"Arina, I'm back, have you eaten anything? Arina?" Asano excused his parents to come home early. Carrying a bag of her favorite food, he wandered around the house to see where she was at.

The sight of the empty birdcage soon hit his view as he stood petrified for a moment to process what had happened, seconds after he had already gone panicked and rushed to find Arina -- whom he assumed the culprit -- whilst desperately yelling her name until he found her sitting in between the bookshelves in the library.

"I'm here, Asano-kun," muttered Arina wanly. A guilty teardrop rolled down her cheek. "I know, I've risen to be the most sinful individual on earth. You can kill me now, and never mind whatever flowers I want because I don't deserve a funeral anymore, Asano-kun. Father had raised me wrong but why do I pity him so much? But at least I'm willing to admit my fault. Okay, I'm ready now, Asano-kun, kill me-- oh wait, do you suppose my sin is too great to just die like this? Perhaps a little torture would do it -- you could go boil water and throw it at me...make sure you get it in my eyeballs..."

"Arina..." Asano's voice went heavy as if he was about to hit her, dropping the bag of food to the ground. Maybe almost a year hanging out with Arina didn't guarantee him a full understanding of her character, because she was sincerely guilty and truthful in her words, he meanwhile, thought she was being sarcastic.

"This ISN'T a joke, do you hear me!?" he bellowed, "What HAD happened!?"

As for Asano's character, he was the embodiment of dutifulness and someone who possessed an immaculate level of nobility and responsibility. Even if it was the lover girl who he can't help but go mellow for, she still WOULDN'T escape this!! as he berated her at full volume for the first time in months after she confessed everything.

"I just want Mr. Birdman to be free for a while-e-e--" choked Arina, hiccuping nonstop.

"YOU WILL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS!!" yelled Asano with burning rage, as he stormed out of the room looking for a solution.

More tears spilled forth from Arina's eyes after her bosom friend scolded her. But wouldn't it be odd to say that she felt more relieved after she got scolded? It was as if a portion of her guilt was lifted.

Minutes went by and after Asano cooled down he began to feel bad for yelling at Arina. With only one resolution in his mind, he reentered the room to see Arina lighting up candles before a hand-drawn portrait of a lovebird and intertwining her fingers, saying whatever thing under her breath.

"We're going to the pet store -- now!" announced Asano.

"Now? Bu-But I'm in the middle of a little funeral ceremony. It would be disrespectful to cut it short," gasped Arina with a quiver in her voice.

"NOW!" he repeated.

Luckily the pet store was still open when they arrived. Asano and Arina hurried to the bird section and looked for one that exactly resembled Mr. Birdman.

"This one looks alright," Asano held up the cage and examined the lovebird inside. "The problem is it doesn't know how to say 'Shit'."

"Asano-kun, why don't you just let me admit my fault?" queried Arina. "The truth would certainly break Mr. Urushiyama and little Naruto's hearts, but I would rather be honest as it is rightful to do so."

Asano heaved a sigh. It was true that one shall take responsibility for the fault they committed, but the love he had for her had surpassed that at last and feared she would be in trouble if she confess so he opted to go this way.

"Just this time," he warned her and set off to the cashier with the birdcage in his hands.

After payment, using ultimate full speed they fled home in a matter of minutes before Asano's parents got back.

"Quick! Put it in the cage!" commanded Asano. His parents were literally seconds away from entering the house. Arina accidentally squeezed the bird too hard while she was in the state of frantic, shoving it into the cage.

"Arina darling, Gakushuu, mommy is home~" chirped Mrs. Sayaka, skipping into the house. "Did anything happen while you're both alone? Did something exciting occur between you two?"

"O-oh, it was definitely a stronger feeling than excitement," faltered Arina. Asano leered at her as though warning about not giving away any hints.

Though very sharply, chairman Asano already sensed something was off. Without saying anything he walked up straight to the birdcage and examined the bird inside. Asano freaked out but tried to stay calm while Arina absent-mindedly yelped, 'Eek!'

"Strange, isn't it? Mr. Birdman doesn't say 'Shit' anymore when I try to communicate with it," even with that plastic smile the chairman sent off the two kids still felt shivers run down their spines.

"What if it depends on its mood? There are still many factors that contribute to this issue," Asano reasoned. Meanwhile, Arina was preparing herself to confess if needed and had preserved enough tears for it.

The chairman's eyes glinted dangerously, at least from the kids' perspective it was. He then put a hand under his chin and said, "Isn't that Mr. Birdman has slightly more visible white feathers on the sides of his cheeks?"

By this time Arina already wanted to get on her knees and venerate him for his sharpness. Asano, however, will NOT submit to his father!

"It's probably the lightning that deceived you," he declared whilst furrowing his eyebrows, "In my opinion I see nothing wrong."

The tension was too high that Arina was so close to spilling the beans when Mrs. Sayaka jumped in.

"Who wants some ice cream!?" she announced whilst holding up two bags of ice cream bought aftermath of the dine-out.

When hearing the term 'ice cream', as if resonated with Pavlov's theory of classical conditioning, Arina snapped out of her intention and instantly fled to Mrs. Sayaka in sheer eagerness.

Using this moment to full advantage Asano pretended to have a thing for ice cream as well as he followed Arina's footsteps, leaving the chairman all alone with his eerie plastic smile and ability to tear down his opponents.

"Asano-kun, you take this one -- apparently this tastes the best in my opinion and you ought to try it at least once in your lifetime -- oh..." out of being overly exhilarated, Arina lost control over her grip and dropped the ice cream stick to the floor. Asano facepalmed over this sight.

Fortunately, the chairman decided to leave things as it was. If it was true that the kids lost Mr. Birdman and thus he was replaced by another bird then it wouldn't be too much of a problem in the chairman's eyes. At least they were cunning enough to do so.

For the following days, Arina headed to Asano's house every time school ended just to teach the new bird how to say, 'Shit' as a part of her responsibility.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit -- come on, say it," pressured Arina in the depth of despair when this new bird was as dumb as a rock, or whether it refused to swear she had no idea.

"Arina darling? Gakushuu isn't home yet so why are you here?" inquired Mrs. Sayaka from the kitchen counter, blinking twice in curiosity as Arina sighed in response.

"Oh, Mrs. Sayaka, my newly found kindred spirit is Mr. Birdman and I'm using all the time we're still together to read him tragical yet heroic poems. He likes hearing them even better than getting fed and I can assure you that, and since I reckon his vocabulary only consists of 'Shit', I will make sure he is able to understand me as well by speaking in his limited vocabulary. Please, Mrs. Sayaka, we only have three more days together until Mr. Urushiyama comes to pick my kindred up so I expect you would somehow understand."

Arina's words were always convincing to Mrs. Sayaka which was a blessing. However, after three days, despite all the efforts of both her and Asano this bird still hadn't uttered a single word so much to their increasing anxiety.

"Oh, what should I do, Asano-kun? Should I just confess and it would be over?" queried Arina in desperation. Asano shoved that intention away by saying they should go according to the plan nevertheless.

"If they ask about it we will just say it bumps into the wall and forgot everything -- it sounds stupid, I know, but we have no other choice."

"Even I think it's stupid!" she remarked.

After a business trip for Mr. Urushiyama and for little Naruto a holiday, they arrived at Asano's house that day in the evening to pick up Mr. Birdman as promised while Arina couldn't help but felt her heart beating faster and faster with each second ticked by when the two were already standing behind the entrance door as of now.

"MR. BIRDMAN!!!" yelled out Naruto as soon as Mrs. Sayaka opened the door for them. "HOW ARE YOU!?!"

With that said he rushed to the birdcage, expecting his pet bird to be in good condition and willing to reply to him by saying, 'Shit!' as it often did.

Alas! It didn't say anything to Naruto's utter surprise! Why!? Asano and Arina, in the meantime, were praying under their breath.

"Shit! Say shit, Mr. Birdman!!" gasped Naruto, disappointment smearing all over his face, as he immediately whirled around and complained to his dad. Arina's face gone paler.

"DADDYYY! MR. BIRDMAN IS BROKEN!!"

"Is he, dear?" queried his dad, as he approached his son to see what he meant.

"He's broken because he doesn't say shit!!" spat Naruto in indignation, violently shaking the cage back and forth.

"NARUTO!" Asano piped up in concern for the bird inside. "The other day it bumped into the wall and since then it hadn't spoken a word, maybe the collision had impacted its memory."

'You seriously used that awful lie!?' Arina gaped over how Asano was totally out of character.

"YOU FREAKING GAKUFUKA LET MY PRECIOUS BIRD BUMP INTO A WALL!?! O-O-OH--" the little kid could barely hold his resentment as he used up all his energy to scream at the top of his lungs, causing everyone's ears to bleed.

"Wh-What's happening!?!" Mrs. Sayaka, who was minding her housekeeping duty, now barged into the scene to learn about the questionable situation that had Naruto throwing a tantrum like this.

"Hmm, no, Gakushuu-kun, are you sure you're not lying?" after a quick observation Mr. Urushiyama turned to ask.

"What do you mean?" Asano grimaced. Arina nervously panned her eyes back and forth from him to Naruto's dad.

"Well, isn't that Mr. Birdman has more visible white feathers on the sides of his cheeks?" he said, rubbing his chin. 'It's that obvious!?' Asano and Arina both thought. "I'm sorry but I can't believe you, Gakushuu-kun, where's your dad anyway?"

"He's still at work," responded Asano with an underlying discomposure in his tone. He turned aside to observe Arina's expression.

She was looking as though ready to confess out of being busted. Guilt was written all over her face. As soon as she opened her mouth, Asano immediately cut her off.

"It was my fault. I accidentally let the cage open as it fled out. The one in the cage right now is another bird I bought to get away with my mistake. I'm deeply sorry for my lack of sense of duty and my dishonesty. I will make sure to take all the responsibility for this," he solemnly apologized and bowed to the dad and his son, both of whom were listening with their jaws falling to the ground. Naruto instantly burst out crying after the shocking news.

"Wh-What have you done, Gakushuu, oh no, what about daddy's business?" faltered Mrs. Sayaka. "He's our biggest investor."

Arina was frowning over Asano's statement the entire time, though with sparkling eyes. Oh, what bosom friends could do for each other! She thought it was simply romantical and worthy to write a novel about. Nevertheless, witnessing his bravery has paved the path for her as well.

"Oh, I will tell YOU now!" she announced; hands on hips. "Asano-kun PITY me! Oh, how could he, because I will tell you why! I AM the culprit that killed Mr. Birdman -- I was ready to embark on a remarkable adventure of my own when I figured it wouldn't be so fair to Mr. Birdman so I freed him from his little prison and recommended him to explore the world first while I'm going to fix my dress, then when I was ready, I did go find Mr. Birdman at the library and we could've gone to the summit of Mount Everest if he didn't decide to take one step further and explored a larger world ahead. It wasn't my fault that he was so ambitious. I waved after him, yelling, 'Bye bye, Mr. Birdman! I hope you find the love of your life!' but I didn't expect that he would turn his head around and then bump into a pole and later get eaten by the neighbor's dog -- all within seconds! It was BIZARRE indeed, could you believe it? But I'm glad that he died a quick and less painful death. In adversity there's still positivity, isn't it?"

No, in this case it was definitely a no from the Urushiyama family, as they couldn't hide their distress. Asano was speechless with widened eyes and opened mouth, while Mrs. Sayaka was so afraid her husband would reject Arina as a future daughter-in-law after hearing complaints from Mr. Urushiyama.

It was so eerily quiet after Naruto finished crying and instead, looking soulless that Arina was beginning to realize her words weren't comforting at all contrary to her initial belief, as she wore a blank face this time.

"Ms. Arina..." uttered Mr. Urushiyama, "If what you said is true...then I'm sorry but I shall make you compensate for this--"

Like an instinct, the very romantical bosom friend was going to go all the way out to defend his 'friend' that the most coincidental thing occurred right at this moment, as if a miracle.

A filthy-looking lovebird fled through the window of the living room from the outside into where they were standing, dropping to the floor out of tiresome. They were all startled and blinked in surprise.

"Is-Is that?" uttered Mr. Urushiyama, scanning and recognizing the bird within seconds.

"Shit!" it said. "Stupid! Shit!"

"Mr.-- Mr.," stuttered Naruto in disbelief, "MR. BIRDMAN!!"

In a blink of an eye, everyone erupted into sheer relief and happiness. For Arina, she lightly tapped her head and questioned herself whether her perspective was all distorted due to her wild imagination because it was now clear that Mr. Birdman wasn't eaten by the dog at all.

"Oh, it's really you, Mr. Birdman!" the little owner's eyes went watery as he held up the lovebird and gently placed a kiss on its head.

"I-- I," said the bird.

"What?" he asked, still with watery eyes.

"I love you," it proceeded to speak.

Those three words had everybody stunned upon hearing. What did it just say?

"Say it again, Mr. Birdman!" Arina excitedly jumped in and requested.

"I love you!" it repeated.

Arina fainted out of being overjoyed. Asano's jaws fell wide open. Mrs. Sayaka clapped, while the dad briskly asked for the person who taught the bird to say it. "It was Arina," this time Asano can proudly said. Meanwhile Naruto was getting too emotional that he burst out crying again.

"O-o-oh, Mr. Birdman," the kid faltered, "let's get home and I will clean you up and feed you a very fancy meal -- DADDY, GO BUY ME THE MOST EXPENSIVE BIRD'S FOOD! Alright! Let's go now! See ya, big sis Arina -- you're literally the best! Goodbye, Mrs. Asano, and, eh-- Gakufuka, hope you have a terrible day ahead."

Asano was holding back the urge to hit this insolent kid when he was waving goodbye to everyone, including Arina on the floor. From then on the lovebird kept repeating what it previously said, 'I love you! I love you! and I love you!' as it had Naruto squealed in delight whenever it did.

'Maybe words are that impactful after all,' Asano contemplated after he watched the son and dad exit the house. 'How to make Arina happy with only words?'

It was such a thrilling experience, as noted by Arina. However, she can't just do things without reconsideration. Despite warnings from Seo, Arina still kept her promise to Ren and had been at his house socializing over the past few days. But to her chagrin, while the main reason she was there was to see this new girlfriend that Ren was so obsessed with lately, that girl didn't even show up in the first place.

"Oh, Ren, I feel like I'm wasting my time here," said Arina unapologetically, repeatedly stirring a cup of mocktail with a straw. "I'm quite a busy girl-- I mean, woman, you know? I'm not that much of what you call a smart person, so I have to take extra study, and I still have got to manage my comrade brothers, and then visit class-- I mean, visit the ants at my doorstep, and keep myself looking presentable by hitting the gym and do my time-consuming beauty routines and helping the unfortunates AND remaining on the quest of beating Asano-kun one day by continuing to take parts in multiple competitions and shows, or else, Ren! I shall never be able to walk on this earth with full confidence -- so, once again when WILL she show up?"

"It doesn't matter whether my girlfriend will show up or not, the idea here is that I want to spend time with you and get to know you better~" said Ren, flipping his non-existed hair. Morikawa Mika and Tanaka Sekai, both of who were standing in the background of the pool party and following the conversation between the two of them had to facepalm, knowing he will likely fail with that sentence. It no doubt sounded as though he had a crush on her.

Arina turned out to be horrified.

"What you want to KNOW about me is all boring!" she cried, in a sense of panic, "Unless you'll only let me tell you what I IMAGINE about myself you'll think it ever so much more interesting. But Ren! Even though we're kindreds I'm not that comfortable with you!"

"Damn it," Tanaka mumbled to Morikawa.

"Where's Seo by the way -- where is he all these times?" queried Arina in desperation, scanning around the place. Ren laughed awkwardly, as he was the one who sent Seo away every time Arina arrived.

"He's out with his girlfriend already," said Ren. Well, at least he didn't lie this time.

"Oh," sighed Arina, as she put the mocktail down and intertwined her hands. "Oh, Ren, I know it's near your birthday but still! I do NOT like how you always want to get to KNOW me like lately! Why won't we talk about other topics? There are ever so many interesting subjects to talk about and maybe we could go for a battle to pick out who's more romantic like we used to! But what is with you not talking to any other girls anymore?"

"Because I've sworn to be loyal to only my girlfriend~ you're an exception of course because you're a friend," Ren took pride over the declaration.

"Then why would you invite the girls over?" double-blinked Arina in perplex.

"Oh, it's because," he halted his movements for a moment whilst began to sweatdrop. There was no way he would tell her it was for Tanaka and Morikawa to blend in and eavedrop. "Well, it's because I'm lending the girls a place to throw a party."

Morikawa and Tanaka immediately went panicked and worried over if Arina ever finds out the truth after chatting with a random girl there.

"Ooh!" but to their surprise, she let out a breath of relief and clasped her hands together. "That's the Ren I know – very helpful indeed, worthy to be my kindred. But say, Ren, why do you want to get to KNOW me that much?"

Ren was hesitant for a while whereas Tanaka and Morikawa were gesturing to him signs of forbidding romantic attraction involved, or else he would fail in this quest.

It was hard because he had to choose the right words to say that wouldn't make Arina distance herself from him. At last, he said, "With the talents you have for art and creations, one couldn't resist delving into how you did it right? From your daily routines to the food you eat, everything! It's almost like obsessing over your idols and wanting to know everything about them~"

Very quickly and luckily! naive Arina believed everything her supposed kindred said and flashed a very bright smile.

"Oh, I'm awfully glad when you say so, Ren, it makes me feel like wanting to dance on the earth with full confidence – dance, not walk! Alright, since I'm your idol now, I finally have a picture of what to gift you on your upcoming birthday – you're very welcome."

Upon seeing how the plan went smoothly again, Morikawa and Tanaka exhaled in relief. Though nevertheless, the whole process was still going at such a slow pace and there was seemingly little chance to discover her weakness if it kept going on like this. But there was something these two needed to know, and it was that they were literally favored by God as the chosen ones.

One day when she had time and sat down at her desk, Morikawa Mika flipped through the pages of the stolen birthday gift from Arina to Asano once again and absorbed every single piece of information very carefully this time. And guess what she found!?

On September 15th last year, Asano happened to discover a terribly shocking fact about Arina Alexeyevna Avenira! It was way beyond shocking that Morikawa's hair stood up upon reading this with her face and lips looking as though completely drained out of blood, being incredibly pale and apprehensive. But now at last she had the weakness in her hands and it was even greater than every of their expectations combined. When Tanaka received the news and came over to make sure there hadn't been any mistake, both of them had to take up at least ten minutes to calm down. But when they got over that phase, the loudest howl of evil laughter was being heard throughout the whole neighborhood.

Sakakibara Ren's birthday was near, and coincidentally it was also Valentine's Day, and since it was merely two days away from Valentine, Asano Gakushuu couldn't help but keep wondering whether Arina will give any non-Giri-Choko (non-obligation chocolate out of friendliness) every time he stared at her and lightly sighed. Regardless, he thought it would be nice somehow to make her happy instead on this so-called romantic day.

While turning on his laptop and searching for guides on the internet, one concerning news popped up in his feeds.

'An unknown virus broke out from a lab in California, United States, currently infecting approximately a hundred people within an hour.'