SPICY Chapter 3

Kijima’s Perspective

“There was a time when I was just as stiff and tense as you…”

“Ah, yeah, yeah, how many times have you told that story? My ears are getting sore from hearing it.”

I bit into my lunch while feeling completely exasperated with the guy in front of me, sighing contentedly under the clear spring sky. Aside from the fact that the “spring” of having a lover still hadn’t come to me, my high school life was pretty fulfilling.

The one who stood out in the middle of it all was this Alpha guy—Amami Ren.

During our second year of high school, I hit it off with the guy currently sitting in the seat in front of me.

That guy, Karasawa, had a gentle, dreamy personality that matched his appearance, and though he was an easygoing guy, he was surprisingly good at studying.

I, on the other hand, had lost the motivation to study by the second year, and Karasawa, despite seeming somewhat indifferent, still paid attention to me. He had become a rare and valuable friend to me.

It wasn’t long before Karasawa and I started eating lunch together, and then he introduced me to Amami.

Amami, unlike Karasawa, who was probably Beta—someone who wasn’t particularly exceptional but wasn’t a failure either—was a typical Alpha. The only thing that set him apart from the usual Alphas was that, unlike most, he didn’t look down on Beta people like me or Karasawa. Instead, he treated us as equals, and in fact, he treated us with even more care and kindness.

He was annoyingly nice, to the point that it was hard to hate him.

The three of us—Karasawa, Amami, and I—became such good friends that we were often called a trio.

Then, one day, a turning point arrived out of the blue.

By then, Karasawa and I had become close enough to casually throw our arms around each other as we walked. It happened when we were talking about a band music video where the band members were singing while walking with their arms around each other. The topic got us so excited that we sang together, both terribly off-key, laughing at our terrible voices as we staggered along.

We were so caught up in the fun that we didn’t care about the lukewarm stare from those around us.

When we reached the nearest station, we waved goodbye to Karasawa, who took a different train.

After passing through the ticket gate and waiting for the train on the usual platform, someone grabbed my shoulder from behind. It was a firm grip.

When I turned around, I saw Amami standing right behind me.

“Are you after Karasawa?”

Before I could even ask what was going on, Amami spoke with a cold, low voice—one that was nothing like his usual mild demeanor.

His expression was so intense, I could feel the pressure.

I wasn’t a fan of studying, but I wasn’t stupid either.

In that moment, I understood everything.

After learning that Karasawa was an Omega, I started paying closer attention to his life and realized just how careless he was, making me worry for him.

First off, because he was hiding that he was an Omega, it made sense that he didn’t wear any kind of collar.

An Omega is typically supposed to wear a collar after entering their heat, since they will be bitten by an Alpha to become mates.

For Omegas, being forced into a bond against their will is not uncommon, and once they’re bonded, they can’t break the bond. This often leads to disastrous results.

That’s why Omegas are encouraged to wear collars or chokers that are hard to remove, to prevent such situations.

Naturally, Karasawa knew this, and when I casually brought it up once, he made it clear that he never even considered wearing one.

That’s because Karasawa was just… not very “Omega-like.”

Even though I’m a Beta, I can still feel the strong pheromones of an Omega.

I didn’t feel it as strongly as an Alpha would, but if I was close enough, I could still sense it.

In Karasawa’s case, though, his pheromones were so faint that I couldn’t even tell when I was close to his neck, where pheromones are usually released.

Even during heat, it didn’t get much stronger.

(Amami once scolded me after I got a little too close to Karasawa’s neck.)

What’s more, Karasawa’s pheromones smelled like spicy food.

Until Amami told me, I honestly thought the spicy smell Karasawa gave off was from the food he’d eaten or maybe some kind of fragrance.

Even though I’m Beta, I’ve smelled the pheromones of an Omega in heat before.

The smell is usually described as sweet.

I never would’ve believed that the smell of shrimp stir-fry was actually pheromones, though. But that’s what it was.

Karasawa himself was known for loving spicy food, so even if he went into heat suddenly, no one suspected anything because the scent of his favorite seasonings covered it up.

According to Amami, who had been stalking Karasawa for years, anyone, even an Alpha, who smelled Karasawa’s pheromones up close would suddenly feel hungry, saying things like, “I’m starving,” even though it had nothing to do with sexual desire.

Honestly, from a Beta’s perspective, I thought there was something wrong with Karasawa’s pheromones as an Omega, but he had no clue and no sense of danger about it, so I never brought it up.

“Honestly, I wanted to kill any Alpha who got hungry from Karasawa’s pheromones.”

“Stop cutting into my internal monologue.”

Another big factor was this guy, Amami, an Alpha.

It seems Karasawa had never had a friend close enough to him to casually link arms with.

When I suddenly closed the distance, Karasawa seemed okay with it, but Amami got anxious. In a rare show of aggression, Amami threatened me.

He felt ashamed for his own actions that had exposed Karasawa as an Omega, and tried to erase me from existence—physically and socially—though I had done nothing wrong.

I managed to clear up the misunderstanding, and after some persuasion, I settled into the role of being both Karasawa’s and Amami’s friend, supporting Amami’s pursuit of Karasawa and pushing him forward if necessary—while still staying alive.

Alphas are scary.

Thanks to Amami’s overprotectiveness, Karasawa never got caught up in any trouble and never had his Omega status exposed.

Amami quietly kept dangerous Alphas away from Karasawa but didn’t completely isolate him from others, offering a kind of hands-off protection.

(This explanation later got me yelled at by Amami.)

And so, these two were fated mates. For some bizarre reason, Karasawa didn’t realize it.

Amami, embarrassed to admit it, told me the situation, and I found it both sad and funny. I ended up laughing.

That’s when Amami hit me hard on the back. It was pretty unreasonable.

Even Karasawa, who wanted to keep his status as an Omega a secret, had a well-built body and never seemed bad at studies or sports.

It’s commonly believed that Omegas are weaker and dumber than Betas, but Karasawa overcame those prejudices with effort.

I honestly thought it was impressive.

But no, that doesn’t mean I’ll start studying hard myself.