The Usual Days (1)

Four days have passed since I turned off the Virtual Alpha app.

I felt like each passing day has been somewhat dull.

Even though before it was normal to spend my days without Yuugo, I was surprised with how much my senses had changed this much in just a little over a month.

The result of the exams that I took before my heat was surprisingly good.

There was a sense of confidence in me as I felt that I did well, but I couldn’t believe that my grades that were at the bottom of the class had gone to the lower-upper of the class.

It was all thanks to Yuugo.

I want to thank him. That’s what I thought, but Yuugo is no longer there. I knew I could just launch the Virtual Alpha app again, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

“Sou, wait.”

Just as I was about to leave the classroom, my name was called from behind. My reaction was a bit delayed because I was thinking about Yuugo. When I turned around, there was Ryuuji standing there, my friend since elementary school.

I was always in the same soccer school club with Ryuuji. We had promised to join the soccer club together in high school as well, but I couldn’t keep that promise… Since then, the distance between us naturally widened apart. No, it was me who distanced myself from him.

That’s why, it’s been such a long time since Ryuuji talked to me like this.

“Do you have time after this?”

“Wait, what about you? Don’t you have club after this?”

“I’m skipping today. So come with me.”

To think that Ryuuji was skipping club activities, would a snowstorm come after this?

After all, this guy kicked a ball on the field even on the day when the practice was canceled because of a snowstorm.

I couldn’t believe this soccer maniac would actually skip club activities.

“…Why?”

“You think I can leave you alone when you’re making that face?”

Ryuuji said that and pulled me by the arm.

I couldn’t find any reason to refuse, so I followed him from behind.

*

“—Hey. What’s going on? Even though I was relieved that you looked so happy lately. What happened?”

“Huh…”

The fast-food restaurant near the school was bustling with people in the same uniform as me.

At the far end of the restaurant, at the seat that was a bit far from the others, I sat face to face with Ryuuji. He hasn’t even touched the drink that he bought, and suddenly asked me that question.

“…What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. And don’t think you can fool me. How long do you think we’ve been friends?”

“…..”

We haven’t talked at all lately, so I didn’t think he’d notice about this. I cast my gaze downward in the atmosphere that told me I couldn’t easily fool him.

As my gaze wandered, I searched for the right words to say, but I couldn’t come up with anything. I didn’t know what or how I should talk about it.

“I won’t ask you to tell me everything. But still… You can at least talk to me. There must be something I can do to help you before you make that kind of face.”

“…That’s-”

“Even if you don’t tell me, I know a little about it. Even about the reason… you quit the soccer club.”

I gasped and raised my face at Ryuuji’s words. Did that mean he already knew that I was an omega?

Ryuuji didn’t ask me the reason I quit the soccer club. Usually, he’d also ask me to no end about why I distanced myself from him, but he didn’t ask me about that at all.

I thought he had gotten tired of me.

I thought he didn’t care about me anymore.

…So he noticed that about me.

“When did you find out? That I was… that.”

“…When you told me you’re quitting the soccer club. No, even before that. I realized you were acting strangely after the gender exam. When I heard you’re quitting, I was convinced.”

Gender exam. When I heard that word coming from him, I knew that he had found out that I was an omega.

And it wasn’t just lately that he found out. It’s been such a long time ago.

As soon as I entered middle school, I joined the soccer club right away. I skipped the trial period and all other stuff, and joined the club. Ryuuji was the same as me.

After that, my first heat came right away. Even though the exam result showed that I was an omega, I was still a bit oblivious of it. I thought that it should be a mistake, and maybe I still had feelings that I couldn’t face somewhere inside me.

But then the heat came, and I was forced to face my gender as an omega. I have no choice but to be aware of it.