The book cafe. It hasn't changed that much after winter break besides some new comfy seating next to the windows. The bookshelves were still overfilled with books, papers and files. Some books were even stacked on the floor and on the cafe counter. Right, since spring was starting the cafe part of the book cafe would finally open. Ever since I got there the whole place was going through a remodel so it was actually nice to sit there and study while being surrounded by the smell of baked goods.

I walked up to the front desk and rung the bell. Ms. Emily suddenly popped out from underneath the desk.

"Oh, hi Fifi.", she nervously smiled as she picked up some papers off the floors. "How can I help you?"

A messy pixie cut with defined curls, a thin almost see through wrap loosely settled on her shoulders and a tired look in her eyes made it seem like she slept under that desk, knowing her maybe she did.

It took me a moment to actually say what I wanted: "Uh- I just wanted to know if you have any archived documents on decaying plants near town."

She blinked at me as she took a sip of her coffee before she spun around in her chair, hitting a stack of papers on the floor, and reached for her computer. Somehow she always managed to move messily even when she wasn't clearly drowsy.

"Hm, let me look it up.", she mumbled while she quickly typed something out on the loud keyboard. After a moment she said: "Besides some crop fires I don't see anything else."

"Maybe in the old… old archives?", I wondered.

She looked over at me with a smile that suggest a no. "Look, I just inherited this place and I did a full scan of every single file we have. Everything is recorded on this." She slammed her hand on the monitor.

I thought for a moment. "…Maybe look up 'flowers'?"

Without questioning me she typed it in and hit enter. "Flower festivals, flower seasons… hm, this could be something."

She clicked around before reading out: "News clipping from 1971 reports a detrimental loss in the flower population in and around town. Some folks claim it to be a curse while others simply believe it to be a weak season. The reason for the missing flowers may be unknown but what is known is that we'll be looking at a less colourful town this spring."

I waited for a few seconds just to realise she finished.

"That's it?", I scoffed.

She shrugged. "That's all it says. I can print you a copy if you want."

Well, that didn't help at all. All it says was that there were less flowers that year, nothing about any decay or dying plants. It all just seemed like a stupid waste of time.

Ms. Emily snapped me out of my thoughts by slamming the printed copy of the news clipping in front of me on the desk. We looked at each other for a moment. She took another sip of her coffee before saying: "Hey, you know what my ma used to always say? If a reporter did a bad job in the past, do a better one now."

Do a better job? I guess the report did leave out a lot of stuff, maybe if they haven't I could have noticed a pattern or something… another light bulb went on in my head.

I quickly exited the book cafe and bumped into none other than Lola.

Without even explaining why she followed me she immediately jumped up: "Did you find anything?"

I looked at her for a moment and she quickly realised why, so she explained: "I told you I would help."

"Right.", I smacked my lips.

Even though I couldn't help but get annoyed at her being there it would also be stupid to not get free help if I could. So, I fought the part of me that wanted to protest and simply explained to her what I wanted to do.

"Here is a map of the town. Record any dead or dying plants and mark them on your map. I'll start in the west you go in the east."

"-and afterwards we get boba.", she joyfully added.

"Fine."

I spare you of the screeching that followed and the fact that after this very moment she would call me her "partner". Like we were some kind of detective duo.

I might have told her I forgave her for what she had done but it didn't mean I wouldn't get reminded of it every time I saw her.

Nevertheless, we thankfully went our separate ways and I could record the plants in peace. I crossed out every area of the town that had some kind of decay and took a pictures of it with my phone. It didn't seem like a lot before but after gathering all of my recordings it quickly made me realise just how bad it had gotten. From a few patches it was now whole areas sprinkled throughout the edge of the town.

At first it didn't seem like it was connected at all but when I looked at the map again it seemed like the crossed out areas formed… a half circle around town.

When we met up again we went into the book cafe and ordered some Boba, which I never really had before, but Lola insisted on me getting. We sat at the table next to the front window and put all of our stuff in front of us.

Unlike last year the cafe was filled with bright colourful flowers. Some were on the tables in glass vases while others decorated the window sills and bookshelves. With all the healthy flowers around us it seemed silly to think there was something going on with them… but it also seemed weird that they suddenly appeared.

I was about to opened up my map but Lola stopped me.

"First off, let's chat.", she smiled.

The dread quickly overtook my whole body. No way in hell was I about to chitchat with Lola, also known as Miss your parents don't love you.

She didn't seem to mind or care for me being clearly uncomfortable with that and just started blabbing like her life depended on it. She said something about her boyfriend, Tobias, annoying her, her girl group being the best and something else I don't remember. She talked for so long we almost finished our drinks.

I tried to add some advice here and there but it didn't seem like it stuck with her at all. Seemed like she just wanted to hear herself talk. So, after a while I just leaned back on the comfy pillows and "listened". Looking out it started raining again, the cafe's gentle lights switched on, making it somehow feel even cosier. The pillows, boba, warm lights with the quiet rain drops hitting the window really made my eyes heavy.

I twitched up as Lola suddenly turned to me: "What about you? Anything interesting going on?"

I took a sip out of my drink before I answered: "Nope." I kind of hoped the glass would cover my face enough she couldn't tell I was lying.

She looked at me for a moment. Her suspicions look told me she wasn't buying it. Maybe I should have made up something interesting so she wouldn't push further, but I didn't.

"Well, I definitely know there is one interesting thing going on… or one interesting someone.", she gave me one of her big smiles, the kind that showed she knew she was going into other people's business.

Was that how she revealed to Philip Nathalie had a crush on him? Push his buttons in just the right way so he would ask her about his "interesting someone"?

Well, as much as I wanted to say she didn't faze me, she did. I could feel my heart skip a beat when I felt her push. A million thoughts went through my mind, but only one seemed like the most important one; Did she know about Nathalie's feelings again?

She wasn't going to reveal her feelings to her new crush again, was she? No, that would be moronic. She saw what happened last time when she did.

I gave her one quick look, just one, and she immediately cracked and spilled out everything she knew. "I mean, come on, Jules had been clued to you from the moment they entered school!", she giggled, "I'm surprised who haven't noticed yet."

I managed to hide my sigh of relief behind a chuckle. Yeah… right, Jules.

"You should totally ask them out!"

With the way Nathalie already acted while I just talked to them I probably shouldn't, well, unless I want Jules to go missing. Speaking of Nathalie…

Lola played with her long hair as she noted: "Y'know, I recently talked with Nathalie about potential date ideas and she had a great one." She took a sip of her drinking before she added: "Take a boat into the near by lake. With the warmer weather, it would be totally romantic."

Firstly, why on earth would Nathalie talk with Lola about date ideas? Was she planning something? Probably not with me though. Secondly, a boat? Really?

Before I could respond Miss Emily walked up to us. "You guys find anything?"

Seemed like I peaked her interest with my weird questions. I immediately opened up my map and showed them my findings. Lola quickly followed, which revealed something strange.

Putting our maps together showed our crossed out areas perfectly aligning into a full circle with some tiny areas sprinkled a bit further into town, which suggested the decay was slowly moving into town.

"That's weird.", Lola mumbled.

Miss Emily quickly noted while looking at our maps: "Looks like some sort of disease."

"Okay. So, all kinds of plants are effected, even trees.", I explained.

Lola's head quickly snapped up and she pulled out her phone while adding: "But all areas share one plant in common"

She showed us a few photos of a small dried up plant looking bush thing. It seemed like it was at every location she visited, and after looking at my photos it was also in my areas too.

"What is it?", I showed the photo to Miss Emily, thinking she might recognize it, she didn't.

She noted: "It's too dried out to identity it.", before she added: "I bet someone that knows their way around plants could."

"If only we knew some kind of nature expert…", Lola noted while looking at the maps on the table.

A nature expert…