So, the poll has been decided, and we’ll shortly be beginning our new route. But for now, we are to spin back the wheels of time once more, and examine what exactly might have been had we elected not to accompany Okosan on his grand quest.
“Coo!”
(Farewell, gentle maiden! Okosan shall return when he has won true pudding from the cruel jaws of this brutal, heartless world!)
He shoulders his bag and dashes away, as swift as the wind. I never saw him again.
The screen fades to black, as we depart the protagonist’s point of view for a moment to tune in to some other, unseen conversation.
“… which brings us to our main topic: the observational reports on the human representative at St. Pigeonation’s. As you can see, while she was meant to act as a goodwill ambassador, she… fails to display sufficient intimacy with the birds.”
“We of the Hawk Party cannot overlook this situation. These reports only confirm what we already knew of human nature. We will execute the termination sequence. Adjourned. Coffee, anyone?”
Well, that doesn’t sound good at all. The camera returns to the protagonist’s residence.
!
I think I just heard someth—
The world goes black.
”! Who’s there? Ninjas!?”
“You don’t need to know. It’ll all be over in two seconds.”
“Eeek! Aah… ah…”
We hear no more from the protagonist.
Congratulations, we got the bad end! Basically, if you manage to really, really screw up someone’s route, or simply fail to commit to one, you get this. If you haven’t done certain routes, the sudden introduction of dark and mysterious subplots can be confusing. Rest assured that all will make sense in due time.
Now, why does the ending screen look so goofy and out of place, you ask? What’s that? You don’t ask that? Whatever. The bad ending screen is a surprisingly faithful recreation of a death screen from Shadowgate for the NES, an adventure game featuring many exciting and less-exciting ways to die.
Anyway, with that morbid diversion complete, we can now move on to our next route: Shuu Iwamine, creepy doctor in residence. I question your collective taste in birds. Let us imagine that far, far back, at the outset of our academic year, we had chosen to enlist not with the track team, but with the previously unselectable infirmary staff.
This new academic year may feel a little… condensed compared to the first. There’s a lot that remains the same between playthroughs, and most of it can be safely excised. But first, we come to our first elective of the year. Gym class was the order of the year last route, but this time, we’re headed for math class.
Tera leveled up! Wisdom increased by 5!
Considering the protagonist’s Wisdom stat starts at 1, this is a pretty good improvement, I’d say.
I shouldn’t keep them waiting. Better hurry!
“Yuuya!? What’s wrong!? Are you hurt?”
“So sweet of you to worry for me! But, no. I’m the second-in-command here.”
“… you are? I never would have guessed!”
“I couldn’t be happier, mon amie. Mystery is the most powerful of aphrodisiacs. Anyway, our job as staff is to check the medicines and clean up in here. Normally, I’d do that. But today I’ve got some stuff I need to take care of, so could you handle this mess for me?”
“Of course!”
“My thanks, Tera. Oh, and don’t touch the desk—it’s the doctor’s personal area. I’ll take you somewhere nice in return. Adieu!”
Yuuya flutters out the door. … did he just ask me out?
Yuuya needs to slow the heck down.
Anyway, cleaning. Some of these drugs are a little weird, no matter how you look at it. Is this really an infirmary? It feels more like a human, or rather, avian experimentation room.
Rather unsurprisingly, the creepy doctor’s place of work is also pretty creepy.
Huh? The desk drawer is open, and there are files sticking out. Everything was very neat when I was in here last, but maybe the doctor’s a little careless about tidying up? Yuuya did say not to go near the desk, but…
We can choose to neaten up the desk or leave it alone. We’re not supposed to touch the desk, so, naturally the best course of action is to touch it.
Just putting the files back in order should be fi—
“You again?”
“D-d-d-d-doctor!? When did you…!?”
“I just got back, but… Oh my, we do have sticky fingers, don’t we.”
“Th-that’s not it! Sakazaki asked me to clean…”
“Clean? … oh, I see. You’re on the staff now.”
“Y-yes…”
“Did he say anything about going near the desk?”
“… yes, sir.”
“Please do be more careful next time. Curiosity killed the cat… among other things. Hohohoho.”
“Yes, sir…”
Let’s never do that again.
Sadly for the protagonist, our actions aren’t dictated by such mundanities as “common sense” and “self preservation.” For a few months, though, the protagonist restrains herself, through a largely uneventful class hike and sports festival. She does attend at least one math class, though.
“I’m not getting this at all…”
“Hmm… maybe you should review the basics a little more, Thielle.”
“Y-yes, sir…”
Tera leveled up! Wisdom increased by 5!
She also does reasonably well in her midterm exam.
We’re getting them back today… Aah, I don’t think I did too well.
“Thielle!”
“Yes!”
“You worked hard. Keep going like that and you’ll do just fine. One day, you could surpass me. I’d love to see that!”
… I guess I did pretty well, after all! And mister Nanaki seems happy with me too. Yay!
I wonder what I should do during break…
Like any reasonable person, we’re going to head to the infirmary, despite being in perfect health.
“Umm, not exactly…”
“Then why are you here?”
We can claim that we came to hear Shuu’s voice, or to skip class. Flattery will get us everywhere, so…
“I wanted to hear your voice.”
“My voice?”
“Yes! You sound like Snufkin.”
Snufkin is, of course, a Moomin. Obviously.
“And?”
Shuu probably doesn’t care about Moomins.
“Umm…”
“Don’t tell me you came here just for that.”
“Would it be bad if I did?”
“You’re even stranger than I had thought. I’m fascinated. How I’d love to experiment on you… Sadly, I am busy at present. Please go elsewhere.”
“Okay…”
The protagonist seems awfully disappointed to not be experimented on.
I got kicked out. I guess being told I’m interesting is a step in the right direction… or is it?
I guess that depends on your definition of “the right direction.” Personally, I would consider the right direction to be “the one that gets us as far away as possible,” so we’re miserably failing on that one. And with that, I’ll leave this update there. Apologies for the severe delay, and please let me know if anything becomes confusing as a result of my liberal and haphazard editing. Until next time, everybirdie!