Enya didn't walk. She quite literally dragged Raizen. He stumbled after her through the greenhouse corridors while she pointed at everything like she was giving a tour to someone who actually asked for one.

"And that one is called a whiteberry vine - don't eat it, you'll cry for an hour. And that one is a whisper fern, it closes when you shout! And this one - oh this one - this one is from the third shelf, it only blooms once every—"

Raizen nodded absently.

Once. Twice.

Then his eyes glazed over.

He tried to listen. He really did. But his brain felt like it moved through thick syrup. The past days sat on his shoulders like wet cloth - heavy, cold, clinging.

Mission. Anathema. Elin. The whisper. Kenzo and Atman cracking the platform in a mocking fight. Mina grabbing him by the collar, then panicking. Enya overhearing everything like it was a joke.

Now plants.

Lots of plants. Too many.

Enya kept talking anyway. Raizen made a small sound that could've been agreement or exhaustion.

Enya turned her head mid-stride and squinted at him. "You're not listening."

"Nono, I'm listening" Raizen said automatically.

"You blink like a dying fish."

Raizen didn't even have the energy to be offended. He just followed.

Enya grabbed his wrist tighter and tugged him around a shelf. They passed a section of the same pale bell-shaped flowers he saw earlier. A small pool appeared ahead, shallow and clear, edged with smooth stones. Lotuses floated on the surface. White petals. Pink petals. Long lily pads with water beading on them.

Raizen's eyes lingered on the water for half a second, mostly because it looked peaceful. But that was his mistake.

Enya stopped walking so suddenly that Raizen almost bumped into her. Then she spun around and stepped in close fast - too fast.

Raizen's tired mind didn't understand what was happening until her face was right there. Enya tilted her head like she was about to kiss him on the cheek.

Raizen's eyes widened slightly, barely managing to react.

But Enya blew air - a quick, playful puff right against his skin.

Raizen flinched so hard, he took a step back on instinct.

His heel hit the edge of the lotus pool.

He swung one arm, trying not to fall in, and for a terrifying moment he thought he was going to end up face-first in lilies.

Enya laughed so hard she bent forward, hands on her knees.

Raizen caught himself at the last second and grabbed the shelf beside him. His heart thumped once.

Enya straightened, still grinning. "Aww. You're so quiet now."

Raizen sighed slowly. "Are you done?"

"No" Enya said happily. "I'm just getting started."

She began talking again, waving her hands toward the plants as if she conducted an invisible orchestra. Raizen let the words wash over him.

Then, between her blabbing, one sentence cut through the fog in his head.

"I can make flowers too" Enya said, too casual. "Different ones."

Raizen blinked.

His attention snapped back like someone yanked a string.

"Make them?" he repeated, turning his head.

Enya looked pleased with herself. "Yeah."

Raizen stared at her. "You mean… Grow them?"

Enya rolled her eyes like he was slow. "Not just grow! Change, shape, fix, break, rebuild."

Raizen's mind stirred fully now, waking up from the dull haze.

"You can change plants?" he asked.

Enya shrugged. "Obviously."

"How?" Raizen asked, more awake with every word. "Like… Color too?"

Enya's grin returned. "Color, shape, size. Fruits too. If I want a berry bigger, I can make it become bigger."

Raizen narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."

Enya stopped. She looked at him like she couldn't believe what he just said.

"You don't believe me?" Enya repeated, offended in the most dramatic way.

Raizen kept his face straight. "Nope. Never seen anyone do something like it!"

Enya made a little sound of disbelief, then marched to the lotus pool like she was about to prove a point in front of an audience. She crouched and reached into the water without hesitation.

Her fingers closed gently around the stem of a white lotus and lifted it out. Water streamed off the petals and dripped back into the pool.

Raizen watched, quiet now, curiosity pushing the exhaustion away.

Enya held the lotus in both hands.

For a moment, she simply looked at it, then she touched the petals, and the lotus started moving.

Not like a breeze hit it, more like the flower obeyed.

The petals folded inward, slowly at first, then faster, curling toward the center. The bloom tightened, shrinking down into itself, becoming smaller and smaller until it was no longer a flower at all.

It became a seed.

A single small seed in Enya's palm.

Raizen held his breath without noticing.

Enya turned the seed between her fingers, eyes bright with focus now. Not prankster. Not chaos. Something cleaner, sharper.

Then she pressed her thumb lightly against it.

The seed opened.

A tiny stem unfurled. Petals appeared like they were being simply drawn into existence, one by one, blooming outward in slow, smooth motion. The flower rebuilt itself.

But it didn't return to white.

The petals turned black.

Not muddy or gray.

Pure black, like ink laid perfectly across each curve.

Inside, the tendrils were white, delicate and clean, and at the center sat a soft golden glow, warm and vivid against the darkness.

Raizen stared.

The black lotus looked unreal. Like it didn't belong in the same world as the greenhouse around them.

Then Raizen noticed the tradeoff.

The flower was tiny.

Not the size of the original lotus at all.

It was five times smaller, compressed into something so perfect that it could sit on his knuckle without covering it.

Enya lifted it slightly, proud and smug and a little tired.

"See?"

Raizen didn't answer.

He couldn't.

His chest felt strange, like someone pressed gently on it. His throat tightened with something that wasn't fear.

Beauty shouldn't feel like this.

He stared at the black lotus like nothing else mattered.

And then, at the back of his mind, the whisper returned. Cold. Inhuman. Too close.

That is…

So beautiful.

Raizen's entire body went still.

He didn't react. He didn't even blink for a few seconds, because he didn't trust himself to breathe.

Why would the whisper return… Just because of a flower?

After all this time hiding?

Enya watched him, head tilted. But she didn't ask anything. Instead, she reached for his hand. Her fingers were warm. Small. Confident.

She opened his palm and placed the black lotus gently in the middle of it.

Raizen felt the flower's weight - almost nothing.

He looked down.

Up close, it was even more perfect. The black petals caught the greenhouse glow in a subtle sheen. The white inner tendrils looked like soft threads. The golden center was calm. It didn't look or feel artificial. It was just… Alive.

For a moment, the greenhouse didn't exist.

Ukai didn't exist.

The mission didn't exist.

Only the lotus.

Only the whisper that acknowledged it.

Raizen lifted his gaze slowly. Enya watched him with a satisfied grin, but there was sweat on her forehead now, tiny beads at her hairline. Her breathing looked slightly heavier, like she ran up some stairs. It wasn't easy for her.

Raizen's mouth opened before he fully processed what he was saying.

"Can you make another one?"

Enya blinked. "Huh? Another one?"

"Well…" he answered quietly. "If you can..."

Enya frowned.

Then she sighed, dramatic as always.

"You're such a pain" Enya muttered.

Raizen didn't argue, he knew half of it was true.

Enya crouched again and picked up another lotus from the pool, this time a pink one. She held it carefully, water dripping between her fingers.

Her face tightened in focus.

The petals folded inward. Seed. Then her thumb pressed. The seed opened, lotus blooming again.

Same black petals, white inner tendrils, golden center.

Identical to the first, but smaller.

Even smaller.

Raizen stared at the second flower, stunned. It looked like a twin made for a different world - tiny, perfect, unreal.

Enya's shoulders sagged slightly as the second lotus completed its bloom.

Now she looked properly tired. She lifted her chin at Raizen, breath slightly heavier.

"You satisfied now?" Enya asked.

Raizen nodded slowly. His mind still floated somewhere between the lotus and the whisper.

Enya huffed, then sat on the edge of the pool for a moment, letting her fingers trail through the water lazily.

Raizen stood beside her, holding the black lotus carefully. After a minute, Enya pushed herself up with a groan.

"Ugh... I should go back to detention."

Raizen blinked, pulled out of the daydream. "No way. You actually will?"

Enya sighed like it hurt her soul. "I have to, eventually… I don't want to ruin your first impression like this, heh…"

Raizen hesitated, then offered "I can walk you there."

Enya waved him off immediately. "You can't climb the window."

Raizen frowned. "What window?"

Enya pointed upward like it was obvious. "The one that I escaped from, in the first place?"

Enya stretched her arms over her head, then glanced at him again.

For a second, the prankster grin faded. Not completely, but enough that Raizen saw something else underneath - ambition. A child's excitement that wasn't childish at all.

She looked at the black lotus in his hand. Then she looked at him.

"May we meet again, Raizen. On the battlefield."

Raizen smiled. "Try not to get yourself in more detention before then!"

"Try not to get kidnapped by Mina again" Enya hit back, then turned away and started walking with quick, confident steps, like detention was just another hallway she could escape if she wanted.

Raizen stayed by the lotus pool.

The greenhouse felt the same. Warm air. Wet leaves. Still water.

He stared down at the black lotus resting in his palm, tiny and perfect.

He couldn't stop thinking about the whisper.

Not what it said.

But the fact it said anything at all.

Because it didn't speak in fear this time.

It spoke in admiration.

…And that felt worse.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.