Scarlet Bloom – Chapter 17: Echoes Beneath the Petals
The girl sat on the infirmary bed, wrapped in a soft gray blanket. Her eyes—now dim and scared—flicked between the group.
"So," she said quietly, "I'm not the only one?"
Riku offered her a cup of warm tea. "Not anymore."
Her name was Sena, a transfer student who hadn't even started classes yet. She'd stumbled into her Bloom awakening alone, and nearly lost control.
Kaito sat back, arms crossed. "You could've taken out half the block."
"I didn't mean to…"
Riku shot him a look. "She didn't ask for this."
Sena glanced at Airi. "You're one of them too?"
Airi shook her head. "Not yet. But I know more than I should."
There was a pause.
"…You felt the cold, right?" Sena asked.
Everyone blinked.
"The cold. Before the power came. Like something was watching you. A presence... beneath everything."
Kaito flinched.
Riku stared. "You too?"
Sena looked down. "It's like there's something under the roots of the Bloom. Something dark."
—
Rei sat in his office that night, watching a projection of old data.
"Bloom Waveforms… corrupted petals… It's accelerating."
On the screen, several faces blinked in and out—images of other kids like Sena, who'd awakened violently in different cities. Each had one thing in common:
> All had been near ancient Bloom relics.
He turned to the wall behind him—there, framed in glass, was a shattered piece of the original Calyx Tree.
> "It's waking up… and we're not ready."
—
At the riverbank, Kaito stood alone, breathing heavily. The thorn mark was now curling around his ribs.
And something… something was talking to him.
> "Let it in."
The voice was deep, seductive. A whisper that felt like claws dragging across glass.
> "You don't need to be scared. With me… you'll never be weak again."
Kaito clenched his fist—and petals black as midnight bled from his knuckles.
He laughed.
But it wasn't a happy laugh.
—
The next morning, Riku found Airi waiting for him on the rooftop.
"I saw Rei's files," she said. "There's something else—something called Null Bloom."
"Null Bloom?"
She nodded. "It's like… a corrupted version of our powers. Every person who's awakened with it eventually goes berserk or…"
"Or what?"
She looked at him. "Or disappears."
Riku swallowed hard. "You think Sena's one of them?"
"I think… you might be."
He stepped back. "Wait, what?"
She stepped closer, serious. "You don't feel it? The power inside you—it's different. Your second wing awakened unnaturally fast. That's not normal."
Riku was about to argue when Rei's voice echoed through the school's comm system.
> "All Bloom-class students. Report to the arena. This is not a drill."
—
Inside the underground Bloom Arena, a massive crystal flickered ominously at the center.
A new figure stood beside Rei—tall, masked, clad in obsidian armor with a curved blade of black crystal.
Rei stepped forward, voice grim.
> "Students… meet your first real enemy. We call them… Witherborn."
And then the crystal exploded.