playerprophet

Welcome back friends to the finale of Shuu's route! This time I feel I need to put up a content warning for Shuu's finale. Read at your own risk!

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January 1st

The sun!
Its majestic brilliance sweeps across the land, lighting it into incandescent glory!
It's the first day of the new year. Looks like I'm still alive to enjoy it!
It's a little cold out, but it's calm and the sun is warm.
I think I'll go visit the shrine.

(St. Pigeonations' Institute)

There are a lot of birds here already. Must be nice to have some warm winter plumage...
Maybe I should borrow some from somebirdie.
I think I'll buy an amulet and go home.

"Hiyoko!"

"?!"

"Happy New Year! Here's to many happy returns, right?"

"What are you doing, Ryouta?"

"Exactly what it looks like! I'm working here today and tomorrow!"

"O-oh... it looks good on you...!"

"You came here to buy an amulet, right? Which one would you like?"

CONQUEST

"Here you go!"

"Thanks, Ryouta! Are you here all day today?"

"Yup! The first day's always busy."

"Oh well. I was going to ask if you wanted to get lunch together, but..."

"Sorry, Hiyoko. Maybe some other time?"
"Since you're here, why not go get a fortune? They're next to the main building, over there."

"Okay! Thanks. See you, Ryouta!"

"Hmm..."

"Mister Nanaki!
Happy New Year!"

"Oh, hello, Tosaka.
Happy New Year."

"Did you get a fortune, sir?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, I seem to have drawn the Chicken of Ill Omen... Why don't you take one?"

"I will!"
"Hmm, which should I take...?
...this one!"

THIS IS THE SAME ONE WE GOT IN NAGEKI'S ROUTE. I feel ripped off.

"Good, you got a better one than I did. I think this will be a good year for you, Tosaka."

"Thank you, sir!"

Wait, isn't that...

"Doctor...?"

"...!"

He's standing a little way away from the crowd.
Do partridges have winter plumage? He looks a little fluffier than usual.

"I wouldn't have expected to see you celebrating the new year here, sir!"

"Celebrating? Hardly.
I have no interest in gods, temples, or celebrations."

"Yup, that's what I thought!"

So wait, what's he doing here?

"...so what are you here for, sir?"

"I just happen to be passing by."

"But there's nothing else here! Why would you be..."

"Is it a crime to aimlessly wander the city in the morning?"

"N-no... I was just wondering."

"...such a crowd, all at once. And as you said, there's nothing else around here."
"Who would notice if one or two were to disappear...?"
"...well then. Goodbye, Miss Tosaka."

Happy New Year, creepy doctor man!

I feel the need to point out that in Yuuya's route, he was also at the temple snooping for someone.

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January 10th

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February 2nd
This is the introduction of Legumentine's! We're buying Racing Blend for the doctor.

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February 3rd

(St. Pigeonations' Institute)

Today's the day! The preparations are complete! Time to give the beans to that special somebirdie.

"I don't recall summoning you to duty today. What is it?"

The Doctor seems to be engaged in sweet embrace with a stack of papers on his desk.
He didn't even look at me, and from the sound of his voice, he wants me to leave.

"Do you know what day it is, Doctor?"

"...February third."

He glances at the calendar above his desk, and then returns to his papers.

"The anniversary of the first successful human embryo transfer."

"Really!?"

"Of course, test tube babies bad been successfully grown before then."
"So, what did you want? Were you hoping I would transfer you an avian ovum?"

"N-no!
I'd have to be a really sad girl to be fantasizing about bird eggs in the school infirmary."
"It's Legumentine's, sir. You give beans to the boy you like.
S-so, here!"

"You're giving these to me?"

"Yes!"

He finally looks over at me, but his expression is still... no, it's changed to something else.

"These are quite elegantly packaged."

"Yes! I got the most expensive ones for you, sir!"

"So these were sold to you as some sort of luxury item. I see."
"Such a thing would never have occurred to us, if we had lived long ago."
"To think that we live in a society where price is completely disconnected from amount and nutritional value."

Is this a roundabout way of saying that the beans aren't worth their pricetag...?

"The value comes from the fact that they are expensive alone...
Fascinating. I shall experiment on them later."

"No, you're supposed to eat them!"
"The nutritional value and appearance aren't important...
The important part is the fact that I gave them to you, today!"

"You gave me beans that anyone could get, with the money."
"...worthless."

Aaah, rejected!
...your resistance only makes my maiden heart burn stronger for you, doctor!

"In that case, I'll bring you beans that I grew myself, next year! Just you wait!"

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February 14th

The year is almost over... it feels like it started only yesterday.
This is the last day I have infirmary duty, as well.

"...?
The doctor's not here yet?"

The infirmary is quiet and peaceful as always. The orderly rows of medicines, the neatly-made be-

"...huh?"

Something stinks in here. It's coming from the bed behind the curtains...
I'm scared.

"!"

The sheets are stained brilliant red.
At the foot of the bed sits a washbasin, its liquid pink, with a stack of scissors coated in blood and feathers at the bottom.
The blood on the bed is still wet...

"Th-this is..."

The students who disappeared after going to the infirmary.
Yuuya.
That mysterious smile that the doctor gave when I asked him...

"I... I have to get out of here...
I have to tell someone...!"

I need to report it.
To the police?
Anyway, I need to get away.
I need to get out before he-

"You're early today, Miss Tosaka."

"!"

"...you're rather pale. Here, why don't you lie down?"

"D-doctor...
...this... blood..."

"Oh, forgive me.
I just finished dismembering another student, and hadn't cleaned up yet.
Please, pay it no mind!"

He didn't even try to deny it!
He... he...

"..."

There's a sound as Hiyoko tries the door.

The-
The door's locked...?!

"Going home so soon?"

"It won't... open..."

"Indeed it won't.
After all, there are so many bad little boys and girls who try to leave before their examinations are over...
Like you."

"D-doctor, you..."
"You really have been... cutting people up and using them for your experiments?"

"Do you really need to ask that?"
"After all, you even helped me!"

"Helped you...?
I... I would never...!"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten already? Just at the start of this semester you helped me destroy a little evidence."
"You brought back the ID card of one of my guinea pigs. I suppose I dropped it by accident.
You really helped me out, then. We can't leave things like that lying around, now can we?"

"Then... Yuuya?
What did you do to Yuuya?!"

"Oh? I thought you'd figured that out already."
"He's in here, Miss Tosaka.
In here."

The doctor reaches over and lightly strokes my stomach.

"The..."

The big one is...
...huh?
It looks like a roast chicken? Or maybe a turkey? I'm not sure what people eat on Christmas.
It's still warm! He must have had it delivered in a hurry.

"Of course, technically speaking, he's long since been digested and absorbed into your body, so we don't really know exactly where he is, now do we?"

"That... you can't be...
No... no...!"

"How did he taste?
I was worried he might be a little tough... I did so regret not having a better bird to send you.
It simply wouldn't do to have you throw him out."

That... that was Yuuya...?

"Aah! Aaaaah... that's a beautiful face, Miss Tosaka.
I have longed so dearly to see that face."
"You could tell from the start that I was dangerous, couldn't you? And yet you came to see me, again and again.
Very...
assertively."

"No... I just... had to come for infirmary duties..."

"Was that really it? You knew I planned to kill you, and yet you came anyway."
"...are you sure you didn't...
Have feelings for me, perhaps?"

No!
...I want to say, but my tongue is like lead in my mouth.
Maybe it's true. Maybe, somewhere deep inside, I love the doctor...

"I am afraid that I have room for only one love in my life, and that is research - but it would be cruel to ignore your earnestness.
And so I put much thought into how I would reward you."
"Just cutting you up would be a terrible pity... and I think I want to keep you by my side.
Forever."

He's going to kill me. I know he's going to kill me.
So why can't I move?

"And so, this is what I decided:
I shall preserve only your head.
It will be easily stored.
Of course, I can't let such a rare sample slip by, so I will remove your brain."

Why can't I pull my eyes from his?

"From the neck down, I shall cut you up and study you thoroughly.
Don't worry, you won't go to waste. I will make sure to examine your insides most...
Intimately."

Suddenly, he has a cleaver in his left wing.

"You have chased after death's allure most diligently.
I suppose you're too afraid to speak, now...?"

For a moment, my vision shifts to the ceiling, the wall, the floor, my eyes rolling wildly.
The world twists, soaked in red.
And so my life came to an end.

The screen goes black. I'm not sure if the normal ending ends here, or after the next part.

???

"We have an emergency report from the Pigeonation Project."
"The researcher we dispatched to the school has stolen a highly-classified sample, and fled."
"He took sample HB:087, the human head.
We have not confirmed that he is armed."
"We have sealed off the area.
He seems to be acting alone, so our retrieval squad should take care of everything quickly.
Please, help yourselves - the cheese danish are rather good."

"Hmph..."
"...have these brutes no mercy?
Though, I did agree to this from the start... hoho."
"We seem to be in a bit of a pickle, Miss Tosaka."
"They suddenly asked that I give you to them.
And to think that until now, they considered you worthless!"
"I was the one who preserved you so beautifully.
You like the jar, do you not?"
"Do you know of the mere-exposure effect?
It states that one can become attracted to things simply through repeated contact with them."
"A conundrum, indeed.
I think perhaps I have felt new emotions, since I acquired you."
"...we have but little time left together, I fear.
I do not like the idea of handing you over to them, so I think I shall break you once more."
"Of course, I do not wish to force you into a double suicide.
I shall break this glass only after confirming your feelings."
"...you loved me, did you not?"

"Hoho... hohoho... thank you.
I am... so glad I got to kill you."
"Good night, Miss Tosaka..."

The screen goes black, to the sound of breaking glass.

RS-17

"Contact!
In the water, left side!"

RS-14

"Weapons free! Take him down!"

Now that we've finished Shuu's Route (I hope you liked it!) we come upon the now-unlocked, penultimate chapter in the LP. Let's wish for the love of a fallen angel.