Virtual Alpha and I

 One Generation Older Omega (1)

“Sou, nice match!!”  

I felt something hit me on the back, and then I felt someone’s arm around my shoulder.

Even without looking back, I could tell who was the owner of that cheerful voice from earlier.
Besides, there was only one person here who’d do something like that to me.

“…You’re so energetic even though you just lost, Narumi.”

“Whoa, there it goes, sarcasm.
It’s Sou’s sarcasm! I haven’t heard that in a while!”

“It’s been a while, you said… It’s been about ten days, right?”

“Yup.
It’s been exactly ten days.
How have you been?”

“Well, I’m doing fine… Wait, we just have a match earlier so you can tell that much, can’t you?”

“Well, yeah!”

When I responded in a sarcastic tone, he laughed lightly and just brushed it off.
This lively person who just came and talked to me is Narumi.

He’s on the same futsal circle as me.
Until just earlier today, we were divided into teams and had a match within the circle members.

My team won all of the matches.
It was partly because I had strong allies with me, but I also had a very good performance.
I scored a lot of goals, and I think I was able to contribute to the team.

Today, Narumi was on the opposing team.

In short, he was the one who got beaten up by me.
But he didn’t seem to feel frustrated at all.
He always looks like he’s having fun no matter what he did.

“Man, you guys were so strong!”

“…Don’t you feel frustrated?”

“Not really? I’m just here to kick the ball!”

I didn’t join any club in school.

I was in a soccer club up until middle school, but I quit as soon as I found out I was an omega.
It wasn’t because someone told me to quit.
If anything, the people around me told me to keep playing.
But it was me who just couldn’t do it.

It was also partly because the first heat that came the moment I started school was so hard for me.
At that time the medicine didn’t work well with my body, it was really tough.

But even more than that, it was hard realizing the gap between me and the others when I practiced after my heat ended.

During the time I was in heat, everyone else was practicing and getting even better.
I felt like I was the only one who was left behind.

I couldn’t stand the thought of having to experience that feeling every month.

But, I didn’t want to quit soccer.

That was when I found this futsal circle.
Just at the right time, there was a flyer of it saying they’re looking for members that came in my mailbox.

The members of this circle are mostly college students or working adults.
All the members are older than me, but they welcomed me with open arms without asking any particular questions.

We didn’t practice for a big match just like a school club, but our purpose was just to kick the ball with the members who gathered that day.
I liked the fact that it was such a casual circle.

Narumi was one of the core members of the futsal circle.
To put it in a cool way, he was one of the founding members.

He’s one generation older than me, and a working adult.

Even so, he was so friendly to me that it didn’t feel like he was older.
He was also the person who give me a push when I came here just to observe.

“I thought we had the same handicap.
Is it our age? Did I lose to your youth?”

“…? Handicap?”

“Your estrus had just ended too, right? I thought I could beat you if we’re the same…”

“…”

I choked up at Narumi’s words.

Estrus, he meant the heat, right?

How did he know about that? Moreover… the way he said we’re the same… could it be.

“…Could it be, Narumi is also… an omega?”

“Yeah.
Huh? Didn’t I tell you?”

I asked hesitantly, but Narumi nodded as if it was something usual.
He then took out an official birth certificate from his pocket.

There was Narumi’s name and the word ‘omega’ printed on it.

“You’re right…”

“Huh? You really didn’t know? I thought I’d told you.”

“I haven’t heard any of this… And how do you know? That I’m also… the same.”

“I’m one of the people in charge of this circle.
I properly read through every application form that the members filled out.
If I don’t, it’d be troublesome if something happens, right? Also, my day off is always the same as you, so I thought that our heat cycles might be similar.”

Come to think of it, I think I filled out something like that when I joined here.
There was a field to write the verse gender too.

If something goes wrong, we might have to deal with it differently depending on the verse gender.
This was also the case with unexpected heat.
Even if we’re going to give them an emergency suppressant, we need to check their allergies.
The application form from this place also had a space to fill out that necessary information.

I had forgotten that I had even filled it out, but apparently Narumi remembered all those information about the members of this circle.

I was surprised to hear that all the other people in charge were the same.

“It’s something necessary to make sure everyone can have fun together.”

Narumi who said that and laughed, looked a bit more dependable than usual.