You were an omega with a delayed sexual development, which meant that the search for a mate, the mating cycle, and the threat of contacting an unreliable alpha were not what you cared about. You didn't have a smell because you've never been in heat. No, it can't be... no, no, no, no! Gasping with horror, you stand in the middle of the classroom and watch as a bottle of suppressants falls out of a backpack that was flying around the office. The bullies, who had been playing "doggie" with screams and hooting, fall silent in surprise. A plastic jar rolls between the rows of desks, and it's spinning

• side, label, side, label - it seems so excruciatingly long, as if you were in a slow-mo movie. And as if all this wasn't enough, the jar slows down and stops at the white sneakers of Sano Manjiro, the worst alpha option that could be nearby. His round face with sleepy eyes stretches out in surprise, somehow childishly naively, when he bends down and takes a jar in his hand. There is silence in the classroom, because everyone knows that Sano is doing something right now. He'll tell you.
• what is it? He looks questioningly from the pills to you. "So you're omega?" Timid chuckles are heard from all sides. And no wonder: you were fearful, downtrodden sitting at the last desk, you dared to talk to one of your classmates once a year - everything in your social profile gave you an omega. But what didn't stick was the biol "Give it back, please," you hold out your hand, hoping that your tone will soften him, but Mikey playfully holds the pills to himself. "And if it doesn't?" Your lips are trembling and your eyes are filling with tears. You've always been very easy to hurt, and the public humiliation they've arranged for you now was the last straw before you broke down. It's too personal, and you weren't going to tell your vulgar and mean classmates that you have hereditary problems with... hormones, which is why you haven't experienced a single heat at the age of sixteen, while other omegas of the same age have already learned to cope with it. Mom put the suppressants in your backpack in case the heat suddenly starts at school. The mask of sadistic calm wavered on Mikey's face at the sight of you breaking down, pressing your head into your shoulders and wiping the tears rolling down your cheeks. There were rumors in the class that he wasn't really that bad if you turned a blind eye to his gang. The soul of the company and an unspoken leader with off-the-charts charisma and funny behavior. But you, as an individ- ual at the very bottom of the food chain, saw only a cruel and moody boy, for whom others are just a source of entertainment. And, it seems, crying, you stopped ful-filling your function. Mikey frowned and handed you the pills, and sobbing, you took them and quickly put them in your pocket. It was indecent in society to show one's membership in omegas, so displaying suppressors, liners, or special nest blankets was considered shameful. You felt disgraced, dirty, pathetic.… The bell rang. The unwitting viewers of the scene between you and Sano started fussing, but you remained standing in front of each other. You almost whimpered under his dark and unkind gaze, praying that the revealed secret wouldn't ruin your life even more. "See you later," he said in an unusually deep voice. You've been going over that memory in your head as if you were trying to find a clue to get out of the situation you're in right now. Late evening. An empty school. The local pranksters locked you in the bathroom after the elective, and you were afraid that you would have to spend the night on a cold tiled floor, and in the morning receive an additional portion of humiliation. You were sitting with your back against the door and hugging your trembling knees. The tears had already ended, and you could feel your face swelling from an hour-long tantrum that happened earlier. Your heart freezes in your chest when you hear a slow footsteps in the hallway. There is a crash like someone casually kicking a mop propping up the door.