, “I’m Sojiro Sakura. You’ll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one huh?”
Of course, Akira tried to be upstanding before that night not much was in his favor socially. He didn’t want to make anymore trouble or stand out as much as it was already.
“Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other and—” Sojiro paused for a second, “Well not that that matters… but I will let you know right now that I’ve been informed about your special conditions and that you’re on the appropriate suppressants. I hope I don’t have to interfere with that aspect of your probation… Follow me.”
Akira crossed his arms close to his body and looked away but followed Sojiro up the creaky wooden steps to what seemed to be the attic space. He could see the dust particles clearly due to the strong light pouring through the windows at the far end of the room. He could already feel them attaching to the static of his hair and glasses he could already tell this was going to be a problem. He took off his glasses to clean them on his turtleneck.
“This is your room. I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed.” Sojiro turns around to catch Akira putting back on the glasses, “You look like you want to say something.”
“It's… pretty cluttered.” Akira looked around at all the junk piled up wall to wall.
“It’s up to you to clean up the rest. I’ll be leaving after closing each day, so you’ll be alone at night but don’t try anything stupid. I’ll throw you out if you cause trouble.” Sojiro leaned on his leg and twisted the hair to his beard in thought, “I got the gist of the situation. You protected an omega from some alpha forcing himself on her, he got injured, and sued you. Right?”
Akira nodded and of course Sojiro told him he should be staying out of adult business. Akira started to zone out on what Sojiro was going on about after that. He heard it all before he didn’t need to hear it again and injure his pride more than it already was. He tried to take his mind off it by thinking random thoughts about literally anything else. He thought about what the school might be like, minus the thought of the students of course. He wondered what the curriculum was right now and hoped he wasn’t too far behind on whatever it was. Akira almost didn’t catch Sojiro trying to get his attention. He seemed to be done with whatever spiel he was on.
“If you behave your probation will be lifted.” Sojiro gave him a stern look searching for a response.
“Probation…?” Akira decided to play a little dumb.
“Really now… It’s the word that applies to you.” Sojiro seemed to get a bit tired from the response and it got some satisfaction out of Akira, “Your sentence lasts until next spring, right? That’s why you’ll be here for the coming year. Cause problems and you’ll go straight to juvie.”
Yeah, Akira was definitely trying to avoid that outcome…
“We’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow.” Sojiro continued.
“Going where?” Akira twirled one of his curls between his fingers. He wondered how long he could take being an airheaded omega. Maybe he should make that his thing?
“Shujin Academy—the school you’ll be attending.” Sojiro let out a breath through his nose, “We’ll introduce ourselves to the staff properly. You’re lucky there’s someplace that’ll take someone like you. What a waste of my Sunday…”
Sojiro starts to make his way to the stairs before stopping, “Oh and your “luggage” arrived a little while ago. I brought it up for you.” Sojiro waved his hand and headed back to the café.
Akira sighed and looked around one last time before he decided to start cleaning. He cracked his knuckles and started digging through the piles for cleaning supplies. He was able to find a duster among the junk along with a mop and got to work on the dust covered room. He started cleaning up the shelves to make room for his things and placed some of the other unusable items on the shelf overhanging the café. He also decided to make the bed to the point he just wanted to climb right in. It had been a long trip and Akira didn’t even realize how tired he had become.
“What the heck? I heard you making all kinds of noise, but I didn’t expect you to be cleaning up here.” Sojiro looked around shocked, “Actually it doesn’t look too bad. You omegas do have a knack for being organized though.”
Akira internally rolled his eyes that was a common omega remark and it definitely was not true, he had seen some of the rooms of his omega classmates back in Inaba. But he was ok being considered neat there were worse things he could be called.
“You should go to bed we need to be up early tomorrow.” Sojiro scratched his cheek, “I’m going to close up the shop and get out of here myself. Don’t stay up late and be getting yourself sick alright.”
And with that Sojiro left. Akira took it upon himself to get changed into some sweats and a long sleeve. As he changed, he thought back to what happened in the street that night. How the alpha looked at him… how the omega looked at him. He helped her and he couldn’t understand how she could still oppose him. He understood adults less and less every single day and their motives. Akira’s phone went off and he looked over at it sitting on his bed as he pulled his shirt over his head. The red icon had appeared back on his home screen causing Akira to furrow his brows. Didn’t he delete that earlier? He dragged the icon back down to the trash and put his phone in his pocket as he lied down in bed.
One year…