Chapter 3

It was when I was in eighth grade, I gazed at the secondary gender test result I opened in wonderment.

Was it a printing mistake? Or was there some kind of mistake, and it was swapped with someone else’s? The more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t accept the fact that I was an Omega.

Even after I entered middle school, my physique wasn’t soft enough to convince people that I was an omega. It was partly because I had taken up judo. I wanted to be stronger than anyone else, to have the power to protect the people I cared about. I was confident that no one could beat me.

I went to a hospital with my parents to have another checkup. In middle school, every school has a doctor who is responsible for diagnosing the students’ secondary gender through the secondary gender examination. But since it’s a school, there’s a large group of people to be examined. The data could be mixed up with other students anywhere. Well, if such a thing really happened, it would be a big problem.

So I consulted my parents and decided to have the test done again.

But the result was still the same. My parents seemed to be at a loss as to what to say to me. Putting on a brave front, I told them that whatever my secondary gender was it didn’t matter, but I spent several sleepless nights.

“Shuhei, what’s going on with you lately?”

Yukiya asked me with concern when we were having lunch on the rooftop. “It’s nothing,” I said, trying to fake a smile, but I couldn’t make a good expression. I couldn’t smile like I usually do. Yukiya stared at me intently and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“I may not look reliable, but… If Shuhei is in pain, I will feel it as well . “

“If you want to, you can talk to me. You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, but let me be there for you.”

When Yukiya said that, I made up my mind and showed him my secondary gender examination result. Yukiya looked a little surprised but didn’t say anything in the end.

“I’m an Omega.”

“Un.”

Yukiya nodded gently.

It’s not that I was discriminating against Omega. I didn’t discriminate against them, nor did I look down on them. It’s just that I thought of them as “objects to be protected,” and that they were incompatible with me.

Am I no longer qualified to protect everyone now that I’m an Omega? Is it no longer possible for me to protect Yukiya?

“I guess everything I’ve done has been for nothing.”

I wonder if it meant anything. I tried to be more righteous, tried to be stronger than anyone else. I wondered if all the time and effort I had put into it had been in vain.

“Omega or not, Shuhei is and will always be my hero.”

Yukiya’s words brought tears to my eyes. I felt more saved than any single word could have. I felt as if he had told me that I was not wasting my time. It was as if he was asking me to stay by his side, as I had done before, from now on. For me, it was my duty to protect the weak, and it was something I took for granted. It was the same as when I protected my younger sisters as their older brother.

However, I found myself taking care of Yukiya more than necessary. I became even more overprotective of him than with my own sisters. It was then that I first became aware of my feelings for Yukiya, which were different from what I felt for others.

“I may be an omega now, but I will always protect you.”

This was my vow to Yukiya, and it was also a resolution to myself.

Yukiya nodded happily at my vow.