Chapter 42: Rekka, the Student Who Is Bad at Refusing
Rekka pushed himself off the polished floorboards of the parlor car. He casually brushed a stray lock of hair from his eyes, gave his head a brisk shake, and reached up to calmly yank a plastic instant noodle fork straight out of his skull.
Himeko stepped forward, her amber eyes scanning him from head to toe. Seeing that he was completely intact—save for his wildly disheveled hair and the absurd utensil he had just discarded—she finally let out a long, quiet breath of relief.
"...Are you okay?" March 7th asked, her voice laced with lingering disbelief.
"I am perfectly fine, Senior March," Rekka replied.
His tone was soft. Too soft. It carried a gentle, almost ethereal warmth that instantly made the fine hairs on Dan Heng's arms stand at attention. The stoic guard narrowed his eyes. Something was deeply, fundamentally wrong.
"It's just..." Rekka tilted his head, a serene smile gracing his lips. "I feel as though something is about to sprout from the top of my head."
He closed his eyes and began to ponder. The gears of Erudition turned in his mind, instantly colliding with the boundless, overflowing vitality of Abundance.
With a soft pop, a vibrant patch of tender green grass sprouted directly from his crown, looking suspiciously like a cartoon sheep's trademark tuft.
Rekka reached up, his fingers brushing against the soft, dewy blades. His expression shifted into something incredibly subtle, a mix of mild curiosity and absolute tranquility.
"...What is this?" he murmured.
"Grass," March 7th replied, her jaw practically hitting the floor. "You literally have grass growing out of your head."
"I am aware that it is grass." Rekka patted the foliage a few more times. The little green shoots swayed cheerfully in tandem with his movements. "But the more pressing question is: why is it growing on my head?"
March 7th leaned in closer, her boots squeaking against the floor. She extended a single, hesitant finger, letting it hover just an inch away from the greenery, desperately wanting to poke it but lacking the courage to actually make contact.
"It is the influence of the Abundance Path," Dan Heng concluded, crossing his arms. "You just died a moment ago. Now, your active Paths have shifted. You are currently channeling both Erudition and Abundance."
"So you sprouted a lawn up there because of the Abundance?" March 7th mused, her eyes sparkling with sudden curiosity. "Do you think it'll bloom into flowers?"
"Probably not," Rekka replied gently.
However, the more he engaged his brain to think about the botanical mechanics of his new condition, the faster the greenery flourished. The tiny tuft rapidly expanded, thick vines cascading down his shoulders. It didn't seem to cause him any physical discomfort, but visually, he was turning into a walking terrarium.
"Uh, guys? He's completely covered in vines now," March 7th pointed out, finally giving in to temptation and grabbing one of the thicker green stems.
She gave it a firm tug. "Whoa, this thing is actually super sturdy!" she complained, bracing her boots against the floor for use. "Rekka, can you please stop thinking? If you keep using your brain, the Astral Express is going to turn into a literal botanical garden!"
"I am so sorry," Rekka said, his voice dripping with an unnatural, saintly remorse. "I will do my utmost to restrain myself."
As he actively emptied his mind, allowing a wave of pure relaxation to wash over him, the rampant vines halted their aggressive expansion. The thick foliage crowning his head settled into a quiet, leafy canopy.
Yet, Rekka's overly polite demeanor was making March 7th visibly squirm. She rubbed her arms, shivering.
"Can... can you please not look at me with that expression?" she stammered. "It's honestly kind of creepy."
"I am sorry."
"No, no, no! You don't need to apologize!" March 7th waved her hands frantically, her gaze flicking nervously to the lush greenery perched on his scalp. "I'm just... I'm really not used to this! When you talk to me in that super soft voice, it makes me feel like I'm a terrible person bullying you!"
"How could that ever be true?" Rekka looked up at her, a sickeningly pure, gentle smile gracing the corners of his mouth. "Senior March has always been incredibly kind to me."
"...Rekka." Dan Heng stepped closer, his sharp eyes analyzing the boy's bizarrely tranquil state. "You are currently under the heavy influence of the Abundance, correct?"
"Yes~" Rekka nodded, the vines swaying with the motion. "But please, none of you need to worry. I have merely become completely incapable of refusing anyone's requests. Other than that minor detail, I will not do anything out of the ordinary."
"...'Granting all sentient beings their requests'." Dan Heng quoted the ancient lore, falling into a heavy silence before exhaling sharply.
March 7th scrunched up her face. "Wait, so... you will seriously agree to absolutely any request right now?"
"Yes. Anything."
"Then what if I ordered you to rip that entire pile of grass right out of your scalp? You'd agree to do that too?"
Rekka paused. He lowered his head, genuinely contemplating the logistics of the demand. A moment later, he looked back up at her, his expression utterly serious and devoid of his usual chaotic mischief.
"I can certainly do that for you. However, if I pull them out by the roots, my head will likely bleed profusely. Are you absolutely certain you want me to do that, Senior March?"
"No, no, no! Never mind! Forget I said anything!" March 7th shrieked, waving her arms in pure panic. "I was just joking! Please don't take it seriously! Do not pull it! Just let it grow!"
"Okay."
Rekka simply stood there, a literal walking houseplant, radiating a saintly, pacifistic aura that practically screamed, 'I am a doormat, please step on me.'
March 7th slowly circled him twice, her expression twisting into a complicated knot of concern and sheer discomfort.
"I really, really hate you being like this," she muttered. "You were never like this before."
"How was I before?" he asked, tilting his head innocently.
"Before, you..." March 7th tapped her chin, struggling to find the right words. "You would talk back! No matter what I said, you always had some witty comeback ready to fire off. Half the time, you went out of your way just to intentionally annoy me! But now? Now I say something and you just hit me with 'Okay,''Sure,' or'I'm sorry.' It makes me feel too guilty to even open my mouth around you!"
"Then how would you like me to act?" Rekka asked, ever accommodating.
"You should act like your usual, annoying self! For example, when I told you to pull the grass just now, you should have rolled your eyes and said something edgy like, 'Go ahead and pull it yourself! It's my pain anyway, and when the blood sprays everywhere, it'll just traumatize you for life!' Or, you know, something along those lines!"
Rekka smiled warmly. "Okay."
"..."
March 7th physically choked on her next breath, utterly defeated by that single, compliant word.
"You are acting exactly like one of those tragic pushovers who wouldn't say no even if someone asked them to jump into a black hole..." she groaned, burying her face in her hands.
Refusing no requests.
The terrifying reality of that statement hung heavily in the air. It meant that if someone approached him with the most depraved, dangerous, or bizarre demand imaginable, he would simply smile and comply.
"Um, Rekka," Welt Yang finally spoke up, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The senior Trailblazer's brow was furrowed with deep concern. "Hypothetically speaking, in your current state... if you were to encounter an individual with malicious intentions, and they made a truly outrageous request of you... what would you do?"
"I would fulfill their request," Rekka answered without a second of hesitation.
"..." Welt stared at him, completely speechless.
"But everyone aboard the Astral Express is a good person, so it hardly matters," Rekka added, his tone brimming with an absolute, unshakeable trust. "None of you would ever make an outrageous request of me."
The parlor car plunged into a suffocating silence.
March 7th suddenly felt an invisible, crushing weight slam down onto her shoulders. It was the heavy, suffocating burden of 'I absolutely cannot betray this pure, innocent trust.'
She pointed a trembling finger at the increasingly lush foliage crowning his head. "Then... can you at least control that pile of weeds? I swear they just grew another two inches while we were talking."
Rekka shifted his gaze upward. Though it was physically impossible to see the top of his own head, he seemed perfectly attuned to the biological state of the parasitic plants.
"They are actively absorbing my excess Abundance energy," he explained softly. "As I mentioned earlier, if I cease all complex thought, the growth rate will naturally slow down."
"Then stop thinking!" March 7th yelled, her anxiety spiking. "Try meditating! Yes, just sit there and meditate!"
"Okay."
Rekka obediently closed his eyes, folding his hands in his lap as he slipped into a state of deep meditation. The vibrant blades of grass swayed gently in the ambient air conditioning of the train, and just as he promised, the aggressive expansion ground to a halt.
March 7th let out a massive sigh of relief, slumping down into the plush seat beside him.
"The Abundance..." Dan Heng murmured, his gaze fixed on the meditating boy. "It truly is the embodiment of limitless, self-sacrificing altruism."
"I'm telling you, Rekka, you seriously cannot go outside like this," March 7th lectured, leaning closer to him. "What if you run into some thug in an alleyway? If a bad guy stabs you with a knife and demands you hand over all your credits, are you just going to obediently fish out your wallet and hand it over?"
Rekka remained perfectly still in his chair, the tender green shoots on his head bobbing peacefully.
"If the mugger truly requires financial assistance, and acquiring my credits would solve their worldly difficulties, then yes, I would gladly give them everything I have," Rekka replied, his voice smoother than silk. "After all, wealth is merely a superficial, external possession. Being able to alleviate the suffering of another living being is what truly matters in this universe."
Smack.
March 7th slapped her own forehead so hard it echoed in the carriage.
'This is bad. This is really, really bad.'
She sat paralyzed beside him, staring blankly at the wobbly little tuft of grass, spiraling into a pit of deep, existential worry.
"Himeko..." she whined, looking over her shoulder at the navigator. "Do you honestly think he can survive until tomorrow's Path change like this?"
Himeko rested a hand against her cheek, her elegant features locked in thought. "He stated that he is currently incapable of refusing requests. That implies a reactive state. Which means..."
"Which means," March 7th gasped, a sudden spark of realization lighting up her eyes, "as long as we don't actively ask him to do anything, he won't do anything crazy!"
"Exactly," Dan Heng agreed with a solemn nod. "Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance, operates on a similar principle. They respond equally to the prayers of all living beings, drawing no distinction between advanced sentient life and primitive species. However, you must be extremely careful. The Abundance's method of interpreting intent is vastly different from ours. A casual, offhanded complaint might be perceived by Him as a desperate plea for salvation."
Rekka sat perfectly upright in his chair, his hands resting obediently on his knees like a perfectly behaved schoolchild.
"Please, none of you need to be so tense," he murmured, his voice as soothing as a warm spring breeze. "I simply wish to aid you all. I want nothing more than for everyone to experience boundless joy and happiness. As long as you need me, I will always be right here, ready to serve."
"NOT TODAY!" March 7th screamed, throwing her hands in the air.
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