Chapter Text
The morning sun had barely cleared the horizon before the campus courtyard of Kyoto University began to hum with the quiet anxiety of finals week. But near the stone archway of the eastern terrace, the air wasn't just anxious—it was lethal.
Maki stood with his back against the stone pillar, his jaw locked so tight the muscle leaped in his cheek. He hadn't slept a single wink. The words from the pharmacy had played on a devastating loop in his mind all night.
When he caught sight of Nicholas walking across the courtyard alone, his leather bag slung carelessly over his shoulder, Maki didn't hesitate. He stepped out from the shadows, his heavy, volatile scent of crushed mint and smoky vetiver flaring so violently that a group of passing betas instinctively scattered, sensing the raw territorial aggression of a dominant alpha on the warpath.
"Maki?" Nicholas stopped, his dark eyes instantly narrowing as he took in his best friend’s disheveled silver hair, dark under-eye circles, and the suffocating pressure of his pheromones. "What the hell is wrong with you? You smell like you're about to rip someone's throat out."
"Walk," Maki hissed, his voice dropping into a dangerous, gravelly command.
He didn't wait for an answer. He shoved his hands into his pockets and marched toward the empty, enclosed balcony of the old faculty building. Nicholas, his own alpha pride spiking at the demanding tone, let out a harsh breath and followed close behind.
The moment the heavy wooden door swung shut behind them, isolating them from the courtyard, Maki whirled around.
"How long were you planning on keeping it from me?" Maki demanded, stepping directly into Nicholas’s space, his chest heaving.
Nicholas frowned, his posture instantly turning rigid. He kept his face perfectly blank, but inside, his heart gave a sudden, violent thud. Did he find out about Taki? Did the bank transfer leak? "I don't know what you're talking about, Maki."
"Stop lying!" Maki roared, the sound echoing sharply against the concrete walls. He reached out, grabbing the collar of Nicholas’s expensive jacket, his fingers trembling with a mix of fury and deep, wounded betrayal. "I followed you yesterday, Nicholas. To the private pharmacy downtown. I saw you. I saw Euijoo."
Nicholas froze. His entire body went completely rigid under Maki’s grip. His mind raced at a million miles an hour, panic clawing at his throat. If Maki had seen them at the pharmacy, he knew about the prenatal vitamins. He knew about the maternal support.
"I heard what the pharmacist said," Maki continued, his voice cracking slightly, his eyes burning with absolute, misguided certainty. "Unlisted records. Keeping it safe from the families. No public university insurance logs. Nicholas... Euijoo is pregnant. You’re having a child with a poor omega, and you’ve been hiding it from your family—and from me."
Nicholas’s breath hitched.
He stared at Maki, his brain momentarily short-circuiting as he processed the words. Euijoo? He thinks Euijoo is the one who's pregnant?
Maki was looking at him with pure, agonizing heartbreak, fully believing that Nicholas was the one protecting a scandalous, secret heir from the elite world. Maki had completely missed the truth. He had taken the physical evidence—Nicholas paying, Euijoo crying, the maternal vitamins—and built a flawless, protective shield around Taki without even realizing it.
Nicholas’s sharp, calculating mind clicked into place. The sheer, terrifying realization of what was at stake washed over him. If he corrected Maki right now, if he told him the truth—that the vitamins were for Taki, that Maki was the father of a three-month-old fetus—Maki's inner alpha would explode, the Hirota elders would find out, and Taki would be destroyed.
Nicholas had to take the hit. He had to play the part.
Slowly, deliberately, Nicholas reached up and yanked Maki’s hands off his collar, shoving his best friend back a step. He let out a long, heavy breath, forcing his own alpha scent to flare with a defensive, fiercely protective heat that perfectly mirrored a man defending his pregnant mate.
"Yeah," Nicholas lied, his voice dropping into a steady, defiant murmur as he looked Maki straight in the eyes. "You're right. Euijoo is pregnant. It’s my baby, Maki."
Maki let out a ragged, breathless gasp, stumbling back a half-step as the verbal confirmation slammed into him like a physical blow. "Nicholas... your family—"
"My family will strip me of my inheritance if they find out right now," Nicholas cut him off sharply, stepping forward to reclaim his space, his dark eyes fierce with a brilliantly fabricated desperation. "That's why I’m hiding it. That's why I'm buying the premium vitamins under the table. That’s why I’ve been dodging you. I couldn't risk you letting something slip to your parents, who would tell my dad in a heartbeat."
Nicholas walked over to the balcony railing, turning his back to Maki to look out over the campus, his shoulders trembling slightly from the sheer pressure of the massive deception. "Euijoo is terrified, Maki. He's a poor omega, and he’s carrying a Wang heir. If you have any respect for our friendship, for the life we've lived together... you will take this secret to your grave. You didn't see anything yesterday. You don't know anything."
Maki stood in the center of the empty room, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. The suffocating, volatile edge in his mint scent slowly began to drain away, replaced by a heavy, profound wave of guilt and somber understanding. The puzzle pieces fit perfectly. It explained everything—the secrecy, the extra shifts Euijoo had been taking, the fierce protectiveness.
"I won't say anything," Maki whispered, his voice thick with a strange, lingering emptiness. He looked down at the floor, his inner alpha twisting in a confusing, restless knot. He was relieved for his friend, but deep down, a dark, unexplainable ache remained entirely unsoothed. "Your secret is safe with me, Nicholas."
"Thanks," Nicholas muttered, not turning around.
As Maki slowly opened the door and walked out, leaving Nicholas alone on the balcony, Nicholas finally collapsed against the concrete railing, his chest heaving as he let out a shaky, terrified breath.
The lie had worked. Maki believed it completely. Taki and the future Hirota heir were completely safe behind the shield of a false truth—but Nicholas knew that the clock was ticking, and the web of lies was getting dangerously close to snapping.