Small Adventure 62

The idea of these small adventures is that they're just text stories, not accompanied by photos. But, I do make exceptions occasionally.

A few weeks ago, I was looking for volume 3 of the 7 Shakespeares sequel, but I wasn't able to get to Maruzan bookstore in Tenmonkan until just before closing at 8:30 PM. I got in the store, went up to the second floor, and started looking around at the section of shelves that 7 Shakespeares had last been in. I couldn't find it, but as I was searching, I heard bird chirping. At the time, I thought it was being piped in as a kind of muzak (a few stores have done that in the past). I ran out of time, and went back home. I had to work the next day, and got out at 8:15. Maruzen was on my way home, so I decided to try again. This time, I discovered that the manga had been moved up to the top shelves, near the high ceiling, so I climbed the ladder to get up to where volume 3 was. I heard the bird chirping again, and I got the distinct feeling it was coming from the air vent in the wall. I tried looking into the vent, but the ladder didn't get that close to it. I gave up, grabbed my manga, then went down the ladder to pay for the book before the store closed.

The next day, I thought about going back and just recording the chirping on my camera. I'd had some free time, and I got to the store at 2 PM. I returned to the second floor and climbed the ladder, but I couldn't hear anything anymore. I walked around the block to see if I could get a look at the vent from the outside, but the back of the building was blocked off by other buildings. From that point on, I haven't heard anything coming from that vent, so maybe whatever was living in there had flown the nest.



A few weeks later, I was walking down one of the smaller side streets leading to Tenmonkan, when a pigeon flew up and disappeared into the left-hand vent on the 4th floor of the above building. It took a few seconds for the sight to register - that I'd actually seen this pigeon fly into the building. About 10 seconds later, a second pigeon flew out of the left-hand vent on the 6th floor. Now, I really have to wonder just how many birds are hiding in those vents...