This morning, Aidan failed to get up on time again.
Indeed, why was that?
"He wouldn't be again today..."
March 7th muttered, looking worriedly at Welt and Himeko.
"Mr. Yang, Sister Himeko, could you... accompany me to his room?"
"Pom-Pom is coming too! Pom-Pom senses something very wrong on the Astral Express!"
"...Mr. Yang, do you smell a strange odor?"
Welt pushed up his glasses and nodded with a solemn expression.
"It seems like some kind of high-concentration biological pheromone," Welt judged. The cane in his hand was already slightly raised, its tip shimmering with a faint light. "Himeko, it seems the situation is even more complicated than yesterday."
Himeko crossed her arms, her gaze falling on the tightly closed door, looking thoughtful. "Yesterday it was a sudden death; today's commotion... it seems as if something extraordinary is being kept inside."
"Buzz, buzz—buzz, buzz—"
The sound grew louder, making the door panels tremble slightly, and even the air in the corridor seemed to resonate with it.
"I'll count to three. Mr. Yang, you open the door; Sister Himeko, cover us; and I... I'll be in charge of screaming!" March 7th assigned herself a very self-aware task.
"There's no need to be so pessimistic," Welt smiled helplessly, then his expression turned serious. "Are you ready?"
"Open!"
Swarm King‽
The bug in the room seemed startled and vibrated its wings rapidly.
"Good... buzz... mor... buzz... ning..."
"Aaaaaah—!!!"
March 7th's scream arrived as promised.
"B-b-b-bug! A huge bug!"
It was a giant insect covered entirely in a hard, blue-purple carapace. The elytra on its back had a translucent texture, with eerie fluorescent veins flowing across them. Its compound eyes were composed of countless tiny crystals, reflecting the figures of everyone at the door.
"Don't... buzz... at... buzz... tack..."
Eerily, the Coleopteran creature was using the vibration of its wings to achieve a function similar to vocalization.
To be precise, it wasn't a True Stinging Insect, but a progenitor of the True Stinging Insect, closer to the form of Tayzzyronth.
"You... Aidan?"
"It's... buzz... me... buzz..."
The bug lowered its forelimbs, trying to make itself look less threatening.
"The Propagation," Welt pushed up his glasses, a hint of realization in his tone. "Yesterday was Erudition; today is The Propagation."
"Yes... buzz... yes..." Aidan tried to nod, but the bug's physiological structure made the movement exceptionally difficult. He simply gave up and instead used his wings to vibrate out sounds, "I... buzz... can control... buzz... the splitting... buzz... don't be afraid..."
"Controlling yourself so you don't split?" Himeko understood what he was trying to express.
"Yes... buzz..."
The giant bug seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, its entire body relaxing.
March 7th's expression changed from terror to complexity, and then from complexity to curiosity. She cautiously took a step forward.
Pom-Pom fell silent.
Pom-Pom was thinking.
Pom-Pom's CPU was overloaded.
"So... today's passenger Aidan... is a bug?"
"The path of propagation," Welt explained. "Yesterday was Erudition; today is The Propagation. According to what he said yesterday, he switches to a random Path every day. It's just... I didn't expect the path of propagation to take such a form."
It was actually quite logical.
The Propagation turned directly into a bug.
"Buzz... buzz..."
He struggled to control the vibration frequency of his elytra, attempting to produce sounds more like human language.
"Sor... buzz... ry... buzz... can't change back... buzz..."
"Don't move for a moment," Welt signaled with his hand, his eyes carefully sizing up the creature before him. "You said you can control yourself not to split. Is this control absolute?"
"Yes... buzz..." Aidan nodded, a movement that caused the antennae on his head to sway. "The Propagation... buzz... special... buzz... can control... buzz... won't split... buzz... won't infect... buzz..."
"Won't infect?"
"Meaning... buzz... won't turn... buzz... things into bugs... buzz..." Aidan explained with great effort.
Himeko nodded thoughtfully and sat down on a nearby sofa. "So, aside from your appearance changing, you're still essentially yourself?"
"Yes... buzz..." Aidan's eyes—if those crystal structures could be called eyes—lit up. "I'm still... buzz... me... buzz... conscious... buzz... can think... buzz... can talk... buzz... it's just..."
He paused, his wings vibrating somewhat hesitantly.
"It's just... buzz... trying to express myself... buzz... is a bit difficult... buzz..."
Pom-Pom finally recovered from the shock and cautiously poked its head out. "Then, then what about your meals, Pom?"
"Buzz..."
This question seemed to stump Aidan.
He looked down at his forelimbs—a pair of limbs covered in hard carapace with edges as sharp as scythes—and then at the leftover sandwich from yesterday on the nearby table.
"I... buzz... don't know... buzz... I'll just stay hungry... buzz..."
"Going hungry won't do, Pom!" Pom-Pom immediately countered.
March 7th's large eyes blinked. She tilted her head, staring at Aidan's sharp scythe-like forelimbs, then at his massive Mandibles, and an idea popped up. "Um, I say, why don't we try turning food into liquid? Like juice, and then feeding him with a tube?"
"With a tube?"
"A Pathstrider of propagation... I don't believe conventional organic matter can satisfy the energy requirements of such a form. Being hungry might just be a conclusion he's drawn based on his human-era inertia of thought."
"What do you mean?" Himeko asked.
"He might not need to eat food as we know it at all."
Welt looked thoughtful.
"Little March, why don't you keep him company for a bit? Later, we'll Warp to Herta Space Station and ask Ms. Herta. It just so happens she's at the station, and we have some things to deliver to her."
"Eh? Me, I'm staying to talk with him?" March 7th didn't dwell on it much and nodded. "True, turning into this, you must be feeling really uncomfortable..."
"Then it's settled."
"Thanks for the hard work, Little March."
"Then the Conductor will go prepare for the Warp now, Pom!"
As the door gently closed, the room instantly fell silent.
Only March 7th and that giant Coleopteran insect remained.
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
March 7th blinked her pink-blue eyes.
How... how do I even start a conversation?
"Come to think of it..." March 7th suddenly thought of something, her eyes lighting up. She pulled out the camera she always carried. "Since you've turned into this, should we take a photo as a souvenir?"
"Sou... buzz... venir... buzz...?"
"Yeah! When you change back later, or turn into something else weird, this will be a rare blac— precious memory!" March 7th raised the camera and gestured toward Aidan. "Come on, look at the lens! Though I don't know if you still have your camera presence, try to smile?"
Asking a bug to smile was indeed a bit of a tall order for an insect.
But Aidan still cooperated. He struggled to prop up his upper body, and those scythe-like forelimbs stiffly lifted, trying to make a gesture similar to a peace sign. Although under that hideous appearance, the movement looked more like he was preparing to attack, he truly did his best.
"Click!"
The flash went off, freezing this moment in time.
In the photo, a massive blue bug clumsily waved its forelimbs next to a radiantly smiling March 7th.
"Hehe, nice shot!" March 7th looked at the camera screen and nodded with satisfaction. "I definitely have to save this photo!"
"That's... buzz... not necessary... buzz..."
Aidan buzzed helplessly.