Hey, maybe I should set a more rigid update schedule for these. Last time, we lied about sexily and luxuriously sunbathing with Yuuya. Now, we get our finals back. We didn’t do very well, but hey. The semester’s all but over now.
Sometimes it seemed long and sometimes it seemed short, but either way, it’s summer now! I should probably find out if I need to come to school to clean the infirmary at all.
“Well, I will be here just about every day the building is open… but there isn’t any real need for you to come too.
“There’s nothing I could do to help?”
“No. Was there anything else?”
Last route, we asked about the missing students, but this time we’ll keep our beak out of affairs that don’t concern us. Sometimes.
“No, that’s all.”
“I will ask you to leave, then. You aren’t an unpleasant companion, but I have many experiments to conduct.”
What did he mean by “experiments”, anyway? Like a chemist does?
Something like that. In a blink of an eye, we laze away the summer days, until the summer festival rolls around again. We invite Yuuya to join us.
“Oh! Yuuya! Sorry, did I keep you waiting?”
“Don’t worry about it. A gentleman never keeps a lady waiting, so I always show up half an hour early.”
That’s… pretty early.
Yuuya may be hasty, but he does like to be prepared.
“Shall we go, mon amie?”
“Eh…!?”
“Don’t tell me you’re a hand-holding virgin?”
But Yuuya, you don’t… have hands.
“Better late than never. You were the one who invited me. Okay?”
That’s not the problem here!
“Umm… okay.”
His feathers are… soft…
Lost in the wonders of the world and wing, we while away a while… Sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I promise I’ll steer clear of such awful alliteration in future.
“Umm, Yuuya…!”
“What is it? Do you want to play some more? The night is yet young, and if dangerous games are your desire, I will accompany you.”
“Th-that’s not what I meant! I… wanted to ask you something.”
“Of course. Just, my height and weight are classified information, so I can’t tell you those.”
What a sense of humour!
“Why did you lie to doctor Iwamine?”
Time flashes back to that fateful conversation, when we covered for Yuuya. You can hit the “back” link and pretend it’s sepia, if you want. Mostly, I trust you remember.
“I came straight from cleaning my classroom. I hadn’t seen you before I went into the infirmary. But you told the doctor that we’d been together. Why?”
“That was… a month ago, now. I was hoping my obligation to explain had lapsed. You knew I was lying, then. So why did you play along?”
“Because… the doctor looked mad? I felt like if I didn’t help you he was going to do something to you— … hey! I’m asking the questions here!”
“Ahaha. Sorry, mon amie, your hunter-gatherer instincts are too much for me. But yes, if you hadn’t helped me back then… I’d probably be in little plastic bags in the freezer by now.”
“Th-that’s not funny!”
“Indeed, it isn’t funny at all. And it’s not a joke. Ahaha.”
Ironically, it’s a little funnier since we know it really isn’t. The protagonist is naive to this, though.
“Please, give me a straight answer, Yuuya…”
“That was a straight answer. I’m always straight, in love. Almost always.”
Almost. ;)
“No, I meant…”
”!”
Yuuya seems suddenly on edge, springing to alertness.
“Uhh, Tera, could you do me a favor?”
“What now? You’re just trying to avoid the question again.”
“Ssshhh. Listen. I’ll only say this once.”
?
What’s going on? His usual detached air is gone. He’s looking around, almost nervously…
“… I’m sorry, mon amie. It looks like we had better split up. Can you get home all right by yourself?”
“O-of course I…”
“Good girl. We’ll part ways as soon as we reach that intersection. I’ll head into an alleyway, so go straight home. Don’t look back. The night roads are laden with traps. Be careful. Adieu, mon amie!”
He turns briskly and disappears into a narrow alley. What on earth is going on? He told me not to look back, but…
Before we have time to ponder the sudden and decidedly unwelcome shift in Yuuya’s manner, a loud noise rings out in the night.
!
A gunshot…!?
Dwelling on it no further, the protagonist hurries back to her place of residence.
“Did you make it home in one piece? I’ll be visiting in your dreams, mon amie, so sleep well.”
The message bears no trace of the tension I felt in him earlier. Are you all right, Yuuya…? He really is a mysterious bird. I think I’ll assume that his existence is one of the seven mysteries of St. Pigeonation’s.
The protagonist sleeps peacefully enough, perhaps to be visited by Yuuya’s spectral presence, as promised. We may never know. About a week later, we find our heroine on an evening walk.
I think I’ll get some udon and go home before I get life counseled.
Suddenly, we spot a familiar figure.
He’s rummaging around in a garbage can.
“Yuuya, what are you doing!? Have you fallen so far, mongrel?”
Let’s hold off on the name-calling, alright?
“Good evening, mon amie. You sound rather like a certain someone.”
“I-I can’t believe you need to fish around in trash cans for food, Yuuya…!”
“Please, don’t misunderstand, mon amie. I was looking for something. Sadly, no clues were to be found in this barrel.”
Clues…? What is he talking about?
Astute readers may note certain parallels between this route and our last.
“Let’s keep this a secret from Sakuya, shall we? I would hate for him to have new names for me when school starts up again.”
“‘Mister garbage disposal’!”
Thanks for illustrating.
“Something like that. I would like to escort you home, mon amie, but unfortunately I am somewhat busy at the moment. Will you be all right on your own?”
“A hunter-gatherer can always find her way home!”
“Indeed. Adieu, mon amie!”
The smell of garbage surrounding him fades as he strides off into the night, but the mysteries don’t. What was he looking for?
No answers come to us as we return home. In another few weeks, we preemptively return to school, give Kazuaki our wonderful and fanciful spiel, and then soon actually return to school.
On our first day back, we return a mysterious ID to Kazuaki, rather uneventfully. Time passes in a similar fashion until we come to the school festival.
I don’t have anything to do, so I guess I’ll go look around. Didn’t Yuuya say his class was doing a butler cafe in the courtyard? Hrrm. As a member of the maid team, I can’t ignore this threat.
We can choose to spy on them, or not. I hope our course of action is obvious.
They have all this, and we’re stuck in a classroom!? I think we’ve already lost in terms of location…
“Yuuya!”
It’s no maid outfit, but Yuuya does cut a pretty dashing figure in a suit.
“How kind of you to come see m… Wait, no. Welcome back, my lady. Please, come this way.”
Oh! He does look good. I think I’m blushing.
Hook, line and sinker.
“Y-you’re not fooling anyone, Yuuya! You say that to everybirdie, right?”
“It is my duty, for today. Please forgive me, my lady.”
“Geez!”
“What’s your class doing, mon amie?”
“A maid cafe.”
“Well, well! I suppose that makes us rivals. You’ve certainly done a good job of infiltrating our base, I must say.”
The protagonist is a master of tactical espionage action. Or she’d probably say that. Nerd.
Maids VS Butlers: Battle of the Schoolground. … I think it’s a bit much.
“You’re not on duty today? Or are you taking a break?”
“I’m on duty tomorrow.”
“I see. In that case, I shall come witness your maidery. I will, of course, ask for you.”
I don’t know how to really transcribe that. The star, mostly. So here’s a screenshot. With that parting note, we’ll leave it there for now. I truly hope to have a new update for you all sooner this time! Until next time, everybirdie!