The Flower We Saw That Day Whose Name We Still Don't Know

"All right, let's go, Goddess-sama."

"How impudent, throwing a ball at a goddess."

"The ball vaporized. This is tennis, you know."

"I forgot."

"You were the one who said you wanted to get some exercise for once, Goddess-sama, so I even set up a tennis court."

"I still can't understand the idea of running after a ball."

"You have to move to get exercise."

"I might be able to manage hitting the ball at you."

"That'd just be practice, but I suppose we can start there."

"Then I'll go easy."

"Hmm, the racket vanished without a sound when I hit the ball in the sweet spot. Could you keep it within a range I can return?"

"You have a lot of demands. How about this much?"

"Oh, my arm cracked, but nice shot."

"And now, a smash."

"Respawn. It's pretty novel to have the entire court on my side blown away before I even get a chance to return it."

"It was such a tempting ball to hit, I couldn't help myself."

"Could you seal away your goddess power or whatever?"

"You mean use none of my power at all? I'm not keen on that. Gravity would become a nuisance."

"It's fine. You, of all people, aren't affected by gravity that much."

"Explosive serve!"

"Respawn. I can't believe it actually exploded on impact."

"It just occurred to me: wouldn't vaporizing you be decent exercise in itself?"

"That wouldn't be exercise for me."

"Your health recovers whenever you respawn anyway, so you don't need exercise."

"Now that you mention it, after I gained weight from eating too much before, getting vaporized returned me to my original shape."

"Your body resets to its initial state. The skills and mental strength you've built up remain, so you're well on your way to becoming inhuman."

"I still have the magic that shoots olive oil and lemon juice, so I'm not inconvenienced."

"You wouldn't be inconvenienced even if you were reset. Why not use magic or something to power yourself up to the point where you can match my restraint?"

"I never thought of that. Then let's do it. All right, I've got ten times the physical abilities of an ordinary person."

"Explosive serve!"

"Respawn. When I think about it calmly, going all out doesn't change the fact that I can't beat you even while you're holding back."

"But I'm having a pretty good time."

"Your perspective is on another plane if you can enjoy vaporizing a human being."

"I don't enjoy using humans up for entertainment. It just feels easier when you're defenseless from the start, unlike your usual self, who always manages to do something wrong."

"I've started trying to dodge lately."

"What's your evasion rate?"

"About one percent, if I'm lucky."

"That sounds about right."

"Still, I'd like to play tennis normally if possible."

"Then how about you become the ball?"

"What does 'normally' even mean? Goddess-sama seems especially murderous today."

"I wonder why. Could it be because the tennis outfit you prepared for me was made of a material that dissolves in water?"

"You found me out. No wonder you're wearing your regular clothes."

"Well, now that I've punished you enough, it's time for your reincarnation in another world."

"This is starting to feel repetitive if I keep respawning, so I suppose I'll just go along with it. Rustle, rustle... Let's see, from Sharu-san: 'The Flower We Saw That Day Whose Name We Still Don't Know.'"

"There was an anime with a title like that, wasn't there?"

"Well, since I'm the one reincarnating, I doubt there'll be anything of the sort."

"A half-hearted recreation would only cause trouble for the people involved."

"I've gotten pretty good at plant-type reincarnations, too."

"There was the World Tree and the tomato, and moss, too."

※See Chapters 8, 17, and 23.

"If we count wooden and paper things, there are a few more."

"I'll commend your courage in insisting those are plants."

"Speaking of plants, Gugugederestafu has grown quite a bit."

"That's right. It's become a giant mandrake over two meters tall."

"It even has a mischievous habit of moving when we're not looking."

"You weren't moving it? That's horror-movie material."

"As long as you give it water and fertilizer, it stays docile. While you're giving them, that is."

"I'm seriously debating whether to keep looking after it or dispose of it."

◇

"It stopped moving after I started giving it water and fertilizer more often. Let's just ignore the fact that it sometimes changes direction."

"I'm back."

"Welcome back."

"Man, it didn't work out again. Even though I could move around this time."

"That reaction really conveys the eerie nature of The Flower We Saw That Day Whose Name We Still Don't Know. Now, let's hear your report."

"Before the report, I'll give you the souvenir. Here, take this."

"What is this? It looks like a thick book."

"It's an observation diary written by a boy named Roger in the world I reincarnated in this time."

"An observation diary? The title is..."

【The Flower Whose Name I Don't Know】

"I see. It's your observation diary."

"Yes. I thought I'd change things up this time and make my report follow the diary."

"Your story from a third party's perspective? It might be refreshing."

【Today, I went on an adventure in the forest near the village with two friends. They were there to catch bugs, but I wandered around the forest looking for unusual plants.】

"A boy who likes plants. He seems like he'd be quiet."

【I was happy to find all kinds of plants, but the two of them were noisy, so I threw them into the lake. Once I'd calmed down, I went back to looking for plants.】

"I take back what I said."

【The forest really is amazing. It has plants full of character, unlike the miscellaneous flowers and weeds growing in the village.】

"I have a feeling this boy could become a rather dangerous person."

【As I explored the forest, I suddenly sensed something was wrong. The birdsong I'd been hearing throughout the forest had abruptly stopped. I readied the hand ax I'd always kept hidden on me, preparing for some kind of threat.】

"He isn't just likely to be dangerous; he already is."

【And then I came face-to-face with it.】

"This is an observation diary about plants, right?"

【It was definitely a plant. A beautiful blue flower on the outside, but its abnormality was immediately obvious. It was writhing its stem as if with joy atop a bear that had been beaten to exhaustion.】

"What were you doing?"

"A bear that lived in my habitat picked a fight with me, so I beat it."

"You're a plant, aren't you?"

"Don't underestimate plants just because they're plants."

"Please limit the plants that can't be underestimated to poisonous ones."

【That thing was dangerous. I held my breath and tried to leave, but unfortunately my two friends came nearby looking for me. Damn, useless idiots.】

"That's a terrible thing to say about friends who were worried and looking for the culprit who'd thrown them into a lake and disappeared on his own."

【The thing reacted to my friends' voices. That's right, we were noticed by it that day. I still remember the fear of that moment clearly.】

"Is this going to be a horror story?"

"Maybe it's a heartwarming story."

"How is witnessing a moving plant slaughter a bear at the beginning heartwarming?"

【We sensed its killing intent and ran as fast as we could, but unfortunately I tripped on some vegetation and fell. Damn weeds. Wither and die.】

"Quite the change of heart for a young man who likes plants."

【My friends had already run far away, and it was right behind me. It was over. I was going to die here. I regretted not telling my beloved Fenny how I felt.】

"You see that sort of thing a lot in scenes where death is imminent."

【It came closer and closer, then stretched one of its leaves toward me. Overcome with fear, I desperately struck back with my hand ax. But it caught my slash with a single leaf.】

"You're quite something yourself. Then again, you were already quite something when you slaughtered the bear."

"Of course I'd attack with an ax if it suddenly chased after me. I had to at least defend myself."

"That would probably make a list of reactions we'd never want to see from a plant."

【In the end, I lost consciousness. When I came to, I was lying outside the forest. Apparently, my friends had found me there after bringing some adults with them.】

"You passed out, so I just took you back."

"How kind."

【Maybe it had all been a dream, but as I trembled, convinced that the sensation had been real, I suddenly felt pain in my arm. Something like a blade had cut the words 'There won't be a next time' into it.】

"I take that back. Why would you do something like that?"

"I forgot to take the option that lets me speak. I figured if I wrote it on the ground, you might miss it."

"And 'There won't be a next time' is just a threat."

"I meant to write, 'If you pass out in the forest, beasts might attack you. I happened to save you this time, but next time I might not, so be careful.' But it was surprisingly hard to write."

"There's no way your message would get across like that."

【I spent three days and nights in a feverish nightmare. But if I let myself be defeated by the fear of that flower, I'd never become a decent adult. I had to defeat it. This was a fight for my life.】

"As expected, you've already thrown the boy's life off course."

【I snuck back into the forest to search for it. I found it right away. It was dancing and writhing like before on the corpse of the giant boar, the lord of the forest.】

"Again?"

"It was about to trample me, so I couldn't help it."

【I jumped out in front of it and shouted, 'I'm going to defeat you! I'll defeat you and overcome this fear!' It said nothing, and taunted me by beckoning with one of its leaves.】

"What are you putting up with, anyway?"

"He was a brave boy, so I couldn't help it."

【I understood its confidence. It must have been so arrogant that it thought my hand ax could be easily blocked. But I had a secret plan. I'd stolen a magic scroll of Inferno Flame from the house of the Great Sage who'd retired to our village. This spell was a secret art that had once inflicted a mortal wound on the Demon King's right-hand man. It was an ultimate spell powerful enough to turn the surrounding area into an eternal wasteland. Even someone as mediocre as me could use the magic scroll simply by willing it to activate.】

"What was the Great Sage doing keeping something so dangerous somewhere it could be stolen?"

【Inferno Flame seemed to ruthlessly burn it and everything around it to ashes. But it was blooming proudly in the scorched forest as if nothing had happened.】

"This flower has no restraint."

"Well, it was hot. My right leaf got a little blistered."

"How does a plant get a blister?"

【I couldn't win. After an attack that powerful, I wouldn't survive, either. I fell to my knees, thinking that. But it calmly approached and rested one leaf on my knee. Then it gave me a thumbs-up with its remaining leaf.】

"Why?"

"It was saying, 'That was a good attack.'"

"It was the Great Sage's secret art, after all."

【The flower let me go again. But why? I wasn't afraid of it like before anymore. Maybe facing it had broken something loose inside me. I felt that I'd grown up a little that day.】

"Probably a delusion."

【After that, I went to see the flower many times. It seemed to understand me to some extent, and would respond by swaying its stem ever so slightly when I spoke.】

"It really is a strange sight."

"Since people stopped going near the part of the forest that had been scorched, he was about the only person I could communicate with."

【When I told it something bad had happened, it struck me with its leaves as if gently comforting me. When I told it something good had happened, it danced as if sharing my joy. When I got discouraged and ran away, it hit me mercilessly with its leaves. I lost a tooth.】

"I can't imagine what would make this boy lose heart."

"He got scared when he was about to confess to the girl he liked, so I gave him a pep talk."

"Hard enough to break a tooth?"

"If I hadn't held back, he'd have been a lump of meat."

"I see. Though I'm not sure I should say that."

【It's impossible to exchange words with that flower. Of course. That flower is a plant, not a human being. But it must have a will that rivals the human heart.】

"It had enough of one to write words on your arm."

【I was obsessed with that flower, but our happy time didn't last long. The Demon King had revived and begun an invasion, advancing close to our village.】

"There was a Demon King?"

"There was a Demon King."

【The villagers chose to fight rather than abandon the village where they'd been born and raised. There was the Great Sage, and a Hero who'd heard the rumors had come to the village, too.】

"There was a Hero?"

"There was a Hero."

【The Hero used our village as a base to fight the Demon King's forces. We were in danger many times, but the Hero was strong. The Demon King's army gradually lost momentum.】

"Whatever happened to the observation diary? Well, I'll keep reading."

【But at last, the Demon King himself attacked. The Hero avoided turning the village into a battlefield and lured the Demon King into a nearby forest to begin the final battle. But when I heard about it, I thought of that flower.】

"Oh, here it comes."

【A battle between two beings chosen by the world as its pinnacles. If it got caught up in that, even that flower wouldn't be safe. I couldn't sit still. I knocked down my father and friends as they tried to stop me, then headed for the forest.】

"I'm worried about this boy's future when he kicks them down instead of punching them."

【But I was too late. By the time I arrived, the battle was already over. I stared blankly at the pitiful sight before me.】

"..."

【There lay the defeated Demon King and Hero, with that flower dancing a victory dance atop them.】

"I knew it."

"Two guys started rampaging in my garden, so I couldn't help it."

"You're a flower, aren't you? And you dragged the Hero into it, too."

"Whether it's a Hero or a Demon King, anyone who harms nature is no good."

"This boy scorched part of the forest himself, though."

【And so the Demon King was defeated. The Hero was the only one who barely survived, and it was said that he had defeated the Demon King, but I alone knew the truth. That flower was the pinnacle of this world.】

"Even the Hero couldn't exactly say that he'd been taken down, along with the Demon King, by some flower growing nearby."

【I went to see the flower and asked it, 'Are you all right with this? You defeated the Demon King. You're the one who saved the world.' The flower chased butterflies as if it had no interest at all.】

"Butterflies?"

"They swarm around people, but they're so fluttery that almost none of my attacks hit."

"You're a flower, after all."

【It suddenly occurred to me that there were no others of the same kind as that flower anywhere. I asked the Great Sage, too, but the Sage didn't know its name. The Sage said it must be a new species. So I decided to give the flower a name.】

"It is a new species, in a way."

【I said to the flower, 'I want to give you a name.' Then suddenly the flower began to glow, and its form gradually crumbled away.】

"Once its name is known, its existence is denied."

"That's a weakness you'd expect from something close to a conceptual being."

【I understood. It was a flower that must never have a name. Through my thoughtless action, the flower had come to the end of its life in this world.】

"You understood that awfully quickly."

【Though we parted suddenly, strangely, I didn't cry. Surely the flower would live a new life somewhere else. I was certain of that. In the end, the flower had taught me to live strongly, without being forever attached to it.】

"Did it teach you that?"

"No, I was completely blindsided and erased."

"I figured."

【The memories of that flower remain in my heart. So I'll end this diary with today's entry and bury it at the flower's grave as a marker.】

"You even prepared a grave?"

"When I came back here, it was beside me before I knew it. Probably the little miracle option at work."

"A little miracle? It wouldn't be of any use if it activated after you died. ...Oh, this part is addressed to you."

"Let's see."

【I don't know if these words will reach you, but I want to tell them to the flower whose name we still don't know, the one we saw that day. The pride of having stood up to you, after you defeated the Hero and the Demon King, will surely give me the strength to face any hardship that lies ahead. I'll think of you from time to time, so I hope you'll think of me sometimes, too. Thank you—Roger.】

"It's a good thing you couldn't speak, considering how this turned out."

"If I could've spoken, I think we could've talked about all sorts of things. Still, this outcome isn't bad."

"But you didn't pass on, did you?"

"Playing with a boy and then calling it a day isn't quite enough. I still want at least a happy ending with a heroine."

"Honest and commendable. Oh, there's something on your clothes."

"Is this a seed? Maybe it's the little miracle."

"Shall we plant it?"