A Small Bell Becomes Lineage 150 — Found at a Fukagawa Playground
A bell-shaped drift object found at a playground in Fukagawa on the evening of the 17th did not match any of the 149 known lineages in isotope ratio and was provisionally registered on the 18th as Lineage 150 — the first time the world-line matching database has reached three digits. The object was found by an elementary schooler playing in the park and, with no clue yet to its purpose, has been sent to the Third Appraisal Center.
At around 5 p.m. on the 17th, a third-grade boy, 8, playing at a Fukagawa municipal playground found a small bell-shaped object in the sand beneath a swing set. About 2 centimeters long, metallic but unrusted, it rang with a clear tone when shaken. "At first I thought it was just a bell and tried to take it home," the boy said, "but my mom said 'just in case' and we handed it in at the park office."
TDA officers, alerted by park staff, recovered the object on-site and transported it to the Third Appraisal Center the same day. A first-pass analysis on the 18th found its isotope ratio did not match any of the 149 known lineages registered in the world-line matching database, and it was provisionally registered as Lineage 150.
The database, a matching catalog maintained since the Dimensional Boundary Management Act of 1983, had reached a provisional Lineage 149 as of Sept. 11, previously reported. Today's registration marks its first time reaching three digits. A Center official said, "There's nothing special about the number itself reaching three digits, but it does mark another addition to a record we've been building for nearly half a century."
No clear match in material or manufacture to any known lineage has been found, and there is no clue yet to the object's purpose. "Just because it's shaped like a bell doesn't mean it was used as one on the other side," the official said. "We try not to assume a purpose from a shape." Full appraisal is expected to take several months.
Whether it belongs to the kind of "lineage with a strong sense of everyday life" seen in the previously reported Lineage 31 — a tricycle, a pot, a wooden box, a single boot — cannot yet be determined. "It's too early to characterize a lineage from a single item," the Center said. "If more objects from the same lineage turn up, a pattern may emerge."
The boy's mother, 36, who was with him, recalled, "He handed it in reluctantly after I told him 'just in case' — honestly, I never expected it to actually turn into a new lineage." She added, "Drift objects in the news always felt like something happening somewhere far away, but having one come out from under the swing set suddenly made it feel personal," laughing that she'll probably watch her feet more closely at the playground from now on.
The registration came roughly a week after the previously reported Lineage 149, a sack-like woven cloth found on a Kyobashi street on Sept. 11. The Center says new lineages have been registering at a pace of roughly one every two weeks, making this one somewhat faster than usual. "A faster pace doesn't necessarily mean the Yuragi itself is occurring more often," an official said. "It could simply mean more residents are reporting what they find." The Center urged the public not to read too much into the timing.
The boy who found it asked reporters, "The sound was pretty good. Can I get it back after the appraisal?" A TDA official explained that, as a rule, objects fall under state ownership and can't be returned, "though you might get to see it again if it goes on display at the museum." As previously reported, the city's Drift Object Museum runs a standing exhibit, "Bags Whose Owner Never Came," for appraised, harmless drift objects, and today's bell could eventually become a candidate for display.
No safety concerns have been noted, and the playground remains open as usual.
