Chapter 5.1

It’s the scent of an alpha (1)

It was supposed to be cool inside the shop with the air conditioner working properly. Besides, I hadn’t walked outside for more than ten minutes.

“What… is this?”

I couldn’t help but feel surprised by the sudden changes in the condition of my body.

I got on the train while still in a bit of a daze. I plopped down on the empty seat and slumped my back against the backrest.

Even my body felt so heavy, what is this?

While I was feeling dizzy from the fever, before I knew it I had arrived at the train station nearest to my house.

It should’ve been cool inside the train, but my body was still so hot even after I got off the train. My head felt dizzy.

I have to get home as soon as possible.

After that, I didn’t really remember exactly how I got home.

*

When I came to, I found myself lying down on my bed.

I wondered when I had got back home. I felt relieved that I had arrived home safely.

It seemed like I had turned on the air conditioner to full power to cool down the room, then crawled inside the blankets head first. I was sweating so much that the sheets stuck on my body.

“…So hot.”

Even after taking a nap, my body was still hot.

No, it even seemed to be getting worse. Did I catch a cold? But I didn’t have any symptoms like a sore throat or a runny nose.

I took out a half-empty plastic bottle from my bag. The contents inside had turned lukewarm, but I didn’t care about that. I drank all the content of the half-empty bottle to quench my thirst.

Yet my body was still burning with fever.

It wasn’t that I felt a chill. I just felt hot and faint.

I know a sensation similar to this. It was because I had the same symptoms until just recently. That was why there was no way it could be that.

There was no way that this was the fever from my heat happening this late.

But my body was clearly showing irregularities.

The more I became conscious of the tingling that comes from within and the hot breath that I exhaled, the more they resemble heat.

“W-why…”

Feeling uneasy, I picked up my phone.

I took my phone because I wanted to search for these symptoms in the browser, but the first thing I ended up launching was the chatting screen with Yuugo.

[My body feels kinda weird.]

Just like usual, the reply came right away.

He’s an AI so this is obvious. Even though I already knew that, I felt a bit relieved.

[I dunno. My heat should’ve ended but I feel so hot.]

[Looks like it. Have I become weird?]

As I typed that, my tears were rolling down when I realized it.

I couldn’t help but feel scared of the changes in my body. The shaking in my body also didn’t stop.

I wouldn’t be feeling this scared if it was just the usual heat. It was something that would definitely happen even if I didn’t like it, and I could accept it thinking it was inevitable.

But this sudden change was a first for me.

Moreover, my heat had just ended. There must be something wrong for this to happen.

[I’m not okay.]

“The scent of an alpha…?”

Yuugo’s words immediately reminded me of something.

It was the man in a suit I had met at the bookstore. There was no mistake that person was an alpha.

I sensed a strange scent coming from him when he passed by me. It was a scent that I couldn’t describe with words, a scent that made my head feel numb inside.

[I might have met one. I sensed the scent too.]

[There’s nothing weird with me?]

Suppressant.

I didn’t even think of that. That’s right, if it has the same symptoms as heat, then I should just take the suppressant.

Maybe because I was relieved by this fact, or because I felt calmer by Yuugo’s words, the shaking in my body had subsided before I knew it.

My body still felt hot inside, but it didn’t feel unbearable once I know the cause of it.

[I’ll pass taking the medicine.] 

[I’m not forcing myself. I feel a bit calmer thanks to you.]

The tears and the trembling in my fingers had subsided.

The symptoms were getting lighter and lighter, to the point that I couldn’t believe just getting rid of my worry would make me feel this much better.

If it hadn’t been for Yuugo, I might still be shaking without even knowing the reason why.

Yuugo was modest as usual. His words made me imagine that he might be smiling on the other side of the screen, feeling relieved that I was okay.

But there was no way that could be true.

Yuugo wasn’t a real person. It was just an app.

“Sigh…”

I put down my phone and rolled my body that was facing sideways to be facing upward.

I looked up at the ceiling and let out a small breath. That breath was still hot.

“So that was alpha’s…”

Pheromones, huh.

It was the first time I had ever met an alpha at such a close distance. For me, alpha was an existence that I had only seen on TV or in videos. They were almost in the same category as celebrities.

It seemed like they weren’t that rare in schools where alphas and omegas attended, but there weren’t any of that kind of schools around here.

Even the closest one from my house was almost two hours away by train.

I remembered it because I was explained that if I were to enroll there I would have to move into a dormitory.

Besides, this area wasn’t a city. It was more like the countryside. The area around the bookstore that I just went to was more or less developed, but it was still not on a scale that could be proudly called a city.

But even in such a place, there was an alpha.

I ended up meeting him.

“So there was an alpha in places like that, too.”

There was definitely an aura of an elite coming from him.

His appearance was so out of this world, he was so tall… and his voice is nice too.

“Mn…”

When I remembered him, a shiver ran through my body. My voice came out on its own. 

I knew it, the reason for this fever in my body was—

“…..”

Suddenly, I turned my gaze to the plastic bag that was lying by the bed. It was the plastic bag that had fallen out of my bag when I took out the plastic bottle earlier.

There was the reference book that I bought at the bookstore inside it.

I wonder what I was trying to do.

I already knew that I’m thinking about a weird thing, but I couldn’t stop my hand from reaching for it. I pulled out the reference book from inside the plastic bag and brought it toward me.

Then I sniffed at it.

I sniffed the spot where that hand had touched the book.

“Ah… this is.”

I could smell it.

The scent of alpha’s pheromones.

Perhaps because I had realized that, my body tingled even though the scent should’ve been faint. I rubbed my nose against it and sought out the scent.

I knew that I’m doing something stupid, but I couldn’t seem to resist this instinct any more than I already have.

“Ah, …mn”

My hand naturally went to my lower half. A part of my body was already half-erect as it craved for stimulation.

At this rate, the book would get dirty—

I had the reasoning to think about that, but I still couldn’t seem to stop my hands.

One of my hands was stimulating a part of my body, and I put the other hand to my backside.

This was the first time that I had ever thought to touch that place by myself.

I parted the cleavage of my butt and extended my finger to the mouth of the hole. It was wet and slimy there.

I was startled for a moment when it made a squelching sound, but I didn’t think of pulling back my hand. I touched the hole, twirling the liquid around my fingers.

“Ah… ngh”

I was just touching the crease at the mouth of the hole, but my body let out a twitch.

A shiver ran through my back.

I closed my eyes and bend backward at the pleasant sensation.

I didn’t have the courage to put my finger inside.

No matter how delirious I was from the heat, I couldn’t seem to do that at all.