This is chapter 32 in the Heaven's Design Team manga series.
Plot[]
It's another day in the Animal Department. Shimoda enters to find Kanamori helping Meido out by playing with modeling clay. He asks the two what they are making. Meido proclaims that they are making shark egg casings. Noticing the look on Shimoda’s face, the two reassure him that the sharks will not be harmed when laying the eggs.
Meido shows off one shaped like a corkscrew, which she explains can be wedged between rocks to ensure that it does not drift away. Kanamori shows off another that has strings that can wrap around its surroundings. Fascinated, Shimoda picks up another that looks like a bowl and asks about its story. Embarrassed, the two designers admit that it was something they made by accident. Kanamori tries to think of a method in which the bowl could function like a house to protect the eggs. Suddenly, Shimoda receives a message from God giving divine approval for three designs.
Meido is happy that most of their designs got approved. Despite the bowl not being considered, Kanamori is happy with the work they had accomplished. While Meido leaves to test the eggs, Kanamori hopes to get a similar assignment involving birds. At that moment, Shimoda receives a message from God requesting a new animal from Kanamori. The request is for “a bird that doesn’t lay eggs.’
Dumbstruck, Kanamori speculates how she is supposed to make a bird reproduce without laying eggs, further stating that it isn't possible. Shimoda explains to her that God wants to see chicks being born rather than hatching from eggs, and asks Kanamori if it is a problem. Discouraged, Kanamori grabs a sofa from another room and collapses on top of it. She explains to Shimoda that birds cannot carry their babies in their bellies because it makes it harder for them to fly. Furthermore, once the eggs have been laid, they will only become active once the incubation starts.
Because there are so many problems with the order, Kanamori is uncertain whether she can deliver. From her perspective, “a bird that doesn’t lay eggs” feels like a rejection of birds altogether. Hoping to cheer her up, Shimoda suggests that she design a bird that doesn’t fly. Even though she finds flightless birds boring and easy targets for predators, Kanamori decides to try. After a few minutes of sketching, the design looks more like a hamster than a bird.
Seeing how stressed she is, Shimoda suggests that they take it slow. First, he proposes giving the creature a few bird-like elements, to which Kanamori responds by adding a beak. Next, they adjust the limbs to make them more bird-like. Then they remove the ears and make the feathers hair-like. With the design looking more like a bird, Kanamori takes the blueprint to Higuchi’s Lab to make a prototype.
Later on, Higuchi comes out with a new prototype. Higuchi is convinced the overall design will work, but Kanamori is still complacent that the creature is more mammal than a bird. In response, Higuchi takes out a marker and draws a line on the ground, and labels one side mammal and the other bird. She then places the prototype right on the edge of the bird's side, indicating it is still a bird. After explaining how the bird carries the egg in its body, Higuchi is confident that the adult can handle a live chick inside.
Despite Higuchi’s seal of approval, Kanamori cannot come to terms with the final design and starts having another breakdown. As Shimoda tries desperately to calm her down, he receives an immediate response from God giving divine approval for the design. Thus, the Kiwi bird is born. While Higuchi and Kanamori try to understand what happened, Shimoda explains that God got a kick over the bird’s skeletal structure. He, therefore, changed the request to “a bird that seems like it stopped laying eggs in the next round of evolution.”
Exhausted, Kanamori collapses on the couch and contemplates that she may not be cut out for twisted assignments. At that moment, Meido walks into the room with some exciting news. The bowl that she made with Kanamori got approved as a sand collar for snail eggs. She tells Kanamori that she is a genus and thanks her. After a few seconds, Kanamori cheers up a little and hugs the Kiwi bird she designed, proclaiming that perhaps she can handle twisted assignments.
New Animals[]
- Kiwi