Kotetsu saw ripples, but not a revolution. After the Tiger Tamer Challenge, some Omegas felt empowered, and some Alphas reassessed their mating strategies, but Kotetsu's detractors remained strong. The fact remained that many Omegas wanted to end up with an Alpha, and reasonably viewed Kotetsu's defiant behavior as counter-productive to finding a mate. Similarly, lots of Alphas brushed off the idea of Kotetsu's blanket rejection, taking the attitude that Wild Tiger's destined Alpha was out there somewhere, and once that man came along and claimed the hero, that'd be the last they'd hear of this silly resistance.

Open season on Tiger began.

Alpha fans struggled to push to the front of meet-and-greets and signing lines, but Kotetsu had learned long ago to turn away from the delicious musk, not toward it. Correctly cued criminals singled him out, expecting an Omega to crumple in their path, only to learn that Kotetsu could use his Hundred Power to hold his breath for a full five minutes. The sponsors proved the trickiest—Alpha executives muscled themselves into the divisions that dealt with heroes, and tried to attract Kotetsu with both their Scent and sponsorship deals, but Ben had a wonderful way of intervening and explaining that they needed to see TopMag's hero division accountants, leaving Kotetsu in the clear.

TopMag soon enough drafted up a formal statement, a cease and desist saying that Kotetsu should be left alone. No one actually expected it to deter the Alphas, but it spelled out TopMag's protocol regarding Alpha harassers. After thirty seconds of contact, a very wide array of actions became permissible against the Alphas in "defense" of Wild Tiger, including Kotetsu's favorite headlocks. The whole thing basically boiled down to, "If you mess with Wild Tiger and you get mauled, it's not his fault."

And for once, Kotetsu was too happy to care about the Alphas. He had a beautiful baby daughter and a wonderful, amazing wife. He lived his childhood dream every day by going to work. Even if it didn't sum up to a dream life, certain individual happinesses definitely counted as more significant than the whole. He lived that brilliant, glittering life for four years.

Then those years ended.

He hid it as best he could. Antonio knew. Ben knew. Tomoe's friends, too. But that was it. None of the other heroes knew, none of the staff at TopMag knew, and only the most observant neighbors even realized there had been a change in the Kaburagi household.

Kotetsu never realized how good he was at faking his way through smiles until he started doing it every day. Most mornings he didn't even want to get out of bed, but he had a promise to keep, so he got up anyway. Once up and moving, convincing everyone he was okay and that things were still fine became so much easier, but for months, he didn't feel a single smile, even if he pinned his face into the proper configuration.

The only noticeable change came with Kotetsu's reaction to Alphas. The protocol announcement gave them thirty seconds, but the instant Kotetsu caught their Scent, saw the gleam in their eyes, the curve in their mouth, thirty seconds be damned, he took them down. He didn't care who they were, what they had to say, why they were there. He just wanted to be left alone.

That mindset continued for a few more years. Some mornings, the will to get out of bed came more easily than others, and Kotetsu ever so slowly returned to a normal schedule. The shock of Tomoe's passing gradually eased, too, until it felt less like a pit in his heart and more like a shadow at his back. He still loved Tomoe, and his memories of her would always be with him, but she was gone. He should live to make this world more like something she wanted, a safe city protected by brave heroes.

He worked toward that goal, one day at a time. Treating each broadcast like a fresh chance to keep Tomoe's promise helped him find those last buried sparks of energy that all his other responsibilities—sponsors to paperwork to bills to keeping up with Kaede—threatened to extinguish. If he failed, he could take that episode and set it aside, and use the next episode as a chance to make things right. Each and every night, Kotetsu let out his best Wild Roar… which some nights went better than others.

On a scale of one to ten, Kotetsu had to rank the finale of the 197-77 Hero TV season as 'Disaster.' Everyone scored last-minute points except him, (and Oirgami, who played for photobombs instead of points anyway) he broke a very expensive monorail, he nearly got hit with a rocket, he actually got hit with a billboard, Blue Rose stole the spotlight, and like a pathetic cherry on top of a misery sundae, he ran out of Hundred Power while two hundred feet in the air and needed a mystery man in armor to bail him out.

For some reason, even with the excitement finished, Kotetsu and the surprise hero stood together on Blue Rose's gradually melting iceberg. The peppy beat of "Go NEXT" echoed from a distant sound stage. Kotetsu glanced at his companion. An armor suit like that had to come from a big company, but without any logos, he couldn't guess who this hero was working for.

"Oi," Kotetsu broke the silence. "What's your affiliation?"

"Affiliation?" the man echoed, apparently confused. It should be a knee-jerk, automatic response.

"You're a free agent, and you still decided to stick your neck into this?" Kotetsu frowned. "What's the big deal?"

"What does it matter?" the man waved a hand dismissively and started walking off. "We made an arrest."

What does it matter? Kotetsu scowled at the back of the suit's helmet. While making arrests was important, where the hell was this kid when people's lives were in danger? He literally showed up just to steal the glory! Kotetsu had that criminal in his grasp way before he appeared—all he did was pull a Dragon Kid on Kotetsu's arrest! He didn't have a company to work for, he didn't care a bit about the bystanders, what was he doing pretending to be a hero?

Kotetsu made to catch up with him, but the slick ice under his boots made him skid instead, and the chilly bay breeze did nothing to improve his body temperature. That stupid armor with its stupid boots and stupid treads… It's probably heated in there, too… Luckily for Kotetsu, the young man stopped short after only a few steps, giving Kotetsu time to finds his skate-feet and slide in front of him.

"Anyway, a hero shouldn't remove his mask in front of other people," Kotetsu continued, building up to a full-fledged lecture. If this kid is trying to be a hero, a veteran had to tell him how it was done. "It's unheard of! Your identity is the most important—"

That bay breeze gusted again, and Kotetsu's speech about heroics died away. The Scent of an Alpha filled the air, unlike anything Kotetsu had ever encountered before. It was powerful, hot and dizzying and addictive on a completely different magnitude than anything else he'd ever smelled before. But most shockingly of all, Kotetsu felt like the Scent was calling out to him directly with dozens of other smells: the pine trees from home, grilling meat, a forgotten perfume, baking, the steam from an iron, hot tea by a hotter fireplace, the cool salve he rubbed on muscle strains, maple syrup, cherry hard candies, orange blossoms, on and on, each one with some sort of resonance in Kotetsu's heart.

Yes… You… Kotetsu didn't think—he just knew. You're…

The feeling intensified as the young man drew closer. Kotetsu stood perfectly still, taking deep breaths of the man's lovely Scent. The longer he smelled it, the more subtleties he could find, each one more wonderful than the last. His knees shook and finally gave out, but just as he started to fall, and armored hand caught him and held him above his unsteady feet. The other hand joined it, embracing Kotetsu as the man lowered his face to Kotetsu's neck, in turn breathing deeply. The young man sighed, and the warmth of his breath clashed with the chill of the air and armor. It made Kotetsu wish he was warmer, and that they were warmer together, and maybe not wearing their costumes… maybe not wearing anything…

The young man lifted his face and stared into Kotetsu's eyes. He could count each long eyelash framing those green eyes, and he could see that raw, predatory need as the man leaned—closer—and—

Then Kotetsu remembered: this was an Alpha. Moving to claim him. After humiliating him on live TV. He couldn't just lie back and let this happen. Not with someone like this!

Hero or Omega! Choose, Kotetsu!

Kotetsu gritted his teeth, willed his arms to move, braced them against the armor's shoulders and pushed as hard as he could. The other man released him, and before Kotetsu lost any momentum, he reached out, wrapped one arm around the man's neck, and pulled him down into the customary headlock. Even with the Alpha secure, Kotetsu's head spun with vertigo and his muscles screamed as they tried to sort out conflicting messages: should they be slowing down, relaxing in the Scent, or should they speed up and fight? Obviously Kotetsu wanted them to speed up, up, up, and get my Hundred power back, because I might just need it…

The breeze mixed the air—one minute safe, the next not—and it took Kotetsu a few tries to take a clean breath. Once he trusted his mouth to speak, he growled the customary warning: "I've said it once… 'n' I'll say it a thousand times! I've never had an Alpha in my life… and I don't need one now! Y'hear?"

His only warning was a soft laugh. Then before Kotetsu could do anything else, the armored man reached over his shoulder, grabbed a fistful of Kotetsu's cape, and flung him head-over-heels down onto the icy ground. The air knocked straight out of Kotetsu's lungs as he landed flat on his back, blinking in shock up at the night sky. Owwwww…

The blonde stepped back into sight, towering above Kotetsu's very low position.

"Your reputation for resistance precedes you," he said, before he bowed slightly, mockingly, and continued, "Well, I am honored to be the one who will change your mind."

"Wha—No!" Kotetsu protested as the other man started to walk away. "You… you're—Hey!" He pulled himself onto his knees, but doing much more was out of the question, pain and residual pheromones weakening him. "…Where are you going?"

"You'll be late to the MVP ceremony if you don't leave soon," the Alpha replied. "It's been a pleasure talking with you, old man."

"You damn brat!" Kotetsu shook a fist at the retreating man. "Don't you walk away from me! Oi, come back here!"

The blonde didn't even glance over his shoulder. Kotetsu lay back on the ice again and stared up at the stars, still swimming slightly from the Alpha Scent and ache of his unwanted flip.

What the hell was that? What came over me? Kotetsu wondered. That kid was an Alpha, yeah, but why was his Scent so strong? It felt even stronger than the sample from the doctor's office decades ago, and Kotetsu had been promised that no Alpha possessed a Scent that powerful. He smelled like everything Kotetsu loved, and that shouldn't be possible, either. Kotetsu had never managed to match elements of an Alpha's Scent to comfort smells before. They were always just Alphas, wonderful things that had no smells, but the combination of Alpha and beloved scents nearly undid him. And what was he thinking, letting that kid get so close? He was trying to kiss Kotetsu—claim Kotetsu! And they had just met less than an hour ago! To think he almost let that happen…

With the last tendrils of the blonde Alpha's pheromones cleared from the air, Kotetsu stood, dusted some ice flakes off of his knees, and made his way back toward the city. He was already going to be late, and Ben would want to talk to him about that night's property damage, but he just walked. So long as he made it in time for the MVP announcement, he'd be safe.