tossaway

Okay, instead, how about you tell us about those guards? Why were they acting weird?

"The guards- I dunno. They don't like me. I have a lot more trouble with 'em than anyone else does. Dunno WHY, cause I'm a law-abidin' citizen jus' like the rest. They ain't got any dirt on me, though, so don' worry. I'll be fine, it's just... frustratin'."

Huh... what about the sprite thing?

"What about it?"

Why did it attack us?

"...Dunno. It was a monster. Again, no clue why it came onto the train in the first place, but monster's tend to be real hostile-like to people, which is why we have ta beat them down what chance we get."

Alright... where do the monsters come from?

"Uhhhh... depends. There's a lotta types of monsters, but basically, they're always on the other side of the train tracks, opposite the towns. See, there's this thing where, like... The Center of the Blossom, right, it's not good and you shouldn't go there. And the reason why, is cause it's fulla bad magic. There's just waves of bad magic flowing out of it like a thick breeze, and it's twisting everything it soaks into. Animals get all freaky, and old houses and towns out that far are all warped and dangerous... and then sometimes, the magic itself just lumps up into little monsters completely on its own, and those are Sprites."

Oh... huh...
So, monsters come from outside of the towns, out in the wilderness...
Does that mean I'm a monster?

"Wh- no! I mean, I don't think so? There's like- magic's pretty easy to sense, Bean, and ya ain't got that much magic comin' offa ya. I don't know what ya are, but as far as I care, yer just a person. A very different person from the rest of us, but a person noneth'less."

Oh, that's a relief.

A tone sounds over the speakers again, and the conductor speaks:
"WE HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING YOUR RIDE TODAY.
WE ARE APPROACHING BONSAI AND WILL ARRIVE AT THE STATION SHORTLY."