Work Text:
*There are time skips larger than a day between the entries.
Entry 1 xx/xx/24
Amidst the bustling crowd of noisy students, I managed to find my way throughout the crowd. It has been a few days since I’ve been in this school, and I managed to ‘claim’ a table in the canteen: in the middle lane, all the way at the back. There was a large window at the rear part of the canteen, which made it so that our spot was sometimes too sunny; in that case, we’d pull the curtains - which gets jammed easily, then we’d have to tug at it. In the corner of my eye, I spotted something. A bird, unknowing of its surroundings. It was sitting atop of a ledge, the ledge where buildings would usually either abandon or use it to put exhausts that would, in any other case, have no place to put.
“Let’s name it Haru.”
“Haru? Where did that come from?”
“I’ve noticed it only comes by on sunny days,” my friend explained, “And, well, Haru means that, I think.”
“You just wanted to name it after a character you like, huh?” Haru, the bird that would sometimes come by and also the stunning idol from a rhythm game we both liked, how fitting.
To be honest, I also found that bird intriguing. I don’t know, something just draws me to it, I guess? Maybe it was the sense of familiarity. These birds are basically everywhere around the city. Some old geezers like to go to a park and feed them crumbs from a sandwich they were eating. A lot of young people - young adults, more specifically - seem to despise them. They’d throw things at them, then laugh.
I hope not to be that type of person in the future. Maybe when I grow up, I’d just mind my own business, live along the birds or something.
Entry 2 xx/xx/24
“It’s Haru again, it brought a friend!” My friend exclaimed, pointing at Haru (probably), with another bird. We named it An, because its feathers were white, in contrast to Haru’s slightly gray ones.
Haru and An must have been thirsty today, because they were sipping up the water near one of the fan exhausts. Whether that water is actually consumable or not, I do not know; they’re birds in the end though, so it shouldn’t matter too much what water they drink. Hell, I bet even this water is cleaner than the ones they drink daily. I really do wonder, where do birds drink their water? Do all of them get it from fan exhausts?
Haru and An flew away when our break was about to end. I wish they could’ve stayed longer. A pair of two small birds, isn’t that just lovely?
Entry 3 xx/xx/24
For once, our canteen was silent, so silent you could probably hear a grain of rice drop on the floor. The rice they serve in the canteen is dry anyway so it is a possibility. Our form teacher was really upset at us, I don’t even know why. I feel like she makes up excuses to get fired up at this point. “I’m so disappointed in all of you, the children over at the primary block aren’t even as loud!” As if. If you want to be angry at us, at least tell the truth. Maybe say how we’re too old for all this to tomfoolery. Or how we need to grow up.I wish adults could just face the fact that they lie more than children.
Not like we are children, not anymore - according to everyone else.
In more recent days, Haru and An have been coming by less frequently. Maybe the ledge outside our school canteen isn’t the best place for those two to be in. They deserve to be somewhere else. Anywhere, just not here. Sometimes only Haru would come, An must be away, busy, doing whatever birds do. Lingering around is more of a house pet kind of thing anyway. Not for wild birds.
Haru and An flew away much sooner today. They have been doing so as of late.
Entry 4 xx/xx/25
Haru and An never came back.
Oh well, whatever happens, happens. They were just birds. Birds that were now in the past. Having them stay nearby, being able to spot them from somewhere safe, somewhere where neither of us could’ve reached each other, that was nice. That sense of security.
I just wish I wrote something the last day, the day they left. Maybe then I would’ve stopped and appreciated it more. A pair of two small birds, wasn’t that just lovely?
Those birds, that became smaller as they flew further away, it felt like our farewell was too soon.
And before I knew it, Haru and An had left our lives, with no signs of coming back.
Entry 5 xx/xx/26
The catering for our food, it must have changed. The rice actually tasted good for once, and I’ve never felt so full. Hope for this school might not be completely lost. Not only that, there was another bird sitting atop of the ledge today. Its feathers were black, and it kind of looked like an 8-ball. It didn’t move at all. Just standing still, as if it saw something cruel happen, or maybe something cruel happened to it. Not like anyone seemed to care, they just either dismissed it completely or admired it, calling it cute - which it was, but its behaviour seemed strange to me.
8-ball, it did look overfed. Did the owner do that? No, that couldn’t have been it. A passerby, possibly. Or it could’ve eaten something on the street, maybe it didn’t know. Maybe it didn’t know what would happen to it.
Another friend of mine, who sat nearer to the window, told me that she actually saw the bird yesterday. I must’ve not noticed. She told me it was standing somewhere else, closer to the fan exhaust. That’s odd, from where I sit, the view to the fan exhaust should be much clearer.
Then again, even if you’re close to it, it doesn't mean you’d notice.
Entry 6 xx/xx/26
We all noticed the second we stepped near the window. The bird’s body, laying in the same place it was yesterday, motionless.
The bird was dead.
I suspected it from yesterday, to be honest. It was almost shaped like a ball, which were signs of overfeeding. It didn’t move, either. It could’ve been dead from yesterday, but we didn’t know. I didn’t notice whether its eyes were moving or not, its feathers, but it looked like just a regular bird from afar, how would we have known? No, we should’ve. We sat so close to the window you could say our table was basically glued to it. But I don’t know what I could’ve done. I don’t think the teachers would’ve cared about some overfed half-dead bird. They’d much rather be checking your nails instead, or your hair length, or your uniform and whether it was tidy or not.
They wouldn’t even care if it was a student, not a bird.
They don’t care.
Entry EPILOGUE xx/xx/26
A bird with white feathers that slightly faded into a deep blue passed by today. It stood near 8-ball’s body, almost as if it was mourning its death. It was the first time I ever saw this bird, though. It never came by, not until 8-ball’s death, at least. If I had to guess, it probably felt guilty for never accompanying it or something. Or maybe it was a passerby pretending to care.