The familar smell of a clean Azu was a pleasant distraction and it calmed his nerves. 

"You got any new ideas for tomorrow?" Azu enquired.

"Not really. Like I told you earlier, all I can do is try hard and fail at every test so that the Lord doesn't have a choice but to stop the whole ceremony and pack up."

"That will be embarassing as hell though." Giggling, Azu shifted to sit on the bed, facing Akira.

"I know." Akira slumped against the pillows. "It's going to be hard."

"I'm not just talking about you, Aki. The old man is gonna be embarassed in front the public too. I don't think his ego can take that big of a hit." 

"Yeah, I know that.  That's why I can count on him to stop the entire thing before we really reach a point of no return." 

Azu watched Akira as he slowly entangled himself in the endless chains of worry and doubts. He could read him very well, because the Akira sitting infront of him had no masks on. 

Weathering all these storms, the one thing that remained unchanged for Akira was his unwavering determination to not let his grandfather take away the most precious thing there was for him, in this world.  

A feeling of adoration took over Azu as he looked at his alpha, the one who had rightfully earned the title and kept proving that he was worthy of it, over and over. Tears sprang into his eyes, but he reprimanded and reminded himself that this wasn't the time to cry. This was the time to put his brain to work and make it work for both of them.

"Aki, you know you are gonna face some of the best trainees in the country, right?" 

Akira nodded in response. 

"Do you really think your puny idea is gonna work against them? You are the grandson of the Godfather of Aratas - they will fight tooth and nail to make sure that a scratch doesn't land on you and that you win the match with them."

"Azu, listen - all I have to do, is to create  a handicap and wait for our opponents to exploit it. I'm pretty sure that they'll take the bait trying to impress the old man. After all, beating the Godfather's grandson isn't a bad thing to add to your list of achievements."

Azu sighed in frustration. He had no hatred for optimism but Akira was relying too much on it.

"And remind me who you are gonna fight against tomorrow?"

"Umm.. it's just a couple of seniors from our academy. If things go well for them, they will have both their graduation and officiation authorized tomorrow. So they do have a good motivation to win, you see."

Seeing that Akira had completely missed his point, Azu realized he'll need to spell it out for him. 

"Aki, that's exactly why I said it's not gonna be easy for you to loose the game! You are the best Alpha in the fucking academy and I can say for sure that no beta from our Academy can beat the best from Regel. There's no doubt in that. Even if you try hard to be worse, how far do you think you can go? If the referee suspects foul play, do you think he's gonna just stand there and pretend everything is fine? You think Daisuke-sama won't realize what you are doing? That man is evil but not a fool by any measure."

"What the heck am I supposed to do then?", Akira cried out in frustration. "Have you got any better ideas Azu? Because if you don't, I suggest you stop worrying me because I'm already running low on confidence."

 His head was a mess right now and any more pressure, he thought, would cost him the last bit of sanity that he was holding on to. 

Azu let the silence drag on for a few seconds to let Akira calm down. 

He looked at him lovingly, caressing his hair and spoke softly, "You don't have to do it alone, you know. Let me help you." 

"Are you telling me that you've got a better plan?" Akira asked, his tired eyes searching Azu's face for an answer.

"I think so. Yes."

A glimmer of newly found hope shined through him.

Azu continued, "I think you're not thinking beyond the duels. All your plans depend on you loosing the game to succeed in it and you've got no backup in case it fails. I think I've got something better, Aki. And to understand it, I need you to think like a beta."