After Raizo-san left, something very strange happened.

One of my classmates from junior high school, an Alpha, who had been bothering me, has become quieter.

He was the one who spat at the Omega girl who came to school wearing a protector collar, saying ‘No one is going to attack you’.

He despised omegas, and I wasn’t the only one who was victimized, he had a bad reputation amongst the other omega students too, but then he suddenly changed his behavior.

Instead of provoking omegas, he seemed to be avoiding them, including me, and when our eyes would accidentally meet, he would panic and ran away from the classroom.

I was thankful that we didn’t have to come into contact with him, but I was still tilting my head at him, feeling somewhat uncomfortable and baffled.

Some of the Beta students who had been making noises along with him seemed also puzzled by the sudden change in him, but they also got quiet as if the tide was receding, as if they couldn’t do anything without someone to lead them.

Before I realized it, I had returned to a peaceful school life without waiting for the deadline of Raizo-san’s prophecy, which was the start of high school.

“Um, Suzunari-kun, is this a good time?”

“Nakajima. What is it?”

A slender body with a short stature came to me. He has a rather neutral face and is an Omega in the same class.

He always lowers his eyebrows in a troubled manner, and was often tangled up with You-Know-Who Alpha, perhaps because his feeble-looking features made him a target.

The corridors after school are sparsely populated, there were only the occasional student passing by quickly on their way to club activities or cram school.

Nakajima seemed to be fidgeting and mindful of his surroundings, and didn’t quite get to the main topic.

A black protector collar peeked out from his shirt as he turned his head slightly down. Nakajima had been wearing the protector to school every day without fail, even after being teased by that Alpha.

He must have been quite disgusted that Katsuta had forcibly taken his protector away from him.

He had changed it from a slim discrete design to a thick one with a lock.

“Is Nakajima leaving already?”

“Eh, yes. I’m going home.”

“Then let’s talk while we walk.”

“Oh, yeah, well, I’ll get my bag.”

Bang.

“Whoa!”

Slam.

“Ah!”

(Sound of a thump)

“Ouch!”

Nakajima, who rushed to get his bag, hit his shoulder against the classroom door, kicked over a chair that was sticking out of his desk, and hit his head on the desk when he bent down to pick up the chair he had knocked over.

The last one made a pretty loud noise, so I think it must have hurt a lot.

“Hey, Nakajima, are you alright?”

“Yeah, sorry. I’m a bit of a klutz.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize because you didn’t cause me any trouble, okay?”

Nakajima nodded his head with teary eyes while holding his reddened forehead. I’ve never interacted this much with Nakajima before, but I think this kind of thing is called being a clumsy child.

“There’s no need to rush, just walk carefully, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be more careful. Thanks.”

The teary-eyed expression on his face made him look even younger.

Also although we were classmates and the same age, he reminded me of Jin and Zen, with whom I had lived together until recently.

There’s something about him that gives off the impression that he can’t be left alone to get by himself.

On the way home, I walked slowly, trying to match Nakajima’s pace.

I had thought I was walking slowly enough, but for Nakajima, who is shorter than me, it seemed to be still too fast, and I noticed that he was trotting along, so I walked even slower.

When Nakajima noticed that I had slowed down my pace, he relaxed his cheeks into a smile and thanked me.

“Suzunari-kun. I’ve been wanting to apologize to you for a long time.”

“What?”

“For pretending not to know when Suzunari-kun was entangled with Katsuta-kun. Although I knew the pain of an Omega’s unstable estrus, I was afraid of Katsuta-kun, so I kept quiet. I’m sorry, I’m sorry for being a wimp.”

With some people still persistently despising Omegas, there are times when an Omega needs to make the decision to ‘stay out of trouble’ in order to protect him or herself.

In my family it’s still not so bad because my mother has a lot of power, but I think it’s a very wise decision because an Omega, who was born in an ordinary family, has no one to protect them when they are told or subjected to unreasonable things.

I too turned a blind eye to Nakajima when he was being teased about his protector, and I’m just as guilty.

Some people say that doing nothing when you see bullying is the same as bullying, but in reality it’s not that simple.

That was the theory of the powerful.

If you are the next target because you intervened, there is no guarantee that there will be someone to protect you then.

For an Omega, who doesn’t have the strength or backing to fight back, it’s not possible to reach out with a sense of justice alone.

It must have taken a lot of courage just to talk to me like this.

“Nakajima.”

Nakajima, who had gathered all the courage in his small body, was startled and clasped his hands tightly when I called his name. I suddenly burst out laughing at the sight of his small animal-like appearance.

“Thank you.”

“Eh, eh?”

“Thanks for talking to me. Hey, why don’t we cooperate with each other from now on if something happens? There are things that can only be understood between two Omegas, and Katsuta, who is quiet at the moment, might start messing around with you again.

Rather than worrying alone, there may be things we can solve together.”

“Suzunari-kun…”

With moist eyes, Nakajima nodded repeatedly like a papier-mâché doll.

On that day, I gained a friend who was a little unreliable but had great courage.