Chapter Text
Yoichi doesn’t think it’s a problem, until it becomes one.
He doesn’t miss the fact that he’s the only omega left in the facility after the first selection. If there were any others, then they had been eliminated. With only one hundred and twenty five players left gathered in the hall, it’s easier to figure out in the thick alpha musk and scentless betas that there’s one omega among them. Freshly bloomed and sweetly intoxicating.
Yoichi is too aware of the attention on him, high strung alphas with their wild eyes in close proximity with a gender hardwired to their instincts as something they cannot ignore. He stands tall, leads his team to the thick of other players who made it through Ego Jinpachi’s mad trials. He will not cower before them. If they have a problem with his gender, then that’s on them. He has nothing to prove except his soccer.
“Holy fuck,” he hears behind him. “I can’t believe it.”
“Maybe all of that was worth it…”
“Ego Jinpachi you fucking bastard. Why didn’t he put me in the same team…”
Yoichi feels his elbow taken in hand. He looks behind him to see Chigiri snarling in every direction. “Stay close,” he says to Yoichi without looking at him as he comes to stand beside him. “Fucking animals…”
Bachira takes his other side, shielding him from more wandering eyes. His lips and eyes are sweetly curved but he’s cracking his knuckles, a none-too-subtle threat. Kunigame takes up the rear. Yoichi would have rolled his eyes, if he also doesn’t think it’s probably necessary. None of the alphas around them look too composed.
He’d been blessed with Team Z members, who are either a) not a threat at all (Igaguri, Naruhaya, Imamura, fucking Kuon), or b) too sweet (Kunigami, Bachira, Gagamaru, Iemon, fucking Kuon ), or c) actually upright human beings despite such a pain in the asses (Chigiri, Raichi).
Their opponents hadn’t been too much of a problem, either. They usually lose their knotheadedness the minute Isagi plays the ball around them, and then they’re too busy insulting him, his family, and his gender. All of which are preferable to whatever is going on in the hall right now.
“Yo, you unpolished diamonds,” Ego appears to them in the big screens like a messiah of doom.
He gives his speech, insults their alphahood (none for the betas and omegas, as usual), insults their personalities, insults their family, their school, their fucking breathing, and then he tells them to go die. All in the usual day with Ego Jinpachi. Yoichi’s almost used to it now.
“And one more thing,” he swivels back around in his comfy chair. “Gender based harassment is absolutely forbidden. I’m sure some of you have seen the little clause included at the bottom of the contract you all signed.” Meaning he has no faith in all of them to catch that. “What makes a world-class striker is not only ego, skills, and determination. In the real world, you are evaluated by your discipline and conduct. If you would like to reveal yourself as a trash of a human being, be my guest. It’s none of my problem. However, if the victim feels the need to defend, then they are within their rights. After all, an animal can only be trained with pain.”
And that’s that.
Yoichi takes a deep shaky breath.
That was… basically a permission, right?
x
“Let me join your team.”
Yoichi looks at the alpha posturing in front of him, wide eyed at the shamelessness.
“Nagi!” His beta friend hisses. “Stop that! Didn’t you hear what Ego said?!”
“What?” Nagi Seishirou says. “He doesn’t want to come to our team, so I’ll go to him.”
“That’s not proper, big guy,” Bachira says, his eyes glowing with something that raises the hair on Yoichi’s arms. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you? You’re not supposed to proposition an omega anything if you’re not on your knees.”
Nagi stands at least a head above Yoichi, the height difference and the sudden demand raising all kinds of alarms in Yoichi’s omega hindbrain. People are staring at them like they’re a spectacle.
“Oh,” Nagi says. Oh. What’s wrong with him? “Right. Sorry. I never talked to an omega before. Then…”
Then he sinks to his knees.
“Please allow me to join your team, Isagi Yoichi.”
x
All in all, it was a disaster barely contained. They leave behind Nagi’s friend, Yoichi resolutely not looking back at the daggers thrown at his back by Mikage Reo. He has enough on his plate. He’s not about to touch that with a ten feet pole.
“Why did you choose to join us?” Bachira asks, apparently over his animosity towards Nagi like it never existed. “Is it cuz you think Isagi’s pretty?”
Bachira, oh my god.
Nagi cocks his head. “What does that have to do with anything?” He asks. “He’s strong. I want to be stronger. He can make it happen.”
Bachira looks absolutely delighted. “I know, right?”
And then Nagi just has to go and ruin it.
“And he smells like berries.”
Bachira gasps. Yoichi glares at his supposed best friend and protector. “I know, right?”
x
Their first opponent is the top three. Of course they fucking lost. Yoichi watches the first genuine friend he ever made walks away because of his weakness, watches the way Bachira almost hesitates at the last step, turning back around to look at Yoichi desperately.
“Steal me back,” he commands, all so improper and un-Bachira-like, Yoichi could almost laugh through the pain squeezing his chest. “Isagi, I want to be on top of the world with you. Don’t let it end here and steal me back.”
And then he’s gone, leaving Yoichi alone with this alpha who doesn’t know shit about Yoichi, not the way Bachira does.
“Wow, that tastes as bad as when I lost to you.”
“Fuck off.”
Yoichi never felt worse. He feels unmoored, alone. Nagi’s alpha scent smells repulsive to his nose. He longs for Bachira’s comfort.
And then Nagi grabs his hair and Yoichi draws his first alpha blood.
x
“What the fuck happened to you losers?” Barou barks at them.
Yoichi resolutely keeps his eyes on the ceiling, tuning out Nagi’s groans and stilted explanation. He feels their wary eyes on them but he doesn’t move. Until Barou snorts.
“At least the little puppy knows how to defend himself. So, are we gonna fight it out or what?”
x
They became a team. Dysfunctional, rowdy, violent as they are, they became a team. Yoichi tries his best to work with them, tries to make them work together, tries to keep peace in their tiny room even though he feels like screaming in the middle of the night when their intrusive alpha scents overwhelm him.
Barou is fucking insufferable. Nagi never wants to think for himself. Yoichi feels almost stretched into two different pieces, until he runs into Kunigami and Chigiri.
He’s not proud of the fact he tears up as he runs to them, leaving Nagi and Barou’s bickering behind. “Chigiri! Kunigami!”
Kunigami takes a step back in alarm at the incoming naked omega. Chigiri stays where he is to break Yoichi’s fall.
“Stupid Isagi!” He scolds after he catches him. “Don’t run in the bath! You’re gonna crack your skull open and lose your brain. That’s the only redeeming quality you have.”
“I’m so happy to see you two,” Yoichi sniffs. “I have the worst teammates. I miss Bachira.”
“You lost Bachira?!”
“You lost Bachira?!”
Yoichi feels almost pitiful under their shocked eyes.
And then Mikage Reo appears like a wraith of evil. “Why the fuck is Nagi’s nose in bandage? Is it broken? What happened? It’s only been two days?! ”
Barou finally manages to wrangle Nagi into creating some semblance of a proper shampoo bubbles. He answers, “Nobody taught him how to behave around omegas. The little puppy just dished out what Ego told him to. Now he knows not to mess with Isagi as he likes.”
Nagi blows excess bubbles off his hands. “He punched me in the nose. It was awesome.”
Reo looks at his friend like he doesn’t recognize him. “Nagi? What the hell did you do?”
Yoichi almost belatedly realizes Kunigami and Chigiri are listening avidly to Nagi’s explanation, so he draws their attention back to himself. To save some bloodshed.
He tells them about Itoshi Rin, about the fierce fight he ultimately lost, about losing Bachira and how Nagi didn’t really do anything wrong (he did, but Yoichi’s trying to save his friends from expulsion due to excessive violence towards another alpha), and that he was just in a bad mood because he lost Bachira. And he said sorry to Nagi.
“Stupid Isagi,” Chigiri scowls, pulling Yoichi’s hair gently. “This is what you get for leaving us behind. What was that thinking process, huh? Do you have no loyalty to your friends? You just went ahead and picked Bachira and some guy who doesn’t even know how to talk to an omega? Serves you right.”
“Fight us next,” Kunigami says gravely. “Let us steal you back. We can lose Reo somewhere along the way too, if you like. Don’t you miss us?”
“Oi, you know that I can hear you, right?” Reo is aghast.
Yoichi would like that too, but…
“You think I’ll lose? On purpose?”
Chigiri sighs. “Thought so. Well, it’s whatever. I want to beat you at your best anyway. When are we doing this?”
“Does nobody else’s opinion matter?” Reo is almost screeching.
“No,” Chigiri and Kunigami say in unison.
Yoichi almost feels sorry for the beta. Almost.
x
“Ego-san, your chosen player is an omega.”
Ego Jinpachi’s voice does not even drop as he reprimands Anri. “I never took you to be sexist, Ms. Anri.”
Anri wishes to throw her pen at him. If only he’s not so crucial to her. “You are inviting one omega into a facility with two hundred and ninety-nine alphas and betas. Are you out of your mind? You will be creating a distraction. You are putting the boy in danger. We can’t keep an eye on him all the time.”
“I’ll create a protective clause in the contract. None of them will get away with it.”
“It doesn’t matter if they get away or not. It doesn’t matter when it happens. And it will. He’s just a boy.”
“Don’t worry, Ms. Anri. My protective measure is not something as intangible as a ghost law. The omega will have the power in his own hands.”
Anri can feel all the legal headaches coming. “You are not suggesting him to…”
“I absolutely am.”
Anri doesn’t smash her clipboard to the table, but it’s a near thing. “You do know we can be sued if someone more powerful presses for charge, right?! They can override the contract and make it void if we push them hard enough!”
“Then so be it,” Ego is unmoved. “To realize your dream team, and my dream striker, I am prepared to make this gamble. Is your resolution so weak, Ms. Anri? I thought you’d have more guts than this.”
Anri is nearly vibrating in her seat. “And you’re willing to gamble on Isagi Yoichi?”
Ego’s smile nearly splits his face. “I absolutely am.”
Anri doesn’t have what Ego has, so she cannot see as far as he does. It’s why she needs him. She knew it would come with a price, but she didn’t think it would come this fast, before anything even started.
“Fine,” she spat. “Fine. We’ll do it your way, Ego Jinpachi.”
“A pleasure as always, Ms. Anri.”