Part 50: Episode 46: Runaway (Ending No. 5)

I haven’t seen Yuuya since New Year’s. Apparently he hasn’t come to school all semester… There are rumors that he dropped out, but could that really be true?
I feel like a hole has opened up in my heart. I think I’ll go drown my sorrows in arcade games.


I headed into town with my mind on Keymania, when I thought I saw something unusual.

Yuuya!?
…Mon amie!?

H-hey, w-w-w-w-w-w-wait!
!
U-uh, Goon, could you not grab me so tightly?

Yuuya pulled away and flinched as I grabbed him, what could he…
!

Yuuya, is your wing bro…
Look out!


!?
A gunshot!?

Opening fire on a lady!? Such insufferable cads they are.

We ran all the way to the park, and it seemed by then we had lost whoever had been chasing us.


Yuuya, what’s going on? Please, explain yourself! What are you? Why are people trying to kill you? Are you a wanted man!?

Do you know of the Hawk Party and the Dove Party, mon amie?
The political factions?
Right. They were names used in human politics, but now they carry a different meaning.
The Dove Party believes we should live peacefully with the remaining humans, while the Hawk Party believes we should exterminate them to make room for birds.

Wh… What…!?

Of course, it’s not like the entire faculty is working for them. There’s only one Hawk agent actually working at the school.
By contrast, I was dispatched by the Doves to infiltrate the school and investigate the experiments.
As you said, I’m a wanted man. Ahaha, I’m proud to live up to that title! I’m an expert at clandestine information retrieval, and information is valuable.
I imagine you’ve already realized why I was acting as a helper in the infirmary.

I had known something had been suspicious about him, but to be a political agent…?
The Hawk agent has to be Dr. Iwamine then, right?
Correct.
“Iwamine” is no doubt an assumed name. He’s a researcher for the Hawk Party, and has been developing anti-human biological weapons using data collected during physical examinations.
Remember when we bumped into each other at the school shop?
Yes, I think we…
I was investigating where the products sold there come from.

!
Th-that’s horrible…
But, if the doctor was out to exterminate humans, why did he never do anything to me?
Hmm… This is just my interpretation, but I don’t think he holds any political ideals. I think he trusts only in his own knowledge, and his own power to expand that knowledge.
Something like… a mad scientist, maybe?
Exactly.
I suppose it never occurred to him to target you, since you were working for him. I think he was more interested in observing your interactions with the other students.
I wanted to reveal the Hawks’ involvement in the school, but… In the end, it proved to be too much for me alone.
And now, well… I can no longer live in the open. I plan to leave this city tonight.

Yuuya…
You may already have been marked as one of my associates, and if that is the case, then leaving you alone would be dangerous.
…I’m sorry I got you involved in all this, mon amie.
Hardly! I was the one who approached you. You don’t need to apologize.
Ahaha, you’re such a nice girl. Thank you.
Hmm…



After this, all of this, could I possibly leave him? We’ve connected so much this year, and there’s no way I’m going to let him go that easily.
I want to go with you.
Are you sure? You may be putting your life at risk.
Don’t make me say it twice.
Aah… Somehow, I was hoping you’d say that. I haven’t been this happy in a long time.