Now, whatever could this be…?
Yes, I think it’s time. Let’s Play…
I’m sure we’re all going to have a lot of fun on this bird dating adventure! Let’s start a New Game.
The protagonist’s default, and therefore canon name, is Hiyoko Tosaka. I hope you won’t mind that we’re using my name instead.
Dating Start!
A strange bird once said that. Who was that bird talking to…?
It’s already been a year since I ended my ordinary life and walked through these gates.
Okay, I can’t keep pretending it’s the start of the LP all over again. We’ve made our choice - to fulfill the promise. What promise? Good question.
Having made that choice, though, the school year starts as unassumingly as ever. We meet our cast of feathered friends, we go on school hikes, participate in school festivals, join school clubs and visit the bamboo tree on Tanabata. Things carry on more or less as usual until the second term starts.
The only hint that something deeper is afoot lies in the few introspective interludes that now punctuate these events.
I can see a little house on the other side of the fence. I wonder who lives there? I don’t think it’s anyone I know.
Ryouta is next to me, and my parents are here, too. We’re all together again, but…
… mom? Dad? Hey… wake up… Please…!
Normal days. Wacky shenanigans. Remember when Sakuya got in a fight with Okosan? Or that time mister Nanaki dozed off during class? … Well, those times?
Ryouta, my parents, and me, at a stranger’s house.
The strange bird who comes to me is a magician. He says he’ll grant any wish that Ryouta and I make.
Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But one day…
Before we know it, the semester is over and summer has already come and gone.
“See you tomorrow, everyone!”
Aah, classes always feel really long after summer vacation… I think I’ll go home and sleep.
“I’m going to go home, Ryouta. Want to come with—”
Huh? Ryouta isn’t at his desk. He’s always slow, so I don’t think he packed up and went home…
We rush out of the classroom to catch Kazuaki and ask about Ryouta’s whereabouts.
“Sir! Sir, wait!”
“Do you know where Ryouta went? I don’t think I’ve seen him since homeroom…”
“He went to the infirmary earlier. I think he wasn’t feeling well.”
“He had a stomach ache?”
“Mmm, could be. Maybe you should go check on him, if you weren’t going somewhere else.”
“I will!”
The protagonist cheerily departs for the infirmary, and the scene ends.
I’ve been slow getting out before, but I’ve never slept through my alarm like this! Maybe I’m not getting enough sleep… anyway, gotta go fast!
“Good morning, Kawara. We were just about to sit down.”
“Late on the second day? As expected of a feral.”
“Now, now; nobirdie’s perfect.”
As Ryouta takes his seat, something is amiss.
“…? Sir, where’s Tera? Isn’t she here?”
“Apparently not.”
“… no wonder her kind died off.”
Where are you, Tera? Usually you’d be here early… You were late yesterday, and now this?
“I think we can start homeroom now. Today we’ll do a little review on the history of birdkind.”
“You wait until now to teach that? What a pathetic country.”
“Of course, everyone learned it years ago. But it’s required for the second day of the semester.”
It hardly needs to be pointed out, but things are a little different in this timeline. Nobirdie’s changed, but something has shifted. We’re fulfilling the promise.
“At first it only infected birds, but it underwent a mutation and spread to humans. This mutated strain was highly infectious and had an extremely high mortality rate.”
“So the humans engineered a powerful virus to cull birds and prevent A(H5N1) from becoming pandemic. In hindsight it seems foolhardy and rash, but the world leaders of the time saw no better option.
… except the new virus didn’t work. Infected birds didn’t die.”
“That’s why doves make up the majority of professionally qualified workers today. Other birds, including quails like me, are still adapting to social life.”
“Anyway, the development of social intelligence in birds had a huge impact on their predators. Which leads me to the next point…
Since their gambit failed, humans were left defenseless to A(H5N1). Most died out. The few that are left now live peacefully with birds, though in the past there were large conflicts.
Aah, that’s the bell. We’ll vote on student council members in second period, so be on time.”
With a nod, class is dismissed.
Tera never came. I hope she’s okay. Maybe I should try calling her…
Looking up, Kazuaki makes eye contact with Ryouta.
“Kawara, do you have a minute?”
“Uh, sure.”
“We’re supposed to get our print boxes today. Would you mind picking ours up?”
“Our print box…?”
“Yup! It has all the hand-outs and everything. Since we don’t have a council yet…”
“Okay. It’s in the faculty room, right?”
“That’s right. If you could have it back here before second period, please.”
He smiles as Ryouta hurries off to the faculty room.
Inside the faculty office is a stack of cardboard boxes. These must be the ones.
“This one, maybe?”
I pick up the box marked 2-3. It’s awfully heavy…
“I guess paper isn’t exactly light when there’s this much of it…”
Box in wing, Ryouta returns to the classroom.
“It was a little heavier than I expected, but I was fine.”
“Let’s take a look inside, then. Just to make sure everything’s there… Huh? Did you cut your wing, Kawara?”
“Cut my… I don’t think so.”
“It’s bleeding.”
!
It is. Did I scratch myself on something? It doesn’t hurt at all…
A horrible realization dawns on Ryouta.
No. This isn’t my blood.
There’s blood leaking through a corner of the box.
I feel sick. But I reach out and open the lid anyway.
Inside the box
is a
human’s
head.
The eyes are glassy. But even like this, I still recognize her.
She wasn’t late. She was here all along.
“This… it can’t…”
The world spins, fading from black to red.
Thus begins Hurtful Boyfriend: Bad Boys Love. Yes, that’s really what this route is called. We’ll leave things right here for now. Until next time, everybirdie.