There was no wind in Nagisawa.
From the moment they stepped off the Mist Train, the air had been at a total standstill. Hair did not sway. The hems of their robes did not flutter. Even a single grain of sand hung suspended in mid-air, as if it had forgotten how to fall.
Koyoi took a breath. The air entering his lungs felt heavy. It had no temperature, yet it possessed a strange viscosity.
"…It’s too quiet."
His own voice lingered directly in front of him. The sound did not diffuse. The spoken words seemed to stick to the spot, refusing to peel away.
Kuon ignited his prosthetic eye. An azure light licked across the surroundings before coming to a rest at their feet.
"Look. At the ground."
Koyoi lowered his gaze.
There were traces of where water had receded. In what was once a stream bed, white crystals now carpeted the surface. They looked like salt, but they were not. Each individual crystal reflected light at irregular angles; from a certain perspective, they looked like fragments of letters.
"These are names."
Kuon knelt, bringing his glowing eye closer to the crystals. The azure light spread as if soaking into the white surface.
"Names that were once dissolved in the water have precipitated as it evaporated. They are fossilized records of names."
Koyoi touched a crystal with his fingertip. It wasn't cold. It wasn't warm, either. It was simply hard. He wondered how much time it had taken for a name to turn into stone.
"Can you read them?"
"Only fragments. A character here, a couple there. Complete names are rare."
Kuon opened his registry and began to sketch the arrangement of the crystals. Upon the pages illuminated by the azure glow, a distribution map of the white grains emerged.
"There is a regularity to the placement. The names have accumulated along the flow of the receding water. From upstream to downstream. The older the name, the deeper the layer it's buried in."
Asahi remained standing, scanning the perimeter. His hand rested on the hilt of his greatsword, searching for any presence within the motionless air.
"An enemy?"
"I can't tell. Since there's no wind, I can't rely on scent."
No wind meant that information did not travel. In Nagisawa, everything stayed exactly where it was. Sound, scent, and presence—none of them moved a single step from their point of origin.
Koyoi pressed his pouch against his chest. The drop inside was pulsing. However, even that vibration felt more sluggish than usual. The stasis of Nagisawa was attempting to suppress even the ripples of the drop.
"Kuon. Can I try bringing this crystal closer to the pouch?"
"Go ahead."
Koyoi brought the pouch down toward the crystal-covered ground.
The change manifested not as sound, but as light. One of the crystals took on a faint golden hue. The drop inside the pouch pulsed in response, and a golden light began to travel back and forth between the crystal and the drop.
"…It’s reacting. The name inside this crystal and the name inside the pouch are recognizing each other."
Kuon’s voice grew low. The azure light of his prosthetic eye intensified as he stared at the reacting crystal.
"They are of the same lineage. Names that were once connected through underground veins have been separated and preserved—some above ground, some below."
Koyoi kept his hand on the crystal and closed his eyes.
He could hear it. It wasn't a sound. The memories of the names trapped within the crystals flowed into him through his palm. Fragmented visions. Someone laughing. Someone crying. A voice calling a name. A scream from the moment a name was stolen.
Koyoi pulled his hand away. His breathing had grown ragged.
"…They remember. They remember everything. Even after being dissolved in water, even after turning into salt."
"Only the medium of the record has changed," Kuon said as he wrote in his registry. "The information itself has not vanished."
There was a faint trace of relief mixed into the depths of his usual cool composure.
Asahi looked up at the sky. Even the clouds were motionless. Only the position of the sun indicated that time was passing.
"Don't linger. If we stay here too long, we'll stop, too."
"I know."
Koyoi stood up and brushed the knees of his robes. A few grains of crystal remained stuck to the hem.
He didn't brush them off.
The exit to Nagisawa lay to the south. As the three of them began to walk, the crystals beneath their feet creaked faintly. In a place without wind, that was the only sound.
Looking back, the plain of white crystals glowed silently. The names remained there, holding their breath in the unmoving air.