Welcome back, everybirdie. We find our protagonist on Christmas Eve, closing up the library.
“Oh, no! It’s snowing!”
It was clear when I left! Crossing the wilderness to get to my house in a blizzard… I’d be risking my life.
“Nageki!”
A book under his arm, the same as always. I do wonder about last time… But, if he wants to talk, then he’ll talk to me. For now, I won’t bring it up.
“I was about to go home, but…”
“… snow?”
“Mmhmm. I guess I’ll have to wait until it stops.”
He makes a noise of agreement, and sits down next to me with his book. He’s been a little distant lately, but maybe he’s warming up to me in his own way…?
“What are you reading?”
“Dickens. ‘A Christmas Carol’.”
“Oh! It’s Christmas Eve today, isn’t it?”
Nageki raises his wing to his beak in a shushing gesture.
“Please keep quiet in the library.”
“Sorry…”
I completely forgot! I guess this makes it a white Christmas. More like a whiteout Christmas, if you ask me!
“Looks like you’re almost finished?”
“Yup. I just got to the part where Tiny Tim dies and Scrooge sees his own grave.”
“That sounds like a… depressing story.”
“… you haven’t read it? Even though you work here?”
“I’m Buddhist, so Christmas stuff has never been…”
“Tim is a boy born weak, who dies young. The protagonist, Scrooge, sees that that will happen, and tries to prevent it.”
“Time travel? I thought it was a classic, but it sounds kind of science fiction-y…”
“I can see that. It’s not really the focus of the book, though.”
“I’d like to see the future… It would be nice being able to avoid getting into trouble.”
“… I wouldn’t like it.”
“No?”
“… the future is what it is. It is what it is, and that’s all there is to it.”
And so we enjoyed the “present” point in time along which we flowed. This is a nice way to spend Christmas, I think.
It’s unclear how or when we find our way back home, but what’s more important is that it happens. The new year arrives, and soon, third term.
Once again, third term means Legumentine’s, and we select some country millet for Nageki, taking it with us to the library.
And unsurprisingly! The heating doesn’t work well here, so the winter cold will stick around well through February. The pervading chill has earned the library the dubious honor of being one of the school’s least popular places in winter.
The few students here are huddled around the heater. So, Nageki should be…
Sitting in a frigid corner far from the meagre effects of the heater, as expected.
“Please be—”
“— quiet in the library.”
We’re finishing each other’s sentences! Adorable.
Oh, can you somehow forgive my dreadful sin?
“Brrr, it’s cold here… are you okay, Nageki?”
“I am fine. Don’t mind me, miss Thielle. Feel free to go sit by the heater if you’re cold.”
“Nope, I’m fine! My house doens’t have a heater at all. Anyway, I… have something to give you. It’s Legumentine’s, you know. Here! Foxtail millet!”
“… for me?”
“Yup! You’re supposed to give beans to the most important bird in your life today. … do you want them?”
“… yes. Thank you.”
He looks happier than usual. Or is it my imagination…?
“I often ate these, when I was younger… This brings back memories. Thank you, miss Thielle.”
“You’re welcome, Nageki!”
A few days later, we find the protagonist in her chilly cavern.
Oh! I’m out of firewood! What should I do? Climbing down to gather more right now would be dangerous…
…… Well, I can last one night in the cold! Good night!
The next morning, though, Ryouta has some concerns for the protagonist’s wellbeing.
“… huh? What do you mean?”
“You look kinda sick… your skin’s all pale.”
“I’m fine. Maybe it’s your imagination?”
“Hmm… well, okay. You’re always healthy, after all.”
He doesn’t look too convinced.
“That’s right. I’m the toughest guy in the town!”
“You’re not a guy, Tera!”
I mean, that’s not really for Ryouta to judge.
“Oh, I need to go to the library today. See you, Ryouta!”
“See you!”
Last night was awfully cold… But I don’t feel sick or anything. Probably just Ryouta worrying about everything, as usual!
That’s a little rude, but whatever. As we enter the library, we check for the usual suspects.
“Umm, I’m returning books that’ve wandered away from home to their loving families, and—”
“Wandered away from home? … ah. Misshelved books.”
“Right. I’m almost done, but… where do you think this one goes? I flipped through it, but I can’t tell if it’s fiction, or psychology, or science, or what!”
“It should have a genre mark.”
“Genre mark?”
“Isn’t there a label near the bottom of the back cover?”
“Oh, yes, there is! But it’s all numbers.”
Nageki gives a look like he might be arching an eyebrow, if he were equipped with eyebrows.
“… you work here and you don’t remember the classifications? How have you been filling them up until now?”
“Woman’s intuition!”
He stares at me with eyes like scornful daggers. Stop iiiiiiiit! You’ll leave a hoooooole!
“Give it to me. This is… natural science. It starts with 4, so it’s physics. The second number is a 5, so—”
Nageki gives us a funny look as the protagonist wobbles a bit on her feet.
“… are you listening?”
“Yes. Yes!”
“The second number is a 5, so this is a book on seismology. So it should go—”
Suddenly, the world goes black.
“Miss… Thielle…? What’s wrong, miss Thielle? … hey, say something…! Somebirdie… somebirdie…! How can I get someone else’s attention…!?
……”
We come to again under a familiar ceiling.
I feel lousy. Where am I? I feel like I’ve—
“The infirmary…?”
“Tera!”
Another bird enters our field of view.
“How do you feel? Are you all right? Do you remember who I am? Can I get you anything? Would you like me to peel you an apple?”
“W-wait, Ryouta… I can’t answer all that at once!”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Why am I here, of all places?”
A different voice floats in, followed soon by its owner.
“You wound me.”
“You collapsed, and Kawara brought you here. Any other questions?”
“Collapsed…?”
I do feel really heavy… I was fine just a minute ago.
“A sudden fever, and inflammation of the upper respiratory tract. A cold, and nothing more. … though, the violent episode leaves me somewhat puzzled.”
“The… violent episode…?”
“You don’t remember? You kicked down the library door.”
“I remember no such thing!”
“I heard the flass smashing as I was heading home, and when I went to look I found you collapsed in the doorway. There was no one else there, so I figured it was you who…”
“I made that much of a mess while I was out cold…?”
“Do you think you might have some deep-seated desire to indulge in violent acts?”
“Don’t make me sound like some sort of psychopath! -cough- -cough-“
“You have to rest, Tera! I’ll sit with you. Doctor, I think you’re making her worse by hanging around like that, so please go back to whatever you were doing.”
“My, I am unpopular. Is that any way to speak to a member of the faculty? … but, very well.”
The protagonist closes her eyes as the doctor departs.
Everything inside my head feels fuzzy. I’m causing trouble for Ryouta… I’m probably going to have to pay for the library door, too…
The library… where’d Nageki go? Natural sciences start with 4, and… Umm… I wonder if he put it back on the right shelf…?
With that thought, she drifts off into a feverish sleep.
A few days later, we’re hale, hearty, and attending the library desk again.
Aah, sorting all of these takes forever! I think I just have the encyclopedias to do before I’m done.
Something catches our eye, though.
“Huh?”
There’s a note on the help desk counter. Umm…
“Miss Thielle. Be here after the other students have all left. —Fujishiro Nageki”
It reads like a challenge to a Samurai duel. … how fitting. I think this is the first time he’s approached me? I wonder what it’s all about.
At the end of the school day, we return to the appointed time and place.
“Nageki?”
A faint voice drifts through the room.
“…ver…ere…”
“Nageki!”
”!
You startled me! How long have you been standing there?”
“From the very beginning.”
“So, what did you need?”
“I want to… talk with you, miss Thielle.”
“Talk with me?”
“Continue our conversation.”
We were talking about… bullying, I think?
“Okay. I’m all ears, Nageki.”
“I’m… not sure where to start. I’ve noticed a lot, since we last spoke together.”
He pauses, fidgeting slightly.
“…… Miss Thielle.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s go outside.”
“What!?”
But… he hates going outside!
“Come on!”
He stands up, and walks over to the door. I follow, agitated.
“You first.”
“Okay…”
We step out into the corridor outside.
“… huh?”
Nageki has not joined us in the corridor.
“What’s wrong? You said you wanted to come out here…”
“What are you doing? … mime?”
“Watch.”
He walks back a little ways into the library, and then…
Runs forward, crashing into the air.
“Nageki, what—”
……
“……?”
He bounces off the invisible wall, and falls back into the library. That’s… too good to be a mime act.
“What…?”
“I… can’t leave this room. I wake up in this library. After a while, I lose consciousness and wake up here again. And so it repeats.
I said I’d come to understand the truth by talking to you, miss Thielle. You’ve probably noticed, too. Why no one else talks to me.”
The game allows us to choose a very obviously correct answer, and a very obviously wrong answer. We’re picking the correct one.
“I’m… the only one who can see you?”
“… probably. I forgot why I was here. How I came to be stuck in this place… I’ve been alone here for years, with no one to talk to.”
“For years…?”
“I cannot feel or remember its passage. I’ve seen at least… five school festivals go by.
But then, you came. And talked to me. I had had no partner but myself for so long, and suddently… You wouldn’t leave me alone.
As I talked to you, I finally remembered… why I can’t leave.”
”?”
“And so here I stay. My clock broke here, its hands turning meaninglessly, each day the same as the last. Alone… forever…
No one is bullying me, or ignoring me. I’m not here to begin with.”
He looks… faint.
“It was my choice to end my life here, after all. But… I think I will miss you, miss Thielle. If I wasn’t like this… I would… I would have liked to talk to you more, for longer…”
“Nageki…”
I wrap my arms around him. I can feel him, softly… But he’s cold.
“At first, sitting here alone was painful. But I grew numb, over time… I ceased to feel pain.
That feeling, that I thought I had lost, came back… Because of… You…”
“I-I’ll talk to you enough to make up for everyone else, Nageki! Maybe one day you’ll be able to leave…”
“… no.”
“Why not…?”
“As I talked to you, I… changed. I didn’t notice until just recently… When you told me about this school, I was probably trying to take back the time I… was never able to spend here.
I never asked you to, but you relentlessly told me everything that was going on here. I already feel like I’ve spent a full year at this school… And… now it’s over.”
“Nageki…!?”
His head is right next to mine, but his voice sounds muffled and distant. When I look down, his feet are already disappearing…
“Nageki, wait! We’ve… we’ve never talked like this before! I don’t want this to be the last time…!”
“Don’t cry, miss Thielle. I’m already long gone. There’s no one here to mourn.”
“But…!”
“The thing that I noticed. The secret that stopped my clock…”
“No! No, don’t say it! Nageki, I…”
“As I filled up, I grew closer to disappearing. You’re the one who made me disappear, miss Thielle. I can’t stop it now.”
“But I still have so many things to tell you…!”
“You’ve already given me more than enough. I’m satisfied.
The secret…”
Everything fades to white as Nageki finally leaves this plane.
The credits roll.
Thank you all, once more, for joining me on this emotional rollercoaster of a game. This concludes the last of our routes, but rest assured, this story is not over, and nor is this LP.
Hopefully before too long, we’ll return with the final, “true” route, resolve some of the many mysteries of St. Pigeonation’s, and if any of you are anything like me, cry a lot. Please look forward to it. Until next time, everybirdie.