After eating dinner, Chara went to the bathroom and soaked in the bathtub for a long time.
The hot water reached her shoulders, steam rising from the surface, gathering into a thin layer of white mist in the bathroom.
She leaned against the edge of the tub, her hair soaked and spread out on the water like a patch of dark brown seaweed.
● The warm water relaxes your body.
Flowey’s flower pot was placed on the edge of the sink, his petals slightly open, looking like he was enjoying the steam.
“Flowey, can’t you just go outside?”
“No, what if you drown??”
“How could I drown in a bathtub??”
“What if you slip and hit your head?”
Chara was too lazy to argue with him.
She submerged her face in the water and blew a few bubbles.
When she came up, her hair was plastered to her face, and she reached up to brush it away.
Then her fingers touched something.
It was hard, with a slightly rough texture, as if a small piece of something dried was stuck in her hair.
She pinched it with her fingers and gave it a gentle tug.
It hurt.
It felt like something was connected to her nerves; the tug pulled on her entire scalp.
She frowned, lowered her hand, and tilted her head toward the mirror.
She parted that small section of hair.
Right at the roots, pressed tightly against the skin, there was actually a small yellow flower growing???
“Flowey.”
“What?”
“Come take a look.”
Flowey poked his flower head out of the pot, his vines stretching out to reach the side of her head.
“What is this?”
“A fuzzy flower.
It looks a bit like the ones you used to weave into crowns?”
“But…
why is it growing on my head?”
Flowey looked at it for a few more seconds, then pulled back.
“I don’t know.
Finish your bath first.”
Chara stared at the small yellow flower in the mirror for a good while.
The yellow petals trembled slightly in the steam.
It didn’t look any different from an ordinary flower, except that it was growing out of her scalp, connected to her body, and it hurt when pulled.
She didn’t pull it again.
She gathered her hair to cover the flower and continued bathing.
When she just finished and came out, she used a towel to rub her hair until it was half dry, then stood in front of the mirror to look again.
The small yellow flower was still there, its stem firmly planted in her scalp, without the slightest sign of falling off.
Chara blew her hair dry, put on her clothes, and walked out of the room holding Flowey’s flower pot.
There weren’t many people in the Parlor Car.
Dolly was sitting by the window reading a book, and Isee was leaning at the other end drinking tea.
Chara walked over, stood in front of Dolly, tilted her head, and parted her hair to reveal the small yellow flower.
“So…
take a look at this.”
Dolly put down her book and leaned in to look.
Her brows slowly furrowed.
She reached out to touch it, but Chara flinched.
“Don’t touch it, it hurts.”
Dolly’s hand stopped in midair.
“When did you find it?”
“Just now while taking a bath.”
Dolly looked at it for a while, then stood up and walked over to Isee, whispering a few words.
Isee put down his teacup and walked over, bending down to look at the flower.
Then he took out a small mirror and something like a magnifying glass from his pocket, shining it on the flower for a long time…
“This isn’t an ordinary plant.
I can’t see deeper, but at least one root is going down.”
“Can it be pulled out?”
“Not recommended.
You just said it hurts when touched, which means it has a nerve connection.
Forcibly pulling it out could damage the scalp, or even worse.”
Dolly stood nearby, her expression not looking very good.
“Could it be the Abundance?”
Dolly’s words startled everyone present.
What is the Abundance?
Look at what the Denizens of Abundance have done??
And the price brought by the Abundance??
The people on the Astral Express were very sensitive to the Abundance.
Those who believed in the Aeon of Abundance would use various means to modify their bodies, making plants grow in their flesh and blood.
It was a twisted, unnatural symbiosis.
Isee shook his head.
“Doesn’t look like it.
Flowers of the Abundance would grow on wounds, or sprout directly from the surface of the skin.
But this flower is growing from the inside out.
The stem is under the skin, and its pattern is wrong.
Plants of the Abundance have a special vein pattern, and this one doesn’t.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Dolly turned her head to look at Flowey.
“Do you know anything?”
Flowey’s petals suddenly tensed up.
“You suspect me?”
“You’ve been by her side the longest.”
“Hah?
If I wanted to harm her, I would have done it back on that planet.
I didn’t even think about killing her when she was starving to death.
Why would I wait until she got on the train just to plant a flower on her head?”
Flowey’s vines tightened a bit.
“Besides, I’m a flower.
How could I plant another flower on her head?
How would I do it?
I don’t even have hands!”
Chara stood in the middle and reached out to cover the flower.
“It’s not Flowey.
It wouldn’t harm me.”
Dolly was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.
“Alright, we won’t suspect him for now.
But we must figure out what this flower is.”
Isee put away the magnifying glass.
“I need to run some tests.
Can I take a small piece of the petal?”
Chara hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Isee used a small pair of tweezers to take the smallest petal from the flower and placed it in a small transparent container.
Chara felt a slight pulling sensation.
It didn’t hurt, but she could feel that something had been taken away.
“I’ll go check it.”
Dolly squatted down and looked at Chara.
“Do you feel anything?
Dizzy? Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Weak?”
Chara thought about it.
“No, I just found it while taking a bath.
I didn’t feel anything before.”
“It hasn’t affected you?”
“No.”
Dolly let out a sigh of relief, but didn’t completely relax.
“If you feel any discomfort, come find me immediately.”
Chara returned to her room, placed Flowey’s flower pot on the nightstand, and stood in front of the mirror to look at the small yellow flower again.
It was small, growing quietly in her hair.
She felt it actually looked quite nice.
Flowey poked his head out of the pot.
“You really don’t suspect me?”
Chara shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?
They all suspected me.”
“Because you’re my best friend.”
Flowey was silent for a moment, then pulled his head back into the pot, his petals closing halfway.
“Cheesy…”
About an hour later, Isee came back.
He pushed the door open and walked in, holding the transparent container.
“I checked.
It’s not the Abundance.
All the indicators related to the Abundance don’t match.”
“Then what is it?”
“I can’t explain it clearly.
Its structure is very strange, like some kind of…
curse, or rather, like some kind of mark.
Its stem is indeed connected to the surface of your brain, but it isn’t harming you.
It’s just there, absorbing a very small amount of nutrients from your body to sustain its own survival.”
“Can it be pulled out?”
“Not for now.
Its root system is too deep, and one of them is connected to the surface of your brain.
Forcibly pulling it out would cause rapid bleeding and might even damage the nerves.”
“In terms of time, it has been growing for about three or four months, which means it sprouted before you boarded the train.”
Chara looked down at her fingers.
“So it will keep growing?”
“From what we can see now, it won’t grow larger.
Its growth rate is very slow, so slow that it’s almost negligible.”
The room was quiet for a while.
Flowey poked his head out of the pot.
“So it’s harmless?”
“For now.”
He stood up and put the petal back into his pocket.
“Rest first.
I’ll come check again tomorrow.”
When he reached the door, he stopped and looked back at Chara.
“Also, don’t worry too much.
The people on the train will help you figure it out.”
Chara nodded.
The door closed.
She let her hair down to cover the flower and lay in bed.
● You found a mysterious little flower growing on your head.
This fills you with DETERMINATION, because it’s cool!
૮₍ – ⤙ – ₎ა