Flower

Flower

Early the next morning, Linton and the others bid farewell to their hosts.

After resting, Bella was clearly much more energetic than she had been the night before.

"Big brother, look." She pointed at the treetop. "That bird is so pretty."

Linton looked up.

It was a small, snow-white bird, about the size of a sparrow. Its little eyes darted around, yet it was not afraid of Linton and the others, chirping merrily.

"It really is pretty."

The girl smiled even more happily after receiving his response, wanting to share everything she came across with Linton.

"Look, this flower is pretty too!"

"Over here, over here!"

They had originally planned to follow the route the man had pointed out yesterday to Bella's home. However, after turning left and right countless times, they took far longer than expected to reach their destination.

Watching the excited girl run and skip around, Iris could not help complaining, "Why do I feel like parents taking their kids out for a spring outing?"

"Yeah." Linton teased, "An obedient eldest daughter, a naughty younger daughter, and an old father with creaky arms and legs."

"Get lost." Iris curled her lips. "You're always trying to take advantage of me, aren't you?"

"Fine, then it's two naughty daughters."

Seeing Iris make as if to hit him, he quickly changed the subject and called out to Bella.

"We're going in!"

"Coming, coming!"

Bella trotted back to Linton on tiptoe and slipped her hand into his with practiced ease.

Bella's house was much like the other homes in the village, built from mud bricks and covered in cracks from years of neglect. Unlike the others, though, it had a small yard enclosed by a wooden fence. Just as Bella had described, many beautiful flowers had been planted there in neat rows.

Wait, blooming flowers?

Iris's lovely brows furrowed slightly. "If I remember correctly, that guy said yesterday that Bella's parents—cough—had been gone for a long time, right?"

Linton found it strange as well.

This did not look like a place that had been abandoned.

Had they come to the wrong place?

But Bella suddenly grew excited and pointed at the flowers.

"This is my home! I remember them!"

As her voice fell, a crisp chime rang in Linton's ears.

The girl had not been lying.

"Let's go in and take a look."

After easily stepping over the wooden fence, Bella happily ran around the yard while Iris cautiously surveyed their surroundings. Linton headed straight for the main house. Just as he was about to knock, he noticed that the old wooden door was not fully shut, only slightly ajar.

He gently pushed it open, and the smell of dust, dampness, and rot rushed out to meet him.

Looking inside, he saw a dim, gray-black room. The stove had long since been abandoned, and nearly all the furniture was completely ruined.

"No one has lived here for a very long time."

Linton came to that conclusion, but his confusion remained.

"Then what is going on with those flowers? They're so neatly kept. Someone has obviously been tending to them for a long time."

"Big brother, big brother!" Bella suddenly ran inside, holding two flowers.

She handed Linton the blue-and-white flower. "This is for you! It's my favorite flower!"

"Thank you!" Linton accepted it, pleasantly surprised.

He had nearly forgotten that the girl had once made that promise to him.

Bella scratched her head and giggled before running back outside.

Linton followed her and discovered that the other flower was for Iris.

"Big sister, this one is for you."

Compared to how generously and cheerfully she had given Linton his flower, Bella spoke much more quietly this time. Still, she held up her little head and offered it to Iris.

Iris was utterly taken aback by the girl's gesture.

Pointing at herself, she said, "I'm a bad person, and you still want to give me a flower?"

"Why can't I give one to a bad person?" Bella did not understand Iris's surprise and said timidly, "Even though big sister is a bad person, I don't hate big sister! And big sister played with me just now."

"Take it, Iris." Linton smiled from behind her. "Don't let her kindness go to waste."

"Thank you."

The girl accepted the flower with complicated emotions, then leaned close to Linton and whispered, "Didn't you say her head was full of... malice?"

Linton did not answer. Instead, he gave her a sidelong look. "Weren't you the one suspicious of her before? Did one flower buy you over already?"

"Anyone would have been suspicious in that situation, okay?" Iris said irritably. "I was wrong before. I was too suspicious. Happy now?"

"Stop it."

Linton waved a hand helplessly and said thoughtfully, "My instincts cannot be wrong. The only explanation is that she lost certain things in time, including the concept of 'bad person.'"

"Although she still uses 'bad person' as a descriptor, it doesn't actually carry any meaning for her—just like how we say apples are red."

Iris nodded, half-understanding.

Just then, she suddenly heard laughter.

"Ha ha ha—"

"What are you laughing at?"

"Not me. Those little ones." Linton spread his hands innocently and pointed outside. "Maybe I know why the flowers here are growing so well."

Iris looked up and saw several teenagers, around fifteen or sixteen years old, approaching with watering cans, shears, and other tools. Seeing the group in the yard, they looked surprised.

The boy at the front spoke first. "Who are you? Why are you at Bella's house?"

"See? See?" Bella excitedly tugged on Linton's clothes. "This is my home! I didn't lie to you!"

"I know." Linton smiled at the girl, then turned to the children. Rather than answering their question, he asked, "Have you been taking care of these flowers all this time?"

The others were stunned by his reversal of the question. After a moment, they answered, "We have."

"Thank you, thank you!" Bella eagerly cried out. But when she realized they could not hear her, she tugged at Linton again and blinked up at him.

Linton patted her little head and told the teenagers, "Bella says thank you."

"Are you Bella's friend too?" The lead boy's eyes immediately lit up. "I am too. My name is Caven. What's yours?"

"Linton."

"Linton... I haven't heard of you. Bella never told us she had a new friend." Caven looked troubled, then quickly accepted it. "Ah, she probably didn't have the time. If she could come back, she definitely would have introduced you to us. Then we could look for a way out together. You're so tall, so you must be able to see farther."

Seeing them fooled by a lie with practically no substance, Iris muttered softly, "These kids really are innocent."

Linton ignored Iris and asked with a frown, "You said you were looking for a way out together?"

"Yeah!" Caven said. "Bella pulled us along and said there were lots of fun places outside. She wanted to take us there to have a look!"

"And then?"

"Then we set out together! But not long after we left, Bella suddenly said there were bad people not far ahead and told us to go back and get her parents to help her beat them up."

"And you went back to get them?"

"What else were we supposed to do?" Caven asked in confusion. "We couldn't beat the bad people, so of course we had to get adults to help!"

Linton's frown deepened. "Did you go to Bella's parents first?"

"Yes." Caven did not notice anything unusual about Linton and answered everything he knew. "After we called Bella's father and mother, they immediately rushed out to find her. Then we went back to look for our own parents, but we searched for a long time and couldn't find them."

Caven's expression suddenly became somewhat self-reproachful. "Bella must have discovered the bad people and held them off by herself so we could escape, but... we couldn't save her."

When he finished speaking, not only he but the children behind him all darkened.

"So that's why you take care of these flowers..."

"These flowers?" Caven raised his head slightly. "Bella's father and mother planted them. Bella loved picking them most of all. We thought that if she came back and saw all the flowers had withered and she couldn't pick any, she'd definitely be very sad. So we come every day to take care of them, hoping that when Bella comes back one day, she can happily pick as many as she wants."

"Hah—"

Linton let out a long breath and sighed. "I hate to think this way, but... Iris, I have a very bad feeling."

Iris looked at the girl, whose whole body had suddenly begun to tremble, and sighed as well.

"Unfortunately, so do I."