Before opening her eyes, she could hear voices. Hundreds of them. Sweet voices, hoarse voices, small voices, hesitant voices. Everyone was speaking at once, yet somehow she could hear each word distinctly. (……These are all flower voices.) Celeste opened her eyes slightly. She saw the ceiling. The infirmary of Hanomori Academy——a place that smelled faintly sweet, like chamomile mixed with dried herbs. She'd been here for three days, so her body had already memorized it. She tried to sit up slowly. In that moment, the edge of the bed was closer than expected. Much closer than she'd thought. Her center of gravity tilted. "Ah——" Her body started to fall. But it didn't. Someone's hand caught her shoulder, supporting her firmly. When Celeste turned her face, Elian was standing beside the bed, watching her silently. The red mesh woven through his black hair glimmered slightly in the weak morning light. His deep crimson vertical-slit eyes—whether worried or angry, she couldn't quite tell—were fixed on her. "[laughing]Senpai! The first thing you do when you wake up is fall!?" From the corner of the room, a purple twin-tail bounced up. Lyra sprang from her chair and came running, both hands pressed to her cheeks. "I didn't fall." "[laughing]It was close! If Elian senpai hadn't caught you, you would've crashed into the floor!? You're getting too excited about waking up!" "……I'm not excited." Celeste slowly pushed herself up, still a bit dazed. Elian gently withdrew his hand. The sensation lingered at her fingertips for a moment. Orion, who had been standing with his back to the window, turned slowly. Smooth silver hair, calm blue eyes. The morning light reflected off his glasses. "[serious]I need to confirm your consciousness. Can you accurately describe what you're hearing right now?" Celeste thought for a moment. "……Everyone's voices. All the flower voices. I still hear them." "All of them, you say." "I think it's all the flowers in the Garden. That person's flower color, that person's flower feelings——hundreds of them coming at once, but it's not jumbled. I can hear each one clearly. It's completely different from the 'intuition' I felt before. It's more……clear." Orion's eyes behind his glasses widened slightly. "[surprised]……Flora Whisper. It's fully activated." "Flora Whisper?" "It translates to 'the whispers of grass and flowers.' It's the ability to receive the emotions and appeals of plants as sensations. Celeste, it's the true nature of what you've always thought was 'intuition.' In Nightbloom's four-hundred-year history, only six people are recorded as having this ability. And now, it has fully awakened in you." His words were quiet. But their weight settled slowly into Celeste's chest. Six. In four hundred years, only six. It wasn't intuition. It wasn't coincidence. The flowers had really been speaking. All along. All this time. Celeste looked at her own fingertips. Light was faintly leaking through. She couldn't even remember when it had started. "[sad]……So that's what it was." Her voice trembled slightly. Her eyes grew moist. Lyra murmured "Senpai, you're amazing……" while staring blankly at Celeste. Elian said nothing. He simply watched her face. His eyebrows were lowered just slightly——whether in relief or restraint, she couldn't tell. When Celeste noticed his gaze and looked back at him, Elian immediately turned toward the window. At that moment. A voice came from the direction of the Garden. Not an ordinary voice. Hundreds of voices were screaming the same thing all at once. (Coming——run——coming——) Celeste stood up. Before she could say "look outside," the edge of the Garden visible from the infirmary window began turning black. Black. A pitch-black mist was spreading down from the night sky like a falling curtain. "[serious]The Shadow has launched a total assault." Orion spoke while looking outside. His voice was quiet but fast. "Now. This is the only moment we can counterattack. Run to the practice room." --- The four of them ran down the corridor toward the practice room. The emergency bell of Hanomori Academy was ringing. Gong, gong——the low sound made the walls vibrate. Through the corridor windows, the Garden was already becoming one-third covered in black mist. When they opened the practice room door, three beds covered with white cloth were lined up. Luminous Dive——a room set up for practical training to project one's spiritual body into the Garden's interior. "[excited]There are only three beds! Someone has to share!?" Lyra froze at the entrance. "[serious]Physical contact during Luminous Dive is irrelevant. Only consciousness enters the Garden. The number of beds isn't a problem." "But there are four of us!" "So one bed will be shared. Lying down is all that's needed." While Lyra was saying "But, but……" and wandering around, Elian silently walked to the bed at the far end and sat down smoothly. Naturally, it was right next to Celeste's bed. "[surprised]Wait! Why are you sitting next to her so naturally!?" Lyra reflexively bit back. Elian looked at her expressionlessly. "……I just chose a position that's easy to lie down in." "You think that excuse is going to work!?" "[serious]……Please hurry." Orion spoke quietly, hand to his forehead. Lyra groaned "Grrr" but threw herself onto the bed at the far end. Orion sat on the remaining one. Celeste lay down on the bed next to Elian's. She looked up at the ceiling. From the window, she could sense the black mist of the Garden spreading. The flowers' voices were saying hurry, hurry. "Close your eyes. Luminous Dive——project your consciousness into the Garden's interior. All of us go at the same time." She took a deep breath. She stretched her consciousness toward the flower voices. --- The light of the Celestial Garden seemed to be suffering today. When she entered the Garden with her spiritual body, the light meadow that should have spread out was more than half submerged in black mist. Golden flowers, blue-purple flowers, silver-white flowers——hundreds of dream flowers trembled at the mist's edge. The moment the four spiritual bodies descended into the plaza, the black mist tsunami swelled even larger. "[serious]Observing mist density. The tsunami will cover the entire outer perimeter in thirty seconds. The moment we can counterattack——only five seconds when the mist's density is thinnest at the center point of contact." "Five seconds." "It's short. But certain. Each of you, fulfill your role." Elian stepped forward. He was looking toward the depths of the Garden, in the direction the mist hadn't yet reached. "I'm going to the hidden section. I'll release the power of the ancient dream flower." "Alone?" Elian turned around. For just a moment, their eyes met. There were no words. But those crimson eyes were saying something. It looked like a promise to come back. Somehow, Celeste understood it, and her chest felt strange. (Why now of all times……calm down, me.) Elian was already running. The edge of his hood disappeared into the mist. "[excited]I'll create a path! With dream paint!" Lyra reached her hand toward the sky. The power of Stella Painter——the talent to paint dream pigments onto space. Her pale pink eyes glowed, and seven-colored pigment seeped from her fingertips. Lyra ran her brush toward the mist wall. Where it touched, the black retreated. A path of light floated in the mist. "[serious]Celeste. Now." Celeste closed her eyes. Even as a spiritual body, she could use Flora Whisper. She called out to all the dream flowers in the Garden. (Everyone, lend me your strength.) She didn't speak aloud. But a call more certain than words spread like a wave of light. A moment of silence. And then——light was born in the black tsunami. One, two, ten, a hundred. The dream flowers that had been swallowed by the mist began to glow all at once. Golden, blue-purple, silver-white, and pale pink light flickered in the mist. In that instant, a pillar of silver-white light rose from the depths of the Garden. Elian had released the seal of the ancient dream flower. The oldest dream flower——one that had never once been touched by The Shadow's erosion in over four hundred years——its power was released, and the pillar of light stretched straight upward. The mist's advance stopped for a moment. "[serious]Now! Five seconds!" Lyra's path of light, Elian's silver-white pillar, the glow of dream flowers throughout the Garden, and Celeste's Flora Whisper all came together. A sensation like Dooom spread through everything. The black mist tsunami was pushed back from the front. The mist shrank. Light returned from the outer perimeter. The dream flowers that had been dying swayed and reclaimed their glow. As the tsunami retreated, Celeste heard a voice from the densest part of The Shadow. (Help me.) It wasn't anger or threat. It was a genuine plea for help. Celeste looked at the center of the mist. The mist didn't disappear. It wavered as if wounded, slowly withdrawing toward the Garden's deepest reaches. It didn't vanish. It retreated. But the progression of withering had stopped completely. Light spread across the entire Garden. Dream flowers bloomed with unprecedented brilliance. Golden, blue-purple, silver-white, and pale pink light intersected, and the night sky glowed like a kaleidoscope. "[excited]We did it!!" Lyra tried to jump up. Thud. She fell spectacularly from her own bed. Celeste and Orion both rushed over with "Lyra!?" Elian alone sat up slowly and murmured quietly. "……Your voice is too fast." The corner of his mouth was relaxed. Just slightly. Lyra lifted her face from the floor and shouted, "Wait, did you smile!? Elian senpai smiled!?" "I didn't smile." "You definitely smiled! Senpai, did you see!?" "[gentle]……I saw." Celeste smiled softly. The Garden outside the window still glowed brilliantly. --- Petal Street in the morning was slowly waking up. The smell of fresh-baked bread leaked from the window of the bakery Komugi-tei. Early risers walked across the stone pavement with surprised expressions. Everyone looked up at the sky. Even as night turned to day, the afterglow of the Garden's light lingered somewhere in the sky. Celeste walked alone down a side street off the main road. The care facility where her mother was hospitalized was about a ten-minute walk from Hanomori Academy. A small stone building with white curtains on the windows. Celeste opened the door, walked down the corridor, and knocked on her mother's room. "Come in." A gentle voice answered. Celeste took a deep breath and opened the door. The massive withering from last night had stopped. Not a single new resident had lost their emotions. But her mother's dream flower was still black and withered. For five years now. Her mother sat by the window, reading a book. Her pale water-blue hair——the same color as Celeste's——glowed softly in the morning light. When she looked up, her mother smiled at Celeste warmly. It was a kind smile. The smile Celeste had known since childhood. Her favorite smile. But there was no recognition of "daughter" in those eyes. "Oh, you from Petal Street. You came again today? Thank you." "Yes. I brought flowers." Her voice didn't waver. Celeste handed over the flowers, pulled up a chair, and sat beside her mother. She talked about the care facility's garden. She talked about how beautiful the Garden had been last night. Her mother listened happily. She said "how lovely" many times. After talking for about thirty minutes, Celeste stood up. "I'll come again." "Yes, please. I enjoy talking with you." She stepped into the corridor. She closed the door. The stone corridor was cool. Celeste leaned her back against the wall. She closed her eyes. One tear traced down her cheek. She didn't collapse into sobs. Rather, she chose to keep standing before she could collapse. She took a deep breath. Looki