Radiant light from the sun illuminates a dim room, from the window rays of sunshine hit the many ornaments & posters in this space belonging to a teenage girl. The short wooden desk beside the wall, from an outside position the desk stands left of the window supporting a flat screen & few trinkets in the shape of flowers

The colour of each project as the sunlight hits their surfaces, another set of items to find this light is all the posters. All four walls are embellished with the imagery of nature, trees, birds & rivers getting brighter as the light contacts them

Only in some sections is the theme of the outdoors broken for a portrait of young guys & girls in flashy outfits, making magnificent poses with their microphones. These were Idol groups amongst the nature posters

The floor is cluttered with random belongings like clothing but more distinguishes this room from any other teenager is the hefty amount of feathers scattering the floorboards. Greens & Yellows scattered all over the place

Contacting the wall opposite the TV is a modestly sized bed garnished with green bedsheets in a pattern resembling grass & above a large workout poll protruding from the wall

This bed is currently the sanctuary of a girl laying on top of the sheets, curled up by her pillow & using her thick coat to warm her up as she scrolls through her phone. But this is no ordinary coat

It’s this girl’s natural fleece made of feathers growing out of her wings her arms & her thighs, this girl is a Harpy. Half bird, half Human

Shika: *Sighs*

The girl sighs away as she slowly manipulates the images on her phone screen with her fingers, hoping not to damage her favourite device with her sharp claws. “Sometimes I’m jealous of how Humans can hold things easier with five fingers” she thinks to herself while twitching the three fingers she has on each of her bird talons for hands

Shika: “Uuu”

She lets out a little sound of curiosity as she almost scrolls past a photo on Jinx, the image is of a boy from her school completely covered neck to toe in a thick red skiing outfit while holding a snowboard close like it’s his bride. He stands with several friends & family members all smiling with glee while a gigantic mountain seemingly with icing sugar sprinkled all over

Shika: “Heh”

She expresses a snarky reaction with a weak smile & air gently coming out of her nostrils before she immediately moves to the next photo as if this one didn’t exist

The next photo on her feed is a selfie of another boy from her school, this time he rests by a white sandy beach with his feet dipping into the pure turquoise water. Contrasting the previous photo this image radiates warmth with a clear blue sky & a bright sun shining in the background, the boy gives a calm grin with a girl beside him. Unlike the cold crowded vibe of the other photo, this one conveys warmth & intimacy, something that causes Shika to raise her eyebrows

Shika: “Dumb turquoise! Can’t decide if it’s green or blue”

She gets vexed over a minor background dilemma before turning the phone off all together, “I like using Jinx but it’s a pain when classmates flaunt their perfect lives”

With that conclusion, she puts her phone down & gets out of bed revealing her blue pajama shirt & shorts. Stretching her wings out until they’re straight Shika proceeds to flap them about as if she’s preparing for take-off with a solid non-slouching back

She begins to take her right leg up like a ballerina before placing her talon in front of the other then repeats this action with the other leg jumping as she does it picking up all the feathers in her room & employing them to sway with the rhythm of her movements. Picking up speed her legs hop around as she starts to resemble a river dancer

Shika: *Loudly humming*

She murmurs a jingle as her legs dance & wings flap, taking advantage of her feathers & unique flexibility to tango like Birds-of-Paradise

Shika: “La la la la la”

Suddenly the vocals kicked in as she switches the routine up, the legs slowing down & comprising of side steps while her wings bend sticking out her elbows, flapping them around like the Oktoberfest Chicken Dance

Shika: *Humming*

She continues dancing & humming a festive beat in this frenzied state of joy for a couple of seconds more until the moment gradually evaporates, as the music in her mind hushed leaving Shika to stand in the middle of her room like a sitting duck

Her wings & legs are both wide apart while the feathers on her body stick up, the ones in the air surrounding her gently glide back to the floor but Shika pays no attention to this while her eyes fixate on a poster hanging on the wall behind her TV

It displays a clear blue-sky piercing between tall trees, the lush leaves waving in the wind & colourful birds swooping through the branches. As she gazes at that scenery her wings slowly lower along with her feathers

Shika: “Why won’t Haru let me fly this Christmas!”

She yells with her screechy voice while flapping her wings in frustration, letting more feathers fall off as she does so. “I’m going pour albumen into her soba one day” she confesses to herself as anguish settles in  

| Chun Chun |

Shika hears a tweeting sound from behind, she swiftly turns to see her phone remaining still on the bed. She goes to pick it up to find out the reason her phone is beckoning her

On the screen is a Jinx notification showing the amount of traction a post from Tarou is getting, “Hang on! Why is Tarou trending?”

This revelation causes Shika to click on the post at great speed, this action opens the app & allows her to see the post everyone seems to be crowding around

It’s a picture of a boy with dark purple hair & glasses wearing a black face mask along with his black coat, he stands in front of a festive sign reading

“KITAURAWA PARK CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL, raising money for the medical center”

Seeing Tarou & the words on that sign taken with a subpar camera contrasting the previous photos makes Shika ponder, she calmly sits herself down on her soft bedsheets. “So even my cute Human has plans today”

Shika twitched her lips while staring at Tarou’s face on the screen, she gently taps the back of her phone with the index finger of her right hand which holds the phone to her face. Thinking while she does it

She turns to the source of light in the room, the window as an idea comes to mind. Her eyes brighten with enthusiasm & cheeks raised as her signature mischievous grin forms. “Cute Human hasn’t been teased in a long time” she thinks while laughing loudly like a supervillain

Shika: “Wa ha ha!”

--

At 13:50. The sun gleams in the sky, the birds chirp as they swiftly flap from building to tree & a small crowd of people gather at Kita Urawa Park for the Christmas Fundraiser Festival

One member of this crowd is a girl in her late teens with long green hair & a thick British Racing green coat with a white fluffy rim on her hood, the coat is unzipped revealing her black cardigan & red short shorts while her legs are concealed by a pair of thick black tights

She has her handbag in one hand & a bag of snacks on her right

Shika: *Munching*

She loudly munches away as the crowd moves into the park yet this girl stands still. Instead of walking with the flock of Humans, Shika stays idle taking in the atmosphere of festive decorations & a sky without clouds. The exquisite blue sky makes for a wonderful view but the lack of clouds means Shika can see vaper leaving her mouth after every breath

Shika: *Shivers*

The low temperature causes Shika to shiver as she stands still with her coat unzipped, “I’m not zipping it up, these clothes are too restrictive by themselves” she rationalizes her decision in her mind as the cold spreads around her body

Shika: *Shivers*

While shivering she taps her white boots on the grey concrete grid that makes up the path to the center of the park & the Saitama Museum of Modern Art if the signs are to be believed, “That’s it! I’m going moving” she proclaims in her head before following the flow of people hoping the crowd would warm her

--

A few minutes pass & Shika stands within a sea of people taller than her, all she sees is the sky & an army of strangers. Not even the stands are in sight, “I thought it would be easier to find Human boy here, who knew this was so popular” her gaze lowers

| Chun Chun | 

Just as she feels defeated her phone makes a loud tweeting noise, causing a few people to look her way momentarily. Not that she registered their reactions

She takes the phone out & sees a notification from Isami, “Isa~riin!” her eyes light up before she rapidly clicks on the screen

**Shika~riin! I’m bored!!!**
**What are you doing today?**

She gets filled with excitement as her bestie is available

**I know you love Karaoke, so let’s meet at Yono Station**

Seeing this message Shika wants to reply instantly but just before she’s able she hears the voice of a very familiar boy

???: “Umai!”

Shika looks up from her phone to find the source of that voice, she eagerly looks behind & sees an opening in the crowd allowing her to view freely

A boy with a black coat in front of the candy apple stall enjoying his treat with a genuine smile, Shika examines his features from afar. Standing at 176cm wearing glasses, short purple hair & dark trousers. “Yep, that’s him” she is certain of it, that’s her highschool plaything

Shika: *Humming*

She is happily humming while shimming through groups of people as if they’re bushes in the forest, with her eyes on him she marches forward swooping on him like a bird of prey

Shika: “Cute Human!”

She shrieks as she shoves him with her elbow

Tarou: “Ahh!”

He shouts as his body is pushed forward, the stick of his candy apple slips out of his fingers & falls to the ground. The weight of the apple causes it to plunge faster before contacting the rough concrete slab & cracking

Tarou: “Ahh ahh”

He lets out small groans as his eyes fixate on the treat he paid for planted on the ground, its ceramic surface riddled with cracks while tiny red shards glisten on the concrete with the sun’s rays. This sight causes discomfort in Tarou who corrects his posture & straightens his glasses

Shika: “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I didn’t plan for that to happen”

She tiptoes to the left of Tarou as she loudly apologizes but his eyes remain on the red candy apple, “that voice, oh no. it’s her isn’t it” he aims his gaze to his left & sees a recognizable face with a distinct colour of eyes

Tarou: “You”

His eyes are now fixated on Shika as he acknowledges her presence with a tinge of aggression, his arms are straight like rulers

Tarou: “My candy apple”

Shika: “I’m sorry, this was a mistake”

She brings her arms up & expresses her amends but Tarou just waves her away by looking ahead

Shika: “How much was that candy apple?”

As he starts walking Shika takes his hand before asking, he turns back to see her posture lowered in a bow of atonement. Tarou looks at her for a second, “she’s really apologizing for that huh”

Tarou: “\600”

After a few seconds, he answers her

Shika: “You got it!”

Hearing his voice & feeling his warm palm in hers brings the Parakeet posing as a Human to life with raw energy, she springs up to see him with her wide eyes & joyous grin

Shika: “Two candy apples coming right up!”

She spouts while letting go of Tarou’s hand to rummage around her bag for her money, her hand passes small trinkets, feathers & even her bottle of Masking Potion as well as the anti-potion. “Can’t let Human boy see that”

After a thorough search, she clutches a wallet. Putting her fingers through it she finds several bills

Tarou walks back to the stall, poking his head around to get a better view of their selection

Shika: “Human…”

Tarou gets interrupted by Shika who calls for him with a tone of voice expressing shame, “Does she not know my name?” he wonders as he turns to her

Shika: “Will you pay if I promise to pay you back?”

Her head gradually lifts up to see Tarou, her bottom lip twitches while her eyes start to water

Tarou: “You can’t be serious”

He drops his shoulders & stares at Shika with eyes filling with fury

Shika: “I’m really not”

Her aura changes from dread & shame to her usual bubbly self with a large smile ready to chuckle

Shika: “I have the money here”

The anger within Tarou immediately vanishes as he sees her pull a couple of notes out of her bag while struggling not to laugh

Tarou: *Laughs*

Shika: *Laughs*

His sudden laughs cause Shika to start bursting, she walks past him to wait in line. “Do I even like candy apples?” the thought of that causes her to laugh, even more, enough for the others in line to notice

--

At 16:04 the sun has already dipped below the horizon, leaving the festival lit up by the lights wrapped around trees & coming from stalls, the crowds of people are all in awe at the illuminations on display. The warm oranges of the stalls complement the Wintery colours of blue & white

Locked in the crowd once again is Shika however her persona is a joyous one as she stands to Tarou’s right holding a cup of heated sweet potato fries & a handbag stuffed with even more stuff. Tarou meanwhile keeps his things in a rucksack so his hands are free to indulge

The two stand there taking in the festive atmosphere but once the sun goes the cold becomes more intense, especially for Shika whose coat is still open

Shika: *Shivers*

She shakes her limbs & rattles her teeth

Tarou: “You’re cold, aren’t you?”

He turns to her with a look of concern

Shika: “Hah? What is Huma n talking about? Am fin e “

As she shivers her speech becomes slightly distorted

Tarou: “You’re clearly not, it’s because your coat is open”

He takes a quick look at the black cardigan underneath her coat, reaches down to show her

Shika: “Hey!”

She immediately slaps his hand away, Tarou then looks at the back of his hand where she slapped to see it get red with the cold. To two look away from each other with cheeks as red as tomatoes, “I can’t believe I just did that” he thinks

Tarou: “Sorry”

He awkwardly apologizes with his head still looking the other way

Shika: “Uun”

She accepts his apology but she’s in the same predicament, facing away from him

Tarou: “Do you like those fires?”

Shika: “Uun”

The two fail to break the awkward wall of ice in between them

| Chun Chun |

Shika’s phone tweets, causing the silence between them to end. Desperately looking for something to get them past this situation she hastily pulls it out to see what the notification is

**On my way to Yono, hope to see you there**

Shika’s face lights up like the illuminations, she turns to Tarou with bright eyes & a great smile

Shika: “Human! I have an idea for us”

This proclamation completely caught Tarou by surprise, he stares at Shika with both fear & anticipation. “I’m definitely going to regret this”

--

Isami: “One Two Three go!”

*Music starts*

Tarou stands with a microphone in his hand at the center of a small stage several footsteps away from a bar, a lite crowd anticipating his next move. His eyes wide open as he spots the two girls responsible for the position he’s currently in, placed on the stage of a Karaoke bar & hand picked to perform in front of an audience. “Regret doesn’t come close to describing how I feel right now”

| Ooooo |

The clearly intoxicated crowd cheers on with the melody of the song hand-picked for Tarou to sing

He remains frozen with stage fright as the microphone wobbles like jello. His heartbeat increases & seeing what looks to be 100 eyes on him puts this boy in a state of anxiety

Shika: “You can do this Human!”

He hears a familiar voice, a loud shriek from one of the circular tables in the middle. Tarou looks ahead to see Shika staring back with excitement & blonde-haired Isami both sitting with jitters, their impatience made clear as they rest both of their arms on the table. The girls have an advantageous position, they can see & hear what’s on stage but they’re getting none of those from Tarou at the moment…until

Tarou: *Humming*

He closes his walnut-brown eyes behind his glasses & hums to the song

Tarou: *Begins to vocalize*

His humming turns into gentle singing, not wishing to be heard with a bad voice Tarou keeps the microphone far from his mouth but as the singing continues a load of confidence brews within him. A level of confidence that allows him to sing

Tarou: *Sings*

He moves the Microphone closer to his mouth, the sound gradually increases causing cheers from the crowds including from the girls that brought him here

Shika: “You got this Human!”

Isami: “I knew you had it in you! Human!”

His voice barely matches the original singer & he occasionally misses a word or two, even getting the pitch wrong at times but to an audience predominantly drunk on sake this doesn’t matter. Even the two girls being sober aren’t ridiculing him, they both clap to the beat & encourage him to continue

*Song ends*

Silence sets in with the Tarou’s breathing coming out of the speakers, out of breath he keeps the microphone close unaware everyone can still hear him. His eyes open to see everyone looking back

*Cheers & clapping*

The audience rushes to celebrate with clapping & clinking of glasses with many giving loud looks of respect as they laugh, Tarou reciprocates with a weak smile of his own then three quick bows before rapidly setting the microphone down & speeding to his table hiding his face as he does it

He makes it to the table in no time, sitting down to the left of Isami with Shika to the right of her. He puts his arms on the table & buries his face in them

Isami: “Nee cheer up, that wasn’t too bad”

She attempts to make him feel better while tapping on his right arm but he still keeps his head planted & face covered, seeing no change in his behaviour Shika looks on with a cunning plan coming up along with her mischievous grin

Shika: “Hey look, isn’t that Tsunoda Kanjiro!?”

Immediately after hearing that name Tarou shoots up with eyes bright like car lamps

Tarou: “What!?!”

Shika: “Ok he’s not actually here but you were so good up there”

Tarou feels a tinge of disappointment after falling for another one of Shika’s tricks however this feeling disappears in an instant once she gave him genuine praise for his singing

Tarou: “Come on Ukiyama San, I’m not a good singer. Everyone here is just drunk”

He says while straightening his back & shrugging off any praise he gets from Shika

Isami: “But we’re not drunk & we thought you did great”

Hearing that Tarou looks away & furrows his brows, “well you two might be worse than drunk, delusional” he thinks to himself before turning back to face them

Tarou: “So what drinks do you two want? I’ll pay the first round”

He grabs his bag & prepares to stand

Isami: “I’ll have Pineapple Soda please”

The first to answer is Isami as she’s closest to him

Shika: “I’ll have the same but I need to get up & grab the microphone before anyone else”

She gives her answer then gets out of her seat

Shika: “Please watch my stuff Isa~riin”

She says before walking towards the vacant stage

Isami: “You got it Shika~riin!”

She gives a thumbs up to her friend before she heads for the stage, Shika & Tarou part ways leaving Isami to guard their stuff

--

In less than a few minutes Tarou returns with two Pineapple Sodas & a Kola for himself, he places the two canary yellow glasses with funky colourful straws down next to Isami while he takes his seat with his black glass & ordinary blue straw

The boy & girl sit next to each other watching Shika holding the microphone while tapping on the Karaoke machine, for a time the two were in silence

Isami: “She has a crush on you, by the way”

The stillness between them was immediately broken once Isami dropped that bomb resulting in a decimated landscape as Tarou swiftly turns to her with eyes widened by curiosity & cheeks as red as a Christmas hat

Tarou: “What!”

He reacts by searching for answers

Isami: “It’s that or she’s just bored, you know how she gets”

She says nonchalantly while twirling her blonde hair before taking a sip of her soda. Amid this Tarou could only speculate what she meant by that

This is Isami he’s sitting next to, arguably Shika’s best friend with a wild personality to match the green-haired banshee on stage. But here she’s not displaying any of those traits, she’s acting calm hunched on the table in her British tan beige coat. “Perhaps it’s the cold weather” Tarou reasons

However, he runs out of time to ponder what could be happening because right on stage is the vibrant Parakeet herself with a microphone held to her mouth as the music starts

Shika: *Sings*

Right from the get-go as the music kicks into gear Shika lets out her angelic singing voice & begins to move with the rhythm of the song as if it flows through her veins. Shaking her head, shoulders & hips to the melody like a professional performer

This causes massive cheers from the audience

Everyone: “Shika! Shika! Shika!”

All calling her name

& at the center of it all is Tarou viewing with complete amazement at the girl from school who never leaves him alone, singing, dancing & acting the closest to herself he’d ever seen. “What’s so bad about spending more time with her?” His mind questions