Summer came out of nowhere.
It’s hot. Seriously, what is with this weather?

I look up at the cloudless sky and stretch out my arms.

‘Rain… won’t you fall?’

I really, really need some water.

Ever since that night when I saw the glowing unidentified object, it feels like summer’s suddenly arrived.

A UFO that brings summer.
It sounds like a concept in a teenage sci-fi romance, but no, I’ve never heard of anything like that in this world.

The days kept blazing by without a drop of rain, and cracks were starting to form in the ground.

A drought.
The forest was crying out for water.

And so was my body.
It’s all shriveled up now, completely dried out.

My once-proud petals have wilted, and even my leaves are cracking.
The vascular bundles—those little tubes that carry water through plants—are screaming to move moisture faster through my body.

They’ve been out of work lately, though.
Not my fault! I’m doing what I can.
I’m straining every bit of strength I have, pushing my roots deeper and deeper into the ground, trying to find moisture.

I order my roots to pull in more water, yet only a faint mist trickles up. That’s how bad the drought has gotten.

The trees around me are still doing okay, probably because I’m much larger than the average plant.

See, I’m an Alraune, a plant-type monster.
I burn through energy much faster than normal vegetation.
A big bulb with a mouth, movable vines, and a human body blooming from a flower, it’s all uniquely me.
I’m one of a kind, but being so special means I have terrible fuel efficiency.

I just hope I can hold out a little longer.
Please… rain soon.

***

A few days later, I woke up with a strange feeling.
Someone, or something, was touching me.
Something was pressing against my bulb.
When I looked down, I saw roots that weren’t mine sprawled out from the ground.

What? There weren’t any here yesterday and they’re definitely not mine.
So that means, this could be… that?
I’m getting sexually harassed?

I didn’t have to look far for the culprit.
Standing proudly right in front of me—yep, that tree. You!
Its roots had crept all the way to me, poking out of the surface soil.

It hadn’t reached this far before.
What could’ve made it grow so fast?

Don’t tell me you’re a pervy tree?
Caught you red-handed.
You have the right to remain silent. Or, if you’d pay me reparations in water, I might let this slide without turning you in to the police.

That’s how desperate I am for moisture.

But I guess this tree’s in the same boat.
It’s been pushing its roots out of the ground too, trying to scavenge any hint of water.
No tree could’ve grown this fast in just a few days.
Maybe this is what they call a demonic tree. Never seen one before.

Still, harassment is harassment.
Bad trees must be punished.
And where better to send them than my stomach?

The tree was less than ten meters away. Well within the range of my vines.

It took me half a day, but I finally managed to pull it up by its roots.
Then I broke its branches one by one and fed it into my lower mouth.
Bon appétit.

Hmm. There’s a bit of moisture left in this one.
Wait, that’s it!

I gathered what strength I had and started harvesting all the nearby plants.
They weren’t fully dead yet, which meant they still held water inside.

Free water supply.
I devoured nameless weeds, then the thick shrubs, and finally even a few trees.

This is nature.
Under the law of the jungle, only the fittest survive.

The weak are consumed by the strong.
I don’t like it, but that’s just how life works.

That’s how I survived the drought, barely.
Even the bees stopped collecting my nectar for a while out of sympathy.
That was kind of them.
If only they could bring water from the river too… but well, bees don’t exactly have hands.

Still, life was harsh.
It was starting to feel like some kind of torture.
I was so thirsty I thought I might lose it.

The bees were kind, but even their help couldn’t stop me from finally breaking.
I went insane.

Rain, rain, fall already!
Let it pour!
Oh divine goddess above, please, grant your humble flower a drop of mercy!
Please, send down your blessed rain!

There I was, one Alraune, kneeling in prayer.
It was a surreal sight.

But I didn’t care anymore.

I needed water. Desperately.
If that meant performing a rain ritual, then so be it.
I had no idea how, of course.
If only I’d looked up how to summon rain with a ritual in my past life.

Still, whether it worked or not, I had no choice but to try.
I’d become a priestess offering prayers to the heavens.
At this rate, I might just awaken as a shaman.

***

While I was hard at work being a very earnest priestess, I felt eyes on me.

It was that same white bird again, watching me from the ground nearby.
I feel like I’ve been seeing it a lot lately.

Lucky thing, you can just fly wherever you want.
When you’re thirsty, you probably go bathe in a pond or something. Must be nice.

It stared at me with these pitying eyes.
What, you here to mock me?

Came to watch a poor flower shrivel up and die, did you?

I won’t forgive you. You’ve made me angry now.
That plump body of yours looks full of water.
If I swallow you whole, I’ll get all the moisture I need!

I extended a vine to catch it.
But once again, it slipped away and flew off.
Grrrrr.
Ugh. Smart bird.

Still, there was a silver lining.
When it flapped, droplets scattered from its feathers. Real water!
Just a few, but enough to splash near my roots.

Even a handful of drops was a blessing.

Thank you, bird.
I’ll spare you for today.

That little miracle was enough to snap me back from the brink.
I felt sane again.

Still, I kept up the daily rain ritual.
Because I really didn’t have enough water yet.

***

My prayer was finally answered about a week later.

It was nighttime again.
Just like before, something glowing streaked across the sky overhead.
An unidentified flying object, wrapped in fiery red light, vanished somewhere into the distance.

The next morning, I checked the direction it had gone.
There should be mountains over there, a chain of cursed peaks home to all sorts of monsters.

Back when I was still a saint, that mountain was supposed to be our party’s next destination.
Not that it matters anymore. I couldn’t care less about demon lords now.

Whatever that UFO was, there’s no way for me to find out.
Maybe it was a spirit that comes with the changing seasons.
I’ve heard that spirits possess the ability to manipulate nature and the weather. So it’s possible.

But that’s just speculation.
I’m completely cut off from the outside world now.
Even if something major happened out there, what could a flower like me do?
So I’ve decided not to think about it.
I hope that one day the truth will reach me. But until that time comes, I’ll let it go.

What matters now is this:
For the first time in a month, clouds have gathered over the sky.

I clasped my hands tight and whispered, please, please…

And then, a single dark stain blooms on the ground.
It spreads, multiplying in seconds.

Rain.

––I’m saved.

Gulp.
Water… How delicious.

***

The brutal summer finally ended.
Normal life returned.

Since then, there hasn’t been a single drought.
Rain falls as it should, and the heat has calmed.

I never realized how precious water was.
Rain truly is nature’s blessing, without it, the world would turn to desert.
Thank you, rain. Thank you, water.

Now I can enjoy peace again.

Wake up in the morning, bask in the sun,
share food and nectar with the bees at noon,
nap under the sunlight,
swap nectar again at dusk,
then close my petals and sleep at night.

Yes, it’s basically a NEET lifestyle.
But it can’t be helped. That’s just how plants live!
It’s perfect!
Well… except for the fact there’s so little entertainment that I might die of boredom.

Still, life in my little paradise was bliss.
It was the reward for enduring all that drought.
I’d finally achieved the plant life I dreamed of, being able to peacefully photosynthesis every day.

The bees and I were perfect partners.
Now that the drought was over, I gave them more nectar than ever out of gratitude.
They seemed happy too.

We all lived in peace and harmony.
If things kept going this way, I might just take over the whole forest.
With no enemies left, I’d have nothing to fear.

That would be the ultimate plant life.
Achieving that would mean my wish would be fulfilled in the truest sense.

So I’ll keep doing my best, protected by my loyal bees, and keep providing nectar.

Ah sorry, bees.
Tonight’s dinner will be rabbit, please.
They’re cute, I can’t help it.
They’re small, though, so they don’t have much nutritional value. More of a dessert, really.

Maybe that’s why it happened.
I got cocky.
With food and safety secured, I’d grown complacent.
I’d never had much attention from guys before, but being pampered by bees and treated like a forest princess felt really good.

Me, the nectar provider, surrounded by Zornbienes, my knightly bees, making up our peaceful forest circle.

And that’s when it happened.
The circle breaker appeared.

The bees carried her in one day without warning.
A new princess.

And to my shock, the new princess…
was a flower monster.

***

Author’s Note:
Thank you for reading.
We plan on updating twice today as well.

Next time: Man-Eater!