Window 5 'Sword Country': Record Number Raise Tablets Toward the Window, Opening Coincides With King Kaie III's Visit

According to the Dimensional Survey Division, Window 5, "the Sword Country," opened at 8:12 p.m. on the 19th and remained open for 41 minutes. As previously reported on the 15th, market crowds on the other side had been observed raising tablets toward the window across three consecutive openings, but the 19th's opening saw the largest number yet doing so at once. An observer stationed in the window room recalled, "As far as I could count, at least 40 people were looking the same direction and raising tablets the same way. It was the clearest we've seen yet."

As previously reported, the division has not formally upgraded Window 5 to "signs of awareness" on the other side. Regarding the 19th's observation, officials said, "The number has grown, that's a fact, but we can't say the quality of the sign has changed," and again held off on an upgrade. Technician Toru Yuzuki, previously reported, of the rabbit-like lineage, said, "I haven't changed my position that a bigger number and a meaningful one are different things. But as a matter of record, it is the largest we've logged."

The window's opening times and frequency are uncontrollable and were not timed to coincide with Kaie III's visit, running the 19th through the 22nd. The division reiterated that "openings happen on the other side's own terms, unconnected to events on ours," while adding, "it's true that, with the visit underway, more eyes than usual are on this window" — not denying the heightened attention itself.

As previously reported on Sept. 26, the tablets at Window 5 closely resemble the "ritual" tablets seen at Window 1, "the Lit City." No change in the tablets' shape was observed on the 19th either. "We're watching carefully, including the possibility that the two windows are different places within the same world," the division said, "but there's nothing yet to confirm it," continuing its cautious approach to linking the two.

One window keeper on duty said, "I recounted before the tea went cold. Having my own count become the new record felt a little frightening, and a little pleasing, at the same time." There remains no evidence that the other side is aware of this one, but through the end of Kaie III's visit on the 22nd, the division says it will keep observation staffing at Window 5 thicker than usual.

Window 5 also has a lottery viewing slot, smaller in scale than Window 1's previously reported public tours, and a dozen or so lottery winners watched the 19th's opening from the viewing corridor. One resident of Fukagawa in his thirties, a company employee, said, "Just watching the number of people holding up tablets grow and grow, through a single pane of glass, gave me goosebumps. Even without understanding what it meant, I won't forget having been there while something was happening." Touching on the previously reported debate over "commercialization of the tours," another visitor showed a more conflicted expression, saying, "The more the number itself becomes the story, the more I worry about it being consumed as a spectacle."

A Dimensional Survey Division spokesperson, speaking to this paper on the evening of the 19th, said, "Once an easy number like a headcount comes out, it tends to become the whole headline, but what we're actually watching isn't the number itself — it's the meaning behind what people on the other side are doing," asking news outlets to handle their headlines with care. The division said how long it keeps staffing thickened at Window 5 after Kaie III's departure on the 22nd will depend on how often the window continues to open.