Arc 1, Chapter 2: Unwanted Blossoming
Merry: "The time travel worked, I'm guessing."
He checked his watch to confirm, and it was December 27th.
Merry: "Looks like there's school today. Gotta befriend Charlotte quickly."
Merry's plan was to try to befriend Charlotte on his first day. He trudged through the snow, thinking up a way to effectively make an important friend and stop the plot of the enemy.
As he walked, he took note of his surroundings. To Merry, everything looked normal.
Too normal.
He wasn't sure when the flower-named group of people would show up, but he guessed that he had a good amount of time before then. Midterms began in 3 days. Of course, that meant he actually had to keep his grades up now.
Merry arrived at school and walked in. He had gone back in time, and he could tell because of the poster he saw in the hallway. It was a poster for a performance that he was involved in, along with Charlotte.
They were both a part of the band.
After taking a couple glances at the poster, Merry made his way to his classroom. Charlotte was in half of his classes, so there was no way he could forget where to go.
Knocking for a couple seconds, then having the door opened by a classmate, Merry walked in.
Before he realized it, he ended up dapping up a guy he didn't even know.
But he couldn't tell him that.
To whoever that was, Merry was just Merry.
To Merry, he was just… him.
Merry decided to study the yearbook when school ended.
???: "Alright, class. You all know midterms are in 3 days, right?"
A "what midterms?!", and a "Three days?!" rang through the classroom.
Merry found himself chuckling.
???: "Merry? You okay? Why're you laughing?"
Merry turned his head, and said, "Yeah, I'm okay."—
—and tears ran down his cheeks.
The same hair.
The same eyes.
The same playful expression.
The same girl he was just burying a few minutes ago.
Merry: "C-Charlotte?"
This left his mouth as more of an "Arlotte" because he was crying so much.
Charlotte: "Yeah.. that's me. Why're you crying, anyway? That's strange.."
Merry: "Yeah."
And then, between sniffles, he said,
"That's weird of me, sorry. Glad you're back."
Charlotte flushed a deep shade of red.
"——"
Merry wiped his face with his sleeve.
???: "Alright, alright. Everyone quiet down."
Everyone: "Sorry, Ms. Margaton."
Their teacher closes her eyes with a smile.
Ms. Margaton: "It's alright. Anyway, I'm gonna call on someone to answer a problem from last night's homework."
Merry sighed. The first day back, and there was already homework he had no chance of doing.
Merry: "I'm gonna just say it right now; I haven't done my homework one bit."
Ms. Margaton scratched her head, saying,
"Aw, man..! Who else didn't do their work?"
Everyone's hands shot up, and the fact that she was so nice led to her voiding the homework.
"Goodness gracious..", she would say.
With that out the way, Merry turned his gaze towards Charlotte. He could not take his eyes off of her.
Her long, yellow hair swayed gracefully, and she already noticed she was being looked at.
So naturally, she acted obliviously. She swiped her hand over her hair, and somehow it gave off a glow.
And that wasn't even the end of it— even her blue eyes glistened too.
All of this, was all that Meili thought, at that exact moment—
Charlotte: "You can stop sparing, I suppose."
She made it clear she noticed, and flicked her hair.
Merry was at a loss for words.
—There's a fifty percent chance this starts a friendship. If I'm successful, I'll be one step closer to changing her past.
So he said,
"I just thought you looked pretty."
Charlotte smiled.
Charlotte: "Thank you, Merry."
Merry: "So… I was thinking. Wanna be fr—i"
???: "Focus."
Someone interrupted them, and it was Ms. Margaton.
Ms. Margaton: "Look on the board, think you can answer that?"
Merry: "The y-intercept is (0,5)."
His teacher smiled, and commented on the fact that he really had been paying attention.
—Shut it, Ms. Margaton! I'm trying to make progress here..
Merry sighed, and Charlotte noticed this and giggled.
He'd have to try his luck during lunch.
—When the bell rang for lunch, Merry kept a close eye on Charlotte.
He decided to follow her to increase his chance of saving her quickly, but he forgot that it wouldn't be that easy. Charlotte had gone to sit next to her friends, so if he didn't want to embarrass himself, that plan wasn't it.
The closest thing he got was a seat across from hers. Merry got his lunch and laid low.
Of course, he wasn't going to speak with her from there. He was waiting…
and waiting…
waiting for—
"I'm going to use the bathroom."
Charlotte told her friends this and then got up.
Merry: "--Chance!!"
Of course, Merry wasn't going to follow her into the bathroom…
But he could get some alone time if they were both going.
Merry tosses his half-bitten apple back into his tray and sprang up. He told his friends "I gotta take a leak," and ran over quickly. As he got to the bathroom, he realized that there were two on the opposite sides of the room.
"...Dude.." he muttered to himself. "Why did I have to forget that of all things?"
[][][][][][][]
—During his survival of the school day, Merry had managed to ask Charlotte to study with him.
In his eyes, it was still a win. It wasn't as close as he had wanted, but still…
…he had seven days before the attacker would show up.
It wasn't wrong to say that he succeeded, because now he could hopefully get valuable information from Charlotte.
He would try to ask her about the evolved humans, since she had a connection of some sort before she died. The question is just, how would he do that?
—They were walking through the halls together.
Charlotte: "So.. are you calling me over to actually study, or…"
She winked, as if trying to tempt him.
Merry: "Get that out of your head. I simply wanna pass midterms, and I need someone who's got the brains for that."
Charlotte hummed as they made their way to his house.
Merry's eyes widened.
Charlotte: "Hmm… you know that song?"
Merry did in fact know it.
'The Dahlia's Star-Shaped Petals'. Charlotte sang it every day, so how could he forget?
At this point, he was certain this was the Charlotte of the past.
Merry: "Charlotte.."
He smiled.
But she had no idea what was going on, and returned a smile.
They reached Merry's door, so he took out his key and unlocked it.
Both people stepped inside simultaneously and took off her shoes, stretched, and exhaled at the same time.
Charlotte: "You know that stretch? I thought I made it up."
Merry had learned the stretch from Charlotte on their first date.
Merry: "I guess we're soulmates or something."
Charlotte: "I'd guess so too. Anyway, I haven't charged my phone in days, so I'm gonna plug it in and watch some news."
Merry. "Got you. I'll turn on the TV while you charge that."
Charlotte nodded, and went over to the outlet.
"By the way, I heard that a select group of humans evolved. Do you know about that, like, is that even possible?"
Merry presented a question as she plugged in her phone.
Charlotte: "Oh, yeah. My dad was one of them."
Merry hmmed.
"I see. So wouldn't that make you one of them?"
Charlotte shrugged. She walked over to his red sofa and sat on it. She let out an, "Oh! Yeah, actually I kinda am."
"—?"
"My reflexes. They're really good."
"Really?"
Merry took out 2 sticks…
"Ready?"
…and threw them in different directions, but Charlotte caught both effortlessly. He had even tried to make it impossible to execute.
Charlotte did a weird victory dance. She started jumping and waving her hands.
Charlotte: "That's nothing, though. They can do things like generate electricity, regenerate really fast…"
Merry: "Mm.. So if we were to run into one of them, we'd have to rely on your fighting ability."
Charlotte: "Yeah. But maybe you can support me somehow from the sidelines."
Merry didn't like the thought of being utterly useless. He sighed and shrugged it off.
Merry: "Nothing we can do about that now, though. Let's get back to the task at hand: studying."
Charlotte groaned, but was obedient anyway. She sat back on the sofa with Merry and took out her Algebra 1 textbook.
Charlotte: "Freshman year is something else, man..! I don't even think I can do this…"
Merry: "Don't be so negative,"
Merry replied, flipping through her book—
"Let's start from the beginning. You've mastered factoring, right? We just need to learn more ways to do that."
Charlotte nodded, and focused. As Merry explained, she noticed that he made it easier to understand, all while taking less time than her teachers.
"You're good at this," she said. "Too good, actually."
"What's that even supposed to mean? Basic arithmetic…"
Charlotte scoffed. "What about you? Are you ready for midterms?"
Merry shrugged. "I wouldn't say I am, but I'm not too worried."
Charlotte thought of something to say to make him take his studies more seriously…
"What if you, say, were in the past right now? That'd be really important in the future."
Merry noticed many things that further proved Charlotte's existence, and many questions arose. He said the first one that came to mind:
Merry: "How do you… know about that?"
Charlotte was confused.
Charlotte: "About…?"
Merry: "The past. Me being in the past, you know? The time travel stuff."
Charlotte scratched her head. "So sorry… I've no idea what you're talking about."
Merry hit a nearby table with his fist in frustration. He had been thinking he was closer than he really was.
"Dang it, so, umm… Anyway.. Math, right? We'll do the rest for 2 days."
Charlotte nodded at his statement. "Sounds good. I'd also like you to help me after midterms, since you know so much."
Merry cheered inside. It was a tiny bit because he got to spend more time with her, but mostly, it was because he could protect Charlotte more easily.
Merry: "Sure, just stop at my place whenever you're free—"
Charlotte: "Wait, I just remembered, I got invited to a sleepover. Girls only."
Merry facepalmed. "You're telling me this now? No matter, I guess… Let's just focus on midterms, since they're in 2 days. When's that sleepover, though?"
Charlotte: "Five days after midterms."
Merry's eyes narrowed. "I see. That aligns perfectly."
Charlotte looked confused, but ignored his statement.
Merry: "Who invited you?"
Charlotte: "Hey, personal space… a girl named Lily. I don't know which one, though. She had orange hair and eyes like mine."
"Just great" is what Merry was thinking. He pinpointed the danger to the sleepover, but there was more than one Lily, it seemed.
Merry: "Sorry, but, uh… I just wanna know how many Lillies there are."
Charlotte: "Mm.. well apart from Ms. Margaton's daughter, Lily Margaton, there's eight others."
Merry: "Come on–!! Eight?!"
Charlotte: "Why're you so concerned? Not like you're goin' anyway…"
Merry: "Nevermind me…"
Merry turned to a clock. It was already getting late, and he wasn't keeping track. He walked over to the outlet Charlotte had plugged her phone in, took it out and tossed it at her.
She lived up to his expectations at that moment.
"Testing my abilities again? Heh." She said, catching her phone smoothly.
"You should keep your guard up at that sleepover. Please."
"I told you— Mind your business. It's not like we're…"
"---"
Charlotte scratched her head again. "You're right. Sorry."
Merry sighed. "Just get out, it's already getting late."
Charlotte packed up her stuff quickly. After that, she got to the door and then turned around.
"Sorry. Really."
Merry did a short nod and looked away. He shut the door when she stepped out.
Merry knew he needed some sort of plan if he wanted to manage his life, save Charlotte from the Lillies, AND get a good future. He took note of what Charlotte had said earlier; if he slacks in the past, it would mess him up four years later.
He didn't want to think about it too much.
To him, he had in some way accomplished what he wanted to do. Merry and Charlotte now had a decent relationship. To him, again, he was starting to doubt if she was really Charlotte again. Was he just too used to her being nice?
He didn't want to think about it too much, so he decided to get some sleep.
Merry had worked a lot today… he jumped onto his bed and dozed off…
and dozed off..
and dozed off.
[][][][][][][]
—Merry's second day at school began. His day was pretty much set out for him: go to school, teach Charlotte, learn about his enemies, and study for midterms.
With his parents having been out of the house for a while, it should work out in his favor…
Merry got out of bed and threw on his uniform. He had brushed and showered very quickly, and ultimately skipped breakfast. There was no reason for him to be running, and yet…
Merry: "Day two of eight! Let's make some progress today!"
He cheered himself on, with a sentence that nobody else could hear.
According to the sequence of his plans for today, going to school was first. And so, that's what he did.
He sat through most of his classes, and they went by pretty well. Most of the time was just midterm reminders, and going over ways to study.
All classes were the same, in theory, but one.
All but one.
And what happened in that class was too confusing to forget…
???: "Settle down, settle down."
Ms. Margaton's voice rang through the classroom, and everyone took their seats. She had an important announcement to make, it seemed.
Merry and his friends had ended their conversation, and so did whatever was going on where Charlotte was.
Ms. Margaton: "Clarence, can you quiet them down?"
She said, before their talking died down. Clarence was the class president, so he was pretty experienced and calmed them down very quickly.
Ms. Margaton: "Okay, I wanted to let you all know that we're gonna be having some new students today."
Merry got nervous, but he didn't know why. Maybe he was expecting someone…?
"Please be nice to them. They're new here." Merry's teacher then motioned for the students to come in, and exactly nine girls flooded in.
Ms. Margaton: "Something I like about these transfer students is that their names all start with Lily. Cute, right?"
Merry's eyes widened.
"Just watch out for someone named Lily, okay?" Charlotte had told him.
Not only was it a person named Lily, but it was people named Lily. How would he pinpoint where the danger was?
Merry decided to keep his cool and observe them. They didn't know about him, and if they did, they only knew basic things that would make him your average student.
Even if it looked like nine people versus one, he had the advantage, thanks to Charlotte.
So he refrained from getting up or showing any interest. Their seats were spread around the classroom, though, so monitoring them was hard. He directed his attention to the Lily in front of him, Lily Asiatic. But now that he poured more thought into it, the structure of their name followed…
…wasn't that oddly specific to be a coincidence?
Especially since they showed up to his school out of nowhere. That should be enough evidence to make somebody normal suspicious, don't you think?
—I'll stick around after school. See if they do anything weird…, he said under his breath.
???: "Hm? Did you say something?"
Lily had turned to face him. For convenient purposes, we'll call her Asiatic.
Merry: "Uh, nah…"
Asiatic: "Oh, okay, well, let me know if you need anything."
Asiatic said it with a smile that put Merry on edge. He brushed it off as lack of social skill and just went back to focusing on the lecture.
Asiatic: "By the way, do you know any girls that would like to come to my party?"
Merry turned around after being distracted again.
Merry: "No, no I don't. Charlotte aside, I don't care about any other girls."
Asiatic: "Such devotion…"
Merry: "Stop talking so much."
Asiatic rolled her eyes with a smile and looked down at her empty page of notes.
Asiatic: "Sorry, but, I need notes. I just got here, y'know?"
Merry: "Get them from someone else. Your friends have probably found a solution to that, so why don't you do it too."
Asiatic smirked. With that, she raised her hand.
"Ms. Margaton—! I'm new here and everythin', but Merry won't share his notes—"
Merry quickly got up from his seat and shouted:
"No, you don't get it, I, uh, was just about to give them to her… because I'm just so nice…"
Asiatic or anybody else didn't hear the last part of his sentence, and he sat down. Handing her his notebook, he sighed somewhat quietly.
Ms. Margaton: "Well, Merry, since you're so helpful, I'm sure the other Lillies would love it if you helped them as well."
Merry facepalmed. Great… was most likely the thought in his head. Being dragged into some sort of contact with those girls wasn't going according to what he wanted. He had to lay low.
He ripped out some blank pages of paper for himself and got up to give Ms. Margaton his notebook.
Merry: "You can have them come in later to copy down what I got. I'll just use these sheets I ripped out."
Charlotte was watching from her seat. "That's nice of you, Merry."
Merry turned around and smiled at her, as if he forgot their short "argument" yesterday.
Anyway, he got back to his seat and Lily Asiatic was fiddling with her hair, looking at him.
Some time passed, and they were five minutes before the end of the class, so Merry picked up his bag from the floor. He zipped it open and slid in his new sheets of notes.
"I guess I'll come pick up my notebook later. I'll be busy during lunch."
—Luckily, he had caught Charlotte in the halls.
She was against her locker, struggling to shut it before she gave up.
Charlotte leaned against it with an embarrassed chuckle when she saw Merry.
Merry: "Lottie, I got something to tell you."
Charlotte: "Lottie? Hmm… we recently started talking more and you're already nicknaming me?"
Merry: "Oh, sorry, the Charlotte I knew liked that name."
Merry awkwardly kicked invisible rocks as he looked down. Charlotte giggled.
Charlotte: "I happen to like it too. 'Lottie' sounds fearless or something."
Merry smiled. After a while, he snapped back into reality.
"Right, about what I wanted to tell you.."
He sighed.
"I know I keep telling you to watch out for random stuff, but please… Those girls are nothing short of suspicious."
Charlotte: "Alright. Sorry for getting so… defensive, I guess… yesterday. I know you're just looking out for me."
A bigger smile was visible on Merry's face. "Thanks."
She nodded, and then her stomach grumbled.
"Uhh… I think we should eat, Merry…"
Merry's stomach showed the same reaction, and they agreed on quickly getting to lunch.
Charlotte tapped him on the arm, and he looked over.
Charlotte: "I wanna tell you something I remembered. You might need it."
She talked through chews.
Charlotte: "My dad said evolved humans release energy constantly that makes it hard to live normally unless they practice. He didn't have time to teach me, and sealed that energy in some shooting star. I know of it, but that star doesn't come around until four days from now, then the time we have to wait increases exponentially."
Merry: "And this star is El, Elo, what was it?"
Charlotte: "Elot. You seem to know a lot about me for some reason… Are you stalking me?"
Merry: "No, I knew another Charlotte that told me this stuff, but I don't really know if I can tell you how you both connect."
Charlotte nodded, and said, "It's whatever.", before biting into a sandwich.
Merry: "You should know not to talk with food in your mouth, Lottie."
Charlotte let out a "Hmph" and continued talking. After she finished her sandwich, she crumpled up the wrapper.
When she continued talking without swallowing, Merry threw his wrapper at her playfully, but she caught it.
"Heh."
"——"
She then threw both wrappers at Merry who couldn't dodge them whatsoever. Merry sighed and took them to the trash.
——At the end of the school day, they had both left the building at different places, but they would be meeting at Merry's house later. Merry decided to get his house tidy and set up the room to look like last time, just to get in the mood.
Some fifteen minutes later, his doorbell rang. It was Charlotte behind the door, so he quickly let her in.
"Midterm study day two!! I'm somewhat excited," said Charlotte, biting a lollipop off the stick.
Merry: "Trash is over there."
He pointed to a nearby trash bin to the right of the room. She rolled her eyes to show some authority and threw it to the trash. She missed.
"Good reflexes aren't enough to land shots, Lottie."
"Shut up…" She walked over to her lollipop and attempted to pick it up, which took a while since it got a bit glued to the floor.
"Hey, don't mess up my floor… wipe that stain."
Charlotte listened to his order and looked for wipes for a couple seconds before realizing they were right in front of her. She wiped the spot quickly and still left a bit of the stain there, but she probably wouldn't listen again if Merry pointed it out, so he left it at that.
Merry: "By the way… is it fair to say that you're somewhat weaker since most of your power is inside that star?"
Charlotte agreed as she put a wipe in the trash.
"Yeah, I'm guessing. I don't think it would be wrong if all I can do is react quickly."
Merry: "You think there's a way to get it back?"
"I think if it was possible and we did, whatever function that star is able to do because of my power will be gone."
Merry groaned and stomped the ground. "How do we even win, then?!" he said angrily.
"Calm down. We don't even need to worry about it right now."
"But we should still prepare… it's the two of us against nine people."
Charlotte nodded and put her hand on her chin, as if she were thinking.
"Yeah, you're right… So we'll extract the power of Elot."
"Alright.."
"You seem to know a lot about this stuff, so… do you know what Elot does, by any chance?"
"It can send people back in time."
"So, did it send you—"
"No. It didn't."
But in reality, it did send Merry back in time. It's just that if he messes with the past, Charlotte's knowledge about the power of Elot might cause problems in the future, which then would've made this whole time travel situation impossible, to say the least.
"Ah, I thought I was onto something for a second. There might be a way to take just a teeny bit of it."
Merry: "Why don't we just go to Elot itself? See if we can do something."
Charlotte: "Remember, if we went right now, it wouldn't even appear. We'll go three days after midterms."
"Okay… I guess we should study science now."
"Okay, then… I'm not good with my macromolecules, so you need to show me that."
Merry: "Ah, sure. It's simple, look…"
Merry flipped for a bit before settling on a page, and laid out the science textbook from his bag on the table. Midterms were tomorrow, so they decided they would cover everything else today.
Charlotte: "So… how long are we gonna be here for?"
She was picking at the wrapper of another lollipop, and after unwrapping it, ate it in one bite.
Merry: "We're here until we finish everything."
Charlotte: "Everything?! Come on.."
Just as they were about to initiate the studying, there was a knock on the door.
And then another.
It wasn't one you could just ignore; whoever was knocking wouldn't stop.