Welcome back, everybirdie! I hope you’re all keeping well. The votes are in, and the results are curious: the winner is a bird we actually haven’t seen yet, Anghel Higure. I admire your collective sense of adventure.
In our brave new timeline, our school year starts out quite unassuming. It’s not until a few months later, at Tanabata, that things start to get quite curious.
There’s probably a bamboo tree in the plaza this year, too… I think I’ll go make a wish.
A few recognizable wishes hang from the branches, but they’re of no interest to us for now. Instead, a more pressing matter is on our mind:
What should I wsih for?
In past routes, as I detailed in the first, we can choose here to conquer the world by foce, rule the world from the shadows, or become a famous artist. Each of these gives a slight stat boost. However, this time, we have a new option, as well. We can choose to wish for something far greater.
“I wish for the mad love of a fallen angel!”
The world hears the protagonist’s wish, but doesn’t answer. We meet Kazuaki, but elect to walk ourselves home. Of course, a wish on a bamboo tree can’t mean anything, can it?
Finals are coming up and the glum depression is already setting in, but at least we won’t have to swelter in the classroom all afternoon. … why is a school this famous even stingier with its air conditioning than a public school, anyway?
A friendly face accompanies us.
“Ryouta?”
“Have you had lunch yet? I was about to go to the cafeteria. Want to come with me?”
“Okay! I heard they’ve expanded the menu, and I wanted to try it sometime. They have massacred ramen now!”
“Is that like half-dead fried rice?”
The cafeteria seems to have some, uh, curious naming conventions, to say the least.
“Probably! And Oko—”
Suddenly, a great commotion fills the hall, cutting the protagonist off with crashing and banging.
“What!? What’s going on!?”
I turn around to see a short dove standing behind me, his chest stained a deep red.
“You… are you the one who called forth this disaster? The one who invoked the Braud Taris of the Blue Sky?”
I have no idea.
Better get used to that.
“Th-the blood! You’re bleeding!”
”!
My chest… You are…!”
“Ryouta, I don’t think he understands Japanese! We have to get him to the infirmary!”
“Oh… don’t worry. Look closely, he isn’t hurt at all.”
“What? But the blood…”
“He’s the Luzon from the class next to ours. Their plumage just looks like that.”
“What, really!?”
“Correct. I am Higure Anghel, the Fallen Servant of God, stained with the Blood of Sin.”
This impressively upholstered bird is Higure Anghel, He’s in the class next to ours, so he must be another sophomore. That’s an odd name… I wonder if he came from overseas, like Sakuya? His Japanese is kind of strange, too.
Hoo… hoo boy. For those keeping score at home, that’s three crucifixes (crucifices?).
“Agh! The corruption spreads faster than I expected… I had hoped to find it before it came this far…! Sleeping Servant of the Heavens!”
“Yes!?”
Umm, he is talking to me, right?
“Time is slipping by. Judgment draws ever nearer! You must find The Truth by the Light of the Red Moo—”
Abruptly, Anghel seizes up, as if stricken by some invisible force.
“Gah! I must last… a little longer…! Be silent, Crimson Breast…!”
“You are hurt, aren’t you!?”
“Do not touch me!”
The protagonist withdraws their helping hand.
“Farewell, Edel Blau of the Blue Sky. Fate decrees that we shall meet again!”
With about as much commotion as he arrived with, Anghel flutters off down the hall.
He’s gone. What was that all about?
“I think you’ve picked up a weird one, Tera.”
Don’t need to tell us twice.
“Hmm… let’s go eat lunch!”
Or maybe you do. A few days later finds us back in the classroom.
“Pathetic, Thielle. As expected of a mere mammal.”
“Aren’t you uncomfortable, too? I thought doves fared badly in the heat.”
“Letting your weakness show in front of others is the mark of the vulgar class.”
“Hmm… maybe I should take a leaf out of your book.”
A great crashing and clattering interrupts the exchange, somehow familiar in its own way, as a figure bursts into the classroom.
Him again!
Him again.
“… who is this?”
“I think he’s named Anghel. He’s the class eccentric next door.”
“Hmph, another peasant. None of you have the right to even be in this school. Go back to the Phillippines and bang some coconuts together, why don’t you.”
In addition to being a haughty, stuck-up upper class dick, Sakuya is also kind of super racist. I guess maybe that’s not super surprising. We might have even covered it before.
“Luzon Bleeding-hearts are from the Phillippines?”
That would be why they’re called “Luzon” Bleeding-hearts. The Phillippines have bananas, right? Now I want to call him “Bananaman”.
Despite her incredibly good intent, the protagonist is leaning dangerously close to super racist territory herself. Alas.
Incidentally, Sakuya is about as unhinged as Anghel, so maybe they should be friends.
“I have no business with you, Hallowed Magician of White.”
With a dramatic whoosh, he turns to face us.
“Apostle of the Blue Sky!”
“Yes!?”
“Can you not… remember who I am?”
Umm…
We have two options: that Anghel is a fallen angel, or that we just don’t know. Based on some context clues, I think we can make the correct guess here.
“Could you be… a fallen angel escaped from the Demonic Prison of Judecca!?”
”!
… have you awoken at last, Apostle Edel Blau!? We have but little time left. You must decide! Will you cross swords with me on the promised ground, or—”
Once again, Anghel is seized by some unknowable force.
“Agh…! No! Not now…!”
“A-Anghel!?”
He flies away down the corridor, in spite of my protests. What a busy bird.
Well, I guess that’s one word for it. Before long, we have our final’s back and the semester winds to a close.
Sometimes it seemed long and sometimes it seemed short, but either way, it’s summer now!
On the way, we meet our new friend again.
“Hello, Anghel!”
“Edel Blau of the Blue Sky. I am about to open a Gate to the Other World. What will you do?”
>invento— Nah, not that kind of game.
“A gate to the other world? You mean—”
He stares intently towards the end of the hallway.
“… the infirmary?”
“A mere disguise, Edel Blau. I sense a powerful, Evil Magic inside—no doubt the Tree of Blight, Rufa, has taken root within. Left alone, it will soon swallow the entire school We must stop it now…!”
I mean, he’s not wrong…
I wonder how doctor Iwamine would react to an eccentric Filipino breaking down his door.
We can intervene, or let Anghel go ahead with his reckless mission. For his safety, we’re going to warn him against it.
“The time is not yet come, Crimson Angel of Judecca!”
”!
Is that true, Edel Blau? … indeed, my Demonic Red Eye feels no murderous aura. Perhaps it would be wise to wait and observe for a while…”
“That’s probably a good idea. The doctor doesn’t take kindly to roughhousing, I think.”
Anghel leaves, satisfied.
That’s the protagonist’s way, after all… Sorry, that’s a bit blue, isn’t it? For now, we too shall leave, satisfied. Until next time, everybirdie!