“As you all know, this school doesn’t require you to join any club. If you want to you can, but if you don’t then you’re free to go home after school.”
“Coo!”
(Okosan has time only for the track team!)
“That’s good. What about you, Shirogane?”
“A foolish question. I already hold a position here.”
“Oh, that’s right. You became student president when you were admitted.”
“Nepotism, ho! Don’t we get to vote!?”
“Just coming to school is enough for me.”
“You have to take care of your mother on your own, and all… Hmm, I wonder what I should do.”
At this point, you’re given the choice to join either the student council, track team, or library staff. Except, in this case, we’ve already made our choice — we’re headed to the track team to spend more time with our selected love interest… Okosan. I’m only judging you all a little bit.
“That’s everyone, isn’t it? Have fun!”
The rest of the day passes without incident.
Throughout the game, you’re given a number of elective days. Before going into detail on these, I’d like to draw your attention to the date indicator in the top left of the screen. As the game progresses through the year, the date is shown onscreen to ensure you’re never lost as days lacking any point of interest are skipped, because a whole year is a long time.
Anyway, at each elective day, you’re offered the choice of attending math, gym, or music class. These boost your wisdom, vitality, and charisma stats, respectively; these can be seen in the upper right. Fortunately, because this is a visual novel and not an RPG, the exact investment of stats doesn’t need to be too careful — they’re only good for unlocking the “true” ending of certain routes, and you can safely focus on only the stat required for whichever route you’re pursuing.
Okosan’s route is one of those routes that has a “true” ending, and it requires us to invest our electives in gym class and buff our vitality stat. So, that’s what we’ll do.
The protagonist’s naivete and optimism are equally unwavering.
Tera leveled up! Vitality increased by 5!
I want to join the team, but… I wonder if Okosan’s having a fit again. I’ll find out when I get there!
A fit he is having, though not over pudding.
In fairness, having a fit is more or less Okosan’s default state.
“Not really… I want to join the team. Do you know where the captain is?”
“Coooo!”
(He stands before you! Okosan is the captain, and a faster bird the world has never known!)
I never knew!
“Oh! Well… here! My forms! Thank you!”
“Coo!”
(A dove never refuses a challenge! Commence the entrance examination!)
“There’s an exam?”
“Cooo! Coo!”
(Of course! Track isn’t daisy-chain-making, missy! Okosan will be your opponent in noble combat! Sprint, or long-distance?)
“Umm…”
Now, birds are small, so presumably they would excel at sprinting, but lack the stamina required for long-distance running. Probably. We’ll go with that.
“Coo! Coo, coo!”
(Long distance? You’ve got guts! Let us begin! On your mark! Get set! Gooooo!)
How is he so fast!? He can’t even fly this fast!
Well, it was a nice plan in theory.
“-pant- …. -pant-“
“Coooo!”
(You’re still weak, but you’ve got potential! Welcome to the team!)
“Th… thanks…?”
“Coo!”
(That’s all, folks!)
And so I joined the track team. Who knew doves could run like that?
I guess Okosan seems to… like us? It’s hard to say. Anyway, we rejoin our protagonist a few days later, in a new environment - their home.
The furnishings are a little, uh, sparse. The protagonist lives a hunter-gatherer lifestyle… or so they say. Either way, it certainly looks it.
Oh! Tomorrow is the class hike! Should I prepare anything? We won’t be going far, so I don’t have to… Well, health first! I think I’ll have some udon and go to sleep.
It’s unclear how one hunts or gathers udon.
Here, we may choose to talk to Ryouta, Sakuya, Okosan or Kazuaki. Naturally, we’re going to hang out with Okosan some more.
I wonder where Okosan went? I haven’t seen him since we stopped here…
“Coo, coo!”
(It’s not here! The pudding is not here!)
Ah.
“It’s missing? Did you bring it to eat for lunch?”
“Coo!”
(No! Okosan believed that wonderful pudding could be found on hikes!)
“Is there a kind of pudding that lives in the mountains…?”
“Cooo!”
(Okosan will now search elsewhere for the pudding!)
… and he’s gone. What kind of pudding is he looking for, anyway?
Okosan seems to operate on a different reality to everyone else. A much more pudding-oriented reality. We’ll leave it there for now, and hopefully future installments will come a little faster. Until next time, everybirdie!