I don’t have anything to do, so I guess I’ll go look around.
Hmm…
“Oh, Thielle!”
“Mister Nanaki? What is it?”
“Your shift is tomorrow, right?”
“Yup!”
“Could you maybe help at the reception desk? We’re getting a lot more people than we expected…”
“Of course! I shall mete out information and directions like an Oni of old, cleaver in hand, seated atop a throne wrought from the skulls of my foes!”
That sounds a little intimidating for a receptionist…
“Thank you! I’ll go get a chair.”
“Okay!”
The day wears on, as we do our best to guide visitors to the festival.
“Aah… it looks like the crowd is thinning out a little. That was tiring…”
“Are you okay, sir?”
“I’m fine, just a little t… … zzz.”
“At least he held up pretty well until now…”
It’s almost time to clear up and prepare for classes tomorrow…
And so I spent the last hours of the festival nervously watching mister Nanaki sleep, slipping ever lower in his chair.
Frankly, he’s lucky to have us around.
A few months pass, before we find the ourselves at the end of another school day.
I think I’ll go home and spend some fulfilling TIME before going to bed!
The protagonist’s current THING is capitalising abstract concepts, I guess. Fortunately, someone shows up to stop her.
“Hi, Ryouta!”
“You know where mister Nanaki lives, right?”
“Yes, but… why do you ask?”
“He left his phone in the staff room. He’s already left, but… you know how slowly he moves. If you hurry, you could catch up to him before he gets home!”
“I could take it to him, but I need to run some errands for my mother before I go home, so I was wondering if maybe you could…?”
“Sure! I’m not doing anything.”
“Thank you!”
Mister Nanaki’s phone… now that I think about it, I don’t know anything about his personal life. Is he always as spacey as he is at school…? … he probably spends 97% of his time at home asleep.
Something flutters through the air, and not something as feathery as usual.
“… hmm?”
A piece of paper fell out of his phone case.
“What’s this…? …!”
It’s a photo. A photo of a bird, but… I can’t see the face at all. Someone’s scribbled all over it.
Looks kinda like one of those cups.
“Did… mister Nanaki do this? It doesn’t seem like him at all.”
I’ll just put it back in the case. Maybe I should pretend I didn’t see it…?
We hurry off to catch up with Kazuaki.
“Sir, you forgot your cellphone!”
“… so I did! Thank you for coming after me with it, Thielle. That was very nice of you.”
“No problem at all, sir! Umm…”
“Hmm? Was there something else?”
We can ask about the photo, or pretend we didn’t see it. Honesty is the best policy, and we can’t just let a mystery like that go unchased!
“Sir, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to look inside, but something… fell out.”
“Fell out?”
“Umm, the picture. I…”
“Aaah, yes, that. ……”
His expression shifts, the usual cheeriness fading and becoming unreadable.
“Don’t worry about it. After all, it’s not something you need to worry about, right?”
But I’m curious!
“It was… almost completely marked out.”
“Yes. Because I marked it out.”
He… he did!? I never would have believed it from someone else, but since it’s him saying so…
As the protagonist contemplates this, Kazuaki resumes his smile and gives a little wave as he turns to leave.
“Well, see you tomorrow!”
And so he left, with a farewell as carefree as if we’d just been talking about the weather. He… has a side I’ve never seen, doesn’t he…?
Seems to be a bit of a recurring theme around here.
A few weeks later, the protagonist is about to head home, in a hallway we haven’t seen before.
Well, I’m done cleaning, so I guess it’s time to go home.
“……?”
Where’s my phone? I remember looking at Daily Portal Z during break, so… I can’t have left it at home.
Daily Portal Z is a content aggregator operated by @nifty, previously one of the largest ISPs in Japan.
“We had chemistry lab today, right…?”
Maybe I left it in there…
We quickly head back, hoping the room hasn’t been locked up for the night yet.
The door…
is open. Good.
Sitting right on the bench I worked at.
“Sorry, were you lonely? Come on, let’s head home!”
On our way out, though, we run into someone else.
I bumped into…
“D-doctor…!?”
“… you again. Has your life no purpose aside from meddling with me?”
“No, I…!”
What is he even doing here? He came out of the chemistry prep room… right?
“Alone, after school, in the lab… what were you doing?”
“U-umm, I left something behind…”
“Did you see anything?”
“Eh…?”
“I’m asking if you saw anything.”
“Wh-what are you…”
What is he talking about? Would it be a problem if I had seen something?
“…… … very well. May I ask a favor of you, miss Thielle?”
“Ah, yes! What is it?”
The protagonist’s agreeable nature is kind of a liability.
“Could you bring me the files from the prep room? The black ones, on the desk.”
“… isn’t this the prep room right here?”
“They are… somewhat heavy, for me. But I am sure you will have no problem with them. Would you mind?”
“N-no, sir…”
In her defence, the doctor is… very persuasive.
I’m not sure I could get away with saying no. I’ll just do as he says…
I don’t see anything like what he asked me for…
As we fruitlessly search the dingy prep room, an ominous click emanates from the door behind us.
”!”
W-wait! ……
The protagonist tries the door handle in vain.
“I’m locked in…? D-doctor! Doctor, let me out! What are you doing!? Let me out! Brute! Villain! Fluffy heretic!”
No reply. The building’s going to be locked soon, and I didn’t tell anyone I was coming here…
“Waaaah…! Somebirdie, help me! The doctor locked me in here!”
Why did he do that? There’s no reason to, unless—
“H-he thinks I saw something I shouldn’t have… This must be his way of… Shutting me up. Or removing the evidence… That’s probably it.”
I’m in despair! This evil doctor who will probably be coming back with a cleaver or something has left me in despair!
Sayonara, zetsubird-sensei.
I’m not sure I could make it out the window… But I have to get out of here, quickly! How can I…!?
”!”
A noise breaks the protagonist from her scheming.
Footsteps. Coming closer. I have to hide! B-but there’s nowhere to hide in here…!
In the absence of any better course of action, the protagonist shuts her eyes and hopes for the best.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please, don’t—”
The swift death she fears doesn’t arrive, though.
… huh?
Opening her eyes, we see our saviour.
“What are you doing in here, Thielle? School is closed already!”
“M-mister Nanaki…”
“I thought I heard noises coming from over here… were you banging the door, Thielle? That’s not good. The door isn’t a punching bag!”
The protagonist is too busy counting her blessings to take issue with Kazuaki’s baffling admonishment.
I think I can see a halo around his head. I can practically here angels! I’m alive!
“There are some dangerous things in here, so don’t come in without asking, okay?”
“I-I didn’t come in of my own accord! The doctor—”
“That’s right, I asked her to.”
”!”
“Indeed. I am… truly sorry. I completely forgot I’d asked her to get something and locked her in and walked off.”
A likely story.
You locked the door as soon as I walked in here! Who are you, Clive Wearing!?
Clive Wearing is a musicologist, and famous as a case of profound chronic amnesia as well as for his accomplishments.
“Is that it? Well, then…”
“This whole thing stinks of ill-doing, mister Nanaki!”
“But the doctor said it was an accident. I think it might be best if you went home as soon as possible this time of year, Thielle. It gets dark so quickly.”
That is true. I wanted to leave early, but then all this happened!
“Well, then… I’ll head home now.”
“Stay safe! We’ll have a career plans survey tomorrow, so don’t forget the printout from earlier today.”
The protagonist nods and departs for home, as the camera fades out. However, it does not leave, lingering on the scene between Kazuaki and Shuu.
“Thielle is a very honest, nice girl, isn’t she? Though, she is a little bit restless.”
“I agree completely. Anyway, I shall excuse myself now. Good bye.”
“Doctor.”
Mister Nanaki’s face is oddly sombre.
“… yes?”
“That was a little sloppy. You failed to pay sufficient attention to your surroundings. That sort of thing will be the death of you, you know.”
“……”
“… just kidding. Accidents like that happen to everyone, and you remembered to come let her out in the end. Don’t worry about it.”
He smiles.
“… yes. Thank you, professor.”
The scene fades out once again, the plot substantially thicker than when it opened. And with that, I leave you all to mull over these new developments. Until next time, everybirdie!