[3 Themes of Imaginative Inspiration Vol. 24] Twilight Train. Cracked Moon. Glass Boat | Short Short

Title: Glass Boat, Bound for the Middle

At twilight, the shadows of the platform stretch slowly.
At the edge, the "Glass Boat" was docked again today.
Though it was a train, it bore the name of a boat; its surface was as transparent as a popsicle, and while it looked like it might shatter if touched, it strangely possessed the strength to carry people.

As Lulu stepped inside, the interior suddenly filled with color.
"Kiki or Bouba—which world are you heading to?"
The conductor's voice felt like it resonated in her heart rather than her eardrums.

The Bouba/Kiki effect.
The human sensory quirk of perceiving round things as "Bouba" and sharp things as "Kiki."
The Twilight Train treats this as the "shape of the world," they say.

Lulu looks out the window.
A cracked moon floats in the sky, and silver dust spills from it onto the ground below.
Just when she thought it was a Bouba world, the cracks in the moon shone sharply, and it smelled like Kiki, too.
"A world that is both?"
Lulu's heart raced just a little.

"Today, I want to go to the middle."
When she said this, the conductor nodded happily.

The train starts moving quietly.
The scenery passing by is a mix of round hills and sharp towers, constantly wavering without settling on a shape.
An unfamiliar bird crossed the sky. Its wings were fluffy and round, yet its cry rang out sharp and piercing.

The world is essentially fine either way—
Whether round, sharp, or somewhere in between.

Suddenly, the conductor said,
"Lulu, isn't it the same for people? 'It's okay to be any shape.'
It's fine to change based on how you feel that day. You won't break."

The glass boat glimmers.
It was not a light that shatters, but a light that embraces.

Lulu places her hand on the window and gazes intently at the swaying world.
She felt she could forgive herself a little today for being allowed to be round or sharp.

The train disappears beyond the twilight.
Toward the place where the cracks in the moon gently shimmer.

The End.

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