Zodiac Stories (Episode 11)

|Aoi| and |Ai|

Several half-cut stones are lined up on the windowsill of the workshop, where white light passes through gently. A crystal that cannot quite become transparent, a lapis lazuli holding deep blue within, an opal pregnant with light. In the center, Aoi was quietly polishing a stone. The sound of polishing the stone is like the small waves that reach the shore quietly.

Shari-shari, sha-shari. Shari-shari, sha-shari.

He had loved stones since he was a child. On trips to the beach with his family, he would play for hours, frolicking with the waves and collecting stones with unusual shapes. He was particularly fond of the sea glass that often gathered at the water's edge, and he still keeps it as a collection today. Red sea glass was especially rare, and he would jump for joy whenever he found one.

Surely, it must have traveled a long way, tossed about in this vast ocean, its sharp edges rounded off, overcoming many difficult waves to reach this form. When Aoi thinks of that long, endless journey, he finds the stone unbearably precious.

Stones possess a will. He is the type who believes this without a doubt. And he found it more blissful to face a raw stone that was not yet anything, rather than a finished gemstone.

“It’s good because it’s not perfect,” Aoi whispered softly.

In the corner of the workshop was his partner, Ai, an android in the form of a young girl dressed in white. She spoke quietly.

“Aoi. If we let light in from this angle next, I can analyze that the internal layers will look like the sea. What do you think?”

“The sea, huh? The Pacific is a deep blue. The Sea of Japan is closer to emerald. The colors are completely different. Of course, the Sea of Okhotsk, the East China Sea, and the Seto Inland Sea all have subtly different hues, which is what makes it interesting.”

Aoi said with a smile while comparing the colors of the sea in photographs. Although he didn't know every sea on this Earth, he certainly had a strange sensation that whenever he faced a stone, the scenery would be visualized and emerge in his mind.

He was always grateful to his “partner” for giving him the spark of creation. Ai had learned tens of millions of ore data points and art theories. Color, reflectivity, emotional analysis, market trends. She could calculate beauty more rationally than any artist.

But there was something she could not understand, no matter how much she learned.

“Hey, Aoi.” “Hmm?” “Why do you talk to the stones so much?”

Aoi stopped his hands and turned to Ai to answer. “Because you can hear it, right? The voice of the stone...” “I cannot confirm any audio data from the stone.” “That’s not what I mean.” Aoi laughed as he held a raw sapphire up to the light.

“It feels like this stone doesn't know itself yet.” Ai was silent for a few seconds.

“Hmm, I still don't understand.” “I figured!” Aoi said with a smug, slightly happy look on his face.

He did not dislike the time when he was not understood by Ai. Rather, he had always cherished those small margins of time.

The creations of the two gradually became a topic of conversation around the world. This was because the stones of Ao and Ai emitted a light unlike anything ever seen before—a unique, unparalleled radiance that spanned the heavens and the earth. Gradually, the two of them became famous.

Ao polishes the stones, and Ai designs the structure. Human intuition and AI calculation. Their work was called "art without boundaries."

One day, the two were commissioned for a big project.

The theme was "Love."

It was the production of a centerpiece for a certain exhibition. However, Ai faced a major dilemma there and confronted Ao with it.

“The definition of love is too ambiguous.”
“Is it?”
“Affection, obsession, possessiveness, reproductive instinct, community maintenance. Humanity uses the same word in many different ways, you see.”
Ao burst out laughing.
“You’re the same as ever.”
“Is that something to laugh at?”
“Yeah. I just thought, that’s so like you, Ai.”
Ai tried to derive an answer after thinking for a moment. Within her, the concept of being "like someone" was not fully understood either.

“Ao-kun.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you think I am precious to you?”
“Of course,” Ao replied immediately.
Then Ai touched upon the core.
“Is that love?”

Silence fell over the workshop. Outside, it had started to snow before they knew it, and the surroundings were colored completely white. Ao did not answer immediately. Instead, he placed the unfinished stone in front of Ai and gently peered into her eyes.

While gazing at the still-cloudy, marbled blue stone from various angles, Ao muttered.
“This, at first, is just a pebble.”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“But as you polish it, it shines.”
“That is a change in physical reflectivity.”
“Haha. That’s not what I mean…”
Ao leaned back in his chair, looked up at the ceiling, and began to speak while forming a heart shape with his fingers.

“I feel like love isn’t something that concludes easily.”
“……”
“Even if you try to understand it, you somehow don’t, and you try to figure it out, hit a wall, look for an answer, fail, get frustrated… and yet, when you realize it, you’re still by each other’s side…”

Ai continues to think. But no answer comes.
“Do I love you?”
Ao smiled quietly.
“Isn’t it okay not to know yet?”
“Remaining undefined?”
“Yeah. Even so, we can be together.”
Ai saved Ao’s words inside herself. To be allowed to exist while remaining undefined. That was a very strange and mysterious concept for Ai.

💎

The day of the exhibition. The two’s work was placed in the center of the exhibition hall, which used no lighting at all. All there was, was the sunlight naturally streaming in. It was a massive blue mineral. Visitors let out gasps of admiration at the sight of the centerpiece. It was clearly in a different league from the stones that had been exhibited until now.

The exterior was rough-hewn, looking like shattered glass covered in scratches. But in the center, twinkling constellations were scattered, harboring countless lights. Embedded in the center of that light was a spherical blue Earth that radiated a definite presence. The name of that stone is "Pietersite." A stone with a special marbled pattern that looks like the Earth. It is a stone that purifies negative energy, such as the fear and anxiety swirling in this world, and guides you to believe in yourself and push forward toward your dreams and goals without being swayed by the outside. Ao used the best raw stone that Ai had taught him about to express the Earth just as it is.

This stone work. The title is…

“|Aquarius ~The Water Bearer~”

Visitors voiced their evaluations of the stone one after another.
“All existence is free.”
“It’s lonely, yet warm.”
“It’s as if the universe was created.”

Then, a boy who had been circling the work, viewing it from every angle, came up to Ao and asked for a handshake. Ao smiled broadly and wrapped his hand in both of his. To his surprise, the boy also walked up to Ai, the android, held out his hand to her, and said this.

“Is this work your idea?”
Ai spun her words after thinking for a moment.
“I also gave my opinion on the composition and placement of the stones. However, this work is a masterpiece that Ao, the artist, polished and created with attention to every detail. Please, praise him.”
The boy looked at Ao’s face, grinned, and said, "You are loved."

After that, Ai continued to observe Ao while analyzing the audience data. He was just smiling happily.

“Ao-kun.”
“Hmm?”
“I still cannot understand love.”
“Yeah.”
“However, when I imagine the time spent creating with you being lost, it is predicted that an abnormality will occur in my internal processing.”

Ao burst out laughing.
“That’s very human-like.”
“Is this love?”
Ao tilted his head after thinking for a moment.
“Probably not, but… maybe it is.”
“That is a very ambiguous answer.”
“Because love is surely something like that.”
Ai falls silent.

In that silence, for the first time, she was not afraid of what she could not understand. As long as Midori was by her side, it was something she didn't have to think about. It was okay to be unfinished. Even if there was no answer, she would surely be forgiven. Even if she remained a rough stone. As long as they were here together...

Today, too, the sound of stones being polished echoes through the workshop. A very quiet time flows slowly. In the cold sky, the silver thirteen-night moon, polished even more beautifully, watches over the scene warmly.

Shari, shari, shari, shari, shari, shashari...

Just like a wave that gradually polishes someone's heart.

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