vrdant

No! The fire's getting out of control! Don't go in, Verdant!

That grass... I still haven't taken it to the institute...

I still haven't given it a name...

It survived in the field even when nobody tended to it...

It shouldn't be pulled out or be devoured by flames...

It shouldn't be chased away or forgotten...

It is just trying to survive...

*cough* *cough*... *cough* *cough*...

Thank god... It's still here, my specimen case... They didn't take you away...

I guess being inconspicuous is your strength...

Verdant wipes off the ash on the glass case, eager to make sure the grass is safe.

...Huh?

Is this.. that tuft of grass?

Lit up in the fire, Verdant beholds the sight within the case clearer than anything.

His grass can't handle the sharp rise in temperature well.

Its millet-like leaves are wilted, and its sedge-like stem is drooped. But the part that resembled bristlegrass is actually blooming.

Is that its flower? Did the fire cause the transformation? Verdant isn't sure.

No one can know for sure it is a kind of flower when they see its delicate tendrils for the first time.

The plant doesn't look like it is blooming at all with its wilted leaves and drooped stem.

But Verdant is certain that the grass is not millet, sedge, or any other kind of grass he's encountered before.