Window Keeper's Log: Symbols That Come in Pairs

Column "Window Keeper's Log," episode 6.

The three teacups were lined up again today in the back meeting room of the Third Appraisal Center — slightly uneven pieces made by a third-generation potter from Tokoname. No one on the decoding team has ever decided whose cups they are, yet the same three always end up in the same spot. I work in the window room and have no real business at those meetings, but carrying the cups has somehow become my job all the same.

Today I heard that the symbols come in pairs: the same symbol placed once at the start and once at the end of each cluster. The middle changes every time, but the two ends always match. When I heard that, I thought of the three teacups. Before the meeting starts and after it ends, the cups always return to the same arrangement. Whatever gets discussed in the middle, only the shape of the beginning and the end stays the same.

I heard that Ushio Kishiura said it reminded her of a break in the lullaby. That night, watching the bustle of the market on the other side from the window room, I noticed that my own work has a pair like that too — the quiet before it opens, and the quiet after it closes. Whatever scene gets sandwiched in between, the window always begins in silence and returns to silence. If their symbols are meant to bracket something, maybe our days are shaped the same way.

I still don't know what it means. Not knowing, I lined up the three cups again today, and left the room.