I was Alraune, a plant monster girl.
Lately, I had been feeling completely drained of energy. I was certain I knew the reason why.
Winter had arrived.
With its onset, the days grew shorter, leaving me with far less time for photosynthesis. Even when the sun was out, its rays were weak, providing me with very little nutrition. As a result, I was stuck in a state of constant malnutrition.
The animals had all gone into hibernation, so no one came to visit anymore. To make matters worse, the ground was parched. I desperately wanted water. I wondered if someone would be willing to come water me just for the winter. I would even offer my nectar as payment.
God, it was miserable.
Perhaps because of the dry air, my leaves and flowers were in poor condition. The lack of humidity was stripping the moisture right out of them, leaving them damaged. At that point, I wouldn't have even minded a splash of skin toner instead of plain water. Everything came down to the lack of moisture. I just really wanted some water.
Lately, the loneliness had been especially biting. Both my body and heart were chilled to the core.
Hachi-san had stopped coming. I had to say goodbye to my "Lady Knight" for the duration of the winter. It would only be for a few months, but I knew I would be lonely.
Honeybees sequester themselves in their nests during the winter. They don’t exactly hibernate, but the Lady Knights were supposed to huddle together, pressing their bodies against Her Majesty the Queen—their "Elder Sister." It was called a Bee Ball, a method of maintaining warmth by crowding together.
Her Majesty had far more than just "flowers in both hands." She was the center of a physical Lily Garden, constantly embraced by her female knights. Honestly, I was a little jealous!
Elder Sister, please, I'm begging you—invite me to your nest. I want to warm up with everyone too...
Ah, wait, I couldn't. If I made physical contact with that Lily Garden, I would end up undergoing pollination. Should I choose the garden or sacrifice my purity to pollination? It was a difficult choice. Well, since pollination was the one thing I wanted to avoid at all costs, I wouldn't have gone even if I were invited.
I was all alone in the lonely forest. The only one who still visited me was that White Bird. For some reason, it didn't care about the winter and kept showing up at my place. I wondered if it just enjoyed mocking me that much.
The White Bird. I actually wanted to eat it, but if I turned it into nutrients, I would be truly alone again. I hated being lonely, so I decided to spare its life. I figured I would just listen to it chirp to kill some time. Since no guests came around, there was even less entertainment in winter than in any other season. My time spent basking in the sun while photosynthesizing had decreased, too.
"Wait... Mr. Bird, aren't you going to sing?"
Come to think of it, I had never actually heard this bird make a sound. Normally, birds would be noisy and chirpy even if you ignored them, yet that White Bird always just stared at me in silence. I decided to make a request. Some birds sang as if they were professionals, and I figured if I asked nicely, a pro would surely respond.
"Hey, Mr. Bird."
It had been a while since I'd used my voice. As expected, I was still bad at speaking. I couldn't manage a very loud voice, but it should have reached the bird. I did my best to talk to it. After all, I was incredibly bored!
"Mr. Bird... won't you... chirp?"
There was no reaction. Silence was the only thing that followed. Well, I knew a bird wouldn't understand me. Even so, I was bored out of my mind, so I hoped it would at least tolerate my talking to myself.
Just as I was about to give up, the White Bird finally moved.
"Chuuun."
It—it chirped?! The bird actually chirped!
I was surprised. It could do it after all. It was a bird, so I suppose chirping was part of the job description. But honestly, it wasn't very good at it. Its cry lacked any real sharpness.
I see. The White Bird wasn't a professional. It was an amateur singer. It was probably bad at communicating, just like me. I felt a strange sense of kinship with it.
Perhaps because it was self-conscious, the bird only chirped once and remained silent after that.
"Listen, Mr. Bird, practice is important for everything," I said. "One more time."
I commanded an encore.
"............Chiyun."
Hmm, that was a little better than before. I decided to go for a "one more, please." I felt like a teacher at a music school.
"I... didn't... hear... you."
"................Chun."
"Very good."
It was getting better bit by bit. But I couldn't help but wonder—could it actually understand me? Maybe I only thought so because I had grown too accustomed to being alone. There was no way a wild bird could understand human language. It was just like how a pet bird chirps back when you talk to its cage. But even that was enough for me. It was the only entertainment I had.
"Ah, wait! Don't run away!"
We were still in the middle of our lesson, but the White Bird flew off into the distance.
"Sigh... I'm going to be lonely again. I won't eat you, so please come back and play, Mr. Bird."
However, I wished the bird was the only thing that was white. The thing that would physically torment me began to appear the very next day.
The frost began to settle.
When I woke up in the morning and opened my buds, my entire body was covered in frost. Frost forms when water vapor in the air turns into ice and attaches to objects cooled below zero. In other words, my body was as frozen as the contents of a refrigerator.
It was so cold. Even when I tried to brush the frost off with my vines, my body temperature showed no sign of rising. Being a plant, I had no heart and no blood flow. My leaves, stems, and roots all stayed frigid.
Moreover, the surrounding ground was pure white, covered in Frost Columns. The air was freezing, the ground was frozen, and the cold only seemed to intensify. I desperately wanted water, too. I wished the frost would just melt and turn into a drink for me.
This was bad. I was steadily losing my energy because of the cold. Rather than freezing to death instantly, it felt like I was slowly wasting away. My stomach was empty, too. I hadn't caught any prey in days. I was surviving on the tiny amount of nutrients I produced through photosynthesis. Between the malnutrition and this bitter cold, I didn't know what was going to happen to me.
Come to think of it, a Deciduous Tree sheds its leaves to survive the winter. It was the plant equivalent of hibernation. Leaves were vital for producing nutrients, but maintaining them required a massive amount of energy. They were vulnerable to the cold, the ice, and the dryness. Keeping them alive was a high-cost endeavor. That was why, when sunlight was scarce in winter, trees got rid of them to save energy.
Wait... wasn't that a terrifying thought?
I had no energy lately. Photosynthesis wasn't giving me enough nutrients because of the lack of sunlight. On top of that, the soil was dry. If this continued, wouldn't I eventually give up on my leaves and flower crown and undergo Defoliation?
If that happened, I would be reduced to nothing but a Bulb. While there was a chance I might bloom again next year, there was no guarantee my consciousness would survive. I might just revert to being a mindless Plant Monster. That would be synonymous with the death of my ego. It would be the end of "me."
What was I going to do? I felt like I was about to lose my leaves...
(There will be two updates today.) (Next time: It looks like I'm going to wither.)