It never occurred to Maru that there was a variable he never considered in his efforts to transplant his people into an entirely different ecosystem. The country of Japan seemed a suitable place to settle for its scenery, its culture, and above all, its unique attribution to Kalyan creation. For all the research he undertook, he failed to consider an epidemic could erase his people.
As these thoughts assailed his mind, several more flowers slowly bloomed from underneath his collar. His robes began to rumble from the flowers protruding rapidly upon his chest. His brows furrowed, and he gently pushed on the flowers, feeling the petals collapsed under his touch, and yet were resilient.
Without considering his brother's feelings, he took it upon himself to test the structural integrity of the first flower upon his crown. He ripped it off in a quick motion, stared at it, and suddenly felt the tingling sensation he recalled upon its first bloom. He dropped the flower.
"You are not infected. Perhaps, you have some agency to ward against this disease. If there are others like you, Cross, then we only have to worry about the rest of us," he spoke with golden trims of hope.
Cross' budding fears flowered manifest on his brother's body, his widening eyes caught in the trance of the rippling disease pushing at Maru's robes. The growth transfixed him in its sudden severity, which Maru then woke him from in a violent sundering of roots and flesh.
Fibers and blood vessels popped, the coiled plant matter trapping epidermal chunks within its whorls and weighing its collision with floor to a damp splatter. His fear slackening to dull disbelief, Cross stared at his brother, the void of emotion where his horror once lingered a reprimand conveyed in withheld care.
「Why would you do that?」 Years of apprehension toward his brother's behavior soured his question, but even he winced at the way he delivered those words, pricked by their acrid bite. Yet he pressed on, not wanting to stall long enough to hear an answer. 「... Regardless, that wouldn't make sense. We should assume I'm infected, too.」 Biologically, nothing differentiated them enough to immunize Cross but infect Maru; he considered it a certainty that foreign invaders brushed his cells, slower but just as potent.
He drew a steadying breath. 「Either we figure out how to cure this, or we ensure it ends with us.」














