Ciela adjusted her rainbow hairband as the Cosmic Emotion Expo's neon signs flickered to life. Above them, floating pavilions displayed emotion-plants from across the galaxy: Verdania's Laughing Lilies, Kairo's Time-Tears Roses, and even Earth's Memory Moss.
"Stay close," Nox warned, his constellation-glasses fogging with concern. "I detected an unusual energy signature in the Fungal Pavilion."
Kai bounced ahead, his green hair photosynthesizing the surrounding joy into tiny sparkles. "Look! A whole garden of Emotion Sunflowers!" But as he reached to touch one, the flower wilted, turning gray.
Azura gasped, pointing to the flower's stem—fine black threads were spreading like mold. "It's the 麻木真菌!"
The pavilion's ceiling collapsed in a shower of gray spores. Ciela's hair turned ashen, her empathy overwhelming her: "I can feel... nothing. It's like a void."
Xander grabbed her hand, sewing a shadow-patch onto her sleeve. "Focus on the memory of Lira's laugh—trauma can't grow where there's the intention to heal."
Lyra tapped her staff, which had become a spray of anti-fungal flowers. "These are 'Remember-Me' blooms—their scent triggers happy memories."
But the fungus was already spreading, turning vibrant emotion-plants into gray husks. A group of attendees stumbled past, their eyes vacant—they'd inhaled too many spores.
"Kai, use your hair!" Ciela shouted, her silver spindle glowing.
The green-haired boy closed his eyes, and his hair exploded in a burst of chlorophyll light. Where the light touched, the fungus receded, revealing colorful emotion-plants beneath. "I... I can feel the plants' sadness!" he cried, tears of chlorophyll rolling down his cheeks.
Just then, the Fungal Pavilion's centerpiece—a massive Heartwood Tree—began to gray. Inside its trunk, a figure emerged: a woman with bark-like skin, holding a vial of black spores. "At last, the emotionless universe I've dreamed of," she hissed, sprinkling spores on the Heartwood.
"Stop!" Azura yelled, her blue hair igniting into protective flames. "Emotions make us whole!"
The woman laughed, and the fungus formed a cage around them. "Wholeness is overrated. Can't you see? Without pain, there's no need for balance."
Ciela raised her silver spindle, but it felt heavier than ever. "She's right," a dark voice whispered in her mind. "All this suffering—wouldn't it be easier to forget?"
Xander saw her hesitation and grabbed the spindle, his shadow-patches glowing. "Pain is the thread that connects us. Without it, we're just loose stitches." He spun the spindle, weaving a thread of shared memories: Lila's hug, Kai's courage, even the First Keeper's regret.
The thread pierced the Heartwood, and the fungus began to shrink, transforming into "Growth Mushrooms" that nurtured emotion-plants. The bark-skinned woman blinked, her vacant eyes filling with tears. "I... I was so afraid of feeling hurt, I tried to erase it all."
Kai handed her a "Growth Mushroom," which sprouted into a "Forgiveness Fern" in her hand. "It's okay to be afraid. But don't let fear become a fungus."
As the Expo was restored, Ciela noticed a strange symbol on the woman's wrist—a spindle surrounded by thorns. "Who are you?"
The woman smiled sadly, her bark-skin softening. "Just a weaver who forgot that even the darkest threads have a place in the Cosmic Quilt."
But as they left, Ciela's silver strand twitched, pointing to a distant galaxy where the same thorn-spindle symbol was being carved into a planet's surface. And in her pocket, the silver spindle felt warmer than ever, as if whispering: "The next stitch awaits."