Archive of Our Own

The melodious school bell chimed, indicating that it was six in the evening. 

At this time of the day, the sun was starting to set, and the moon’s face was starting to reveal itself to the earth. Most of the other students had already left the campus grounds, with one boy as the exception. 

“Ugh, thank goodness I finally finished that worksheet. That sure took long enough.” 

A boy with snow white hair and two moles under his gray eyes strolled towards the exit of the school with a heavy bag on his back. Like the other students, he was supposed to be back home as well, but had to stay behind because he had forgotten to do his homework. His teacher gave him an unimpressed look as he turned in the blank worksheet with a nervous smile.  

“I wonder what’s for dinner tonight…”

As he sauntered along the stone trail leading to the exit, he passed a berry bush that bore small, red fruits resembling cherries. 

That bush was one of the things that Jophiel, the Gardening Club President, had insisted on planting there. “It gives out a pleasant scent that may help classmates stay awake as they arrive at school every day.” She said with a gentle smile as she planted the first bush. The boy was there to help her plant the berries during break two weeks ago. 

He stopped to take a whiff of the berries. As Jophiel mentioned, the berries gave out a nice scent: Sweet, but not too sugary. It even had a slightly minty scent. Jophiel sure knows a lot about plants, the boy thought. 

In fact, not only did the berries give out a refreshing scent, it even had barely audible chirps coming from them. 

Wait. Chirps? The boy wasn’t so sure whether a bush was supposed to chirp. 

He took a step closer to the bush and peered inside. 

Inside the bush, a tiny bird lay on the dirt, looking back at the intruder who had just looked into its miniature haven. The bird had white feathers all over, with a streak of dirty blonde fur on its head. 

But that was not all. 

The bird’s left wing was bleeding and perhaps fractured. 

“Oh no, are you alright?” The boy scooped the tiny bird out from the bush to further examine its wing. The bird seemingly didn’t like how the boy suddenly scooped it up, as it started letting out small chirps while struggling. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I just wanted to help!” The boy stroked the bird’s head with a finger. Its fur was soft and satisfying to touch. The mother must have taken great care of it, the boy thought. As the boy gave the feathered creature a few more strokes, it slowly stopped struggling, instead falling asleep with one eye open. 

“Too bad my parents wouldn’t appreciate it if I brought you home. Joseph might even hunt you down.” Joseph is the boy’s pet cat. The boy wasn’t too fascinated by the idea of his cat hunting the poor bird down. 

Yet, the bird did need help. 

“Surely one night wouldn’t hurt, right?” 

Thus, the boy decided to bring the bird home to tend its wound. 

As the boy returned home, his cat strolled up to him and let out a meow to greet him. “Hey, Joseph. How have you been?”

“Joseph has been walking around the door for a while.” The boy’s cousin, Micro, stood up from the sofa with a grin on his face. “How was detention with Mr. Solev?” Micro, like the boy, had white hair and gray eyes, but his hair was tied back into a short ponytail. The two were often mistaken for siblings instead. 

“Oh, it felt like the three longest hours in my life. I’ll never forget to do my homework anymore.” The boy replied with a tired sigh. “I’ll head back to my room to change first.” 

“Be quicker with it. I've already finished preparing dinner, and it's your favourite dish.”

“Got it!”

The boy headed back up to his room and locked it. He reached out for the container on the second level of his shelf and emptied the contents. Then, he took a small blanket from his cabinet and placed it in the container. Carefully, he took the bird out of his large coat pocket and placed it. The bird had woken up from all the commotion and was observing its surroundings with alertness. Luckily, I know a thing or two about first aid! The boy took a piece of cloth and pressed it on the bird’s injury. After five minutes, he removed the cloth carefully to check whether the bleeding had stopped. Not seeing any further bleeding, he threw the cloth away and dabbed another piece of cloth in salt solution. Then, he dabbed the cloth on the bird’s injury. At last, he took some Vetwrap he usually uses for Joseph and used some on the bird’s wing. 

As he disposed of the used items, he looked at the bird. It nuzzled on the light purple blanket, while slowly falling asleep again. The boy looked at it with a slight smile as he placed the container back on the shelf. Then, he got changed and headed downstairs for dinner. 

After dinner, he went back to his room to work on a project, reminded by the long detention period he had earlier. As he was almost done, he heard a chirp from the shelf. Sure enough, the tiny bird was awake. 

“Wait, uh, Bird. I’ll be finished with this soon!” As he finished the last question on his worksheet, he took the container out from the shelf and placed it on his desk. The bird was now looking curious at its saviour, and let out two small chirps while taking steps towards the boy and trying not to fall. The boy let out a small chuckle while taking photos of the bird with his phone. Then, his focus shifted to the time shown on his phone. 

“Crap, is it already this late? I have to go to sleep.” 

He replied to a few final messages and turned off his phone. Then, he placed the bird container back onto the shelf and turned off the lights. 

“Good night, Bird!” The bird gave the boy a chirp, as if replying to him.

To Fluixon, life was fine.

Sure, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but it was still alright.  

Other than the fact that his classmate, Saparata, was currently fixated on doing something weird in his drawer during lessons, and giving out this weird smile. 

Back then, the two boys were best friends. They would go to class together, eat lunch while sitting next to each other, and even go home together. Others would think that they were chained together by Ish above. Unfortunately, Saparata’s family has moved out of town without a trace for years because of his father’s job, leaving absolutely no means of contact for Fluixon. Fluixon was disappointed about how someone he considered his best friend never gave him at least an email address, but he didn’t say much about it, instead reflecting it with his actions. Cynikka noted how his mood was foul, and he refused to talk to anyone, including his group of friends, whom he called “the Conspiracy.” 

What they didn’t know is that Saparata bid farewell to Fluixon on that day by saying, “See you tomorrow!” and doing their usual pinky swear. 

Yet, the promised “tomorrow” never happened. 

For days and weeks, Fluixon would imagine what it would be like to see Saparata again. Maybe they’ll have a casual reunion like Saparata never left his life, or a heartwarming reunion with the two sharing a tight embrace-

No, that sounds weird. 

Instead of anything they had thought of, their first reunion was when Fluixon was walking back home from school, when suddenly, a Cornish Rex had passed by in front of Fluixon. The cat reminded him of Saparata’s pet, Joseph. 

Might it be…?

Filled with curiosity and hope, Fluixon followed the cat around. It continued strolling around until it stopped by a Greek-style house and sat down at its doorstep. 

Fluixon suddenly felt the urge to pet the cat. 

As he crouched down to pet the cat, the door of the house opened.

“Oh, hello there! Do you like cats as well?” 

Fluixon looked up from the cat to see a boy around his age, but taller. He had white hair which reached his shoulders, and two moles under his kind, gray eyes. He had a light gray hoodie and white pants and was looking at Fluixon with curiosity. 

He looked just like the grown-up version of Saparata. 

Fluixon looked at the boy standing in front of him and started regretting his life decisions. Crap, it really is Saps. What should I do? What should I say? We haven’t seen each other for years. Do I go casual? Or do I just stay cool? 

“Hi there, I’m new to this area. Nice to meet you!” 

“I-uh…”

“You look kind of familiar. Do we know each other?” Saparata frowned slightly as he looked at Fluixon with more focus. 

Oh.

Has Saparata forgotten about Fluixon already?

“Uhm, perhaps you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I have to go.” Fluixon hastily retreated from the house and turned around, heading back to his house. 

“Wait, might you be…Flux?”

Fluixon’s eyes widened as he turned back and looked at Saparata. The frown on Saparata’s face has vanished, leaving a cheerful smile on his face. “Seems like I was right. Do you remember? It’s me, Saparata! We were close friends back in elementary school!”

Fluixon felt a sense of relief upon listening to that. 

After that, the two exchanged phone numbers, and they had a chat at the doorstep. Fluixon then realised that Saps will be going to the same school as he is. 

“Well then, I’ll see you tomorrow at school?”

“See you.” 

As Fluixon walked home, he replayed the scene in his mind again and again on a loop. From the cat strolling to meeting Saparata again, it all felt so much like a dream; he had to pinch himself to make sure that he was awake. 

For the first time in years, Fluixon felt excited to get to school again. 

However, the “tomorrow” he anticipated was different from what actually happened. Somehow, Saparata knew how to make new friends easily. Within the first 2 classes, he has already managed to befriend at least 5 people from their class, while also reconciling with a few old classmates. As Fluixon was about to ask whether Saparata would like to have lunch with him and his ‘goons’, Saparata had already stood up to leave with Schpood and Benji from Class 1. 

This caused Fluixon to retreat to his own club for lunch with the Conspiracy. While the others all told Fluixon that Saparata was back, Fluixon tried his best to act cool about the news. Thomas, ever observant, must have realised that he was in a bad mood and quietly signalled for the others to stop talking about the topic. 

Since then, Fluixon has given up on trying to say another word with Saparata, with the two going their respective ways at school. 

The thought of that day made Fluixon get slightly irritated again. Sure, Saparata wasn’t obliged to talk to him only, but he could have at least greeted him on the first day of school! Doesn’t matter anymore. I still have my group of goons.

Yet, fate has always decided that the two boys’ lives shall be intertwined, no matter what happens. 

Chirp! 

…What was that? 

Fluixon was sure he heard a faint chirp nearby. 

He immediately looked at the windows, but found them closed. Which means the bird has had to be in the classroom, right? 

He continued looking around, only to find absolutely nothing. Next to him, Thomas noticed his sudden reaction and jabbed him on the rib to check on him. Fluixon shook his head, and Thomas turned back towards the screen.

Was it just my imagination? Fluixon considered going to sleep earlier instead of playing Risk for the entire night. He drank a sip of water and continued listening to Mr. Solev as he talked about the pacemaker, which was, apparently, the thing that controls the pace of the heartbeat. 

Chirp! Chirrppp! 

Okay, maybe it wasn’t Fluixon’s imagination at all. 

He looked around the classroom again, but the only weird thing he found in the room was Saparata trying to shove something into his drawer. Suspicious. He made a mental note about Saparata’s strange behaviour. 

Unfortunately, the teacher seemed to have noticed the bird chirp as well. 

“I hate to ask you all this, but why are there bird chirping sounds in the classroom?” Mr. Solev, ever stoic, raised an eyebrow while looking at the students sitting in front of him one by one. Everyone pretended to look around and try to find the anomaly as an attempt to avoid eye contact with Mr. Solev. 

“Uh, sorry, sir! That was probably my phone’s notification alarm! I must have forgotten to turn it off.” Saparata frantically waved his arm. 

“Given that you are still new here, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Do remember to turn off your phone next time, Saparata.” Mr. Solev said. “Now then, let us return to the next part of the fragile human heart: the right ventricle.”

Something has to be wrong, Fluixon thought. Yet, he refused to question further, having a gut feeling that it may be related to a certain white-haired person in his class. 

“Look at this...The blood flows from the vena cava, then to the right atrium, and then to the right ventricle. It then flows out to the pulmonary artery and gets to the lungs and back to the pulmonary vein, then to the left atrium and left ventricle, then it exits the heart via the aorta” 

Chirppp!

Fluixon doubts that Ish can save Saparata this time.

As expected, Mr Solev didn’t appreciate the intruder who was interrupting his lesson. He dropped the laser pointer down on the table with a thud and started doing his signature frown that only appears whenever students secretly throw snowballs at him during winter. “Class, I’m sure I was not the only one who heard that, right? Whoever it was, turn yourself in now. This is not funny anymore.” Four of the students started shivering like they were trapped in a freezer. The projector screen briefly flickered. Thomas tried to hide his fear with a nonchalant expression. Fluixon swore he felt his hair move. 

Saparata, on the other hand, silently groaned. In his drawer, the baby bird was squirming around, obviously uncomfortable with being trapped in a dark and narrow space. He has been trying to keep Bird calm and quiet, but to no avail- It only started to squirm even more than before, and even started chirping in distress. 

He tried to observe the environment to see how much trouble he was in. Saps recalled Cass telling him that Mr Solev was elected as both the scariest teacher and Vice principal. Before this lesson, he didn’t understand why, as Mr. Solev looked harmless with his usual smile and glasses. But from the current scene, he could tell that the rumours were actually real, because next to him, his friend Madzvie was shaking. 

“Mr Saparata.” Saps froze upon hearing his own name being called. Mr. Solev’s dark eyes were staring right into his soul.“I hope this won't be your phone this time.” 

“I…uh.” What should I do? Saps wasn’t so sure. He poked his index fingers against each other, not knowing what to do. This small act was a habit of his whenever he was caught doing something inappropriate, something that Saps was half aware of. And while Saps knew he was just trying to help an injured animal and not something sinister, he also knew that bringing said animal to the classroom wasn’t the right thing to do either! Yet, he was worried that the bird might get hungry without him taking care of it, so he had brought the bird to the school, unaware of the ruckus that it might cause. 

“Sorry, sir. That might have been my phone this time. I’ll turn it off right now.” A calm voice behind him responded. 

Saps turned around to find out who his saviour was.  

Two seats behind him to his right, a boy with raven locks seemed to be the owner of the voice. He had pretty amethyst pupils, which were currently looking towards Mr. Solev. The brunette next to him looked at the boy with slight surprise. 

Wait, isn’t that Flux? Saps didn’t realise that Flux was in the same room as well. Suddenly, he was reminded of the fateful meeting weeks ago with Flux, when he opened his front door just to find his former best friend crouching in front of the entrance while reaching out to Joseph. Since his first day of school, he has been trying to find out which class Flux was in, but with the amount of work and projects, hangout invitations from his new friends and more, he slowly forgot to ask the others about that. Saps told himself to thank Flux later. 

“Is that so? I didn’t expect that you and Saparata would use the same notification alarm. You two must be close friends.” Upon seeing one of his top students, Mr. Solev’s expression softened slightly. 

Close friends? That was the past. Fluixon would definitely not say that Saparata is a close friend, not to mention a best friend. 

As Fluixon thought to himself, Mr. Solev turned to the rest of the class. “Everyone, be reminded that keeping your phones off is a must during lessons. If I hear any more strange notification sounds, I will have to confiscate all of your devices.” As he opened his mouth to continue with the next part of the chapter, the bell rang. “Seems like the lesson has ended. I hope all of you will be able to remember what I have said today.” He then picked up the laser pointer and a few textbooks on the desk and left. 

The whole class sighed upon seeing his departure. 

“Saps, that was so close! Thank goodness the lesson ended!” Madzvie sighed as she placed an arm on her chest, as if she was trying to calm herself down. “Your phone’s notification alarm sure is one-of-a-kind.” 

“Oh! Uh, thank you!” Saps laughed nervously. While responding to Madzvie, he tried to push the bird back into the drawer in secret. The bird didn’t seem too happy about that, as he started pecking Saps’ fingers.  

“Speaking of which, Saps, do you want to go to the basketball court together during lunch? I heard that Class 1 is having an unofficial basketball competition with our class today! ” Madzvie exclaimed excitedly. Her boyfriend, IOppenheimer, will be competing as well. Saps heard that most of the classes would be there to watch as well, but he had other plans. He heard from Jophiel that she has been using worms she found from her plants to feed the birds that wander nearby. Saps planned to visit the Gardening Club so that he may be able to take some of the worms from Jophiel and feed Bird with them. Other than that, he also brought some red berries for the bird, so that the bird may have a balanced diet. 

“Sorry, Madz. I have plans for today already!” “Aww, it’s alright. See you around later then!” As Madzvie picked up her pencil case and notebooks, she headed out of the room to meet up with Ioppenheimer, who was waiting for her out of the room. 

As he said goodbye to Madzvie with a smile, Saps also finished packing his stuff and started heading to the Gardening Club’s shed. 

Originally, Fluixon wasn’t so sure what Saparata was on, other than his strange behaviour. Yet, there was something that Saparata did earlier when Mr. Solev attempted to interrogate him, which gave him a further clue. 

The boy had started to poke his index fingers at each other. That was something that Saparata used to do back then whenever he was caught red-handed with something. He remembers Saparata doing that whenever the two of them would sneak to the beach and play around before going home after the sun had set. Saparata’s parents weren't so pleased with what their son had done, and started giving him the death stare as they returned to the front door of the house. That was the exact thing he did when that happened: He poked his index fingers against each other.  

As he was thinking of what Saparata possibly could be up to, he saw Saparata heading out of the classroom, towards the outdoor grounds of the campus. He let out a small hmph, uninterested in what he was about to do. 

Or so he thought. His body had ‘uncontrollably’ stood up, and his eyes started tracing wherever Saparata had gone. Fluixon sighed as he picked up his items and walked out of the room, telling Thomas that he had an errand to run, while following Saparata to the outdoor grounds. 

As Saparata (and his stalker, whom Saps himself wasn’t aware of) headed to the Gardening club, located at the southmost area of the campus, he greeted a few of his friends: Cass and Cynikka, who was Fluixon’s own sister. When Cynikka passed by Fluixon, she looked at her with a teasing smile, which read “I’m going to laugh at you for this”, knowing fairly well that her brother was following Saparata. Cass, on the other hand, didn’t understand the tacit communication between the siblings and had instead given Fluixon a friendly smile. Fluixon simply responded to that with a nod of acknowledgement. Afterwards, he noticed that Saparata stopped at the Gardening club, and hid behind a large pale oak tree, hoping to know whether the purpose of his visit was related to his strange behaviour. 

Meanwhile, Saps noticed that Jophiel was taking care of the new golden daffodils that she planted just last week. “Look at you, you’ve grown up so fast!” The daffodils responded to her by waving at her as a gust of tender wind blew by. Saps knew that Jophiel had a habit of talking to her plants, and was used to the scene already. 

“Hey, Jophiel! How are the flowers doing!” Upon hearing her friend’s voice, Jophiel turned over and smiled at Saps, as she placed the watering can aside her “Hi, Saps! To what do I owe the pleasure?”  

“Oh, it’s nothing much! I was wondering if I can…um…borrow a few of the mealworms that you kept! It’s because I’ve got a new pet hamster back home, and I wasn’t so sure where I could find the worms!” Terrible excuse, Fluixon quietly commented. He knew that Saparata had always been afraid of rodents, and surely rodents do not let out chirps out loud. 

Jophiel must have realised that it was an excuse as well, as she raised her eyebrow at Saps, who was now poking his index fingers at each other again. Yet, she chose not to question further, as she took out a small container and placed a few of the worms into it. “Here you go! Hopefully your ‘hamster’ will enjoy them! ” She dropped the container into Saps’ hands and showed a knowing smile. As Saparata left the Garden, Jophiel’s eyes immediately looked towards the large oak tree, where Fluixon was hiding. Fluixon, realising her gaze, silently retreated while nodding in her direction, to which Jophiel waved back at him. 

Afterwards, Fluixon continued following Saparata until they returned to their classroom. Saparata placed the worms into his drawer, then started looking around in the classroom. Fluixon wondered if he was trying to see whether the environment of the room was safe. Yet, that wasn’t what Saps was thinking about. 

As Saparata’s gaze reached Fluixon’s desk, he stopped turning around and instead started walking towards Fluixon. Wait, he’s walking this way. Fluixon immediately took out a script which was to be used in club meetings, and started flipping the pages as an attempt to act nonchalant and oblivious. 

“Hello there, Flux!” Saparata poked his head right in front of Fluixon and his script, sending Fluixon backwards. 

“Gah! What is wrong with you?” Fluixon muttered under his breath as Saparata laughed at his reaction. “Sorry for scaring you! I called you a few times, but you weren’t responsive.” Did he? Perhaps it was time for Fluixon to check his ears. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Saparata?” 

“Aw, don’t be mean!” Saparata let out a pout that Fluixon used to see almost every day years ago. “I just came by to, you know, thank you for helping me cover up earlier! Mr. Solev is actually scarier than I imagined!”

“Only an idiot like you would keep your phone on during Mr. Solev’s class. That man is the last person you would want to upset in this school.” Fluixon smirked at Saparata’s comment. Just like that, the two started talking in the way they did years ago. 

“C’mon, I promise that I’ll turn it off from now on, my saviour! Is there anything that I can do to thank you for your good deeds?” 

Good deeds? Fluixon didn’t think too much about it when he responded to Mr. Solev earlier. But an opportunity is an opportunity, so…

“I just have one simple question for you.” 

“What is it?” Saparata looked at him curiously. 

“What exactly were you doing in the drawer? I don’t actually think you’d be careless enough to keep your phone on during class.” 

Saps froze upon hearing his question. Then, knowing his defeat, he gestured for Flux to follow him to his desk, whereas Fluixon followed. As they arrived at Saparata’s table, he carefully pulled a small container out from his drawer. Fluixon saw a light purple blanket, which was quite a pretty shade, but that was not all. 

Because inside the container was the fluffiest and cutest bird Fluixon has ever seen in his life. It had snow white feathers adorned with a streak of dirty blonde feathers on top of its head. Its beady eyes were now looking at the stranger’s amethyst eyes, and it tilted its head as Fluixon looked back at it. Fluixon noticed that the bird had some bandages on one of its wings, and the wing was placed at a weird angle. From Fluixon’s observation, the bird could not be older than 3 months. 

“So, you brought your pet bird to school? I expected more from you.”

“He’s not my pet! I found him lying in some bushes yesterday, with his wing injured.” Saparata frantically waved his hands towards Fluixon’s allegations towards him. 

“Saparata, you do know that you’re not supposed to bring the bird too far away from its home, right?” 

“I-I do! But it was badly injured, and the school nurse had already left the campus by the time I found it.” 

“Forget about it. You cannot possibly continue keeping the bird in your drawer. There may be no more lessons from Mr. Solev today, but that bird will disturb our lessons and potentially cause a commotion. Keeping the bird in here is the last thing you need to do.” 

“What can I possibly do, then? It’s not like I have another way to fix this right now!” Saps had considered putting the bird in Jophiel’s care, but he wasn’t sure whether the gardening club’s shed would be safe due to the amount of pesticides and shears in there. 

 Flux stood there with his thumb and index finger pinching his chin, as if he was trying to think of an alternative. Then, he looked up and responded. “I have an idea, but I’m not sure if you’ll like it.” 

“Please, anything would be fine.” 

“You know, we can place the bird in the Consp- I mean, Theatre Club room. The teachers usually do not visit the room, and the members are all my friends. Even if they found out, they definitely won’t snitch on us.” 

To Saps, that actually sounded like a feasible idea when compared with placing the bird in his drawer and risking it chirping during lessons again. So, he nodded his head, to which Flux showed a mischievous smile. 

“Follow me.”

As Fluixon and Saparata arrived at the Theatre Club’s door, they could hear two people shouting excitedly about “impostors”. The Theatre Club members were fixated on their devices and playing Among Us together. Their usual favourite board game, Risk, was sadly placed aside today, unable to defeat the allure of small astronauts and betrayal. 

“Guys, I swear, I saw Seraphim kill Gotoga at medic! It can’t be me!” 

“Newkids, I just did a medic scan right in front of you and Thomas before he died. It cannot be me either.” Seraphim raised an eyebrow upon hearing Newkids’ accusation. Newkids, realising that he screwed things up,  immediately looked towards Snowbird for help, but Snowbird turned his head towards the opposite direction, fully ignoring Newkids’ pleas for help. 

Rotation snickered at this scene. “Sorry, but you do seem quite suspicious over there. I’ll be voting for you. Will anyone follow?” The others, except for Gotoga and Thomas, who had died the round before, all nod in unison, leaving Newkids all alone. Thus, the Unknown of the Conspiracy has fallen, betrayed by his fellow teammate, the Diplomat.

Unfortunately, more than half of the tasks were still undone, and Snowbird lurked around the halls of the Skeld, searching for his next target. As he noticed Seraphim’s pet at the corner of the map, he immediately entered the vents, caught up to her and delivered the kill. 

“Imposters Win!” 

“That kill was spectacular, Snowbird!” Newkids stood up and started shaking Snowbird’s shoulders enthusiastically, awestruck by his final kill. Snowbird showed a smug grin to the other members while holding his hand out. “Now then, the money you guys placed on the bet, please.” The others unwillingly took out a dollar bill from their respective wallets and placed it on his palm. “Woohoo! Now we can buy that new game disk!” Newkids did a small dance to celebrate their victory while the others looked at him, reluctant to accept their defeat. 

As the two continued celebrating, Thomas noticed that Fluixon came into the room and waved to him, while looking at Saparata curiously. “Hey there, Flux, and welcome back to town, Saps.” As one of Fluixon’s childhood friends, Thomas has also been a part of Saparata and Fluixon’s friendship. Upon hearing Thomas’ welcome, Saparata gave him a friendly nod. 

“Alright, you guys. I need this room today. Go find somewhere else to hang out for now.” Without much explanation, Fluixon waved a hand towards the exit of the room, gesturing to the others to go out. 

“B-but boss! I thought you said we’re going to play ‘Among Us’ together today!” Newkids showed a small pout as the other Theatre Club members looked at Fluixon with confusion. Thomas, on the other hand, knew better and started shoving the other members out of the club room. “Alright, let's go to the school rooftop for today.” As he passed by Fluixon, he gave Fluixon a pat on the shoulder, to which Fluixon gave him a grunt in exchange. 

“Now that we have the room to ourselves, you can hide the bird anywhere as you please.” Fluixon turned over to look at Saparata, who was still standing at the exit of the room, arms holding the container which held the bird. He pointed towards the glass table nearby and gestured to Saparata to sit down on one of the chairs. Then, he himself took a chair and placed it next to Saparata. 

“Wait! I’ll have to feed the bird first!” Saps reached into his bag and pulled out the small container that Jophiel gave him, and placed it on the long glass table that the club members were originally using. He then took some tweezers and clipped one of the squirming worms out. Then, he took some scissors to deal with the parts that the bird doesn’t eat, and handed the worm to the bird’s beak. The bird must have smelled its lunch, as it moved closer to the worm and pecked on the worm a few times before fully putting it into its mouth. Saps started smiling while observing the bird’s actions. 

“You know, the bird kind of reminds me of Snowbird.” Fluixon suddenly says.

“Does it?” 

“Yeah. The white feathers, and most importantly, the dirty blonde streak on its head. That’s basically Snowbird, but cuter and fluffier.” Fluixon remarks with a smirk. “Perhaps you can even name it 'Better Snowbird'.” 

“I like that name! Alright then, you’ll be called ‘Better Snowbird’ from now onwards!” As Saparata laughed at Fluixon’s comment, he reached out a finger to stroke the bird’s head, to which the bird let out chirps of happiness. 

“Speaking of which, have you thought of where to place the bird yet? Anywhere in this room can be used as long as you tell me beforehand.” 

“Oh! Give me a second.” Saps immediately started scanning the room for any good locations to place the container in. The room was slightly messy, with a glass table in the middle of the room, and seven chairs around it. Behind each chair was a sign which had different roles written on it. On the sign behind the chair Flux was sitting on, “The Architect” was written, while on the sign behind Saps’ chair, “The Engineer” was written in neat handwriting, most likely written by Flux. Saps guessed that the seat belonged to Thomas, reminded of the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ jokes that Flux would say about Thomas. At the other end of the room, there was a display cabinet which held a badly-made sculpture that looked suspiciously familiar to the Theatre Club’s former president, 3Below, and a 1:1 3D puzzle of dripstone. Saps decided not to question or use that cabinet and the items on display. 

Below the signs that read ‘The Diplomat’ and ‘The Trapper’ was a wall of huge lockers, which had small holes for ventilation. The door can be easily closed, preventing the bird from accidentally falling off. Along with the ventilation, the bird wouldn't suffocate either. It seemed like the perfect spot to Saps. 

“Flux, are the lockers there available? They seem like a nice place to hide the bird.” Saparata pointed towards the lockers behind Snowbird and Gotoga’s seats. Those lockers were used by the Theatre club members to store different kinds of props and outfits, such as a fake diamond axe, a golden apple coloured with cheap paint, and Fluixon’s favourite outfit: A long black and purple coat with gold epaulettes.  

“Sure. I’ll clear out one of those lockers.” 

“Thanks, Flux!” 

Fluixon reached out for the door of the locker closest to his own seat in the middle row, and opened the door to reveal a locker with fake daggers. Must be Seraphim and Newkids’ props, he thought. Then, he took out the daggers and placed them into the locker on top of that one. Next, he walked aside to let Saparata check the locker. Saparata peeked into the locker for a few seconds, then turned back to Fluixon and nodded his head, indicating his recognition. Then, Saparata placed the container with the bird into the locker. 

“Great. It’s settled then. The bird will stay here during lessons. Whatever happens to it after lessons will be fully your decision.” As Fluixon closed the locker door, the bell indicating the end of lunch rang. “We should get going to class, Saparata.” He turned around and headed to the exit of the Theatre Club room. 

“Wait!” 

Fluixon turned over to look at Saparata. 

“It’s been on my mind for some time, but you know, you can call me Saps. That’s what you used to call me anyway!” 

Saps.

The nickname reminded Fluixon of the times when the two of them were still friends. Saparata would call Fluixon “Flux!” while letting out a huge smile that made his eyes squint, to which Fluixon would respond by saying, “What is it, Saps?” with a smile that he rarely showed anyone else. 

May their friendship ever be able to go back to those times? 

Fluixon was rather eager to find out. 

“Sure, Saps. Let’s go back to our classroom.” After stating that, Fluixon turned back and walked out, leaving Saps in the room. 

“W-wait for me!” Saps hurriedly followed behind Flux. 

Ever since Saps started hiding the bird in the Theatre club room, the two have spent almost all of their breaks and lunches in the room taking care of the bird. 

Each day, when the bell rang, Saps would race to Fluixon’s seat in the classroom and pull him away, leading him to the Theatre Club room. Then, he would open the door and the locker door to take the bird out. Whenever he takes the bird out, the bird would let out chirps which sounded like “Welcome back!” to Fluixon. 

As Saps takes out a new container with freshly plucked worms from Jophiel to feed ‘Better Snowbird’, Fluixon would help check its wing to see whether the injury had any inflammation or to change the bandages on it. Afterwards, they would let the bird out of the container so it could walk around on the large glass table and watch as the bird hops around. 

Once, the bird started dozing off after having its lunch, so Saps and Flux sat by the glass table and quietly watched the bird sleep, both slumped on the table. As they watch the birds, Saps decided to find something to talk about with Flux. 

“So, how were you in the last few years?” 

“Nothing special. Just school and rehearsing for plays with the Theatre Club members. What about you? How was moving to another city like?” 

“Wasn’t exactly the most pleasant, I suppose.” Saps’ usually cheerful expression turned into a melancholic one. “Everyone treated me like an outcast because I was one of the only kids there who didn’t grow up in that town. It’s not like I had a choice, though. My father had to instantly go to that town to help out with my uncle’s business after he and my aunt died from being struck by lightning. Since then, my cousin Micro has been staying with our family, and I have had someone to accompany me.” 

“Must have been pretty rushed to you, right? I still remember you saying “See you tomorrow”, just the day before that. I never expected that you would just disappear without a trace, honestly. If you were a criminal on the run, you would have been able to escape for life with the speed.” Fluixon attempted to use that joke to cover up his disappointment. 

“Oh? Is our dear Flux actually upset that I left without a trace?” 

Flux immediately retorted, slightly flustered. “No, I’m not! That was simply your imagination.” 

Upon hearing Flux’s remark, Saps started playfully poking Flux’s arm to tease him. Yet, as he observed Flux’s expression longer, he realised that Flux was actually serious, as his eyelids drooped and buried his face deeper into his arms. 

Oh, I actually did upset him. “Flux, I’m sorry that I had to leave without telling you in advance.” Saps stopped poking Flux and instead started looking into Flux’s amethyst eyes instead. Were his eyes always so beautiful? 

His observation, however, was interrupted when Flux turned his head away, looking at the lockers instead of ‘Better Snowbird’ or Saps. “It’s…It’s alright, you know? That’s the past now. We’re here now, so it’s not a big deal.”

“Flux, I’m serious.” 

Suddenly, Saps reached out to Flux’s hand, holding it firmly. 

“W-what are you doing!” 

“Flux, listen. I’m really sorry that I disappeared back then.” Fluixon turned back to face Saps. The cheerfulness in his gray pupils had faded away, leaving a kind of sincerity that Fluixon had never seen in them before. “There’s no excuse for leaving without a word—I should have found a way to reach you, no matter what. I’ve carried that regret ever since, honestly.” 

Did he actually…?

As Fluixon was deep in thought, Saps continued. “You might think this sounds untrustworthy, but I’m not here to make another excuse. I just want you to know that our friendship never left my heart.” Then, Saps gently squeezed Flux’s hand, perhaps to show his regret, or as an official sign of reconciliation with Flux. “If you’re willing, I’d love to start being honest with each other again—starting with me owning my part.” Then, he took out his pinky finger and wrapped it around Flux’s pinky. “Promise?” 

The friendship that Fluixon had been longing for had been placed right in front of him again after years. Fluixon secretly wished that he could stop time to look at Saps forever. 

“Promise.” 

Just like that, the two former best friends have finally reconciled after fate cruelly took them apart. 

Taking care of the bird with Saps had been…better than Fluixon had ever expected. 

He had originally expected it to be like a chore that he unwillingly took up, but it turned out to be much more pleasant: Not only did he get to witness ‘Better Snowbird’s shenanigans, but he also got to hang out more often with Saps. Fluixon was hesitant to admit it, but it was nice to be friends with Saps again. He was the polar opposite of Fluixon: Extroverted, empathetic, and warm. Whenever he looked at how Saps would attempt to catch the bird as it tried to fly again, it would remind him of his sister trying to teach him how to walk when he was younger, despite just learning how to walk a few months prior. They were both patient, even if they weren’t familiar with what they were doing. 

Of course, there were slightly irritating moments as well, such as that time when Saps had insisted that Flux should try to feed the bird as well. “Come on! It’s just a worm or two! It wouldn't hurt to try!” 

What Saps didn’t know is that Fluixon was, in fact, afraid of worms and anything similar. As Fluixon took up one of the brown, wiggling creatures from the container, he immediately started shuddering. The creature alone looked scary enough, not to mention that he had to cut out the unwanted parts.

To make things worse, Saps decided to hand him a pair of scissors with a huge smile while Fluixon was being scared for his life.

Still shivering, Fluixon took the scissors up and moved them closer to the worm. The worm was still struggling, perhaps because it knew that its downfall was close. Yet, it never stopped squirming, but instead wrestled more frantically. Sadly, the worm’s struggle did not help much with Fluixon’s already shaking hand, as his grip on the tweezers finally loosened, sending the worm towards his face. As he let out a yelp, he jumped backwards and slipped. 

At that moment, Fluixon was prepared to land on the floor. 

“Whoa! Watch out!” 

A pair of strong arms caught Fluixon before he landed on the floor. 

Fluixon looked up to directly face Saps’ concerned expression. His brows drew together in slight worry, while his gray eyes scanned Fluixon’s body from head to toe to check for any injuries. As he finished scanning his body, his concerned expression turned into a casual smile. 

“Dude, are you alright? You could have just told me if you were afraid of worms, you know?” Saps stated with sincerity. 

“...Just make sure you don’t go everywhere telling people that I have scoleciphobia.” Fluixon turned away, not wanting to face Saps. 

Saps laughed at his comment. “Fine! It’s okay, your secret’s safe with me!” 

Another time, around a week after The Worm™ incident, Fluixon had arrived at the Theatre Club room only to find Saps hunched over the glass table in Thomas’ seat, scrunching his eyebrows in front of a thick stack of paper. He returned to his usual seat with a new play script in hand and unintentionally looked at Saps’ papers, then realised that he was studying for the History test, which was in two lessons. Meanwhile, ‘Better Snowbird’ sat comfortably on the light purple blanket next to his stack of paper and notebooks while staring at the incomprehensible content with its head tilted, as if it was expressing its confusion towards the paper. 

“How is your progress?” Fluixon asked Saps as he started flipping through the pages of the play. The play this time was written by Seraphim, who had insisted on taking reference from the Legendary Infernus War 1000 years ago, saying that it was an “epic event which should gain more recognition by storytelling instead of doom and suffering from History textbooks”. Coincidentally, the contents of said war were also the contents of their History Test later, so Fluixon decided to review the script to kill two birds with one stone: Study while memorising the lines for the play. 

“Ugh, not good at all. I still cannot remember the details of how the Luminaran President betrayed the Neutral Mediator of Island Two. Was it by lava again?” Saps scratched his head, frustrated, while still staring at the notebook in distress as if he was ready to drill a hole in it. 

“No, Saps. The President and his fellow conspirators built a stalagmite trap on the Mediator’s vacation house’s roof beforehand, and triggered the trap when the Island’s leaders were all hosting a meeting in his house. The President even stated a rhetorical question before the meeting: If you had to betray one person to save a thousand, would you? That was written in one of the books I found in the library.” 

“Wow! I didn’t know you were so invested in World History!” Saps looked at Flux, who was still looking into his script, with slight admiration. “I always knew you were especially good in Biology, but I didn’t expect that you were good with History as well!” 

“Just a few parts here and there. My older brother used to tell me these stories again and again each night to put me to sleep. They originally didn’t work as I would get too excited with how the story would progress, but when he told me the story for the 4th time one day, I immediately fell asleep.” Upon thinking of the never-ending samsara of Ender telling him the story, Fluixon had to fight the urge to do an eye roll. 

“Flux, you know, it would be great if you could help me with studying for this part. Such as this source, taken from the “Daybreak Media”, or something. Which event from the war does this source depict?” Saps had pushed one piece of paper closer to Fluixon. 

Fluixon took one look at the paper and immediately gave Saps a reply. “Daybreak Media was one of the most well-known newspapers back then. That drawing refers to the final battle between the Luminaran President and the Mediator in the Westhelm Colosseum. The President eventually died under the Mediator's axe. In fact, they were actually best friends.” 

“They were friends?” 

“Indeed, they were. My brother said that this was one of the reasons why the President chose to face the Mediator directly, although I’ve heard from other sources that the President chose to give himself away because he thought the war had gotten boring and simply wanted to finish it once and for all.”  

“Wait, what about this one? What does this one refer to?” 

As the two continued investigating in Saps’ thick stack of paper and notebooks, the two had unconsciously sat closer to each other, to a point where Fluixon’s own arm brushed against Saps’, and the two were mere centimetres apart. While they continued studying, ‘Better Snowbird’ had somehow hopped out of the container and was looking at Flux and Saps now. 

“Ohhh! So the Mediator actually got away after the unfair trial with a risky jump and a water bucket? That sounds cool!” Saps exclaimed as Flux told him the other details of the war. 

“Yep. In fact, the angry mob of people chased him for ano- Ow!” 

All of a sudden, ‘Better Snowbird’ had flown onto Flux’s face, bumping into him, then proceeding to bump onto Saps’ snow white hair as well. Then, it landed back on its seat on the light purple blanket while looking at Flux and Saps, all innocent and doe-eyed. 

“Hey! What was that for, ‘Better Snowbird’?” Flux muttered. 

Meanwhile, Saps raised his arms and tried to fix his hair, which was out of place after the bird had sabotaged it. He raised a finger to point at ‘Better Snowbird’, to which the bird had simply replied with a chirp and something which looked like a shrug. 

“You naughty bird! How could yo-” 

“Saps, turn over here.” 

“Hm? What is i-”

As Saps turned over, Flux had brought one of his hands next to Saps’ ears all of a sudden, and before Saps could make another move, he had gently grabbed one strand of snow-white hair from Saps and tucked it behind his ear. The entire action was done with a kind of gentleness that Saps had never seen from the raven head in front of him. 

“Oh… thanks for that.” Right after Flux had finished tucking that strand of hair back, Saps had immediately moved backwards, further away from Flux. “It’s great that ‘Better Snowbird’ knows how to fly again, right? We should also continue with the papers, the test is coming up soon” Afterwards, Saps hastily turned back to the paper, his expression unreadable to Fluixon. 

Oh no, Fluixon thought. Did I upset him accidentally?

What Fluixon didn’t notice was the faint blush that had crept all the way to Saps’ neck. 

Ever since that ‘Saps’ guy visited our club, the president and that guy have spent almost all of their breaks and lunches in the club room doing unknown things, NewKids thought.  

It had all started when their president, Flux, had brought a white-haired boy whom Thomas called ‘Saps’ into the Theatre Room one day. NewKids had never seen their president so nervous about something before. Hell, he even looked less serious when they had to suddenly put up a short play three days before a competition!

From that day onward, Flux had pinned one message in the Conspiracy’s group chat. 

“From today onwards until further notice, the goon bunker will be off-limits for all of you before school ends. I need the room for some urgent affairs. Consider making use of this period to touch some grass instead of hiding in the room playing Among Us and Risk all of the time.” 

 Originally, the members of the club had felt extremely betrayed by their beloved president. Rotation had tried to enter the room simply to take a board game set up on the rooftop, but had been heartlessly rejected by Flux. “Come back at another time.” He said, while a suspicious chirp! rang from inside the room. 

Investigating and doing suspicious things had always been the Conspiracy's greatest strength and hobby. Therefore, NewKids secretly bugged the room with an eavesdropping device at a location Flux would never imagine touching: behind the 1:1 3D puzzle of dripstone located at the far end of the room. Flux had forbidden them to be less than one meter away from the model, fearing that someone would break his beloved model. 

One day, Rotation and NewKids gathered all the members of the Conspiracy in the west garden, a location where they might be able to get a glimpse of what was happening in the Theatre Club’s room. Right now, the members were all hiding in a large firethorn bush planted by the Gardening Club, while listening to what was happening in the room through the device. 

“Hey! What was that for, ‘Better Snowbird’?” They heard a voice which sounded like Flux’s say through the device. 

“What! How could Flux call something ‘Better me??’ This is an outrage!” Snowbird gritted his teeth, obviously annoyed with Flux’s comment. 

“I support the President on this one, the bird is cuter than you.” Meanwhile, NewKids was peering into the room with a spyglass. Upon seeing the bird in action, he started laughing at how hilarious Flux and the white-haired boy were. 

“Give me back the spyglass, you idiot. I want to take a look as well!” With a quick snatch, Seraphim had taken the spyglass from Newkids and immediately peered into the room while zooming the spyglass’s lens to maximum. As she finished looking into the room, she passed the spyglass to Gotoga, who was crouching down next to her. Gotoga took one peer into the room, then looked back at Snowbird. “NewKids has a point.” He remarked, as he passed the spyglass to Thomas, who was leaning on a tree nearby while scrolling on his phone for methods to prevent dying from Withered Foxy in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, uninterested in what was happening. He didn’t bother looking up from his phone as Gotoga passed him the spyglass, instead reminding them. “Consider putting that away. The lens glints when it hits sunlight. They’ll see it.”  

At that moment, the white-haired boy and Flux had given up on studying for the History test, instead lying on the table and playing with the bird they called ‘Better Snowbird’. ‘Saps’ took a finger out and started gently stroking the bird’s head mindlessly, to which the bird let out small chirps upon each stroke. Meanwhile, Flux was quietly looking at Saps pet the bird while a small smile formed on his face. 

“This looks so domestic,” Seraphim muttered while throwing the spyglass to Rotation, who excitedly used it to zoom in on the bird. 

As they continued their “investigation”, Thomas, still refusing to look up from his phone, chimed in. 

“Guys, Flux is not an idiot. He’s going to catch you all spying sooner or later.” Thomas placed his phone back in his pocket and plucked the spyglass out of Rotation’s hands, causing the latter to let out a "Hey!” 

“But Thomas, this is better than playing Risk on the rooftop! We promise that we won’t make a sound!” NewKids stated, while looking at Thomas with pleading eyes.

“Either we leave now, or I’m telling Flux you were all peeking.” To call his “threat” dangerous was an understatement. To Thomas, who usually acted more than he spoke, a threat like this meant business. Thomas pocketed the spyglass and started walking toward the rooftop without waiting for a response, and NewKids was not ready to find out what would happen if he refused.

“Okay, fine! We’ll go back!” NewKids muttered while getting out of the bush. Seeing NewKids leave, Gotoga, Snowbird and Rotation quietly followed from behind, not wanting to know what would happen if they didn’t leave. At last, Seraphim brushed away the dirt on her dress and gave Thomas a meaningful look before following NewKids. 

In fact, it wasn’t that Thomas was fully disinterested in what Flux and Saps were doing, or bored with the Conspiracy’s shenanigans, but simply wished to give Flux some space with Saps. One reason was that, from what he knew about Flux, he would definitely want to keep this a secret from everyone else. The other reason?

Because Flux had obviously been in a better mood since Saps’s unexpected visit to the club. 

Since he was born, Flux had always been an introverted child, reluctant to share events about himself to anyone, even if they were close. Yet, when Saps and Flux became friends, Flux would spend nights telling Cynikka (or Thomas, whenever they had a sleepover) about the fun he had with Saps, or what kind of activities they had planned for the future. 

Which is why both he and Cynikka knew what was wrong when Flux started his eternal frowning again the day when Saps left the town. 

As one of Flux’s friends for the longest time, Thomas hopes that Flux may fix whatever mess he and Saps left behind in the past. It’s good that they’re hanging out again, Thomas thought. Making sure that the rest of the Conspiracy were following him to the rooftop, he continued his search for methods to counter Withered Foxy. 

Six weeks have passed since Saps took ‘Better Snowbird’ in. 

Each day during this period, the bird seemed to have recovered more than the previous day. From the weak birdling that hid in the berry bushes, worried of predators, it has not only grown larger, but has also learned how to fly again. 

Today, Flux and Saps were huddled at their usual seats in the Theatre Club room, watching as ‘Better Snowbird’ flew around in the room excitedly, as if it were treasure hunting. At one point, it stood on the sculpture, which looked suspiciously like the former president, and started chirping towards the 1:1 dripstone 3D model, as if it found something big behind it. Saps laughed at its enthusiasm, while Flux also allowed himself to let out a small smile, filling the room with mirth. 

As the bird flew back towards Saps, he let out his finger so that ‘Better Snowbird’ could stand on his finger, to which the bird did without mistake. “Good boy! I’m proud.” Saps chuckled as he stroked the bird’s hair. Meanwhile, Flux scanned the bird over. The vet wrap around its wing was already removed last week, which means…

“Saps, are you going to let the bird back out in the wild?” 

The finger that was originally on ‘Better Snowbird’ froze, leading to the bird letting out a muffled “Chirp?” of protest. Whatever joyous expression on Saps’ face has vanished in thin air, leaving only worry. 

“Saps, look. I know you may miss the bird, but the bird cannot stay here forever. Not only is this environment unsuitable for its growth, but the bird mother should be worried by now.” Despite the obvious disappointment on Saps’ face, Flux still decided to tell the truth. 

“You’re right. I probably do miss the bird.” Saps admitted. 

He’s healthy now. Strong enough. The wild is where he belongs, not inside the cruel concrete walls of a school—I’ve always believed that. I knew that from the start. So why can’t I make a decision? His hands freeze at the hypothetical door of the cage, unable to make a decision: To selfishly keep the bird or to lock the door eternally. Perhaps if I kept him for one more day… I could…

Yet, the words felt hollow to Saps. Because he said the same thing to himself as he felt Flux’s meaningful gaze on him and the bird. But if I let the bird go… 

His gaze shifted to Flux, who looked as stoic as ever, yet concern seeped through his expression. Instead of demanding Saps for a reply, he was patiently waiting until Saps would give him the answer. If I let the bird go, would we be able to stay friends like this? Guilt immediately twisted in his stomach as that thought emerged from his mind. No, that’s selfish. He’s not a tool for me to keep someone close, but a living thing. I promised myself I’d do what’s best for him. 

“But, we should definitely let the bird go.” 

“Are you sure?” Was he sure about that?

“Yeah. I am.”  

Flux squinted marginally on Saps,  perhaps attempting to find a hint in his expression, but to no avail. Coincidentally, the bell had started ringing, marking the start of the next lesson. “Let’s meet again after school to let the bird go, then. I’ll be here as well.” Then, he took out his phone to send a message to the goons. “Practice after school will be shortened to 6 pm today.” As he sent the message, he stood up and walked to the room’s exit, opening the door while standing at the exit, waiting for Saps. 

At least for now, we still have time.  

“Alright, I’ll see you later, then!” 

Once again, the school’s bell chimed, indicating that it was six in the evening. 

After taking his belongings from his locker and placing them in his school bag, Saps ran to the Theatre Club room to see Flux opening the door and letting the other club members out. As the members passed by Saps, each looked at him with a different expression. 

The only girl, Seraphim, gazed at him and gave him a polite nod. 

Snowbird smiled at him while greeting him. 

Gotoga, the blue-haired one with the scarf, even when it was summer, peered at him with curiosity.

Rotation, the one with blonde hair and a muscular build, looked at him with mirth in his eyes.

The boy, whom they called NewKids and wore black from head to toe, had a mischievous grin on his face as he noticed Saps standing next to the exit of the room. He chuckled and tagged along with Rotation, whispering something in his ear, to which Rotation looked at him excitedly and whispered back.

Thomas came out and glanced at him with realisation in his eyes. Then, he called the other members and told them to follow him towards the exit of the school. 

Last but not least, 

Fluixon, with the container holding ‘Better Snowbird’ in his hand, stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him before locking it. When he realised that Saps had already arrived, his expression softened, and he placed the container in Saps’ hand gently. 

“Let’s get going.” 

Within minutes, a boy with snow white hair and two moles under his gray eyes, alongside a boy with raven locks and amethyst eyes, strolled towards berry bushes near the exit of the school with a heavy bag on his back. Like the other students, they were supposed to be back home as well, but had stayed behind because they had something important to do. 

As they arrived at the berry bushes, Flux started looking around, hoping to find the nest of the bird’s mother. Finally, his eyes landed on a tall magnolia tree. On one of the sturdy branches of the tree, a neat nest created with straws of hay and leaves sat on it, near some magnolias. A large white bird stood at the edge of the nest, looking around as if it were searching for something. 

“This should be it.” Flux pointed to the nest, and Saps looked over, immediately noticing the large white bird. In the container, ‘Better Snowbird’ might have sensed its home nearby, as it started chirping loudly. Saps uncovered the container, and the bird immediately flew out, standing on the container and chirping towards the nest. 

Upon hearing the chirps, the large bird flew towards the two boys and stopped nearby them, perhaps staying alert in front of the strangers. Yet, as the two birds exchanged a few more chirps, the larger bird flew closer to the two boys. Then, it willingly stood on the edge of the container and flapped its wings in front of Saps. Finally, it chirped again to ‘Better Snowbird’, and they flew back to the nest together. As they arrived at the nest, Saps and Flux spotted a few smaller birds peering out from the nest and chirping as well. 

Thank you for the time, Flux quietly thought. 

Meanwhile, Saps was also deep in thought. Now that we’ve let the bird back out, will we be able to hang out like the previous weeks? As much as he enjoyed the time spent with Flux previously, he was not sure whether Flux was eager to spend more time with him after all that had happened. 

“You know, you can always just tell me if you want to hang out, or just visit the club. I stay there most of the time if I’m not in the classroom.” Shocked, Saps turned over to see a slightly flustered Flux. Crap, did I accidentally say that out loud? Saps groaned quietly as he buried his face in his hands. 

“Saps.” 

Still embarrassed from his fumble, Saps turned back to Flux again. Flux’s brows knitted together as he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, as if he was hesitating. Flux looked at Saps, who was still blushing from his previous mistake, but undeniably smiling. The smile gave him enough courage to finally tell Saps his inner thoughts. 

As he opened his mouth to speak again, however, he was abruptly interrupted by some weird noises behind a nearby oak tree. 

“I can’t look at this for much longer, it's too heart-wrenching!! BOOHOOO!” 

Behind the tree, Rotation was sobbing over the scene of his president and the white-haired boy letting their beloved pet bird back out in the wild. The other members of the conspiracy, upon seeing Rotation’s sudden emotional outburst, immediately pulled him back behind the tree and covered his mouth. 

“Rotation, you idiot! You do know that we’re hiding here, right?” Seraphim knocked his head and put up a finger on her lips, telling the others to stay quiet. NewKids, ever the vigilant one, realised that they might have been exposed, and immediately hid himself back behind another tree, pulling Snowbird and Gotoga with him. Thomas, failing to convince them not to stalk their president, had given up and was sitting on the grass, at a position behind Seraphim and Rotation, while scrolling through more Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 guides with slight annoyance and muttering something about “hacking in the game files and deleting Foxy from existence.”  

Unfortunately, as the President of the Theatre Club, Flux had already realised what was happening. As Flux walked to the tree where Rotation was with a furious expression, the conspiracy knew that they had messed up. 

“Care to explain this fiasco?” Flux looked at Thomas. “Out of everyone, I expected you to be better than this. You should have known better than this.” Thomas shrugged helplessly upon Flux’s accusation, meaning “I tried to!” 

“Um…Prez? We can explain this…” Behind the other tree, NewKids stammered with fear in his voice. Gotoga slammed his face on his palm upon looking at this, while Snowbird giggled nervously. 

“I’ll give you one chance to explain.” Flux raised an eyebrow and continued looking at NewKids, who started stammering even more than he did earlier. 

“We were…uh” 

“Sightseeing! Don’t you see the magnolias bloom on the tree? Right, Seraphim?” 

With the hot potato in her hands, Seraphim threw daggers at NewKids with her eyes while responding. “Y-yeah! The berries are also growing very fast, and we uh…”

“We got lost!” Of all the excuses they could have possibly made up, Snowbird chose this one under the pressure of everyone’s eyes on him. Thomas simply sighed at the scene. 

Fluixon was so done with all of them. 

“That’s it. You guys are banned from playing Among Us and Risk in the club room for a week. Now GO HOME!” 

Having witnessed their President’s once-in-a-century rage, the members of the Conspiracy did not dare stay much longer before he took another action. They grabbed all of their belongings and ran out of the campus grounds within 30 seconds. “Bye, Prez! Good luck and see you tomorrow!” Somehow, NewKids dared to wave Flux goodbye with a smile before escaping from the campus gates. 

“Wow, didn’t know that you were this authoritative in front of them!” Saps laughed at the scene as the Theatre club members ran away while passing by him. 

“I swear, someday I definitely will dripstone all of them.” Flux shook his head while walking back to Saps. “Since we already set the bird free, shall we go home as well?”

“Sure!” 

Saps caught up to Flux as the two walked to the school’s exit gate. Despite the bird issue finally being settled, there was still one thing that was on Saparata’s mind, and right now, he was struggling to decide whether he should solve it or not. 

“Flux!” Once again, Saparata had called out for Fluixon. Flux turned around in response, looking at a flushed Saps. 

“What is it?” 

Do I say it? Do I ask him? Or should I not? 

Standing by the blue rose bush and the berry bushes, Saps underwent an internal crisis. He wasn’t sure whether Flux would agree to whatever he was about to say, but he was dying to know as well. After all the time they had spent together, surely Flux would not turn him down.

Right? 

Saps finally managed to gather up the courage to ask Flux. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow again, right? In the classroom or the club room?” 

“Of course.” Perhaps seeing how nervous Saps was, Flux gave him a small but reassuring smile. and spoke. “Promise? I’ll see you again tomorrow. Here.” 

Just like the old times, Flux had reached out his pinky finger to secure his part of the promise. 

Without much hesitation, Saps reached his pinky finger out and wrapped it around Flux’s. 

“Promise.”

As they made the promise with each other and passed by the campus gates as well, a tender gust of wind blew, blowing the petals of blue roses from the nearby bush towards them. The birds residing on the magnolia tree were still chirping, perhaps to celebrate that one of their beloved ones had finally returned to their embrace at long last. 

As for any other questions that the two had in mind for each other, that can wait for another day; they’ll have another chance with this. Right now, both of them hope to treasure the present moment they get to spend with each other instead.