Chapter 3: March 7th: There's a-a-a-a-a bug!!!
This morning, Rekka failed to get out of bed on time. Again.
Given his track record, the delay raised immediate red flags.
"He wouldn't be... you know, doing it again today, right?" March 7th muttered. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, casting worried glances between Welt Yang and Himeko. "Mr. Yang, Himeko, could you... maybe accompany me to his room?"
"Pom-Pom is coming too!" A furry, long-eared figure marched up beside them, stomping a little boot against the floorboards. "Pom-Pom senses something very wrong on the Astral Express!"
As they approached the passenger cabin, March wrinkled her nose. "...Mr. Yang, do you smell a strange odor?"
Welt pushed up his glasses. His usually calm expression tightened into a solemn mask. He inhaled slowly, analyzing the heavy, almost suffocating scent leaking through the doorframe.
"It seems to be some kind of high-concentration biological pheromone," Welt judged. His grip tightened on his cane. He raised it a fraction of an inch, the synthetic black hole at its tip already shimmering with a faint, dangerous gravity. "Himeko, it seems the situation is even more complicated than yesterday's incident."
Himeko crossed her arms. Her amber eyes narrowed as she studied the tightly sealed metal door. "Yesterday, he experienced a spontaneous, simulated sudden death. But today's commotion..." She trailed off, listening to the low, rhythmic thrumming echoing from within. "It feels as if we are keeping something entirely unearthly locked inside."
Buzz... buzz...
The low drone steadily amplified. The thick metal door panels began to tremble, rattling against their frames. The very air in the corridor vibrated, rattling the teeth of everyone standing outside.
March swallowed hard, summoning her ice bow in a flash of frost. "Okay, I'll count to three. Mr. Yang, you breach the door. Himeko, you provide covering fire. And I..." She gripped her bow tight. "I will be in charge of screaming!"
It was a highly self-aware division of labor.
"There is no need to be quite so pessimistic, March," Welt sighed, managing a helpless smile before his features hardened back into absolute focus. "Are you ready?"
Himeko summoned her briefcase, the mechanical parts whirring to life. "Open it."
The door hissed open.
A monstrous silhouette loomed in the center of the room. It was a creature straight out of the universe's darkest nightmares, a remnant of the Swarm Disaster.
Startled by the sudden intrusion, the colossal insect rapidly vibrated its wings, kicking up a gale of wind inside the small cabin.
"Good... buzz... mor... buzz... ning..."
"Aaaaaah!!!"
March 7th's scream arrived exactly as promised, piercing the heavy atmosphere. She scrambled backward, pointing a trembling finger at the entity. "B-b-b-bug! A huge bug!"
The entity occupying Rekka's bed was a giant insectoid horror, entirely encased in a thick, jagged blue-purple carapace. The massive elytra folded over its back possessed a sickly translucent texture, glowing with eerie, fluorescent green veins that pulsed with biological energy. Its massive compound eyes were constructed from countless tiny, hexagonal crystals, each facet reflecting the horrified faces of the Express crew standing in the doorway.
"Don't... buzz... at... buzz... tack..."
In a deeply unsettling display, the massive Coleopteran creature was manipulating the high-speed vibration of its wings to mimic human vocalization.
Welt's eyes widened. He recognized the biological structure. This was not a standard True Sting. The sheer scale, the density of the carapace, and the powerful aura of biological supremacy placed it closer to the progenitor of the Swarm itself, a lesser avatar of Tayzzyronth.
"Are you... Rekka?" Himeko asked, her finger hovering over the trigger of her weapon.
"It's... buzz... me... buzz..."
The terrifying bug slowly lowered its razor-sharp forelimbs, awkwardly attempting to compress its massive frame to look as harmless as a multi-ton insect possibly could.
"The Propagation," Welt breathed out, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as realization dawned. "Yesterday, he drew the Path of The Erudition. Today, it is The Propagation."
"Yes... buzz... yes..." Rekka attempted to nod in agreement. However, his new physiological structure made the simple human gesture exceptionally difficult. His massive mandibles just clattered against his chest plate. Giving up on body language, he relied entirely on his vibrating wings. "I... buzz... can control... buzz... the splitting... buzz... don't be afraid..."
"You are controlling yourself so you don't spontaneously split and multiply?" Himeko asked, immediately grasping his meaning. She lowered her weapon slightly.
"Yes... buzz..."
The giant bug sagged, letting out a sound that closely resembled a massive sigh of relief. The aggressive tension in its carapace visibly relaxed.
March 7th peeked out from behind Welt. Her expression shifted rapidly from absolute terror, to deep complexity, and finally settled on morbid curiosity. She lowered her bow and cautiously took a single step into the room.
Down near their ankles, Pom-Pom had fallen completely silent. The conductor stared blankly at the giant insect. Pom-Pom was thinking. Pom-Pom's furry little brain was completely overloaded.
"So... today's passenger Rekka... is a bug?" the conductor finally squeaked out, ears drooping.
"The Path of The Propagation," Welt corrected gently. "According to the rules he explained yesterday, his physical form and abilities switch to a completely random Path every twenty-four hours. It is just... I did not expect the embodiment of The Propagation to take such a literal form."
Though, thinking about the history of the universe, it was actually quite logical. The Propagation was synonymous with the Swarm. Becoming a bug was the most direct translation of that power.
"Buzz... buzz..."
Rekka shifted on his six legs. He struggled immensely to control the exact vibration frequency of his elytra, desperately trying to filter out the static and produce sounds closer to normal human speech.
"Sor... buzz... ry... buzz... can't change back... buzz..."
"Do not move for a moment," Welt instructed, raising a hand. His dark eyes carefully sized up the towering creature, calculating the potential threat level. "You stated you can control your urge to split and multiply. Is this control absolute?"
"Yes... buzz..." Rekka tried to nod again, a movement that only caused the massive, segmented antennae on his head to whip wildly through the air. "Propagation... buzz... special... buzz... can control... buzz... won't split... buzz... won't infect... buzz..."
"Won't infect?" Himeko echoed, raising an eyebrow.
"Meaning... buzz... won't turn... buzz... things into bugs... buzz..." Rekka explained, the effort of translating his thoughts into wing-vibrations clearly exhausting him.
Himeko nodded thoughtfully. Deeming the room safe, she dismissed her briefcase and gracefully took a seat on the small sofa near the corner, entirely unbothered by the giant monster looming over the bed. "So, aside from your rather drastic change in appearance, you are still essentially yourself?"
"Yes... buzz..." Rekka's compound eyes, if those massive, multi-faceted crystal structures could even be called eyes, seemed to light up with relief. "I'm still... buzz... me... buzz... conscious... buzz... can think... buzz... can talk... buzz... it's just..."
He paused. His wings vibrated with a hesitant, stuttering rhythm, sounding like a broken fan.
"It's just... buzz... trying to express myself... buzz... is a bit difficult... buzz..."
Pom-Pom finally recovered enough from the initial shock to cautiously poke a furry head out from behind Welt's leg. "Then... then what about your meals, Pom?"
"Buzz..."
The simple question completely stumped the Swarm monster.
Rekka slowly lowered his massive head, staring blankly at his own forelimbs. They were thick, heavily armored appendages ending in edges as sharp and deadly as executioner's scythes. He slowly turned his terrifying gaze toward the small desk in the corner, where a half-eaten ham sandwich from yesterday sat on a plate.
"I... buzz... don't know... buzz... I'll just stay hungry... buzz..."
"Going hungry will not do, Pom!" Pom-Pom immediately countered, crossing their little arms indignantly. A passenger skipping meals was a direct violation of the conductor's care protocols.
March 7th blinked her large, pink-blue eyes. She tilted her head, her gaze tracking from Rekka's lethal, scythe-like claws up to the horrifying, crushing mandibles attached to his face. A lightbulb went off in her head.
"Um, I have an idea!" March announced cheerfully. "Why don't we try turning his food into liquid? Like a giant meat smoothie! We could feed him with a really big tube!"
"With a tube?" Rekka buzzed back, sounding distinctly horrified.
Welt shook his head, stepping in before March could run off to fetch a blender. "A Pathstrider actively drawing upon The Propagation... I do not believe conventional organic matter can satisfy the astronomical energy requirements of such a biological form. Feeling hungry might just be a phantom sensation, a conclusion he has drawn based purely on his human-era inertia of thought."
"What do you mean, Mr. Yang?" Himeko asked, looking over.
"I mean he might not need to consume food as we know it at all," Welt explained, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "His current body likely sustains itself on pure cosmic energy or imaginary elements."
Welt turned to the archer. "March, why don't you stay here and keep him company for a bit? Himeko and I will head to the control room. We will initiate a Warp to Herta Space Station and consult Herta about this condition. It just so happens she is currently at the station, and we have some rare curios to deliver to her anyway."
"Eh? Me?" March pointed a finger at herself, looking up at the towering bug. "I'm staying to chat with him?" She didn't dwell on the terrifying visual for long, her natural empathy quickly overriding her fear. She nodded firmly. "Yeah, okay. Turning into a giant monster must feel really uncomfortable and lonely..."
"Then it is settled," Welt said, turning toward the door.
"Thanks for the hard work, March," Himeko smiled warmly, following Welt out into the corridor.
"Then the Conductor will go prepare the engine for the Warp right now, Pom!" Pom-Pom declared, spinning around and marching briskly toward the parlor car.
The heavy metal door hissed shut, sealing the room.
Instant silence descended upon the cabin. Only March 7th and the colossal Coleopteran insect remained in the enclosed space.
The atmosphere completely froze.
March blinked her pink-blue eyes, staring up at the terrifying, multi-eyed monstrosity looming over her.
How... how do I even start a conversation with a bug?
"Come to think of it..." March suddenly gasped, a brilliant idea striking her. Her eyes lit up with excitement. She reached down to her hip and pulled out the custom camera she always carried. "Since you've turned into this crazy thing, we should absolutely take a photo as a souvenir!"
"Sou... buzz... venir... buzz...?"
"Yeah! When you change back later, or turn into something else totally weird tomorrow, this will be a super rare blac— I mean, precious memory!" March raised the camera, gesturing enthusiastically toward Rekka's massive, armored face. "Come on, look at the lens! Though I don't know if you still have your camera presence in that body, try to smile!"
Asking a giant cosmic bug to smile was indeed a bit of a tall order.
But Rekka still cooperated. He groaned, or rather, buzzed heavily, and struggled to prop up his massive upper body. Those terrifying, scythe-like forelimbs stiffly lifted into the air, awkwardly attempting to form a classic peace sign. Underneath that hideous, nightmare-inducing appearance, the jagged movement looked exactly like a predator preparing to strike its prey.
But he truly did his best.
Click!
The bright flash went off, freezing the absurd moment in time.
In the digital photo, a massive, terrifying blue bug clumsily waved its lethal forelimbs right next to a radiantly smiling, peace-sign-flashing March 7th.
"Hehe, nice shot!" March looked down at the camera screen and nodded with absolute satisfaction. "I definitely have to save this photo!"
"That's... buzz... not necessary... buzz..."
Rekka buzzed helplessly, resigning himself to his fate as a giant, embarrassing photo prop.
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