Two weeks had passed since they pushed back The Shadow's tsunami. Dream flowers bloomed again in Nightbloom's night sky. Gold, silver-white, blue-violet—hundreds of luminous flowers swayed gently, looking down upon the town. Since that black fog had retreated to the deepest part, the Garden had regained peace on the surface. But the flowers' voices still whispered anxiously from time to time. Celeste heard all of it. The two of them climbed slowly up the stone-paved slope leading to the Flower Guardian Academy. The morning air was slightly cold, and thin wisps of smoke rose from distant rooftops. Elian was beside her. Black hair with red mesh caught the morning light, the edge of his hood swaying slightly in the wind. The black tattoo beneath his left eye rested quietly on his profile. They didn't talk much. But that was fine—or rather, Celeste already knew that was just how he was. In the previous arc, they'd walked side by side through the Garden countless times, protecting each other's backs again and again. Even with few words, the weight of his presence beside her was undeniable. Celeste opened her mouth suddenly. "[gentle]What are we doing for practice today again?" Elian kept his gaze forward, thinking for a moment. "Health checkup practice for dream flowers." "Oh, I wonder if we can check on Meena's flowers too——" In that instant. Dododododo!! "[excited]Good morning, Senpai——!!" Purple twin tails came rushing up the slope at breakneck speed. She twisted her body right between Celeste and Elian, forcefully wedging herself between them. "Whoa——!" Lyra spread both arms wide, standing between Celeste and Elian, smiling brightly. Her pale pink star-shaped eyes gleamed with triumph. A faint wrinkle appeared between Elian's eyebrows. Seeing it, Lyra's smile grew even wider. As for Celeste, she'd already directed her gaze far ahead toward the academy building. "[gentle]I think the teacher said there were two types of diagnostic tools for practice, but I wonder which one we should use. The Flower Guardian Disc—the diagnostic instrument formalized in Bloom Year 245—or the direct contact method?" Lyra thought internally, "T-This girl is way too oblivious...!!" Her expression showed it plainly on her face. Silver hair caught up a moment later. Cool blue eyes confirmed the arrangement of three people at the top of the slope. "[sarcastic]Cutting in again, are you?" "[angry]That's none of your business, Senpai!" "No, I was just stating facts——" "[angry]Not your business!" Celeste turned around and looked at all four of them. "[gentle]Good morning, everyone." Orion adjusted his glasses. He said nothing. Elian said nothing either. Only Lyra answered with flushed cheeks, "Good morning, Senpai!!" The four of them climbed the slope together. --- After arriving at the Flower Guardian Academy, in the brief time before class began—Celeste walked down the hallway alone. The end of the second floor of the academy. Her mother's room was there. To be precise, the room was being used temporarily because her mother had lost her memory five years ago, and now she was borrowing the academy's rest room for recuperation. Five years ago—when Celeste was twelve—her mother's dream flower had completely withered. Since then, her mother couldn't recognize Celeste as her daughter. She treated Celeste as "a kind young lady from the neighborhood." Celeste had always told herself she'd gotten used to it. She knocked lightly on the door and opened it. In the room where morning light streamed in, her mother turned slowly. Her eyes were gentle. "Oh, you came. Thank you." Her voice was soft. Not angry. Not frightening. But she wasn't looking at Celeste at all. "[gentle]Yeah. I'm glad you seem well today." She made a smile. It was a genuine smile, but somewhere deep in her chest, something caught. Just for a moment. That was all. "Come visit anytime," her mother said. "[gentle]Yeah. I'll come again." She stepped into the hallway. The door closed quietly. Celeste placed her hand against the wall and exhaled slowly. Long and steady. She would definitely find a way to cure her. She'd made that vow—was it seven arcs ago, or even longer? She couldn't remember anymore. But one thing was certain: it was the root that kept driving Celeste forward. Even if The Shadow retreated to the deepest part, even if dream flowers shone again, it wasn't over. Her mother's flower was still black. "[gentle]...Let's hurry." She whispered softly and started walking down the hallway. --- Before the practice, they all stopped by Petal Street once. They wanted to check the condition of Bloom Basket—Meena's flower shop—since Meena, the owner of the withered dream flower, was involved. But the moment they stepped onto the street, Celeste stopped. There were several glowing things scattered on the stone pavement. "...What are those?" She approached. She reached to pick one up, then her hand stopped for a moment. They were small fragments. Semi-transparent, warm to the touch. Light swayed slowly inside them. Not jewels, not glass. She recognized this light—it resembled the light emitted by the Garden's dream flowers. But this was outside the Garden. On the stone pavement, scattered about. Five pieces. Seven pieces. A few more scattered in a slightly distant spot. Lyra peered at one of the fragments. "What is this, it's so pretty..." Orion approached with a frown. Then Meena came from the flower shop. She crouched down in front of Bloom Basket and picked up one of the fragments. A woman in her forties with a round face, usually cheerful with a loud voice. But not today. The moment she picked it up, Meena's feet stopped. She stared at the fragment. Tears spilled out. "[crying]Why...is it so vivid...?" Lyra froze with an "eh?" Celeste approached Meena. When she called out "Are you okay?", Meena blinked as if coming back to herself. "[sad]I'm sorry. When I picked this up—suddenly, old memories came back. The day my husband and I had our first date. I'd forgotten it for so long, but somehow I can remember it so clearly..." She gently enclosed the fragment in her hand. "It's a fragment of someone's memory. I've never seen them scattered outside like this before." Celeste held her hand over the fragment. Flora Whisper activated. The ability that had fully awakened in the previous arc—the power to perceive the voices of plants as sensations—now picked up faint voices even from the dream flower fragments. She heard it. Someone laughing. Someone calling. Someone crying. All jumbled together, but each one was undeniably real. The voice of a living human, overflowing from within. (This isn't something that came from a withered dream flower. It's something more direct—something overflowing from inside someone.) Celeste withdrew her hand. "[serious]This feels bad." The words came out honestly. Orion surveyed the surroundings. There were fragments scattered further down the street. At the corner beyond, several residents were crouching down. Anxious, restless voices drifted on the wind. "[serious]Multiple locations. This is a different phenomenon from dream flower withering." "Dream flower withering—the phenomenon where memories and emotions are absorbed—is definitely different from this. Withering felt like something disappearing from inside, but this is...overflowing. Coming out." "[serious]Something has changed. We need to find the source." Elian remained silent, staring at one of the fragments. His expression was unreadable. Only his eyes seemed to have grown slightly sharper. --- Night fell. Noctis Library—a stone building at the north end of town where four hundred years of records slept in the underground archive—had a single light burning. Orion descended the stone steps to the basement. He held up the lamp for the restricted access section—the underground second floor where documents with viewing restrictions were stored—and stood before the shelves. Since that night, he'd been coming here constantly. Since the night of the previous arc's finale—the night he'd found the thin leather-bound booklet with the name "First Garden Keeper" written on it—he'd been digging deeper. One booklet alone wasn't enough information. He needed another record to connect the dots. He sifted through the pile of old documents he'd stacked and checked the shelves again that night. One book had a slightly different color from the others. He pulled it out. A thin diary with a cover made of grass fiber. The pages were dried and shrunken. Very old. Orion opened the cover in front of the lamp. Dates were written. Numbers from the early Bloom Calendar era. He turned the pages. Old handwriting ran across them. Midway through, his eyes stopped on one paragraph. He read it. He checked it again. The lamp's flame flickered. "[serious]...It's a record of a device that absorbs dreams." He whispered quietly. The page had what appeared to be a hand-drawn cross-section sketch of the Garden. Symbols were written in the underground section. The rough outline of the device's structure was indicated with crude lines. The diary's author referred to this device as "the Garden's roots—the mechanism for gathering dream nourishment." And they wrote that when this device began to function in unintended ways, memories would overflow from inside people. The glowing fragments Celeste had found on the stone pavement today. The dots connected. "[serious]...I've found where the dream fragments are coming from." He adjusted his glasses. Then he contacted Celeste. --- The four of them gathered in a small room at the back of Noctis Library. The diary lay open on the desk. Orion stood and summarized calmly. "[serious]There's a device in the Garden's basement with a structure that collects dreams. When that device isn't functioning properly, memory fragments overflow from inside people—that's what those fragments from today are." Celeste leaned in to look at the diary's sketch. Her silver eyes gleamed slightly with excitement. "[excited]So if we investigate here, we can find out what's causing the fragments! Which means maybe it's close to where The Shadow is!" "[excited]The Garden's basement!? I can draw a map! I can do it! I have a sketch made with my dream paint—the special paint that fixes colors on the Garden surface——!" Lyra shook her purple twin tails and rummaged through her bag. Orion quietly said, "[serious]Don't be loud. This is a library." "[laughing]Oh sorry!! But this gets me so excited!! Don't you think so too, Senpai!?" Celeste nodded. "You're right. This is a huge discovery." Lyra's face lit up. Then she turned toward Elian and started to say, "What do you think, Elian Senpai——" She stopped. Elian's face had gone pale. The color drained from his face with almost audible force. His eyes fixed on the window outside, his fingers gripping the edge of the desk turning white. "[cold]Stop the investigation." That was all he said. He closed his mouth. Lyra's "eh?" fell into the small room. Celeste's smile stopped. Orion's eyebrows furrowed. No one said anything. Celeste looked directly at Elian's face. Elian kept his gaze fixed on the window outside, his expression unmoved. But his profile was completely different from before. It was the face of someone holding something back, pushing something down. "[gentle]...Why?" She asked quietly, but clearly. Elian didn't answer. When Lyra called out, "Elian Senpai...?", Elian continued staring out the window. Orion kept his eyebrows furrowed and silently looked down at the diary's pages. The air in the small room froze. The room that had been filled with excited voices moments ago was now silent. Only the lamp swayed, flickering. Celeste looked at Elian's profile once more. What did he know? What did he know—that made him look like this? Elian showed no sign of opening his mouth. Celeste tr